You could spend your entire visit to London in the British Museum alone so I suggest that you pick up a map when you arrive and choose the rooms that most interest you. There are free half an hour tours conducted regularly throughout the day and also free talks held in some of the galleries. It is an amazing place to visit even if its just for the brilliant architecture inside and out. It holds the largest collection of international artefacts in the UK so there is so many interesting things to see, I think it would be a crime to go to London and not visit the Bitish Museum! It is open sat-wed - 10am - 17.30 and thurs-fri - 10.00 - 20.30, so theres no excuse not to see what this amazing museum has to offer.
I found the Mexican room really interesting, as it was full of decorative skulls that originally belonged to human sacrifices. The Mayans believed that human sacrifice was the only way to please the Gods and keep the sun in the sky. They decorated the skulls afterwards in a mosaic and placed them outside the temples to show the Gods how many people they had sacrificed.
Another really interesting part of the British Museum was the room full of Chinese artifacts. It was full of enormous deity statues and really intricate decorative stoneware which I could have looked at all day they were so pretty! Here I learnt about some of the Buddist teachings. They literally have a God for everything!
Camden Town *****star
Camden Market is made up of 5 main areas - Camden Lock, Camden Buck St, Inverness Street, Camden Stables and the main street so it is pretty huge! You can find everything here, from alternative fashion and vintage clothing, to foreign food and world music. Even if you don't buy anything its great to just wander round and soak up the buzzing, colourful atmosphere of one of the biggest most popular markets in London.
Alternatively...
Check out the smaller markets. If the size of Camden is daunting, then head over to Shoreditch where you'll find a good selection of smaller markets to peruse.
- Start at Liverpool St Station
- Go left down Bishopgate
- Turn right onto Middlesex St
- This is Petticoat Lane Market
- Make your way through it till you reach Commercial St.
- Turn left and you will find Spitalfields Market
- Opposite here there is a road called Hanbury Street.
- This will take you to Brick Lane
- Here you will find curry mile and Backyard Market.
Backyard Market ***star
A smaller version of Camden really, Backyard Market is a compact little market with ethnic food and arts and crafts. A lot of art students have stalls here selling slogan T-shirts they have made. So if you're looking for an individual one off find, you'll definately get something here. Open saturdays and sundays.
Look out for the Gherkin!
