A different side of the city

We spent Monday afternoon in and around Spitalfields, then.  Tuesday morning began in the City but we meandered westwards to take in Marylebone High Street, Daunt Books and VV Rouleaux.  On Tuesday evening we enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Galvin La Chapelle, which was a real treat.

We saved the pageantry for yesterday.

We had tickets to see the Victoria and Albert in Love exhibition at the Queens Gallery, having heard good things and watched a fascinating TV programme when it first opened.  It didn’t disappoint.  From the minute we stepped inside the viridian green room with Winterhalter’s family portrait there in front of us, we found ourselves fascinated by the paintings, the jewellery and the odd curiosity such as the ivory throne.

My favourite was the cabinet of sketchbooks and the “souvenir journals”, so reminiscent of the kind of thing I enjoy creating myself.  It was easy to imagine evenings spent looking through this very personal record of places visited and rather touching to think that they too valued this kind of souvenir of a special day.

Yes, there’s bling – not everything there was to our taste – but we felt that the exhibition offered a real insight into the couple and left feeling very pleased we’d been to see it.

As we left, we turned the corner to find something going on.

Crowds assembled, in the usual places. 

Police horses were petted and thousands of photographs must have been taken to record the event

but I’m afraid this is the best I could do!

We left the crowds behind and strolled up Birdcage Walk, showered in lime tree debris as we went, to meet Edward for lunch and an afternoon in his company.

He went off for his singing lesson and left us to enjoy an evening of fun.  Well, it doesn’t have to be all high culture, does it?