Mummies, the Chunnel and the Hungry Man

 

The British Museum lobby.

It was our last day in London and we spent half the day in the British Museum. Surrounded by relics and other items the British literally swiped from other countries, the museum chronicles all of civilization -- from ancient to modern. The Rosetta stone is even housed here.

The best part is the impressive collection of Egyptian mummies. One of the mummies even has red hair still on his head (creepy, yet interesting). Archeologists nicknamed him "Ginger." I'd love to see what this redheaded Egyptian looked like alive.

Swiped from the Parthenon.

There are also tons of reliefs and statues from the Parthenon in Greece. There are so many in the museum, you have to wonder if there are any ornaments left on the actual building. British officials literally sawed the statues off the Parthenon claiming they were helping to preserve them, because the Greeks weren't.

The Chunnel

Later that evening, we took a two-hour train ride to Paris. The Eurostar train from St. Pancras station in London to the Gare du Nord in Paris goes through the tunnel under the English channel -- the Chunnel. The actual Chunnel is a 15-minute portion of the ride nearly an hour into the journey. Your ears barely pop and there's almost no evidence you're underneath the ocean.

The ceiling of our Parisian apartment.

We caught a taxi at about 9:30 p.m. and took the short ride from the train station to our Parisian apartment in the historic Marais district. Everything was beautiful, but there was just one problem. Kirk hadn't had dinner and by this hour he was starving. It was now 10:30 p.m. and everything nearby was closed, except for some very lively bars. I decided the Power Bars we had in our luggage were enough for me. But Kirk was now in a crazed state of hunger emergency and a Power Bar just wouldn't cut it.

Hunger Emergency

He was convinced he could go to the nearest bar and get some type of food -- any type of food. Kirk doesn't speak any French, so he translated "can I have a menu for food?" on his iPhone. After nearly losing his cool trying to get out of the apartment's complex system of security doors, he finally walked out on the street. At this point, it's after 11 p.m.

Our apartment in the Marais district of Paris.

On the way to the nearest bar, a gay couple accidentally flicked a cigarette butt on Kirk's leg. But he didn't care. They apologized profusely, but Kirk couldn't think about anything except food. The bar was extremely crowded and tiny. Kirk squeezed his way up to the bar. One of the bartenders was cutting a big block of cheese. Kirk walked up and showed him his iPhone with the Google translation " ... menu for food." Luckily, the waiter gave him a thumb's up. I think men can spot another man's hunger emergency pretty well.

The bartender gave Kirk a menu, but Kirk had no idea what the words meant. All he could ask for was chicken. The bartender shook his head no. In broken English he said he just had cheese and meat. The bartender motioned toward the meat. Kirk simply said yes. The bartender said something about making a sandwich, but then found out the bar was out of bread. Kirk didn't care and just kept pointing at the meat and cheese and saying yes.

When it was all said and done, Kirk paid 3 Euros (what a bargain!) and came back to the apartment with a huge stash of meat and cheese wrapped up in foil along with a cup of water. He was so happy, it was as if he had Filet Mignon in that foil.