Banking & British Museum

It seems that in general South Africans get taken for a ride! All the warnings about how complicated it is to open a UK bank account were nonsense.... As long as you have a passport and recent bank statements from your South African bank, it is a breeze!

This morning I was in and out of Barclays bank in less than an hour, and that was a very relaxed time spent filling in a couple of forms and chatting with the helpful Personal Banker. I only went to a small branch, but in comparision, it seems that SA banks are much more high-tech, and much more security consious!! No FICA in the UK!!

After returning home to change into comfortable and warm clothes for siteseeing (I made a small effort to look decent for the bank!) I headed to the station and up to Russel Square.

Most of the Afternoon was spent in the British Museum, although I did also walk briefly around Bloomsbury Square.

The Museum was nice, although I think I enjoyed the V&A more. There was loads to see, and I didn't get to all of it. I didn't really enjoy the Egyptian sculptures, somehow I didn't find them all that impressive. I much prefered the intricate Assyrian carvings!

Close up from Assyrian lionhunt carving

I really did enjoy the European section, and was very interested to see the really ancient antiques. We get Victorian stuff in SA, but that's about as far back as it goes - The chinaware and jewellery dating from Viking and Renaissance times was fascinating!

Some beautiful Italian coral jewellery


Elaborate clock shaped like a ship

The restored Read Room from the British Library was wonderful with tiers of bookcases reaching up the walls, topped by the beautifully lit dome. I wish I had a gigantic library all to myself!!!