Tea Time with A Side of History

Another sunny day in London. It was glorious. Though, I see rain will be on the way. Of course. Today, class met at the British Museum and took a guided tour with Sean Simpson. Last time I came to London we spent all of 30 minutes in the museum, so I was excited to go back. The British Museum has items from all over the world and from centuries upon centuries ago. I am slowly realizing how much I like museums. We started out in a room that also contained library shelves on the walls. The majority of the artifacts came from a few of the King Georges and a man who helped to launch parts of the museum. He, also invented milk chocolate. Bless this man, ya'll.  It was a really beautiful room. We saw a replica version of the Rosetta Stone, that we were able to get a bit closer to look at the writing. We then moved onto the real Rosetta Stone. It was quite a crowd pleaser, and very interesting. We also saw parts of a wall that used to be in the Parthenon. It was crazy to think how old all this stuff was. All that was made forever ago! After our tour, we were allowed to wander the museum, and we simply could not pass up that opportunity. We made our way to the Egyptian exhibit. Seeing all the mummies was so cool! Seriously. It was fascinating. Kinda gross. But fascinating. Another great item we saw was the statue of Ramses The Great. He reigned for over 60 years! We also decided to check out the Picasso exhibit. How often do you get to see the works for Pablo Picasso. I was really surprised at how much I liked. I can see myself putting his work (not the originals obviously) in my future house. But then there were some that I just thought looked dumb. (Sorry dude.)

The beautiful architecture inside the museum. That ceiling costs millions of pounds.

The beautiful room!

King Ramses statue

The crystal skull that is referenced in the Indiana Jones movies.

Our next stop on the agenda was to have tea at The Crypt. (Once again, no website currently found) We had a bit of free time, so we ate lunch at the museum cafe then made our way to Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar is the home to a huge monument and four lion statues, that many people like to climb on. The National Gallery is also located there. Oh! And the Olympic countdown is there!

Trafalgar Square

Forty three days!

A few of us brave ones decided we needed to climb on the top of lions as well. So there we go, all in our nice clothing to climb a statue. We really didn't know how it was going to go over. Let me tell you. Those lions are not close to the ground. At all. It was a complete struggle to get the five of us up there. I'm sure we put on quite a show. But we got the pictures and experience we wanted.

PS: Did you know London is in a drought? (not very logical since it rains like all the time)

Okay, can we just look at this for a second. This little boy is wearing red skinny pants. Is there anything cuter? No. No there isn't.

We then went to tea, in the tomb area/crypt. It was underground, and you could see the floor markings where people were buried. A very cool atmosphere. For tea, we had tea of course! Mine was loaded with a great deal of sugar. (I miss sweet tea) We also had chocolate cake, a slice of bread with cherries or strawberries in it, and a scone with clotted cream. Delicious indeed! And we felt so proper! I really like going to tea. And we even got personal tea pots to pour our own tea. Precious. I really enjoyed this and want to go again while we are here.

After tea, Emily, Lindsay, and I made our way back to a familiar spot. Harrods. For round two of chocolate. I will refresh you on the plan. There are roughly ten counters in the chocolate section of Harrods. Our goal is to go to every counter and try a few selections from each. Of course, not all in one sitting, but fairly often to ensure we hit them all. Then we will go back towards the end of the trip and pick up a few of our favorites. I am pretty sure, the majority of my returning suitcase will be filled with food. No judgement people.

Also. Something I am so excited about. Especially around China Town, they sell scarves for only two pounds! And they have so many colors and patterns. I love love love scarves and seriously may be buying a million.

So recap: My suitcase will be filled with sweets and scarves.

Tomorrow, we go to Stonehenge and Bath.

Week Two: Day Three: BLC 8