martinimade

This will be the last installment of U.K. pictures. Prepare to be either sad or elated, depending on how you personally feel about looking at pictures of someone else's trip. 

I made it to the V&A, where I was greeted by Chihuly, whose work really is everywhere.

One of the current exhibits is Disobedient Objects, which is about the intersection of art and protest. One of my localish groups is featured.

A question we still have to ask. 

Does this remind anyone else of Donkey from Shrek? Just me, then?

This crypt amused me, mostly because of how inflexible the deceased's clothes are.

The museum has a big courtyard and fountain in the middle of it. Kids are encouraged to play in the water. What you can't tell from the photo is how flippin' chilly it was. Not sure how those kids didn't get frostbite. Which is something my parents would say, come to think of it.

One of the collections that drew me to the V&A is their theater/performance focus. I could have spent even more time poking around in there. The curators walk you through the whole process, from idea to casting to rehearsal to performance. And they've thought to collect the items the audience never sees, like prompt books:

There was a scale model of a set for Sweeney Todd and you could play with the sliders to see what light can do:

And a scale model of a fly system:

It's the sort of resource that I wish our students had access to. Sadly, until such time as Star Trek-style transporters are on campus, not gonna happen.

One of my other favorite sections involved collected bits of old (old) houses. 

Further proof that little boys have been the same since the dawn of time:

It was a fountain. You can imagine where the water came from. 

Oh - and I couldn't resist tea and a scone.

I've fallen in love with clotted cream. Why is there not more clotted cream in the States? Seriously. We're missing out.

While wandering, I've found the tile I want in the house that Scott and I will retire in. I mean, as long as I'm living in a fantasy world, might as well go all in.

And on the walk back to my hotel, I found my future car:

And ... there is one more U.K. story to tell but, to be a total tease, I'm saving it for this week's mother runner column. Yes, it does involve running.

After a long series of planes, trains, and automobiles, I'm home again and about to leap my jet-lagged self back into classes. My luggage decided to spend some additional time in the Dulles airport. I hope that we will be reunited soon. Such are the perils of air travel, I guess, and a little irritation is a small price to pay for such a lovely trip.