This morning started with the Victoria and Albert Museum, we had tickets to the Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion exhibit.  The exhibit showcased how Balenciaga constantly influenced and pioneered women’s fashion as well as how his work influenced other designers. The biggest thing I took away from the exhibit was that it is possible for design to be timeless and inspirational to such a great extent.

Oscar De La Renta garment inspired by Balenciaga

After going through the exhibit I took a much-needed break from people and explored the rest of the museum on my own. I found myself awestruck by most of the Renaissance pieces. I walked into a room with just a cast of the David sculpture and I could feel my jaw drop to the ground the same thing happened when I walked through a room of diptychs and triptychs I had studied in art history.  However, the most impressive space was The Raphael Cartoons. Each wall is covered with massive paintings that were originally commissioned to be hung in the Sistine Chapel. I was shocked and amazed by both the size and brilliance of each painting, I am pretty sure I didn’t close my mouth the entire time I was in that room.

Photo taken from www.vam.ac.uk/

After the V&A we ventured over to the Natural History Museum to check out their confusing wayfinding and many gift shops. One group went into to the Butterfly Garden sadly my group decided not to. I regret not making more of an effort to go because I have such an obsession with butterflies. I know it would have been an experience I cherished for many years.

While trying to figure what to do next a few of us got a little lost looking for a nearby underground station. By the time that we had eaten and found the underground I was ready to take a bath or a nap or both! Luckily Nina and Arthur felt the same way so we took the underground to a Lush next to our hotel picked up some bath products and relaxed before our dinner plans with my aunt later that evening.

Around 8:30 pm seven of us went to meet my aunt for dinner at the Babylon Restaurant. We started outside where we could watch the restaurants flamingos roaming around in the surrounding garden. We moved inside for dinner, where we were confronted by a rather mature menu. Most of us started with the truffle risotto, which was amazing.  For the main course, I ordered the vegetarian option thinking that it was the safest bet, I was wrong. The other dishes came out looking like regular meat or fish with some form of vegetable. Then mine is placed down in front of me. It was just a pile of unrecognizable vegetables covered in a white mystery froth. The first fearful bite was just a taste of the repulsive foam on top, it did not go well. I mustered up the courage for a second bite of the food underneath. To my surprise, a fully composed bite of foam, cauliflower, and purple potato was completely tolerable. It took perseverance but, I finished the whole dish. For dessert, I had a wonderful brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I was happy to end the meal on such a good note! We stayed until the restaurant subtle and then not so subtly told us to leave so they could finish closing. Before we left my aunt insisted we get some group photos, so we took elevator selfies and inconvenienced the staff a little longer, sorry guys!