Aside From Being in Britain, I'm Not Sure Why They Call It The British Museum

Word/Phrase of the Day:  Sticky Toffee Pudding.  This dessert is actually a steamed cake, rather than a pudding.  It's a warm, really dense moist cake covered in toffee sauce and served with ice cream or custard.  Wells Brewery makes a Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale that is way sweeter than a beer should be and really gives this lovely dessert a bad name...though not as bad as Spotted Dick.

Early this morning we were heading to the Tube station when I noticed a band gathering near the Marble Arch.  They looked a little familiar to me so I quickly snapped a picture:

Focus in on the right hand side...see the longhorn of the back of that jacket?  Yep.  The University of Texas Alumni band is playing at the London New Year's Day Parade!

Today was British Museum Day.  As the English comedian, John Oliver, points out, "the whole of the British Museum should be declared an active crime scene.  There should be yellow caution tape around the entire thing...or maybe a chalk outline."  Why, you ask?  Because throughout the history of the British Empire, envoys have stolen shit from all over the world and brought it back to the mothership giving a big ol' neener neener to those countries now bereft of their treasures.  Some of those countries still see it that way, but many are just as happy not to have to insure or dust all that stuff.

So, they're having a special exhibit on Germany that we got early tickets to, so we had to be there by 10am.  The experts also recommend you get there early...so you're only there with about a million people rather than the entire planet.  The museum itself is impressive:

And here's the inside...the ceiling of the Great Court

This was the first item in the Germany installation:  The People's Car!

Gotta love it.

The exhibit was very cool and included items like Napoleon's Waterloo hat, a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, and a gilt-copper and steel ship that was designed to trundle along a grand table to announce a banquet. It has sailors wielding hammers to strike the hours and quarters on bells in the crows nests. It also shows the time on a dial at the bottom of the main mast. Music is played on a small regal organ and a drum skin stretched over the base of the hull. The Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, led by heralds, process before their Emperor seated on a throne beneath the main mast. As a grand finale, it fires its cannons to produce a wonder of noise and smoke to entertain the guests.  It didn't do all of that today, but we weren't having dinner.

These and about 600 other artifacts from German History made for a wonderful exhibit.  One of the most chilling pieces was a replica of the Buchenwald gate - the entrance to the Buchenwald concentration camp.  Above it the words: "Jedem das Seine" a German proverb meaning "to each his own" or "to each what he deserves."   <Shiver>

Beyond the special exhibit awaited more than eight million items filling about a million square feet/two miles of exhibit space.  Yeah, we just couldn't see all of it.  But we did hit the highlights:  

The Rosetta Stone:

Tons of people were clamoring about it and Joe said, "They probably all think this is just some sort of language program."  Um...yeah, that's exactly what it is.

Next we saw the Assyrian gateway figures:

I know what you're thinking (aside from "What is the capital of Assyria?")...yes, these things are enormous!  These are two of them that, at one time about 3,000 years ago, stood guard for the Assyrian kings.

They stand about two stories high.

A tomb from ancient Turkey,

a boatload of pieces from the Parthenon

And a statue from Easter Island

So, yeah...aside from in being located in Britain, there's just not that much British stuff in it...technically.

After we left the museum, we headed to a pub for lunch and a pint and then made our way to Baker's Street for the Sherlock Holmes thing, the Beatles Store and the Rock and Roll Store.

There was a line to stand under this address next to a bobby while donning a deerstalker (the kind of hat worn by Mr. Holmes).  Not only did we not want to stand in line, but I certainly didn't want to put on that hat that about 10,000 others had.  Ick.

As we made our way back to the hotel, the sun was setting over Hyde Park...so pretty!

Tomorrow's New Year's Eve.  We're going to sleep in, go see the changing of the guard, and generally take it easy for the day.  We have tickets for dinner at the Globe Theatre and a Thames River cruise to watch the fireworks.  Not sure when I'll get to post, so Happy New Year's everyone!