being a grown-up, and maintaining my inner child

Last week was a great balance of the fun and the productive. I finished reading my section of Buddha of Suburbia (which I’m really enjoying; it redeems The Black Album) and made more progress on my research paper, but more on that later. On Wednesday morning, I went to the National Gallery, one of my favorite museums I’ve ever visited. I had seen the Impressionist rooms and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers before, as well as some works by Jan van Eych, whose Self Portrait and Arnolfini Wedding Portrait are in the Gallery. On my visit this week, I saw a few works by Da Vinci. Madonna of the Rocks was out for cleaning and restoration, which was mildly disappointing, but one of his unfinished sketches was there. It was mind-blowing; on one level, it was just old brown paper, adhered to canvas, with a few sketched lines around the bottom. But at the top, two faces rise off the page, casting a ghostly effect on the page. I went before I had class, so it was great to start my academic day afterwards, and feel incredibly productive and inspired early in the day.

Thursday was tea time at Bea’s of Bloomsbury. I found it through Time Out’s list of recommended tearooms; this fell in the category of “on a budget.” Lindsay came along, excited for some temporary warmth (it was quite chilly) and her first tea in London. The establishment itself is quite small. As you walk in, there are masterful cakes in the window: one had Alice in Wonderland characters on one of the tiers, another had a birdcage on it. Farther back into the room, there is a separate bakery; a woman milled about the entire time we were there, carrying fresh trays of pasties and incredibly expressive cakes. The counter itself holds a display of cakes, scones, and cookies, much as a diner would. The mirror behind the counter had a hand-written menu on it in window pen, and I immediately selected the tea and scone option for six pounds. Lindsay ordered the same, and with a smile our hostess told us to take a seat and wait for our order.

The crowd was quite varied. Father back up towards the bakery were a handful of locals, sipping tea or coffee and chatting. Along the wall in the back, there were a husband and wife there to celebrate her birthday. Coincidentally, next to them, were two college-aged girls, there to celebrate a 21st birthday. I asked to speak with them before they shuffled off. They were incredibly responsive to my questions, and I discovered that they were students from Maryland; the younger was studying here for a semester. Neither claimed to be tea aficionados, but really wanted to celebrate with something special. Their tiered tray included cupcakes, scones, and pastries; not a bad substitution for a cake, if you ask me. I also scheduled a meeting with some of the wait staff, who told me to stop in before 11 on Monday or Tuesday to ask them my questions. I’m beginning to think this is the best research question I could have ever posed.

FridayI went to the Museum of Childhood, part of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The display was really impressive: there were spring loaded toys, teddy bears, Barbie dolls, clothes, shoes, costumes, and even interactive play sets. My favorite part of the Museum was the Wonderland exhibit, where local artists responded to a handful of fairy tales and folklore from all over the world. There was a life-size Little Match Girl, and a sketch of Rip van Winkle’s growing beard. The most interesting work in the exhibit to me was a simple silkscreen on canvas, which proclaimed something along the lines of, “if they never died, then they are still alive today,” an equivalent to “and they lived happily ever after.”

A part of their permanent collection is a three-case display on different London Families, three generations of which are represented in each case through their toys and memories. There was a lesbian couple and their child, who had an “I Love Hackney” mug, a Muslim family who included their traditional homemade dolls, and a Muslim and Catholic couple and their daughter, who wrote about the traditional foods they cooked together. On the cases were quotes from the interviews, which spoke about the nature of family being about community. I bought a lovely little teddy bear and postcard to end my trip, a little gift to my inner child, and a little pat on the back to myself for balancing work and play.