London - Portobello Road Market and the British Museum

 

June 21, 2025 - We're starting our day with a walk to Portobello Road Market, which is just a 20 minute walk from our apartment.  Next we tried the British Museum and found that we needed timed tickets (even though they were free tickets).  Since there wasn't any availability until tomorrow we decided to do the Hop on Hop off tour around London, but after we bought the tickets ($54/each), we found out that there was a protest that was closing down the central part of London and was making it difficult for buses to get around.  We rode for an hour and got out to check out Harrods.  We then had to wait quite awhile for the next bus, and once we were on the bus it was barely moving, so we got off at Kensington Palace and walked through the park and then stopped at a local pub called the Champions, for beers, which then turned into dinner.

Portobello Road has lots of colorful buildings with cute shops.

On Saturday the market spills into the street and it goes on for many many blocks

We never even made it to the other end of the market

more colorful buildings

And by the time we left it was really busy. (we got there before 9:30 when it was just opening and left around 11)

Next the Tube, which is really deep.  The escalators just kept going down

always so festive

lunch in Russell Square

It was a hot day (hottest of the year)! 

 

                      

and we had the top deck of the bus to ourselves

pretty dome (and the sound system on the bus didn't work, so we didn't know what anything was)

not quite a clocktower, but interesting anyway

a quick ride up the escalators in Harrod's to get cool (and it wasn't all that cool in the department store)

a walk through Kensington Gardens, and a quick stop in front of the Queen Victoria statue

June 22, 2025 - Today we have timed tickets for the British Museum.  The earliest we could get was 12:20, so we'll do some exploring on our way to the museum.  We thought we would ride Lime bikes through Hyde Park, but we couldn't find 4 bikes together, so we walked through the park and thought we'd see if the museum would let us come in early.  We went through security and no one ever asked us for our timed tickets!  Glad we didn't twiddle our thumbs for an hour and a half before entering the museum.  After exploring the museum for about 4 hours Kev and I headed to Notting Hill for Sunday roast reservations at Ladbroke Arms.

The Italian Gardens in Hyde Park

Peter Pan statue

Across the Serpentine we could see the Shard and just the tip of the London Eye

Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk

Next the subway to Russell Square

Hoa Hakananai'a, a significant moai (ancestor figure) from Easter Island

The Rosetta Stone is a fragment of an ancient Egyptian stele inscribed with the same text in three scripts:  hieroglyphic, Demotic and ancient Greek.   It was found in 1799 by French soldiers during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt.  It was crucial in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics because Greek text was a known language

This was the backside of the stone, looking through at the mass of people trying to see it

The head and upper body of the younger Memnon, a colossal granite statue of Pharaoh Ramesses II.  It was originally placed in front of Ramesses II's mortuary Temple in Thebes, Upper Egypt.

The Shabaka Stone, the text describes the creation of the world, emphasizing the role of the god Ptah of Memphis as the supreme creator

a wall of hieroglyphics

Kayung Totem Pole in the Great Court (which is the largest covered public space in Europe).  The totem pole was created by the First Nations People in the Pacific Northwest.

The Parthenon Sculptures known as the Elgin Marbles.  These ancient sculptures originally were on the Parthenon in Athens and they were brought to Britain in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin.  The ownership remains a debate with Greece advocating for their return (imagine that!)

In 1903 the British Suffragists (WSPU) used tactics of civil disobedience to try to bring attention to their cause and illegally stamped their slogan on coins.  VOTES FOR WOMEN

Lewis Chessmen, medieval chess pieces found on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1831

Hinton St Mary Mosaic, which is believed to be the earliest depiction of Jesus Christ found in Roman Britain.  It dates from the early 4th century AD and was discovered in Dorset England in 1963.

We took the subway to Ladbroke Arms in Notting Hill for dinner

Sunday roast, with roasted potatoes, carrots and Yorkshire pudding (which I had never had before).  The Yorkshire pudding is like a muffin, not sure why it's called pudding!