London: Victoria & Albert Museum

I really like this carving of "V&A" along the balcony in the lobby of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Trademark? Logo? Brand?

One Saturday morning Lilian, William, Fiona and I took the train into London and then the underground to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The V&A does a neat program for children - you can check out an activity backpack that has materials for a child to explore one of the galleries. I think they have backpacks for five different galleries. The activity packs make the gallery experience more interesting for the children, which gives the parents some time to explore AND it lets the children discover that there are interesting things in the museum. Win-win situation. For the record, William was most interested in riding on the train and the underground, but that is helpful for future adventures around the country too.

William loved the train ride into London.
And the London Underground and the train ride out of London.
He tolerated the museum, but I can't say he liked it.

Lilian was pretty excited about the train ride too.

Fiona's nice purple specs
(A little less thrilled than the children about the train ride)

OK. Confession time.
There is a McDonald's in Waterloo station.
We used it to bribe the children to get out and explore London.
It worked. The children enjoyed both.
You use the tools you have available.

This is a giant piece (over 30 feet tall) of Dale Chihuly's glasswork that is hanging in the main lobby of the V&A. His glass work is beautiful and these giant ones are just awesome.

Here are a few other large Chihuly installations I really like. (Not photos we shot). First, "Sunburst" in the lobby of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. A gift from Cargill and Donna MacMillian. (Minneapolis says thank you!)



I spent a few days in the Bahamas at Atlantis a few years ago they have two other large Chihuly installations - "The Temple of the Moon" and "The Temple of the Sun."










OK, just one more. There is a Chihuly installation on the ceiling of the lobby of the Bellagio.

This is the official end of the memory lane tour of Chihuly glass Chuck has seen. Memorable work.

We now return you to The Mpls Andersons Abroad trip to the Victoria and Albert Museam in London and photos we actually took...

Fiona, William, Lilian (and the activity backpack from the V&A)

For the record, Lilian chose which gallery the backpack was for (really I had no idea what the options were) she chose the the glass exhibit!

Lilian as museum explorer and tour guide

Lilian drawing one of her favorite pieces in the exhibit

Victoria

Albert


A very cool glass staircase -- the railing posts are stacks of square pieces of glass with a chrome bolt down the middle that holds them together. The pieces are twisted just a bit, which makes the light reflect in quite an interesting way. Only after climbing the staircase did I realize that the stair treads and the mezzanine floor above are all made of the same glass.
Very cool.
William, Fiona & Lilian walk by fascinated by other things...


The railings at the edge the mezzanine level. This gives you a sense of the way the light plays off the squares that are 'twisted' just a bit from being in a straight even stack. The photo doesn't do it justice.