Yesterday, very spur of the moment like, we decided to head to London to see the British Museum. Specifically the China's Terracotta Army they have on display there now. Taking the kidlets to a museum is so much better than taking them for a walk downtown. Both are crowded and nerve-wracking, but we just feel more at home in a museum. :) So, we got mentally prepared for the 5 hours of traveling we'd have to do to get there and back and we headed out.
The British Museum~
Just inside the front foyer~
Snapped a quick cute one of Mia~
Cool modern "rock" sculpture~
VEP. Not VIP. Very EARLY People.
The advance tickets for the Terracotta Army are completely sold out (we had no idea0 and the only way you can get a ticket now is the be in line at the museum at 9 am. That would mean we would have to leave at 6 just to be there. We may do it before the exhibit close. But I seriously don't think we have it in us to be there that early. However, they do have a display outside the exhibit (a teaser, if you will) of little soldiers that were created by little museum visitor tikes in October. So, this is as close as we got to them. sigh...
We perked up quickly, though. Found the Rosetta Stone. (which we'd forgotten was housed here)
Made our way over to the Greek antiquities. This is a temple front (I think) of a temple that was in Lycia.
Then we headed into the Parthenon Galleries. Although I wish these friezes could be intact and on the Parthenon itself, I'm grateful to be able to see them up close.
Of course the Greeks want them back, but that's the way the cookie crumbles in the whole "finders keepers" industry that was 18th century archeology. ;)
Then Colin snapped this sweet one of me and Lara and Mia. I love this one. :)
Then we headed on over to the art and costumes of the Andes. Salute!
After that, we headed up many, many stairs to the Korean exhibits.
I so wish I could turn some of these into patterned papers. :)
This is an antique game of paduk from the 18th century. sooo cool. :)
They had a replica of a Korean house, too, which I thought was neato burrito.
Next up was the Egyptian mummy collection.
Noodle was itchin' to get out of her stroller, so Colin gave her a ride and showed her the sights.
I had no idea that Cleopatra was on display in the British Museum, so this was a pleasant surprise. This is the cover of her tomb~
And this is her mummy. I'm not sure why her head is so grandiose. Maybe they mummified her with one of her massive wigs on? May have to investigate this bit of history.
Then we headed over to the Greek pottery section. They also had a bit of sculpture and statuettes on display. This one is of Zeus being pulled by a 4-horse chariot. 300-200BC
Small terracotta statues of women from 270-200BC. Love that they still have paint on them. Almost all ancient sculptures were covered in paint and jeweled for decoration, but I've yet to see any of that in tact. So, this was a nice surprise.
Roman "Good Luck" rings from 1st-3rd centuryAD. There are sooo many jokes and off-color things I could say. But a picture's worth a thousand words, so I'll leave it at that. ;)
A coin from the reign of Elizabeth I. I thought this was pretty neat.
We took a break and had a snack in the foyer.
Then we headed over to the gift shops to see what we could find of interest.
Then we went back into the Persian section to take another peek at the exhibits.
And by this time we were thoroughly exhausted, so we decided to head home. Noodle was kinda cranky and wanted to walk around, so we let them walk in Russell Square for a while to stretch her legs Love this shot~
So, that was our day yesterday. Today is absolutely gorgeous, so we're heading outside to get some much needed yard work done. Mowing, raking, weeding...ya know...the fun stuff. :) I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Ciao, all. :)
