34 things to do in London with Kids (when school is on strike) - Part 2

.... (cont'd) I think we left of at #23 on our list of things seen on the strike day, so, lets pick up there. We left off as we were leaving the Enlightenment Room in the British Museum...



Investigating the Totem Pole

 24. We headed out to the atrium, and headed up the stairs so the boys could get a closer look at the top of the Nu'chal'nuth totem pole (where you can see the Chief at the pinnacle, holding a talking stick).

It was fun looking at the glass roof, and the shadows it was sending onto the wall alongside it.

25. We found the Egyptian Room, and looked at a page from the Book of the Dead. 

You can read the page just like a comic book: from left to right. You see Anubis bringing a guy into the hall of judgement, then weighing his heart against the feather of Maat, then Toth proclaiming the man worthy, and then introducing him to Osiris. Again,... right out of the Rick Riordan books!

The Book of the Dead



Duncan was certain that his friend Felix from home would be dying to be there too! of course... since we were surrounded by mummies, maybe "dying" is not quite the right word?...

26. There were tons of mummies to see there, as well as bones. The boys admired the dental hygiene of the egyptians, since many of the skulls had shining white teeth still intact!

We then took a few detours so Kaseem could see some of the parts of the museum that Duncan thinks very cool, like,

27. The horse fragment from the top of the Massauleum at Halikarnasos...

28. ... and the the Nereid Monument...it is just too cool!


lounging by the Nereid Monument




crossing Hungerford Bridge

 
28. We headed back to the tube line, and off to Embankment, where we walked across the Hungerford Bridge to the other side of the river.

We had a great view of the Gerkin, the Shard, and the silty waters of the Thames.

29. We wandered down the Southbank, past the many buskers out performing their acts in the heat of the sun. The 'blue statue girl' here did a pretty solid job!



hanging out with the buskers...



We finally arrived at the Nameco Station Arcade (where I had a groupon for a ridiculous number of tokens). I don't even know how to summarize the next couple of hours, other than to continue with the list:



getting ready for yet another ride...



30. Bumper cars.

This was the real hit of the day... I have never seen two kids go on the bumper cars so many times in a row! 

They were maniacs. 

I was starting to worry about soft tissue brain injury!  (but i wasn't sure if that was them bashing the heck out of eachother, or from me WATCHING them)

what i felt like watching it all!

This second photo (while they might not be visible) kind of captures something of their frenetic insane energy!

 31. Video games of all sorts (mostly involving weapons of mass destruction, of course!)




ready to try it again?

 32. The 'flight simulator' ride.

Basically, it makes you 'feel' that you are either on a rollercoaster, or shooting through space, etc. 

Duncan was delighted to be trying it out with Kaseem.  Last time we were here, Steve went with him, and had to hit the 'panic' button to stop the thing before he lost the contents of his stomach.  But these two boys were far less queezy.  Again... my task was to just keep pumping in the tokens, while they tried every option on the game.  They concluded that #3 of the choices was the best one.

33. When the coins were finally done, it was time to head back out into the last light of day.

We grabbed a Belgian Waffle, and stopped for a gaze across the Thames at Big Ben.

34. We decided to take a different route home, so we walked back across Westminster Bridge, so we could get a shot of the Thames with the London Eye in the background.

And there you have it.... 34 things to do or see when your school is on strike! Go teachers, Go!!!!!