Close to the Madding Crowds

It's Saturday, shopping day. Mobs of people on the streets, what with Christmas just around the corner and all.  We didn't start out shopping; we started at the British Museum. The guidebook said it's not usually packed which we found to be true only because many of the rooms are so huge, especially the rooms of the Elgin Marbles.

An Easter Island Dude

The British Museum

Elgin Marbles

Cow Images for Mickey

We missed the Rosetta Stone until we actually decided to search for it. It turns out it should be the first display you see as you walk through the doors--it's in a glass case, there's a crowd of people, and it says "Rosetta Stone."  We also missed the Reading Room by ignoring the fact the words are painted on the wall; we seem to be challenged by all things obvious. It didn't matter, though, because it's no longer open to the public.

You can spend years in the museum but a very popular area houses sarcophagi and tombs from different parts of the world. That was a more narrow area so we didn't see all of that.Lots of school children in those rooms. We did see the Hogarth drawings. The Museum has about 8 million drawings so they rotate drawing exhibits. Showing now is an exhibit of "witch" drawings which included a lot of Shakespeare witches, political cartoons with witches in them, and just pictures of witches. 

We decided not to eat at the museum because the cafes seemed crowded so we went to a restaurant and had Croque-Madames so we can compare the British version with the French. The sandwiches were fine but we are noticing what with all the rarebits, we seem to be eating a lot of cheese toast.

After lunch, we decided to walk Oxford Street. So did everyone else from the Greater London area. This was the most crowded situation we've been in so far. We went to Liberty so Lola could price Liberty print blouses (95 pounds) and see all the expensive Liberty print fabric. That store is really old; the lifts hold 6 people and the hallways are very narrow. So we left. We were curious about how crowded the tube would be on Saturdays and the answer is "very." 

Lola has had a few problems with the transport system the last couple of days. She had neglected to register her card on the way out of the tube once, so yesterday, we rode buses about 3 times but her card always registered red, not green. We were surprised the bus driver didn't say anything but I noticed several people's cards did the same thing. When we went to the tube today and checked our cards, I had a balance of 0 while she had one of -2.50. We're guessing the bus drivers don't care whether your card works since when you go to top off the card, you will be charged for whatever you've spent. 

And then it happened. Yes, Lola left me at a station. She made it onto the train before the doors closed; I did not.  She did wait for me which was a good thing since although I could have followed the "way out" signs, I wouldn't have known how to get to this apartment. I would still be wandering aimlessly around Pimlico.

Lola has noticed that on the tube system, you must always walk to the right and on the sidewalks, too, people walk to the right. Thus, she has proved that driving on the left is against the laws of nature. I think the drivers sense that--it seems it's legal to park your car either way on the side of the street so you often see cars parked nose-to-nose. 

There's a street in the neighborhood with a few restaurants. We didn't want to go far because we figured restaurants are booked on Saturday nights, plus it's raining. So we walked to "Grumbles" and had calves' liver, bacon and onions. We got the last table that wasn't booked. These Brits can really cook up some good liver and bacon.

I take back all the bad things I said about London weather before we came. This is only the second time we've used umbrellas and even though it's raining, it's in the 50s. A couple of times, it's been windy but overall, much nicer than what I expected.