Even though our hotel is right beside the British museum, we opt to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington. Another bus ride as it's practically door-to-door service on one route and we are liking the bus over the tube.
This museum is huge with a lot of artifacts on display. The building itself inside too is beautiful architecture. Museums are free here and it feels odd to just walk in - with no security check even and just start browsing through the museum. There is likely state of the art security as the jewellery exhibit alone has things like one of Queen Victoria's crowns among many other sparkly, expensive things.
Some masterworks and famous artifacts here too - like Raphael's cartoons and the Great Bed of Ware:
We spend a long time here (about 5 hours) as there are so many things to see like ceramics, ironworks, glass. The more curated sections of the museum are a little bit easier to digest as some areas (like the ceramics and even the jewellery) had so many artifacts on display it was hard to take it all in.
We take a black cab for the first time from the museum over to Harrod's (though it's a short distance). Harrod's is big, high-end department store. I read they have good food there and their food market does look good - but there is nowhere to sit and eat your food once you buy it - so we opt for a snack instead before a late dinner. The store itself is beautifully appointed but not very busy when they are selling sofa's for £20,000+. We poke around but don't buy anything.
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We head back, had a short nap, got cleaned up and head over to Brunswick Square Gardens for some Vietnamese food. They read my mind and put no cucumbers and added coriander to my Vermicelli dish. We both fully enjoyed a delicious meal. Popped into the gelato place next door for some yummy hazelnut gelato. I wanted to walk through the park (at dusk) but my security detail (Carrie) eyed a sketchy dude and directed us against that move. Probably good anyway, as my feet and body was pretty sore at this point - the days of walking were starting to catch up.
