I feel as though the British Museum could have been a more enjoyable experience if being there didn’t feel so rushed. There was no reason for Monique and me to be rushing– we had several hours we could spend there– but there were just so many people in the museum. It felt as though we had to keep moving and moving so we wouldn’t be in anybody’s way. Compared to Camden Market, it felt like there were more people, though I don’t think that is actually true, but, because it made the museum space feel smaller, it felt that way. 

 Still, there were many interesting things to see there. The museum is largely historical, with exhibits dating back from ancient times to closer to modern day, organized largely by region of origin. We probably spent more time in the Ancient Greece section than any other because that is a personal favorite of mine. I had expected a bit more as far as Greek god sculptures because I had seen images online, but I realized afterward that the photos I was thinking of were from the Louvre, not the British Museum. We went through the European section and found many different exhibits, one particular one I enjoyed being a pendant of Thor’s hammer in the Nordic part. In the Arabic section, there were several garments, which I thoroughly enjoyed and found to be quite beautiful.

I think the problem I had with the British Museum is a problem I felt like was present in a lot of the trip, especially when we left the smaller cities for activities in places like London and Paris. While many of the sites we saw were interesting, the sheer amount of people often also there made it difficult to truly enjoy and appreciate what we were seeing. Of course, this is the way of things with touristic sites and not something that unfortunately is very changeable, but still, it made some of the experiences we had here a bit less enjoyable.

Independent Exploring: The British Library

After visiting the Tower of London on Tuesday, a group of us got lunch and then went to the British Library. Though a technical library, it in some ways bore more resemblance to a museum than a traditional library. There were many art pieces on display in the halls. We explored in search of the copy of Virginia’s Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway that one of us had been looking for and struggled at first to navigate. We went to an area titled Manuscripts, which did not have it nor were we even permitted to enter. 

After being given directions by multiple workers at the library, we found it along with a trove of other interesting exhibitions. There were writings not only for works of literature, but music, maps, historical documents, and other things. I have something of a fondness for classical music, so I enjoyed looking at the sheet music and placards about the works of Chopin and Bach as if I could actually comprehend the meaning behind the notes on paper without the oratory accompaniment. While there we also saw Shakespeare’s First Folio and an assortment of other things related to him. We, unfortunately, were not allowed to take photos inside the exhibition hall. Another collection I particularly enjoyed was actually the maps– I quite like to look at them and there was one in particular from the 1400s depicting Europe, Asia, and Africa that was illustrated that I thought was quite lovely and wished I could look at closer because some of the writing on it towards the northern part of the map was written upside down. Along with Mrs. Dalloway, there were manuscripts from numerous other works including Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan. We went to the gift shop afterward and I bought a couple of postcards for myself, one featuring a vintage copy of a fashion magazine from the late 1800s and another with the U.S. Declaration of Independence (why a postcard with this on it was being sold in the British Library is beyond me, but I wanted it, in any case). Overall it was an interesting experience, but I do feel like the things to actually do there were a bit limited.

Independent Exploring: Camden Market

For the long weekend, while most of our class was away in Belfast, my friend Monique came up from Germany to visit. We spent our Saturday, along with her friend Cleo who is working as an au pair in London, at the Camden Market.

Camden Town had very little to offer until the early 1970s when it became a hub for the punk-rock movement. Today it offers street markets filled with nearly everything imaginable, from quintessential touristy trinkets to vintage clothes, Lolita and Harajuku fashion, beautiful paintings, rugs, countless food stalls and more. We explored as soon as we got off the Tube, walking up the street past numerous vendors. From stall to stall, store to store, the music changed ranging from the punk rock that made the area famous to EDM, classic rock, Latin, and more. The whole area was extremely colorful– there was street art and even shops were decorated so they stood out with bright colors and animals like dragons and elephants above the entrances of some. Eventually, we reached an area off the streets where the market continued with several more stalls and small stores. Monique and Cleo had already eaten lunch with Cleo’s host family, but I was happy to see how many vegan stalls there were.

We explored several stores, even stopping in one vintage clothing shop and had an almost 80s-like montage of trying on different hats and sunglasses. I didn’t find anything there, but later I found a stall that bought vintage denim jackets and embroidered them. I ended up buying one there for twenty pounds with “Rebel Rebel” stitched on the back (David Bowie felt very appropriate there). It seemed every turn we took there was more stuff; the market never ended. Monique and I also went into a photo booth. Although it was crowded there, it didn’t feel like there were too many people. Apart from tourists, whose ages varied, the majority of the people there seemed to be around our age. Overall we had a really great time and I would recommend Camden Market to anybody who is interested in shopping in a more alternative scene. Although it is touristy now and many of the things sold there are a bit kitschy, there are some gems if you look for them.