London, England: Chapter 1

Greek Temple, located in the British Museum

Our travels took us back to London, UK. It was a jolly good time. This time we finally got to see our target: Stonehenge.

Rosetta Stone in the British Museum

The flight was okay with Virgin Atlantic, but they put us in the last seats on the plane, next to the toilets. These seats are not fit for passengers. I asked at the counter please put us in any other seats, they refused and said that it was booked (when we got to the flight we found out that they lied, we were even willing to take separate seats from each other). They even had seats together, the lady did not want to move one seat over and claimed she bought 2 extra seats, but that does not make sense, why would she not just upgrade to much better seats on the plane. I ended up sitting for the beginning (food portion) somewhere else from my assigned seat, because eating right next to the restrooms is disgusting and inhumane. The flight crew did not want to help either, they just said if you see a spot, change (see about the stubborn other passenger on the flight). My husband lacks a sense of smell (but can fully taste, it’s a anomaly) so it did not really bother him too much, except the thought of it).

Interesting Latin American collection in the British Museum

The Kensington on Queen’s Gate in London was nice. They gave us a room right away, but it smelled like bacon, so we switched it to another that was much better. They welcomed us with fruit and a nice personal note in the room. The only drawback is that you can hear everything from the hallway. For most of the duration of the stay it was fine. On the last night our neighbor kept on asking for room service and they kept coming up and both kept speaking very loudly and closing their door with a slam. I requested a quiet room when I booked the hotel. Overall it was good, clean, and the staff was very friendly. It was close to the tube and the area had a lot of restaurants and shops.

The statues from the Athenian Parthenon in the British Museum

London greeted us on the first day in true London fashion with lots of rain. We stopped by a fish-and-chips shop to eat lunch and made our way to The British Museum, which in all honesty is one of the best museums in the world and we should have saved it for another day, when we did not feel the jetlag from the flight. Some of the highlights that we saw were the Rosetta stone (which was the code that cracked the Egyptian hieroglyphs for us in the modern age). The museum also boasts most of the Greek Parthenon figures, that were taken for safe keeping and never returned back to Greece (maybe it’s not safe to return them?). An interesting exhibit that they have is of Latin American art, which includes many treasures that are from the Mayans, Aztecs, and others from the region. In truth we did a very rookie mistake by coming here right out of the plane, we did not even see the first floor thoroughly (this is my 3^rdtime in London, I visited this museum every time, and this was my husband’s 2^nd time and first to visit this museum).

Little fantastic cups with the “Ohm” hand signals all around in the Victoria and Albert Museum

We returned to our hotel, rested a bit. We ate at a Kulu Kulu Sushi (conveyor belt), they had an okay selection and even people waiting to grab a seat (within a block there were at least 3 other sushi joints). After, we went to the Victoria and Albert museum (which stays open late on a Friday). The museum has so many wonderful treasures from all over the world, they have specific rooms and areas that represent their countries of origin (and some countries even gave a hand in setting up their sections, such as Japan). Many cities and countries all over the world have fantastic museums, but London has the best of the best in terms of the quality of treasures and works of art.

Cheerio (have not heard that once in London) till next post!

England:Stonehenge, Roman Baths, and Windsor Castle, Chapter 2

London, England, Chapter 3

London, England, Chapter 4

London, England: Chapter 5 Last Day

Victoria Albert Museum