Museum of wonders

Today I went for an interview with yet another recruitment firm (a necessary evil? We shall see) and then met Prita. We wandered to the British Museum. The gates are immense and as you walk through them you are confronted by a vast Romanesque temple, massive columns along a long arcaded front. Entering I looked up to see the ceiling painted with harmonious patterns. Inside the great hall all is light, the internal courtyard has been covered over with a vast glass roof which seemed to me like palm leaves stretching from the central tower. All around the open space stood statues and other treasures, and people wandered between them. The sense of being both inside and outside was strong and very pleasant. We wandered into the ancient Egyptian area, massive statues of pharaohs and other greats looked down on us and we talked of the poem of Ozymandias (?), and then Prita showed me a large but rough peice of granite, which it turns out is a fragment, a fragment! Of the beard which used to hang from the Sphinx. This tiny fragment was apparently not the original even, but a piece of an early restoration, something like 1000 years BC! Time seemed immense.

Then we came to the Assyrian section. Two winged bulls with the heads and beards of Assyrian kings stood guard, and we walked between them to the massive gate of the palace, restored using only the copper bands which had bound the door. It stood 17 metres above us, richly inlaid with bronze. Turning we made our way into a gallery with scenes of Assyrian life, 1000 BC and so complex, castes and professions and order and rules. Each tablet was bas relif but also held rich inscriptions in cuneiform, perhaps Accadian(?), the text, it seemed to me, flowed across the figures, how amazing it would be to be able to read the script and decipher their thoughts and actions!

We then popped in to see the Elgin marbles. I was happy to see that as we walked in past doors designed to keep the humidity constant that they were at least looking after them! As we walked in a woman gruffly shouted directions to her companions across the hall in Greek. She sounded kind of angry and we wondered if seeing them there made her grumpy. They are amazing and the scale f what is there is incredible – the details striking and I look forward to seeing them again. I couldn’t help but be awed at what is there and what remained in Athens (very little!).

After that we walked through London towards the National Library (British Library?), and noticed how the streets of rich houses all offices now gave way to a grungier look as we approached Kings cross – and then we turned the corner and were both stunned again by the gothic imperial splendour of the Kings Cross Station, all spires and pointy turrets reaching for the heavens.

Beer and chocolate

Riding across the French border into Belgium was like riding into Canberra. There was no significant difference in the landscape, shops, cars or people. The south of Belgium speaks French so the ads and the restaurants looked the same. Only suddenly the roads improved. There were bicycle paths everywhere and cars suddenly started treating us with a modicum of respect. Everything else looked the same, but there was no doubt we had left France because the traffic was moving 20km slower on all road size.

Clearly then, we loved Belgium from the start. After months of being cramped and side-swiped and driven into, we suddenly had free reign over huge bicycle only lanes, often separated from the traffic via a gutter. It was truly magnificent, and it was only uphill from there.

I have discovered that the Belgians are the quiet achievers. They were more often the battleground for the surrounding regions than the battle starters. They don’t tend to trumpet the greatness of their country. But throughout the last millennium they were quietly making some of the most beautiful things in the world (paintings, tapestries, diamonds and gold) and of course, perfecting beer and chocolate. Really, a very impressive people and place.

We had the luxury of staying with family (in law) in Ghent, my favourite city in Belgium. It has a great feel to it, possibly because it has the largest university in Belgium and far fewer tourists than Brussels and Brugge. We were able to tootle around the beautiful canal paths while sampling beer and chocolate inbetween. I recommend it to anyone.

And that Ladies and Gentlemen, is the end of the 100 day honeymoon.