Love story

I don't know of any country which has such an imposing and elaborate monument to the spouse of a monarch. The story of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, is one of royalty's true love stories.

This is the memorial to Queen Victoria's husband, Albert. It is on the edge of Hyde Park. The gold is actually two layers of gold leave, not paint.

Across the road is the Albert Hall.

We only went in to foyer. Look at this collage of people who have performed on the stage here. How many do you recoginse? This is only about half of the huge mural.

The V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum is massive! I spent about three hours one day and three hours on the next, and I still didn't see all of the incredible collection of art, sculpture, furniture, clothing, religious artifacts, and other design and architecture exhibits. Even the building is amazing. I cannot fit it into one photo.

At one of the entry doors there are a lot of holes in the stone work. These are from WWII bombs, left intentionally as a reminder of the war.

Just part of the main entry foyer.

A few pictures of just some of the exhibits:

A plaster cast of a doorway from the cathedral in Bologna.

 Naturally there are collections of teapots. This is Britain!

 More plaster casts including one of the statue of David.

 Romanian ceramics from around 1750.

 The swinging 60s.

A Bible with glossary from around 1200.

Intricate cast iron work.

Old and new in the same room.

So many beautiful things to see from all historical periods, and it is free! London has a lot of free museums and art galleries but is the only one I managed to get to.

One of three elaborately decorated rooms in the cafe, and the prettiest cafe trays ever, this one with a William Morris design. On my second visit I sat here with a coffee listening to a man playing the grand piano in the middle of the room. He was very good.