Greetings from London! I’m sitting in my Airbnb-rented flat with a mug of PG Tips, ready to write a quick blog post and trying not to eat a whole package of chocolate Digestives in one sitting. It’s day sixteen of a twenty day trip. I’m at the point where although I’m still really enjoying myself, I’m starting to miss home a bit more, and thinking about my animals a lot.
One of the highlights of the trip was getting to not only visit the British Museum, but go for two long, glorious days. The museum is free, although we also bought tickets to the special exhibit on Pompeii and Herculaneum, which was excellent. I saw lots of things I’ve read and dreamed about, included the Elgin Marbles.
The Elgin Marbles are the sculptures from the frieze, pediments, and metopes of the Parthenon in Athens. They were brought to Britain by Lord Elgin in the early 1800’s where they have been displayed since. For a Classics nerd like myself, this is one of the Must See artifacts from the ancient world.
Horses are commonly depicted in ancient art, of course, but I was really struct by the dynamism and detail of the horses in the Parthenon Frieze. The Frieze has been photographed, drawn, and imitated countless times, but here are some of my favorite pictures showing the expression and detail I found so compelling.

We couldn’t help but laugh at this guy, who appears to be checking his iPhone instead of paying attention to his mount.
I probably could have gazed at these guys forever, but there was much more to see, both in the museum and beyond. I’ve got fodder for a couple more horse-themed posts from the trip which I’ll work on putting together. I have a lot of pictures to sift through, and a lot else to do when I get home :)