Tue 6 Aug - London, England

David Bowie is here...

We did not have much else planned for today except to finally see the David Bowie exhibition on at the Victoria and Albert (also known as V&A) museum.

So we took it fairly leisurely in the morning, washed a few more clothes and then set off just after 9am as we had tickets for the 10.45am time slot for the exhibition.

We wandered down towards the museum via back streets, very posh with private gardens. All good and well to have your private garden but don't dare think about having any fun...

We stopped at Cromwell and Gloucester roads to do some postal tasks and have a coffee. No photos - all a bit mundane but leisurely.

Of course we arrived at V&A early and were pleased we had our tickets already...the queue was long for punters without...

We were told we could not enter before our allocated time slot so we took a wander around the ground floor and garden. We liked the entry and the courtyard.

Di is the small figure in blue near the doorway.

There was a small wading pool in the courtyard and we took particular notice of rule #2 - Keep your clothes on (definitely not a German tradition despite Prince Albert being a German!)

The building is lovely and the rear section was once dedicated to science and learning - hence the astute motto.

Our time slot arrived and we queued again - this time in the sculpture room - for our turn and our headsets.

The sculpture area did make us laugh - particularly with this pompous "quack" (no really, that is how they described him). Apparently the statue was supposed to be in Westminster Abbey but they changed their mind once they saw it. Understandable in our view.

No photos allowed in the David Bowie exhibition, so this is one of the publicity shots from the website.

We found the David Bowie exhibition a bit frustrating for a few reasons - crowds, irrelevant materials of others and the information was not well displayed. It also was not in chronological order and it took us a while to work out that it was broken into sections such as touring, fashion, innovation, promotion and influences etc. As a result Ziggy Stardust was mentioned in each room. Lots of outfits and video clips but almost nothing personal and big chunks of time missing (like the 80's). Still, we appreciated his uniqueness and liked the music from our Sennhesier headsets.

Around 1pm we left and went looking for lunch. Cheap £7 noodle box but we got what we paid for - not much.

We gradually wandered home and searched for an ATM on the way as we needed some cash. London is not cheap (understatement) and we are spending at least £50 a day. A quick stop at an RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) ATM was useless - we went right through the process and it said "counting cash" for a long time then shut down with a "temporary out of order" message, dispensing nothing! Yep, Di is right, thumbs down for this banking experience.

Postnote: We checked later and there was no withdrawal recorded at RBS, better check just in case there was a scam of some sort.

Back in our hotel for tea downstairs in the common room and some blogging before we go our separate ways for evening plans - a facial for Di and drinks with an acquaintance for Hans.

Just after 5pm we headed off. Hans for bus 28 to a pub near Earl's Court called Atlas and Di a short walk for a quick bite of dinner and a facial. Dressed to kill... Nah, hardly...

Di's dinner was a nice Thai beef salad and she then went next door for her "sensitive facial" which turned out to be vigorous and at times a little rough. These older Thai ladies can have strong leathery hands and this beautician was true to form. Good for exfoliation but not relaxing - still the skin is "bewdiful" now.

As bus 28 arrived at the bus stop at the same time as Hans, he was early for the 6pm pub catch up. Hans exited at Lillie Road to walk a few blocks to Atlas pub on Seagrave Street. Along the way, this sign... Clever, hey?

A couple of shots of Atlas Pub before proceedings began as Hans knew that it would not happen later... Looked nice and similar to Churchill Arms on the outside.

Earls Court Exhibiton Centre in the background.

As Hans was early, he wandered around the neighborhood for a little while and when he came back, Mark Moxon was there, with his wife Peta arriving just a little bit later.

 

Well, it was the first time that Hans has met Mark and Peta in person, but after having read Mark's free e-book "When I walk, I bounce" about the LEJOG walk, that is long distance walking across the two extremes of UK from Land's End in Cornwall to John O'Groats in Scotland, and also following Mark online, you kind of feel that you almost "know" somebody. This is the link to Mark's website if anybody is interested.

http://www.landsendjohnogroats.info/

 

Hans contacted Mark online a little while ago to see whether it was possible to catch up for a beer once we arrived in London, and it was...

 

So, we drank pints of beer, had dinner and chatted not just about long distance walking but a whole range of topics. The Moxons are going to Central and South America for 12 months from October this year, so that was obviously discussed.

 

Mark and Peta Moxon.

Hans dinner. Not your usual pub fare at Atlas but salmon and fish balls with spinach and hollandaise sauce. Very nice.

Time flew unbelievably fast and by 10.30pm or so, we called it quits. After all, the Moxons do have jobs to go to tomorrow and for a little while yet.

 

Hans wandered with Mark and Peta to Earls Court tube station where we parted separate way. They took the tube and Hans wandered north on Warwick Road back to London Visitor Hotel. A very pleasant evening.

 

Good night.

 

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