| First things first. London is expensive. When I arrived (1998), the Australian dollar was worth around 33p, roughly the same value as the Polish Zloty and the Albanian Lek. This meant I was able to buy a pint of beer for around the same price as a small family sedan at home.
Accommodation is also expensive. I paid around £20 for a bunk bed in a room shared with 15 other people. Fortunately for the budget conscious, sleeping in the gutter is not only free, it’s often safer and more hygienic than many of the cheaper hotels in the city.
The wonderful thing about the British museum is that it’s free, which is remarkable considering it location; London. You could happily spend 3 days wandering around here exploring all the exhibits. Unfortunately, they don’t let you sleep here, so you’re still going to have to fork out 25 quid for a hotel when it closes.
The museums most famous exhibit, the fabled Rosetta stone, was found by engineer Pierre Bouchard in 1799. The museums curators have attempted to recreate this historic event by encasing the stone in the original bullet proof Perspex in which it was discovered.
Many people complain that the British museum has stolen antiquities from the countries of their origin. While this may or may not be true, the British reaction has basically been “If you wanted it so much, why did you let us invade you?”
Then there’s famed Trafalgar Square, with its population of 1 million pigeons. Visitors are advised to bring an umbrella regardless of weather conditions. While most visitors are happy to stare at “Nelson’s column”, the more adventurous will make the worthwhile short walk to the lesser known, “Nelson’s gazebo”. |
