Here comes the sun (London)

The SUN CAME OUT! Wow, this is a moment. Just let me collect my thoughts for a minute. OK, I'm ready now, I was just so not prepared for blue sky and sunshine. Then we hit the street and it was, well, cold, and the sun was already fading into cloud. It was going to be that sort of day.

The sky is not as blue here in London.  It is like a water colour wash, paler than what you would see in Sydney and not from the same palette as the centre of Australia.  New York had a stronger colour, maybe it has something to do with position above or below the equator. I'll leave that to the scientists.

So, this morning we set out for the British Museum, the number one tourist attraction in England, which is is not far away from Fitzrovia and also close to where we stayed in 2003.

Not so Random statement

I believe I've already said this in a previous post, but ... why do people who are interetsed in museums bring their children to museums and allow them to destroy everyone else's enjoyment?  Examples from today, not all bad:

1. What do three year olds do when they get into a room that echoes? They shout, they scream, they test the reverberation of sound - I have no issue with this, but not in a museum. Really? What do you think they will do when they walk from a room with significant sound abatement and climate control into a cavernous space? And they did. Incessantly. And ran from their parent/carer/wrangler/whatever screaming to hear the echo.

2. One boy chasing his younger brother is collared by dad and fears for his safety. Dad realises this is a public place and releases his grip with, "You are ten years old - you should know better." I missed the next exchange because they moved away from us, but it concluded with the ten year old saying, "Well, what do you expect? I'M BORED." No surprises there, clearly dad is not Sherlock.

3. Dad and two little children moving swiftly between exhibits, talking to his children. "That looks like an axe? What do you think?" Dad engaged, kids engaged - good work to you unnamed man, but you sir, are in the minority.

Museums and galleries are not surrogate baby sitting facitilites.  If you take your children to a museum/gallery then keep them engaged, keep them reasonably quiet or keep them home.

The British Museum, not a creché

The British Museum

No idea, it was in the entrance

We were conscious that we are coming to the end of our time here, so we took a different approach to a venue that we would normally spend around 9 hours touring. Even then not see everything it has to offer. We were once again pleasantly surprised to find out that entry to the museum was predicated on a polite, quick look in the back pack and a request for a donation to support the upkeep of the place (I'm looking at you every venue in the USA, check your paranoia at the door).  No restrictions on photography either and in fact a very laid back approach to keeping people away from the antiquities - for many exhibits all that stood between them and any marauding visitors were signs requesting "Please do not touch". Of some concern given the not so random statements #1 & 2 above... then again, it's not that easy to hurt rock.

We bought a map and realised immediately that the place was a convoluted collection of rooms that spilled from one to another, making an orderly approach to covering everything impossible.  How unusual, in total contrast to every other museum we've been to in the last month - not. On the ground and lower floors, presumably the original floors, there are no less than 40 rooms of varying sizes and shapes covering privately donated priceless collections of jewellery, glass, gold and silverware, antiquities from cultures like Egypt, Greece, Rome, Africa, China, the Celts, India, the Americas, Polynesia and Oceania; religious traditions including Islam and Buddhism.  

The map contains 'must see' lists and we checked off all of the items on the Ground and Lower floor, the highlight for me in this category was the Rosetta Stone.  It was almost like visiting Mona Lisa at The Louvre - it was where the crowd was gathering.

You know, I thought it would be bigger and have more security.

We managed to navigate our way around all of these exhibits as well as the circular shop in the Great Court in about four hours.  Even though we felt abit hungry, we passed by the crowded museum cafe which curiously laid out all sorts of delectable sweet treats like scones, slices, pastries and cakes on serve yourself benches around which people could wander and help themselves and then go to a counter to pay.  Or their grubby, snotty uncontrolled children could test the wares, or someone could sneeze on the offerings.  Australian health department officials would have a coronary about the potential for food contamination this system offered!

Hello. My name is Mr Ed.

The important thing is that this place is amazing, masses of exhibits from Egypt to Rome to Greece and I'm talking empires from years gone by.  Not just small pieces to examine, massive reconstructions, in some areas, to admire all with a written explanation.

Tomorrow, we will be back to tackle the top floor and I promise not to complain about unrestrained children or their ignorant parents, or that other peril, bus tour groups from Asia. Never, ever, ever step in front of the person with the flag, you could be swept, unwittingly, onto to their bus and back to their hotel never to see your loved ones again.