"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." – Mary Oliver

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London Day 6: Hampstead Heath Parkrun and The British Museum

Edited to add: I’m finishing this post up at Heathrow, waiting for our plane back to Melbourne via Hong Kong. We’ve had the most wonderful trip and the recaps will probably spread out over the next few months, if my previous track record is anything to go by.

Saturday 26th April 2025

Today I had breakfast at the hotel then caught the tube to Hempstead for the Hempstead Heath Parkrun. I hadn’t been feeling that great sinceI got to London but finally worked out I probably had allergies and started taking antihistamines. This was to be my first run since arriving. It was only 5K but it was a hard 5K, with some quite steep sections. I made my way around and my watch downgraded my VO2max based on my performance. Hempstead Heath is a lovely wooded area in London and the surrounding streets are gorgeous.

The front yard of one of the nearby houses
Cute little streets

Returning to the hotel, worn out from the exercise I took a nap. I woke up feeling refreshed, got a porchetta and broccoli baguette from Fortitude Bakery then got in the line for the British Museum. This was the line for people with tickets and it stretched down the street and around the corner. I think it took about 40 mins for me to clear security.

With a place like the British Museum I think you need to go in with a plan because it is so huge, and there is so much to see. I had downloaded their three hours at the museum trail to my phone and that’s what I did. I really loved the time I spent here. Even better would be to live close by to a museum like this so you could go regularly and just do a couple of galleries at a time. I think I could spend a day at least in the ANE galleries.

Museums? Love or loathe them?


Comments

10 responses to “London Day 6: Hampstead Heath Parkrun and The British Museum”

  1. Museums are fun. I rarely go these days though. My parents “dragged” us to them whenever we were traveling. Sometimes we hated it but I am so so glad I got to see so many in my youth.
    That said, I have never been to the British Museum. There are soso many museums I have not set foot in come to think of it.
    I agree, for the big ones you should probably have a plan or just have a leisurely walk through and let the flow take you.

    That park run… was it some organized thing? It looks like the park is packed with runners.

    1. Parkruns happen all over the world every Saturday morning. They are volunteer run free timed 5K. People walk or run. If you google Parkrun it should come up. It started in the UK but we have a heap in Australia and there are a lot in Germany too. It is a great community run activity to get involved in.

  2. WOW, 40 minutes WITH tickets? That’s a long security clearance. I like museums, and I really like when there is an audio tour or something to go along with them. Wandering is nice too but sometimes I like the structure of a tour.

    1. For something like this I think I would get overwhelmed just wandering but I did a fair bit of wandering in smaller museums later in my trip.

  3. Museums are hit and miss for me. I like to go to a few every trip but agree about having a plan of must-see places. I never want a museum to take me more than 3-4 hours. I do think it would be so cool to live close to something like the Louvre and go every single day or week and get familiar with a giant museum and maybe actually end up seeing it all?

    1. Yes to this. I guess a bit like Gretchen Rueben who visited The Met everyday. I don’t know that I’d have time for that, but weekly would be amazing.

  4. Oh, look, you took the same photos in the British Museum as me and mine did. When we went, everyone was elsewhere as we walked straight in, (it was Jubilee year 2012). Also, we spent the whole day there (as it was raining) and had lunch so we could take our time and see as much as possible while we had the time. And yes, it was amazing, would definitely go again.

    1. Yes, I will go again if I am in London. I would also like visit Hampton Court Palace

  5. I love love love museums, specifically art museums. I have only been to London once, way back in 1993, and we went to the British Museum, it was great. It looks like you had a great time.

    1. I really enjoy anything historical and prefer that kind of museum but also enjoy a good gallery.

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