A plunge into history and culture

Today was the start of British Seminar, our comprehensive everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-Britain-and-then-some class, by taking a field trip to the Museum of London. Although it's not nearly as large and lavish as the British Museum that I visited yesterday, the Museum of London is a little gem nestled in yet another corner of this fascinating city.

Since we're currently learning about the history of London, it provided a really cool look at actual artifacts that were excavated in the area, starting from prehistoric times and going up through the medieval period.

The great thing about going to museums over here is that there are SO many artifacts and specimens! I never really thought about it before, but because of the climate, the types of materials that were used, and I suppose just the sheer age of this place, everything was preserved really well.

The two pictures above are of the Shepperton Woman, dating back somewhere between 3640-3100BC. The first picture is the actual bones that were found, and the second is the facial reconstruction made from the pieces that were found. I thought it was pretty interesting, especially from an anthropological perspective.

There were also tons of spearheads, swords, skulls and tools on display.

Beyond the prehistory gallery were the Roman artifacts. The 2 black fabric-type things on the sides of the display are actully ancient Roman bikinis, in case you were curious (which you probably weren't before, but you are now).

Believe it or not, this wall outside the museum is actually an original Roman wall from the 1st century AD. It's been rebuilt a lot, but the pieces at the bottom are mostly original. I am just astounded to be surrounded by all this history.

I thought these were really funny. The ancient peoples seemed to like putting funny faces on their water jars...

This is a hundred year old model of the original St. Paul's Cathedral. I hadn't realized it looked so different at one time!

This is some chainmail armor from the medieval period.

Another medieval artifact - and old fish trap!

And yet another old piece -- this is a carving from a wooden chest depicting a scene from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. I'm still amazed by the great condition these are in.

After finishing up at the museum, we decided to go have lunch in Chinatown, just a short Tube ride away. I guess it was lot like Chinatown in San Francisco, but less hilly of course. There were tons of Chinese restaurants, markets, and random little shops crammed along the wet street decorated with lanterns.

I'm definitely coming back here more often -- and especially for the Chinese New Year next week.

Well, this post has become waaaay longer than I wanted it to be, so I guess I'll have to write more about classes and daily life next time.

Until then,

Cheers!