The British Museum

Since Renic, Crystal, and Jay didn't make it onto the plane (flying standby) on Friday night and they weren't going to try again until Sunday night we knew we had a couple of days to go sightseeing on our own. On Saturday we had gone to Hampton Court palace so on Sunday we decided to go to the British Museum. We had lunch first at a restaurant called Scoff and Banter, part of a Radisson Blu hotel, and it was very, very good. Fortified with an excellent meal we set off for 4 1/2 hours of overwhelming ancient art and artifacts.

 The Rosetta Stone!

 Close up of Rosetta Stone.

 Giant head of Ramses II. If you stood on the bottom of his beard your head would come up to his brow.

 Walk like an Egyptian.

 Female headed sphynx.

 Mosaics on the walls of the stairs. Turkish, Moroccan, others.

 The mummy room!

 Mummy of a bull calf.

 Gebelein Man, a natural mummy of the predynastic period, his body was in direct contact with the hot drys sand and preserved it naturally.

 A mummified kitten and two cats.

 For scale.

 Giant head of some ancient ruler.

 Don giving a fist bump to the fist of the giant ancient ruler's hand. All that's left of the statue, the head and the arm with fist.

 Lot's more to see thataway, not even close to being done.

Really big, they had to be cut into two pieces to be transported.

The Elgin Marbles.

Lots of centaur and men fighting action going on.

Easter Island head.

Mayan or Aztec (can't remember which) pottery in the North American exhibit.

Don's favorite.

Ceremonial jade ax head. Some of the best jade artifacts we've seen of this type.

Many of you might recognize this guy from a t-shirt that Don likes to wear.

Now we're in the Asian part of the exhibit and I'm just exhausted.

Ass-headed demons.

A few odds and ends - Back in Badgworth, England

It's been a few days since I last posted but we've been busy. The grandson (with his aunt and uncle, my daughter and son-in-law) landed on Monday and it's been a whirlwind ride of public transportation, sightseeing, and picking up delayed luggage at Heathrow.

Let's get started, some of these you will already know but bear with me.

Driving and walking - 
You don't yield you "give way". 
If you see a sign that says "Cats Eyes Removed" it means the reflectors that were embedded in the center line of the road have been removed (why? they seem useful).
The roads can be so narrow in parts that you have to take turns getting through when meeting oncoming traffic.
There is help for the foreign pedestrian, many times, especially in the city, the words "Look Left" or "Look Right" are painted on pavement where you cross the road.
In train stations, the tube stations, etc. you don't look for the "Exit" signs, it's the "Way Out".
The oddest thing for me while driving at first was to learn that the speeds are not in kilometers per hour but are in MPH, just like in the U.S.
It is rare that you see posted speed signs on the motorways (freeways) or on many of the other roads, unless you're required to reduce speed because of construction, or coming into a town (or "built up area"). You're supposed to know the speeds and there are speed cameras everywhere. It's 70 mph on all the motorways and the fast lane (far right) is for passing only.

Words - 
jacket potato = baked potato
chips = fries
crisps = potato chips
biscuits = cookies
torch = flashlight
washing up liquid = dish soap
bins = trash cans
concession or conc = discount for seniors, students, etc.
tube = subway
plaster or sticking plaster = bandaid
holiday = vacation (we're on holiday!)
take away = take out food

Homes - 
Energy is expensive so many hot water heaters are set on timers to give you maximum hot water in the morning, and heating systems are set to give you heat only in the mornings and evenings during cooler weather.
Lights for the bathrooms are on the outside of the door (just like when we were in South Africa)
Many, if not all, of the electrical outlets won't work unless what looks like a light switch next to them is turned on.

Out and about -
You don't tip the person at the bar if you order while sitting at the bar, whether drinks or food.
Tipping here is 10% to 12.5%. If the service (tip) has been already added to the bill it will be for 12.5%.
Everything you buy has the tax already added to the price tag, no unwelcome surprises at the cash register.

I believe that Renic, the grandson, is going to post about our trips to the Tower of London and to the Globe Theatre, I'm looking forward to it!

Hampton Court Palace - Tudor to Baroque

Where to even begin. This place is huge. We started out by walking through Bushey Park to get to the palace and gardens. It's quite a walk, about 2.2 miles total from the front door of our flat. Bushey Park is expansive, lots of bikers, runners, dogs, a large fountain in the middle of a round-about:

These guys were hanging out by the fountain and kept following me. I kept telling them I had no food but they wouldn't believe me.

It was a looong walk through Bushey Park. Here I am, just inside the gates, relaxing on a bench and looking at the beautiful flowers.

 The grounds surrounding Hampton Court are open to the public. Here is a statue, in the rose garden, of a mother trying to get her child to breast-feed.

 He's not giving up without a fight.

Only ticket holders past that arch.

 Guarding the entrance.

 Beautiful stained glass in The Great Hall with Henry the VIII in the middle.

 Beautiful, over 500 years old, and expensive to maintain tapestries in the banquet hall. King Henry the VIII's Great Hall.

 A lot of the ceilings had just crazy painting on them, so pretty, so much work.

 Love the bed warming pan.

 Man with large club.

 Man with large spear.

 The closest we could get to this tranquil and immaculate garden.

 The greenhouse that holds The Great Vine. Planted in 1768 by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, it is the oldest known vine in the world and still produces 500-700 lbs of grapes each year. They are not wine grapes, instead they are sold for consumption in the Hampton Court store each August.

 Wow, this staircase. It is the entrance to King William the III's apartments.

 The King's staircase was painted by Antonio Verrio who died at Hampton Court in 1707.

 The King's Guard Chamber with a display of more than 3,000 arms, mostly muskets, pistols, bayonets and swords.

 One of many painted ceilings, this one is in the King's small bed chamber.

King William the III's stool.

Some of "the beauties of Hampton Court".

 That staircase again but this time with bride and groom. Who would you have to know, or how much would you have to spend, to be able to get married at Hampton Court?

 Hampton Court is celebrating "500 Years in a Day" and there were little timeplays all over the place. Here we see dancing in the Clock Tower Courtyard. Don and I were lucky enough to catch a 15 minute timeplay csalled "Honeymoon Troubles - Catherine of Braganza and Barbara Villiers are locked in a battle of wills." in the Queen's presense chamber.

And now the Tudor Kitchens.

 Stove.

Actual produce from the gardens.

 Real fire in massive fireplace with multiple iron prongs for holding skewers (spits?) of meat. Fake, plastic meat on skewers.

 Young boy trying to wake up wooden man (drunk?) next to a wooden woman asking for alms. His mother thought it was cute and so did we.

How tired I felt after many hours and staircases at Hampton Court. In fact, we were so tired that I had Don look up public transport on his phone and we took a bus back to Teddington rather than walk the 2 miles back through Bushey Park.