Our last few days

It was hard to believe, but Daria's visit was already drawing to a close but we still had a few big sights to see for our last few days.

Day 6: Waiting for the train on the way to the British Museum:

The British Museum may have actually been the least impressive thing we saw. Now, there were definitely impressive things in the museum, but whether we were museum-ed out or just not quite in the mood for it, the large crowds and peeling paint on the walls took a little away from what is supposed to be one of the tops places to visit in London.

Rosetta stone. That was cool.

One of the few marble statues with a head on it. This collection of statues was taken from the Parthenon in Greece. It's apparently part of a bit of a scuttle butt between the two countries since there was even a pamphlet outlining why Parthenon sculptures were in London and not Athens. For interested parties:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/news_and_press/statements/parthenon_sculptures.aspx

One of these neatest things to see was all of the beautiful hieroglyphics in the Ancient Egypt rooms.

This huge horse head was part of The Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 

This creepy head didn't photograph very well, but is actually a human skull covered in Turquoise from Mexico.

After we had enough to the museum (honestly it was so big it was hard to focus on things) we enjoyed another yummy meat pie from the pub across the street, once a favorite of Karl Marx and George Orwell:

very helpful hints on the roadside

Day 7: For our last day, we were ready to brave the Millennium Bridge! Both Daria and I are non-bridge/height fans so this was more daunting that it sounds.... We walked through the gardens of St. Paul's Cathedral and were impressed with the number of people that were out and about, having their lunch around the church and gardens. We opted out of the tour and just marveled at it's massive size from the outside.

A look back at St. Paul's before we headed across the Millenium Bridge.
I love the combo of old and new all throughout London.

Midway across the bridge.
It was surprisingly stable and both Daria and I managed it quite well!
This bridge gets destroyed by the Death Eaters in Harry Potter Part 7, which I re-watched a few days later.

Love the colors in this one, just wish it didn't have any people in it!

The bridge brought us right outside the Tate Museum and the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theater (the original burned down). Again, we opted out of the guided tour and just walked around the outside of the Globe. Next up was the Tate. I'm not a huge modern art fan, but seeing a few Picassos is always cool. The Tate is extra cool since it is housed in an old warehouse which adds to the whole modern vibe.

We spent some time wandering around contemplating the different definitions of art....'Whaam!' by Roy Lichenstein (below) drew my attention. Most likely because of the kiddos recent discovery of graphic novels...the yellow bubble over the plane reads: "I pressed the fire control....and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky.."

There were a lot of things that just made you ponder, like this exhibit of human hair...I know it has some deep significance or meaning behind it, but I couldn't get over that it was a whole room of tangled hair....

view across the Thames from the observation deck of the Tate

When we made it back home, we had some awesome Thai food in a restaurant a few blocks from the apartment. Daria unfortunately had to leave the next morning but we had such a wonderful week touring around London! We also decided we may need to make these adventures a little more regular...