May 20 - The British Museum

May 24, 11:11am (London) (Backlog)

So I've been sort of failing at this blog, really should have been writing more.

Here's for... May 20th, back a while ago.

May 20 was an activity day - the activity of the day was going and visiting the British Museum.  We were supposed to check in with Angelique (One of the EUSA people) between 4pm and 5pm.  People took a while to all wake up, and I talked with folks online, ate breakfast, etc, then we all took off to go walk through Hyde Park again.  Ariana was not there, as she had to go do her interview, so it was just the five other ASU people.  This time we took a different route - previously we had gone north-north-east through the park, which was relatively short.  This time we started by going north-west, and went to the (former) royal residence that is there.  On the way we found a rather nice lake that had lots of public chairs around it, all in sets of two (matchmaking designers?).  At the royal residence, there was a nice sunken garden.  We then went south, and went along the paths on the south edge of Hyde Park.  We found out that Charlie doesn't like birds.  There were a lot of pigeons and squirrels along the path, and also a very nice willow tree.  If I ever get a proper back yard, I will have a willow tree there, with leaves reaching the ground, and a nice little area inside.

We kept going and found some tennis courts (Hannah was interested, Ross said he might try), went past the mounted cavalry barracks (where I later found out that my friend Fish is going to be stationed), and found the Rose Garden... which we walked through.  We then got on the Underground and took it to the station nearest the British Museum.

I was tired when we got there, and I went over to the cafe where we were supposed to meet Angelique (She's an Aussie!), but she was not there.  I then decided to nap and relax, and rest my sore feet.  I fell asleep, and woke up a bit later.  I checked at the Cafe again, and ran into the ASU folks (I had run off yet again).  Angelique wasn't there.

I went back to the entrance, and I saw Carolyn and the Flat 20 folks arrive.  Carolyn and most of the group disappeared off to the left, and I said hi to Paul, who was taking a picture of the magnificent main atrium.  I then went to go find Carolyn and Co. and found that they had went down a (decently sized) hallway to a somewhat more proper cafe inside the museum - it had two in the atrium and one off in the corner...

I checked in with Angelique there, and was dismayed to find that in the British Museum, as with every other placei n London, there were no drinking fountains.  I wound up having to be a drink to sake my thirst.  I then met up with Carolyn, and, with a friend, we visited the Roseta Stone.

After the Roseta Stone, we went across the atrium to see the section on enlightenment science.  I started going through the section quite thoroughly, reading everything there was to read.  Carolyn and her friend went off to see some other attractions that were marked as "must-see."  Eventually I finished the exhibit on the Enlightenment, and went up the stairs to see another exhibit.  I was dismayed to see someone was closing the doors.  I asked what was happening, and he said the exhibit was closing.  I enquired further, and found that the entire museum was shutting down at 5:30pm... much earlier than I expected.

I left out the front door, and met with Carolyn and the folks from Flat 20, and after a bit we headed over to a shop (where I got two shirts), and then onwards home via an Underground Station... Except that the Underground station had closed due to overcrowding.  We wound up walking around some more, and visited another shop, this one feeling very Japanese.  Past by Drury Lane.  We got to a new Tube station, and went in, but I realized that I was the only on who had gone in, and everyone else had disappeared.

They weren't planning to do much, and I wanted to drop off the shirts at home, so I decided to go on without them.  Everyone was crowding round the elevators, so I thought I would just take the stairs.  "Are you sure you want to do that - it's more than one hundred steps down." "Oh! ...it will be an adventure?"  I got down at the same time the Elevator people did, which gave everyone a bit of a smile.  I took the line home.

At home I prepared for my interview the next day.  Carolyn and folks came by to apologise for losing me.  Apparently they had stopped outside of the station due to big group indecision, just outside of where I could see, and then they took the stairs considerable slower than myself.

I went to bed a bit later than I should have.

I think I'll be putting up a post on my impressions of the British Museum on DoubleplusNil... sometime.