Onward and Upward: The British Museum...which has nothing to do with the British

This morning we had planned to take a walking tour of the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham. We grabbed coffee and a quick bite to eat from the local coffee shop called Fix...it's becoming a morning routine for us...all two days that is :) However, as soon as we reached the Tube station, we discovered that the line we had planned to take is not in order this weekend. This set us back, time-wise, and we realized we would not be able to make the Tour. Post-poning the tour for tomorrow, we walked back to the Drion's to grab a few things we'd forgotten. We ended up staying for a couple hours and the next post will hopefully show why (if I can get a video to upload...).
Shortly before noon, we set off once again. A few yards down the road lives another English family that has also recently graduated from The Masters Seminary, who also knew my family, and who is also here to help plant the new church. They were so kind as to let us borrow a book. Random, you may think?
This book was desirous to us because it is called "Heritage of Evidence in the British Museum." You are now thinking, "they needed it because they are going to the British Museum!" Very good, you are correct. Now you may wonder, "why do they need this book?" Welll, the British Museum, if you haven't been before, is extremely large and can be quite overwhelming because there are many, many rooms with many, many artifacts- most of them Ancient. (duh) No, I mean really ancient...like from Bible times...Old Testament Bible times!
This book, is really a tour "guide" that leads you around the museum while explaining the Biblical significance of each artifact. It emphasized the corroboration of Biblical verses to secular artifacts that only serve to prove the Bible's authenticity. In simpler terms, the artifacts we saw today are proof that the Bible is true. As Christians, we automatically believe that the Bible is true because we believe in God and in His perfect Word. But seeing the artifacts today was simply extra confirmation, and so much fun to learn about. The cultures back then were so different, and the fact that we can see a jar that is thousands of years old is mind-boggling. It was especially exciting for me because a lot of the artifacts we saw and read about related to what I learned in Israel a few years ago at IBEX.
A few artifacts we saw were:
-The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (853-841 BC)
-The Amarna letters
-Old Babylonian Mathematics
-A Silver Lyre
-The Taylor Prism, originally found in Nineveh
-The Babylonian Chronicles (which confirm the collapse of the Assyrian empire and the fall of Nineveh to the Babylonians. In the Bible, Nahum and Zephaniah had predicted the fall of Nineveh, and Jeremiah recorded it.)
-Cylinder Inscription of Nabonidus (proving there was such a person as Belshazzar)
-some Mummies
-and so much more...

Half way through our "tour" we left to grab lunch at a pub nearby. We both had really yummy pies and chips...don't worry Americans, its not what you think. Pies = meat pies...don't really know how to explain it, and you probably know what I mean, so if not, google it. Chips = Fries.

After leaving the Museum, Stephen and I wandered. We had no destination in mind, so we simply explored and observed the streets of London. We took the Tube to Picadilly, where we continued to explore, only stopping to eat a snack of amazing Gelato (as recommended by the Drions).

We eventually dragged our tired legs to a Tube station and headed back home. Being Saturday, and since one of the main lines wasn't working, the Tube was super CROWDED. The weather has also been really nice and warm, so underneath the ground, with no ventilation and several bodies, it felt extremely stuffy and hot. We crammed (literally...I could barely move) into a train and several stops later we headed for a connecting line. Our connecting train was waiting in the station so I rushed to get on board. I turned around just in time to see the doors close with Stephen on the other side. Fortunately, we both knew the stop and I was able to wait for him there.

The rest of the night was restful as we watched Tangled with Donna. :)
Here's a few pix:

Carys is ready too!