London Sunday: British Museum and bad food

We went to London and stayed near Paddington Station. We didn't do much on Saturday since we got in after the museums had closed and the Tube lines to the tourist areas were closed that weekend for repairs. We did eat fish and chips at a renowned stand by the hotel. VERY underwhelming. Pieter's were served with creamed peas on top of french fries...guess what he didn't eat...I ate some and it was pretty tasteless. So, we went and bought British chocolate bars to try to make up for it.

Our hotel, we were at the very tippy top of the building, an attic room up 6 flights of steep, narrow, spiraled stairs

Got up in the morning and had a traditional English breakfast at the hotel: 2 fried eggs, tray of toast, baked beans, ham, and bacon. Super underwhelmed (notice a trend?) and by that, I mean Pieter didn't touch a thing. I ate it all to be polite but the eggs...tried a bite but couldn't do any more. After that, we walked through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park to get to church, which was 4 stories and banners outside with signs for tours and free concerts. They have really tried to make it into a tourist site and the sister missionaries all had i-Pads(what?!). The ward there is quite large and mainly American, it seemed. It was English Mothering Day so Sacrament was on Mothers and then there were treats after. We sat and talked with a couple that just came that week from Sunnyvale to work for 2 months (Apple). We have some mutual friends so small world!

After, we went to the British Museum, but first stopped at a Burger King for lunch (is it wrong to say that that was the best food we'd had yet in London? We were beginning to empathize with my mom and dad's feelings about Subway in Rome). Anyway, we ended up going in a back entrance to the museum which was a little weird. Walking up, the neighborhood was completely deserted: no one, no signs, nothing; which made us a little concerned thinking: "This is supposed to be the best/biggest Western museum. What's wrong?" We then spent about 30 minutes in nearly empty side exhibits before we found the main atrium (the museum is 14 acres) Guess what? We found everyone! Things went a lot better once we found the main exhibits. Pieter loved the "original" British Museum from the 1700s with the 3 story library set up with curiosity cabinets. The items themselves weren't big ticket items, but the area was more focused on how these items fueled the British Upper class' curiosity and the desire to explore and learn about other cultures. They also included all of the items, even though some were discovered to be fakes (the fakes were noted but still displayed, which was interesting).

Original British Museum

Display of all the pills/medicines that the average person can expect to take in their lifetime

Then we went and saw the Rosetta stone, more Assyrian bearded people/horses from their palace gates and the Parthenon which was all laid out as though it were still on the Parthenon. I think the biggest understatement was on one of the placards: "While there has been discussion about Lord Elgin removing the friezes from the Parthenon, his actions saved the art from further ruin and damage." Ends justifies the means? Still regardless of the ethics of the obtaining of 99% of the museum's pieces, super neat!

Rosetta Stone

 

Then Pieter's back was hurting, so he went and sat downstairs while I went through the mummy area. Love, love, love. It really is the best mummy display in the world. I got to read every placard etc; basically do what I do in museums :) and on the way down I got to see the Mildenhall silver (Roald Dahle wrote about it: British farmer plowed up the largest Roman/English silver collection ever found. Amazing.

 

 

                           

Anyway, apparently I took too long. When I came down, Pieter wasn't where I'd left him. So, I got scared and walked 2 loops around the place trying to see if he'd moved, trying to decide what to do if I still couldn't find him since our phones don't work over there. On the end of the second lap, I saw him, he'd gone up to the mummy exhibit to look for me since he couldn't fathom anyone taking that long on 4 galleries :P 

Enjoy some pictures of mummies:

More neat things at the museum: Awesome clock that runs from little balls rolling around

Pirate ship clock

The original YMCA we saw on our walk to the Tube station

After we went back to the hotel and got dinner at a great (yes, finally!) Italian place with homemade pizza. I got Maghartita and Pieter got American hot...typical :) but very yummy. Also, I introduced Pieter to sparkling mineral water; he liked it. By the way, we totally got to skip Daylight Savings Time! Europe doesn't change until the end of March, so it only meant that London was only 4 hours ahead of EST. Probably the only time in my life when I"ll be grateful for it!