Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Travel Diary: London Day 2

Day 2 started early and after only 6 hours of sleep, I was wide awake and ready to go.  After sleeping in a plane, to sleep in a bed felt so sweet, but with plenty to see I didn’t want to waste time.

I started the day grabbing a Pasty, which is sort of like the British equivalent of a Jamaican Beef Patty.  Hot potato, onion and beef in a warm flakey pastry shell.  Satisfying, affordable and easy to take on the go.  Pasty stands are at every major train station I’ve seen thus far.

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After checking out a Sunday morning service, I headed towards the South Kensington area to try a crepe that my friend informs me is better than Paris.  I’ve never been to Paris, but I have to say that I’m not sure that I can imagine a better crepe. I split with my friend and tried both a sweet and savory version.

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I passed some delightful street scenes as I headed towards the V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum) to catch the Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes exhibit.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from an exhibit about a dance company, but it was something I was told would definitely be influencing designers in upcoming seasons.

Ida Rubinstein as Zobeide and Vaslav Nijinsky as the Golden Slave in Schéhérazade, published by Georges Barbier, 1913, dedicated to the bookseller and balletomane Cyril Beaumont. Museum no. S.15-2001Poster for the Ballets Russes at the Théatre du Châtelet, Paris, 1909, featuring illustration by Valentin Serov of Anna Pavlova in Chopiniana. Museum no. S.561-1980Detail of costume for Mariuccia in The Good-Humoured Ladies, designed by Léon Bakst, 1920s. Museum no. S.148-1985Cover of Le Théatre showing Tamara Karsavina in costume as the Firebird, May 1911. V&A Theatre & Performance CollectionsCostumes for Polovtsian Warriors in Prince Igor, designed by Nicholas Roerich, 1909. Museum no. S.577&A,B-1980 and S.576C-1980; S.588&B-1980 and S.587A-1980

While photography was forbidden, here are a few images from the V&A website of what I saw. It was interesting to note that amongst the contributors to costume and set design over the years were greats in their respective fields like Picasso and Yves Saint Laurent.  I learned that it was a dance company that influenced and was influenced by art, music and fashion in it’s own time.

IMG_9217IMG_9225IMG_9226After the exhibit, I didn’t have time to see much else in the V&A because I wanted to have a look at luxe, traditional British retailer Harrod’s before dinner.IMG_9246IMG_9240IMG_9238I have a bit of a weakness for great window displays but could only snap a few scenes as I was afraid my camera was losing batteries.  The window’s in Harrod’s this year were inspired by Peter Pan.  My favorite scene was the one of models floating in clouds above a peaceful London night.

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It was also my first time seeing all the food dedicated areas of Harrod’s.  It seemed like endless rooms dedicated to Chocolate, Seafood, Candy, Jams & cookies alongside areas for eating various prepared foods like sushi.  I must go back later on in this trip to check out French macaron shop La Duree.

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I finished the night off in Angel (apparently a hip area with lots of resto & bars) for some ultra affordable cuisine at Le Mercury.  Le Mercury had a very cozy, casual feel that would be perfect for dates. The range of options was fairly broad and the portion sizes were quite generous.  I didn’t realize it was a French restaurant until after dinner, otherwise I might not have ordered my very Brit menu selections but it was Sunday and Sunday Roast called me.  I also had wine poached pear with blue cheese and walnuts in Balsamic and finished with some Banoffee pie. By the time I finished dinner I was done for the day.

4 comments:

claire said...

hi erin,

are you korean? :)

Erin said...

Hi Claire, yes I am :-) how did you know?

Anonymous said...

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A nice post about travel to London.
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cousin mgk said...

yum yum and yum! sounds like you're having a blast. it's been a bit blustery here so i'm glad you headed across the Atlantic instead. but i can't wait until you're home for Christmas and we're flying down a hill on my toboggan!

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