Respecting the old, celebrating the new

Photos: top left, clockwise -- The first photo is of a modern art exhibit at the British Museum. What you're looking at is too collections of mummified animals stuck on the end of a pole. But look at the shadows on the wall. They make the heads of a man and a woman. It was very cool. The next is a very classic piece from the Parthenon. Amazing in scale. Below that is a massive head that looks as if it is made of some type of plastic, but incredibly real. It is at least five feet across. Under this is a bust of Julius Ceaser (half at least).
Chris headed home this morning so I was off on my own today. I decided to head to Herod's department story. Everything I looked at cost a fortune. Nothing I picked up cost less than 350 pounds. Nothing. That's about $700 to us. Prada boots. British made barn jackets, etc. So I headed over to the Victoria and Albert museum, but didn't go in. Didn't sound too interesting, so I had lunch at a nice Thai restaurant. Good Tom Yum soup and Pad Saew. So I got back on the Tube at Knightsbridge and headed to the Tottenham Road station. The Tube system is absolutely amazing here. Very, very easy to use, clean, and trains every few minutes. I was headed to the British Museum, one of the things I really wanted to see while here. It was well worth the time to visit (since it is absolutely free to get in). The place is absolutely filled with the world's treasures, from Greece, Egypt, Assyria, etc. It was fantastic and a good place to go alone. I spent five hours on the first floor alone. I was surprised to find modern sculpture mixed in with the antiquities as well. Hopefully these few pictures give you an idea of the juxtaposition (mine, not the museum's). There are about four floors in total, plus special exhibit areas. There was a good special exhibit on Hadrian that was sold out. Oh well. My feet were barking after seven hours at the museum. I headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest, then off to get some fish and chips. I went to one of my favorite local pubs, the Prince Edward, for a few pints. Now off to bed and on the Eurostar and Thayls to Cologne tomorrow morning. An excellent trip so far.
Rob