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Monday, December 03, 2007 London Highlights ^ Top | 3:54 AM | | | 
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Mummies My keyboard appears to be British, but as I type it's conforming to an American layout. (Strange--though appreciated--since I haven't changed any settings on the software.) I'm in the basement of an internet cafe right next to the Young Vic, waiting to see their production of Brothers Size, which has garnered rave reviews. I spent most of today exploring the British Museum's extensive Egyptian collection, with minor detours into Assyria and Greece/Rome. Their placards are actually quite informative; I hadn't known that hieroglyphics were a formal form of writing reserved for monuments and art whereas Hieratic script was standard for everyday use (account keeping, letters, records). Eventually Hieratic became a formal script for religious texts, replaced by Demotic script in daily use. Looking at the mummies, while fascinating, feels a little odd--these were people, and they've been removed from their carefully prepared tombs. It's a different feeling than just walking through a cemetery or looking at tombs, in which you're a step removed from bodies, different even than wandering through Parisian catacombs. According to Ancient Egyptian beliefs about death, they needed to remain intact in order to be reborn into the afterlife. (Somewhat problematic from the standpoint of bodies moving hundreds and even thousands of years later--when would one enter the afterlife? Wouldn't they have already been reborn? Would one die again in the afterlife if the body here decomposed? Would servants be lost there, assuming they appeared in the afterlife to begin with, if their corresponding statues were destroyed in this life, though so much time has elapsed?) Moving the mummies seems problematic from that point, even though comptemorary people do not share those beliefs. Labels: Ancient Egypt, London, travel ^ Top | 12:36 PM | | |
Saturday, November 24, 2007 Welcome to London Stepping out of the Tube station near my home for the next four days, my first sight of London from street level consisted of Starbucks, KFC, and Burger King. It’s always amazing to me how large cities are so similar even in the midst of their differences: the area near the Knightsbridge stop is home to the iconic Harrods department store—and a host of stores that I can find on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Staples like the Gap hang out next to H&M, and I expect the clothes are primarily the same, with the exception that here they cost twice as much. I earned a laugh from the man working the Gatwick Express ticket counter at the airport when he told us that we were getting a great deal—two train tickets for free since there was a 2-for-1 deal on our party of four—and I chuckled and said that was good, since “My money’s worth nothing here!” Before leaving Bryan warned me that prices in London look normal. Until you remember that one pound is worth two US dollars. (It’s pathetic when even Canadian money is worth more than ours.) I wonder if Britons traveling to the US experience a similar feeling in reverse (“Wow, everything’s so cheap here!”). It’s interesting walking around Central London after recently reading Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere--when I first heard the recorded voice on the Underground say “Mind the Gap!” I nearly burst out laughing. (This would have probably caused my family to wonder if I was insane. Oh wait.) I browsed through Harrod’s imagining an underworld’s market materializing in the middle of the night and disappearing by morning, leaving no trace of sellers who would trade food for ballpoint pens and girls auditioning bodyguards. I know, I’m a geek. ^ Top | 2:11 PM | | |
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