Jet lag won. We woke up in the wee hours of the morning, only to fall back asleep when this part of the world was waking. So, sleep ate up the morning, but we made up for it with an afternoon at the British Museum.
It is mind blowing how old the newer exhibits are. After room upon room of B.C. collections (even some from 7500 B.C.!), the stuff from 400 A.D. was somewhat less impressive. We spent some time in the Egyptian room. The intricate stone carvings, some millenia old, were more captivating than I expected. The winged, half-human statues from Assyria were imposing and, somewhat sadly, reminiscent of Las Vegas.
One of my favorite parts of the museum was the early library, with some of the oldest writings were lined up like books. They were from 1500 to 500 B.C. The museum has apparently scanned all of them and they are available online.Tonight we saw a play, Mr. Foote's Other Leg. It was the story of a playhouse in England in the 1700s. There was a great deal of censorship at the time and Samuel Foote was a comedic satirist pushing the envelope. Some of the humor was so British, it went over our heads, but, overall it was great.
A small collection of Spanish tapas rounded out our evening. We are back at the hotel hoping to sleep tonight. Fingers crossed.
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