Day 2: British Library & British Museum

Sunday, our first full day in London. There was a park across the street from us, on the way to the Tube stop. I imagine that it must be even more beautiful during the spring and summer. We got some unexpected history. There was a memorial at the location where the scaffold had been set up for the execution of, among others, Sir Thomas More. Brian is looking at the markers, which listed the names of others who had met a similar fate.
We hopped on the Tube and made our way to Spitalfields Market. We walked around, looking at the various things that were for sale. Brian got some money from the ATM:
Here is a view of part of the market (it was much bigger than we anticipated):
We stopped at a cafe for coffee and breakfast:
And then we hopped on the Tube again and visited the British Library.
Unfortunately, camera were not allowed to be used inside. We saw, among other things, copies of the magna carta, Shakespeare's First Folio, drawings by Leonardo, and original music scores by various composers.

Then, we headed over to the British Museum; here are Brian and Rose entering through a back entrance:
We were surprised and pleased to see that the atrium had the same glass ceiling as we'd seen at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in DC.
We ate lunch in their cafe; here's a view of the line from an upper level:
Here are Rose and Brian, with a view of the shop in the background. Brian and I were very pleasantly surprised by the quantity and quality of vegetarian choices at every place we frequented. It was easier to find great stuff to eat here than back home!

I am barely visible, but here I am next to a moai:
And here's Brian looking at an exhibit of pills that purported to show how many pharmaceuticals the average person will consume in their lifetime:
Finally, I tried to get a picture of the Rosetta Stone. As you might imagine, it attracted quite the crowd (even in November!) This particular man kept getting in the way of my camera. I tried from several different angles, but he managed to get in front of me every single time. I decided that was a sign that he was meant to be in the blog:
Then, we stopped in at a pub for a drink. While paging through a guidebook to see what else we might be able to do on a Sunday evening, we noticed that Westminster Abbey had a free organ concert every Sunday at 17:45. We calculated that we'd have just enough time to make it, and we were seated with a minute to spare!

After the concert, we walked around. This picture is rather dark, but that's London at night. You can see the London Eye, lit up in green in the background. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner.And then took the Tube back home. Here are Rose and Brian waiting for the train to arrive:

Off to bed after a first exhausting day in London!