A Night and the Museum

I had been waiting for my day for so long! And finally, our tour date came... To go see the British Museum!

BRITISH. MUSEUM.

Visiting the museum a few years ago was one of the inspiring moments for me in deciding what I wanted to do with my life. I would love to even work or intern at the British Museum someday. So needless to say, I was excited.

Fortunately, (well, unfortunately for some. Turns out the Brits do not take kindly to warm weather) we had a beautiful day! The weather was wonderfully warm and perfect for walking around the museum. Fortunately still, the famous Liz rejoined us for our tour to give us the best run-through of the museum that we could have!

The entrance

The interior of the British Museum is always the best part. That first look in! I love it.

You don't understand how glorious this is

Straight away we headed for the Enlightenment Room to see the Museum's crown jewel: the Rosetta Stone! Actually, we went to see a replica first, because the actual stone is a bit of a hassle to get to an talk about. But we got to see both! 

Left: Replica. Right: the real deal

Just to the left of the Rosetta Stone is the Egyptian and Assyrian displays, and we got to hear some stories about some of the "less popular" pieces that are still very much crucial to history! I was extremely impressed by Liz... I definitely remember learning all about the Assyrian arts and carvings, and I could tell she knew her stuff!

Egypt

Assyria

A little ways past Assyria came the Greeks! This area had to many sculptures to count, but we got the chance to see the highlights! I also really enjoyed Liz's re-telling about the Parthenon sculptures, the stories behind them, and how they came to be in London (not "stolen," she says. "Acquired.")

The Greeks really were the masters of sculpture! I cannot be denied.

We ran off to complete the final leg of our guided tour with Liz, which included the other crowing achievement of the British Museum: the acquisition of famous mummies! We saw the world's oldest preserved human being (he was actually perfectly preserved in undisturbed sand! He is named "Ginger") and his distant cousin, the not-so-nicely-preserved man!

They were gross. Let's not lie.

It was here that we had to part ways with our loving tour guide Liz, who had seen us through our introductory phase to London! She then released us to the rest of the British Museum an hour before closing, and a picture-taking free-for-all ensued.

Liz!

A quick tour through the museum! From Egypt to Easter Island to Greece and back to Egypt!

As previously stated, I loved my time at the British Museum! I could spend days there! Unfortunately, we had to be on to our next big adventure!

Goodbye, my love

Our next stop was a little too obvious to pass up. Olivia, Laura, Marissa, and I set off to a tube station just one stop over from the museum's stop. A little station known as King's Cross! And why King's Cross?

Platform 9 3/4!

After I got us famously lost again (people need to stop looking to me for directions,) we ate dinner at another Nando's (apparently, one of those One Direction rascals really likes it there, and Marissa had to pay homage!) From there we made our daring plan to take Westminster by night!

On the way to the Palace!

The Queen made a visit

Elizabeth and George

We finally made it to Buckingham only to discover that it had been taken over by preparations for the Jubilee! Still, we got some great shots and even caught the guards in motion!

Soon-to-be center stage

Buckingham Palace! The Queen was officially "in"

In front of the gates

The guards! The marched for a while on the hour

The balcony. William and Kate were there. Right there.

The gate was open! Armed guards, though. Wanted to avoid that.

Dramatic night lighting!

One of our travel goals was to see Big Ben by night, so we took a stroll in that direction next. There wasn't much to note here except our novice night-photographer skills... It was still lovely to see everything! I haven't gotten the chance to take in the sights at night! We did, however, discover Dr. Facinelli wandering the streets of Westminster alone at about 10 PM... We watched her go on her way like a true Londoner. We also found a faux-Queen, rubber mask, dress, jewels and all, having a personal party on the bridge next to Parliament. "She" tried to get Laura to take a picture with her, and we promptly fled the scene in response.

Westminster! At night.

Big Ben! At night.

The London Eye! At night.

Parliament! At night.

Overall, we had a wonderful day! It was great to see my favorite museum along with the true sights of London! We had an early night, however, due to our preparations for the trip the next day... Stonehenge and Bath!