Victoria and Albert Museum

We went to the V&A Museum to see the first ever exhibition of Raphael's cartoons and tapestries (brought specially from Sistine Chapel) together. What an experience it was. It was so remarkable to watch the tapestry and the cartoon of the same scene and try and find out the differences. In some places the weavers had used their own initiative but mostly they were remarkably same. 


After that we explored a bit more of the sprawling museum. When I am in a museum I can never take photographs. I feel I need to concentrate on the artefacts in front of me and not in taking photographs. We loved the South Asian, Middle Eastern and Fashion sections. The museum was filled with art students copying the masters or doing some kind of innovation of their own. In fact the museum has an exhibition of the works of young artist which are inspired by the museum's artefacts.


In the Greek statue section we had a huge debate on whether paintings were more beautiful than statues. I was all for paintings while my husband for statues.


After that it was time for tea, it was a blessed relief to sit down after walking around for almost four/five hours. The museum has a lovely cafe, not so much the food but the sitting area. 

Sitting there sipping tea and eating scones it was so easy to drift back to the past. I am sure at one point this room used to host great costume balls. It even had a grand piano. In my mind's eye I could almost see the ornately dressed lords and ladies dancing away to lovely music and the sound of merry laughter floating by.