London 2015, day two

(May 3, 2015)

We all slept in, except J., so the day got off to a slow start. The men got breakfast from the Wedding Patisserie which made things a touch faster, then we looked at the day . . . made changes. . . and were off!

The British Museum on the Sunday of a Bank holiday weekend is not the smartest plan ever, but it is what time allowed for, so that’s what we did. I’ve said it before, and will again: this is *the* repository of all of the loot. So go. Perhaps it will be the Rosetta Stone that appeals, or the walls from ancient Assyria’s Nimrod, or maybe Greece’s Parthenon sculptures . . .

Don’t forget the Samurai collection, or the Buddha. There are special exhibits on display throughout, so just wandering will bring you fascinating pieces, like the dios de muertes inspired paper Mache sculptures hanging from the ceiling outside where the Eater Island head rests in splendor. Or the ‘14,000 pills’ exhibit of a man and Woman’s use of pills through their lifetime, approximately 14,000 as you might guess. Very weird for me, since I identified a little too strongly with the woman, who was basically healthy until breast cancer . . .

Speaking of special exhibits, they had one I was very excited about: Clocks. Very early examples, intricate ones, musical ones, and ones that announced the start of the feast. Wonderful fun for poking around.

Lunch was a random choice of a pub that had a nice menu — the Marquis of Cornwallis. This is a lovely pub in ‘Bloomsbury’ with an excellent craft beer and cider list. Although we disappointed our waitress by ordering fish & chips and a burger instead of the Sunday roast, we had marvelous service and a really good time.

Too good a time! We missed the Magna Carat exhibit at the British Library, which was still awesome for its offerings. (No pics allowed, so I can’t share anything with you.) After that we had a quick restorative at Starbucks, and then headed to our dinner. We thought we’d arrive early, but it took forever to find The Abbeville Bar & Kitchen, which was further from the tube station than we planned. The weather also turned and we were chilled and ready for some good food when we arrived. The kitchen did not disappoint in the least. Roast chicken in a carrot, fennel, bacon ‘sauce’ was accompanied by golden-gorgeous roasted potatoes, steamed green beans, and carrots. The bread was fabulous, the ‘appetizer’ of Marconi almonds perfect. Our only sadness was that we didn’t love the wine. Dessert was a butterscotch pudding accompanied by rhubarb, and an almond Seville orange cake (they called it a tart) with a scoop of rich chocolate ice cream. Beautiful.

Best of all, they ordered a taxi for us — 11 pounds. SO very worth it.