History two ways

Some time ago, we received an invitation to attend a lecture about the Zulu Wars, to be held at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington Gore.  Not exactly my kind of thing but rather more appealing to the historian in the family, who accepted his father’s suggestion to take my place without too much persuasion. 

I wasn’t going to forego the chance to spend a day in London though, so began to make a plan or two.  At first I was tempted to schlep across the city to Spitalfields and this year’s Origin exhibition, but thinking about the balance of time, effort and reward, I reconsidered.

Especially when I came across this.  After all, I had never been to Kensington Palace and the exhibition sounded intriguing.

 

So, after a spot of lunch in Kensington High Street, we made our way to the entrance, walking three sides of the rectangle to get there.

There is plenty of work going on and that part of the park is looking a little forlorn.

At times we thought we’d never get there but there were reassuring messages on the fence. 

We weren’t sure what to expect, but making our way through a side entrance we found the way in and were handed exhibition guides and a pencil each. “The exhibition is very interactive,” we were told.

We began our tour by “sneaking up the WRONG stairs”, to the Room of Beginnings where an atmospheric installation was designed as a kind of signpost to the three parts of the tour.  We followed the instructions to the letter, I solved the puzzles to name the seven princesses and can say that we both enjoyed the experience on the whole.  Having said that, some parts were more successful than others, some of which we felt didn’t work at all.

We were lucky that there were not many visitors there and questioned what it would be like on a crowded weekend.  The first room in particular was challenging with just the pair of us and another couple in it (though they were pushing a sleeping child in a buggy, too)   Named the “Room of Royal Sorrows”, the lighting and installation in there was beautiful if a little bewildering, unless you knew a little history/background.  Thankfully I was with “he who did”, because there was no way I could read the guidebook in the dim light! 

Following the route through a series of clever and intriguing (if somewhat sparse)  “sets” we encountered other visitors responding in a variety of ways.  One group of women were happy enough but were more interested in the “real” palace beyond this imaginary world.  Another family had teenagers along with them, who were clearly bored and resistant to playing along.  Though most appeared interested in the exhibition, we did wonder if anyone really understood it all – ourselves included, for though it was clever and well executed, it was also a fine example of that rather ethereal, other-worldly triumph of style over content.  Ultimately, we both felt that we would have gained so much more had there been just a smidgeon more concrete information – the kind of background story the warder was regaling to the group of ladies at the top of the staircase, in fact.  The exhibition is on for another year, whilst the Palace renovations are completed in time for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

After all of that, a cup of tea was needed but as we sat in the Orangery, the rain began to fall.  With Oyster cards in hand, we hopped on the  next bus heading for Hyde Park Corner and made excellent use of our English Heritage membership cards at Apsley House.  Offering a straight take on the man and his life, this was as traditional an historic visit as they come and the glass cases and walls were full of precious things to see.

(not my photo but a Wikimedia Commons one – the sky was far from blue yesterday afternoon!)

Whether the Duke of Wellington really enjoyed having so many representations of Napoleon in his home, I have no idea, but here was a man defined by one immense life event.  It made a fascinating end to the afternoon and was the perfect foil to The Enchanted Palace. 

Whilst the chaps went to their presentation, I had planned to go to the Science Museum which was holding their monthly “late opening”.  But, not only did I not fancy trekking through the rainy streets for just an hour or two, I can’t say the subject matter was exactly enticing either!  So, I pottered around the shops of Kensington High Street and took up residence in WholeFoods with a pizza and a glass of red…

Duh

Not only have I misplaced my knitting mojo, I appear to have also lost my common sense.  My apologies to my friends who've left comments recently, which I seem to have inadvertently deleted irreversibly.

Now who's feeling pleased with herself?  Not me.

Today

I am aware that I’ve misplaced my knitting mojo. In an attempt to find it, I started a dishcloth.

 

Spotting the Toho bag on my worktable, I got the things together and replaced the “diamonds” in my pendant.

Whilst I was upstairs fetching my pendant, I spotted a freebie bag I was throwing away and decided to repurpose the frame.  Took a while but I managed to remove it cleanly and sometime soon, I’ll use it for a new bag.

Now, leaving a trail of half completed, works in progress, I’ll go off to a meeting which will last most of the afternoon.  When I come home, I’ll probably move right along from those three impetuous enthusiasms and do something altogether different.

One day, I’ll learn to focus.

My season

I could have guessed, the minute I went into the bathroom this morning and found the radiator on for the first time in months.

There might be a bright blue sky outside, the sun might be shining brightly but there is a distinct chill in the air and it actually felt rather cold when I left to do the shopping this morning.

Everything looks so lovely though.  It’s a great day for a wedding and I hope things are similarly bright and sunny up there in Scotland.

One last tiny strawberry remains on the plant which I think I’ll leave for a beady eyed creature.

My reward is to see this glorious colour clump in an otherwise dark and rather dreary flowerbed.

I’m an autumn girl, born when the days are getting shorter and when the sunshine warms my soul yet doesn’t burn my skin.

I was glad to put on another layer as I went out and enjoyed the fresh morning air. I’m ready to wrap up a little more, to put away the sandals and flowery tops in favour of cardigans and scarves.

I’m not the only one who’s noticed the change in the seasons.  Empty shelves in the supermarket revealed a run on porridge oats, on butterbeans and custard and it looked as though the sudden cold weather has caught them on the hop.  For once, the food buyers are not ahead of us where the seasons are concerned.

Though they were emptying the shelves for “Seasonal Stock” coming tomorrow, I was told.

Less structure – or more?

I’m thinking here about the Big Bambu which we saw yesterday morning…

Our last breakfast of the trip savoured and off we went again, enjoying another great late summer morning in the city.  Our hotel on 44th is ideally placed for everything and a short step to the bus stop, a ride uptown on the M2 and we were there at the Met in no time.

We’ve been so lucky with the weather this time.  It doesn’t really stop us from doing what we want, but being here under blue skies lifts the spirits so.

We had just a few hours so Edward zoomed off in the direction of his favourite Byzantine and Classical rooms, Mark and I made our way to the American Wing.

I can’t visit the Met without seeing the Tiffany windows

taking a close look at his drawings

and designs on furniture.

We spent a while in the room sets – this one from Richmond, VA.

However, it’s the stained glass windows which really make the heart sing.

The colours and textures within each small piece of glass are altogether breathtaking.

There were not too many people around, either, so we were lucky to have time and space to enjoy all the treasures as we wanted.

Time to admire the gorgeous arts and crafts era ceramics.

To savour those beautiful shapes and lustrous glazes.

After which we were meeting Edward up on the roof, firstly to admire the view, but then…

The Big Bambu!

The brothers are still working on this amazing structure and though we had no time to book a place on one of the tours, we could still walk amongst it, beneath the walkway where a guided tour was taking place.

Altogether an extraordinary installation, it soared above our heads, our beyond the parapet of the building and was growing outwards as more lengths of bamboo were being prepared and tied onto the framework.

Securely held together with polypropylene cord of varying thickness, it brought pictures of Asian scaffolding to mind, of building sites in Hong Kong where skyscrapers were constructed using this very technique.  The whole installation had an elegance and lightness and I regretted the fact that I couldn’t hover above it to get a glimpse of the whole assemblage.

Before we left, there was time for more conventional art.  The European galleries were more crowded by now, but there’s always time and space for  a little Van Gogh.

Some found it too much though, and curled up for a snooze!

For us, it was time to leave.  To make our way through the traffic jams created by the UN Assembly, under the watchful eye of New York’s Finest.

On arriving at JFK in plenty of time for our 10pm flight home, I half-seriously asked if there might be three seats on an earlier flight.  “Seven pm suit you?” was the reply.  So, after a speedy snack in the lounge we were away and six hours later woke to find ourselves about to land at Heathrow ahead of schedule.

Bless British Airways!