Hello Steemians,

I hope that New Year is treating you well so far. I have to say that this has been an exciting beginning to New Year for me. If you read my blogs you know I have been working on multiple photography projects, basically non-stop for the last few months. It’s been a busy time for me, and I definitely did not expect to stop there, as New Year approached, so did new opportunities.
I managed to organise a photography project in London, with some collaborations so stay tuned as I slowly reveal the details of it, in this and next few posts. Naturally though, being in London – I couldn’t just come up for that purpose alone. So, I allocated some time to go sightseeing and do some exploring.

Driving to London has been long, being in Wales for the last week, it took me 5 hours to get from there to London, when I finally arrived at the hotel… I was exhausted already! But, it was only 6pm, so I had some coffee and put my boots back on. Since I was budgeting, I didn’t want to eat out that evening, instead I spoiled myself with a meal deal from Tesco’s and a miniature bottle of Prosecco (since I didn’t officially celebrate New Year yet).

Eating back in my hotel room didn’t appeal much to me, so here I went to the infamous London Albert Bridge which caught my eye while driving to my hotel a few hours before. This stunning bridge, truly looked as if taken out of a fairy tale. Standing on it, with all the lights twinkling I was mesmerised in its golden beauty. Though it wasn’t that late, this part of the city was surprisingly empty. Occasionally a few cars passed, but apart from that, it was quiet and peaceful.

I sat down at the bench in the near park and watched the beautiful bridge views while eating my meal deal- pasta and sipping on some prosecco. My fingertips were frozen from the cold air, but my chest felt warm, from the bubbly prosecco.
I sat there admiring, not only the bridge but also surrounding views- like city skylines visible down the river path, or a symmetrical line of trees surrounding the path of the park. I have a love/ hate relationship with London, through the times I visited I found that some places I fall madly in love with, while others deter me greatly. Through stunning architecture and an endless amount of attractions, it’s been mostly a hit and miss type of thing for me. Sometimes you find a place with great atmosphere, nice people and you never want to leave… while others are greatly disappointing while people’s rude and unfriendly attitude make you feel unwelcome and unwanted.

Well right there, there was no people, just a crisp and cold January air and stunning bridge views. After it got too cold and prosecco wasn’t helping anymore, I went back to the hotel and prepared for the coming day, it was an early start and a long day with much excitement, so a lot of energy was needed.

Upon waking up, I drank about two coffees before even leaving the house, I think all the hard work is starting to catch up with my body. My ‘’secret’’ project wouldn’t start until 6pm, so I pretty much had majority of day to myself. I decided to head to British museum, though in London a few times, I never actually had a chance to visit it. The line was so long… but it did move at a fast pace, so I probably had to wait about 20 minutes before I was able to enter the museum.

The stunning factor about British Museum, is that you can stand there mesmerised in the stunning architecture even before you enter. The big building with massive pillars and beautifully carved detail is a jaw dropper in itself… and then of course you come in and get sucked into the world of posh statues and stunning marble. Marble walls, marble floors, marble pillars, marble stairs… just wow.

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One advice I can give to anyone who’d like to visit – come super early and pick the sections you’d like to explore most, as one day is not near enough to scout all of its valuable contents. I knew what I wanted to see most – Egyptian History, and more specific – mummies. But of course, I still got held up in a massive room of mixed artefacts before I even got to the Egyptian section. I must of stayed there for about 40 minutes before I moved on to most desired section… and when I did….ohh boyy.

I’ve been to a lot of museums, and checking online website, the museum didn’t specify how extensive their collection is, so when I walked into a room filled with mummies, skeletons, hieroglyphs, statues, caskets etc. I was stunned. And that was not all… because there were more rooms like that.

I stood there for a second, not knowing which way to go, then I started the journey of admiring- reading- and admiring again. The fascination kept rising as I immersed myself in the Egyptian History and rituals. Like for example, reading about their burial rituals, how they removed the organs from the body and the extensive process to preserve it, so that we get to admire it now, thousands of years later. It was so surreal to read about their beliefs and way of living, while actually seeing real evidence of what was left behind rather than just reading a book.

I was there, in the same room with only glass between myself and an artefact that was made thousands of year ago and was handled by hundreds of important, significant people. Time was just a surreal concept, a thin line, like that glass between me and that object.
Looking at different caskets and art surrounding them, the amulets and jewellery objects, I remembered my childhood dream pop into my head, like a little itch. It was to be an archaeologist, while my career path certainly strained from that, the passion and fascination remained, undeveloped, unshaped – raw and pure- that of a little girl.

I studied the skulls and read about the different rituals or organ retraction and looked at the tools used to extract the brain, through the nose among different other techniques. The amount of knowledge I managed to soak up that day is insane!

Spending so much time in the Egyptian section of the museum, I had barely any time to explore the rest of it, I did manage to sprint across different sections to see some of Picasso's work and the Asian section of the museum. I was trying so hard not to get sucked into this world of history, wonder and knowledge again, but I had a pretty strict day schedule.

The Asian section was mesmerising in arts, colours.... but sadly I only caught a glimpse of it before time escaped through my fingers and it was time to head back, I could of easily spent and entire day in that museum and I still think it wouldn't be close to enough time to absorb all that knowledge and beauty.

It was time to start heading back to make it in time for my project….. which I will write about in the next post as this one is quite long already hehe
So, I will finish this post by sharing my passion of coffee with you all and repeating the coffee shop slogan I spotted just outside a quirky coffee shop.... : ''May your coffee kick in before the reality does!''. Mine kicked in just in time hehe

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next part! Can't wait to share more of the London magic with you all!

Let me know your thoughts!

Cheers,

Marta x