Over the weekend I visited a number of different places and areas of London. Here are some of the things I saw and did!
The British Museum
This museum is considered to be one of the world's greatest museums of human history and culture. It has a permanent collection of more than 8 million works from all over the world. The museum is built around the Reading Room, an old British library. This library is very special. It has been used by a number of famous figures, including Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, and George Orwell.
 |
| Reading Room inside the British Museum |
Currently, there is a very interesting special exhibit in the Reading Room. It is called "Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam." I really wanted to see it because it would go perfectly with the class I am taking on Islam and Democracy. However, you have to buy tickets for a certain time slot and it was nearing closing time. But I will definitely go back to see it soon.
I did get to see many other fantastic pieces of art and history. For example, I saw the Rosetta Stone! It was actually much larger than I thought it was. I always thought it was more like a tablet or a flat chunk of stone, but it is actually a massive rock. It was fascinating to look at. The museum also has a wonderful collection of Egyptian sculptures, mummies, and tablets with hieroglyphics.
I also enjoyed seeing the Elgin Marbles, taken from the Parthenon in Greece. These are extremely lovely. However, they continue to be a source of controversy because they are claimed by Greece who wants them back. And actually, Egypt has also claimed that the Rosetta Stone belongs to it and should be returned. The British Museum's response is that the "premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world."
I agree.
Besides the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles, I also enjoyed the exhibit on Latin America. They had some wonderful artifacts, sculptures, and pieces of art.
 |
| The Rosetta Stone! |
 |
| Egyptian Hieroglyphics |
 |
| Some of the Elgin Marbles |
 |
| Aztec stone work |
 |
| Olmeca statute....haha who does it look like? :) |
The British Museum is definitely one of the best museums I have ever visited. (And I have visited many!) I probably enjoyed it more than the Louvre in Paris. Because there is so much more to see, I will definitely be visiting again.
SoHo
After our visit to the museum, we decided to just walk around the SoHo area. This area of London, on the West End, was once predominately known as the "adult entertainment" district. It has been transformed since the 80's and today it is a fashionable area with fancy restaurants. It is also very close to Piccadilly Circus, so we walked there as well. Piccadilly Circus (not an actual circus haha) is very similar to Times Square in New York. There are elite shops, restaurants, night life, giant colorful screens and advertisements, etc.
There is definitely a lot to see there. We kept walking and scoped out some bars and restaurants that we would like to return to. One of these is the ICE bar! It is a bar made entirely out of ice. To go inside, they give you a warm parka with a hood, gloves, and a cup made of ice for your drinks. We wanted to go then, but you actually have to make reservations ahead of time.
We also endued up around Oxford Street. This street is full of extremely expensive. There is a Ferrari store, Burberry, Armani, Chanel, Dolce, etc. It was entertaining to window shop at least. We also went into one of the world's largest toy stores. This store is called Hamleys and it is 5 or 6 floors of ALL toys. Christian would probably go crazy in there :)
Trafalgar Square
The following day, Sunday, January 29th, we went to Trafalgar Square for the Chinese New Year celebration. There were so many people! It was almost impossible to walk around. Most of the restaurants also had giant lines to go in and the large theaters were crowded. It did smell delicious though! So much asian food! I also want to go back there and go to a Dim Sun restaurant.
 |
| 2012: Year of the Dragon |
The Olmec statue looks like the boy! :P For Chinese New Year, our Asian Students Association shot real fireworks from the center of campus! It was awesome!
ReplyDelete