Across the Channel

Day 13: Friday 10th Jan

We left Gare de Nord, the largest metro station in Paris, at 8.43 am bound for London on the Eurostar.  After smooth trip on a very fast train with we arrived at St Pancreas Station in central London at mid morning.  

Maureen was returning here after 34 years so it seemed surreal for her and I felt I was on a monopoly board.  It was nice to see 'live' the easily identifiable marks of London, double decker red buses, signs to underground stations, London cabs and red phone boxes.  We noticed that while many messages and Museum signs in Paris are bi-lingual, in London they are only in English.   

We spent the day at the  British Museum which has an enormous range of collections from ancient history to the present.  I was impressed with the explanations of exhibitions and items which was so detailed that you did not need an audioguide.  There were also regular free tours on various themes although we did not do one.  Out of the exhibitions I focused particularly on Roman Britain and Europe and the Middle East from 10000 - 800BC.  In the later what impressed me is the ancient middle eastern civilisations which extended for centuries but for which there are few archaeological markers and even less awareness particularly in the West eg Anatolia, Urartu, the Sumerians and Amorites. It is humbling to think about these great civilisations and how everything passes but nothing is lost.

I was particularly interested in the displays about rise of agriculture in Mesopotamia about 12000 years ago and which came to Britain ~4000 BC .  I have attached a photo of a Quern stone used for making flour from Abu Hureyra, Syria (9500-9000 BC).  This is one of the greatest inventions in the history of the world, which enabled grain to be turned into edible meal or bread and marked a beginning of farming in one place rather than nomadic hunting and gathering.

The Roman Britain gallery was also full of historical facts and items including some hordes of treasure, mosaics, writings, tombstones, cooking  items etc.  In 43 AD the Romans, under Emporer Claudius, conquered 11 tribes in South Eastern Britain and then continued campaigns but actually some the British tribes were closely connected through trade and patronage with Rome since the defeat of the Gauls by Julius Caesar in 52 BC.

Frieze from Elgin Marble

Rosetta Stone

We also saw some famous items like the Rosetta Stone, one of the Easter Island figures and the Elgin Marbles.  I came to a new appreciation of Lord Elgin who saved a large collection of marble sections of the Parthenon in Athens which, if not done then may well have disappeared forever.  

Late in the day we met Maureen's first Cousin Sally at Kings Cross Station and travelled home with her on the underground.  This was a wonderful reunion for Maureen who had not seen Sally for 34 years.