It might strike some people as odd, but one of my favorite things to do in a city is check out their museums. I’m fascinating by history, seeing pieces in a collection that are thousands of years old, yet here they are for us to enjoy. With that in mind our trip to London included a half day at the British Museum. The museum is open daily from 10am to 5:30pm and until 8:30 on Fridays, admission is free. You read that right, FREE! In a city as expensive as London, most of their museums have no charge unless you want to visit a special exhibit.
The museum is easy to get to with public transport and the surrounding neighborhood is very nice. You are free to walk about the museum and tour it as you please or you can join any number of free tours and talks throughout the day. There is even a Hands on Desk where you have the unique opportunity to handle objects from the collection. That is open daily from 11am to 4pm. The building itself is very impressive and circles the Great Court area. Here in the Great Court you can shop, eat and people watch.
Collections include Ancient Egypt with a number of mummies on display, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Americas, Ancient Greece and Rome, and various changing displays. Some of the highlights of the collection include the Rosetta Stone, which I’ll admit to not knowing how large it actually is. I always pictured it as a smaller tablet size, but it’s truly huge, just check out the picture.
Rosetta Stone
Other highlights include an ancestral figure from Easter Island, a turquoise mosaic mas of the Aztec go Tezcatlipoca, a bronze Egyptian cat and more. Some of my favorite areas to explore were Ancient Greece and Rome, the temples, architecture and vases always fascinate me. Then of course I loved the entire Egyptian collection, just thinking how long those pieces have lasted is amazing. We spent probably a good 3 hours or so walking through the museum seeing what interested us before heading on to get some lunch and visit a local pub. It was a relaxing morning, gazing at Ancient history and marveling how far we’ve come.
Greek Temple reassembled.
Rodin Thinker
Turquoise Snake from Aztecs
Ancient Greece and Rome Exhibits
I encourage you to visit the British Museum during a visit to London, you won’t regret it!
Blogger, Traveler, Wife, Runner….I’m known as many different things. But I’m here to be your Travel Professional. Ever since I was a little girl I had an interest in travel. I would collect the postcards books that my grandparents brought back to me from their travels and I kept them in a special box that I loved to pull out and flip through. As I traveled with my family I started collecting postcards on my own and pictures, maps, and other mementos of my travels.
Believe it or not, I still have those postcards and every once in awhile I’ll bring them out and flip through smiling at the memories they bring back. Although I might not collect postcards anymore I collect photos, stories and information on my travels. I love to soak up a destination, reveling in the local food life. I absolutely love sharing my travel stories, foodie moments and special encounters.