Ailbhe's Day Out - Part Two: Fun and Frolics

[ailbhe]

So now that that's off my chest, I can talk about the cool stuff we saw and the cool places we went and the coolness of it all.

We went to the British Museum first, and looked at the comparatively new Great Court. It's not new, it's newly open to the general unwashed public.

It was marvellous. You can clearly see which bits are new stone and which are old, of course, but it's still wonderful. The Reading Room is awe-inspiring. When I grow up, I want a library like that. It was very well-stocked and I saw a few things I have liked reading and a few things I'd like to read and a few crimes against literature (Beatrix Potter!).

We also looked at the Romans and Greeks, and then stopped for lunch as I reaslied that if I was going to see the Egyptians I would need a break to stuff my brains back in my ears.

Lunch turned out to be at Wagamama. This was good, because I had only been there once before, when I first visited my ex in London, and I had hated it. It was loud, there were chopsticks, and he laughed at me for not understanding the menu. This time, with Gideon, it was loud, there were chopsticks, and he explained the menu to me and didn't laugh at me once. It was a bit of an extravagance, of course, since we're both living more-or-less off our partners right now (contribution-based jobseeker's allowance is minimal), but it was very lovely, nonetheless.

After that we went to see the mummies. We spent a lot of time wandering around the museum going "Wow, now that's what I call a serious act of theft!" and similar. It's incredible the lengths the Empire went to to thieve, transport and preserve other peoples' monuments and footpaths. "I do think that Letitia would rather like that in her drawing-room, Reggie, shall we take it?"

I always like looking at the Mildenhall Treasure.

Christmas Shopping

While I was in the area, I wanted to go to a little shop on Museum Street to buy Rob a Christmas present. I was looking for a wooden puzzle, but couldn't afford any of the ones he didn't already have. We found a lot of fascinating stuff though, and I did manage to get a pressie of sorts. We'll see when he unwraps it.

Gideon also brought me into Gosh Comics, down to the basement where the original artwork is kept. That was an educational half-hour...