Dinosaurs and things...

Horses outside the Horse Guards Parade on Whitehall. They were standing in a pile of their poo....

Currently the Fourth Plinth is occupied by the ship in a bottle. But I liked the writing on the ground better than what was actually on the plinth. I borrowed Dolan's shadow as well.

Natural History Museum

Reminded me of the 'Night at the Museum' movies! Dinosaurs!

Bones

The Great Court at the British Museum

Reflections in windows...

Dolan arrived yesterday morning, so after a quick lunch, we tried to use the good weather to our advantage and see a bit of London. We started out at Embankment and walked acorss to Southbank towards Westminster. We passed by the London Eye, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. Since Dolan has been here once before (many many years ago), he wasn't too worried about seeing all of the sights. Even so, I made us walk to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and Covent Garden as I feel they are very "London" next to the Southbank tour. After all this walking and Dolan getting little sleep in the past few days, we headed back to Bob's so he could take a nap. That evening we went for what was supposed to be a short stroll around Clapham Common. Well, I got us lost (surprise), and two hours later, my legs aching, we finally made it back to Bob's.

Today was a miserable day weather-wise. It was pouring and had turned quite cold. If there's something I can't stand (and Dolan too), it's wet socks! We started out at the Natural History Museum thinking we could escape the rain by doing a day of Museums. Unfortunately, Dolan was under the impression that this museum would have paintings, but instead, we just saw dinosaurs and minerals (both at my request-I mean we were already there!). From there we decided maybe the British Museum would be more exciting, but after having it pour on us the whole way there, and running into cafes to find somewhere to eat only to find strange menus and expensive prices, we were exhausted. We ending up eating in the museum cafe, took a few pictures, then headed back towards Bob's, stopping for a bit to do a few errands for me. Not terribly exciting days for Dolan in London I'm afraid!

LDF-Staircase Fun with Vic and Al (not my most exciting post...)

V&A Signage from the Tunnels that take you to South Kensington Station (I read about this sign in the paper-it's brand new and apparently cost quite a bit of money to get the letters to work from both sides! Definitely the flashiest of the museum tunnel signs.)

Exhibit for London Design Festival- The stair is framed using off-cut pieces of picture frames

You could only walk up, not down (not sure why), so then I had to snake around the museum to find the exit as this was the only thing I came to see!

Today was a very very busy day! Dolan comes in tomorrow and then on Friday we leave for Spain! This being said, I had lots of errands I wanted to do, things I wanted to see (that I wouldn't subject Dolan to-like this staircase for exmaple), and things to buy just in case immigration doesn't deem me worthy of coming back into the country like they almost did when I came back from Italy. So I started out my day by going to see this exhibit at the V&A. It was pretty cool (to me), but I can see why others may not think too much of it.haha. From South Kensington, I went to Portobello Road. There were a few off hand boutiques I wanted to look at in case-one:when I get back in October all of the sales of their summer clothes are done (their summer clothes=all year wear for Houston) or two: I don't get to see them again! After making a few purchases, I headed to the other side of the city to Spitalfields Market. They say the stalls close at 4, but luckily as I got there at 3:45, most were still open and were willing to let me look around. I found a few bargain dresses (I once shunned market shopping thinking all the clothes were cheesy and cheap, and now I love it because they are cheap, and not all cheesy)!

From Spitalfields, I made my way back to Bob's in order to finish up laundry, pack for Spain, and get everything ready for Doaln in case he just wants to pass out when he gets here (although I think with his one 1/2 days in London, he will most likely want to pack in as much as possible!). Oh London, when the time comes, I'm going to really miss you. I feel like we are just now getting to know each other!

Reuniting with Victoria and Albert

Exhibtion at the V&A

Early English sportswear-they even had a Juicy Couture track suit from 2004 there as part of the sportswear collection.

An Alexander McQueen and Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel) dress

Islamic Hall

In the Garden

Part of the 1:1 (Architects Build Small Spaces) Architecture exhibit- One of 7 Built Spaces

Medieval & Renaissance

V&A Museum from the Garden

1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces- Another of 7 built spaces-- Free standing wood structure which is meant to redefine archive space for books. Bascially just a 5 or so story staircase with 1000's of books (all spines facing inwards). Had to wait in line because they only let 4 people in at a time (it wobbled), and I woudln't really say it was worth it. And I'm a big lover of books and architecture...

Science Museum

Liked this staircase in Enbankment Tube Station