London, Day 1 – A little rain makes it all about museums

The plan was to do a bike tour and London Walks: Jack the Ripper tour, however a little rain quickly changed that plan.We started the day at the British Museum, which is huge and very clear on the map but unusually hard to find in real life. We wondered around the same area for quite some time following the unmarked (on our map) side streets that may or may not actually be the way to the museum while the rain did it’s London thing and kept starting and stopping. Finally after being asked directions by another American tourist looking for the same museum and becoming properly soaked, we found it. Once inside, our first stop was the famous Rosetta Stone in the ancient Egyptian rooms. It was cool to see something that is so famous in real life, but after a quick look at the stone, I realized that the whole room was filled with amazing artifacts. We saw a large stone arm that was at least three times my size as well as some beautiful Egyptian pharaoh statues. One of the nicest things about this particular museum was that they let us take pictures, oh and the fact that there was free admission. 

After Egypt we checked out the Ancient Greek rooms, I have never seem more headless statues in one place. But even without heads they were absolutely beautiful. There was also a beautiful Library at this museum that reminded me of the one in Prague and a second Rosetta Stone (this one was a fake replica) that you could actually touch and stand next to. 

Our next stop was the National Portrait Gallery, which was three beautiful levels of painted portraits as well as a few photographs as you got into the more modern sections. There were huge group portraits, which took the artists 10 years to complete and then after all of that 15 years to find someone to buy it. There was also a painting that looked like a black and white photograph when you stood far enough away. The portraits ranged from very modern to century’s old. There was another one that changed colors but it was so slow that you couldn’t tell unless you looked away for a second and then looked back. 

The last museum we went to was the National Gallery and it seemed like everything was there. We saw everything for Picasso to Monet to Van Gogh. I was also able to see quite a few of the self-portraits that we have been talking about in my History of Photography class including the very famous one by Rembrant that was on my mid-term. 

After our busy museum day we headed back to our apartment to make dinner. Our plan (which we actually stuck to quite well) was to eat two meals a day at the apartment and only eat out for lunch to save money we also made sure to eat a fruit or vegetable with every meal. So for dinner we made pasta, salad with balsamic vinaigrette and carrots, the most delicious garlic bread I have ever had in my life, and rocky road ice cream. It was amazing.