My first full day back in London and it was a dewsey (I have also been informed by Microsoft Word that “dewsey” is not a word). I planned to go to just two museums today, but tacked on a third on a whim (more on that later).
The first museum I attended was the British Museum, which was nothing like I expected. First of all, for being the British Museum, there sure wasn’t a lot of British things in it. It was pretty neat none the less. I spent the most time in the Greek and Roman rooms, which had all kinds of statues and artifacts from the Renaissance period. They also had a neat Egyptian room with mummies and sculptures. It appears that the majority of the museum is dedicated to Asian artifacts, which I’ve never been very into to be honest. But that’s just me. It all looked pretty amazing. Oddly enough, the most visually inspiring thing about the museum was the building itself. In the center is a huge glass ceiling and a spiral staircase that takes you to all the different areas of the museum. It was pretty unique.
My next stop was to the National Gallery, which houses like a zillion famous and great portraits and other works of art. This was awe inspiring. It’s difficult to put this experience into words, as it’s such a visual experience. I didn’t want to flood the blog with hundreds of photos, but I did take pictures of the 20 or so I liked the most. I bought a couple of prints of my two favorites. Also a unique building, the National Gallery has huge vaulted ceilings with immaculate designs on the ceiling. Each time period’s walls are color coded, so it is very easy to get around and not get lost (as I am guilty of more than I care to admit in places like this). I could go on…but why? Just look at the pictures!
As I said up top, my final museum of the day was the Sigmund Freud museum. I knew nothing about this place before heading to London, but my friend Anna insisted that I go because they had a special exhibit there this month only. It was a trek to get out there…and a very long uphill climb (no…not in the snow…and not both ways!). I was physically exhausted by the time I got there and probably looked a wreck, but they let me in any way. I never knew much about Freud before…but the museum (which is actually his London home where he passed away) was really educational. The other patrons there were very educated on Freud and I could tell this was sort of a Mecca for them. In other words, I was very out of place. They had Freud’s study completely preserved, including the famous couch! The special exhibit told the story of how Freud fled with his family from Austria after the Nazi’s invaded. It was a very sad tale, but at least he and their family got out. They even took their dog!
Before ending the day I travelled to Florin Court, where they shot the apartment building for Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot series. The building was smaller in person, and nothing surrounding it was the same as the show…movie magic! But it was a fun jaunt none the less.
I hope you are all doing well, and I’m looking forward to whatever this city has in store for me tomorrow!
Jeff.
Aug 4th, 2018
jeffinukraine2016 