Flat Monty with the Rosetta Stone. Ok it is a replica, but this picture turned out better than the one with the actual stone, because it is under glass.
The past two days have actually been pretty busy, I should have blogged yesterday but I was just too tired.
Friday was a good day. Steph and I met up at 11 with every intention of going to the Banqueting House, the only surviving part of a massive palace on Whitehall that burned down hundreds of years ago. It was also the site of Charles I’s execution. It was raining and windy and cold and everything and we still went out. Only it was closed for the day. Story of my life. Maybe I’ll try again on Monday.
But despite our disappointment at not getting to see the Banqueting House, we didn’t let it ruin our day. We decided to have a bit of a walk around central London and ended up going the length of Whitehall, having started at the Houses of Parliament and passing the Cenotaph and Downing Street until we came to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. We walked up past St Martin-in-the-Field Church, and into Leicester Square, to see if we could take some more hand print pictures, it seems like every time you go, at least a few of them are covered up, and of course they were this time too, but I finally got pictures of Pierce Brosnan and Stephen Fry’s hand-prints, which were the only 2 I still wanted to get.
Crazy leather dachshund at Fortnam and Mason
Then we wondered over to Piccadilly Circus and got lost in the giant Waterstone’s. We kept going and then ended up in another great bookshop, the name escapes me right now, but it has been a bookshop on that same site since 1797. Awesome. Then we went next door into Fortnam and Mason department store, which is a lot like Harrods but less crowded. They had some great stuff, including a leather dachshund which cracked me up. I think the strangest thing we saw was some vodka with a scorpion in it. The scorpion was edible, by the way. We left there and walked past the Ritz Hotel and oogled at the jewellery in the windows before parting at the Green Park tube station.
The Dog and Duck pub sign
I had to go meet my British Lit into Film class at the Goodge Street Station for a make up class. We were doing a George Orwell themed walk, which really turned into a pub crawl, because at least 6 of the stops were pubs and someone from the group had a drink in at least 4 of them. I think everyone had a drink in The Duck and the Dog because they had an Orwell Bar. As one of my classmates said, nothing says education like drinking with your professor. Actually we had a great time and we walked absolutely all over central London. It took us about 3 and a half hours to do everything, so it was good and dark by the time we split up. Instead of going back to the res hall like everyone else, I decided to walk around somemore. I wanted to find a Waterstones and buy a book I was looking at earlier in the day. I ended up walking a lot more than I had intended to, because I got a bit turned around as I’m not used to navigating that part of the city at night time. But no worries, I figured out where I was, found a Waterstones, bought my book, and made it home safe and sound. It was about 7 by the time I made it home, so I made some dinner, watched some Friends, read a bit of my new book, and went to bed!
Awesome double headed Aztec snake thing.
This morning I got up early and hoofed my way over to the British Museum. I was there when it opened at 10 and it was still crazy busy. I had been once before and done a highlights tour and seen things like the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles, but this time I went through every single one of the 90 something galleries and looked at everything. I did it kind of fast though, because at this point, I’ve seen it all before, it just wasn’t those objects. I’m an English major, not an art historian. One you’ve seen a hundred examples of ancient Roman statues or Greek urns, they all start to look the same. Add the fact that I’m just not that interested in stuff from the far east–Japan, China, Korea, India, etc. and it cuts down a lot on what I needed to really take my time with. I did enjoy the Egyptian rooms, the Aztec stuff and the bits from Europe, so that was cool.
I’ve been feeling guilty because I haven’t taken THAT many pictures (probably only 20-30) with Monty, so he went along today and I made sure to take lots of pictures with him. I got pictures of Monty with Grecian urns, the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, the Lewis Chess set, some mummies, the Crystal Skull (yes like Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull only it is a 19th century forgery. Oops.), and in the museums famed central hall. Plus I took some pictures with him at Buckingham Palace the other day. I realise that these kids will probably have no idea what all these things Monty is pictured with, so I am going to offer to go and talk to them about the pictures and what I did in January if their teacher wants me to. I should probably e-mail her about that.
Then I came back to the res hall and met my friend Katie and we went grocery shopping for our Love Actually extravaganza this evening. I’m super excited about it! I had to promise not to watch it until after Thanksgiving, and it has been hard, because I usually watch it at least once a month, if not more. And I haven’t seen it since August. Tonight we watch it, and next week we are going on a tour of places they filmed it. I can’t wait.
Side note. I will be home exactly 2 weeks from today. I can’t believe it. I sort of feel like I just got here, but then I look at everything that I have done and I feel like I have lived in London my entire life. I’ll be sad to go and leave the access to the great museums and theatre and such, but I cannot even put into words how excited I am to see my family and friends again after 3 and a half months.
Tags: Banqueting House, British Museum, Elgin Marbles, Flat Montague, Fortnam and Mason, George Orwell, Love Actually, Rosetta Stone, Waterstones
