Amanda Goes to England, Vol. 3: 12 May 2014 {Part A}

Monday in London Town. More photos, fewer stories.

Mundane details for the day: Since I’d had such a busy first weekend and hadn’t properly rested myself after I’d flown over 4,000 miles from home, I really wanted to use Monday as a rest day. I wanted to sleep in and just chill for awhile. The hostel I was staying in offered pretty pleasant surroundings, so I didn’t mind hanging around there for awhile that day. I had dinner plans with another Twitter friend and his wife that evening, so I knew I had something to look forward to!

But guess who didn’t sleep in after all? Me! Oh well. That meant I got to have a lovely croissant and mediocre coffee at the hostel’s continental breakfast.

I like to take my breakfast in the hostel’s indoor terrace area

Another attractive black and white photo of half-eaten food. And this one’s not even got the proper point of focus. But it was a delicious croissant at the hostel!

When at this hostel, I like to sit on the wooden bench outside the dining area to have coffee and get my ducks in a row. That notebook was vital to my travel photography.

A few more shots around the hostel…

I guess I forgot I had film in the camera and opened it up. This is in the foyer of the hostel, Palmers Lodge Swiss Cottage

Also in the foyer

Palmers Lodge Swiss Cottage is in a Victorian home which Grade II listed building – the equivalent of having a building on the National Register of Historic Places in the US

Seeing as I wasn’t actually able to sleep in, I decided that hanging around the hostel would be wasting a perfectly good day. I headed to Central London and The British Museum.

Street art near the Swiss Cottage Tube station

There are always discarded flowers near the Swiss Cottage station. Probably from street corner vendors who do business there.

Photos from walking in Central London on my way to the British Museum…

Street art

Hair salon in Central London. I couldn’t resist photographing…everything in the window!

After my little photo walk, I made it to my intended destination: The British Museum!

Here I am! The British Museum!

I first visited the British Museum in 2006. It’s one of those museums with so much to see that you would need many hours to take it all in (I don’t believe you could see everything in the museum during just one visit.) I was going to spend more time in the British Museum when I returned to London in 2012, but something disheartening happened and kept me from it. This time, I’d set my mind to give this museum another go. I knew I could go for a short while to see parts of the museum I hadn’t seen in ’06. That actually worked out quite nicely! I tend to get overwhelmed by the vast number of things you can see in a museum of that size, plus I tend to zone out after awhile. I like to take in museums in digestible chunks.

I’m not always fastidious about making mental or actual notes about specific pieces I photograph in museums, but I’ll find the names of things/links to information, where possible.

Ah, the Great Court!

When I visited to the British Museum in 2006, I mostly perused the Egyptian, Roman, and Greek sections. This time, I went to exhibits about Roman England, Mesopotamia, some European sections, and some Asian sections. I actually made a point to see the Japanese exhibit they had on at that time, because I figured my niece would want me to. An hour and a half in the British Museum was just right for me and my attention span!

Hoa Hakananai’a, Easter Island statue

Plaster cast of a wall relief from the temple of Beit el-Wali, Lower Nubia

Mold gold cape

Sutton Hoo helmet

Stone monumental inscription, Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus

Bronze statue of a Roman young man, 1st Century AD

Statue of Thalia, muse of Comedy, 2nd Century AD

Composite set of armour, in the Japanese section of the museum

Hand railing on a staircase in the museum

I really just liked the way the window’s pattern was reflected onto the floor

Porcelain Daoist Deity, Stoneware luohan, Stoneware “Laughing” Buddha

Statue of Tara, 8th century AD

Ah, the return of my “People in Museums” series!

Stone sculpture of Shakti-Ganesha

Bronze figure of Nataraja, AD 1100

Aztec sculptures

Gilded bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, 16th Century AD

I thought this was sweet. The woman (presumably the guy’s mother) had just had him take her photo in front of the statues. When they were looking at the photo on the back of the camera, she put her arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder.