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Forty centuries looking down at me
Jul. 9th, 2007 05:55 pmI spent my last full day in London touring the granddaddy of all museums: the British Museum. My father joined me for the first hour and a half, but had an appointment elsewhere for the rest of the day.
What can be said about the British Museum? It's HUGE!!! The Egyptian exhibit, grand as it is, holds only 4% of their entire collection. I saw Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, and Iron Age Britain, and then some. Saw the Rosetta Stone from behind a huge crowd, saw large pieces of the Parthenon, a Greco-Roman foot that I could use as a bed, piles and piles of coins, goldwork that even modern goldsmiths can't match, and jewellery from an Anglo-Saxon burial ship found at Sutton Hoo.
I left around 4 after skipping the Asian and African galleries, which didn't interest me as much, and the galleries that were closed. On the way home, I stopped at a bookstore called Murder One, conveniently located down the road from the theatre where The Mousetrap performs (which I stopped to get a photo of). Got two Agatha Christie books to replace a couple in my library (one of which has a loose cover) and a book about how her life impacted her stories. Interestingly, the two books by her featured covers recreated from the first editions. And one of them, I just realized, is a book I've already got -_-
So, that about covers my trip to London. Tomorrow at noon we leave for Manchester Airport. We'll be staying there tomorrow night, then leaving around 1:30. I have to say, I've rather enjoyed this trip and seeing the landmarks of my heritage. There's still lots left to see, though. The London Transport Museum is closed until later this year for renovations. Didn't go inside Buckingham or Kensington palaces, nor Hampton Court or Windsor Castle. Didn't go to Madame Tussaud's, Harrods, the stores on Oxford Street, Greenwich, the London Eye, the London Zoo, the London Aquarium...
On the other hand, considering I only had four and a half days to work with, I think I got the big sites covered!
What can be said about the British Museum? It's HUGE!!! The Egyptian exhibit, grand as it is, holds only 4% of their entire collection. I saw Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, and Iron Age Britain, and then some. Saw the Rosetta Stone from behind a huge crowd, saw large pieces of the Parthenon, a Greco-Roman foot that I could use as a bed, piles and piles of coins, goldwork that even modern goldsmiths can't match, and jewellery from an Anglo-Saxon burial ship found at Sutton Hoo.
I left around 4 after skipping the Asian and African galleries, which didn't interest me as much, and the galleries that were closed. On the way home, I stopped at a bookstore called Murder One, conveniently located down the road from the theatre where The Mousetrap performs (which I stopped to get a photo of). Got two Agatha Christie books to replace a couple in my library (one of which has a loose cover) and a book about how her life impacted her stories. Interestingly, the two books by her featured covers recreated from the first editions. And one of them, I just realized, is a book I've already got -_-
So, that about covers my trip to London. Tomorrow at noon we leave for Manchester Airport. We'll be staying there tomorrow night, then leaving around 1:30. I have to say, I've rather enjoyed this trip and seeing the landmarks of my heritage. There's still lots left to see, though. The London Transport Museum is closed until later this year for renovations. Didn't go inside Buckingham or Kensington palaces, nor Hampton Court or Windsor Castle. Didn't go to Madame Tussaud's, Harrods, the stores on Oxford Street, Greenwich, the London Eye, the London Zoo, the London Aquarium...
On the other hand, considering I only had four and a half days to work with, I think I got the big sites covered!
