I was off work for a week or so after Milan, so I was looking for interesting places to go to. The main prerequisite for places were that they were free to visit, and thankfully there are lots of museums and places in London that are free! The day before today I had gone to the William Morris Gallery out in Walthamstow, which was excellent as I really love William Morris's work. They also had a Rob Ryan, the original paper cut artist, exhibition on too so there was loads to see!
I also went to visit the Wallace Collection, which I sadly didn't take my camera to but there are photos on my stories in Instagram from my phone - it was also a lovely museum, which I hope to visit again. I went on a guided tour around the museum too - highly recommend that because it was fascinating.
Anyway, today I was visiting what was probably the weirdest of my museum outings - the Freemasons' Hall. This gorgeous art deco building in London that you have probably walked past if you've wandered around the city is the Grand Lodge for the Masons of England (I don't have a picture of the front but there is a good one here). If you don't know much about Freemasons... well I don't either only that they are some sort of secret society. To be a mason, you have to not be a woman (sexist...), profess a belief in a god, any god, they don't really care (apparently that makes you a more moral person...) and not discuss either religion or politics at meetings. The main reason I went was to have a nosey at the building, but I can't say I wasn't interested in the idea about finding out more about the secret society stuff. You could only visit the hall on a guided tour, so I turned up in time to go.
As expected, the building was truly gorgeous, with lots of beautiful art deco touches inside. The tour itself was a bit disappointing, but I guess they are not going to give away their secrets, especially to a woman! Worth going to though, if only to try to make the tour guide uncomfortable with some probing questions....
