Loving Long Weekends in London (Day 3)

With two incredibly busy days in London under our belts, Bill and I started to feel like true Londoners. We mastered the subway system, saw most of the major London sites, and had finally started to gain a sense of direction around the city. Waking early on Sunday morning, Bill and I checked out of our hostel before breakfast in order to catch an early morning service at Westminster Abbey. Originating from Catholicism, Anglican services aren't much different from Catholic mass. The main difference between the early Anglican service and a typical mass was that the Church of England version was significantly shorter. I don't think that all Anglican services are done in thirty minutes, however. Since we went for an early service, there was no music and only the basic ceremonies associated with Holy Communion. It was interesting and not a bad substitute for my usual Sunday mass.

After the service, we had a few minutes to spare before the opening of the British Museum. Jumping on the subway once again, Bill and I traveled to the north side of London and searched for a tea shop near the museum. Bypassing the ever-growing chain of Starbucks, we found a quaint tea shop across from the museum. With English tea for Bill and hot chocolate for myself, we chatted over a light breakfast while crazy museum fanatics stood in line for the first chance to see the Chinese Terracotta Army exhibit that had just opened in the British Museum a few days earlier. Enjoying the warm atmosphere of the tea shop, we were in no hurry to fight crazy museum crowds.

Eventually, we finished our breakfast and made our way to the massive British museum across the street. To quote my Rick Steves tour book, "The British Museum is the most extensive collection of modern civilization in the world." After only a few steps into the museum, I must admit that I complete agree. The British Museum is a huge building with three levels of ancient artifacts, famous sculptures, and exciting exhibits covering every civilization in the world... and they allowed us to take pictures! The British Museum is home to the Rosetta Stone, the sculpted head of Egyptian pharaoh Rameses the Great, statues from the Parthenon, and original sculpted busts of several great Roman emperors including Augustus Caesar. Each room covers a different civilization including Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Mesopotamian, Babylonian, Celtic, and American Indian. The best part of the museum was definitely the Parthenon exhibit. The ancient Greek statues were so detailed and lifelike that I literally felt as if I was stepping back into Ancient Greece to pay homage to their many gods. I doubt that Bill and I will find our way to Greece while in Europe, but seeing original artifacts from the Parthenon was the next best thing. The biggest obstacle to overcome while touring the British Museum is "intellectual burn-out". I have a pretty good tolerance for large amounts of history, art, and science, but even I was tired of looking at exhibits after nearly four hours in the museum. Realizing that we had missed lunch, Bill and I decided to say "farewell" to ancient civilization and search for a place to eat.

Thankfully, we didn't need to walk far before finding an authentic British restaurant serving traditional English fare. Wanting to try something new, I ordered an "English Hot Pot". Before leaving the States, several people had warned me that British food lacks in many ways. With this in mind, I read the food descriptions carefully. A hot pot is ground beef, peas, carrots, and sauteed potatoes baked in a dark gravy and served in a small pot. It reminded me of the filling in a typical American pot pie. The food was alright -- nothing spectacular, but quite edible. Bill ordered curry, which never fails to confuse me. Why would you order Indian food at a traditional British restaurant?! In his defense, the curry was probably more tasty than my hot pot.

With stomachs full and intellect satisfied, we finally decided to say "good bye" to London until another time. Catching an afternoon train back to Guildford, we started talking about all of the great things we want to do on our next visit to Britain's capital city!