This morning I was woken abruptly by a random phone call from Australia. It was earlier than I'd expected to wake up and I thought about trying to go back to sleep. But then I realized I should get up so I don't waste too much of the morning. After a light breakfast I headed out. It was going to be a drizzly day so I decided it was a day for indoor activities. The plan was to visit the National Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. They're located next to each other so it would be easy. I was going to walk but it had already started to rain so I caught the Northern Line to Leicester Square then the Picadilly Line to South Kensington.

The main reason for going to the science museum was to see an exhibition we had seen advertised when I had Sunday lunch with Bec, Brock, Emma and Sibs a few weeks back. Other than that I was a little worried it would be all "hands-on science investigator centre". But when I got there I was immediately impressed. Masses of school kids took a bit of navigating around but for the most part I could ignore them.

On the ground floor there were rows of cabinets containing carefully organized devices and inventions throughout the ages. Really well set out.

Somewhere along the line I came across this handy "pocket" alchemy book.

What was really impressive were the number of major original artifacts. Like an actual capsule from one of the Apollo missions prior to the landing on the moon.

The computing section had prototypes of some original mechanical devices.

Of course the music section interested me too. It was great to see one of these. I used to own a TR-505 which was the drum machine cousin.

And this is the closest I'll ever get to an authentic Fairlight.

I made it to the exhibition that had led me to the museum. It was called "Only In England" and was a number of collections of black and white photographs from the late 60s and 70s by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr. Both had a talent for choosing people and settings with poignance and humor in a typically eccentric and uniquely English way.

It was the photos from Tony Ray-Jones taken 1966-1967 that particularly resonated with me. The feelings I got from the photos were so familiar. They reminded me of photos in my parents albums - not artistically but because of the settings and people and fashion. Beaches, holiday camps, street scenes. I would still have been living in England at that time and some photos had kids around the same age I would have been. I could imagine being in those photos. I looked for a book but they had sold out.

In the museum shop I found a beautiful book of around 200 full page photos from a 2005 probe to Mars. They were black and white but in great detail. What was so intriguing was the variety of landscapes. The book had notes at the back that explained about each picture. I was very tempted to get it but I resisted. I'm sure the weight would tip my already swollen luggage over my 30 kg limit and I'm not sure where I'd store the book in my cases anyway ... it was big.

So in the end the museum finished up being far more interesting than I expected and I found myself wandering around like a big kid.

I left to find some lunch then went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This had been on my to-do list but I can't remember if there was a specific reason. There was one thing I'd seen an article about recently but I wasn't sure if I'd be all the interested in anything else.

I head read about this installation on the Internet. It's made up from masses of paper windmills. It's very effective en-masse but strangely looked a bit tacky close up I thought.

After wandering around a bit I was about to leave when I stumbled into this room and was taken back by the scale of the castings and artifacts. Quite awe inspiring.

By this time my feet were sore so it was back to the hotel for a rest before meeting Emma and Sibs for dinner. This is the entrance to the hotel.

And the obligatory pic of my room. As I said in my post yesterday, it's small but very well appointed.

Emma had booked us into a lovely Moroccan restaurant about 15 min walk from my hotel. On the way I came across Carnaby Street which had some great shops. Then I encountered Regent Street. Wow! At night it looks so impressive. The lighting on the buildings creates such presence. I'll come back tomorrow with my camera in hope of capturing some of that feeling.

Dinner was lovely with great company. I'm so grateful to Emma for organizing. I look forward to seeing them when they visit Australia later in the year. After dinner we navigated the rain to a nearby pub for one last drink. It was a week night for those two and I was pretty tired too.

I had visions of getting out and about tonight, after all, I'm staying in Soho with lots of options. But ... I'm tired and I would only be going out to tick a box. Heading to bed instead so I can fit as much as I can into my final full day overseas (insert sadder than sad face here).

Day 32: A day of exceeded expectations