We just spent a long weekend in London for Charlotte’s birthday. It was her first extended time in the city, and the hour-long flight made for an easy trip.
Despite a winter storm rolling through the week of the trip we had (mostly) dry weather and the cooler temperatures were an easy tradeoff for fewer crowds. Highlights included meals at Ottolenghi and Dishoom as well as a lovely hotel stay off Sloane St. in Chelsea.1 That location was central enough to be convenient yet residential enough to be quiet and relaxing.
The out-of-hours tours that the British Museum offers are well worth the reasonable fee. You’re let into the museum an hour early and get a small group, guided tour of a particular section. Our guide to art in ancient Greece was excellent and it was wonderful to spend time in some of the galleries when they were effectively empty (we had just 12 people on our tour).
Tucked away in the museum’s Japan gallery is a cypress tray made by Onishi Isao. It’s unassuming and displayed with a short blurb about his technique and status as a Living National Treasure. It fascinates me every time I visit because, independent of the description, you’d be hard-pressed to identify it as a wooden tray. The lacquer is so smoothly applied and the cypress hoops so closely joined that it looks more like delicate ceramic than wood. Museums are at their best when they create space to experience what lifelong mastery of a craft looks like.
I find the monumental scale of London’s mega-museums awe-inspiring, no matter how many times I visit. That scale is easier to appreciate when they’re not crammed full of people. The vastness of the building has space to sink in when the galleries hold only a handful of people. January meant it was more like a 6 out of 10 on the crowd scale and at no point did we feel like sardines.
Our move to the Cork countryside is on the horizon for next month, which likely made this our last trip for the foreseeable future. We’ll trade flight schedules for planting schedules as we get our 2ish acres ready for the summer growing season. Can’t wait!
- If you go to Dishoom, go to the King’s Cross location. The food is excellent regardless, but the building makes for a better meal. It’s an industrial-vibe and real maze of different dining sections. ā©ļø
