(Crossposted to my own journal, naergilien )

Hi all, 
finally I have finished my picture and research pages of my London stay. Over 1000 pictures on many, many pages.
Feel free to browse as following....:

British Museum
Lots of Egyptian, Grecian, Near- and far East and a bit of Celtic and European stuff, too.

Globe Theatre
In- and exterior and costume exhibit

Museum of London
Medieval-, renaissance- and Elizabethan clothing and accessories - oh, and some bits and pieces of my "Phoenix gown" examination on a very own page...

Victoria and Albert museum
The marvelous interior if the V&A; Cast courts, with extra page for Beatrice D'Este's tomb; Textiles and laces of various centuries, from Medieval to early Victorian; Indian clothing at the V&A; 1920-modern clothing at V&A with an extra page for Lady Diana's "Elvis" dress; Edwardian clothing at V&A, Victorian clothing at V&A, Regency clothing at V&A, Rococo (subdivided in several pages for Women's clothing, Men's and clerical clothing, Paintings and statues and Interior); Elizabethan lifestyle at the V&A; Renaissance at the V&A

Madame Tussaud's
With extra pages for the Pirates wax figures, the Six wives and Henry VIII as well as personae from showbiz and, last not least, history.

I hope my research pages will be interesting to some of you. If you should have questions or comments, don't hesitate to comment on this entry or email me. 

Yesterday was nice, warm and sunny in London, which, of course, is just perfect to see a street market: Portobello Road. 

Fabrics-, costume- and antiques enthusiasts of this world: I tell you that this market is EVIL. You just have to open your eyes while walking along the endless stalls and you can find treasures beyond imagination. Of course they will also cost you the money they're worth, so it's much likely that you will spend lots of money. 
At the very end of the road (Portobello Road 359-361) you will find a beautiful, absolutely crammed trims and fabrics shop. I swear that the people at MJTrims can't have much more in their shelves. The owner is so sweet and friendly. And if you describe to them what you want or - better - have a picture, he'll run off and return some or some more minutes later with what you want, no matter what it may be. 
It's also possible to order something there via the internet, but I've just forgotten the address in my hotel room - I will type it down later. As far as I understood, it's not an online store in the 'shopping cart' sense, but you write mails with what you want (attach pictures if you're searching for something special), and they will photograph what they have in stock, mail the pictures back to you, you pick something and buy it. 
I bought some trims there, and some beautifully aged brown leather hides at one of the stalls. Complete, thick sheep leather hides for five pounds. They would cost me four times that much in Germany. They also had other leathers - colors, thicknesses - and fur hides, and they were all good quality and between 5-10 Pounds, so I definitely do recommend that stall. It's about half way down Portobello Road on the market. 

St. Paul's was - well - a church. Everyone who knows me knows that I just find them interesting for studying costumes on statues. 

But the Globe theatre - the beauty, the beauty. Even if it's just a reproduction, it's really beautifully made. I took pictures of just about everything, of course also of the costumes that are on display in the exhibit. This actually is by the way the first theatre I know about that openly admits - in the exhibit video and in pictures / notes hanging there - to use Arnold's patterns for their gowns. 

And then I had to get  back to the tube station. On my way *to* the theatre, I walked a different bridge, but this time, I took the Milleniujm bridge. Basically this is a narrow strip of steel bordered by thin steel bars. 
Bad, bad mistake - I can't swim so I'm scared of deep water, and I am even more scared by heigth. Now imagine me walking over a 3 yards wide strip of metal 30 yards over the deep and muddy water of the Thames. 
I held one eye closed, the other focused on the steel ground so that I would not see the water left and right to it and ran. Must have been a very funny sight to other people crossing the bridge at the moment. 

And after that - at about 8 PM - I dropped dead on the bed of my hotel - carrying around 30 pounds of backpack (leather hides, my camera, notebook, etc etc pp) took their toll on me. Even now after almost 10 hours of sleep (!) I still have backpains, even more than my feet hurt. 

However, I can't help it and will drag myself off to Petticoat Lane Market and, afterwards, to the National Maritime Museum. 
Did I mention that I also still didn't find any place where I could get the pictures out of my camera? No? Well, I didn't....

Morning! 
I'm a bit late as I want to go to the flea market today, so this will be a quick entry...

Yesterday I went to Westminster Abbey and laid down some flowers on Queen Elizabeth I.'s tomb. In case anyone should wonder: I don't know much and am not at all interested in politics, but that woman is pure inspiration for me, first because of her portraits and second because of the fashion that bears her name. So she deserved flowers. 

Then I saw the V&A, being a bit disappointed that some of the galleries were closed, among them the fashion gallery and Britain 19th Century. They apparently reopen tomorrow, so I'll just try and squeeze another visit in at the beginning of next week. 
Say, since when is flash photography allowed at the V&A? I'm clearly just wondering, but this enabled me to take some beautiful and very sharp pictures of some of the garments that still are on display. When photographing the elizabethan smocks I lay down on the floor to be able to photograph the inside of the hems - I think the people around must have thoght I'm insane or something. 
I also saw the Kylie Minogue exhibit. Goddess, that woman is *short*. She and her wardrobe would probably fit into my suitcase perfectly...
And there was this very beautiful blue showgirl costume of hers - decorated with silver rhinestone stars. Looked almost like some posh blue version of the 'Pink Diamonds' costume from 'Moulin Rouge'. If I had any idea where to wear something like that *and* would be *much* thinner, then I would almost right away start to make it. Unfortunately photography was not allowed in that particular exhibit, but I got a postcard of that particular costume (in which it doesn't even look half as stunning as in person).

After that I wanted to go and see the National Portrait Gallery, but my feet were too aching and it was already a bit late, so I just ate something and went home. So this is another visit I will have to squeeze in somewhere in the next days. 

Today? Portobello Road, St. Paul's, Globe theatre. You may guess to what I'm looking forward most...

So yesterday I went to the British Museum and the Museum of London. 

British Museum: Woah. LARGE. And I mean LARGE. I have no owrds to describe how LARGE that thing is. 
The Egyptians, Romans, Greeks - it's unbelievabe. I took pictures, but, as usual, I still found no possibility to upload any of them. 
What stunned me most there was a new exhibit called 'A new world', displaying watercolor drawings from the 16th century of what the Brits saw when they came to America first. So beautiful, utterly beautiful. I still have to buy the book on that exhibit. The watercolor drawings are perfect templates to decorate the skirt of the Hardwick portrait gown...
And then I turned around a corner in that exhibit and faced the oil painting of Queen Elizabeth I by Gower - the "Armada" Portrait. 
I swear I had tears in my eyes and had to take back a few steps and wait some minutes to let them disappear so that I could see clearly again. That portrait is so *stunning* in person. This is it; I have a small scan of it on my website...:
http://www.naergilien.info/research/Portraits/Elizabeth/elizabetharmada1.jpg
And I made an interesting discovery... Which is probably not so very well visible in that small portrait, but I'll go and buy a poster of it within the next days and scan it so that I can see it better...
The large 'ruff' around her neck is, at least in the painting, *not* a ruff. It's a circle with sections of lace between it which seem to be sewn together. You know, if you look at a ruff from that angle, there are sections 'up' and sections that should be going 'down'. Like my the ruffs in this picture...:
http://www.naergilien.info/research/Portraits/Elizabeth/Segar.jpg
...but on this Armada Portrait, there are absolutely NO "downgoing" parts. I was almost with my nose on that painting studying it, I've looked all the way round the ruff, and it's a perfect circle, not a ruff. The 'sections' of lace don't even bow like they should do if they were a ruff's top side. I'm wondering if that is the mistake of the painter, the mistake of a conservator's work - *OR* if that is indeed some kind of transitional, standing collar between the ruffs and the standing collars that came later (which were usually front split). 

And then I ran to the Museum of London. Well, before that I had to find white gloves because I forgot mine at home on the washing machine. Which made me five minutes late for my appointment with joysdaughterand the museum curator, plus I arrived with my tongue hanging at my knees, as we say in Germany. Never mind. 
And then I was brought 'backstage' into the Museum of London to see the Phoenix dress made for Glenda Jackson. When the overskirt was laid out for me on the table to examine it, I had to take a step back and take a deep breath. 
As you all might know, this is my absolutely favourite movie costume. I love it to bits. And the idea of seeing it almost made me mad, but the thought that I could now touch and study it was more than I could have ever dreamed of. 
Well... anyway...
The examination went wonderful. joysdaughter told me that the overskirt is guarded with soutache braiding at the bottom because the velvet shrank while embroidering it with the leaves. 
The ouches that decorate the front of the skirt are made in an interesting way. There's a square piece of black velvet beneath them, then a flower shaped piece of golden metal is glued over it, and then a square acrylic stone is glued over that. Looks *incredibly* real even from just half a yard distance. 
And then, when I was photographing the embroidery, joysdaughter started laughing next to me. I think her exact words were "Hunniset, you dirty cheat!". She had just discovered that Jean Hunniset, when making the gown, had machined fine lines on the gown before hand couching the golden cording between the embroidered leaves... *lol*!

And as I have forgotten my notebook in the museum when we left, here are the two things that I have written down (anything else I documented with my camera and a measurement tape...): The hem circumference of the overskirt is 323 Centimeters, the front has turned over edges of 1 inch. joysdaughter said this was unusual, it should have been 6 centimeters. 

I will tell you much more when I can actually post the pictures. But one thing more I will have to write down...
When we had finished the studies and left the elevator, arriving at the ground - and exit- level of the museum, joysdaughter all of a sudden jumped up andcheered "Yes! Yes!" - and I must have stared at her as if she was a unicorn. Now - here's Da Bomb - she actually thanked me for letting her participate in that examination. Dearest joysdaughter - I think (much!) that I have to thank *YOU* (as in: A lot!) for being there with me. I doubt that the curator would have let me alone in a room with that gown and probably a billion fashion plates in boxes. So there. But I couldn't say that at that moment, I was still too stunned by the gown we had just examined.

So what am I doing today? I have no idea, because my plan is still in my notebook which is probably still in the museum. Just good that I've uploaded the plan to my first entry in this journal, this way I can look it up as soon as I've finished this entry... ;-)

Alright, gotta run and get ready for today's museum visits. More... tomorrow or if I should find the chance to upload some pictures.

Good morning from London!
I've safely arrived yesterday and am currently taking the chance to write something before the computer access area gets too crowded in this hotel. I'm currently noticing that I have quite some problems with the layout of the english keyboard - for example, "y" and "z" are switched (compared to a german keyboard). So if I should be misusing either of those in my following messages it's not a typo, it's a feature... ;-)

Well, anyway. 

Yesterday I have been at Madame Tussaud's. The "Pirates" are an impressive piece of art in wax, and if one doesn't know too much about the gowns Elizabeth is really wearing in the movies then all the costumes are also impressive.
The "six wives" have been partiallz redressed since mz last pictures. The gowns are beautiful, and I even climbed behind the figures so that I could take pictures from the backsides. To my great regret the figure of Elizabeth I. has been moved into the joyride "Spirit of London" where no photographing is allowed, but she also has been re-dressed in a beautiful gown. 

I have taken a ton of pictures (a 'ton' in this case are about 150...) at Tussaud's, most of them of the three attractions I described above, but am unable to upload them because this hotel's computer doesn't have a card reader. I'll try and find one somewhere in London today. 

Today I'm gonna meet Joysdaughter to examine the Phoenix dress in the Museum of London. So looking forward to that!

Anyway, have to run now. See you this evening or tomorrow morning!

Just a short notice that I'm almost on my way :-)

It's 07:34 in the morning here in Germany and I've just checked in at the airport. My father and son, who have brought me here, are already gone. I've located an internet terminal and couldn't resist posting this entry.
So all that is now between me and London is this flight. 

Of course I've *so* exceeded my luggage, of course I had to pay for it. My father just said that 'this is probably the way how they make mone with those cheap flights'... how right he is. I'm already planning to have half my clothes shipped back via Royal Mail in a packet... so that I don't have to pay that amount again when I fly back. 

Anyway... I think I'll just go and get myself something to drink before I fly....

So this is my schedule so far...:

	Wed, 28.	Thu, 29.	Fri, 30.	Sat, 31.	Sun, 01.	Mon, 02	Tue, 03
07:00				Portobello Road open 06:00-16.30
08:00
09:00	09:25 Arrival Stansted		09:30 Westminster
10:00		British Museum 10.00 -13.45			Petticoat Lane 10-16.00	BBC Wardrobe	Camden Stables Market
11:00			V&A
12:00	Mme Tussaud's, open 09:00-18:00			St. Paul's
13:00
14:00		14.30-15.30 Museum of London Appointment to study Phoenix dress			Train...
15:00				Globe Theatre	National Maritime Museum	Fabric shops
16:00	Selfridges to get cellphone activated Buying some necessary things						Fabric shops
17:00			National Portrait Gallery - 21.00
18:00
19:00
20:00

	Wed, 04	Thu, 05	Fri, 06
07:00
08:00
09:00	Transfer to Bath	Roman Thermal bath	Transfer to London
10:00
11:00
12:00	Museum of Costume
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00	Roman Bath
17:00			17.30 Stansted
18:00
19:00			19.25 Flight back
20:00

As you can probably see, 10 days before traveling off and I already have little to no time left for anything than what I have planned. *lol*... On Tuedsay, 3rd of April, I'll perhaps also go to see the Tower ans Buckingham Palace, but I'm not sure yet.