We had planned to visit the British Museum on our last day. With almost nothing else on our schedule, we could spend as much time as we liked there.

The thing about museums, even the ones we love, is that we can only to spend so much time in them. Eventually, it all gets to be a bit much and the best (only) option is to bust out the nearest exit door. Thus, our visit to the British Museum – which is massive – was relatively focused… and brief. A bit of a speed run one might say.

The Rosetta Stone was the first thing we saw and by far one of the most intriguing artifacts. It was also the most crowded. Located at the entrance to one of the main galleries, it was almost impossible to get close to. Patience was required.

The Rosetta Stone was discovered in Egypt in 1799. The ancient stone slab has the same text carved in 3 different scripts: hieroglyphic, Demotic (everyday Egyptian cursive writing), and ancient Greek. Scholars were able to use the Greek, which was known, to translate the Egyptian. This played a significant role in acquiring a better understanding of ancient Egypt.

It is a bit challenging to make out any of the details behind the glass with the light reflections. The first photo is the one I took and the second was borrowed from the internet. It shows the different written forms in more detail.

Our next stop was the Elgin Marbles, rightly renamed to the Parthenon Sculptures as it more accurately reflects their origin rather than being named after Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, who brought them to England in the early 1800’s. At that time, Greece was under the control of the Ottoman Empire.

The sculptures were created between 447 and 432 BC to adorn the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis. The sheer volume of work on display was impressive. Designed to tell a story, the pieces were arranged around the walls of a massive gallery in the same order they would have appeared on the buildings.

The first series celebrates the goddess Athena’s birthday with citizens, horsemen and the Olympian gods. The second shows the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. The narrative of each story was supported with cards describing the content of each piece.

When I was perhaps 10 years old I received a Big Golden Book of Greek Gods from my grandparents. I am quite certain I read it cover to cover a hundred times. I have always been fascinated by the Greek gods (in preference to the Roman ones). I looked at every single one of the sculptures and read every single one of the cards that included 75m of continuous frieze, 17 freestanding statues and 15 square relief panels.

There is a great deal of debate about the appropriateness of keeping these culturally valuable artifacts in Britain. Greece requested their return in 1980’s. I will sidestep that discussion beyond saying that this issue is not limited to these sculptures, or this museum. It has far-reaching impact on The Louvre, The Metropolitan, and many others. I encourage you to look into it and form your own opinion.

We also spent some time in a massively tall and impressive Assyrian exhibit. I was especially taken by the Royal Lion Hunt shown in reliefs.

By this late morning the museum was crowded with tour guides and their charges. It made the space much more challenging to navigate.

We went back into the main entrance foyer to look for the washrooms and discovered the library was open! It was beautiful. Rick remembers famous works being displayed in glass cases on his last visit – though that would have been a few decades ago. There were some quotes from famous people but that was about as close as we could get to The Magna Carta, the Beowulf Manuscript or Shakespeare’s First Folio. Just being near those documents was inspiring.

We headed upstairs and sped through a few Asian galleries in search of the Egyptian mummies. We found them. I had NO idea how many mummies and sarcophagi were in the British Museum. Frankly, I had no idea that that many even existed. They were beautiful.

Yet, as the rooms unfolded, one after another, I started to ponder the question of ownership again. Some of the displays had notes indicating that the artifact had been purchased from a person or an organization and the date of that transaction. And I wondered… did the Egyptians really agree to let Nefertiti’s remains go? Buying them and putting them in another country’s museum did protect them as it is often suggested.

Exhausted by my tumbling thoughts, I was somewhat relieved when it was time to go; we had another very important stop to make. Rick had discovered another Ottolenghi restaurant, Rovi, within a reasonable 15 minute walk of the British Museum. Babe, you are my hero!

Lunch was spectacular. Rick had a zero% Negroni and enjoyed it as much as I had a few nights earlier. I had the Ottolenghi Botivo tea (iced). It had an interesting tangy flavour – more umami than sweet. After the first sip or two I loved it… just had to get past the “wow that is curious” experience. We ate lightly, just a few dishes: homemade pita bread with tahini sauce, more grilled hipsi cabbage (yum!), a tomato salad and lamb koftas. We shared a pavlova with passion fruit cream for dessert and it was magnificent.

We strolled back to our hotel, through Seven Dials. popping into a few shops and returning to a fully awake and very busy Covent Garden.

Rules has been around since 1798. The menu focuses on game, evident by the strong meaty smell that assaulted our nostrils the minute we opened the door to enter. This had actually been one of the hardest reservations to get when we were planning the trip. We were fortunate to have scored this 5:00 p.m. slot at all. Probably the result of a last minute cancellation.

The restaurant was beautifully decorated, in a style reminiscent of an exclusive men’s club. There wass lots of dark wood, red velvet, opulent paintings, antique lamps and stag horns. The stained glass ceiling above us was initially quite alarming as the dark red objects resembled hanging hunks of raw meat. On closer inspection I do not believe that was the intention though I honestly cannot say what it was. Nor was I able to get any clarity with an internet search.

Rick ordered a steak and I had guinea fowl – when in Rome…. Both were delicious.

After a relaxed dinner, with excellent service, we strolled the 4 minutes back to our hotel. The balance of the evening was spent organizing and packing for the journey home. We were in bed early, satisfied with our last day. We both agreed that the holiday had been wonderful and London was a definite add to our revisit list.