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Published: June 25th 2007
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Friend at Hand
Larissa, Emily and Brian enjoying a pint! so this afternoon, I headed to my first of many BM visits. It is just incredible how close we are living to it!
I tried to go to the Foundling Museum, but they are closed on Mondays, so that will have to be another day.
I love that we are here for several weeks instead of two nights, so we can go back to places, particularly since all the museums are free. Well, I have this London "day by day" Frommer's guide, and I decided that upon my first visit I would follow its suggestions. I am slowly but surely (not quite 30... still have 12 days), learning to not re-invent the wheel. I love being independent and knowing everything on my own. I know Joe and my mom are both laughing right now, saying DUH! I like to create things and be the first, but when it comes to gigantic museums, sometimes trusting others' knowledge is a good thing. So the book suggested 12 things for a time of about 2 hours, and that was exactly what I had been planning. A couple of the exhibits were closed, so I didn't view them in their entirety, although they were
London
Beautiful gardens everywhere! put in other places so I saw some of them. Anyway...
I saw the Rosetta Stone... Crazy to see the different languages.
I saw the Elgin Marbles. There is controversy over whether these types of things should be returned to Greece, although that is a controversial issue throughout the world in terms of museums. What a challenge! Hard to know what is right, but I feel that if museums would agree to loan things more regularly to each other, it might be easier. It has been asked a couple of times on tours for me just this week.. what do we think? Anyway... it is an interesting subject to think about. By the way, these Marbles are parts of the Parthenon friezes taken by Lord Elgin in 1805. Seeing the centaurs and the chariots and the gods and goddesses depicted is quite incredible. It makes me really want to be a fly on the wall in another era and time. To conceive of their creativity and artistry makes me feel a bit insignificant, myself.
Then there were the Statues of the Nereid Monument, "4th century B.C. Lykian tomb from southwest Turkey." I love this quote from my book, "Even without
Larissa and Sherry
Cold day by the London Bridge!
their heads, the daughters of the sea god Nereus (aka Nereids) look as graceful as the ocean waves they are meant to personify." I took a couple of different pictures of this exhibit (luckily, you are completely allowed to take photos in there), and it is true.. they just look all flowy even though it is carved in marble. (do you like my expanded English, "all flowy?" I'm not perfect all the time).
The Mausoleum of Halikarnassos is part of the remains of the "one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World." He was the King Maussollos which is where we get the word mausoleum from. Huge monuments were a part of this tomb, like of a horse and a lion, and him and the woman they considered his wife. The enormity of the sculptures is always what amazes me.
I saw the Lindow Man who is a cadaver found in Cheshire in Lindow Moss, discovered in 1984 after being preserved for 2000 years. He was beaten quite a bit, but they have a photo of what he probably looked like, and when you look at his skull, you can kind of see it. As I was standing there
flowers everywhere!
This is above a pub! Can you believe it? taking it in, reading things, I heard a mom and her daughters walk over. She said, "this is one of my favorites," ready to share with her daughter, who took one look and said, "EWWW, mom!" I laughed! This is apparently a proof of Druidic sacrificial ritual, as my book stated, but the museum post said he had mistletoe in his stomach which would have been a poison he had to ingest soon before his death in order for it to be preserved like that, also indicating Druids.
The Treasures of Sutton Hoo: A burial ground where they don't really know who was buried, but have made guesses. It's definitely early Anglo-Saxons, and they found an oak ship there as well. I took pictures of instruments they recovered (kind of cool to share with students later), and also of some of the silver platters which would indicate royalty. They found many silver coins in the area too. The discover was proof that the early Anglo-Saxons weren't as primitive as once thought.
The Clocks and Watches I had to hunt for. They are on a temporary smaller exhibit while they redo a large area, yet they were so interesting I may
Bloomsbury Group
So cool to see where Virginia Woolf lived... also saw places where T.S. Eliot worked and Charles Dickens wrote and drank! actually purchase a clock and watch book! There was a clock from mid 1400s Burgundy, the oldest in the British Museum. I did not ever know that clocks went back that far, and was thrilled to learn such a fact. These are full-blown clocks, with roman numerals I-XII. There was a also some mechanical clock which has a marble that goes along it.. The marble travels 4000km a year and goes from end to end every 30 seconds. I watched it for a couple of minutes, very cool!
The Egyptian Rooms are simply fascinating. My love for Ancient Egypt can definitely be traced to my father, who has studied much on the subject. I remember trying to write friends notes in hieroglyphics in 6th grade after attending a seminar with him at the University of Chicago. Yes, I am a complete dork! I have seen many an Egyptian exhibit, but I think having the time to just hang and be alone, as well as my more adult outlook, have made me learn so much more. I found the mummified cat suggested by the book, as well as "Ginger," the very preserved man with a reddish beard from over 5000 years
Buckingham Palace
Have to go back for changing of the guard sometime. ago. I also saw a description of the hieroglyphics for the word cat.. the letters used are "miw" and "emou" in Coptic. How crazy that they were already going by the sound we all know as "meow." Then I also witnessed some sexual paintings and hieroglyphics. Apparently most sexual aspects dealt with gods and not actual people, but there was a limestone flake with a male/female couple in a very sexual way, and it said that her quote in hieroglyphics translated to, "Calm is the desire of my skin." It was dated 1295-1069 BC in the Ramesside Period. That is AMAZING! I did not yet view the Asia Galleries, as suggested by my book, because by now I'd been here for over 2 hours, and tonight was my dinner night. Yet, I did walk through the Enlightenment Gallery: "Discovering the World in the 18th Century,"is the theme. It's a permanent exhibit and seems to go on forever. I know I will go back there and spend an afternoon just in there, as well as an afternoon just in the Europe section, and then Middle East, and Asia, and on and on. I barely saw Africa, and I think there are
placement is everything
Even this tiny space of dirt has been filled by simple geraniums which turn everything into gloriousness especially on such a dreary day as this. some "Americas" as well.
This is my British Museum 101! Aside from the exhibits, I think it might be fascinating to sit in the cafe and just watch people. I heard any number of languages spoken, and yet we were all there doing the same thing, taking the same pictures. So nice to see other inquisitive people in the world.
I also loved the book store. I wrote down what I might like to own, and if I can afford any by the end I will purchase a couple of them, or keep note on them and look for them on Amazon.
If anyone has been to the BM, let me know if there are other exhibits to view.
Tomorrow the National Gallery.
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Adam
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God save the Queen
Ah, yes, the joys of an imperial pint. Not as skimpy as those puny 16oz things that they try to pass off as pints in America.