Separate Ways
Some of us can only handle so much of The British Museum in one go!
We all started out together at least…and we DID end up together at the end of the day. Our first stop was actually at our “local" coffee shop to grab a coffee for the road. We have two ladies who really enjoy museums and they intended to spend all day at The British Museum. I wanted the other girls to at least see the museum so we all went together. Once again, I saw a new sight at a place that I've already been. That is always exciting to me. Today, I discovered the Reading Room. I asked the lady who looked like she was watching over the room if it had been open to the public for a long time and she said it actually had been opened only in the last couple years. It is a huge round room. The main thing you see when you walk into the British Museum is a huge rotunda with steps curving around each side. This room is in that rotunda.
The construction on the Reading Room was completed in 1857(the British Museum itself was founded in 1753 and its doors opened in 1759). It became a world famouse learning center. For entry into this room, a ticket had to be issued after having submitted an application. It sounds like it was used more by important/famous people as in Karl Marx, Ghandi, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and others. It was a very impressive and beautiful room.
The five of us remaining took out after about an hour and headed to Covent Garden. There is a lot going on there. There is a market and also a lot of branded stores. Here you will find street performers, musicians playing and just generally a lot of noise! It was getting close to noon and we were feeling the need for sustenance. We found a little restaurant with reasonable prices and took ourselves there. I ordered a BLT with crisps. Our food came on china plates, so that felt pretty special. After lunch we continued on. Our desired path took us to Picadilly Circus where we went into the M&M store. They literally have SO MANY colors of M&M's. It would be fun to have it closer to home so one could access them occasionally.
We were headed to Savile Row. This is a street in Mayfair (a very posh part of town) known for men's bespoke tailoring. You could go there and have a suit tailored just for you to the tune of $5,000-$8,000, on average. From there, we went to visit the iconic Liberty department store. They have a beautiful array of fresh flowers outside. It looks like they make flower arrangements to sell. Not sure what else they do with them. This is one of the places I actually love to visit although I normally do not really buy much. The prices are a little high for me. I love the creaky wooden floors and the whole vibe of the building.
Moving on, we stopped and grabbed some drinks and then found a park to sit, relax and wait for our two historians. They eventually arrived and we found out that they had been kicked out of the museum around 3:00 due to a “suspicious device found in the visitor toilets. At the the same time, the museum received malicious communications". Everyone was evacuated so the powers that be could investigate. They decided to grasp the opportunity and visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum.
We found a bustling little pizza shop for our supper, then a take away coffee drink from Bank Street and back to the flat we go!