Seat of Our Pants » museum

How We Spent an (Almost) Free Day in London

Jaime — Sun, 09 May 2010 15:58:08 +0000

We’re poor backpackers. I’ll just say that up front. We’ve been traveling for a year now, slowly bleeding money from our bank accounts. We’ve spent most of our time in SE Asia, India and Nepal, which means we’ve been able to stretch our money quite well – until now.

For whatever reason (Martin and I are still trying to figure this one out) we decided to fit in five expensive cities into our final month traveling: Stockholm, London, New York, Washington DC and San Francisco. We’re able to stay with friends in each city, relieving us of the cost of lodging but we can’t stay in our rooms all day, can we?

We have to eat, so some of our money is spent on food. When meals are at least $10/person/meal, the trick to staying on budget is to find fun, interesting things to do that are cheap – free, even. Our first attempt was in London two days ago. It was a smashing success. London is a great place for free activities because they believe in a little thing called the Free Museum Entry.

We began our day with a visit to the swans at Kensington Gardens, which is obviously not a museum but free nonetheless. Though we weren’t particularly well received (we didn’t have anything to feed them), we paid nothing to see these huge creatures. Being largely ignored by the Kensington Garden swans – FREE!

London's Natural History Museum

Our next stop was at the Natural History Museum. It was a quick tour (we knew how much we had ahead of us) but was enough to bring out the kid in us again. Dinosaur bones, huge ammonite fossils, and stuffed Dodo birds – all for FREE!

Entrance to the Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Next up was my personal favorite (I’ve been there at least 25 times over the years), the Victoria & Albert Museum. If you’re into historical textile, fashion, sculpture, painting, furniture or, well anything, you will love this place. It has a bit of everything – on display for, you guessed it – FREE!

The amazing Turbine Hall of London's Tate Modern

After leaving the V&A we dashed over to something completely different: the Tate Modern. In a ten minute tube ride we jumped hundreds of years into the Modern era. On display was one of my favorite works by Francis Bacon, Triptych August 1972. An hour of pure modern art bliss – FREE!

Below the Tate Modern is an easily accessible Thames riverbank where we spent an hour treasure hunting, as Martin describes here. Finding bits of London history that we can keep – FREE!

Checking out bits of the Acropolis at the British Museum

Up next was the British museum, an absolute must see when you’re in London. Packed into their space is something for everyone. Literally. They have over seven million objects in their collection. We chose to concentrate on the Turkish items, since that’s our next destination. Turkey travel prep (with a quick swing through the Egyptian mummy exhibit and the Acropolis room) – FREE!

We polished off the day at a proper London pub, drinking a few pints of beer – NOT FREE, but well deserved.

The total cost for the day was 14 pounds each for an all-day travel pass for the London Underground. We ate on the cheap so were able to polish off the day exhausted, happy and only a little over budget (darn beer – gets us every time!) Thank you London for an amazing day.

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Bali Museum

Jaime — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:07:45 +0000

We had a day to kill here in Bali, so we set up a mini self-guided walking tour of Denpasar. On the itinerary was the Bali Museum. It was just OK. We did find two, um, interesting pieces. The first was a painting of an ecstatic woman who is just a little too into her children (pictured above and described below).

The second was this fine monkey sculpture. And, if you had any misguided ideas about the subject of the piece, the placard spells it out quite elegantly, indeed.

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The Elusive Mummy

Martin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:33:43 +0000

We’ve tried to get a look at Ho Chi Minh’s mummy three times now, and there always seems to be something that gets in the way. Today we got to the mausoleum nice and early, only to find it closed for the day.

It’s a pity – I’ve always wanted to see one of the Communist leader mummies. There are a few of them around the world: Lenin in Moscow, Mao Zedong in Beijing and Kim Il Sung in North Korea. They did the same thing to Stalin but changed their minds after a while. He’s now dug down underneath the Kremlin wall.

We’re going to miss out on the mummy, since we’re en route to Hong Kong very shortly. Ah well, next time Uncle Ho!

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War Remnants Museum

Jaime — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:19:42 +0000

The War Remnants Museum is a must see when in Ho Chi Minh City. The museum’s brochure describes itself as an institute of systematical study, collection and preservation of war crimes and their impact on the Vietnamese people.

Today’s visit was my second time, but it packed no less of a punch. War is a nasty thing. The Vietnam War was no exception. Atrocities were committed. This museum is, of course, organized by the Vietnamese. Naturally they exhibit images of extreme American behavior - laughing soldiers holding the severed heads of Vietnamese, photos of children born with defects due to Agent Orange exposure, massacred families, bombed factories, etc . As an American, my heart hurt while looking at these images. They are, of course, what draws the crowds.

Another nearly deserted section of the museum, though no less interesting, was dedicated to Vietnamese children’s interpretation of “War and Peace”. Beautifully depicted images of peace and hope, drawn mostly with crayons by children age 8-14, stood as a stunning juxtaposition to the war images captured in the adjacent rooms.

All in all – a worthwhile trip, but if you have a sensitive stomach you might want to digest your food before checking it out.

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