Day 2-Bloomsbury and Notting Hill

Today was a day I was very excited for because we went to the British Museum and the British Library.  Pretty nerdy activities but I think mom enjoyed them too.  We started out by going to the British Museum and got super lost.  It wasn't bad getting lost because it was a really cute area called Bloomsbury which is supposedly the academic neighborhood of London.  We finally got to the museum (which was free!) and just started walking around.  We started in Egypt (where we saw the Rosetta Stone!) and moved on to ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, the old clock section, and the mummies.  I had a super good time because I love looking at that kind of old stone.  We saw 7 year old Egyptian boy's mummified foot and I thought of Nikki and how sad she would probably be :(   We probably could have spent all day in there, but 2.5 hours seemed like a good amount, especially since England isn't quite as concerned with temperature control as the USA (I thought I would burst into flames.)

Mom in front of the British Library

The Rosetta Stone

oldest chess set ever (from the 1000s or something)

We had lunch in Bloomsbury at a deli that was across the street from the Prince of Wales' interior decorator's shop.  We know that he was the Prince of Wales' interior decorator because it said so all over his shop.  Good for him.

It's kinda small but it has a picture of a crown and then it says "By appointment to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales Supplier of Antiques and Decoration"

Lunch was nice and sunny, but it seems that in England the temperature changes within a minute.  It rained 3 times yesterday and 2 times today but only for abut 15 minutes and then the sun came out again.  Our hotel concierge Richie tried to convince us this morning that it doesn't rain all the time in England.  He also claimed (jokingly) that it rains in Paris nonstop and we shouldn't go there because the weather is worse than London.  Anyway we trudged through the rain to the British Library, but the end of the 10 minute walk was sunny.

street in Bloomsbury where we ate lunch

The British Library was a quick visit but a cool one because we got to see some pretty special things, like: the oldest new testament that has been found, Charlotte Bronte's manuscript of Jane Eyre, the Beatles' handwritten lyrics to "Yesterday" and "Help," Leonardi DaVinci's notes on architecture, Henry VIII's prayer scroll, the Magna Carta, Jane Austen's notes, Mozart's handwritten sheet music, and lots of other things I can't even remember.

British Library Entrance

Mom took some video at Notting Hill which was our next stop.  There's normally a big outdoor market but this weekend was the "Carnival."  Supposedly there was a parade but all we saw was a bunch of people walking and drinking, like a super relaxed Bay to Breakers.

street in Notting Hill

video of the Notting Hill "Carnival"


After resting our feet at the hotel, we grabbed dinner at...a burger place.  And it was good!  London doesn't seem to be a big food city.  We actually don't see very many restaurants or cafes and the ones we do see are chains or just kinda unspectacular.

after walking all day 

There are a few other interesting things mom and I have noticed about London:

1) We often forget we are in a foreign country because the language, culture, and weather are not really different.

2) With all the tourists and immigrants in London, we actually rarely hear or see someone with a British accent.  I would say 90% of the service people we have come in contact with at museums, restaurants, our hotel, etc. are not British but instead have some unidentifiable other accent.

3) There don't seem to be a whole lot of people out and about at night.  And there don't seem to be many places to go out too.

4) British people are very nice!  A restaurant cook who looked like he was enjoying his uninterrupted cigarette break got up to point the Library out to us.

5) Cars do not stop for you when you are crossing the street.  They DO NOT.

6) Oddly enough, mom has a hard time pronouncing words and we're not enough in France yet.  Her pronunciation of the train station "Cockfosters" was given a new and wildly inappropriate spin this afternoon.

7) London is very big.  There are so many neighborhoods we could not possibly see them all in 3 days, which is too bad because I would like to.  Within the neighborhoods themselves we seem to do a lot of walking too.

us using the map (again and again and again)

Tomorrow is our last day in London!  At night we are going to do the thing I have been looking forward to the most in London so I'm excited.  London has been very nice, but I think we are both looking forward to Paris.

View from our hotel room:

view from our hotel room

Pretty train station:

The Underground: