London’s Victoria & Albert Museum has pulled out of a funk, as noted by the NY Times, and also stopped charging admission. Decorative arts museums are often the mini-holy-grails of my vacation trips, but I hadn’t developed an urge to try for London and the V&A;, fearing, perhaps unfairly, that I would find a stodgy setting and an unsettling journey into the history of the cultures conquered by the once mighty British empire. But Victoria & Albert has been able to generate some kind press in the past two months with their new British galleries, free admission, and plans for even more contemporary galleries. It could soon become, for me, a destination to plan a trip around (not that there aren’t other interesting and more important things to see in London).