London is a collage

I think all of humanity must pass through here. We are staying in a Turkish neighborhood, and have probably heard every possible language while walking down the streets. This is a neighborhood of neat, brick rowhouses. Businesses include Turkish restaurants, Turkish groceries and nut stores, a Bulgarian restaurant, Chinese restaurants, a number of dental surgery offices (I do not know why), stores where you can get many things for a pound (about $1.30), stores where you can get incredibly elaborate cakes, etc. It is a very friendly and safe area, people really watch out for each other.

Today we visited the British Museum. Astonishing, it has collections of many ancient art works from the Romans, Etruscans, other pre- Roman cultures in Italy, Roman Britain, Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia... all very beautiful stuff, with good descriptions of the history. I got to handle a silver plate from Roman britain, a love letter someone wrote on some wood, and an 8,000 year old axe. We also saw the Rosetta Stone in the Egyptian room, but people had crowded around it so much we couldn't get a close look. But everything else was groovy.

One think about London is it isn't a walking city like Paris is, and like Rome sort of is. The big historical buildings are certainly awesome, but they are seperated by lots of urban space, complete with massive traffic and very polluted air. They really need pedestrian walkways here. Also, the Tower, Westminster Abbey, Parliament all cost 20 pounds (about $30/) There is supposedly an admission charge for St. Paul's Cathedral, but nobody asked for it when we went in. Definetly an impressive cathedral, quite different from the Baroque ones we saw in Italy and the Romanesque ones in Germany. Oh yes, it really is fun to be at the base of Big Ben when it chimes the hour.

I hope to add more tomorrow. Meantime, I will just comment that one side of the 10 pound note has a picture of Charles Darwin and a hummingbird. These people are with it! And, oh yes, can somebody PLEASE tell me how I can stop singing "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" to myself/