As we'd discussed, we arose early-ish to eat at the Services. We'd opted for Breakfast Baps which are a breakfast sandwich of kinds. With our stomachs full and our backpacks empty, we headed to the train station at High Barnet.
London boasts quite a few museums, some we've seen and some that we were going to tacklet today. But first . . fabric! SCAdians in these regions rumor about Classic Textiles on Goldhawk Road in London and I had been wanting to see it. Since it was the furthest out on the Underground exits, we decided (wisdom aside) to tackle it first. Since Classic Textiles is rumored to have quite the variety of silk and it compacts rather small and light, this should not be a problem. Well we went for silk but stopped for an extended stay in their Linen Department. The silk and linen selections were without compare and bolts were 4-6 deep in places lining the walls. I felt my transisters blow about 1/2 way through the store. Since I was there for SCA clothing, I decided to stay in the linen department and make my selections from there. We bought the standard fare of linen (no less than 4 meters of any one fabric) and that meant the new guy of 3 days had to deal with us. He was incredibly good natured and very helpful, although we tested his memory something fierce since they don't have a cutting table or tablets to write the quantities on for checkout. Our fabric bought, we tried to shove, stuff, or otherwise convince it to enter the backpacks .. Thanks to the room in Antina's pack which was filled with a portion of my purchases, all the fabric was on our backs. Anyone who has felt the weight of linen knows that if you are carrying around 16 or so meters of it on your back, it does tend to weigh quite a bit. But despite the weight we were smiling at what we'd obtained.
Back onto the Underground and on toward the Wallace Collection. The Wallace Collection (http://www.wallacecollection.org/) is a large home which contains several choice art pieces and some wonderous armor and weapondry. As we entered, the nice man at the front asked us to check our bags . . which we did gratefully, thankfully and with much relief. Unforunately, the Wallace Collection closed for conservation, a portion of the arms and armor which means that we'll have to take another trip back at some point. Antina enjoyed seeing a lot of paintings that had been referenced in college "up close and personal". The boys admired the "Laughing Cavallier" which was a painting in one of the grand rooms. We all pondered what we dubbed the "Dead Hare Room" where there were several paintings on one wall which all had a dead rabbit of some kind or another in them (two of the paintings were the same painting just mirrored images). David particularly enjoyed having a look at the next Spanish Cup Hilt Rapier that he would like to have. The second unfortunate thing was that we were not allowed to take pictures . . so we bought books instead. While purusing the bookshop . .um I mean gift shop, there was one book that was interesting but misbehaved as it continued to jump off the shelf at anyone who passed by. Books purchased, we took turns utlizing the restroom facilities which were the nicest I'd ever seen anywhere. Books in hand and bladders relieved, we were ready to head out, but since the backpacks were already full, we needed to carry the new book acquisitions. Hmm, this is going to be a longer day than anticipated and I'm really regretting not just bringing along my rolling suitcase.
Having looked at the opening and closing times ahead the night before, we knew that we could reach the Guards Museum to take a quick look before they closed. We were cutting to close, but by force marching 15 minutes from the train station to the museum we managed to make it just in time. We gladly checked the bags at coat check and purchased our tickets. Since we only had 30 minutes to see the museum, they were wonderful and gave us student admission prices for our tickets. The first thing we saw as we entered the museum proper was a coat exact to what we are used to seeing Ernie wear. The braiding on all the coats was phenomonal. Feeling elated about our tour, we stopped into the gift shop where Antina picked up a Guards Bear and as we were being escorted out, I decided I wanted one as well. The gentleman letting us out was the same from the gift shop so he put the boys on patrol guarding the gate at the Guards museum went back inside to help me take another bear home.
While I purchased my Guards Bear, the Boys got to looking at the schedule again and we found that we could make the Household Cavalry museum before it closed. New agenda in mind we set off through the park where we were approached by panhandling squirrels . . no kidding, these squirrels ran right up to you and sat there looking at you waiting for you to hand them some food. Hmm, if only we knew where in our overstuffed bags the rice krispie treat was hiding.
We arrived at the Household Cavalry fields and found that we'd just missed the parade and they were now in the proces of clean up. We entered the museum which had opened since 2006 and went into the wrong door for our entrance tickets. Having straightened that around, as we were checking in and got the standard questions about how we came to be visiting, David was given the military discount which caused all kinds of confusion. To clarify the confusion when it came to Mike and Antina's ticket purchases, Antina stated "two adults, nothing special" while she threw a smile at David for having caused so much trouble, which got a laugh from all. The horses had all been de-tacked and put back into their stalls and we had the opportunity to take alook through the glass. Since our previous museum stops had not allowed photography we made the presumption that this one was the same, but when we inquired we were thrilled to find that we could take pictures as long as we didn't startle the horses. Antina was excited to see a Napoleonic Eagle and they had Breyers in the gift shop.
With that museum under our belt, we headed toward the V&A which had later hours due to it being Friday night - BRILLIANT.
First stop, the Jewelery exhibit which was closed during Antina's visit in 2007. This gave me an opportunity to see the exhibit more thoroughly and look at some pieces a little closer than before. It gave the guys an opportunity to sit in the courtyard, talk a bit, and most importantly watch the bags while we explored the museum unencumbered. Antina's Comment: "Oooo . . look at the sparkly."
Once we'd been through the Jewelery exhibit, we found ourselves nearing 7 pm and in desparate need of FOOD. We made quick use of the cafeteria area and ate in the "blue room" or the "seasonal room" which is a dining room where the walls are tiled in blue and white tiles that together around the room display the different seasons. While we ate what we each felt was the best sandwich ever made (okay it was probably the hunger talking) we discussed what else we may want to see while we're here since the place was open until 10 pm.
We went through the Japanese Exhibit and rescued the new Jewelry Exhibition books from the gift shop before deciding we were exhausted and ready to head back to the hotel.
As we got back on the underground however, Mike mentioned that he wouldn't mind seeing Picadilly Circus . .to at least say he'd been there. So we went towards Picadilly and did our Groundhog imitation, which is to say that we popped outside the Underground long enough to take a quick look to say we'd been there and then hopped back on the underground headed back to High Barnett. The new target, to finish the day with some ice cream and see if we can find the monument to High Barnet battlefield.
On our drive from the train station to the hotel, we somehow missed the monument and so we decided that we'd just head back and worry about seeing it later. We returned to the hotel and dropped off our ill gotten gains and then met at the Services for ice cream. Unfortunately it was now 10 pm and that meant that most of the places were closed. We opted for some less than satisfying ice cream and discussed our plan for tomorrow . . for on the morning we were headed to an American Civil War reenactment on English soil!
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