Victoria and Albert Museum - III

One of the thousands of gorgeous marble statues in the V&A. This one was astonishing in its incredible smoothness and the beautiful curves.

A haunting bust of the sculptor's young daughter. This bust, observed up close, is mesmerizing... the realism is amazing!

St. George slays the dragon... this is a smaller part of a large ceremonial sculpture made for Queen Victoria... this little fellow stands barely 6" tall.

A diamond-studded snuff box, barely 4" wide. Every one of the snuffboxes in the collection was a tiny example of craftmanship at its most unique and inspired.

An ornate washstand and basin. The top of the washstand is a concealed reservoir. The water is dispensed through a spigot shaped like a dragon. When you are finished washing, the marble bowl with inlaid silver fish rotates on a swivel mechanism and dumps into a plain old tin or aluminum bucket hidden behind the lower doors. Then, the help takes out the full bucket and dumps it. Sigh, it's good to be rich, isn't it?

The V&A is another on the "must-see" list of things to do in London. You need to plan to be there when it opens at 10am, plan a full hour for lunch to rest your feet, and expect to be there until closing time. In order to get out in time, we had to skip the entire "Asia" section, which encompasses about 50% of the main floor. There are 3 full floors and 2 part floors to explore!