Western Europe Day 5

◊ We're leaving France at last! Hooray! After 3 mornings of eating the same breadsticks for breakfast I was about to loose it. We went to a train station and hopped the Eurostar to London via the chunnel. Let me tell you, this is not a cheap thing to do. It cost far less to fly from Prague to Amsterdam and that trip was several times longer than the short hop that it is across the English channel. Heck, you can clearly see one side from the other in many places. The only other alternative for escaping the French was to fly out and after my commentary on the Paris airport neither of the other guys was even considering putting themselves through that. We cashed in the last of our Euros and said 'goodbye forever' to Paris. They can keep their stinking city.
◊ The train ride was short as I said. Our hostel was located with only minor trouble and by lunch time we were off to see as much of London as we could in one afternoon... that was free... and that Nelson and Nathan hadn't seen already on their previous trip there a month before. The 'free attraction' clause in there gave us the real trouble. We ended up first at the British Library. The have a massive collection of one-of-a-kind materials. Everything from several reviosions of the Magna Carta to the random pieces of scrap paper and napkins on which the Beatles first wrote down the lyrics to some of their most famous songs. A real hilight for me was the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the two earliet known coppies of the Bible. As I often found myself doing in museums, I found myself wondering how these ancient works from around the world ended up in one place. Some of the stories are lost in the mists of time. Others are known but very odd. That Bible, for instance, was purchased from Stalin in 1933 for 100,000GBP after he had siezed the Russian Imperial Library. There were works from across Asia and the Americas and even a map room with gigantic, wonderfully decorated and intricate yet horridly inacurate maps from throught history. It was a real treat.

"Idon't understand! Where do I put in the money?"

◊ Next we headed for the British Museum. Someone in charge had apparently made a big mistake. Admittance was free. This makes no sense to me when they could be raking in piles of money from anyone who wanted to see their priceless collections. We hurried in before the Brits realized their mistake. This place put the Louvre to shame. Granted, one is a historical collection without peer while the other one is a namby-pamby artsy-fartsy artsy... um place. But their natures and nationalities aside, the British museum totally kicked ass. Especially after how much it cost to see the louvre. This place had everything. What do I mean everything?
Everything!
◊ There was a fascinating mixture of artifacts and art that created a vortex to draw my mind in. That may not be the hardest thing in the world to do but the British Museum did it well. Appatently, the British are as adroitAgain, if I were to attempt to describe all that I saw there I would never get this thing done. At this point I am beginning to forget much of it anyways. Soon all I will remember is that which I took the time to photograph. Time, after all, was our enemy. I easly could have spent all day there. Still I weep thinking of all of the ancient history we hurried past in order to reach our ultimate goal before closing time: The Rosetta Stone. This broken black stone was the key that allowed for the modern translation of heiroglyphics. It has the same decree written on it in three different languages, one of them being Greek. No sooner had I snapped a couple of quick pictures of it than we were being herded out of the museum by a wall of security personel. At least I got to see that. If I hadn't there would have been hell to pay. Still, there was so much that we did not get to. I have some serious motivation to go back.

The African Section. Those things in the case are throwing knives from around the continent.

The Indian Sculpture Collection.



I recieved some seriously dirty looks from some Asians standing nearby. I can't fathom what they were getting so upset about.


The Lindow Man. He died horribly, was perfectly preserved in a peat bog, and then was found be excavators. I wonder if he ever wanted to be famous? Cause he sure is now.


The aftifacts recovered from the ship-burial at Sutton Hoo.



That ball of cloth is Cleopatra. I am not impressed.
OK, so it's not actually the Cleopatra, but I did not know that at the time.


The Rosetta Stone. Cool.


The ceiling in the main atrium was a work of art it's self. It would be stunning at any time of day.

◊ After the museum closed, we went to see about finding entertainment for the evening. We had tickets for 'The Producers' reserved well in advance for the next night, but for our first night in London, the plan was to go to one of the discount ticket booths where they sell last-minute unreserved tickets to the shows around town. It was in attempting to do this that we found out that there are NO theatrical performances ANYWHERE in London on Sundays. To make matters worse, Tom Cruise had followed us to London for the premire of 'War of the Worlds'. I had to watch that self-absorbed gasbag grow his celeberity ego from the endless and unjustified cheering of the gathered crowed. Every time he waved or even just moved his arm like he might wave the people erupted into senseless applause and screaming. He continued these antics even while the host was trying to interview Dakota Fanning. Let the little girl speak, Tom. Nelson really want to get pictures though so we tried to get in close. I got one clear peak at the Scientology-spouting buffon when some guy that was interviewing him hosed him with some kind of water gun. This apparently was classified as worldwide news, especially in conjunction with the incident on the Oprah Show several days later where Cruise began jumping up and down on a couch and the incident where he practicly began screaming at Matt Lower on The Today Show about why psychotherapy is wrong and dangerous.

This is your brain.

This is your brain on Scientology.
Any Questions?

◊ Anyways, where was I? Oh yes. We couldn't go to a theatrical show that night becasue there were none. This made me rather angry because we were only going to be in London for two nights and I had been saving money by cutting corners for five months so that I would be able to afford to see several musicals while I was there. Rather than waste the night, it was decided that we would go see another famous form of performance art that London is famous for: standup commedians. We ended up at a improv club. Imagine the show "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" with all the restrictions of television removed. Actually one of the guys on stage I have seen on that show several times. They were good. They were beyond good. Maybe I have just been starved of good comedy and improvization but they were far better than anything similar I had ever seen in Kansas. An ameture is an ameture in any vocation I guess. By the time it was over my face hurt but I could not stop smiling. This problem continued well into the next day.
◊ I will not bore you with all of the details of the funny things they did. Honestly, I can't remember the specifics of most of it. What I do know for sure is that I still chuckle when I think about it. It is an odd sensation. I have never laughed that had in my entire life. It was a good feeling and some of the best money I spent while in Europe. Oh yeah, I tried Strombo too. I know that I have said many times that English beer is almost as bad as American beer, but I am not sure if this stuff qualifies as beer. It was more along the lines of hard cider. Not exactly sweet... just... it appears that I do not have words to describe it. Strombo is just a unique taste. We finished out the night by getting lost on the way to the hostel. I am not sure what was up with him, but Nathan stepped out in front of several vehicles during that trip. Had I not physically pulled him back onto the curb one time he would have been run down by a motorcycle. He had seveal other near misses that had several Brits swearing at him and at us on general principal. I was suprised when we all three made it back -alive- to the hostel.