Day 11 Continued: London

To continue our beautiful May 26th in London we journeyed over to the British Museum. We decided to do a self-guided tour using a map provided by the museum. They highlight the best parts of the museum so you can make sure you get to see all the good stuff even if you’re short on time.

One of the first things we got to see were the Olympic Medals. Then we got to see The Lewis Chessmen, one of few remaining medieval chess sets and the most famous chess set in the world. Next we saw the Royal Game of Ur, which was a game played for about 3000 years in the ancient world.

Continuing through the room we took a look at the Portland Vase, which was made in about 15 BC to AD 25. The museum calls it “one of the finest surviving pieces of Roman glass.” It was made through a method called cameo glass, which involves the decorating and carving of two or more layers of glass.

In the Japan section we saw a collection of Samurai Armour made between 1500 and 1800. Heading downstairs we hung out for a little bit with Hoa Hakananai’a, a Basalt statue from about 1400 that probably expressed ideas about leadership and authority. He’s a cool looking dude!

We also saw the Parthenon Sculptures, and last but not least the Rosetta Stone. Egyptian hieroglyphics were first used around 3500 BC, and the Rosetta Stone was used to translate hieroglyphics into other languages.

So I gave a little taste of some of the fascinating artifacts we got to see in the British Museum. Overall, I was just amazed by the skills of people thousands of years ago, and the amount of work that went into every detail of their craftsmanship. Take the Rosetta Stone for example. Could you even imagine carving all of that minuscule writing into stone? And the Portland Vase… it was carved by hand! It was bewildering to be looking at something that is so old and handcrafted in such detail.

After the museum we headed back to the flats and ate some dinner. As we were sitting around in our living room a few of us decided we needed to do something since we had no plans. We were in London after all. We thought it would be a great idea to check out Abbey Road for a little blast from the past of The Beatles. Just like typical tourists of course, we had to stop traffic so we could get a picture standing where The Beatles once stood. It was so worth it though.

I thought the second image was a really cool picture. I love the way my camera captures scenes sometimes. If only I actually had a really nice camera…. oh the amazing pictures I could take. Anyway, we continued our adventure by walking a few blocks to see Paul McCartney’s house. Slightly creepy, I know. But still very cool. All thanks to good ol’ Rick Steves 🙂

All in all, it was a fun night. More than could be captured just from these pictures. London and the entire trip are coming to a close, but there is still much more fun ahead!

Little Matters,

Marissa