Shakespeare, Beatles, and The Magna Carta

2008, 4.14 London, England: The British Library, The British Museum

On the morning of April 14, the second day of adventure for my mom and I started the day with a proper breakfast served by our hotel with eggs, bacon, toast, cereal, yogurt, oj, coffe, and tea. It was a nice beginning to what would be an interesting and busy day.

After breakfast, we walked from our hotel to the British Library--just north east of where I had lived during my time in London. I had heard that the British Library was an interesting place to visit, but I did not expect it to be one of my favorite places in London.

Entrance to The British Library

Painting inside The British Library

The Library's exterior and entrance drew me in right from the start. From there, Mom and I found our way to The Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library (the rest of the building is an actual library where you can check out books and do research, etc.). It was literally a gallery full of treasures. Because there were so many amazing things to see, I will just list some of my favorites below:

-Shakespeare's First Folio-the first genuine collection of Shakespeare's works, published in 1623

-Lewis Carroll's Diary, author of "Alice in Wonderland," actually mentioning said book

-The original copy of "Beowulf"

-George Frederic Handel's Messiah, an autograph composition draft from 1741

-Sir Thomas More's last letter to Henry VIII, 1523

-The Gutenberg Bible, 1454-55

-Aesop's Fables, 1484

-Writings from Galileo Galilei

-Codex Arundel by Leonardo Da Vinci

-The Codex Sinaiticus, which is the earliest manuscript of the complete New Testament

-The Magna Carta--a charter of liberty and political rights obtained from King John of England by his rebellious barons at Runnymede in 1215, which came to be seen as the seminal document of English constitutional practice. A very important and influential historical legal document, later influenced the creation of many constitutional documents, including the U. S. Constitution

-And last but certainly not least, hand-written Beatles lyrics for the songs "The Fool on the Hill," "I want to hold your hand," "Help!", "Yesterday," "Ticket to Ride," "Hard Day's Night," "Michelle," and " In My Life" all of which you could listen to on the headphones they provided right there in front of you as you read the lyrics.

This Gallery's contents were truly impressive and, like I said, one of my favorite experiences in London. On top of the amazing gallery exploration, there was a temporary exhibit outside of the Sir John Ritblat Gallery called "All Power to the Imagination! 1968 and Its Legacies. This was an incredible collection of photographs, art, articles, video clips, music from the year 1968, which was a truly interesting and earth-riveting year in history. This exhibit was the cherry on top of an already awesome experience at the British Library.

Me at the British Library

The British Library

Sign at the British Library


After exploring the British Library, Mom and I made our way towards the British Museum. We stopped at Tesco (local grocery store) to buy some take away food for lunch and then sat in Russell Square while we enjoyed our lunch and tried to stay somewhat dry as it had begun to rain lightly as we sat there. Luckily I have a very easy-going mother and this did not disturb her much. From there, we made our way around the block to the British Museum.

British Museum in Central London, blocks from the BUNAC Hostel


While Mom and I didn't spend a great deal of time at the British Museum, we did stop by and enjoy seeing the Rosetta Stone--an ancient Egyptian artifact that helped scholars to decipher hieroglyphics and learn more about ancient Egyptian language and culture. It was pretty neat. In addition, I saw real mummies, which were disturbingly incredible and interesting.

While this was interesting and there were many treasues to be found in the British Museum, mom and I spent the majority of our time there in an exhibit called "The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock." It was somewhat funny to be viewing an American exhibit while traveling, but interesting to see it from somewhat of a foreigner's viewpoint. There were many interesting pieces of art there, however, and it was well worth the time.


Night on the El Train by Edward Hopper


One of my many feet photographs from my travels...this one taken by my mom on the way out of the British Museum

After getting our fill of historical treasures for the day, Mom and I headed back to our hotel for a bit. We stayed at Olivelli's Hotel just a few doors down from the BUNAC Hostel, which was nothing fancy, but was pretty reasonably priced for the area and suited us well for a comfortable place to sleep at night and a brief resting place in between excursions.

That evening, Mom and I had dinner at one of my favorite Thai restaurants in the area called Busaba Thai just down Store Street from Olivelli's Hotel and the BUNAC Hostel. We enjoyed Massaman Duck Curry with coconut rice and some hot tea. It was a lovely end to another lovely day in London.