Friday
Friday was the day of the Underground worker’s strike, so some stations, including the nearest one, were out of service, except that the trains still ran, but they were slow.
I returned to the British Museum, where I walked around some, then got on a guided tour for most of the afternoon. Far too much to see in one day or a week. Aside from the regular exhibits, there was a special exhibition on the history of Chinese jade and an extensive exhibition of erotic Japanese prints by a famous print-maker. I saw the Lindsfarn Man (a early sacrificial victim discovered in a peat bog very well preserved; in fact, almost tanned); the Sutton Hoo burial artifacts (a Viking ship burial where the only things remaining were metal, but those were exceedingly excellent); the Rosetta Stone, out in public in all its glory; far too many Egyptian mummies, caskets, statues, burial items (including game sets), urns, mummified animals (cats, mostly); pieces from the Parthenon, including the friezes and some monumental sculpture work (the guide took us around to see the backs of the works: even though the sculptures were placed against a wall, their backs were as fully realized as their fronts); Assyrian winged men-bulls (shedu); Mediterranean mosaics; I was told that the Museum has over 4M pieces in its collection. *wow*
I had gotten tickets to see Cats again (I’ve seen it twice in Chicago and once in London in ’87): this was a new production in the old theater, with some of the characters and the plot given more depth. While waiting for the theater to open, I discovered a Japanese restaurant nearby, and splurged on a L28 dinner. This had three appetizers, a salad, beef cooking in a small brazier over a fire, three dishes of vegetables, and more. It was patronized by several Japanese customers while I was eating, a good sign in itself. I also had green tea, but my usual custom is to have sugar with it. The waiter was more than a little surprised, and what I got was a pot of apparently crystalized honey, which dissolved very slowly. Interesting.
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