British Isles Explorer Ocean Cruise

Day 3: Thursday, April 09, 2026 - London, England

The day's statistics:
⛅ Weather: low 60s
👟 Steps: Linda 18,363; Steve 18,485

The daily alarm was set for 7:00, as it usually is.
After our getting-ready routine, we headed to the basement for a buffet breakfast.

Yesterday we spent most of the day - generally - in the Tower Hill area.
Today we'd be heading over to the museum district, northwest of where we were.
We were again putting the Go City Pass to use today with a previously reserved British Museum Audio Tour & Priority Entrance Ticket. We were to meet at the fountain in Russell Square.
Our original time was 10:00, but the operator, for whatever reason (not that this is a dig against them) changed it to 10:30. So we weren't exactly rushing out this morning.
After breakfast, we eventually departed the hotel at 9:20.
We needed to get new tickets for the underground - which only took a couple minutes and cost £16.60.
The Circle Line (yellow) took us to Kings Cross where we transferred to the Picadily Line (dark purple) to the Russell Square station.
We walked to Russell Square, but didn't exactly see a fountain. We asked a groundskeeper where it was and he pointed and commented "over there, but it isn't running right now." There were ground level jets that created the fountain as opposed to being a structure. Then I noticed the representative from VOXCity that we were supposed to meet.
After the group gathered - there were about twelve of us - we took the short walk to the museum.

Our guide brought us to the museum map on the wall, pointed out a couple highlights and a suggested route to take, handed out paper maps as well, and then set us free.
The Egyptian wing was our first target, up on the main floor. We climbed the one flight and headed to the right to see the wings. We passed through a large room with some local works, including a Day Of The Dead sculpture.

The main room with the Egyptian artifacts was somewhat narrow, but long. Some of the pieces were interesting looking and or were associated to name we were at least familiar with - such as Imotep (though most likely due to the movie The Mummy).
This was a public venue with a LOT of people around - so some of these are composite / composition shots to help compensate for that.































Further back beyond the Egyptian rooms was the Grecian wing.















We headed out of this wing and came across the infamous Rosetta Stone.


There was an Asian wing that also contained a Holy Thorn reliquary that was made to display a thorn [visible in the very center of the front of the reliquary], supposedly from the crown of thorn by Christ at his crucifixion. It was made in Paris around 1400 for Jean, duc de Berry. It was listed as being in the Viennese Treasury of the holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1544. In 1860 it was sent to Solomon Weininger for repair, he returned a replica. The original was later acquired by Baron Ferdinand's father. Details of the forgery and substitution only surfaced in the 1920s.
The piece was made of enameled gold, sapphires, rubies, and pearls. Paris, 1400.
The amorial enamelled plaques in the base show that it was made for Jean, duc de Berry. The crown of thorns itself was a French royal relic housed in its own chapel in Paris. Individual thorns were detached to make precious reliquary jewels.


I usually reserve comment for individual items when they are significant - like the Rosetta Stone. This isn't necessarily significant but was rather particularly interesting. Plus we took a picture for the grandkids. This unicorn - is actually a cup. The head comes off and the inside is hollow. The separation line can be seen near the base of the mane.

This is jewelry. Jewelry. Jewelry! The second image is a close-up of the middle row middle item in the first to help show the detail.


And we saw some other interesting artifacts in this room.










After the Asian wing, we entered a old library with more artifacts.













Next up were some Chinese artifacts.







There was a room with a number of mummies and some other artifacts.




A number of astronomical instruments were on display too.



An old chess set - called the Lewis Chessmen - was on display. But it was most of the pieces, not all of them.
And for those who may not "know chess", there is a queen missing, and this current configuration is not possible as the cluster of pawns in the middle requires pieces to be captured.




And we continued on into the last wing.




Not quite a selfie...

We made our way back from whence we came, making sure to visit the Easter Island stone head.




After two and a half hours, we finally departed the museum.

It was time for lunch. But we had plans to put the Go City Pass to use again and have lunch at the Seashell. And it was going to be fish and chips.
We had to make our way to the nearest underground stop - and we were in the theater district.

I knew the route we had to take, and the stop - Marylebone - we needed, but I just could not find it on the map. Linda went over and asked an agent for some assistance and he brought up on his device what we needed to do.

A number of the stations are adorned with art of some sort.

Even some of the station stops, such as this one at Baker Street, have an artistic flare.

It took about a half-hour total - including trying to figure out how to get where we needed to go - to get to the station, and then we had a five or so block walk to the restaurant. This was certainly a more quiet and residential area.

There were two Seashell Restaurants, though one - the first on the corner - was more casual / to go. We told them we had the Go City Pass, and they said we had to go next door. No problem.



The Go City Pass fish & chips meal provided a choice of fish or scampi (IIRC, there was even a third option, but I just don't remember what it was).

Linda had the scampi and I had the fish. The portions were very generous. I had to have some of Linda's chips - but I just couldn't finish them because there were just too many. We splurged on glasses of white wine too.

When the waitress prepped the meal - delivering vinegar, tartar sauce, and ketchup to the table - I told her we'll need more ketchup. She pointed at the small bowl of ketchup that was already on the table. I said "Thanks, but we need more." She brought a second. And we - more me than we, I guess - used them both up, and probably could have started on a third.
The meal break took a relaxing hour. And then we headed back into the city a bit for our next Go City Pass stop.

The third and final Go City Pass stop for the day was The Strand Cocktail at The Top Hat.
But first we had to get there. Back to the underground station we arrived at - Marylebone. Took the Bakerloo Line to the Oxford station, and then the Charing Cross station to switch to the Northern Line (black) in order to go three more stops to the Goodge station.
I mapped the Top Hat in the Google Machine and we continued on.


Part of the reason we wanted to go to The Top Hat was because it was labeled a "life-size Monopoly®" place. That sounded neat. The whole facility was Monopoly® themed (not that there is anything wrong with that).



We didn't really need a drink menu because the Go City Pass got us a drink called The Strand.



The coat-check room had a Monopoly® game house outline around the door.
The gift shop area counter had a "Free Parking" drawing on the wall behind it.
There was a Lifesize Monopoly® experience that wasn't even discounted with the Go City Pass. That's fine. It wasn't really something we wanted to do (especially at £40 each).
We headed out and saw that the doors into the place were also adorned for the game.

The "Devil Wears Prada: The Musical" marquee was now visible from this direction.

When we were looking for wine the previous night, the clerk at the small market told us there was a Coop (which we have since found it is really Co-op) by the train station.
On the way to the hotel, we found the Coop. We got a couple bottles of wine - one for tonight and one for tomorrow - and continued on to the hotel.
We were back in the room by 5:30 and enjoyed the wine with some chocolate for our dinner / snack.
Looking out the window of our room, we saw that it overlooked the back of the church next door (the church wasn't open except for service - midday - and we weren't here to visit).

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