The first day in London was a later start, which was actually really nice. Not being on a super-tight schedule has allowed me to get a little more sleep, and hopefully beat this sickness that has been plaguing me for about a week now.
This persistent chest congestion and cough has cost me not only a lot of inconvenience, but a substantial amount of sleep as well. I still have not has a night in the last week where I was not kept up (or woken up) hacking up a lung. But I digress…
The first day in London was devoted mostly to the National British Museum.
A lot of the day was occupied with traveling, since driving in London is stressful and time-consuming. And while the Subway is reasonably efficient, between riding, walking, and transferring from one mode to another, time seems to disappear.
The National British Museum was really very cool, displaying such well-known artifacts as the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles, a large display of various pieces of the Parthenon (some of the other pieces are spread out between several museums all over the world) which was very fun to look at.
There were mummies (in various stages of wrapping and/or decay), giant pillars and statues in the Egyptian section, Samurai armor and weapons in the Japanese section, and more Greek/Roman art than would be possible to describe in one blog post.
There was also some spectacularly old things, ranging from 5000-10,000 years old, including a rock that the museum claimed was a million-and-a-half years old.
Hope Helps 