Today reached a high of 92 F so I'm happy that I had the chance to visit the British Museum yesterday. I have been looking forward to seeing the British Museum for years. It's something we talked about frequently in both my anthropology and history studies and it has amazing collections, particularly in the areas of Egypt and the Middle East. The museum was impossibly crowded even though I went in the late afternoon/evening. Tour groups and individuals were everywhere! Some people were so tired from their trip that they were sleeping on the ground in the entrance hall. With that many people there it was also incredibly warm. I kept asking myself why they didn't have AC if not for people than the artifacts until I realized they did. There were just so many people it didn't make a different. I'm telling you this for two reasons and neither of them is to complain. First, to stress the importance of going early and two, the importance of setting up a plan for meeting others in your group. You will, inevitably get separated from your group.

 

So now that you have an idea of what the atmosphere was like, let's talk about the museum and its artifacts. The museum is set up in an interesting way. Generally it's organized by geographic area but the placement of the doors allows you to jump all over the place. I absolutely love Middle Eastern artifacts. However, one minute I was in Nineveh and the next I was in classical Greece and I almost missed most of the exhibit. Really, there is a method to the organization but you had to move wherever there was room so my own journey zig-zagged a lot. They did have some amazing collections though. They have the world's largest Egyptian and Iranian collections outside those countries. They have the Rosetta Stone and one of the few remaining complete Medieval chess sets as well.

Rosetta Stone

Lewis Chessmen

 The other major notable is the sculptures from the Parthenon. They were amazing and thanks to a display showing what they would have looked like in their original glory, it's easy to get a good idea what they would have looked like in one piece.

 If I had to choose my favorite area though, it would be the ancient Middle East exhibit. The reliefs and other sculptures were simply amazing! I can't stress enough that if you're going to visit the British Museum, visit this area. Not only does it have astounding artifacts but it's also less crowded. The people who go there seem to really appreciate what they're seeing and I heard quite a bit of thoughtful conversation between people about what they were seeing. Check it out!
 

Below is a mosaic of some of the other things I saw (in the theme of red).  Truly an awesome trip!