Yesterday: London on no sleep for 36 hours. I only let Michelle get me lost once, then I made sure I knew where she thought she was going. I got some great photos of the Rome exhibit at the British museum. Well mostly great. Michelle must have grabbed the wrong battery because it kept threatening to quit so it was: flip on, take quick picture, flip off. I took pictures of the tags next to the items, so if you are wondering what is in the photo, the following picture will probably tell you. We did miss some of the truly ancient stuff because they close some exhibits early in the evening. Wish we'd known. Michelle only had the oldest (and therefore best) objects left on her list as we watched, only feet away, the museum staff put up ropes to keep us plebes from their precious exhibits. Well - maybe when we get back to London next week.
We stayed in a decent hotel last night just off Russel Square. A decent walk from the underground. London is a lot like NYC - lots of busy people going places, lots of cabs, lots of traffic, congestion in the subway. We went down to Kings Cross and there was this mass of people packed up around the underground ticket gates. Apparently there was "congestion" down in the track area, so they held about 300 people back and then started letting them through a minute or so after we got there. The entrance having only 4 ticket gates, the trickle of people was like something out of an apocalyptic movie. If they tried anything like that in NYC there would have been blood spilled. In London apparently it's not that big a deal.
Had a nice train ride up to Carlisle. Grabbed a rental car and made our way to the hotel. Driving in England is perverse. It's not just that they drive on the left side of the road. That on it's own isn't that big a deal. The roads are a deranged mess. All the cities were built when the most luxurious form of travel was a horse and cart which means two things: 1. The roads are way too narrow and 2. There is no logical planning to their layout. Like all ancient cities it is very easy to get lost and turned around. Just because you know you are south and east of where you want to be does not guarantee that if you take roads generally aimed in that direction that you will get anywhere near your destination. More than likely you will simply get yourself lost. If I had not paid the extra coin for a data plan on my android phone and had the use of Google Maps, I have no doubt that the local constables would have found me the next morning, some few steps from my abandoned car, a crumpled, weeping heap.
Now back to the too narrow part. Yes the roads are narrow. The cars are narrow too. You might think that would help. Let me assure, gentle reader, it does not, especially when the car rental agent upgrades you for free because he's such a great guy and we'll need the extra power for the roads around Hadrian's wall. Then there is the fact that apparently driving school in England is taught by members of the Knievel family. Evidently just because we will be passing scant inches from one another at a combined speed of 100 mph does not mean that I should slow down at all. No - grip the steering wheel, square your jaw, and above all FOCUS. It will all be over in a millisecond.
Anyway. We're still alive. Tomorrow is more Hadrian's Wall. We'll get those photos up soon as well as the rest of the British Museum photos.
Brennen
