British Museum, National Galleries plus

It was a jam-packed and fun- filled day. Did you know that London still has telephone booths? I like that. I got to the famous British Museum and took their highlights (audio) tour. The Rosetta Stone is located just inside. I honestly didn’t understand what the big deal was about the stone. I didn’t realized it had the same text in a language that was already known/understood as the hieroglyphics written above it. Aha!

As I walked around the ruins and artifacts, I annoyingly saw them as, “hey, look what the British Empire stole from around the globe”. Chunks of the Parthenon, Egyptian mummies (which creep me out - they are dead people who thought that they would not be dug up and on display), Chinese pottery (how on earth did these delicate items survive?), Buddhist statutes, a feast of history, culture and symbology. After two hours of wandering around, I was full up.

I walked to Covent Gardens. Mr. Sunny has been working overtime here so the market was bustling with tons of people. It was fun. It is nice to be here on a holiday weekend. It brings out the crowds but it’s fun to see everyone out enjoying their city.

Next stop was the National Portrait Gallery. The last 70 years of portraits present such a hodgepodge of people who have influenced British society, politics and culture. Elton John, Twiggy, Nelson Mandela as a middle-aged man, Winston Churchill destroyed his official portrait so they only had a study, Margaret Thatcher, and of course, Queen Elizabeth with one of her corgis were all there. The rest of the halls were all white men. And since I’m not well schooled in many British dignitaries, I skipped them.

I passed by the Royal Opera House and flirted with getting a ticket but I just couldn’t do it - I’m just a bit too jet lagged. Trafalgar Square was my next stop. A giant stone square with fountains and lots of statues. I went in to the National Gallery right on the square. Their highlights audio tour included 80 paintings - mercifully a good 20 of them were not on display. I dutifully went to all of them and started with the exquisite art pieces from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. I find that I love the learning as much as the looking. I was chased out at 5:30pm.

A cozy French restaurant drew me in for a three course meal and a glass of Cote du Rhône. The creme caramel was a creamy, sweet end to my day.

I’m tired.Read more