Lovely London Sunday

A Proper Good Morning to You,

Despite a forecast of gloom and possible rain, the day turned out to be gloriously sunny and warm--just perfect!
I began the day with a stroll down High Holborn to Chancery Lane.  Now we're in Dickens's territory!  I came back and then ducked down an alley literally across the street from my place and entered the Legal World!  Lincoln's Inn's Fields is about two minutes walk from Citadines, but I rarely think to go there.  I had a nice stroll around and also by the other Inns of Court nearby, which of course were deserted on Sunday morning.
Once I'd had enough of that I walked up to the British Museum. They were letting folks in early. Nice!  I took a different stairway up and came across a rich vein of things I had not seen before, and I am pretty sure had never seen on numerous previous visits.  Perhaps they are fairly new?  Anyway the most impressive was some stunning art from Ancient Cyprus and a wealth of wonderful everyday items and fine art from the Pre Roman Italian Peninsula.  The Etruscans were there of course, but there were also some amazing artifacts from Sicily, Sardinia, and the Southern part of the Italian Peninsula.
I also paid much more attention to the shops this time.  At the British Museum you will always be able to find food--either a snack bar or the fancier restaurant in the central pavilion, and you will always be offered an opportunity to spend your money.  Mind the shops are great!  A couple of them on the periphery are the high end shops with fine jewelry and full size reproductions, the most elegant of chinaware, and the silkiest of scarves.
In the center you will find a wealth of books, and I had a good time looking, plus a lot of other very nice merchandise.  You can buy doodads of course.  I confess to being tempted by the prospect of having my own pet Lammasu, but I was deterred by the weight.  But you can get scarves and umbrellas and t shirts and that sort of thing as well.  They have a lot of fun looking stuff for kids.
Having museumed myself out, I then set forth down Oxford Street, which is London's major shopping street.  It's also one of London's major thorough fares so none of it is pedestrianized.  I had a long walk to Selfridge's.  By that time Oxford Street was very lively.  A lot of stores now open on Sunday, which is something new since my last visit.
Selfridges is a high end store, but to my mind more user friendly than either Harrods--go look of course--or Fortnum and Mason--I don't think I've ever bought anything but tea there.  Selfridges has everything those admittedly elegant stores have, including an extensive food hall, but I have the idea that Londoners actually shop there.  I shopped this time mostly for ideas as I did not buy anything this trip. By that time I was footsore, so I tubed home via Bond Street and the Central Line.
I was hungry when I got home, too, so I made up an English apero of cidre, cheese, and olives.
Dinner is more chicken tikka masala. England is the only place I eat it because England is the only place I think of it, this dish being after all one of Britain's national dishes, and by all accounts was invented in Britain much like the ultimate doner kebab was invented somewhere in Europe.  Glasgow tried to get EU Origin Protected status for the stuff, but other people and places disputed Glasgow's story of the dish's invention.  Chicken tikka is just piece of chicken cooked on a tandoori oven with a spicy tomatoish sauce dumped over it usually served over rice or naan.  There are probably as many versions as there are cooks.
Cherrio!