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Post by Ken Gordon on Oct 17, 2023 18:17:09 GMT
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Post by carll on Oct 17, 2023 19:08:16 GMT
Thanks for sharing Ken.
CarlL
PS
For those who live or holiday in north of England there are some beautiful permanent museums all along Hadrians Wall crammed full of all things Roman from military, to day to day life, and some rebuilds of fortifications. English Heritage manage most but not all. And it would be a good weeks holiday to see all the sites. But fun. (And if week long then the English Heritage annual membership would probably pay for itself in terms of savings made on entry fees and car parking which - must check - both remain free for members.)
And there is good YHA hostel at Once Brewed and an excellent pub, with great food and rooms at Twice Brewed. (Hopefully I have got these in right order but if you google these two very small places (one building each?) you will see which is which very close to the central area of the wall and Roman Road.
CarlL
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Post by Ken Gordon on Feb 11, 2024 16:35:35 GMT
By way of an update….
Mrs Gordon and I visited this weekend and here’s my brief review of the experience.
Firstly the queue to get into the BM on the Saturday was surprisingly long - new security measures for bags searches were in place. If you have an exhibition ticket you can join a shorter bag check queue once through the gates but we were queuing round the block for a 20-30 mins maybe just because it was a Saturday and half term: be warned.
As for the exhibition itself firstly the good. Well spaced out and many fewer people so you could get to see everything at your own pace. Some great exhibits like the Dura Europas shield and horse armour and plenty of tomb stones of serving centurions, signifiers etc. Also reconstructed helmets and lorica., all well displayed and lit. You can even try on replica helmets should the fancy take you, - surprisingly good visibility btw.
As for the less good; as always these exhibitions have to cater for all types so many readers of this forum will not learn anything new. In addition everything was focussed on what you might call the Trajanic/EIR legion so quite limited in that sense.
Overall some rare exhibits made very accessible - I met two guys from Belgium who had come just to see the Dura shield. But to make it worthwhile visit the other great stuff at the BM - the standard or UR, the Nereid monument the Isle of Lewis chessmen. And that’s before you even think about the Egyptian galleries and the Assyrian reliefs, the list just goes on. If nothing else the queues remind you what a great resource the BM is.
As for Mrs Gordon she says she can’t wait to go back but willing to give up her ticket should anyone want it….😉
PS - the most interesting exhibit has to be the wooden dice tower amongst the soldier’s gaming items - yes that would be DBA v0.0BC.
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