Recently, we made a trip to England to visit family. I have posted images of our family gatherings here. While there, we took the opportunity to visit the British Museum. I particularly wanted to see the “Rosetta Stone” and to visit the Assyrian and Mesopotamian gallery exhibits. At the main entrance of the Assyrian gallery is a pair of winged bulls.
Assyrian Winged Bull, British Museum
Working our way down the gallery are several panels from the ancient Assyrian empire. This is one panel of an Assyrian king (Ashurnasipal), flanked by gods.
Ashurnasipal Flanked By Gods, British Museum
The opposite wall of the gallery depicts the “Seige of Lashish”.
Assyrian Seige Of Lashish, British Museum
One of the main attractions in the British Museum is the “Rosetta Stone”. This area of the museum was crowded, so I waited a couple of hours to return to this area to make the following image. The Rosetta Stone was key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. It is also one of the most visited objects in the museum.
Rosetta Stone
The main courtyard has been covered with a roof and contains a store and cafeterias.
Main Courtyard, British Museum
This museum contains a lot of really interesting ancient artifacts and is well worth visiting. Need to go back again in the future.
We spent most of our time with Susan, who lives in Surbiton. One another day, Angela and I made a visit to Hampton Court Palace, that is a couple of miles away from her apartment. This is the main entrance to the palace.
Hampton Court Palace, Outer Court
However, the main visitor’s entrance is on the left hand side of the main entrance. This leads to the base court.
Hampton Court Palace, Base Court
Hampton Court was the palace that was occupied by Henry VIII during the 1500’s. We listened to an audio tour that detailed his reign and his six wives. After completing the tour, we exited into the Clock Court.
Hampton Court Palace, Clock Court
According to the clock, we arrived here at about 1pm.
Hampton Court Palace Clock
We also visited the gardens at the palace (no pictures here). The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is located in the palace grounds; preparation for the show was in progress while we visited the palace. However, the show was not yet open to public. On our way back to the exit, we walked through the quadrangle passages of the Fountain Court.
Hampton Court Palace, Fountain Court
Having studied at university in London, Hampton Court was not on my list way back then. This visit was a first for me and was well worth visiting.