Sightseeing in West End

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Sherlock Holmes Museum

Having heard that Sachi and her mum would visit St Paul’s Cathedral early in the morning on 14 February, I decided to meet them on the platform of Holborn on the Central Line. Sachi suggested me I would show her mum plaques of Sherlock Holmes on the Baker Street, as well as taking her the museum. I showed her tiles of Sherlock Holmes’s portraits in the station and statue. We found a queue in front of the museum on the Baker Street, and had to wait a bit before entering.

We were invited to go upstairs, shown the bedroom, drawing room, or Watson’s Room and Mrs Hudson’s room, etc. All of the furniture, stationery items, detective goods and documents, which were displayed in the rooms, were associated with Sherlock Holme’s life and stories in the Victorian time. Many tourists were taking photos of the memorabilia, wads of documents and furniture, all of which were arranged and displayed to give the tourists pictures of Sherlock Holme’s fictitious life in the Victorian time. There were wax works of the characters with screens of the famous stories, e.g. The Musgrave Ritual, The Redheaded League, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. There were even Japanese translations of one of the stories in the display room.

We popped in the gift shop. There were a wide range of gifts and souvenirs, e.g. postcards, books, key holders, prints, chocolates, T-shirts, DVDs. My aunt bought key holders for her friends.

We had lunch at one of the cafes near Holborn station.

After the lunch, we walked to the British Museum. As usual, there were loads of tourists. I showed my aunt the Rossetta Stone, Egyptian sculptures, mummies and its associated ornaments, Roman and Celtic ornaments, etc on the Western galleries. It was very interesting to see very ornate and intricate scriptures drawn and inscribed even on the inside of the coffins, all of which represented the ritual ceremonies and gatherings of the families. There were loads of Roman monuments discovered in London and UK, and there was a map of Roman monuments. I showed my aunt various Roman discoveries and places where we visited.

After that, we looked round the special exhibitions of the prints of Greek landscapes, crafts made of clothes and wood, all of which have been collected from Oceania and Pacific Islands. We rested a bit. I then took her to Greek monument rooms, e.g. Parthenon sculptures, Assyrian sculptures and scripts, and Greek vases.

Finally, we strolled through Enlightenment Room and saw the highlights and general collections of the British Museum. We found the items related to Sutton Hoo, e.g. mask of the Anglo Saxon King, music instruments, and accessories. The original exhibition of Sutton Hoo was closed due to the renovation on 14 February. I was glad to be able show her the sample exhibition, as well as other exhibitions. I told her that the British Museum was founded by Sir John Sloane who was the Surgeon, Physician, and great collector of the monuments, reliefs, and documents. I showed her various ammonites, samples of plants, skulls of animals, and 17-18^th century books, and original scientific equipments displayed in the gallery.

We had some rest at the Ruskin Hotel. We went to Mitsukoshi Department and my aunt returned the battery charger.

We met up with Mark and Sachi at Leicester Square. We had dinner at the New World. The Chinese New Year celebration was in progress and we could see scores of beautiful decorations here and there in the China Town. We chose one dish from the New Year feast. Sachi and her mum gave us generous gifts and treated us to the meal on 14 February.

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