British Museum, 1

Since it's the closest major site, we have gotten there three times now and probably will go at least three times more, especially when they've opened more of it. Currently the Greco-Roman section has been closed (tidying up?) when we visited. But we've already done the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian and other Near and Middle Eastern stuff and moved on through the older British stuff. We are slow museum tourists, and we tire now after a few hours. But we know we can come back. Free admission. We're trying to build up our museum endurance, especially for the Louvre, which, unlike these British museums, does not feature free admission. 

Among the preceding 3700 posts are several from previous visits to the British Museum, and they may convey a more balanced representation, which I leave for collateral reading. For this campaign, I think I'll stick to things that are favorites, new to us, or otherwise amusing.

No lines, no crowds

Normally you'd have to push and shove for about
ten minutes to get this close to the Rosetta Stone

Some of Ashurbanipal's library; all tablets, no less (Kindles? Apples?);
7th BCE

So why couldn't the Louvre do something like this and get rid
of the hideous pyramid?

So now we are back into my comfort zone, jade
hafted axes...

And the world of torks, hoards, and helmets (oh my)

The Great Tork...don't step on the scale with this puppy around your neck:
1st century BC, the craft required to do this is pretty incredible

Sutton Who?

Favorite chess set...Lewis

Queen always looks to me like she's
not so sure about this gambit thing

Excellent reception

Ingenious sex-crazed ancient Brits

So the BM is littered with hoards in its British section; worth millions;

not all are from the Viking era, however; note above, from the War of 

the Roses, 15th; I would hope that the metal detector has become 

standard equipment on every British farm...

Some Nearby Buildings Of Interest

Not Georgian, mostly, but some of great interest, either architecturally, aesthetically, or otherwise. Again, from our first few days' wanderings...

Lest anyone think I'm being unfair to Georgian urban residential
architecture...there are miles of these hereabouts, generally surrounding
a pretty park...Russell Square, Bedford Square, Tavistock Square,
Regent Square...

Holy Cross Church, a couple blocks away; looks like it could be
much older, but is still 19th century

British Library

Kings Cross station

Over-the-top neo-Flamboyant St. Pancras Hotel; behind it is the 

new international station/shopping center; extends a quarter mile

Entrance to the British Museum, appropriately classical since
half of ancient Greece is already inside

Senate House, currently Old Main for the University of London
(that is, central administration); in WWII, this was the Ministry of
Information, which Graham Greene, George Orwell, and other
journalists flocked to for the latest news releases; Orwell later
used it as the model for the "Ministry of Truth" in 1984; big art
deco

The old Russell Hotel (now something else) on Russell Square
(imagine my disappointment in learning that Russell Square was
not named for Bertrand Russell)

The original and still Waterstones, on Gower St., five miles of
bookshelves...

Gorgeous neo-Renaissance

Caryatids?! Shouldn't they be at the British Museum?

But no, they adorn the nearly 200 year old St. Pancras New Church

Two porches, eight caryatids...the Erecththeion only had six! And
probably no "Just Falafels" shop

House of the Rising Sun

These Are The People In Our Neighborhood

Georgian residential buildings and squares constitute much of Bloomsbury, they're red or gray or black, three or for stories, and otherwise uniformly uninteresting. We've done any number of neighborhood walks plus the official Bloomsbury Walk. Mostly of interest are the people who have lived here and the great assortment of historic plaques and such that adorn many, if not most, of the buildings and squares. A sampling from our first few days' walks...

John Henry Cardinal Newman

Disraeli's dad

Needs no introduction

Queen Charlotte, wife of George III

The mentally ill George III stayed with his doctor
nearby and his wife stored his special vittles here

What greater honor can come to a writer than to have a pub named
after her?

Lytton Strachey

More or less next door

Bloomsbury Group

"All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust"

Look them up!

PS--weeks later, I discovered this on the University of London

School of Pharmacy building that is directly behind the building

in which our flat is located; evidently the Bloomsbury Group

moved around quite a bit...