Day 26 – London
Another catching up binge. It seems that time flies when you’re … tired.
As much as anyone loves travel, it is tiring being a long way from home for any length of time, and it’s starting to catch up with me. With the zombie cold from hell that has been following us back with a vengeance, I miss the comfort of home.
So trying to remember back to last Friday. kicked off the day with our favourite laundromatte. We’re getting the hang of these machines.
Then it was time for the big time machine trip: The British Museum. Home of much cool things, from the old to the really old. I felt it was my civic duty to drag L to the big ticket items first: the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin marbles. Maybe if I win a lottery I’ll offer TBM a few thousand pounds for 20 minutes alone with the Rosetta Stone, to study it in peace and quiet, and marvel at the rock that led to so much greater understanding. Today wasn’t that day, so I dragged L as best I could through the throng of tourists to get a peak at it. L had the great idea of heading around the back and taking a photo of us standing behind the stone. She’s a genius.
Then it’s through to the Elgin marbles, or the Parthenon marbles, or whatever you want to call them. Much as I sympathise with the Greek position, I’m in favour of keeping them in London, as long as these impressive sculptures are protected and on display for all the world to see.
A quick wander around some more old stuff, and a break for lunch, then it was time to hit the gift shop and the highlights. I was a bit sad they didn’t have any Rosetta Stone tea towels, or the black and white t-shirt so I can retire my old one. Still, they had much cool stuff, mostly books. I’m seeing a big online purchase when i get home.
Saw a bunch of the other highlights. Looking at the peat-bog man I recalled David McComb’s lyrics to “Jerdacuttup Man”, inspired by this very exhibit, and marvelled at where this inspiration had taken him.
After the museum we took a quick stroll down Drury Lane, didn’t see any ghosts, and popped into what we thought was a cafe for a tea at the Lowlander Grand Cafe. Turns out it’s a Belgian beer pub, with lots of beers from that region, so we went for beer and chips instead. I chose the 1/3 pint sample pots of their three darkest tap brews, and have to say that 2 of them were not to my taste at all. One wasn’t bad, smooth and drinkable. I’m happy to believe that all three were excellent examples of their respective styles, my own taste in dark beers runs more into ales, while I think these were closer to lagers.
In the evening we caught up with L and had a couple of drinks, pints of Bombadier that tasted like nothing Belgian, before a feast in Chinatown. There was a king prawn omlette, quite different from the usual sorts of Chinese omlettes we get, this one was just eggs and prawns. tasted good. There was sweet and sour chicken, and no continental shift there. We also got pig organs and octopus. This one took the waiter by surprise, thinking we’d made a mistake, but with some explanation it was all good. There was pork tongue, ear, and a couple of mystery meats. The tongue was lovely, the ear was surprisingly good, but for the other two, one was a bland and fatty cut, while the other had chewy but edible cartilage running through it, a very disconcerting eating experience. Somewhat stuffed, and mostly caught up on gossip, it was a fine night.