Hold Onto Your Hats

We went to the British Museum Friday morning. Neither of us had ever been there and we figured it would be a good thing to do on our first dreary, cold, rainy, snowy day in London. We took a very expensive taxi ride in awful traffic and once through "security," we headed directly to the coatcheck.

ON OUR WAY TO THE SECURITY BOOTH. ONCE INSIDE...
GUARD: "DO YOU HAVE ANY SCISSORS OR KNIVES IN YOUR BAG?"
SAN GERALDO: "NO."GUARD: "OK. YOU CAN GO IN."
WELL, THAT DIDN'T MAKE US FEEL VERY SECURE.

As we began to hand over our outer garments, the woman behind the counter said, "It's very cold in the museum today; you might want to keep your coats."

We didn't think that would be necessary and didn't want to drag our coats all over the sprawling museum, so San Geraldo wore his hooded sweatshirt and, since I had three warm, fine layers of silk, cotton, and wool, I just held onto my scarf.

We froze! The Great Hall, of course, isn't heated and it leads to many of the galleries, so the drafts were significant. We thought we'd have a snack, but the cafes around the Great Hall weren't enclosed and the patrons shivered. We decided we'd have something in the restaurant upstairs but that was also open to the Great Hall and we saw hooded and even gloved diners trying to have a meal. So we explored the museum and went to a nearby pub for lunch.

Despite the cold, we loved the museum. (Click the images to make everything, including the Great Hall, greater.)

THE UNBELIEVABLY GRAND GREAT HALL.

THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE GREAT HALL.

LOOKING DOWN AT THE C-C-C-C-C-CAFE.

I WISH I HAD BOUGHT THIS BOOK.

SOME OF THE ELGIN MARBLES.
(THE ILLUSTRATION FOR THE PREVIOUS BOOK?)

APPRECIATING THE BEAUTY OF THE MUSEUM'S TILE FLOOR.

SAN GERALDO TOLD ME THAT, AT FIRST GLANCE AND AT AN ANGLE,
HE THOUGHT THE SIGN SAID "CLITORIS SHOP."

DON'T GET EXCITED. IT'S NOT THE ORIGINAL FROM 450 B.C.
ONLY A 2ND-CENTURY ROMAN REPRODUCTION.

A GREAT BOOK DISPLAY.
THEY WOULDN'T SELL ME THE BOOK ON THE LEFT.

I JUST LOVED THIS ONE.