London Day 2

Continued from London Day 1.

Despite our jetlag, we managed to fall asleep and mostly stay asleep last night. But because of the jetlag, we didn’t actually wake up until late morning and didn’t get out the door until a little bit after 12pm.


RL went out to get us some coffee and breakfast while I caught up on some blogging.


The weather is in the high 40s and low 50s. Kinda chilly.


I stopped to take this photo and RL ran away because she didn’t want to be seen next to me taking this photo.


There’s where we are headed today.


Lots of nice cars parallel parked in London. Most of the cars actually don’t have a bumper rash, so people are pretty respectful of not bumping into others, unlike, say Paris.


The British Museum. When I came to London about a decade ago, I don’t know why I didn’t put it on my list to visit. I guess I was young and dumb back then.


There’s a little line for security. We had actually booked our ticket reservations online, but it turns out reservations are no longer needed, so most people just went through security and went straight in without paying since it’s free.


No golf clubs allowed.


So cool.


Literally the first thing that we see is the Rosetta Stone. Pretty cool. Can’t believe I didn’t know about this 10 years ago. Again, young and dumb.


RL is excited for all the Egyptian stuff.


In case you wonder what the back of the Rosetta Stone looks like.


RL is in heaven here being an Egyptology fan girl.


These were really cool.


Wonder what’s missing…


Why all these broken penises?


Take that, kick to the balls!…Errr, I meant, kick to the lower abs! And again, why all these broken penises?


British Museum had a good crowd, but I’m sure compared to precovid times during high season, this crowd is probably relatively light.


Can’t believe they are diluting their brand by selling NFTs. Shame shame shame.


The Brits will steal from anyone, here’s a Moai head from Easter Island…which oddly, they had placed in the African section.


Asian pottery and arts gets very little love. There’s barely a soul in these sections.

All of this was hand stitched I believe!


I wonder if these cobra-like shaped hand rails are done on purpose?


Mummies! I was so scared of mummies as a kid. They are still kind of creepy.


Odd that this one has an actual printed label at the bottom.


Sad, little kid mummies.


Smile.


Wine and oil jugs. What’s the point of making them with a tiny base and therefore as unstable as possible?


Boob.


Clocks and watches.


Derp


Still very excited about all the Egyptian stuff.


It says 69.


That was a lot of stuff to take in, like, a lot. We are hungry now, time to grab a late lunch.


Thought about taking an Uber to lunch, then saw a black cab waiting outside the museum, might as well give this a go.


So far, everything in London has been contactless payments. I remember 10 years or so ago, it was not unusual for a place to only take cash.


Cab ride to rest our legs a little.


So many candy shops here in central London. Do the Brits really eat that much candy?


This came recommended from our neighbors who now live in London.


Pretty small, intimate place.


Some starters. I’ve never had oysters before on this side of the world. They were briny and a little metallic.


By far the best fish and chips I’ve ever had in my life. The fish was super tender, moist, and the fried batter was wafer-like crunchy. It was amazing!


After lunch, an Uber ride to our next stop. We used to travel almost extensively by public transit when possible, but lately have started using more taxis and Ubers. It’s been a nice game changer, saves time on attractions that are hard to get to from one another. And honestly, as I’ve gotten older, I’m just not as interested in walking for an extra 30min just to save a few bucks.


Buckingham palace. The queen has covid currently, otherwise I’m sure she would have invited us in for afternoon tea.


Those were giant chocolate croissants! If I didn’t just have lunch would have totally gotten one.


Coffee to keep us going through this afternoon.


Say coffee!


RL is a huge gardener, she kept on taking photos of flowers and bemoaning how most of the flowers are not in bloom yet due to the season.


Caught me taking a photo of her taking a photo of flowers.


It’s nice that they have these concession stands in the park.


Interesting tree bark.


This is St. James’s Park right by Buckingham Palace.


The huge wind storm last week in all of UK has left some scars. Really glad we got here the week after the storm and not during. It would have sucked if we were forced to stay inside most days.


What’s happening here?


Oh, lots of green parrots here. I wonder if they were pets that were released long ago and have now bred and become local? They would actually come and land on peoples’ outstretched hands.


Heading back to hotel to rest and catch up on blogging.


London has some of these cross walk signs with different kinds of gender couples on them.


Doh, I brought two usb to iphone cables with me, and of course, one of them breaks. Sigh.


Street park old school Rolls, no biggie. We are heading out to dinner, again by Uber because it’s located at a place not serviced well by subway.


Here we are.


For fans of Anthony Bourdain, this is one of the restaurant that was featured on his show. I wouldn’t have come here just by that, but it was also on a recommended restaurant list forward to us by our neighbor(a different neighbor than the other one).


Kind of industrial feeling inside here.


There’s a self service bar area, and up those stairs leads to the dining room.


Sure, except I’m still taking pictures with my phone.


Accidentally ordered still bottled water. Will ask for tap at next refill.


Negroni the way it should be, with more gin!


The artichokes on the left were a surprise hit. I’d never thought I would like them so much.


Everything tasted great, but my hake was a little too boney for my taste.


Crazy RL orders a Dr. Henderson, look it up.


Matches her sweater.


That was a cool meal, now take us home Uber.

To be continued at London Day 3 Part 1.