Yesterday, we took the Chunnel train from Paris to London, a ride that took 2:15 hours. Amazing. After checking into our hotel near Marble Arch, we took the underground out to Acton to visit our longtime friend, Tosh Lee, and have dinner with her and her daughter-in-law.
Today, we visited the British Museum to see how its display of Western art compared with that at the Louvre. Its three must-see objects were the Rosetta Stone (couldn't get past the crowds to photograph it), the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, and the Portland Vase. Bob did take photos of his favorite marble, the horse's head peaking over what would have been the very end of the front frieze, and the Portland Vase, which was certainly worth writing an ode about.
The number of items owned by the BM are similar to those at the Louvre, but they are much better displayed, and not just because all the signs were in English. I did ask Bob to take a photo of the Roman Emperor Markus Aurelius, whose Meditations I read from time to time, particularly when our broken political system gets me down.
Although we have no photos of it, I do want to mention an astonishing discovery in the collection, an almost-complete frieze from an inner room from The Temple of Apollo at Bassi. Why this has not gained pop-star status, I don't know.
We then bought two bottles of cold sparkling water from the gift shop, which they put in a BM shopping bag for us to display on the underground and the aboveground. We never cease to be amazed at the seemingly endless escalators that take you deep under the city for the former, or having the latter turn into a perfect, sunny day in the 70s. And the water was excellent too.
Next stop was Leicester Square, where Bob picked up tickets that he'd ordered on line for Steven Sondheim's rarely-produced musical, Merrily We Roll Along. We are seeing it this evening with Tosh and our next-door neighbor from Tucson, Karin Lahnam, who just happens to be in London for the next three days with one of her employees, Susan Carlson.
Today, we visited the British Museum to see how its display of Western art compared with that at the Louvre. Its three must-see objects were the Rosetta Stone (couldn't get past the crowds to photograph it), the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, and the Portland Vase. Bob did take photos of his favorite marble, the horse's head peaking over what would have been the very end of the front frieze, and the Portland Vase, which was certainly worth writing an ode about.The number of items owned by the BM are similar to those at the Louvre, but they are much better displayed, and not just because all the signs were in English. I did ask Bob to take a photo of the Roman Emperor Markus Aurelius, whose Meditations I read from time to time, particularly when our broken political system gets me down.
Although we have no photos of it, I do want to mention an astonishing discovery in the collection, an almost-complete frieze from an inner room from The Temple of Apollo at Bassi. Why this has not gained pop-star status, I don't know.
We then bought two bottles of cold sparkling water from the gift shop, which they put in a BM shopping bag for us to display on the underground and the aboveground. We never cease to be amazed at the seemingly endless escalators that take you deep under the city for the former, or having the latter turn into a perfect, sunny day in the 70s. And the water was excellent too.
Next stop was Leicester Square, where Bob picked up tickets that he'd ordered on line for Steven Sondheim's rarely-produced musical, Merrily We Roll Along. We are seeing it this evening with Tosh and our next-door neighbor from Tucson, Karin Lahnam, who just happens to be in London for the next three days with one of her employees, Susan Carlson.
