First and foremost, Happy Birthday Tamzin! She's 2!
Since it was around the corner, we decided to investigate the Sherlock Holmes Museum.
The museum is more a testament to Victorian living than Sherlock Holmes.
It is a preserved Georgian house at 221B Baker Street.
Sherlock Holmes "lived" here from 1881 to 1904.
Actually the house is located between 237 and 241 Baker Street.
Jean Conan Doyle was not thrilled with the creation of the museum.
She didn't want people furthering the belief that her father's fictional sleuth was a real person.
The third story had several wax figures representing different cases.
This represents the case of the Red-Headed League.
Super decorated toilet.
This is not an official English Heritage plaque. They don't acknowledge fictional characters.
A bit of English period distinctions. Georgian/Regency is from 1714-1830 and is defined by the reigning Georges (I, II, III,and IV). Georgian generally refers to architecture of the time while Regency refers to clothing styles. Victorian is from 1837-1901 and is defined by the reign of Queen Victoria. Edwardian is from 1901-1910 and is defined by the reign of King Edward VII.
I'm not sure what the time between 1830 and 1837 is called. I suppose, following the trend, it would be the Williamian era for William IV who reigned during that time.
Oh well, anyway, we wander off through town again and found some street art.
This is a skate park.
The building at end of the bridge is Charring Cross Station, but it kind of reminded me of the new Intelligence building in the new James Bond movie Spectre. The bridges are the Hungerford and Golden Jubilee bridges.
Looking up at the London Eye.
Have I shown you a photo of parliament yet?
This is one of the mazes of escalators and stairs from one of the Tube stations. I think it's Westminster Station. Anyway I thought it looked very sci-fi like.
We were trying to decide what to do with our evening and discovered that the British Museum is open late. So off we went.
This guy is Hoa Hakanai'a, which means lost or stolen friend. He's made of basalt and was probably created around 1200. He is a little Easter Island head/body (the iconic head also have bodies as it turns out).
This is THE Rosetta Stone. Inscribed upon it is a decree by Ptolemy V in Hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek. (Demotic is sort of the written, non hieroglyphic form of Egyptian.) The Rosetta Stone was created in 196 BC. It is also the key to decrypting the hieroglyphics which, by the 4th Century AD people had lost the ability to write and to read. The Rosetta Stone was recovered in 1799 and has been on display almost continuously since 1802.
And then we entered Assyria. A bit about what I have photos of -
These are reliefs and sculptures from the Palace of Tiglath-Pileser III at Nimrud. Tiglath-Pileser III reigned from 744-727 BC in the Assyrian capital of Nimrud, which is now Northern Iraq.
These are protective spirits that probably guarded the entrance to the King's private chambers.
One is a bull, one is a lion.
One is a bull, one is a lion.
Dan for scale.
Details of the lion spirit. The walls around them are completely covered in inscriptions.
Court Scene from about 865-860 BC. King Ashurnasirpal is enthroned between attendants, and the group is flanked by a pair of winged protective spirits.
Eagle-Headed protective spirit in the character of the date-fertilzer.
This relief is from 865-860 BC from the Nimrud, North-West Palace. It's made of gypsum.
This is from the Assyrian Lion Hunt.
In the mid-seventh century BC, after a series of good years with ample rain, lions were particularly common. It was the king's duty to destroy such pests, but he apparently found it more convenient to have the lions brought to him rather than hunt them in their own haunts. The "lion hunt" scenes from Ashurbanipal's palace show events that took place in an arena, ringed by soldiers and huntsmen, into which caged lions were released one by one.
This is a winged-bull protective spirit from the citadel wall at Khorsabad. The panels also show a winged divine figure about to anoint with a 'cone' and magical fluid from a bucket. It is one of a pair, which were intended to keep evil from entering.
We spent most of our time in a special exhibit about what it means to be Celtic.
We spent most of our time in a special exhibit about what it means to be Celtic.
It was fascinating and really well done.
More street art!
This is the same artist as before, but now they have French flags.
This concludes our adventures for today.
