T and S: Londonton Abbey

Previously, in London...

Saturday we headed back to finish up the British Museum. It should have been a straight shot to the museum on the red line but the track was closed for Olympic renovations or some nonsense like that so we had to take the really long way around. So while we saw lots of signs about the Olympics, this was the only interaction (of sorts) that we had with them.

Basically, we saw "lots of old stuff." Like this throne from the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens aka where a VIP would sit to watch the Olympics circa 140 AD.

This is a Japanese steel Tachi blade from late 1100's or early 1200's. This kind of sword was used by samurai on horseback. I was just so amazed that it is in such great shape (shiny and sharp) compared to all the swords from Europe that only date from the 1500's.

Kicking it with some Egyptian statues (I have no idea who they are...)

The REAL LIFE Rosetta stone. It was pretty awesome and impressive.

I know the reflections from the glass are annoying, but you can make out three very distinct types of carvings. Super cool.

A temple of something or other.

Parts of the Parthenon from Greece.

Obviously, this is a scale model of the Parthenon. It's just kind of mind blowing because the friezes are so large, but on the Parthenon, they would have looked relatively small sitting atop the pillars and such.

This giant horse statue was part of a wealthy man's tomb / shrine thing. What is that called?!

Easter Island head

This is an Eskimo snowsuit for a three year old. I just thought it was the cutest thing ever and I kinda want one for our baby.

Getting eaten by a totem pole.

This is what I hope part of heaven looks like: a giant library full of great books.

I know we don't drink tea, but these sets of tea cups were just so gorgeous that I wanted to own them anyway. I'm not sure who they belonged to or how old they were, but they were in the museum part, not the gift shop part, so I'm sure they were out of our price range anyway.

This was our shortest day. We left the museum around 4 and went straight back to the hotel. We were SO tired from all of our running around and wanted a relaxing break from being tourists. We watched a UK show that was essentially Zooborns, but on TV, so pretty much AWESOME!

We went to dinner at a Pizza Hut near our hotel. It was definitely not like a Pizza Hut here. Since that Pizza Hut didn't deliver, we assumed it would be a Pizza Hut buffet. Oh, no. This Pizza Hut was a classy joint. Ok, not fancy classy, but like Olive Garden classy. It was a sit down restaurant with waitresses and a wine menu and dessert menu and mood lighting and everything. Sadly, the pizza was not that great. We got a pepperoni pizza and the British pepperoni is not like American pepperoni. It was more like a pepperoni crossed with canadian bacon. So much for trying to get some good American food! (Though, to be honest, it was still better than a number of other places we had meals.)

Since we were still a bit hungry we hit up the TescoExpress (a chain convenience store that is more than a gas station, less than a grocery store) across the street from our hotel. It was there that I met and fell in love with the 25p (about 40 American cents) jam donut. They are 10 times better than any American jam donut, because the jam tastes better and there is more of it. We visited the Tesco almost every day, and I got a jam donut everyday (except when they were out! it was terrible!). Some of the other UK treats we tried:

The skittles did not taste like regular skittles. The texture was exactly the same, but the tastes were very different (like grape was much more wild berry) and much more mild. The Haribo gummies tasted exactly the same as American ones. Maom stripes looked like a Laffy Taffy but tasted like a strawberry Mambo candy. The Toffee Crisp was similar to a 100 Grand. The Starbar was like a Snickers with the addition of a wafer layer.

The Tesco had an interesting sign posted behind the counter above the cigarettes: "If you appear to be under 21 we card." Which we both thought is totally ridiculous. It's not hard to look over 21! In the states it's "We card under 40" and many places check your id regardless if you look over 40.

Speaking of smokers, MAN there are a lot of inconsiderate smokers in the UK! They like to stand literally one foot outside main doors to hotels, restaurants, museums, etc. While we were in London we saw a very obviously pregnant lady smoking! Are you for serious?! I wanted to punch her. Everyone everywhere knows that is so terrible for your baby! We also saw a very pregnant lady chatting with three other ladies who were all smoking. It just made me so sad that they care so little about their babies.

I'm going to try to have these recaps done by next Sunday!