To give myself more of a chance of being able to take another day off and visit the fair later in the week, I popped to Oxford Street to shop for a few things that were on my week's To Do list.
I spotted this fun knitting-themed window at H&M...
... and remembered to pop into Cloth House on nearby Berwick Street, which someone recently recommended to me as a place to find lots of yummy haberdashery goodness.
Then I walked to the British Museum, which I haven't visited since a school trip when I was at primary school (so, over 20 years ago).
The British Museum is rather huge! There is room after room after room of amazing things from all over the world and so much stuff to see that it is slightly overwhelming.
It is always an odd sensation looking at very old things, they can make your life seem very small and fleeting, and it is also always slightly strange to find yourself looking at objects you recognise from books - be they super famous things like the Rosetta stone, or a sculpture of a leopard you remember from a book about African art (it was a pretty cool leopard).
Basically, wandering around this museum slightly broke my brain as well as wearing out my feet. But, you know, in a good way!
I only managed to see about half the rooms, and am already planning another visit to see the rest... and to revisit some rooms and objects which I found really interesting the first time round. Some of my faves? The Egyptian and Assyrian sculptures, this gold wreath, the Chinese ceramics (I always love a nice ceramics gallery!), and all the awesome stuff in the Mexican gallery, like this double-headed serpent.
I've also started listening to A History of the World in 100 Objects online - a BBC radio series that explores world history through objects in the British Museum. Once I've listened to all the episodes, I'm going to print out a list of the objects (and their locations in the museum) and see as many as I can on my return visit.
I went home via Russell Square, which doesn't have escalators down to the platforms but instead has a spiral staircase with 175 steps. Love those tiles!
Sadly I didn't end up making it to the Country Living Fair - I'd hoped to be able to take another day off at the weekend and go then, but a combination of a nasty cold and a looming deadline put paid to that plan. Ah well, there's always next year, right? Many thanks to the lovely Julia Davey for the free ticket, anyway! You can find Julia's ceramics and other charming designs HERE.
Despite forgetting ticket looks like you had a wonderful day. OHh thank you for writing about the art pass I have just bought one .Hopeful I too will be having fortnightly days out.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was very annoying to miss out on the CL fair but luckily there is a lot of other good fun to be had in London :)
ReplyDeleteHave fun with your Art Pass!
I really enjoyed the British Museum last time I went. The highlight was a guided tour through the African section the guide was so good and we learnt a lot about the masks and the traditional African textiles. I would recommend taking the free tours they are well worth the time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, Clare! I can't remember the last time I actually went on a tour or used one of those audio guides when visiting a museum, etc, I really must give them a try :)
ReplyDelete