Week of March 14th 2011: The British Museum (London)

Kevin realized it would be easy for him to meet me for lunch most days so he suggested that we go to the British Museum as well. The British Museum is built around historical artifacts that have been stolen collected by the British Empire.

Rosetta Stone

Their prized exhibit is of course, the Rosetta Stone. When I first learned about the Rosetta Stone, I figured it was something that could be carried easily, maybe the size of a large laptop. Boy was I wrong, this thing is about the size of a large child. And made of stone. No one is carrying that thing anywhere. It is always surprising to see these things in person just for that reason - to put a tangible scale to it. If I didn't travel I wouldn't know that Mona Lisa is tiny and the Rosetta Stone is huge. It may seem unimportant but that kind of thing makes these incredible artifacts real.

But I digress... After seeing the Stone, we continued on to the other Egyptian artifacts. Egypt has always seemed a little magical to me. I always loved learning about Pharaohs and pyramids, Egyptian gods and hieroglyphics so I have to admit that its always the first thing I go see in museums. I don't know, maybe its just the mutual love for cats? Anyways, it is always amazing to see giant caskets, tombs and sculptures. It's even more incredible to know that there is a distant land with even larger artifacts that I just can't wait to visit one day.

Sculptures from the Parthenon

After seeing Egypt we went to Greece. The British Museum is also known for having the largest collection of artifacts from the Acropolis outside of Greece. I have been to Athens and seen the Parthenon and Acropolis so I wasn't really expecting much from the exhibit. However, I didn't realize how much it had been missing. Greece has had a slightly tumultuous history with people constantly trying to conquer them and they always start with the highest peak. The Parthenon has seen many conflicts and a few bombs so it's not in the worst shape. When I went to Greece, they were trying to repair it as much as possible while still keeping the original work intact. Part of the problem is that many of the pieces are currently at the British Museum. I'm not going to say who has rights to what but the museum did do an amazing job of displaying the pieces with descriptions, models, and videos so that the veiwer could really get an idea of what it looked like before all of the destruction. I've seen the Parthenon but I had no frame of reference as to what it was supposed to look like until I went to the British Museum.

This was about the time Kevin had to go back to work but I was far from done with my exploring. History was never my strong point in school. It just never interested me then. However, now that I've been traveling more, I love it. I really regret not paying closer attention because I see a lot of things and dont have a huge point of reference. I spend as much time reading the panels as I do looking at the objects because I'm so eager to learn about everything I'm seeing. I could have spent days in that museum, but with a lot of other things to see I didn't have that much time. I did make it through most rooms although not with the same amount of attention. As with any person, I spent more time on the things that interest me.

Modern Money

When I found a special exhibit on money, I felt the need to spend a little time checking it out. It was actually really cool to see how currencies have developed throughout history - from metal to paper to plastic. The best part was that they had a special exhibit where you could handle ancient currencies. Some were big heavy metal bracelets, others were prickly sticks. Its a,azing how currency itself develops to the needs of the people using them. Don't have a wallet? Well, maybe your currency has a hole in it so it can be strung around your neck. Did you know the first pennies were itty bitty? The curator recommended I check out Wells Fargo's museum in San Francisco to see more interesting American coins. I need to get around to that...

Pharaoh skeletons

The other thing that caught my attention really made me kind of sad. I found a second wing of Egyptian artifacts. Thee were smaller items but along one wall they had some actual mummy corpses. While I know these were probably the bodies of some evil Pharoah who built his tomb at the price of many slaves' lives, it still seemed wrong to have them on display in a museum. They were still people who were buried and deserve to stay buried. There is just something disturbing about the idea. Anyways, the British Museum is a really fascinating place. I think it is definitely a spot I want to see again on my next trip to London.

Week of March 14th 2011: National Portrait Gallery (London)

Well, I'm in the middle of a big post on some of the places I ate in Europe but tech genius Nikki can't sem to find a way to edit it on my tablet. Seriously, if anyone has the blogger app for Android - can you edit posts that you started on a computer or only ones you wrote on the app?

Anyways, I'm somewhere between New York and Virginia (possibly Delaware) and I figured that instead of watching Nightmare Before Christmas for the 50th time, I should probably update my blog. Don't worry, its on in the background so I can listen to the music... oh yes, about the museum -
The National Portrait Gallery in London is located in Trafalgar Square which is a sight to see on its own. In fact, when I was there they had a giant ship in a bottle and a countdown until the London Olympics next year so that was fun to check out. Kevin thought it would be good for me to meet him in the Square so we could see the museum together during his lunch break. Many of the museums in London are donation only so you don't have to worry about spending a small fortune to go wander through the galleries if you only have a short time.

We entered the museum and weren't sure which hallway to go down first and decided left seemed as good of a direction as any. After we'd been through about half a dozen rooms and a dozen paintings of John the Baptist with Jesus we figured we were probably in the Christian wing. Kevin explained that England has more Christian paintings than most countries because they were sent there to avoid being destroyed when other countries went through religious persecution. A lot of them were really incredible and spanned the height of an entire wall. It was interesting that a lot of artists chose to create the same scene (as I mentioned above, the scene of Jesus's baptism was a common one).
From there we wandered through Dutch paintings and then later European portraits. Around this time Kevin had to get back to work and I was getting a little antsy so i wandered around until I found my favorite paintings, the impressionists. Here was what I had been looking for! I wish we had gone through the right down when we entered because it would have been nice to see those paintings with Kevin.


If you like art, I definitely recommend seeing the National Gallery but try to go in with a plan. I think I would have enjoyed it more if i was able to see my favorite paintings first and then wander to everything else after.

Week of March 7th 2011: Sherlock Holmes Museum & Regent's Park (London)

I don't think a lot of people know this but I really love mystery and suspense stories. I love solving problems and I've often found that I can guess how a story is going to end so I love finding ones with a twist, unexpected turn, or more complicated solution. A couple of years ago I started getting really into Hitchcock movies and the original Sherlock Holmes stories - it was great to find more complicated, intellectual mysteries. So when I was looking for things to do around London and saw that there was a Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker St., I knew I had to visit.

Luckily for me, my host was also a big Holmes fan and he was just as excited to go as I was so we decided to make it one of my first stops. We got on the circle line and soon were at the Baker St. stop. Honestly, this was one of the best parts of going to the museum. The Baker St. stop is one of the oldest tube stops in London and it was just really cool to see it. I wish I could have taken a picture, but as there was significant construction (to prepare for the Olympics) during my time there, I was swiftly moved along.

At the entrance to the museum, there was a man dressed as an old London police officer. You could take a picture with him while wearing a Sherlock Holmes style cap. Then, he took your tickets and let you into the museum. The interior of the museum was more or less what you would expect from a museum based on a fictional series. The first two floors were set up to look like Holmes and Watson's apartment based on how they are described in the books. The top floor had several wax figures and props from the books.

I think the most surprising thing about the museum was how small the rooms are. Obviously, London is a big city and flat space is at a premium, but I just always got the impression that the sitting room was larger than it was (or maybe I watch too many Robert Downy Jr. movies...). Then again, I suppose the smaller size better explains how some of the visitors "filled the room with their presence."

Even though it was a little cheesy, it was still fun to look at all of the wax figures and props in the other rooms as well. Having read most of the stories, I really enjoyed trying to figure out which story each one was from. Here's an easy one:

After the museum, we decided to walk around Regent's Park since it was at the end of the block. Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London and it's huge. In it there are several gardens, sports fields and a zoo. Since it was such a large park, we didn't walk through the whole thing. We mostly checked out the Queen's Garden. While very beautiful, the garden was a bit of a maze and once inside, it was very difficult to find our way out. At least I got some nice pictures first.

Weeks of March 7th thru 21st 2011: Traveling

A new acquaintance I recently made, really got me thinking when they told me that they never got the itch to travel. As someone who personally loves to visit foreign countries or new cities, I had trouble grasping this concept. It led me to wonder - why did I like to travel so much?

I think some of it may have to do with the fact that I was lucky to be exposed to travel from a very young age. As a dual-citizen with a foreign parent, I was made several trips to Brazil to visit extended family while I was growing up. Traveling became a way to connect with more of my extremely large family and was always filled with happy thoughts of a 90 degree Christmas, white New Years, a hanful of aunts, and more cousins than I could count. It also showed me from a young age, what life is like on another side of the world where dancing and enjoying yourself is more important than material possessions but where you need to hug your bag a little closer to your side when crossing the street. Spending that time on the other side of the equator as a child, gave me a different perspective.

I suppose the traveling itch is just like any other - the more you scratch it, the more you feels its pangs. There is something about seeing the places you've read about in novels or textbooks, walking through or touching a place you've seen in movies, tasting the food, experiencing the weather, listening and dancing to the music, touching the different currency, and watching the people that doesn't lose its fascination. The more I move forward, the more I move back - the more I want to re-read those books, re-watch those movies, delve deeper into history, try that food again, and keep dancing that dance. And just because you've seen a place, that doesn't mean you're done. I've spent enough return plane, train and bus rides planning my next visit that I know there is no cure for the travel bug.

The next series of posts will all be about my most recent travels. I hope that for those of you who haven't traveled much, that maybe it gives you a little bit of that itch. I only saw a tiny sliver of the world on my most recent trip, but it contined to open my eyes to how incredible the world is and how much I want to see the rest of it. See the world - and then tell me about it.

Week of March 7th 2011: Johnny Walker Whiskey Tasting

A few days before taking off for Europe, I got an email about a Johnny Walker Scotch tasting. I figured it would be a fun way to hang out with Shannon some more before taking off for a few weeks.

The tasting was held at Fort Mason and after checking in, we were escorted into a large lounge area. As part of our admission, we were given tickets for a free Johnny Walker drink. The choices were an Old Fashioned, some cocktail I don't remember, or just Johnny Walker black on the rocks. As an ode to my father, I got the Old Fashioned (he got it once when we were out to dinner and I remember liking it) and Shannon got the cocktail. Man, I'm kicking myself for not remembering what it was.... this is why I need to get caught up.
After we got our drinks, we hung around the lounge and nibbled on the array of finger food they had.

Once we'd had our fill, and finished our drinks, it was time for the real show. We were led into another room with seats making a U around a small table covered in a variety of Johnny Walker varieties. At each seat, there was a place mat that a circle for each whiskey we would try - two for black, and one for red, gold and even blue. We were excited.

As everyone got their seats, the emcee came out and showed us a really well made Johnny Walker video. Then they brought out the red and black. We learned that black actually came out first and was designed to be sipped on the rocks. Red on the other hand, is a cheaper, younger blend that is better for cocktails. We got to try the black by itself, with ice, and with water. The red we got to try on its own, and then with some mixers. It was cool to have the opportunity to try the options.

Next they brought everyone a frosted, chilled glass filled with Johnny Walker gold. This was easily our favorite. It was lighter and sweeter than the other blends and Shannon was already picturing which cupcakes she would pair with it. It definitely would be a nice bottle to keep in the freezer for an after dinner drink when guests are over....

Finally, the moment we were all waiting for came - Johnny Walker blue. This is definitely the top shelf of their blends and you could taste it in the strong, deep, smokey flavor. I did still think though that the lighter gold was more fitting for my pallet. I'll have to pick up a bottle some day.