Day 0 – European Inspiration – The British Museum
There are three things I like about this museum.
- Its Free*
- It has interesting exhibits from around the world
- They allow Photography
Here is a link to their website –> http://www.britishmuseum.org/
*There is a special exhibit section which is not free. I think you need a museum membership or pay a small fee, but unless your hard set on seeing whatever the special exhibit is, there is so much other stuff in the museum to keep you busy.
If you have hoarding tendencies and think you’re bad, you should visit this museum to get an idea of what real hoarding is. They have so much in this museum that it would be hard to cover it in one day if one were to read everything in detail. If you’re me with a camera and quick feet, it only takes 2 hours and 15 minutes and 350 photos :-).
Let’s Start with the Egyptian Section, by far the largest section in terms of collected statues, mummies, and tomb items. The primary hall is full of large stone statues such as one one shown below, some reaching all the way up ~30 feet into the air.
Once you go into the side halls, you can see various mummified remains behind glass enclosures, I’d suggest bringing a small cloth to wipe away all the finger prints; especially at child level. Overall, I wasn’t as impressed with the mummies as they seem to lack a lot of the golden head dresses, etc. that one would normally think of when talking about mummies (aka King Tut).
So I continued on and there were more statues to be found… a lot more.
They also had a section of mechanical clocks and compasses, which I though was really neat.
The reality is that this is a huge museum, with many things to see from many different parts of the world which used to be part of the British empire. It’s worth a visit if you are visiting London.
