DAY 5 and part of DAY 6

Hello friends!


For those of you who woke up this morning and checked the blog (and I know there's at least one of you), you may have found it devoid of updates. I normally update first thing in the morning over here (while you're all still sleeping), but today's itinerary included the day trip to Brighton so the update wasn't in the cards. As an added bonus to make up for it, i'm including the photos from today thus far (its presently 4:45pm in England, 8:45am back home).


However, before I get into holiday details, there is a far more important item for me to address...




HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Now then, on with the show:



The morning took me to Tottenham Court Road station, whose exit is directly adjacent to the enormous statue of Freddy Mercury of Queen fame. This, not surprisingly, is where the musical "We Will Rock You" is performed.



Enroute to the British Museum, I stumbled upon this sign. When I peeked in the window, I could have sworn that I saw Stephane Dion. I suspect he was inside trying to get some ideas for his election platform.



Found it!



This is but a small part of the very impressive front of the British Museum. To capture the entire thing in one shot would have been preferrable, but London's small streets coupled with the big bloody fence in front of this place made that impossible.



The building is even more impressive on the inside, as evidenced by the great hall. I spent over 3 hours going through this museum, being careful not to miss anything. The photos included are but a small selection of what this place has to offer.



The Rosetta Stone.



I tried to be inconspicuous and aimed the camera at the tomb, but I was really focusing on the two chaps who were sketching some of the artifacts. There are a number of sketch artists at work in just about every museum in London.



Fragments of "A winged bull for Sennacherib's palace" (Assyrian, 700-692 BC)



A visitor from Easter Island



Canadian Aboriginal wood sculputure from Alert Bay on the north end of Vancouver Island



Stoneware figure from a judgement group (Ming dynasty, 16th century AD)



Statue of Kudara Kannon (China/Korea, replica)



Samurai armour and helmet (Japan, pieces from 1500 to 1800 AD)



Mechanical tea carrying boy (Japan, 2005)



Painted wooden model of a boat with crew (Middle Kingdom, 1900 BC)



Bronze head from a statue of Augustus (Roman, 25-25 BC)



Inscribed funerary relief of Aurelius Hermia and Aurelia Philemathom (Roman, 80 BC)



If Anne McLellan were in this museum, she'd no doubt ask if these guns were registered.



A more serious piece on guns. A chair made from decommissioned weapons from Mozambique's civil war (1992)



The Benin plaques. These plaques are from the old Royal Palace in Benin City, likely cast in the 16th century. They are mounted as a group here...



... shown individually here. These plaques were probably the highlight of the museum for me, especially since fewer people actually go downstairs to visit the Africa exhibit.



From the British Museum I hopped back on the tube and headed over to King's Cross station (next to the Eurostar to Paris and Brussels) to visit...



... the British Library. Unfortunately, no photography is permitted inside. This is unfortunate, since their public exhibition includes things like an original copy of Magna Carta, a Guttenburg Bible, and original handwritten Beatles lyrics.



You can, however, take pictures of this impressive statue of Newton in the courtyard.



I elected to take the bus home to see the neighbourhood and avoid rush-hour tube congestion. As we were stopped at a light, I decided to get a shot of this fellow. He and hundreds of others stand on major street corners and at tube and major bus stops to hand out copies of one of London's free papers (Metro in the morning, London Lite or The London Paper in the evening). The majority of commuters (albeit not a very large one) don't take advantage of these papers, and I can't figure out why. They're free, they've got all the day's pertinient news, and there's less advertising than we would contend with in a Vancouver Province or Edmonton Sun. I make a point of grabbing both every day.


-END OF DAY 5-


I got up this morning and headed off to Victoria Station, whose departure board is shown here. Victoria is one of the mega stations in London, home to several tube lines as well as most trains heading to the south of England. It is also adjacent to London's main motorcoach station.



My first real look at English countryside enroute to the sea.



Arrival! Goodbye Southern Rail, hello...



Brighton!



Upon exiting Brighton Station, visitors are met with this elegant clock tower. There is also a bus loop for public transit, but I elected to walk.



At the bottom of Queen's Road, one arrives beachside. In the distance is the famous Brighton Pier, very much an old-time carnival and no doubt completely packed in summertime.

I have no idea what the hell this is, but I figured it was worth taking a picture of.

If the text on the top of the carousel is accurate (and, with carnival folk, who knows) this machine dates back to the late 19th century.

Looking back up Queen's Road.

The entrance to Brighton Pier. Here you'll find an old-time arcade, traditional carnival games, food vendors, and a smattering of rides that one would see at the Stampede or PNE.

The view looking down the beach towards the west.

Back on Southern Rail's clean, comfortable train back to London.

Back at Victoria Station, about to head underground when I noticed this ad. If you enlarge this picture (which you can do with any of the pics I post simply by clicking on it), you will be able to clearly read that Montreal is looking for Brits. Now I don't know about you, but i'm not sure how impressed your average Montrealer would be with this.

That concludes the adventures from yesterday and today (up to this point, anyway). Your next update will be either tomorrow evening or Saturday morning (London time), depending on what I get up to tonight and tomorrow. For those interested, highlights still to come will include Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the BBC World Headquarters, the Churchill and Cabinet War Rooms, and the annual university boat race (Oxford vs. Cambridge) from the Thames.

Cheerio!