European trip Day 30 London

A day out in London

Barb had never been to the Victoria and Albert Museum in all her many trips to the UK, and after binge-wtching the entire series of "Victoria" on the plane on the way over from Australia she was keen to rectify this.

Susan was quite concerned as it was forecast for terrible heat. Indeed the temperature did get up to 30 degrees, which is sweltering for Londonites who were all complaining bitterly. We were not too bothered.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is massive. We caught the train to london from Audley End and then the Underground to V&A. There were hoardes of people there and in the courtyard of the building where there is a large shallow water feature there was lots of kids swimming and playing in the water. Others had taken to the shade by the beautiful rhododendrons and were sipping cold drinks or eating ice-creams.

The building itself is impressive. Theres a huge murano glass chandelier hanging under the cupola in the foyer and the ceilings and staircases were ornately decorated. Not so much gold leaf as there was in Budapest, but still very lovely.

We wandered around for an hour and a half, picking out exhibits that appealed. There are lierally hundreds of rooms! We partucularly liked the costumes and jewellery and all the silverware. It would be impossible to see everything even in a whole day.

After we got tired out there, we caught a black cab to Oxford Street to do some shopping. We first stopped at John Lewis tea rooms for a drink and some lunch, before trawling through various shops in Oxford Street. Barb had a lovely time. The precinct was very crowded too despite the heat.

When we got pack to Liverpool station to catch the train back to Great Chesterford, it was teeming with people. Some trains had been cancelled due to the tracks buckling in the heat. Ours was delayed by 17m minutes, but at least still running.

We stopped off at a local pub that specialised in Thai Cuisine and had a very tasty dinner before returning to Susan's place. 

Daisy and Bella were delighted to see us! You can tell Daisy has aged in the two years since we last saw her. She's a lot slower and is going deaf. Bella is still full of life.