UK Trip: London v&a and big Ben, recap and general thoughts

After two full days in York, we took the totally uneventful, direct and fast train from York to London for Thursday and then flew back home Friday. 

My goal for London was the Victoria & Albert Museum. I was in London for the first time in January and had seen several (great!) museum but hadn't managed this one. I also saw a travel post about their amazing cafe, which is the world's oldest museum cafe (specifically, this is their garden Cafe, tucked away behind the hospital-white corridor where you buy your food and drink).

Upper left on this collage is said cafe. We came back after the tour I'll mention below, and there was someone playing piano and someone singing opera. 

Lower left is "the bed of ware", pre-dating shakespeare, effectively a tourist attraction of its era, built for an inn, to attract attention being ridiculously large. 

The tour was semi-modern britain 1500-1700, had started at 3pm and we ran into it at the bed of ware and kept following. The guide said this one due to timing or maybe that and topic was less well-attended than the others (all free!) and asked us to advertise, so here I am advertising. It was a great tour. 

The lower-midde picture was a bunch of painted-black no longer in use brass instruments that used to be used by bands of coal miners, called "breathless". They'd been smashed flat using some hydraulics associated with the London bridge. 

Lower right was a fancy room, kind of Versailles-style, one of several rooms actually that were installed in the museum. On the one hand, glad they found a home and didn't disappear. On the other, so weird to me that the owner got rid of something so ornate for some sterile modern office building construction or such. 

After the tour, we swung by Big Ben, encountered yet another red Lion, and far-off saw through heavy security and friendly well-armed guards the 10 downing Street building's blueish front. 

Lunch was Uighur (sp?), which I'd had in January and enjoyed then and this time as well. 

A quick note on hotels.  There are a lot of run-down buildings in the UK. Some are "listed" (historic). Most have steps, no lift, crooked floors, windows that don't let in a draft, etc. And sometimes cost more than a hotel which has modern amenities.  Make sure to add these things to your search filter when you're looking, and double-check reviews.

The whole trip again: 

1. Bath (walking tour, Roman baths)
2. Stone Circles & Cotswold's tour (Rabbie's) 
3. Bath To Bakewell (Peak District)
4. Day 1 of 3 Bespoke Tour: Peak District. 2 Pemberleys. 
5. Day 2 of 3 Bespoke Tour: Lake District. Beatrix Potter. Castelrigg circle. 
6. Day 3 of Bespoke Tour: Yorkshire dales. Hardraw Force. Wensleydale. Film Locations.
7. York for two days. Romans, Vikings, Normans, Georgians. City Walls. Good museums.