LONDON TRIP--DAY 7

Thursday, June 7


We are up and at 'em and off to Caffe Nero.  Today is going to be a busy day, and we need all the espresso shots we can get!

One of the things on our agenda that we have not had time for is the British Museum.  It is filled with artifacts from Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and everywhere else you can imagine.  It would take days to see everything there, and we only have a couple of hours.  How sad.

It is raining again and cold, so we take the Tube to the station nearest the Museum and walk until we arrive at our destination.

Once inside we were amazed at the glass-domed lobby, called the Great Court.

After a few minutes of oohing and aahing over the beauty of this room, we located the Egyptian exhibit and waited our turn to see the Rosetta Stone.  It was discovered in the Egyptian desert in 1799.  Upon it is the same phrase repeated in three different languages, thereby helping linguists to decipher hieroglyphics.

Another interesting display is the upper half of the statue of Ramesses II (1270 B.C.).  This is most likely the Pharoah that Moses confronted when he said, "Let my people go!"

At the entrance of the Assyrian exhibit are two human-headed winged lions (865-860 B.C.).  These lions guarded an Assyrian palace.

From there we toured rooms of Greek statues, vases, and jewelry and were amazed that we had covered such a small part of the museum. 

We began to prioritize the artifacts that we really wanted to see and decided that Egyptian mummies were high on the list.

We also saw mummies of cats.

So was Lindow man, also known as Bog Man, who was the victim of a Druid human-sacrifice ritual.  His body was preserved 2,000 years in a peat bog, and his wounds are still visible.

We ended our visit to the British Museum and headed for some place to eat before trying to squeeze in a visit to the British Library before our tour of St. Paul's Cathedral and Evensong.  Burger King was our best option.  Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce . . . .


We hopped another Tube train and located the
British Library.  By the time we arrived, the rain had really set in, so it was nice to have a place to stay dry.  At the library, we were greeted by a statue of a naked Sir Isaac Newton bending forward measuring the universe with a compass.  Interesting.

We visited the Sir John Riblat Gallery which contains early works of writers such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Ben Jonson.  A page of Handel's Messiah was on display as well as lyrics to famous Beatles songs hand-written by John, Paul, George, and Ringo.  We saw the Gutenberg Bible and copies of the Magna Carta.

Time was getting away from us, and we hurried to St. Paul's Cathedral so that we would have time to tour before Evensong began at 5:00 o'clock.  Photography is not allowed inside, but here is a picture taken outside.

St. Paul's was designed by Sir Christopher Wren.  He spent forty years working on this cathedral and was able to see its completion at the age of 75.  During World War II it was hit by twenty-eight bombs.  It was the site of Winston Churchill's funeral and Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding in 1981.  And on Tuesday of this week, only two days before, St. Paul's had hosted the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving Service. 

We attended the Evensong service that afternoon.  We were told to sit under the dome.  I didn't count the number of people attending the service, but I would estimate at least three hundred others were there.  I especially loved hearing the organ and the choir.  When the collection basket came around, Glenn ended up holding it and no one came to get it from him.  He sat and held it for several minutes and finally set it down in the aisle hoping that one of the ushers would come to get it sooner or later.  At the end of the service, the priests and choir processed out and the congregation was told to follow them.  I guess that is a good way to get everyone to leave quickly.

We were exhausted from our long day, so we located the nearest Underground station and waited for a train.  They were unbelievably crowded that day, so we had to pass up four trains before we were able to board one.  I was disturbed because there were no seats and also nothing to hold onto.  Glenn assured me that as packed as the train was there was no way I would fall.  He was right.  We were sardines packed in a fast-moving can.

While standing and waiting for said train for at least a half hour, I couldn't help but notice this advertisement for whiskey in the Tube station.  It shows a very solemn Queen Victoria . . .

and reads as follows:  "Jack Daniel was so proud of the whiskey he created that he wanted to share it with the world.  That's why, in 1892, he sent Queen Victoria a barrel as a gift, confident his charcoal-mellowed whiskey would be appreciated by a woman accustomed to the finer things.  He never heard back, but Jack was certain someone, somewhere was very appreciative."

We had become creatures of habit.  We went back to The Swan for more Fish & Chips and Mushy Peas, but this time we topped it off with delicious Apple Pie w/ Ice Cream.  What a way to spend the day!