Day 4 - The British Museum, Parliament, Buckingham Palace

 Friday we rested a bit, had a relaxed breakfast and stopped by to chat with our tour company representative in the lobby of the hotel. We told her we wanted to visit the British Museum since when we were in Greece in 2023 at the Parthenon Museum we were told that much of what was in that museum as plaster was in the British museum. One of her first comments were, can you believe they are asking for us to give it back?  The British view is that they rescued these artifacts or were given them and the world should be grateful that they have preserved them and are here for humanity to experience. Perspective is everything. 

Per Annika's direction, we made a timed entry reservation for the British Museum at 11:30. Entry is free and having the timed entry ticket allowed us to move to the front of the line. 

The BM opened in 1759, before the US was a country and has collections from around the world accumulated by the British Empire, it is simply massive. 

One could spend days in the Museum and not see it all. We browsed our way to the section on Greece, since we wanted to see if we could find one of the The "sisters of the Acropolis".

This sister refers to one of the six caryatids, sculpted female figures, that originally supported the south porch of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. 

This is a picture of the six sisters. 

We found the sister. 

We also found the original Pediments from the Parthenon. 

We saw a lot in BM but did not take many pictures, it is a bit overwhelming. 

We did have a bit of a fascination with the Rosetta Stone. It is an interesting story. 

We found the Rosetta stone, a decree issued in 196 BC inscribed in stone in three different languages allowed the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was discovered in 1799 in Rosetta Egypt by the French Napoleon army and later taken by the British as the spoils of war.  

We continued to browse the museum but there was way too  much to see. They do have a small American section that is largely focused on Native Indian culture, but the contrast between the cultures is undeniable. 

After the museum we walked to Covent Market to find a place for lunch.  We had apps and drinks at 'The Long Acre', it was good to get off our feet and sit for a bit. 

After lunch we took the Tube to Westminster Station, when you come out of the Underground you are in Big Ben's shadow. 

Big Ben

We walked around Westminster Abby and the Parliament buildings which are all very impressive.  

We definitely had the tourist look.

Amongst the statues of Churchill and other British heroes, we found honest Abe. 

We walked through St James's park on our way to Buckingham Palace. 

St James's park is huge and very impressive, it was a nice day and the park was full of people taking in the sun. 

Approaching Buckingham Palace the flowers are magnificent. 

The gates to the palace were closed but we could see the guards. 

They were so still we honestly thought they were fake, but then they started marching, it was quite funny. 

After the palace we were all tired and returned to the hotel for about an hour siesta.  We have walked roughly 10 miles each day since we have arrived in London. 

We walked the Wharf to find dinner, there are many restaurants but it was Friday and everyone was busy. 

We wanted to have dinner at Blacklock but it was full and we settled on a place called Burger and Lobster.  It was ok, but they did have some fancy drinks.

We took Mackenzie walk back to the hotel and through the lighted bridge. Canary Wharf is beautiful at night. 

It was another full day, we have no real plans for Saturday...yet.