Tuesday, December 20, 2022

The Big Smoke

A trip into London today, and a reminder why I both love and hate this city.  It was SO crowded.  So many people, almost enough to trigger my anthropophobia.  I hated it.  But this is what makes London such a vibrant and dynamic city.  This mass of humanity is a blessing and a curse.  

I wanted to go to the British Museum with all it's plundered treasures.  Before the inevitable time when all the most popular and interesting objects get returned to their original countries.  Which of course they should.  I booked a timed entry in advance - but did it allow me to skip the massive queue to get into the museum?  Did it heck.  In fact, not a single person checked my ticket - so that was a total waste of time.  And once inside, the galleries were so packed - unpleasantly so.  To the extent that I could only tolerate seeing the sights on the ground floor (even then, not all the "must-see" objects were available for viewing), and not even venturing up to the upper floor.  So there was a whole bunch of stuff I didn't even get to see on this trip.  Which is fine, I'll revisit this place on another trip back to the UK when hopefully things aren't quite so hectic.  And then after the museum, I tried to do some shopping.  But that was tough - it would be an understatement to say that the week before Christmas is not the best time to try to go to Oxford Street.  Especially a week between rail strikes.  And as for my decision to pop into places like the Lego Store in Leicester Square and Hamleys - even enduring their queues to enter - I can only conclude that I have some weird masochistic streak, since these places with their seas of obnoxious children is my very definition of hell.  But I got the Lego items I wanted (only available at these places, which is why I went). 

I did take a few photos, I'll include them in a future post.        

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