Grandma Goes Coastal: August 09, London

Today, like many days, was divided into two parts: morning and afternoon! When one rises and shines at about 4:30 a.m., even a leisurely cup of "coffee" along with something to eat and spending time reading Daf Yomi only gets you to about 6:00 a.m. Where to go? Either explore city streets or a park. I chose the latter, so off to Hyde Park once again it was.

Henry Moore:

Couple on a bench:

Hyde park has special horse lanes: wide swaths of sand: Here are a couple kicking up some dust:

Oh, tally ho! I say, is that the cavalry racing along?

You can almost hear the trumpets even though they are not in the picture.

This colorful avian creature has a fearsome itch:

Some are prettying up; some are having a chit-chat:

And this one is so don't bother me!

Sir, do you have a reservation? No? Oh, I see. Well there seems to be only one spot available at the moment. Will that do?

There was a triathalon happening in the park, which, I realized later, is why some of the runners were jogging along wearing bathing caps. Here is a group getting ready for, or just having finished, the swim portion:

In the park is an Italian Garden. An Italian Garden has to have at least one fountain:

Already in the neighborhood, I decided to give the Victoria and Albert another go. Good move! Now, to get to almost anywhere at the V&A, you have to walk through the long sculpture hall. where this bust of Dr. Anthony Addington by Thomas Banks caught my attention:

We are told that despite the life like appearance of the sitter, the bust is based on a death mask cast directly from Dr. Addington's face after death. (Uhhh, not life-like looking to me!)

Time to make a bee line to the jewelry collection:

As you might guess, there were many, many dazzling pieces.

Darling, with my black sheath, shall I wear the blue?

or the green?

Some pieces were actually practical, like this silver and ruby Spanish hair comb:

And some—though not many— utterly charming:

Behind this tiara is a sad story.

When Prince Albert died in 1861, Queen Victoria was so devastated, she could not go out or do anything, to the extent that she could not even fulfill her royal duty of being present for the ceremonial opening of parliament for FIVE YEARS! Finally, in February, 1866, when she could summon up the strength to officiate, she wore this modest tiara that Albert had designed for her:

Some pieces were, uhh, ugly:

and/or strange:

I will call that one Spaghetti with Olives.

Bouquet of stems of yucca, wheat, lavender, rosemary and poppy.

How it was meant to be worn we are not told, but it might, or might not, pair with these shoes from Harrods:

What is clever about this necklace is the way it opens and closes:

You see that green heart in the center? It splits into two, right down the middle!

The display did not stop with wearables. There were, for example, jewel encrusted boxes:

And goblets such as this one that has a lid affixed in such a way that seemed to render the goblet impossible to drink from:

All jeweled out, I hunted for the Jacobean and Tudor rooms, but could not find them, so I retraced my steps to Harrods to buy something good to eat. Whilst first perusing (again) their jewelry section, I engaged in conversation with a man who worked at the Cartier display. When he found out that I could not gain admittance to the exhibit at the V&A, he showed me photos of some of the items on his phone. I could see why you cannot get a ticket until September. Why not take a peak to get a taste.

Food supplies acquired, it was time for the afternoon plan. The info on Google Maps made it clear that the only way I could get back to the hotel to drop off my food supplies before heading to the zoo, was to take a TAXI, which, like the tube, I had never done before. It worked out just fine!

A thirty minute walk through Regent's Park got me to the zoo. As did Alex in 2023, I saw a coyote in the park: