The British Museum
I have visited various ancient sites throughout my life I’ve always have wondered, “Where had all the stuff gone?!”
Come to find out the British Museum has it all! And I mean ALL of it!
Room after room blew me away. Huge artifacts filled huge, seemingly endless, spaces. After many surprises startling me in ever room I started wondering if the next room would contain the Lost Tribe of Isreal, the UFO from the Roswell crash site, and maybe Napoleon’s mummified remains.
Oh…and they have the Rosetta Stone. And all of Babylon. And Egypt.
At some point during 800 BC Kaety got cranky. She said, “Assyrian wall panels are making me hungry. I want to eat now!”
Unfortunately ‘Eating now’ isn’t something you just do in London. It seems hard to believe but among the 18,000 restaurants in the city, 17,000 of them are farther than walking distance, and the other 10,000 near you don’t have a table open until midnight.
While I made calls to find a reservation Kaety slumped on the floor under a cultural heirloom with a whole lot of other tired museum slumpers.
After many calls I found a seemingly mediocre Italian place that had an opening.
As we emerged from the museum the sky opened up and it began to pour!
We dashed across the street and into a shop – walking out with a matching set of the tackiest umbrellas ever. We had a moment of frustration and consternation when a lagging teenaged daughter Symone was standing half a block back, soaking wet, fumbling with her umbrella. Kaety yelled back at her, “What are you doing?!”
Symone yelled back over the sound of the rain, “I’ve never used one of these things before!”
The Pacific Northwest girl had always relied on Gortex and layers - we missed basic umbrella education.
Tips for visiting the British Museum:
Like the Louvre in Paris, the advice is the same for the British Museum, “Don’t try to eat it all in one bite.” The collection is huge. Set some priorities, and then triage your time. You won’t meaningfully get to it all. Once you are exhausted, and cranky, no one will be enjoying themselves anymore…so be wise with your time. It’s ok to let go.
Don’t drag a bunch of heavy backpacks with you. You don’t need anything. If are are traveling through, get a luggage locker. We use the Bounce app to great advantage. If you are staying over, leave everything in your hotel.
The line to get in can sometimes be long as security measures are tight. The line is also outside, so if the weather is threatening, make sure you have umbrellas.
The British Museum is the quintessential museum that hatched the model for the many of the museums around the world. It’s old school in its interruptive style, but they are trying to take a more modern approach to their collections philosophy.
If you have any Egypt, Medieval era, or insect/butterfly fans in your travel group they will be very very happy.
