London. June 27

Nic and I headed out with his nephews in tow for a day in London. Oliver and I were put in charge of purchasing the tickets, which was a bit of a sideshow. This took place during the before described barbeque. There was money changing hands internationally, Paypal, transfers - it was complicated. In the end Oliver came through for us. We arrived at St. Pancreas Station just before 11a.m. with just enough time to run over to the British Museum for our appointed time.

We settled on the British Museum because I have been a little obsessed with Sutton Hoo and it is free. We've been in England for a month now and we do have a wedding in July. Free things are sounded better and better. The other thing top on my list for London was the Tower of London, which to be fair, I have actually seen before. 

The British Museum is complicated. I feel very complicated about the theft of all the colonized peoples from whom their national treasures have been pillaged. I also feel complicated about how much I still want to see these amazing treasures. So, I preface the pictures I post here with the acknowledgement that these people were pillaged and exploited. I also deeply appreciate them and sincerely want to learn more about all of them. I don't know if that is enough to excuse how much I enjoyed my experience today and how much I would love to experience it again, and again, and again. I feel really bad about that. I'm sorry.

We started with the Ancient Assyrians.

We spent a long time in Ancient Assyria. Nic realized that if we were going to do anything else today, we had better get organized, so he then made a plan to see the top items in the museum as fast as possible - except that Nic and I museum similarly. That means we both read every single placard, in every single room we enter, and we both get distracted and wander away to interesting things that catch our eye. This means that museums take a long time for us.

So we tried. 

But then we saw the Rosetta Stone. And Ancient Egypt.

And then Ancient Greece.

But then we remembered we had brought three boys with us to the museum and their attention span was shorter than ours, so we rushed up to Medieval England, which I felt a lot better about looking at. At least here we were exploiting Nic's people and they actually lived here and built the history here - in this country.

And Sutton Hoo - which is truly amazing, totally worthwhile and WAY, WAY better than the viking museum in York.

We ran over to look at Islamic Art, when the aforementioned boys arrived to announce they were starving.

So, we headed out after a stop off in the clock room. Nic has promised me a full day back at the British Museum with a plan for all the things we did not see today. It was truly great. I am so glad I got to see the Sutton Hoo and other viking stashes. 

And then, surprise, we went to a pub.

Nic had steak and ale pie - the best he's had in UK at the Cambridge Pub.

I had a halloumi salad, which was lovely. Did you know I love halloumi? It's grilled cheese added to yummy things. I adore it. America, where is your halloumi??

We checked out Chinatown.

James and I, again, looked at all of the desserts we could find and again we bought nothing. We are hopeless.

We checked out SOHO.

Did I mention it poured rain and was cold? It did. It was.

I went into a penis ice cream shop. They sell ice cream cones shaped like penises. Yes, I went in. Yes, I took pictures. No, I did not buy any penis ice cream.

It was called "The Cockery." I thought it was great and I laughed and laughed.

Near the penis ice cream shop is a sweet stuffed animal shop. 

We zoomed back through Trafalgar Square.

And down to Buckingham Palace. The last time I was here was right after Princess Di passed. My memories include flowers stacked as high as I am in every direction. It is a weird memory. I flew into London right after she died. I am no royalist, but it was a poignant memory. But I am glad to have seen it in a different light.

And there we are! The rain stopped and the sun shone - for a minute.

Then we walked in the St. James Park. 

Where I peed.

In the wild.

Kind of.

And we saw the parrots of London! See? I didn't believe this to be true, but here is living proof.

Nic fed the pigeons and parrots.

Poor Oliver was well-loved by the parrots and pigeons. He was a bit overwhelmed.

We walked through the park toward the Thames.

We passed the Old Admiralty building where the Queen does important stuff on the Horse Guard Parade.

And then the Eye of London.

And World War II Memorial.

And Tower of London.

And Churchill.

And the Parliament Building.

And Rodin. Where we finally rested a bit.

Then we walked past Westminster Abbey - not Abby. I have been having issues with my spelling of Abbey. I apologize. It's been a confusing time.

And St. Margaret's Church.

And then Leicester Square, where Shakespeare and Mary Poppins have tributes. Mary Poppins was much more popular than Will. I could not get a picture of Mary without a middle aged woman already posing next to her. But I saw her and waved.

And then I really checked out this thing. It is a clock of some sorts which chimes and sings and all of the layers move around and sing. It was fun! I was really happy to see it.

James and I viewed Turkish and Greek Pastries, and still bought nothing.

As we ran for the train, I finally saw the pastries I wanted to buy. Sadly, I had no time. So, I snapped a picture, which is almost as good - right? I *almost* ate these pastries. 

Somehow we made it back to Bedford. There was considerable confusion regarding our train tickets. I am not sure how we ended up with 25 tickets for 5 people, but we did. We just waved them at the train workers and they smiled at us sympathetically and waved us through. Clearly if we messed up our tickets that badly, they didn't have time to check us out. We needed all the help we could get - which is true!

 It was a great day. We loved hanging with James, Andrew and Oliver. Really, it was lovely as Andrew came back to Bedford and jumped right on a train to Nottingham to move his flat. I feel lucky to get to know Rob and his kids better and see a glimpse of their lives.