23/07/07: British Museum III

Manish and Asma had arranged to visit the museum some time ago but one thing or another kept getting in the way. They invited me along tonight, so after uni I went back to my dorm room, had my lunch and did my stuff before meeting them there when they finished their classes.

Asma had wanted to see the Egyptian mummies and Manish wanted to see the ancient Greek and Roman exhibits. Having not seen those two rooms yet, I was pretty keen to tag along.

I think the thing that amazed me most about the old stuff from the middle east and stuff was how well preserved they were. Granted, they were mainly all pots and figurines, and to be honest, the dates and times and details were actually going in one eye and out the other; but if you just check out the photos, they’re incredibly fresh-looking.

Asma seemed quite taken in by all the little perfume bottles; and was amused that some of the pots and stuff can still be found in her grandparents’ place in Yemen. Not quite as old as we thought.

When we got to the mummies, we were surprised to see Manish sitting on a chair outside the room, very reluctant to come in. I asked if it was a cultural or religious thing, but eventually he came in. I think he was just put out by it all. Pretty amazing how much stuff the British Museum went and pillaged from other countries.

This was so much more astounding when we went and saw all the parts of the ancient ruins like the Parthenon that were pieced together in the museum. I mean, imagine a building so big that it can house another big building within it. Then imagine that at some point that latter big building was disassembled (well, ruined), and shipped hundreds of miles across land and sea and put back to pieces again.

Either way, I was too excited about going out to see Wicked tonight to pay any real attention to anything in the museum. So it was a lovely time spent with lovely people, but my mind was all on Wicked.