Bank Holiday in London!

Monday was seriously the BEST DAY.  

The plan originated when we were hanging out at a nearby pub after the evening service at church and Sion told Laura and I that he was planning to visit the British Museum to see the Pompeii exhibit the next day.  Laura asked if she could go along and then they asked if I wanted to come too and it eventually became a full day of exploration and sightseeing! 

    

We got up bright and early took the train up from Southampton to Waterloo Station.  The Starbucks employees were genuinely shocked to see Laura and I at 7:30 on the morning after most people had been hard-core partying (including the guy in the flat above me who indulged in a great deal of drunken singing).

From Waterloo I had my first experience on the Tube.  I was quite mesmerized by all of the posters advertising West-End shows but I had to focus in order to keep up with Laura’s ‘London walk’ (which is quite a bit faster than my natural walking pace if you can believe it!).  

Since Laura is a native Londoner, she taught me things like how on the escalators if you are on the right then you can stand still but if you are on the left you need to be walking.  She was an excellent tour-guide throughout the entire day.

We arrived near the museum when it opened at 10:00.  

Our timeslot for Pompeii was 11:20 so we went and saw some of the regular exhibits including historic artefacts from the Americas, Eastern religions, the Middle East and the British Isles.  

Easter Island Head

One of MANY Hindu sculptures.

Evil vampire camels!

13th-14th century Chinese pottery.

Celtic artefacts from 400-300 BC

The museum is SO BIG and there was no way that we could have taken everything in properly in one day.  I definitely want to to go back at some point as I would really like to see the sections on ancient civilizations (Greece, Rome, Egypt). 

The Pompeii exhibit was breathtaking as well.  There were many carbonized items that had been rescued from the wreckage of the city by archaeologists.  

Carbonized food.

Carbonized baby's cradle.

Sculptures and art from people’s homes were all over (some of which was NOT PG rated).  Most of it was extremely intricate and beautiful.

Dog mosaic.

The most haunting part was the section called “Death in Pompeii” which contained various representations of people from the town.  One was the remains of a woman's body which were filled in with ebony resin so that her skeleton and jewellery were visible.  

A little further on there was a series of plaster casts that had been poured into where the bodies of two adults and two children had decomposed, revealing the shapes of the people in the moments when the rage of the volcano hit them.  

It was only then (at the end of the exhibit) that I was finally asked by a staff member not to take pictures, so you are all in luck as you get to see the photos that I already had.

After this Laura and I texted Sion and he still had a long way to go before finishing the exhibit so we ventured out of the museum and found a café where we had tea and cake while we waited.  So delicious!!

The final exhibit we saw was one of old clocks and watches from the 14th-20th centuries.  Sion works in watch making and repair so he was able to answer our questions and help us to appreciate the craftsmanship much more.

Next we jumped back on the Tube and got off at Picadilly where I soon got my first view of the London Eye.  This is where I went into full-blown tourist mode.  

Laura helped me to push through the crowd and I got my first glimpse of the Houses of Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower (which many people refer to as “Big Ben” but in truth Big Ben in the bell inside the tower).  I was SO excited and I finally felt like I was undoubtedly in London. 

We found the place to buy tickets for the tours and ended up getting ones that got us a boat ride down the Thames and a bus tour around all of the key sights in central London.  I was so thankful that my native Brit friends were keen to do such touristy things with me! 

Here are some highlights of what we saw:

Lions along the edge of the Thames.

St. Paul's Cathedral

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Waiting for the tour bus.

Beautiful day for an open-top bus tour!!

Nelson's Column

Trafalgar Square

Canadian Embassy!

Wellington Arch

Marble Arch

Westminster Abbey

One very happy Canadian!

We were super hungry by the time we had gone around the bus route so we headed to Chinatown and found a restaurant that ended up having super delicious food.  My favourite part was the crispy duck pancakes.  Heavenly!

Finally we took our exhausted selves back to Waterloo to catch the train back home. 

I had such a fantastic time and I felt like I checked off a lot of boxes on my London must-see list in one day.

I hope you all enjoyed reading about our adventures!

-Heather <3