Tuesday around London - part 2

After our visit to the British Library, (see Tuesday part 1 here:https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/07/tuesday-around-london-part-1.html ), we decided to walk toward the British Museum. They have free tickets that you can book for specific times online, but we didn't have any idea when we would end up getting there. The website said that they also allowed people to come in who did not have tickets, so we thought we'd give it a try.

On the way, we happened upon Cartwright Gardens - the name of this pretty crescent-shaped street, 

... along with a pretty little "pocket" park...

... with a statue of John Cartwright...

... some information about Cartwright Gardens.

Carl wanted to try coffee at a coffee shop (he has been getting coffee with the free breakfast at our hotel, but has not been satisfied with the coffee he has been getting -- there is a machine with a lot of options available on it, but he hasn't hit upon the combination that makes the kind of coffee he likes). He liked the coffee at lever&bloom coffee. Note the cute little milk "jug".

A building with pretty flowers along our walk

We stopped for lunch at a place (GBK - Gourmet Burger Kitchen) that advertised hamburgers at 50% off...

Interesting sign directing to restrooms

Our hamburgers were delicious! We wondered before ordering if there would be some "catch" on the 50% off, but there wasn't... the folks in the shop were very nice and we got the burgers at half price.

We then stopped at a pharmacy looking for some pain relief medicines that would not upset the stomach... as we were looking for the pain relief area...

... we found the "IBS &Bloating & Wind Relief" area!

Near the British Museum, we passed through Russell Square (another small park) and saw this sign about an "Insect Hotel"...

This is the insect hotel that was near the sign. It was interesting that there was a hole in the back that was intended to be used by birds -- I was wondering if the birds viewed it as a Bed 'n' Breakfast!

Outside the British Museum, we saw some iconic British Telephone booths that had this sign on them... "protected for future generations"...

... one of the phone booths outside the British Museum.

We got to the British Museum -- there were a LOT of people...

... there was a line (queue) for people who did not have tickets... the people there looked like they had been waiting for a while...

... on the other side was the line (queue) for people who did have tickets - I think the entry times on the free tickets that could be reserved online were every 10 minutes, so this line probably moved along pretty quickly as long as you didn't arrive way before your entry time.

We decided not to wait, we had other things we wanted to do. We headed to a nearby bus stop...

... saw a UPS truck (electric vehicle) nearby.

After we got onto the bus, it went by the front of the British Museum, so we got another picture of it from the outside.

While on the bus, we saw this interesting store on a corner where our bus was stopped for a light. Jas Smith & Sons - it appears they sell "sticks" and "umbrellas". In the windows, we saw fancy canes and umbrellas.

We realized that we were going by the front of Central Baptist Church where we had attended church on Sunday, so we got a picture of the front of their building.

Lots and lots of rental bikes all over London -- this was one stand of them. As we understood it, you can check out a bike with your phone, ride wherever you need to go, and then just leave it on the sidewalk. The bike riders must have nerves of steel the way they weave in and out of traffic.

We took a picture of this telephone booth (from the bus) as it actually still had the pay telephone in it. Don't know if it still works or not.

Carl took a timelapse video of part of our bus journey - this was heading southwest from Piccadilly Circus toward the area behind Buckingham Palace -- you can view it here: https://youtu.be/rQtAToWduHM 

Just a little more from Tuesday, but I'll put it into another post.