We spent the afternoon today touring the British Museum � basically the world�s attic. It was filled with artifacts from around the world, which makes a fairly good argument for empire. The museum houses mummies from Egypt (including that of Cleopatra), friezes from the Parthenon, Anglo-Saxon relics from England, art from China, carvings from ancient Assyria, and the Rosetta Stone, perhaps the most important possession of the place.
See, prior to the 18th century, no one was able to decipher the hieroglyphics that adorned ancient Egyptian buildings. The writing style had been lost, and so civilization (and most importantly, historians) couldn�t do anything with the papyri and carvings they found in the desert. And then came Napoleon. His troops unearthed a black stone that had etchings in Greek, medieval Egyptian, and hieroglyphics. The world knew 2 of the 3, but it took 20 years, despite the carvings saying that the decree etched in the stone was written in 3 languages, to decipher the third. Since then, ancient Egypt has become an open book, and historians are able to tell us the story of one of the greatest civilizations to walk the earth.
So that pretty much rounded out our day. With only two days left in this enormous city, we are frantically trying to decide what we can cram into the next 48 hours. I can only say that the food and the people here in London are exquisite. We are truly having the time of our lives.
Thank you to everyone who has sent us email responses. It has been so good to hear so many nice comments. I�m glad you are actually reading these things. Please let us know if we have missed any people who want to be on the list. We can easily add more.
Until next time.
Paul and Colleen
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