A Weekend in Liverpool: Part 2

Our weekend in Liverpool had been choc-a-bloc full of food and shopping and neon Christmas trees; on our last day we felt like we should take in a bit of culture. Our Travelodge looked over the Albert Dock - home to a number of museums, gorgeous views across the Mersey and a selection of tourist-trap shops selling the best cheap tat you could ever hope for.

An Afternoon on London's Southbank

As London tourist traps go, the Southbank is way up there as one of the places I go out of my way to avoid. It's a fantastic area of the city, crammed full of weird and wonderful sights and different things to do and explore, but this means it gets pretty busy and I just get a bit impatient with the crowds.

Alexander McQueen's Savage Beauty at The V&A

Background image source

I read a lot of reviews about Savage Beauty, the retrospective of Alexander McQueen, before it even arrived in London. People wrote about feeling emotional, but I just thought it was arty types being a bit dramatic. I love fashion, and I'm even lucky enough to own some McQueen items, but at the end of the day it's just clothes, right?

I was proved spectacularly wrong.

Visiting Frankfurt's Christmas Markets

A couple of weekends ago, I treated my mum to a delayed birthday present of a weekend trip to Frankfurt to see the Christmas markets. I was super excited to spend a whole weekend with my mum and have some quality bonding time for a couple of days. I'm the type of daughter that you really can't shake; I moved out of home seven years ago (with a brief return after uni), but I speak to her on the phone a couple of times a week and I go back to my family home at least once every two months.

Life: April 2013

Flying over the Austrian mountains
My new hand cream from Liberty
Morning Glory crepe from Brixton Village
Making our mark at the birthplace of Harry Potter

Jeffrey Campbell bargains
Iced tea and cake at Yumchaa
Stanley
Oompa Loompa takeover at Snowbombing

The roof of the British Museum
POW!
My new baby! (more on this soon)
The view from the London Eye

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Explore: Hollywood Costumes at the V&A

I gave an actual squeak of excitement when I first read about this exhibit. I'm a massive film obsessive, and my bedrooms have always been covered in posters of my favourites. There's still a Breakfast at Tiffany's one in my hallway and I'm on the cusp of ordering the Harry Potter one I featured in my Wall Art post a while ago.

The Hollywood Costumes exhibition is at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the only museum in the South Kensington tourist hotspot that I've actually never been to. 

Scarf: Oasis
Coat: Warehouse

Hat: Portobello Road market
Blazer: River Island (now in the sale!)
Shoes: Zara
Vest top: H&M

 Photography is not allowed in the exhibition which is such a shame as we saw some amazing costumes. It's hard to believe that they are the real ones that have been worn by such famous stars in huge films. There were dresses from some of the most glamorous stars on the silver screen including Audrey Hepburn's Givenchy dress from Breakfast at Tiffanys, Vivien Leigh's red velvet gown from Gone With The Wind, and the dress Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe) wears on Shell Oil's boat in Some Like it Hot. 

There were more contemporary outfits as well, including Harry Potter's Gryffindor uniform, Jack Sparrow's pirate garb, and the Blue Brothers' suits. The piece de resistance is the real ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in Wizard of Oz (which my clever friend got a sneaky pic of). As it's one of my favourite films of all time I was so excited!

The exhibition is on until the 27th January and tickets are really limited (hence why I was there on New Year Day, helloooooo hangover!). But if you can't get tickets, don't worry, they have a David Bowie exhibition coming up soon, hooray!

Explore: Animals Inside Out at Natural History Museum

PLEASE DON'T READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH OR VEGETARIAN! Please also note that no animals were harmed for this exhibition. 

No, really. Take notice of the words above. I showed a friend of mine the pics from this and she had to look away. This exhibition really is what it suggests. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

The German scientist Dr von Hagens invented 'plastination', a way that extracts all water and fatty tissue from a specimen and replaces them with polymers in a vacuum. It's a process that prevents decay and preserves the structure of the internal organs so they can be displayed.  

This exhibition is morbidly fascinating. I'm not particularly squeamish, and a lot of the time it was hard to believe that what you were seeing in front of you was actually a real animal as it was so perfectly preserved. The sheer size of the bull, elephant and giraffe with their, frankly, bloody huge internal organs was mind boggling, I couldn't help but stare and try and make sense of it in my head. 

The most bizarre thing was a horse's head sectioned in 3. I was amazed at how small a horse's brain is, considering it's head is so large. But this was the only one that made me feel a bit queasy, as you could see the whiskers and hairs on the head so closely that you knew it had to be real.

This exhibition is an amazing spectacle. People must remember that it's not done to show off human beings' supremacy over the animal kingdom by merely 'chopping' them up. This is a feat of science and a intricate biology lesson that we can all learn from. If anything it makes you appreciate the species even more when you see how powerful and strange they are.

Animals Inside Out at the Natural History Museum is on until September, and tickets start from £5.

All photos property of Shopped and Dropped, do not re-use without permission.

Explore: Ice Skating at the Natural History Museum

Ah Christmas, the time of year where everyone in the country gets that Torvill & Dean feeling and heads off to the local ice rink. And they are local - I don't remember it being this way when I was younger, but as soon as the festive mood hits, temporary ice rinks now pop up all over the place, and are sprinkled all over London at some of the city's top tourist attractions.

Last year I went to the rink at the Tower of London, this year I hit the Natural History Museum. Turns out if you want to go to the famous Somerset House rink at a time that isn't bedtime or in the middle of the working day then you have to book in advance in October. However, the setting of the NHM was stunning. The whole building was lit in blue lights, there were fairy lights in the trees and the obligatory Christmas tunes piped into the air. 

So we strapped into the standard painful toe-pinching, ankle-destroying ice skates and took to the ice (remember to take an extra pair of thick socks)! The most important thing to note is that I did not fall over. My cousin who I was with did a spectacular treble spin, legs splayed style fall which caused me to shriek like a banshee with laughter, but aside from that we were relatively unharmed.

It was about £14 for an hours worth of skating (which is more than enough), and there's stewards who help you out if you're struggling (when they're not flirting with sexy Europeans in tight tight leggings!), and make sure you can get back up again if you fall. It's a great atmosphere with all levels and ages there, and it's definitely made me feel more Christmassy! 

Take a look here for a full list of all the temporary rinks up in London over the holidays.

Explore: Glamour of the Gods Exhibition

I was so excited to see this exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition is a beautiful set of photographs from the archive of the John Kobal Foundation of the stars of the golden age of cinema. Those featured in the portraits are the legends of the big screen, famous not just for their acting but for their glamorous images and lifestyles, all of them retaining a myth and aura about them that most actors today could never achieve.

The beautiful black and white photos  included promotional shots from famous films, like the Marx Brothers for Duck Soup and Boris Karloff for The Mask of Fu Manchu, and the classic beauty shots of stunners like Rita Hayworth and even a nude of Marilyn Monroe. All radiated the sheen of perfection and elegance, which is why I love watching films from that era anyway! My friend Ms O who came with me is a huge Vivien Leigh fan, and I have a small (possibly medium, maybe verging on large) obsession with Audrey Hepburn and we both found photos that that played to our adorations.

The exhibition also had a small display on how photos were retouched by hand. I'm really naive as I thought that this only started happening much later in time, and was kind of disappointed to know that it wasn't just soft focus creating beautiful portraits. Not that that change my opinion of the stars, in my eyes they're effortlessly fabulous. People like Grace Kelly, Buster Keaton and James Stewart have created some of the best films ever made and they deserved to be appreciated in such a fitting setting.

It turns out that the whole Gallery was open late so we got to have a quick look at other portraits as well. There was a great section featuring portraits of the some of the most famous comedians which allowed Ms O and I to reminisce and quote all our favourites (which included myself having to fend off a laughing fit just thinking about Les Dawson's rendition of 'Feelings' - watch it here if you've never seen it!). We also saw the bizarre self portrait 3D sculpture by Marc Quinn that's made from his own blood (yes, really), a fabulous painting of Anna Wintour that made her look a lot more soft than she comes across in the media (!), and a small exhibition of Julian Opie works. He's the guy who did the famous Blur: Best Of front cover, and also has a self portrait that blinks and breathes on a TV screen. It all looks like it should be in A Scanner Darkly; very strange.

To top it off, we went for a quick drink in a pub opposite called The Chandos, and discovered it was a Sam Smith's pub! For those who don't know, I used to work in a Sam Smith's pub during my student days and it's a great chain that provides nice beer at much cheaper prices than a crappy Wetherspoons or another chain. They're very basic, but definitely worth a try! 







Glamour of the Gods is on until 23rd October. http://www.npg.org.uk/glamour/
*All photos featured belong to me. Please do not reproduce without my permission!

Explore: The Museum of Broken Relationships

I feel that now I'm living in London I can start doing all the things that I get constant email and Twitter alerts for - the galleries, the special events, the gigs. So this weekend I (and my not so impressed boyfriend) went to The Museum of Broken Relationships, a temporary exhibition at Tristan Bates Theatre in Covent Garden. Originally shown in Croatia, the exhibit highlights how the most seemingly irrelevant items and trinkets can hold meaning and memories, and how important it is for their owner to give them up to move on. The items on display ranged from the expected (teddy bears, wedding gowns) to the bizarre (feminine hygiene wash, a baby grand piano). All of them had an explanation from their previous owner attached, many with frankly ridiculous metaphors about love lost, but others were amusing, and even bordering on inspiring (in the case of the positive heroin test on show, the result of one woman's loss of trust in her other half and how it persuaded her to move on). It's a cute observation into natural human obsession and passion, however overall it was pretty disappointing. The tense one chord muzak in the background, the dimmed lights and tip-toeing around precariously balanced bric-a-brac made it feel just that little bit pretentious. I think the aim of the exhibit is to be able to look upon the items and relate to them, or even to laugh in places, but the majority of people were treating it like a wake, or at the very least a chance to sneakily grope their other half in a half-hearted attempt to reassure each other that they would NEVER end up in a situation like those in the exhibits. 

So it was only right that we headed to the pub afterwards. It can be a bit frustrating when looking for somewhere to have a drink in central London, not just because of the weekend crowds but also because of all of the choice! There's an underlying pressure to pick somewhere impressive rather than just ending up in a Wetherspoons (which as a former resident of Milton Keynes was normally the only and best option of place to drink). But more often than not it's luck, which is what led us to The Salisbury a few months ago. With the unrelenting rain we found ourselves back there as it offers a few good ales and has no sports colours. It's also right next to Wyndham's Theatre which allowed me to do a little excited geek dance at the crowd of people awaiting David Tennant at the stage door, but then to get dragged away by my boyfriend who is most definitely NOT a Dr Who fan. Does anyone have any recommendations for other places to drink in and around Covent Garden? It's an area of London I love for shopping, but I always struggle to find somewhere to have a drink. As much as I like The Salisbury I'd rather try somewhere new next time so any ideas are appreciated!

Ticket price: £3.50

Two pints of Tribute ale: £8

Oyster top-up: £10

Pret sandwich: £3.95

Total: £25.45