London, UK

[melita66]

I returned recently from a trip to London. The main purpose of the trip was for a OGP Surveying and Positioning's Geodetics subcommittee meeting, but I had a few days holiday as well. There were two museums that I wanted to see: Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and Sir John Soane's Museum.

The Petrie museum is located at University College London (UCL), nearest tube stations: Euston Square or Goodge Street. The Petrie museum has a fantastic collection of Egyptian artifacts. I particularly enjoy seeing the jewelry (cases and cases of necklaces and belts generally sorted by color/material). It's only a few rooms and the amount of artifacts is amazing. It's very much an old style museum with as much as possible on display. They even have torches (flashlights) so you can peer into the sometimes dark display cases. Photos of the collection are online.

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
UCL
Malet Place

PUBLIC OPENING HOURS (Note: Closed during UCL's Christmas and Easter breaks)
Tuesday to Friday 13.00 – 17.00
Saturday 11.00 – 14.00
Admission is FREE.

http://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk

The 2nd museum is the Sir John Soane's Museum. I had never been there before, and only went because of the current exhibit: Mrs Delany and Her Circle (until 1 May 2010). On display are some of her paper mosaic botanical studies and an amazing embroidered court dress. Sir John Soane was a collector and there are many bits and pieces collected from the Mediterranean area.

Sir John Soane's Museum
13 Lincoln's Inn Fields

Admission is free.
Tuesday to Saturday inclusive, 10-5.
Also on the first Tuesday evening of each month, 6-9 pm. (expect long lines)
Closed Sunday, Monday, Bank holidays and Christmas Eve.

Closest tube station: Holborn on the Central Line.

http://www.soane.org/

Tips for London travel

If arriving at Heathrow, use Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect to travel to Paddington Station. I use Heathrow Connect as it's not that much slower than the Express and a bit cheaper, 15.80 pounds (as of March 2010), and takes around 25 minutes. Heathrow Express it 30 pounds (50 pounds first class) and takes 15 minues.

http://www.heathrowconnect.com
http://www.heathrowexpress.com

Get an Oyster Card. The Oyster Card is a bit like an ATM card--load money onto it and then freely use it on the underground, buses, DLR (Docklands Light Rail), and national rail (within zones 1-9). You cannot use an Oyster card for the Heathrow Connect or Express services. What's also handy is that if  you make several trips in a day, the amount charged will not be more than a day travel card. At the turnstiles there is a big yellow circle. You touch/hold your card there briefly until the gate opens. Cool!

https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do