Wednesday, 10 March 2004

A perfect evening at the V&A Museum

Wednesday (March 10), I finished the Da Vinci Code by Dan brown and attempted a walk around town. The goal was to visit the Notting Hill area. So off I went, always ending up in weird places because I would get off the subway at random stations and find out what was above.
I cannot remember the exact route I took but eventually I was at Notting Hill. It was not busy at all because it was a weekday. So I would get into a shop to warm up and see the vintage/second hand clothes. I really enjoyed trying out some of these outfits. It was like carnival in winter and getting a totally new crazy look on a whim. There were also a couple of shops with indian shawls and glittery stuff.
One shop had the most outrageously ugly dresses in my opinion. Denim dresses or skirts, with appended frousfrous with various motifs. Well, the shop owner assured me those were totally hip and on the runways. I assumed therefore that the price wouldn't be worth looking at! But it was entertaining how creative she was.
All in all, the eighties were definitely back. I was almost expecting Johny Depp in his mohawk style, and all the Fame's cast to stroll in the streets....I, on the other hand, was not too excited to dress the way I did back then...you don't want to see how THAT looked like (psychedelic) 

While getting out of that flashback shop, I was approached by this man who, of course, used the most common pick up line in my case: "Where are you from? Are you from the Phillipines? (or Sri lanka/Cambodia, etc..)" I kind of nodded and fled to the next shop. Later on, maybe 30min later, while I was walking to the nearest bus stop, I passed by this big white house, and the guy was beckoning me and yelling "hellooo" to invite me in. Seeing that I was not coming, he got downstairs and asked me for lunch. Well, I was getting cold and frankly, he didnt look like a murderer (hum...bad assumption, right?) 

So we went into this coffee shop, and I had something to nibble as well. I so invented my life again right there, like a complete mythomane. Something about being on holiday and living in France really. The objective as usual was to convey that I am somehow familiar with the place and not lost alone. Anyway, after that I left the poor guy (cannot even remember his name, how lame).
I was to meet Alan and I also wanted to visit Harrods, again. That Harrods is a total museum is an understatement. Unlike la Samaritaine in Paris, it has a very kitch style. Everything is so overdone, but well done also. I was tempted to take pictures but then I was alone so couldnt really capture that beautiful kodak moment.
After a while I got out of that stuffy place, but not before salivating in front of the chocolat department.


Victoria & Albert Museum
The V&A museum is only a few blocks away from Alan's work. So we got in there and had a pleasant surprise. It turned out that on Wednesdays, there is a little soiree at the museum. A Chamber music was playing in a corner of the lobby and a wine bar was serving by the glass to museum goers. In the lobby, a glass structure was hanging from the ceiling, over the heads of half drunk people chilling on the several sofas.

There were also several seminars going on. The building was very beautiful, with a full decorated dome and long galleries. We strolled around in the asian department then got the word that we had to leave our glasses at the bar..oops! After that we went upstairs, took some pictures from the balcony and ended up in the metal department, or was it the technology department? Anyway, there were a couple of stations with activities. And we hung out in the silver craftsmanship station. Alan used one machine to make an impression on a silver coin-like thing and gave it to me...It was a very nice evening, and we stayed until pretty late.
On our way back home, Alan decided (or was it me?) to go for the curry place across the street. And what a feast we had! I have never eaten so much...except at a buffet. The mango lassi was real good too, and we were so hungry we really stuffed ourselves. Seriously, what a day! Just perfect...and the apartment was not far so we dragged ourselves across the street, and crashed...I was having way too much fun!

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