Two weeks ago I got to go to London on business. Luckily enough I had some time to see some sights too. I liked London way more than I expected to. I hope I get to go back one day and check out all of the things I missed!
I took a red eye to Heathrow with a 45 minute layover at JFK. There was a little running involved in between flights because my flight from Seattle was 20 minutes late, but I arrived safe and sound (and on time) to London. I wasn’t super familiar with how to get around so I decided to take the tube straight to my hotel so I wouldn’t have to transfer. I got a week-long Oyster card which is good for the most types of public transportation. The pass was 37 pounds (exchange rate was about $1.75 = 1 pound), but well worth the price since I was running around like crazy throughout the week.
The hotel I stayed at had a great location. It was right down the street from a tube station and about a block away from the British Museum.
Since the museum was just around the corner I decided to make that my first stop. WOW. It totally blew me away. There was so much awesome stuff I think you could spend a whole week looking at everything there. To top it off most of the museums are free in London, including this one. Even if you were to ignore the fact that the museum is full of awesome artifacts the building itself was eye opening and the layout of the displays was really well done.
The first room I went to look at was focused on the Renaissance. The room itself is amazing, but it on top of the displays in the room it also had huge cabinets lining the room that were filled to the brim with things displayed. I didn’t spend as much time in the Asian sections of the museum because I wanted to see more of the European displays while I was in Europe, but I didn’t do a quick walk through. The museum is just crazy. Every nook and cranny is filled with something awesome. Turn a corner and “look there’s a giant Buddha”. That’s not cool enough for you? That’s ok, turn the other corner and you’ll see a gilded organ frame or something else equally awesome like an entire tomb moved from Greece.
The museum is also well known for it’s Egyptian collection. They have rooms filled with coffins and items from the various tombs.
If you like sculptures or Ancient Rome, you’d like the British Museum
One of the highlights of the British Museum is the Rosetta Stone. As you can imagine there’s quite a crowd around it, but you can get pretty close if you wait your turn.
Another highlight is the museum is that most of the Parthenon is on display there.
We haven’t even gotten through day one! Stay tuned for the rest of my trip.
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The BM indeed is amazing, and you have covered it well.