And on to London

When I first planned this trip, the idea was to have some time in London before flying back to Seattle for Christmas, so I booked us into out trusty hotel flat at the Chelsea Cloisters. Of course, as soon as the payment was made for the room, we got a request for a house sit in Wimbledon and since we had nothing going on over Christmas anyway, we took it. Had the flat not been prepaid, I would have looked for a short sit. Oh, well. We would have 8 days to "do Christmas". So we bade our wonderful kitty charges farewell (I'll really miss them) and took the train from Gloucester. Two changes later we arrived at Paddington Station, all dressed up in its Christmas finery.

We had a great cabbie for our ride to the flat. The driver and Bruce talked pubs for the whole ride. We arrived too early to check in, so we checked our bags and headed out - Bruce to a pub, me to the V&A Museum. I was greeted by this year's Christmas tree, "All Lit Up" by Anna Lomax.

Every year, the V&A commissions an artist to create a bespoke Christmas tree installation. Anna Lomax took the columns in the museum's dome as inspiration, reimagining the solid structure as a tree. It's also a nod to Prince Albert who brought the tradition of the Christmas tree to England.

I knew I only had a small amount of time to kill, so I walked through the fashion hall and from there I saw a new exhibition just ahead of me, The Raphael Cartoons. I only recently learned that cartoons are not just animated entertainments. The word was originally used to describe the material on which another work of art is based, be it a painting or, as in this case, a tapestry. The history of these cartoons dates to 1515 and 1516, when Pope Leo X commissioned Raphael to create the designs on which tapestries for the Sistine Chapel would be based. These cartoons are enormous and beyond valuable. Many of the ones on display were lent to the V&A by HRH King Charles III.

The Death of Ananias:

Christ's Charge to Peter:

For me, the best part of the exhibition was seeing the cartoon by Raphael next to the actual tapestry made from the design.

Also in that gallery was the Altarpiece of St. George, made in Valencia, Spain about 1420-25.

On the stairs leading down to the Raphaels are the marvelous Dacre Beasts which, for nearly 500 years, stood in the main hall of Naworth Castle in Cumbria.

Given how prominent the genitalia on the first three were, I was surprised the artist didn't find a way to give the fish balls.

Having gotten a text that the room was ready, I left the V&A, planning to return the next day.