A couple weeks ago, Helen and I went to the National Portrait Gallery and walked around the regular (read: free) exhibits. It was a rainy day - that's actually why we were there too...we had originally planned a walk around Hampstead Heath but the rain made that an undesirable activity - so it was really crowded. I wasn't sure if I would actually enjoy a whole gallery of just portraits, it sounded a little repetitive to me. But I loved it - especially painted portraits from the last 200 years. I mean, the artists' self-portraits are definitely the most interesting to me but most of the more modern ones have a more stylized aesthetic, no matter the subject. Your classic pose, looking seriously off into the distance, dressed in long velvet robes...not so much. The gallery also does a fantastic job with its descriptions; they give you a lot of extra background on the subjects and artists. It was fascinating to learn about the incestuous inter-relationships of painters, writers, politicians, etc.
That Sunday - not surprisingly another rainy day - I went to the Natural History Museum, also free, to see some dinosaurs. Or so I thought. Turns out, the dinosaur exhibit was a freaking madhouse. And once you're in there, you're pretty much trapped and can't turn around. So many prams, so many parents lollygagging with their empty prams chatting with friends and completely blocking the narrow walkway. Aaack, nightmare. Once I got out of the dinosaurs, though, I was a happy camper. It's a drop dead gorgeous building.
And the exhibits are lovely, although some of the animals are starting to look a little dusty and rough around the edges. My favorite hall was the minerals. Just rows and rows of glass cases filled with minerals, rocks, crystals, metals, etc. All labeled with their common names, elemental makeup and source locations. They also had samples as they would be found in the rough as well as their everday versions (like cut stones, or copper wire). My inner science geek definitely got her fill. But the best room of the whole museum is The Vault. It's in the back of the hall of minerals and it's where they have all the precious stones in both raw and cut form. They have one case that has over 250 different colored cut diamonds. The light changes from normal daylight to a UV light and the stones actually glow totally different colors under UV light. Super cool. And seeing a raw diamond embedded in rock made me realize that even if I came across one (you know, in all those mines I spend so much time in), there's no way I would recognize it.
Then, a week ago, my co-worker Juliet and I took a train about an hour south to visit a couple of National Trust properties. You can read more about it on their website but the National Trust is an amazing organization that owns all these old manor houses all over England, plus hundred of thousands of acres of land, and holiday cottages that are available to rent. They have events - concerts, holiday celebrations, period reenactments - through the year at all the different properties and within the houses they have extensive collections of period furniture and artwork. Visting them isn't free but it's a great day out and most properties (at least the ones in the country) have acres of gardens and land to explore. We got lucky with a gorgeous day and were able to visit two different spots in Surrey - Clandon Park and Hatchlands Park. They were about 2 miles apart, and the first (Clandon) was a mile from the train station so we planned to walk from to the other and back to the train. It was definitely lucky it didn't rain, though - that would have seriously dampened our day (literally and figuratively). Unfortunately, we started walking the wrong way towards Clandon from the train station, which we didn't know until Juliet stopped a couple pulling out of their neighborhood. They felt so badly for us, they actually dropped us off at the entrance themselves. They were driving a Saab station wagon and had a friendly black lab in the back, so it wasn't exactly scary hitchhiking. Just really generous on their part.
Clandon was a lovely estate, and that day there was a WW II re-enactment going on in the front lawn and a Napoleonic-era reenactment going on in the back, so things were definitely lively. There are room stewards all over the properties, and they can answer all kinds of questions about the homes and the families who owned them and any other random trivia you have for them. Clandon was owned by the Earls of Onslow - fyi, currently the 7th Earl of Onslow is still living - but the property is now owned by the National Trust. The 4th Earl of Onslow was made governor of New Zealand so they have an interesting collection of souvenirs from their time in NZ, including a maori hut which they purchased from a local village, brought back to England and reconstructed in their back garden. When I leave England, I'll be lucky to bring back a teapot without breaking it.Me in back of Clandon:
The WWII reenactment:
Juliet and one of the Onslow's Kiwi souvenirs:
Then we had a little walk along the motorway to get to Hatchlands. Not the most scenic.
Hatchlands has "the world's largest collection of composer-related keyboard instruments" which is odd but very true. Every room had multiple pianos, harpsichords, clavicords, organs, etc. They also have a tenant who lives in the upper floor of the house and the tenant's collection of art and his own art is up on the walls. It's an odd place to visit, that's for sure, but you're not hurting for stuff to look at. 
They have much more land to explore, but Juliet and I were pretty wiped at that point. We did a little walk, saw some bluebells and the house's old ice house and set off again. The walk back was on a public footpath between a golf course and a farm. We saw pheasants and bunnies...much more the lovely scenic countryside route. 
But I have to admit, my walking endurance can't compete with Juliet's. We had tried to stop in at a pub on the way back but they didn't serve food between 2:30 pm and 7pm so we were s out of luck. After a little more walking, we stopped to eat Juliet's only remaining food - an orange - along the side of the rode. It was a delicious orange. It should be noted, that Juliet comes so prepared it's unbelievable. In here tiny little bag she had snacks, rain gear, an extra sweater/jumper, a swiss army/pen knife, tissues, along with all the usual stuff in a girl's bag. Plus she knows plants really well so she was able to track down wild garlic and all kinds of things. I highly recommend getting stranded in the wilderness with Juliet...if you ever get to choose such a thing. Unfortunately for her, I wouldn't be much help.
Anyway, by the time we got back to Clandon - which was still a mile away from the train station - even Juliet was hungry and maybe a little tired (i was definitely both those things). Unfortunately the next pub we tried wasn't serving either. But finally, low and behold, a pub/French restaurant just a few blocks from the train was open for business. And I had my first - and most delicious - Sunday roast. Hurrah! (angels singing)
I'm now an official paying member of the National Trust so there will be lots more days out with Juliet in the future.
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