British - extended - weekend with Churchill, Victoria, Albert and others

Rachel and I arrived last evening from a 3-day (extended weekend trip) to London. It was our first time in England since 1996, when we first met and got to know each other in Cambridge.

This time we planned to see a couple of things we had not yet seen - instead of doing the "nostalgy tour". Now that we are over 30 (imagine!), we do see things differently anyway; also the things that were not new to us, were looked upon with very different eyes.

The British museum - one of the greatest antiquities and history museum in this world. My fascination for this kind of attractions hasn't changed. I enjoyed just too much gazing at the "Oxus treasure" and the "Cyrus cylinder" of the Persians, the "Croesus golden coin", the impressive samples of Assyrian sculpture, the new great court - which opened in 2000 - and the "swimming reindeer": a piece of work some 13'000 years old from the European Ice Age.

It's difficult to say what can be so fascinating about all this "old stuff". Somehow it tells us something about the history of this world; it shows how people have always been thriving to produce beautiful, harmonic artworks. The sense for beauty and glory is something that has always remained with us - people. The collection of this museum is unique in terms of size and variety of the collection. And if there is something that the British can do well, this is to value history. Ah, most surprisingly of all: the entrance to the British museum is for still for free!

We also visited other museums in London: we've been for the first time in the Victoria and Albert Museum, a treasure regarded as the greatest museum of art and design in the world, and also the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum, located in the underground complex where Britain - during the World War II - had its operational and communications center. Additionally we saw the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London - without queuing!

Shopping was also part of the tour, so we did a short trip to Portobello street (Antiques) in Notting Hill - where we did some additional walks in the area to see the chick neighborhood. We also visited the obligatories bookshops and souvenir shops, taking advantage of the strong Swiss Frank and the weak British Pound. We also had a look at Covent Garden and had great food in China Town...

Indeed, it was not that regular weekend - and I am still trying to digest all the impressions of this trip. Maybe that's why I am writing this blog :-)