tourist at home: the British Museum

with nary a thing planned today after a busy Saturday, I managed to kick myself off my bed after realizing that spending an entire day listening to Neil Young and half-heartedly reading a book might not be the most ambitious of schedules, even for a lazy Sunday-aficionado such as myself. Thus did I find myself heading to the British Museum under a typically undecisive sky, with a firm commitment to finally seeing the fabled mummies. Not that this project could be considered a sign of self-motivation, considering I live a short 15 minute (if that) walk away and that I've already been countless times. But at least it would get me to stop listening to laments about heartbreak and southern men, and in that sense the decision to go seemed like a small moral victory over my shiftlessness.
One thing that is nice about visiting a museum several times is being able to able a personal relationship with it, establishing your own preferences, shortcuts and itineraries. I was lucky enough to frequent the Met in NYC enough to kind of feel a measure of ownership over it, and I see it as a good thing. Trying out new places is great and the definition of curiosity, a quality I always try to strive for, but for situations like today, familiarity is more than acceptable.

Once inside I quickly made my way to the Egypt wing, which for some reason I cannot recall ever having been, despite having visited the British 4 or 5 times. Unfortunately most of the rooms were thronged like all superstar museum can be on a summer day, rendering difficult any prolonged observation. Pestering about tourists is a bit easy considering we all are one at some point in our lives, so I'll simply state that if people understood how pointless it is to pose in front of a glass-encased mummy to have your picture taken with the flash on, I think the world might be a slightly better place. I did find some respite in the other Middle-East rooms, where I spent some time learning about ancient Mesopotamia and Phoenicians.
Most of the exhibits in this wing are well done, but the explanations given are a bit dry. It seems to me that the notecards in the fantastic Asia room, which I never fail to call on during my visits to the museum, contain a more personal description of the artefacts and thus give one a sense of how people lived in these times. Or perhaps it's that I feel personally more engaged by that region than the Middle-East, that's a definite possibility. Either way I was glad to finally have stepped into the realm of mummies and scrolls, and have no doubt in my mind that future visits will include these rooms in my customized walk through the museum.

a few more pictures:

sidetracked

with already agreed-upon plans to visit a museum with a friend on Sunday, all that was left to do was decide which one we'd go to. Having done most of the classics in the past few months, I decided yesterday to text her a meetup time and let her decide which establishment we would call on. Her pick was the Science Museum, which was great news as I hadn't been to one of those in a while, probably not since I've stopped playing with Lego (just to be clear: a long time ago). And I had great memories of the one in Hong-Kong, where the space section in particular was always one of my favorites.

Sunny skies, 21° weather. Winter in Sydney? Nope, July in London

nice use of the question mark. This is why I could never be a graphic designer. Stuff like this is probably kiddie stuff to them, brilliance to me

a revolutionnary new exhibit on families' eating habits, or museum cafeteria, I forget

first up, space. Since being a kid I've always loved stuff about space and the exploration of it, and this section contained a few interesting exhibits

like this replica of an Appolo lunar module

or this huge one of a satellite-launching rocket

speaking of satellites, this animation showed how many orbit the earth, including quite a few "dead" ones. Each little speck represents a satellite, and that's the earth in the middle (no really, it is, I swear)

one cool thing about science museums is they've always got random things lying around. Cars, planes, shampoo bottles...

"YAY!" Um, I mean, "sure, let's go to the 'Plastics and other polymers exhibit' "

then there was the Launchpad, a room filled with fun contraptions designed to teach kids about basic scientific phenomena. We thought that one can never know enough about science and decided to try out most of them

MY HAND, IT CONTROLS THE ELECTRICITY, MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

honestly, apart from the space room (and the Launchpad) most of the museum was pretty underwhelming, with exhibits that looked like they hadn't been updated since John Major was in power, so we chose to head to a slightly-less brainy place, the temple of consumerism: Harrod's

because the walk from the Science Museum to Harrod's is such a long one, we stopped on the way for a well-deserved snack break, where I was lucky enough to watch a few games of the insanely good Wimbledon final between Federer and Nadal. Seriously, some of those shots were out of this world

and what says Wimbledon more than strawberries and cream?

finally at Harrod's, in the food hall

there is no such thing as too much mustard, and you can quote me on that

feeling slightly out of place in the handbag section

yes, that is indeed a £400 fanny pack, or, as I like to call it, the answer to the age-old question "will the wonders never cease?" I hovered in the area for a few minutes to see if anyone would buy it, but amazingly no one did

H&M after Harrod's, guess at which store I spent money?

making our way back through Hyde Park, checking out the lake

the duck-equivalent of a golddigger. This little guy would only come over to you if you held some food out in your hand. I swear, ducks are so cynical about human nature

the remnants of yesterday's Tour de France first stage. Still doesn't make anymore sense why they held it in London, but I guess Hyde Park can always use some more heavily-marketed events, it's really too peaceful as it is

the usual crowds and weird rants in Speaker's Corner

I guess a full day of sunshine would be too much to ask. Oh well, at least it didn't rain

tourist at home: the Tate Britain

when it comes to the London museum scene, the Tate Britain is kind of like the sleepy kid who doesn't say much in class to get himself noticed yet is consistently on the honor roll. And like many things that are solid and unremarkable, this establishment is often exactly what one needs to quench a craving for art when Sunday rolls around. Sure there's tons of edgier choices (Shoreditch art galleries) and the big 3 (British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern) are always good for a stroll, but I have to say that over the years the "other" other Tate has fast become one of my faves. Of course a lot of that has to do with my personal tastes, which tend to veer to the classical and expressive, but there's also a tranquil serenity one feels when walking through the halls of this place that isn't always found in major museums.

As far as its permanent collection, there' s a good mix from masters of British painting like John Millais, with a particular highlight being the prodigious Turner collection, the biggest in the world. And there's one of my all-time favorite paintings, a depiction of the Channel under a particularly resplendent sky, of which I can never seem to recall the creator, but that I've never failed to stop by on my visits to the TB. Many of the works are grouped by theme and historically, with generally insightful commentary on the signs that gives some clues as to what symbolism was placed by the artist in the work in question, which is always good for neophytes like me. One minor quibble I have is the languid heat that reigned in some of the rooms (isn't it kind of bad for paintings to have too much heat and/or humidity?).
There's also generally an exhibition for which admission is paying, whereas for the permanent collections it isn't. Right now there's one about British photography, which I would've loved to see as a big fan of photography but we preferred to spend more time in the general wings, since the friend I went with had never been to the museum.

Overall this is a museum I like going to because I always seems to discover new things each time, even though its collection is far from massive. It might not be for the more contemporary-inclined (although right now there's a couple of more modern pieces, like Mark Wallinger's recreation of the Parliament Square protest camp), but if you've got an itch for the classics and think bucolic portrayals of typical English life in the XIX century are nice to look at, you can't go wrong with this choice.

tourist at home: the Cabinet War Rooms

with a rainy bank-holiday Monday came the perfect opportunity to take things underground and visit the Cabinet War Rooms in Westminster. Recently renovated, this museum is comprised of the actual rooms used by a cadre of British political and military authorities, as well as a support staff, during WWII. Designed as a bunker with a heavy concrete protection to prevent damage from the heavy German bombs, the entire complex was very extensive, and housed up to 500 people. The CWM are just a small part of this, but a major one in terms of historical significance. Indeed right at the start of the visit there is the actual cabinet room, where Churchill and his cabinet met to discuss war matters. One of the great things about the museum is how well preserved things have been kept, as though nothing has been touched since 1945. The living quarters, in particular, present an interesting personal side to the place. Seeing Mrs Churchill's bedroom or the tight quarters shared by the staff secretaries remind us that personal comfort was not really an option in these times of war. I also hope Mr Churchill's detectives (his security guards) didn't dislike each other, because that was one small room they shared. Besides the cabinet room, the map room is a tremendous showpiece, giving visitors insight into how these rooms were at the center of the war effort.
To accompany visitors there are free audioguides which explain what the purpose of the different rooms were (like the BBC communications center or the transatlantic telephone room). These are mostly well made, even if the reenacted scenes featuring actors can get a little overplayed. The guy "playing" Harry Truman was particularly overdoing it, to our great amusement.
During our dwell I remembered my dad once mentioning that my great-grandfather, who was living in London at the time, had a run-in with a V2 during one of the bombings, though it was thankfully inconsequential. The CWR is another reminder of how many sacrifices were made by our elders during those times. This abnegation is especially amazing if you consider the type of lives many of us are leading now. Not to say I embrace a fully idealist and sepia-tinted view of this chapter of history, but I think these museums are a good way to ensure future generations acquire some measure of knowledge about it.

Adjacent to these rooms is the Churchill Museum, which covers his entire life. Admission is included in the general ticket price (£11 full price, £9 for students), but lacking time we did not get to visit it. Overall I found this visit quite fascinating, as someone who's always had a thing for this part of history and would definitely recommend it, even on a day when it isn't raining cats and dogs.