London, England …Day 3

Our Saturday agenda in England was two events…. travel to and visit the London England Temple (which is in Surrey, outside London) and then return to London and visit the British Museum. We accomplished both activities and a few more...and had a lovely Saturday!

The London England Temple….located in the English countryside town of Surrey.

It is located 25 miles south of the city of London.

The British Museum ….First national public museum in the world!

The trip to the London Temple would be an adventure in itself….taking a subway, transferring onto a regional train, and then taking a taxi to our final destination. We made it to our destination with only a few hiccups along the way. 

Our first stop was the Green Park Tube station, the stop closest to our hotel. We were quite familiar with finding it and waiting for our train.

We exited the subway at the Victoria Station and boarded a regional train.

Once on the train, Mark continued to study the map to make sure we exited at the correct stop.

The train traveled a southern route from London….traveling past homes, apartments...

and pretty countrysides.

We disembarked at the correct stop…but unfortunately we boarded the wrong train to journey on to the temple.  Fortunately we quickly realized the error…and so we exited on the next stop.  The agent in the small ticket office was very kind to explain that rather than wait 30 minutes for the next train we could walk to another train station close by….

….so we walked through an attractive suburban London neighborhood.  It was not a planned part of our trip yet it added charm to the journey and the day.

Here's an interesting sign we saw on our walk…."Give Way" instead of "Yield" like we have in the U.S.

We waited inside another very small train station at the Sanderstead stop and then before the train's arrival….

….we walked across the bridge to the tracks on the far side of the station.

From Sanderstead we needed to go to the Lingfield stop….only 6 stops away.

Though chilly outside...Mark and I waited patiently for the train to arrive.

So happy when it approached….

A short time later we arrived at the Lingfield stop…and had a taxi waiting for us to take us to our final destination.

The London England Temple sits on a 32 acres of beautiful land.

There are manor homes, buildings and other facilities on the property. This is a building near by the temple used for residences, short term stays, training and administrative work.

Beautiful spring flowers were planted all over the grounds…they were colorful and refreshing to see!

The London Temple was beautiful…inside and out. We were glad we were able to visit together. It was worth the advance planning and travel time to get there, and we were glad we made the journey.

Returning to London, we hit the streets walking again….

We found some waffles and were ready for a warm, sweet treat.

The strawberries, waffle and whipped cream were tasty…it was just challenging to walk and eat at the same time.

Arriving at the British Museum….along with the thousands of tourists there.
What's great about this museum?  It's FREE…every day!

Well, that's not the only great thing.  This museum is all about history and human culture, and its permanent collection has over 8 million pieces!

This museum is by far the most popular tourist attraction in all of London!  It was filled with people but we didn't let that interfere with experiencing a bit of this beautiful place.

We only had 2 hours to explore, so we stopped at the Information Desk and picked up the list of top 10 exhibits to see.  They were located in different areas of the museum, so we got to see much of the museum just by walking to each of the top 10.

And it was fun also….like being on our own little scavenger hunt looking for the treasures!

Here are two very old games….a medevial chess set….

….and the Royal Game of Ur from 2500 BC!

Who would have thought that such beautiful games would have been created, and would still be preserved from centuries and millennia ago?


Beautiful ancient art work

Many mummies were on display.

This was one of my favorite rooms…it was filled with all kinds of clocks! Does the ship below look like a clock or timepiece? It didn't to me…but it is!

Made for an emperor from the Ming dynasty.…this jar with dragons was created in 1430AD…."only" 600 years ago.

The actual Rosetta Stone (200 BC)….the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics.

A closer look at the Rosetta Stone.

The Rosetta Stone contains a decree by King Ptolemy V in 196 BC.  It is written in three "languages"…. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic (another Egyptian script), and Ancient Greek.  Since all three passages contain the same message, the Rosetta Stone provided the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The Parthenon Sculptures or Elgin Marbles.…these marble sculptures came from the Parthenon, constructed in about 450 BC in Athens.  

The marble sculptures (marbles) were brought from the ruins of the Parthenon to England in 1806 by Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin.  The sculpture panels seen above were located in a band around the top of the Parthenon.

For the past 30 years the Greek government has tried unsuccessfully to have the sculptures returned to Greece.

Below is part of a column from the Parthenon.

Moving to Egypt….Ramesses II from 1270 BC

As we left the museum, our eyes caught this quote on the tiled floor…."….and let thy feet milleniums hence be set in the midst of knowledge."

On our next visit to London, we will need to devote several more hours to the vast collection in the British Museum.

After leaving the British Museum, food was the object of our next two destinations.  We
walked over to St. Paul's Cathedral again, this time to check out Paul's Cafe…a little place a friend in Texas had told us about.  In fact, my friend Cindy sent us 3 single-spaced pages of ideas for touring London.  Her experience and advice from living here was priceless.  We just need to return in order to take advantage of more of her great ideas!

Paul's is directly across from one side of St. Paul's Cathedral.  We thought it was named for the cathedral, but it turned out that it's a chain of French bakeries.

It was just closing when we arrived at 5:57, but we were able to purchase hot chocolate and a fantastic eclair.  We enjoyed our treats on the steps of the cathedral…as it was the closest place to sit down.

It was getting dark at ground level.…but the sky and dome of the cathedral were still bathed in sunlight.

After having dessert at Paul's, it was time for dinner.  Uh….say what?  OK, we got it backwards with dessert before dinner, but…. we're on vacation!

Fish and chips at "Seashell of Lisson Grove" came highly recommended by Cindy, and Mark had actually eaten here when he came to London 20 years ago!

Since we had just come from Paul's, we decided to split one entree of fish and chips.  It's a good thing we did…. because the two plates of food below were actually one entree!  I was surprised….

 ….but this was Mark's reaction!

The fish and chips were tasty.…but it was way too much fried food for us, and as it cooled it became less and less palatable.  We couldn't finish the one serving….a rarity for Mark.

The waiter was so kind to take a picture of us before our meal arrived.

Our Saturday was filled with traveling away from, and then back inside London…and we walked and walked again.  We had a good Saturday in England!