Tuesday 22 May 2012

A Day at the British Museum

A special feature, a garden highlighting American plants
I consider myself very lucky to be a citizen of Great Britain and to now be living within a £20 train fare from this wonderful capital city of mine.


American gals

This is an endangered plant in its home State of Maine ( not surprised if we're pinching them)

Entrance to the British Museum

Taking in the Bloomsbury architecture over a cup of Venezuelan hot chocolate

As you enter the British Museum....

.....and look back....

This chap was carved circa 1250 BC! Yes, thats circa 3000yrs ago.  Living proof that there were biker helmet laws in ancient Egypt -they were probably riding Harley Davidsons. Notice how the figure on the right has modern jeans and sneakers worn the wrong way round - kids and fashion, duh.

The fab Bloomsbury Square

Ditto

and ditto again






The fab new Metropolitan Line tube trains - besmirched by a litter lout. Ought to be made to sweep and tidy the entire fleet.





It is indeed true, that if you're tired of London you're tired of life. But seriously, it was great to be wandering round the British Museum, virtually the only Londoner there!

18 comments:

CI-Roller Dude said...

Nice place to visit...but who'd want to live there?

Hogdayafternoon said...

CI-RD: Quite. That museum had mummified remains in it, ffs.

Quartermaster said...

I've wanted to go to the BM for a long time. Interested in seeing the remains and memorabilia of an empire that existed during my life but, like the Moody Blues' song, turned back to sand.

I'd like to take a trip through Russia for much the same reason. But, life keeps getting in the way.

Justthisguy said...

Sir, I am consumed with envy. It ain't just the BM, but all of the other wonderful things I want to see in your country. I think of the Imperial War Museum, the National Maritime Museum, the picture galleries (Tate, maybe?), the museum ships (whee! HMS Warrior), the Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale, the engineering works of Telford and Brunel, the Science Museum, the Shuttleworth Trust, and many more which I can't remember right now, but maybe have on a list somewhere.

Oh, and Cornish Beam Engines.

Oh, Qm? Our own Empire doesn't seem to be doing so well at the moment. Careful with the First Stones and Glass Houses, boyo! Nothing lasts forever.

Justthisguy said...

P.s. A married couple from my congregation are visiting Britain right now. The wife is English, and they are there to visit her mother who has just this week turned 100 years old. I asked them to bring back a picture of that famous card you get from the Queen when you turn 100.

Tom Sopwith got the executive deal on that one: someone flew by his house in a Pup when he made The Number. I reckon nobody was brave enough to start up a Camel and fly it.

Justthisguy said...

P.p.s. How could I have forgotten!
The Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall is another one on the list, 'specially if one is an hopeless old band nerd, over here at the Right of the Line, with The Colors!

Hogdayafternoon said...

JTG: I have arranged for you to have your own rocking chair when you next drop in to comment :) Always a hoot!

QM: We didn't have a spare lifetime to do the place justice. Many more trips are on the list.

Advokaat said...

London - my favorite city in one of my favorite countries...you are truly blessed and I am truly envious.

Hogdayafternoon said...

Advokaat: Bedankt (?)

TonyF said...

Went to the IWM some years ago. Fascinating.

Ferretygubbins said...

I was lucky enough to go to University just a few hundred yards from the BM - meant that I could visit as often I would like, even if only for a short while each time. In fact I would suggest that little and often is probably the best way to see it as that way one doesn't get overwhelmed by the enormity of the task in trying to do the collection in just a few hours.

Hogdayafternoon said...

Ferrety`; Absolutely correct. 2 hrs on each visit was perfect on this occasion and left us enriched (and Rosetta Stoned). Thanks for taking the time to comment.

Hogdayafternoon said...

Ferrety`; Absolutely correct. 2 hrs on each visit was perfect on this occasion and left us enriched (and Rosetta Stoned). Thanks for taking the time to comment.

JuliaM said...

The British Museum is great, but for stunning architecture, you can't beat the Natural History Museum! I could stand and stare at it for hours.

Hogdayafternoon said...

JuliaM: Agreed! And what about St. Pancras?? Wow.

Justthisguy said...

So, what about the Albert Memorial? Some have argued that it was mystically spared from being bombed because it was just so fugly.

I mind the passage in "Goodbye to All That" when they couldn't manage to hit the fugly kitchsy piece of pottery with their pistols, though standing right close to it.

Anonymous said...

Hope you were here when the weather was good rather than those rather wet drought days we had!

You have been on a new Metropolitan train before me. Hmm!

Justthisguy said...

Oh, I must visit the Fens, if I ever get over there. I have just re-read "The Nine Taylors" by Dorothy Leigh Sayers, and I say that the Fens remind me of this part of Florida, except that here the land is flat, soggy, and hot, and in the Fens it is flat, soggy, and cold. We have the same problems with getting rid of the excess water. It can be pretty bad during, and after, a hurricane.