revisiting the past

The British Museum was my key destination today, as I had to meet a friend there in the afternoon. The weather didn’t look that promising either although there was a nice ray of sunshine every once in awhile in the morning. However, having checked the weather report earlier, I knew it wasn’t going to last for long.

The museum is by far the largest and most vast repository of historical artifacts I’ve ever seen. From Greece & Rome to Egypt, Africa, Asia and the Americas, the place is massive. The moment I stepped through the front entrance I was wowed by the high dome-like ceiling and spaciousness of the Great Court. In the middle of the court stood the Reading Room with an amazing collection of books on all subjects.

I started with the Egyptian displays, then worked my way through Greece & Rome before pausing at the gallery of Living & Dying. I can’t begin to describe the exhibits; you just have to be here to experience them yourself.

I took to the Asia exhibit an hour into my visit, then popped by Africa and ending at the Enlightenment Gallery. I didn’t want to do the entire museum in a day, I knew it would’ve been an overkill and get what they termed “museum fatigue”. I decided to leave the upper floors for another visit and stepped outside for a quick bite. The drizzle had started, grey skies as predicted.

As I sat there munching on my sandwich, I came to a rather ridiculous yet amusing conclusion – the reason why London had so many museums and galleries was because the people needed something to do indoors in bad weather. (Ok, that was a bad joke.)

1:00PM rolled around – time to meet up with Thee Heng, whom I used to work with in an ex-company. When he turned up at the museum steps, he looked exactly how I remembered him – skinny, boyish looks, bespectacled. Ah, so nice to see another familiar face in a foreign city. We popped into Starbucks just opposite the museum for a drink, catching up on old times and what’s been happening. He suggested a few places to visit while I was here, and we decided to meet up again on Saturday for a trip to Portobello Market.


The rain had let up by then, and next on my itinerary – or rather, recommended by Heng – was to check out Covent Garden, the setting for the musical My Fair Lady. It reminded me a little of the Rocks Market in Sydney, with lots of knick-knacks for sale. Nice, quaint little market to visit, though I’m sure there would be more stalls open on weekends compared to a Thursday.

There wasn’t much left to do after that but to go shopping (yay!). Made my way to Oxford St where hoards of shoppers were trekking up and down the street, bargain hunting. I only picked up coffee and a scarf; other items on my wish list would have to stay on the list until next week when I assess how much money I have left… sigh. Wish my mind didn’t do auto-conversion every time I looked at the price tag…

And I didn’t miss my stop this time. Woo-hoo.


Note to self: do not listen to melancholic music on a cold, rainy day. Not a good idea.