21 May 2004

Today was also cool. I think I actually got a full 8 hours of sleep, though it was still way too hot. Went to the National Gallery about 9:30. It was pretty cool, but art really isn't my thing. Luckily, there was an Albrecht Durer exhibit going on. They didn't have much of his stuff, but it was enough to keep me occupied. It was also neat to see some original da Vincis and Raphaels. Barb was expecting us to be there till about 12 or 1, but I was definitely done before that. Wanted to ride the London Eye--huge ferris wheel, 408 feet tall, I think--but everybody doing that was going to the Tate afterwards, and I had definitely already seen enough art. Alyssa told me she was going to the British Museum, and that sounded much more entertaining to me. If you ever plan on visiting, make sure to take a whole day; there is a ridiculous amount of stuff there. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as cool as I thought it would be. Half of the things in the Greek & Roman collections were urns or some other type of pot, which really aren't that exciting. Next time I'm here, though, I'll be sure to do it justice and explore the whole thing.

A little after noon, we decided to give up on the Museum and go find some lunch. We wandered around to a few different shops, then went to Russel Square Park to eat. Managed to cut my finger opening Alyssa's Smirnoff with a set of keys, but other than that it was pretty good. On a side note, pigeons are way too brave here.

After lunch, we walked by the B&B to drop our stuff off before heading to the British Library. On the way back, I stopped by a small shop and bought a Cuban cigar. Who knew there were so many different kinds? Five minutes and about five hundred questions later, we finally settled on the one that was right for me: a Romeo y Julietta, a medium strength/flavor cigar that cost about £6. All things considered (like the £17 cigar right below it), I'd say that wasn't too bad. Except for the part where I felt like an idiot for not knowing anything about Cuban cigars. In my defense, though, it was much easier to order my first coffee at Starbucks; cigar buying is, apparently, an art.

After dropping our bags off at the B&B (Arran House Hotel, 77 Gower Road), it was off to the British Library. I wasn't holding out too much hope, but it actually ended up being the best stop of the day. The King's Collection was amazing: some 65,000 books, donated by our good friend George III. Unfortunately, we were stuck on the outside looking in: the collection was only open to staff, "scholars and researchers." After getting lost and wondering why the heck there was a restaurant in the Library, we found the section that was open to the public. And it was amazing. Displays ranged from old Bibles to the Beatles, and from the second or third to the twentieth century. Some of the things were just kind of cool; some were awesome pieces of history. The following page [paragraph] contains a list of my favorites.

Cool things @ the British Library:

• Part of a 3rd century copy of the Book of Revelation, written in Greek
• The Lindisfarne Gospels
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
• one of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson's log books
• Captain Cook's journal
• Jane Austen's writing desk
• an Indulgence letter
• a 7th/8th century copy of the Qu'ran
• Guttenburg Bible
• Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Books" [first edition]
• Notebooks by Galileo, Newton, and Darwin
• the Passover Haggadah (this copy was only a few hundred years old)
• a book by The Venerable Bede

Dinner at an Indian restaurant on Endell Street; very expensive, but very good. I had Chicken Tikka Punjabi, which was excellently spiced: good flavor, but not too strong, and very tender. Also tried some Jack Daniel's; I would recommend against it. It's incredibly strong, and it really doesn't taste that great. Something I will definitely not waste money on again.

After dinner, we went back to the B&B to look for Nicole, who had managed to get herself lost in the gay section of London. We headed down to Oxford Street to go shopping, but the girls took too long getting ready, so pretty much everything was closed by the time we got there. We decided to head back & just stop by a pub on the way, but, being Friday night, they were all pretty much full. We finally gave up, and went into a grocery store to pick up some McVittys--cookie type things that are, in my opinion, no more than glorified graham crackers.

Journaling for awhile, bed at 11.