October 28th, 2009

Russell — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:03:10 +0000

LONDON — Getting from Bristol to London went a lot smoother than I’d are hope. The walk to the railway station, pushing one suitcase and pulling another, only took ten minutes. I probably got to the station too early but it meant I was able to be one of the first to board the train—and when you’ve got more bags than hands, it helps. One unexpected but pleasant surprise was that though my seat was standard class the coach itself was first class.

Once I was back in London and settled in to the hotel, I went back to the British Museum to see about making a booking for Monday for the Moctezuma exhibition. Instead there was no need to make an advanced booking so I got an immediate ticket and spent the next hour or so viewing exhibits relating to Moctezuma, the last ruler of the Aztecs, and the conquest by the Spanish. There were some very beautiful objects, especially the masks inlaid with turquoise, and an impressive stone eagle with a bowl-shaped cavity in its back to receive sacrificed hearts.

It’s starting to get dark early now. Clocks went back an hour last Sunday morning.

September 6th, 2009

Russell — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:26:34 +0000

LONDON — The day started more leisurely than usual as breakfast is a half hour later on Sundays. I took the extra time to finally begin reading the novel I had bought for the flight and ended up going down to the dining room later than I had planned. Today I was going to go to the British Museum, and getting there was going to prove to be a bit of a mini-drama.

The plan: take the Circle line eastbound from Paddington to King’s Cross; change to the Picadilly line westbound to Russell Square. The reality: severe delays due to signal failure on the eastbound Circle line meant passengers were advised to take the District line one stop to Edgware Road and change to the Hammersmith & City line to King’s Cross. Unfortunately, once at King’s Cross I discovered that the Picadilly line was closed for improvements which meant I needed to change to the Victoria Line southbound to Oxford Circus and then change again to the Central line eastbound to Holborn. From there it was a six minute (or thereabouts) walk to the Museum. Arrived at about 10:30 am. and was immediately asked to take a photo for a trio of Japanese tourists.

The Museum was exactly as I had remembered. The highlights for me were again the wings devoted to ancient history with artifacts and monuments from Assyria, Egypt, Greece and Rome, and an automaton in the form of a ship that I had missed seeing on my last visit. The finedly detailed automaton was designed to sail down a banquet table and fire its miniature cannons to announce the start of the feasting. Another highlight is the museum building itself, especially the domed Great Court—an oasis of calm even, it seems, when it is teeming with hordes of visitors.

A new exhibition is starting in late September called Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler, so I just might make another return visit.

After leaving the museum I wandered around Holborn for an hour or so, up Bow Street and down Drury Lane, and ending up spending far more than I had planned. I can’t say much more than that as it would spoil the surprise!

Getting back to the hotel was drama-free as I now knew what lines needed avoiding. Tomorrow it’s good-bye London and hello Truro.

Wynmelvin » British Museum

October 28th, 2009

September 6th, 2009