Saturday, May 31, 2014

Heads Up!


Finally ~ time to give a heads up!

I am traveling, and aside from an 
Insecure Writer's Support Group post,
I will probably not post until I get home.

I want to spend my on-line time reading your blog posts instead!

I'm going to upload some photos I posted 
on Facebook a few minutes ago.
Today was a day for crossing off Bucket List items ~
namely artifacts I've always long to see.

How to start a museum day?
With a morning sit in our private English garden
off Kensington Park Gardens road?  street?





We connected with our wonderful London Walks guide Delianne
outside the Holborn Metro stop.





Then it was off to the British Museum, 
an amazing and wonderful place!




Down went the Bucket List items one by one!
If you grew up with a mother 
who loved ancient history and art, 
then you grew up knowing about 
and longing to see certain artifacts. 

Today I crossed off four bucket item artifacts 
during a whirlwind tour of the British Museum! 
I have waited for these most of my life:
the Rosetta Stone, 
the Assyrian Lion Hunt, 
the Elgin marbles, 
and the Gilgamesh tablets! 
OMG! 
What a thrill! 
What makes me very happy is to know 
that my mother also got to see these same things, 
a highlight of her life. 
My sister Donnie could hardly drag Mom 
away from the Assyrian collection! 
I felt very close to Mom today!

The Rosetta Stone ~ the Real Deal!


The Assyrian Lion Hunt

This is just one tiny piece of this room filled 
with the most incredible scenes 
from an Assyrian royal lion hunt.
They were taken from the North Palace of Nineveh, 
and date to 645-635 B.C. 
King Ashurbanipal is drawing the bow.
The lions are poignantly real!


A Scene from the Elgin Marbles

My mother had a big book filled with art from the ancient world,
and I knew about the Elgin marbles probably before
I started kindergarten ~ Mom's fault!
She filled my head with stories and stories and ART!

This scene shows Hermes, Dionysus, Demeter, and Ares.
It was the first time gods were depicted as regular humans.  
Athens Parthenon east frieze 447-432BC

The Gilgamesh Flood Tablet

I plowed through a translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh
in a literature class at Cal State Fullerton.
But I knew about cuneiform tablets and the flood story
long before I landed in that literature class.
It's Mom's fault ~ again!

This is the flood tablet from the Gilgamesh epic 
that describes how gods sent a flood to destroy mankind.
Utnapishtim was forewarned and built a boat, 
gathered his relatives, craftsmen, 
domesticated and wild animals, 
and rode out the flood. 
Sound familiar?

I saw a number of other amazing artifacts
on our two hour romp through the highlights of the museum.
But the above were Bucket List items!

I managed to sneak off and photograph another artifact
while we were traipsing from here to there with our guide.
It's important to my Celtic heart, 
and it made me think of of Debra:  She Who Seeks,
a favorite blogger of mine
(who's taking a blogging break right now)!


 The Great Torc from Snettisham

This lovely torc dates from Iron Age Britain.
It was found by someone plowing a field 
in Ken Hill, Snettisham, Norfolk, England in 1950.

It contains just over a kilogram of gold and silver
twisted into sixty-four strands of metal 
that were grouped in strands of eight.
These eight strands were then twisted
into the gorgeous torc.
Source:  My scribbled notes from museum tags  

What to do after museum overload?
Stop for coffee and cake
in the little La Roma Bella cafe 
across the street from the museum.
Note the Ever ~ Patient's feet!



Ahh!  Bliss!


Yum!

Until next time ~
I have some blogs I'm longing to read ~ 
after fish and chips at a pub on Portobello Road!

25 comments:

  1. London!!
    So many wonderful experiences you're having Fundy

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    1. London is wonderful, Dawna! I am learning and experiencing so much! Have a great week!

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  2. I am having a wonderful time, Dawna! London is as awesome as Paris! Have a great weekend!

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    1. LOL! I double-commented you. I was distracted by Terry giving me a shoulder rub!

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  3. Must be great to see such things in person at your sea, looks like lots of site seeing and fun is being had by thee

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    1. Hey Pat! I am having an amazing time! Take care at your lair!

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  4. I always wanted to see The Rosetta Stone

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    1. It was worth my long wait, Adam. It gave me shivers! Take care!

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  5. Kisses to you for that nice shout-out! And I love that torc -- LOVE IT! I watched a BBC TV show today about Viking art in England and this reminds me of some of the jewelry featured in it.

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    1. Thanks, Debra! I knew you would enjoy the torc. We're going to go back to the museum again. I could spend weeks in that place! Have a happy week!

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  6. I have been loving these photos on the last two posts. Makes me feel as I am right there with y'all!!

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    1. Thank you, Keith! That is my hope when I do the post ~ that people will enjoy the pictures! Have a good one!

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  7. Hi Louise, I love to see that you're having such a good time! I've been to London several times but never seen the Rosetta Stone. Drat! I don't think I knew it was there. Ha. I've always thought it would be great fun to be a tour guide. Imagine the people you meet! Your Mom would be so very happy to know you were there and seeing some of her favorite things ~ I love that! Can't wait 'til your next check-in.... XOXO

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    1. Thanks, Audrey! It's amazing what's in the British Museum ~ We're going back again for sure! I met a tour guide on one of the "London Walks" from the Midwest (whose son had gone to the University of Boulder). He's been in London over forty years and knows unbelievable amounts of things about the city. I've done docent work at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and that was so much fun ~ walks through geological history instead of a city! Lots of big teeth! LOL! Are you on Facebook?

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  8. OMG! What a fantastic trip! So glad for you.

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  9. Thank you, Terry! It's so wonderful to see your icon popping up again! I so missed you! Have a good one!

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  10. This adventure continues, Louise! Great photos of sights and artifacts. That dessert looks SCRUMPTIOUS!!

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    1. It was delicious, Jim! Europe is a bad place for me ~ pastries, cream, bread, wine, cheese! It's wonderful! Have a happy day!

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  11. This is just so good for the soul ~ your soul & Terry's too.

    Bucket Lists were made to be crossed off!

    Love your pictures!

    Ron

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  12. You're here!!!!! So exciting!!!! How long for? I'm currently in Buckinghamshire rehearsing The Mikado up a hill! Love reading this! I love the BM! My orchestra rehearses in Holland Park, just up the road from you! X

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    1. Hi Kezzie! We're leaving Wednesday morning. We've been having an awesome time! I shall have to google these places!X

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    2. What a shame, I don't appear to have orchestra this Tuesday otherwise I would have tried to sneak along to Kensington Park road to find you!!!x

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    3. Hi Kezzie! I would have loved to meet you, but I knew you were in Buckinghamshire. I encountered some computer glitches in Iceland, so I'm catching up now that I'm at home. I'm determined to get to London at some point again, so maybe we'll get to meet in person! Enjoy your summer break!

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Thank you for your comments! I appreciate them very much.