National Art Library

Once the bathroom fitters had finished for the day (having tiled the floor - all except for 4 tiles as the surveyor had underestimated the number of tiles required) we rewarded ourselves with a trip into London.  The Victoria and Albert museum stays open late on Fridays so we took the opportunity to visit the Julia Margaret Cameron exhibition before it closes at the weekend.

The V&A is a stunningly beautiful Victorian building, which would be worth visiting even if it didn't contain a wonderfully eclectic mixture of exhibits. I have never really explored the building - I only ever seem to visit to see specific exhibitions.  However, today we came across this wonderful traditional library/reading room.  Each desk has its own old-fashioned reading lamp hanging over it and the main illumination is from large hanging chandeliers.  Elsewhere in the building are superb marble staircases (plus an amazing staircase lined with ceramic tiles and sculptures), delightful galleries with high arched ceilings and much more.  The utterly splendid cafe with its ceramic decorated walls and pillars and huge stained glass windows is one of our favourite refreshment stops in London.

Visiting the museum on a winter's evening gave us a totally different experience from our normal daytime visits.  The place was relatively quiet (many of the galleries almost empty of people) and the lighting levels were low giving a more intimate and relaxed atmosphere.  The main entrance foyer was, however, alive with music and a pop-up bar. 

A great way to spend an evening.