Tuesday 30 September 2014

The British Museum and Jolly's Indian Restaurant

With only two days left of our holiday, we headed to the British Museum, train to Waterloo then tube to Tottenham Court Road, too easy! However, my mind drifted off thinking about all the work I had to do when I got home and we completely missed the station. No problem- hopped off at Euston, and caught the tube going back the other way almost immediately,  stayed focussed, and didn't miss it second time round!

We walked up Great Russell Street to the entrance to the British Museum- you can't miss it- it's enormous! First we explored the Ming Dynasty special exhibition- just amazing how old the artifacts were. To put it in perspective, everything here was before Christopher Columbus was even born! What great condition they were in! Next it was off to see Elgin's Marbles. OMG- there's so many of the friezes, the metopes and the pediment pieces here- Athens is NEVER going to be able to get them back from the British Museum- they'll have huge empty spaces on the walls. It would be nice to see them in their original place (the Parthenon) but I can never see that happening.

The left was "under maintenance" so we had to take the stairs. Ross took one look at the stairs and decided to call it a day, as his legs had given up. Mine seem to be getting stronger- maybe I am getting fitter- so on and upwards I went to explore the upper floors on my own. Where do I start? Ancient Britons, Roman Empire, the Etruscans, a magnificent collection of old clocks and watches, and an amazing collection of extremely ancient coins were a few that I remember. I wandered as far as my feet could carry me, and only decided to leave when my right foot caught on fire. (figuratively)

I managed to find my way back to the tube station, and luckily jumped straight on one heading to Waterloo, which is an enormous station/tube complex. I managed to follow the signs to platform 15, where a train was just about to pull out. I hurried to get on, not having time to check if this was the right train. Hah, I thought if I'm on the wrong one, I'll just get off at the next stop and try again, so was very happy to hear I was on the right train when they announced the next station. The train Citymapper  suggested I catch was the express, but this wasn't it. It didn't matter as I wasn't in any hurry.

Walking down the High Street, I spied two bobbies- they're few and far between here- and stopped to take a photo. One of them saw me and asked would I like a photo with him. Hell, yeah! (see photo)
On to home and a short rest and a pint of cider before heading off to dinner at Jolly's across the road where we met Angela and Joe and Eli ( who was sound asleep in his new stroller). Pappadums were followed by samosas, tandoori lamb chops and mushrooms and that was just starters! Mains followed and I had a malayan prawn dish, with coconut, pineapple and cream- every rich and I could only eat half of it. ( I just ate the rest for breakfast!-yummy!)

Home for shower, bed and Glee! I didn't even get to see the end of the episode, and slept like a log all night. Only one day to go!

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