London Day One

The amazingness of Shylas aunt Angela didn't stop with the first day however, she had arranged us free accommodation in Essex for three days, where we had out own little room to put our sleeping mats in, use of the bathroom and kitchen (hot coffee!) and only a 15 minute walk to the train station from which it was only half an hour into Central London. 

The underground bad the buses in London (in fact all public transport in London) proved to be the most comprehensive, efficient and simple transport we came across in all of Europe. Additionally a day pass to unlimited use of all buses and trains within and around London was only 9 pounds each and proved far cheaper than any other way of getting around. The only drawback was my ticket seemed to hate me and at some point during each day it would often spit itself back at me from the underground ticket box ad not allow me to pass. Shylas of course worked flawlessly. 

The comprehensive and surprisingly not confusing underground map.

The first day we picked a place at random within London as our starting point. Oxford circus seemed like a good bet so off we went. We didn't have a map initially and so became hopelessly lost looking for one. In doing so we came across the New Zealand war memorial which was a nice surprise. 

We eventually found ourselves in Piccidilly Circus where purchasing a map was easy. It was a bustling and enjoyable area, full of pubs, restaurants and huge electronic screen advertisements on the sides of buildings which moved as if you were watching TV ads, we stopped for about five minutes to stare at them open mouthed as we were so used to just posters and had never seen anything like it. I am surf we quite resembled country bumpkins. 

We then eventually made our way to the British museum which I highly enjoyed wandering through. 

It was huge and we didn't have nearly enough time, so I stuck to my favourite sections, medieval Europe. Early England, Mayan and Aztec, and of course Egyptian mummies of which there were a mind boggling number. 

We were greeted by this beautiful lion as we entered. It would have once had glass or metal in its eye sockets that would have given it a dangerous glint. 

There were some interesting oddities on display also, like the so called crystal skull (proved a fake of course). 

We passed through the Africa section on our way through, and stopped to look at the interesting, if violent, modern art. 

These Mayan masks were creepy as they were cool. 

This one was my favourite as the jade and facial features had been superimposed and glued onto a real human skull which could be seen at the back and also with the human teeth sticking out. Very creepy. 

There were also Aztec wall carvings taken from temples which I found extremely interesting.

This malevolent stone snake was my favourite from this section. 

We then made our way to the mummy's section, passing through 19th C rooms beautifully laid out as we did so. 

The bodies section I found rather interesting, but Shyla had to let me continue on alone as funnily enough dead bodies weren't her cup of tea. (Warning: Gnarly Images ahead) 

This man was about 5,000 years old and had been naturally preserved and mummified. He even had a tuft of hair still on his head. 

And then it was on to the Egyptian mummy's! 

The awesome thing about the mummy's is although they can't of course open up the caskets (without irreparably damaging everything) they use CAT scans to see through the wrappings which tell us all sorts of interesting things. For example one of the queens they knew had died at a very old age, and only had 2 teeth left-and they knew without ever looking under the wrapping. So cool. 

I then carried on to the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic section which was super awesome as I had never been to a museum with this section before. 

A preserved wooden wheel. 

A beautiful Celtic torc. 

There were a number of coin stashes that had been hidden by their original owners and never returned for. Dug up by nosy farmers with metal detectors in the last century, they made there way here, displayed as found. 

The oldest mosaic depiction of Jesus ever found. The pomegranates on either side symbolise eternal life. 

Stumbling across this iconic helmet was an awesome surprise and one of my favourite things within the entire museum. 

This medieval European chess set also caught my gaze. 

The skill, detail and finesse of this painting also caught my eye. 

This huge sword was my favourite weapon from the museum and resembled what I imagine Excalibur to look like.

I then stumbled into a clock exhibition which I very much enjoyed. 

This amazing piece was my favourite, once mechanized it would have played music from a tiny violin inside and rolled across the table; used as a show piece at banquets, it must have been brilliant.