British Museum

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Got my Osyter card/weekly pass sorted which makes getting around much easier, then headed in to the British Museum. I can’t say I have any deep interest in most history - my main reason for visiting was the roof in the main atrium of the building. Beside that it did have some interesting exhibits including lots of Egyptian, Iranian, Chinese, Japanese, India (who seemed to be obsessed with breasts) and a lot else that I can’t remember. My favourite part though was the lovely old ladies manning the ‘touch’ exhibits - little booths where you can walk up and touch a bunch of old stuff (not the ladies) such as, my favourite, 2500 year old Greek silver coins, old Japanese oblong coins with string holes, a bizarre Nigerian currency made of case iron, kind of a very long T shape with a lump at the botton, and strings of sea shells. Other booths I found had old pottery, functional brass things, personal religious knicknacks and a 150,000 year old cutting tool (which was a bit small for my hand).

The reading room itself was just a random collection of books, notes and specimens, with one in particular catching my eye - a Hoopoe.

Also, don’t sit on anything, even if it looks safe to - alarms WILL go off. Apparently.