July 5 : Third Day In London

We decided to continue our Hop On – Hop Off bus excursion by taking the “red line” circuit. I must admit at first it seemed like a big mistake.  For about an hour we toured around all the railway stations, going through non-descript neighbourhoods among horrendous traffic.  It was a big bore and a waste of time.

We finally got close enough to our first destination, the British Museum, that we got off and walked.  The British Museum has the most amazing collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities.  Of course, most of the objects were stolen from their place of origin by the British during the height of their empire.  But that is another story.

The most famous artifact, on display, is the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone is a stone slab inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, two centuries before Christ. The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek. The decree has only minor differences between the three versions, making the Rosetta Stone the key to deciphering the Egyptian scripts.

The different galleries are set up so that you can easily go from one area of interest to another. One of the exhibits on ancient Britan contained two skeletons that were perfectly preserved in the peat.

After leaving the museum, we reconnected with the Red Line bus, and it got much more interesting.  We had a tour of the entertainment district of west end London and the south shore of the Thames.

For my birthday diner we went to an upscale Italian restaurant call Caraffini.  The food was fantastic, but I must admit the service was slow.  Not as slow as some of the restaurants we eat at during the Irish portion of our vacation, but definitely leisurely.

On our walk to the restaurant, we went down a street call Pimlico Rd. This must be where you go to buy high end furniture, art and antiques.