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2001-11-16 - 5:06 a.m. U.K. Day 2: How do you get to Sutton Hoo? Exhaustion and jet-lag kept us snug in bed until 10 am. We wandered out a bit after 11 am, stopping at the wonderous corner cafe for brunch, before heading down to the Tooting Broadway tube stop and onward for adventures at the British Museum. We decide to get off at Leicester Square, because it's a nice bit of central London to ramble about and not too far from the museum and ... Okay, I'll admit, Michael pointed out the Leicester Square Odeon sponsored the world premiere of the Harry Potter movie and I wanted to see if (a) the life sized edifice of Hogwarts Castle was still up [no] and (b) if there were tickets available [no]. But it was a temperate day in the park and I got a nice picture of Rob and R.K. (the little Pooh bear) posed in front of the Harry Potter premier poster reading a map. [Poor Rob - for fun I tucked the bear in the backpack and then decided the bear needed to be in the pictures. This is a bit beneath Rob's dignity.] We found the British museum, which is simply impossible to see in a day, but we accepted that up front and picked just a few things. Of course, we took a slow walk through the Egyptian gallery for a stop at the Rosetta stone, and upstairs to see the mummies. Doesn't look a bit like the mummy displays that always attack in the movies. Way too crowded on a Sunday afternoon, especially with many small children, so we didn't spend long amongst the mummies. The center of the museum is the Great Court and it's amazing - largest indoor courtyard in Europe. Bookstores and shops in the centers, large statuary standing along the courtyard - the statutes mark the entrance to each gallery, with the type telling you about the display theme. Roman lions next to the classical gallery entrance and so forth. Amazing place. Getting into the medieval wing was quite a challenge. First, let me whine that the Sutton Hoo treasures were mostly removed for renovation. So they blocked off the center of the Sutton Hoo room - the problem is this is the cross room with entrances to the rest of the medieval wing. Eventually, we found an unmarked staff corridor they'd opened during the construction that winded back toward the medieval wing - and the back side of the Sutton Hoo room which was open after all, not that you could figure that out from the signs. But the gallery doors were LOCKED. Shut out. Denied. We are trapped in garish 18th century silver with the medieval art one door away. The guard tells me they'll open the room at 2:15 - we come back only to find he meant just that room. The doors to the other five medieval wing rooms are still LOCKED, come back at 3 pm please. What kind of stupid schedule is this? At least at the Louvre they put up placards announcing when wings are closed. Opening up wings room by room - how insane. We went to the museum bookshop and did sufficient damage to kill time before the gallery opened. Nice stuff - a bit of mishmash, but then the British Museum is rather eclectic. My favorite piece was the parade shield, probably a tournament prize, with a knight kneeling to a lady. At the top in Latin is the phrase 'Death or Me' - nice double entrendre. Winner gets the shield - or did they mean the lady? Having started late and spent way too long at the British Museum, we make haste for the Wallace Collection - this is a bit off the beaten path. The Wallace Family donated their intact collection upon their death and it's displayed in their home over in Westminster section of London. Nice house and most of the collection is garish 17th and 18th century art (sorry, I just can't stand the flashy Louis XVI and Georgian art), but there are three long galleries of an amazing armor collection. Rob wanders around to his heart's content while I remind him I'm not Tbone, James or Kyna and he can't just tell me to look at that Bergonet - he needs to point to the actual helmet. (And now Rob, kibtzing over my shoulder cause he can't write his own damn diary is whining I've misspelled B-u-r-g-o-n-e-t. Metal artisans.) I, of course, am happy to find more tournament shields on display - they won't let you take pictures so I have to sneak a quick photo. I attempt to tell Rob that is *not* allowed to recreate the rare rapier/gun combination, he is not to give one of those things to Alan and not to even discuss the concept in front of Jimmy. And he listens to me - not at all. Gleam in his eye tells me he has schemes for a period based rapier/rubber band gun whirling in his head. Duck, everybody. We randomly pick out an Italian restaurant on the way back to the Tube. We usually pick by looking for small places that are rather full and the test worked tonight. We split a plate of smoked Italian cheese, fried (shades of Ragnarr) and a nice half bottle of Chianti. Then lamb shank followed by creme caramel and tiramsu. Nice long rest for the weary feet before the walk back to the Tube. Tube has nice acoustics and every so often there's a musician busking. On the ride home it was a nice guitarist - folk singer with a decent voice - so I snuggled close to my honey as we waited for the train home. Rob has put the Pooh bear in my pajama bottoms. I guess I'll wear something else tonight. � � � 
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