What does one do when it’s sunny and warm outside? Spend the better part of the afternoon indoors at the British Museum. Because Chris and I share an affinity for all things Egyptian, we were both psyched and armed with our cameras, made a beeline to the ancient Egypt wing. It was packed, not surprisingly.
We took our time to take in all the mummies and artifacts. Although the Met have more, in terms of number of artifacts, the British Museum has mummies, great and small. There were a couple in sarcaphogis, but most were exposed for viewing. You had an elderly woman, young woman, young man and children mummified on display, along with x-rays of the mummies, so you could see beneath the wrappings.
One thing I’ve never before seen? Mummified animals. A mummified cat, kitten, snake, fish, young bull, baboon and 2 falcons. I kid you not. It wasn’t grotesque per se, as you can only see the shape. For example, the baboon was mummified sitting down, with knees drawn up to the chin. The eel and fish were wrapped, as if you were purchasing it from a fishmonger. The 2 falcons were mummified wing to wing, so it looked like 1 body, 2 heads. The young bull laying down, with its legs under it.
But the revered cat? Mummified standing up, like a person. And whereas all the other animals were wrapped in plain wrappings, the cat and kitten’s wrapping were ornate and were drawn cat faces. And yes, the cats were the only ones to be accompanied with x-rays, in which it showed the neck deliberately broken so there’s no outliving their owners, but to continue death’s journey with them. Having been the human to 3 cats, myself, I could understand the need to preserve your pet in the afterlife. But, at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel sad and wanted to reach out and pet the kitties on the head.
After finishing with ancient Egypt, we checked out the Mexican wing. Must say, quite the pitiful collection. The Met is much better. Checked out the actual Rosetta Stone before spending time in the Egyptian, Greek and Roman sculpture wing, which was impressive, especially the Parthenon monument. So impressive was the collection, that the Greek government wishes to have the pieces returned to Greece. Before you know it, we were being chased out, as the musuem was getting ready to close. Wowzers, time sure flies when you’re going back in time.
The sun was nice and bright and we had worked up a thirst. So to the nearby pub, the Horse and Carriage we go to prime our stomachs, as we decided to go for Italian nearby.
Borciano’s Pizzeria is your typical Italian restaurant that you’d find in Little Italy in New York. There were empty wine vessels strung up to cover most of the dining area’s ceiling and festooned with twinkle lights, British pound notes taped up on the mouldings and overhangs, and black and white photos of Rocky, Sopranos, Roman Holiday and other Italian movie/tv luminaries.
We followed up dinner and creme brulee with capping off the evening at the pub. Back to the Horse and Carriage around the corner. Sidebar: pubs do not have 7-up or sprite and the bartender will look at you blankly if you ask for it. What the pubs do have is lemonade – all the better to mix shandies (half beer, half lemonades) and it’s not grandma’s lemonades that we North Americans would picture. The lemonade is like lemon flavoured ginger-ale or Mountain Dew.
And before you know it, the manager announced for everyone to chase down their drinks as the pub was closing. Wowzers, time sure flies when you’re having a nightcap!
View more photos of my trip on my Flickr album.
Hours:
Sat-Thu: 10am-530pm | Fri: 10am-830pm
Address:
Great Russell Street
Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG
GPS coordinates: 51.5194166, -0.1291453
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