After the Changing of the Guards, we went for a walk to Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar Square is a landmark in London that many tourists and Londoners go to. In the middle of Trafalgar Square is Nelson's Column guarded by four large lion statues. Nelson's Column is a monument that commemorates Admiral Horatio Nelson. Admiral Nelson was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar, which was a battle fought by England's Royal Navy against the French and Spanish fleets. This was during the War on the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars. The Battle of Trafalgar was on October 21, 1805. The monument was constructed from 1840-1843 and refurbished in 2006.
After we spent some time in Trafalgar Square, we walked to the British Museum. On the walk, we saw lots of the infamous red telephone booths! We stopped and took pictures "calling" people in them.
It was only about a twenty minute walk to the museum, and it was really cool to walk around London and see some of the not-so-touristy parts of the city. The outside of the museum was amazing! It was really big and the columns made it look very majestic.
The museum was established in 1753 but wasn't opened to the public until January 15, 1759. It was first opened in the Montagu (or "Montague") House in Bloomsbury, on the same site as the current museum building. Over the past two and a half centuries it has expanded, and now has several branch institutions, such as the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington. The British Library used to be located at the museum but moved to a different location in 1997.
There were so many amazing artifacts in the museum! Our favorite part of the museum was the Department of Egypt and Sudan. There were so many amazing artifacts! The British Museum has the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts besides the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. There were lots of large busts of Egyptian kings, queens, gods, and goddesses. What we found to be the coolest artifact though, was the Rosetta Stone.
Bust of Amenhotep III Bust of Ramses II
The Rosetta Stone is a large rock that has Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotics, and Ancient Greek inscribed on it. It has the same thing written in each language. Basically, we understood the Greek writing so we were able to translate the other languages. Without the Rosetta Stone, we would have not been able to understand what hieroglyphs or Demotics said.
Once we went through the museum, we got a taxi back to the hotel, where we ate dinner. After dinner, we decided to go for a walk along the River Thames down to the Millennium Bridge, the only pedestrian-only bridge that crosses the River Thames. The bridge first opened in 2000, but after safety concerns, it went under construction and reopened in 2002.
At the end of the bridge is St. Paul's Cathedral. Construction for St. Paul's began in 1675 and ended in 1720. It is one of London's most famous churches, and it is beautiful at night.
We then headed back to the hotel. This was by far our most eventful day here in London, and it was so much fun!
-Sydney
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