Woolly says – It was with great sadness that I woke to the news that we had lost our Queen, a lady whom I admired greatly as one of the greatest ambassadors of the world and the fact that we now had a King, apparently my application to become monarch in the event of the death of the great lady had been ignored so I just hoped that Charles was up for the role.
It also added a whole new set of problems to our plans, wouldn’t you know, as daughter Zoe and I had arranged Jo’s burpday treat as a trip to London! With Jo now aware of some of her surprise it gave her plenty of time to panic about the sheer volume of people all arriving at the same time as us in the capital and the practical considerations of getting food on the day of the funeral when the papers were full of information on the shops and eateries that would be closing for the day, I mean how was I going to survive if everywhere was closed and my tummy needed breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks! The women decided that provisions would be taken with us and as I climbed onto the coach that would speed us to the south I just hoped that the quantity of people arriving for possibly the biggest funeral ever held in the world wouldn’t squish me under foot.
Arriving late in the evening into Victoria Coach station I jumped down from our transport and led the way to the nearest taxi for a short ride to the first night’s digs. A fairly uncomfortable night ensued but I was delighted to see that the hostel provided a very cheap each as much as you want breakfast, I tucked in until I felt fit to burst at which point I started to add to the provisions already purchased from the large fruit bowl, well you can never have too much fruit.
Our first stop of the day was to that nights accommodation to drop off the baggage and having navigated my small group along the streets and up and down the underground with was accomplished with surprising ease.
With the luggage left we headed off for the first stop of the day one of my favourite places that we had discovered on our last trip to the city several years ago, the Victoria and Albert Museum known to all as the V and A. The Victoria and Albert Museum is the world’s largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts, and design, with a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and covers 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) with 45 galleries, most of which is free to visit.
With a set amount of time available before the big event of our trip I had voted to head to the exhibit of pop and rock fame feeling that this would be enjoyed by all three of us. Having navigated my way past a number of naked male sculptures I found an information point and asked for directions, the young man shook his head whilst informing me that the exhibit was currently closed and wouldn’t be reopened for several weeks, not having weeks to wait I felt at a loss as where to take the ladies on our whistle stop tour.
As his sad eyes looked up at me, I really felt for him, but I was happy to see anything that the museum offered and suggested that we set off in one direction and see what we came across.
Woolly says – Delighted that I had not ruined the whole burpday trip at the first hurdle I followed Jo through a section on African fashion which proved to be rather interesting especially when it came to some dresses that were made out of household products, pegs and old laundry containers.
Moving further into the museum we arrived at a section which displayed parts of rooms that had been transported to the site for prosperity, a Chinese area with some beautiful inlaid furniture took my eye as did the Music Room which had once been located in Norfolk House, St James Square having been decorated in 1756.
A large display of teapots sat next to a sculpture of the famous composer of Handel creator of some wonderful music.
Exhibits of gigantic silver wine coolers and the most exquisite violin and cello where definitely worth having a peek at.
We arrived in a section dedicated to British royalty which seemed rather apt, as we studied all sorts of items from the reign of Charles I and Charles II, it was strange to think that we now have a Charles III, who hopefully wouldn’t wear such weird wigs that his predecessors had chosen.
A glove that had belonged to James I was incredible in its detailing as was a huge bed known as the great bed of Ware from 1590.
A beautiful jewel caught my attention and I paused to read the information that told me that it had been given to Sir Francis Drake in 1586 by the then Queen, Elizabeth I.
With time ticking away we started to make our escape, but a number of items just need to be looked at including a very fetching tapestry of an elephant, a whole wall tapestry which was in incredible condition and some beauties known as the Dacre Beasts. The four Dacre beasts had spent four hundred years at Naworth Castle in Cumbria which was owned by the Dacre family. Without a doubt the fish creature was my instant favourite.
Rushing onwards we found ourselves in an immense hall with the biggest pictures I had ever seen, even better than the vastness of the canvasses was the incredibly large piece at the end of the room detailing the story of St Georges life and death.
Racing past Tipo’s tiger that we had seen on our previous visit We sped out of the museum pausing for a mere moment for Jo to capture one of the beautiful building opposite before disappearing into the depths of the underground system.
Within twenty minutes we had climbed back up to daylight and into an area that we knew well, Leicester Square. Passing the Chinese quarter made my tummy rumble as I realised that we hadn’t had lunch yet, I crashed into Zoe as she stopped abruptly outside a shop. Looking upwards I realised why and clapping my paws in delight followed her into all things Potter.
Just as Jo and I were settling in to look at each house’s items on sale, Zoe raced across to us mouthing ‘we need to go, NOW, it starts in fifteen minutes’. Panic ensued as we raced up the road skidding to a halt at the Palace Theatre and the main reason for our trip, to see the stage production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Having climbed the fifty flights of stairs to the balcony and squeezed ourselves into an incredibly small seat my tummy let out the loudest of roars, the women both turned towards me looking worried at attracting attention if it was to continue while the actors were on stage and thrust the snacks in my direction and left me to take matters into my own paws.
It was an interesting way to stage a production, made in two parts you could book to see part one and return on another day to see the second or see both on the same date meaning two and half hours with a break followed by another two and half hours.
Woolly says – It was a long time to sit still, a very long time, at points I struggled to hear some of the cast members but this was more than made up for by the incredible effects used as they threw spells at each other, disappeared into thin air and flew from over our heads. The hour and half break was most welcome when it arrived and having raced back to the Potter shop we finally got to eat a full meal which gave us all the ability to carry onto the second half of the performance. As the curtain came down at the end we all agreed that we had enjoyed it but that the majority of the last forty minutes could have been cut out without losing anything in the script.
Having climbed back down to street level we went underground once more popping up at the side of the river Thames for a chance to see some of the city lit up at night. It was rather lovely although not as bright as it would be usually due to the sad circumstances. It was also the first time where we had encountered the queues to see the lying in state where people had waited for up to sixteen hours to view the coffin and pay their respects.
With our feet and legs aching and our bodies exhausted we walked the short distance to the digs and happily climbed under the covers hoping to regain some energy for the following day.