A Path to Simplicity: London revisited

As you may remember, a couple of weeks ago Leela and I spent 10 days in London. I waited patiently for my Dad's camera to return from Spain, so here are some pictures from our time in the Big Smoke.

We walked a LOT...

...and we 'bussed' even more

Creating, at the Museum of Childhood

We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum. This was the glass entrance sculpture that had Leela screaming 'ball!! BAAALL!! De-NAAA! (gimme in Marathi)'

I found myself noticing lots of Mum and baby themed sculptures. This one was especially moving.

This one was fabulous. You can't see it here but the baby's mouth is gaping wide open! The sculptor was Aime-Jules Dalou (1873) and it's called 'Peasant Woman Nursing a Baby'. I loved it so much.

I'm not obsessed, really. Ok, maybe.

We saw some beautiful Japanese work there. This is Bodhisattva Jizo. Here's the plaque:

Leela was fascinated by him.

Here's a beautiful ceramic of Bodhidharma, who I believe was the founder/transmitter of Zen Buddhism

...and here's a strange little donkey-boy we found. Had us puzzled and cocking our heads for a while...

Next we lunched on cherries and sarnies in the V&A garden.

...before heading over the road to the Natural History Museum

I couldn't get Leela away from these elephants for a loooong time. She kept listening to their calls on the handset.

And then... oh boy... if only she could have veloceraptors as pets... she thought they were dogs of some kind and kept calling them over, even though they were doing their very best menacing growls and dripping blood.

Oh and then she wanted to take this cutey home too. 'Humba! (cow)' followed by kissing sounds and hand gestures calling him over and lots of 'hello!'. She wanted to be placed inside the enclosure where he stood, too life-like, growling, snarling and eyeing us all up. Leela was quite charmed to meet him.

We also visited the Sea Life Aquarium. This was her favorite tank. A flapping Ray scared the bejeezers out of her moments after this, but she soon made friends with it again. 'Touch! TOUCH!' was the word for the day.

This is the moment when we are standing by the glass walkway over the shark tank. Note that Leela has removed her shoes in anticipation of a paddle in the water (bless). Here I captured her reaction to my explanation of the situation. Not a happy bunny.