Each year I try and go to the Royal Academy Summer Show with my friend Sarah. This year I bought the tickets in advance and as usual we met on the platform of Raynes Park Station as my train pulled in. We started the day with coffee and an almond croissant at Patisserie Valerie nearby and then headed in for the show. Last year the show was curated by Grayson Perry and it was quite refreshingly different. I am not sure who curated this years show but it was not quite as original although we were still able to find a number of favourite pieces and should we win the lottery we will buy them!
I particularly liked the entrance hall which was full of art and sculptures of animals and birds. However, there was however large amount of work that I am struggling to call art, in fact based on some of the pieces we saw I started forming an idea of submitting piece of myself next year using Sydney’s ‘rear end products’. A couple overheard us and thought that would be great idea so I think I may have committed myself to giving it ago ha! ha! After the show we looked in the Royal Academy cafe but as last year, we were really surprised at how poor some of the offerings were in quality and also how expensive so we headed to a local Prêt a Manger instead for lunch.
Before we left we popped into Fortnum and Masons as Sarah had not visited before and I was keen to show her around. As we visited on a Wednesday they were in fact offering free samples - we managed to get a large piece of ruby chocolate each followed by (from the deli downstairs), a ciabatta with ricotta cheese drizzled with honey. Despite lunch we still managed to eat it. I do like Fortnum and Masons such a shame I do not have the wallet to match!
