大英博物馆，科文特花园，见亲戚 (British Museum, Covent Garden, Harry & Susan)

6月23日 星期六 – June 23 Saturday

大英博物馆 – The British Museum

今天早上和PJG去了大英博物馆，该馆建于1753年，是世界上规模最大的博物馆之一，永久拥有的藏品高达800万件。更值得称赞的是博物馆是免费的！伦敦所有的博物馆应该都是免费的。博物馆非常大，展品也非常多，在这里仔细看的话，花个几天也是可以的。我俩当然不要花那么多时间在这里，只看了一些罗马和埃及时期的展品。在观看展品的时候，看到很多中国旅游团有讲解员带着，顺耳听到一个男讲解员在讲解一组希腊神话的浮雕的时候，真的是很有中国味儿啊，而且听起来很像北方人。他讲到人马族人去参加邻居拉庇泰族人举行的婚礼，“人马族人喝高了，把人家媳妇给抢走了。”  怎么样，听起来很容易理解吧？

This morning we went to the British Museum, which was built in 1753, and is one of the largest museums in the world with a permanent collection of 8 million pieces. What is more unbelievable is that the museum is free! Actually all the museums in London are free. This museum is very large and exhibits many things, and it would really take more than a few days to see it all. Of course we won’t spend that much time here, we only plan to see some of the exhibits of Rome and Egypt.

虽说博物馆珍藏着百万件的藏品，可以想象出英国当年很多展品的获得也许是值得挑战的。比如听到另一个中文讲解员说到，英国当年看到半人半兽的亚述之牛时，知道它们的价值有多高，决心一定要把它们带回英国。但是一个雕像就有3吨重，怎么带呢？ “聪明的”英国人想出的办法竟然是切割！他们把雕像横着一切为二，就这样带了回来。现在那个切痕还非常明显。

While watching the exhibits, I saw a lot of Chinese tour groups with a guide. Listening to this particular male commentator explaining Greek mythology … I found it interesting that he added a very local northern Chinese flavor and he is definitely from my area the North. He talked about the centaurs (half man half horse) going to the wedding of the neighbors, “the centaurs drank too much and stole away the bride.” (n.b. Apparently it’s much funnier in Chinese) How about that? Easy to understand, right? The museum has a collection of millions of precious artwork, but how they acquired all the stuff might be questionable. For example, one of the other Chinese commentators said that when the British saw the “cows of Assyria”, also half man and half beast, they knew how valuable it was and were determined to bring it back to England. But the statue is 3 tons!! How to bring it back? Then a very “smart” Englishman came up with a way … cut it in half!! They cut the statue sideways into two pieces and brought it back to England.

我没有拍什么展品的照片，不知道为什么我不是很喜欢拍那种照片，感觉那种照片，尤其是围满了参观的人群的时候，让那些本来有着神秘色彩的，反应当时人类的智慧才华和审美的，来自千年前的物品失去了生命感，像是动物园里被围观的动物，有些残酷有些没人性。

And now you can see that cut is pretty obvious. (See below)

I don’t generally like to take pictures of art pieces in exhibits like this because I feel it makes them too much like being in a zoo, especially when they are surrounded by hundreds of tourists. All of the pieces and art work represent mysteries, reflect the wisdom of human talent and aesthetics from thousands of years ago. Photos seem to take all that away.

科文特花园 – Covent Garden

科文特花园其实是一个大集市，一个很多人都推荐的一定要来的地方。罗素家族曾拥有科文特花园所在的这块地区。这里有很多饭馆，酒馆，各种摊位卖很多各式的工艺品，饰品等。这里也有很多街头艺人表演，弹吉他唱歌，小提琴大提琴合奏，意大利歌剧加魔术。在这里可以喝一杯下午茶，坐一个下午，看路边的行人来来往往，听街头艺人的动人歌声，很惬意。

Covent Garden is actually a big market, a lot of people are recommended to come to the place. The Russell family once owned the area of the garden of the city of Como. There are many restaurants, pubs, various stalls selling many kinds of handicrafts, jewelry and so on. There are also many street performers, guitar singing, violin cello ensemble, Italian opera plus magic.

Here you can have a cup of afternoon tea, sit for an afternoon, watch the people come and go, listen to the street artists’ moving songs, very comfortable.

见亲戚 – Seeing Relatives

PJG继父的女儿，也就是继姐的家在伦敦，晚上我俩去了那里吃晚饭。我从来没有见过她和她的先生，上一次PJG和他们见面也大概是15年以前了。从我俩住的地方到她们的家，地铁直达，一共有7站。她们先招待了我俩下午茶和司康饼，噢～ 她们的司康饼比昨天我们在那个酒店吃的好吃多了 😀  然后我们去了一个英国酒馆喝了一杯，再回到她们家，吃了她们准备的丰盛的晚餐。

We went to James’ step-sister Susan’s home in London for dinner. I had not met her and her husband Harry before, and the last time PJG saw them was probably 15 years ago. From our place to their home, we took the northern line subway and it was only 7 stops.

她们这边的很多家庭的住房都是1890年左右建的，包括她们住的那栋。房子都保存的很好，而且她们家的壁炉两侧的装设，地板的装饰等还都是当时建房时候留下的，现在保存的还都完好。政府有很多关于保护这种住家房子的规则，分级别，什么可以改动，什么不可以，英国人也非常遵守。

They served us afternoon tea and scone cakes (yummy) – their scone cakes were much better than the ones we had at the hotel yesterday 😀 We then we went to an English pub to have a drink and then returned to their house to eat the sumptuous dinner they had prepared. Many of the houses in the neighborhood were built in around 1890, including the one they live in.

The government has a lot of rules about how to protect the houses, the landscaping, what can be changed, what can not – and, of course, the British are very compliant.

他姐姐Susan和姐夫Harry非常友好，非常容易进行沟通，对美国的政治时事非常了解，有着英国人的那种幽默。她们准备了非常好吃的晚饭，我们从开胃菜，面包到主菜和甜点，真的是盛情款待 😀 我和PJG到家后已经半夜12点半了，我俩都吃撑的走不动了。

His step-sister Susan and her husband Harry, are very friendly, very easy to communicate with and very familiar with the political affairs of the US and with British humor.

They prepared a very good dinner, from appetizers, bread to the main course and dessert it was really warm hospitality 😀 we got home after 12:30 am stuffed to the gills and needed a walk.

遗憾的是我激动的拍了很多食物的照片，竟然没有拍个合影留念！

Unfortunately, I was so excited to take a lot of food photos, we totally forgot to take photos of the four of us as a souvenir!

我很高兴认识她们，她们很包容，我和Susy聊天的时候，她说到有些西方人要求中国进行减排，减少大气污染，可是西方人包括英国在发展的时期也制造了很多污染，现在要求中国减排似乎有些不公平。我知道她是站在理解中国的立场上讲的，但是庆幸的是我们也意识到了污染的严重性，尤其是生活在经常红色预警的空气之中。希望我们在科技的帮助下会越做越好吧。

I am very happy to know them, they are very kind. Susan and I talked about global warming and how some in the West call for China to cut their emissions and reduce air pollution. But I said, in the West, including the UK during their rapid development periods also created a lot of pollution! So now requiring China to cut their emissions seems to be somewhat unfair. However, I know that she is trying to understand China’s position, and we are all aware of the seriousness of the pollution issue, especially in China when we have frequent air quality red alerts. I hope China can improve with the help of technology.