Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2000 11:29:36 EST
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: The Castaway Hotel-Book 3   chapter 12

Legal Notice:
The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts.
The story is a work of fiction and has no basis in reality.

Don't read this story if:
**You're not 18 or over,
**If it is illegal to read this type of material where you live,
**Or if you don't want to read about gay/bi people in love or having sex.

The author retains copyright to this story.  Placing this story on a
website or reproducing this story for distribution without the author's
permission is a violation of that copyright.  Legal action will be taken
against violators.

I wish to extend my thank you to Ed for his editorial assistance with this
chapter.

If you have enjoyed reading this story, you will find other stories by me at
http://members.tripod.de/wolfslair, in the 'Other Stories' section.

E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions, or other 'constructive'
comments or advice may be sent to: bwstories8@aol.com.

             *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Although the boys in these stories have unprotected sex, I strongly urge
all of you out there to be smart and protect yourselves from various
sexually transmitted diseases by using condoms when having intercourse.

             *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The Castaway Hotel-Book 3-by BW (Young-Friends).  Copyright 2000 by billwstories
Chapter 12 - Look out London, here we come.        September 2000

The flight went quite smoothly, we landed safely, made our way through
customs,I showed the assortment of passports, and we made our way to our
ride.  It was now approaching 7 A.M. and I was glad that I thought to have
our travel agent arrange for suitable transportation during our stay.  This
would begin with our trip from the airport to the hotel.  Seeing we had
such a large group, it would be difficult for us to get to most places
together by the usual means.  That's why the travel agent and I had
detailed the entire trip, so she could arrange for similar transportation
whenever we needed it.  A gentleman in a uniform spotted us as we came from
customs and he asked us if we were the Curries, which should have been
quite obvious from the size of our group and assortment of ages and races.
I was sure the travel agent had forwarded that information to everyone we
would be dealing with in the UK, but he was very polite and he asked us to
follow him.  He quickly arranged for our luggage to be taken from the
baggage claim area and loaded into the storage compartment for us, and we
found ourselves getting onto a small tour bus to go to our hotel.  We'd be
staying here in London for the first part of our stay, using our hotel as
our base of operations.  From there we could travel around the city and
also take a few day trips to other locations when necessary.  We were all
led to our rooms and then everyone moved their things in according to the
room assignments we had agreed upon earlier.  We would begin by going out
for breakfast, and then we would spend the day doing little, except to
acclimate to the time difference and wait for the others to arrive.  When
my older children arrived and we were finally all together, Jordan and
Nicky went to spend time with their folks.  This would mean that they would
be staying with their parents during most of this trip.

This time we'd have the typical four rooms for us, but my younger son would
be rooming with me most of the time.  My youngest daughter would have a
room of her own and the older couples would have a room with their son.
I'd have the buffer room, with my older children having their rooms on the
other side of mine or on the other side of the hallway.  The 'sex room'
would be the middle room of the remaining three, and always be on the other
side of mine, away from the other rooms.  We all turned in fairly early
that evening, all very tired and not yet adjusted to our new time zone, but
I told everyone that our sight-seeing would begin for real tomorrow.
Danny, Brandon, Pat, and Carlos were in the 'sex room' tonight but I
doubted that anyone would have the energy or inclination to take advantage
of it.

Sunday morning we got up early, ate a continental breakfast at the hotel,
and we made our way to our first stop, one of the oldest structures in
England.  The Tower of London was our first stop and the boys had their
very first lesson about English History.  The boys expected just a tower,
not a stone fortress, but I explained that in this case the word tower
stood for a tower of strength, the fortress protecting the realm.  There
had been a Roman fort there, just after the start of the Common Era.
William the Conqueror chose the same site because of its strategic value,
and built a wooden structure there to begin.  In 1078, William commissioned
a stone fortress to be built on the site.  It took twenty years to
construct that portion.  Successive kings added to the structure and
Richard I added the moat.

This site was full of history.  The Tower has been used as a fortress, a
palace, a prison, an armory, and for many other things.  The Crown Jewels,
the crowns and other precious insignia of the monarchy, are housed there
for visitors to see.  Some of the history is not very pleasant though.
Many executions have taken place there, including the beheading of Anne
Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII.  It has long been said that Richard
III had his nephews killed in the Bloody Tower, so he could become King.

Hearing this part of the history sent my clowns into one of their routines.
Ricky quickly knelt down of the grass, where the plaque indicating the
executions was located, bent forward, extending his head, and Cole
gratefully pretended to chop off his head.  Then they put Graham in a
similar position, doing the same thing to him, before Cole switched places
and gleefully allowed his mock execution.  This, of course, set off a
chain-reaction and Dion pretended to be Richard III and started stabbing
his nephews, Sammy and Andrew.  Soon I had a collection of bodies on the
lawn and one of the Old Beefeaters, the security force dressed in period
costume, came up to me and spoke.

"Pardon me, sir, but if those chaps belong to your party, would you please
have them remove themselves from the pitch and stick to the walk ways."  I
apologized and quickly made the boys get back on the path, but they had
drawn considerable attention from the other tourists, many of them laughing
over their antics.  There were a few, like the Beefeater, who didn't find
them amusing or thought they were incorrigible.  The boys weren't fazed by
their detractors at all, but they did as I requested and we were soon
moving along again.  We had a very interesting visit and I think we all
learned a great deal.  The boys were quite impressed with all they had
discovered about this place and I knew they would always have a whole new
set of mental images the next time someone mentioned the Tower of London.
From there we went out to see Tower Bridge, a drawbridge built in 1894 with
an imposing tower controlling each side of it.  Everyone believes that this
was the bridge that the Americans who bought the London Bridge, thought
they were actually buying.  The London Bridge was merely an ordinary stone
bridge that now sits in the Arizona desert.

Everyone was getting hungry by now, so I decided it was time to introduce
them to real British Fish and Chips, doused in malt vinegar.  For those of
you that don't already know it, chips in England are what Americans refer
to as French Fries, though thicker and less greasy.  The fish is batter
coated and malt vinegar is poured over the whole thing.  It is really quite
good that way and no one argued about how it was served or asked for tartar
sauce (heaven forbid).  If there is one food that the English do well, it
is definitely their Fish and Chips.

>From there we went to St. Paul's Cathedral.  This is really just the
current cathedral to St. Paul to sit upon this site.  The previous
cathedral was a large Gothic structure that burned down in The Great Fire
of London in 1666.  Later, the noted architect Christopher Wren was asked
to design a new cathedral.  He submitted three designs, the first two being
rejected before his final design was approved.  This design was based on a
Latin cross plan, with a large dome over the area between the nave and the
choir.  Construction began in 1675, but the building wasn't completed until
1708.  The exterior is done in the Renaissance style, with massive columns
on two levels.  As with most English churches, many notable people are
buried in the church, some in various sarcophagi around the church and
others beneath the floor.  In St. Paul's you will find the final resting
place of Lord Horatio Nelson (who was killed at Trafalgar), the Duke of
Wellington (who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo), and Christopher Wren, among
others.  The boys wanted to know why they didn't bury these people in
cemeteries and I explained that it was their way of honoring famous people.
They seemed to accept that response and nothing more was said about the
matter.

After this, we decided to do a foot stroll around the neighborhood, so we
could get a feel for the area.  It's easy to drive through or by the area,
but it takes on a whole new look when you're on foot.  It was not only a
pleasant walk, but it gave us some fresh air and a little more exercise.
By the time we had finished, we all were quite hungry.  We selected a nice
looking establishment, asked them if they could handle our number, and,
after some discussion and rearranging, they told us they would be happy to
serve us.  The boys had many questions about the items on the menu, some of
which I could answer and others that we needed to ask for assistance.  The
boys decided to order a variety of things, splitting up into groups of four
to six boys, and share the different dishes amongst their group.  That way
they could try a variety of different dishes, without having to worry that
they'd go hungry if they didn't like what they ordered, not that I would
have let them starve.  There was some squabbling over who got what, as some
items were coveted by all the members of the group, and I tried to stay out
of these petty problems - but that wasn't always possible.  At one point, I
did have to summon the wisdom of Solomon concerning one particular entree.
What I ended up doing was place another order for the disputed dish, divide
it myself into equal portions, and then serve them to the group.  There was
still some minor grumbling, but we survived.  All-in-all, it was quite a
unique dining experience and the boys soon had eaten their fill.  We soon
made our way back to the hotel where we went to our rooms to recuperate.

Tonight it was Cole, Graham, Dion, and Trey in the 'sex room' and I figured
there might be a little fooling around, but not a lot.  It was kind of a
relaxed evening and Sammy and Andrew stayed in my room.  Sammy shared the
bed with his uncle and Andrew came in with me.  It wasn't that he needed
any reassurance, because he coped with the situation at the Space Center
quite nicely, but he did seem to need some extra loving or cuddling since
that time.  Of course I was happy to oblige him with that and he snuggled
up tightly against me during the entire evening, with one arm draped over
my stomach.

Monday began with a quick breakfast, before we made our way over to see the
Houses of Parliament.  Most of us think of Big Ben, the huge clock in the
tower looming over the Parliament building, when we think of this place.
Actually, this was originally the site of the Palace of Westminster, first
constructed in 1050, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1834.  Seeing
Parliament had frequently met at this location, the current structure was
built between 1840 and 1860, incorporating the remnants of the destroyed
Palace.  The House of Commons was destroyed in 1941, during the German
bombing of England, but it was rebuilt in a similar style.  We went through
the various places open to the public and it was an intriguing look at the
past.  The boys were impressed with the richness and splendor of the
building and they were amazed at how large the paintings were that adorned
the building, not like the ones we'd have in our homes.

When we went in to look at the various chambers, of the House of Lords and
the House of Commons, they were in session.  We made our way to the
Strangers' Gallery, a balcony running around each chamber, and began to
watch the proceedings.  The boys soon bored of this, as the members were
making lengthy speeches, and I decided we should leave before one of them
decided to liven up the meeting.  I could see that a few of the older boys
were beginning to make jokes about the various speakers and I was concerned
that their imitations might get too loud and recognized from the floor
below.  Some of the other non-British tourists were chuckling over the
boys' antics, some even encouraging them into more animated portrayals of
the various speakers.  With haste and a conscious attempt to maintain the
dignity of the chamber, I herded the boys out of the gallery and we made
our exit from the building.  They were still buzzing about the various
things we'd seen and some were even giving us a replay of their imitations
of the MP's (members of Parliament) as we looked for a place to have lunch.
We decided to try some curry (why not, it had a good name) at a Pakistani
restaurant.  Of course, I suggested that they order the mild curry, as we
did not use a great deal of spice at home and I was afraid of what the
regular curry would do to their mouths.  Maybe I should have let them order
without precaution, as it might have quieted some of my comedians for a
while, but I took pity on them and made sure they had no adverse reactions
to the food.  We took the curry and chips take-out, found a quite place to
sit and eat, and soon nearly everything had been devoured.  It was quite an
enjoyable meal and we walked from there to our next site.

Westminster Abbey was just a short stroll from the restaurant and the
Parliament Building.  The Abbey is a huge Gothic Cathedral and its location
and original construction is largely attributed to Edward the Confessor.
The former church, which had previously stood upon this site, according to
legend was to have been consecrated by him on December 28, 1065.  That
structure had also been the site of the coronation of William the
Conqueror, Christmas Day 1066.  Parts of the Confessor's church still
remain intact, below ground, but the current structure was begun under
Henry III in the mid-thirteenth century.  The cathedral was finished in the
late fifteenth century, with enhancements made in the early sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries.  Within the Cathedral are buried many Kings and
Queens of England, their children and other relatives, and other notable
persons, including Winston Churchill and the British 'unknown soldier' from
World War I.  It was quite an intriguing visit, as it was so different from
the types of churches the boys were accustomed to, and the splendor of the
Cathedral was just breathtaking.  The boys had many questions about the
layout of the church and the large memorials to the dead and I tried to
answer all their queries to the best of my ability, using the small booklet
I had purchased to look up some of the information.

After that, we went out to eat dinner and then I took everyone to see a
play in one of the marvelous theaters that London is noted for.  This was a
modern production and it was somewhat comical.  The boys had some trouble
following it, mostly because of their unfamiliarity with the British accent
and some of their terminology, but I tried to help explain what they had
missed or didn't understand.  It wasn't their favorite activity of the
trip, but it wasn't a total disaster either.  After that, we went back to
our hotel and turned in for the evening.  Ricky, Jay, Danny, and Brandon
had the 'sex room' for the night and I overheard them discussing another
try at intercourse, without the penetration for Ricky and Jay, like they
had done before.  It seemed to me that Danny and Brandon were the ones to
suggest it, knowing the other two were still timid about what might be
expected of them, and they quickly reached an agreement and went happily to
their room.

 Cole and Graham had asked to stay in my room and their big brother quickly
agreed to the arrangement.  Graham slept with his older brother, while Cole
cuddled up to me.  Sammy and Andrew had gone to spend the night with
Dustin, Kevin, Trey, and Dion, who were sharing a room, and the older boys
were very good at keeping them occupied, while still giving them plenty of
affection.  One of the little ones slept sandwiched between the older pair.
It was the position they seem to enjoy the most.  I almost wished I could
have sneaked in and checked on them during the night, to see their
expressions and how their bodies intertwined, but I felt it best to leave
them to their privacy.

On Tuesday, we continued hitting the typical tourist attractions, the first
one being Hampton Court Palace.  This is one of the places that Steve had
mentioned to me as being one of his favorites and I was soon forced to
agree with him.  Although it doesn't seem to draw the same amount of
attention as some of the other sites, it piqued my imagination as I made
the tour.  This structure was commissioned to be built in 1514 by Thomas
Wolsey, who was soon to become Cardinal Wolsey, and it contained 280 richly
furnished rooms.  He soon came into conflict with the King of England, as
he opposed Henry VIII's divorce and remarriage to Ann Boleyn.  This became
a major battle between King Henry VIII and the Roman Catholic Church, which
caused Henry to break all religious ties with Rome.  He formed his own
Church of England, of which he was the head, which is still the case in
present times, where the current King or Queen is also the head of the
Church of England.  After Henry broke with the church in Rome, he
confiscated its property, including this structure, and he made it into one
of his palaces.  He enlarged it almost immediately and he spent a great
deal of his time there, preferring this to his other residences.  Hampton
Court Palace had secret doorways in several rooms, where the doors were
built into and blended with the walls around them.  Henry used these to
escape from having to see unwanted advisors or other unwelcome guests at
his own whim.  After Henry died, Hampton Court was used by his successors
and remained a valuable property of the Royal Family.  Over time,
demolitions, alterations, and additions were made, including the addition
of a huge astronomical clock in the courtyard in 1540.

The boys were walking about, amazed at the size and all of the magnificent
furnishings that were included but, when they saw the King's staircase and
the huge painting that covered the upper wall and ceiling, they were
overwhelmed.  It was splendid and we could only imagine how much time and
energy it had taken to create such a large work of art.  We continued
through the building, examining the various rooms and listening to various
tour guides telling stories of its past, when we found something equally as
remarkable, the gardens and lawns.  The grounds were beautifully manicured,
with walkways leading down to the Thames River, and the sights and colors
were inspiring.  The boys soon discovered the Hampton Court maze, made from
large, full, and well-trimmed hedges, and I allowed them quite a bit of
time running through this interesting feature.  They were like lab rats
running through the psychologist's laboratory maze, running into dead ends
and having to start over to find their way out.  Slowly the boys began to
emerge from this adventure, but I eventually had to go in to rescue some of
the little ones, who had become hopelessly lost in the collection of
dead-ends and false pathways which proliferated within the design.  As I
led my 'lost boys' between the shrubs, we emerged looking like the Pied
Piper and the children of Hamelin.  Not only did I have my own flock, but
we also picked up other lost strays along the way, making us quite a
formidable group as we regained our freedom.  After being thanked by some
of the parents of the children we had helped to liberate along the way, we
took note of our current situation.

We hadn't realized how long we had been there and how late it was getting,
but we had already gone well past our normal lunchtime.  We decided that
our next stop would be to grab a quick bite, to tide us over until dinner.
After that, we agreed to take a walking tour of this area before we went
out to dinner or back to the hotel.  We actually walked around that
neighborhood for a couple of hours before we went back to the bus and rode
back to our hotel.  We cleaned up quickly, selected a place to eat, and
went out for dinner.  It was nothing elaborate but it did take care of our
needs.  After we finished dining, we went to Piccadilly Circus, not a
circus with animals and such but another famous area of London.  We saw it
first it the fading daylight and then we got a totally different view as it
was lit up for the evening.  The area was awash in the glow of numerous
electric signs, street lights, and the lights escaping from the windows of
the buildings around it.  In the center of the Circus stands a great bronze
statue of Eros, erected in 1893, and the barrage of cars and buses flows
around it almost constantly.

After we were satisfied that we had seen all that we wanted to, we went
back to our hotel, exhausted from our day's activities, and headed quietly
to our rooms.  Cole, Graham, Trey, and Dion had the 'sex room', but I was
fairly convinced that little, if anything, would be happening in there
tonight.  We had done a great deal of walking today, taking in a wide
variety of sights, and I could see that their eyelids were already
beginning to droop, even before they made it to their beds.  I learned
later that Jordan and Nicky spent the night with Pat and Carlos, while
Sammy and Andrew were in with Danny and Brandon.  Ricky and Jay made sure
they got to stay in my room and Ricky shared a bed with his big brother,
while Jay slept with me.  Jay had matured a lot since our first vacation
with him and his coordination was now catching up with his size.  He was
also beginning to fill out a little too and he was no longer that gawky,
spastic boy who we used to make fun of.  Though he was no longer that
laughable teen, he was still a little boy when it came to seeking attention
from me.  He kept inching his way closer and closer to me, until he was
pressed tightly against me.  Then he grabbed my arm, pulled it over his
body, and then he wrapped both of his arms around mine, squeezing it
tightly.  I could almost see the grin spread across his lips as he did this
and now his body almost melted into my own.  That's the way we eventually
fell asleep.

The next day we had a quick breakfast and then we went to Buckingham
Palace.  The Palace hasn't been open to public tours for very long and its
exterior isn't all that impressive, just a large imposing building.  It's
when you get inside that your heart begins to race with excitement.  The
structure was originally the Buckingham House, built by the Duke of
Buckingham in 1705.  George III bought the house in 1762 and he began
adding onto it almost immediately.  Various wings were added over the
years, but Queen Victoria was actually the first monarch to take up
residence there.  There are several statues of her inside the palace and a
large monument to her out in front.  Everything in the palace seems huge,
elaborate, and spectacular.  It's just hard to describe the huge portraits
of previous members of the Royal Family, all the other beautiful works of
art done by famous artists, and the humongous, elegantly decorated rooms.
Everyone was quite impressed from the tour and we left the Palace
grudgingly.  Even though we had finished our tour of the public portion of
the building, we did not leave the grounds.  Before leaving, we made sure
that we witnessed the legendary changing of the guard.  It was filled with
pomp, rigidity, and total concentration on the part of the soldiers,
reflecting the centuries of tradition incorporated in this event.

After a quick lunch, we took a quick look at what we could of St. James
Palace and then we took a boat tour up the Thames River.  This tour allowed
us to see another side of many of the buildings we had already toured.  The
view from the river was impressive and many other notable places were
pointed out, places that we had not seen before.  The boys learned that the
Thames was a major thoroughfare for London, throughout its history, and it
has not only been the main source for commercial traffic, but it was also
used for private travel, even by the Kings and Queens as they moved from
one place to the other.  Among other buildings, the Thames flows past
Parliament and Westminster Cathedral, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of
London and Tower Bridge, and Hampton Court Palace.  When the tour ended, we
went down to see Cleopatra's Needle, a large obelisk that we had seen on
the boat tour.  It was brought from Egypt, during the height of the British
Empire, and is attributed to the reign of Queen Cleopatra.  By the time we
finished there, it was time to eat dinner and then head back to the hotel.

We would spend the next two days at the British Museum, examining the
multitude of cultural wonders that the British had collected over the
centuries.  You see, they took full advantage of the time they had their
Empire and the many years they controlled the seas.  During that time, they
collected all sorts of valuable relics and artifacts from all around the
world, from a multitude of ancient cultures that had once flourished and
then disappeared, and now the accomplishments of these peoples were
displayed in the British Museum.  The building is a huge structure
(consisting of basement, ground level, and upper floors), so it would take
more than one day to see what we wanted to see.  Besides, I like to take my
time and discuss the various displays with the boys, piquing their
curiosity and building an insatiable quest for knowledge.

We had an unusually large breakfast that morning, before we left for the
museum.  As we walked up to enter the building, it was like entering some
massive Greek or Roman temple.  This current structure was constructed in
1847, in the Greek Revival Style, complete with enormous columns and an
elaborate portico.  We passed through and under these colossal features and
then we proceeded through the main entrance, moving on to the exhibit
areas.  This was truly an awesome experience and it was like traveling back
through time as we toured the various displays.  Over the course of the
next two days, we saw many of the historical treasures of the world and we
talked about nearly every civilization that had ever existed.  As we
entered on the ground floor, we began by exploring some of the treasures of
the ancient Greek and Egyptian civilizations.

The boys were almost instinctively drawn to the splendor of the artifacts
of Ancient Egypt and we were soon absorbed with the vast collections of
statuary, sarcophagi, mummified remains, and the other treasures of the
pharaohs who ruled the lands along the Nile.  The gold that they used to
create some of the statues and funeral masks was like a magnet and it
sucked the boys toward those items until they were hooked.  They were also
drawn to the finely detailed and elaborately painted pieces, jewelry, tomb
paintings, and then they discovered the mummies.  The questions began in
earnest then, wanting to know who the mummies were, why they did that, and
they wanted to know if they did that to everyone who died.  The boys
noticed that the mummies were not very large, wondering if they were all of
children.  Dion and Trey were talked into lying next to the cases
containing certain mummified remains, and we soon discovered that the
mummies were mostly five feet tall or shorter.  We discussed how the
average height of mankind has gotten over the centuries, but these were
truly adults or young adults from their own times.  From there we went on
to discuss the tombs of the pharaohs, their ideas on the afterlife and the
underworld, and their reasons for putting so much into the tombs of the
deceased rulers.  Someone then brought up the 'mummy' movies and the
'curse' of the mummies, and that led to even more discussion.  After
studying the representations of the Egyptian gods and some of their rulers,
we moved on to look at the Rosetta Stone, which was actually the key that
helped to unlock the secrets of Egyptian hieroglyphics.  Until this stone
was discovered by Napoleonic soldiers in 1799, no one could decipher what
the Egyptian symbols meant.  The Rosetta Stone contained the same decree in
three different languages (hieroglyphics, demotic language, and Greek),
with the Greek helping to unlock the meaning of the strange writing system
used by the Egyptians.  After that, we moved on to the displays from
ancient Greece.

The wonders of the Golden Age of Greece were equally as impressive and they
even had elements from the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World on display,
including a portion of the Mausoleum at Halecarnassus in Turkey and from
the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.  We saw all kinds of statues, many
missing their heads or limbs, but some were still nearly completely intact.
There were collections of pottery, columns from various buildings (some
even carved in the shape of women), and a small temple.  We saw the
elaborately carved friezes that filled the tympanum (the triangular face
above the columns and formed by the sloping roof) of the Parthenon in
Athens.  The Parthenon was a large temple to the Greek goddess Athena, the
goddess of wisdom.  It was dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the virgin
Athena, hence the name of the structure becoming the Parthenon.  It was a
Doric temple, built in the fifth century BCE, and once also contained a
large, elaborate statue of Athena in it.

This same area also contained pieces from ancient Rome, as the Romans were
very impressed with the Ancient Greeks, much of which sought to duplicate
the splendor and accomplishments of their civilization.  We saw a new
collection of statues, vases, cameos, money, jewelry, a frieze from the
Temple of Apollo, artifacts from Roman soldiers and gladiators, Roman
mosaics, and busts and other items representing certain notable Roman
emperors.  After seeing the splendor of these three magnificent cultures,
it was staggering to think of how much they accomplished and how much they
left for us to see with the limited technology of their day.  Impressive
and inspiring would definitely be understatements.

After that, we examined pieces from the Ancient Near East, which included
antiquities of the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian (Iraq), and Persian
(Iran) empires.  It also included items from the Canaanites, Phoenicians,
Syrians, and Israelites, who dwelled throughout the lands of Syria,
Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel.  There were also pieces of the Carthaginians
(Tunisia), the Hittites and Urartians (Turkey), and the South Arabians
(Yemen, South Yemen, and Saudi Arabia).  These items covered the time
period from about 7000 BCE until the seventh century AD.  One of the most
impressive of these items was an Assyrian sculpture of a colossal
human-headed winged lion, which I had all of the boys gather in front of
for a group picture.  After posing for a couple of serious group pictures,
the boys started hamming it up for the camera.  They stood under the head,
sat between the excessive number of legs, while others pretended to cower
in front of the massive form.  I snapped all of these pictures, letting
them have their fun before we moved on. From there we moved on to view
other statues and items done in bronze, gold, and stone, as well as a
selection of painting, mosaics, and relief sculptures that were far too
numerous to count.

After spending the entire day there, without even stopping for lunch, we
were exhausted and hungry.  We left and soon located a place to eat.  The
youngest members of our group (Nicky, Jordan, Andrew, and Sammy) were
almost falling asleep as we waited for the food to be delivered, but they
managed to stay awake long enough to eat before they began to give into
their weariness.  By the time we finished our meal, my son and son-in-law
carried their sons out to the bus, while Danny and Dustin hoisted the other
two onto their shoulders and let them sleep on them, even after they were
seated.  Needless to say, that night we all turned in early.

The next morning we had another large breakfast, knowing in advance what
we'd be facing, and the women filled their purses with snacks for the boys,
in case they needed something to tide them over while we were there.  Today
we started out with the Asian displays, with items from Japan, China,
India, and Southeast Asia.  These were quite different from any of the
works we had seen thus far, both in dress and style, and I was surprised
that Andrew and Sammy knew so much about much of this work.  It was obvious
that their parents had not only made sure that they understood their own
heritage, but they also taught them about other oriental cultures as well.
They answered many of the other boys' questions about whom or what the
items represented and what the various other items were that we viewed.  My
two little 'experts' were soon held in high esteem by the rest of the
family and they basked in their fifteen minutes of fame, even if it was a
limited recognition.

After that, we toured the artifacts of Early Britain, including the period
before the Roman conquest, during the Roman conquest, and throughout the
medieval and later day periods.  The items included ancient chess pieces,
royal seals, coats of armor, weapons, chalices and other serving pieces,
jewelry, textiles, and mosaics.  Some of the pieces were from the nobility,
while other were items from the early Christian church, especially items
made from silver and ivory.

Next, we saw items from various locations in the Pacific, including such
places as Australia, New Zealand, the Easter Islands, the Hawaiian Islands,
the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea.  Many of these items were
brought back to England during the voyages of Captain James Cook and he was
among the first of the European explorers to visit these peoples.  The
items in these displays were also much different from what we had
previously seen, with some - like an Easter Island statue - seeming almost
surreal or extraterrestrial.

We finished up at the British Museum by making a quick tour through the
additional display areas, the first containing a wide variety of
manuscripts, books, and drawings.  These items included such things as the
Magna Carta (which limited the power of the king and put an end to
arbitrary and unjust rule), Papal Bulls (church decrees that got their name
from the bulla they were sealed with), religious texts (including various
bibles), non-English items (including the Diamond Sutra, an important
Buddhist scripture), early copies of Shakespearean works (including the
First Folio from 1623), hand-printed and illustrated pieces (like a late
15th century copy of Aesop's Fables), and an illustration done by
Michelangelo (for one of his figures for 'The Bathers', which he did during
the winter of 1504-1505).

The second of these special rooms contained an assortment of coins and
medals from many different places and periods throughout history.  We saw
Egyptian coins (including the coin of Ptolemy, 305-282 BCE), Greek and
Roman coins (including a silver coin with the head of Juno Moneta, from
whose name the word for money was derived), and Renaissance medals.  There
were coins from Sicily, Japan, Iran, Sri Lanka, India, Burma, Great
Britian, America, Hong Kong, Denmark, Venice, France, and Spain.  There was
also paper money, cowrie shells (which were used as money in Africa,
ancient China, & India), and even money made by imposters, pretenders, and
usurpers.

While viewing these various displays of money, we also learned why Spanish
silver crowns were once referred to as pieces of eight.  These, and
doubloons, were the coins that the pirates stole from the Spanish and
buried until they could be fetched in safety later. The name, pieces of
eight, came about because the coins could be broken into eight
pie-slice-shapes, or bits, to make change.  Because these coins were
considered to be equivalent to the American dollar, early Americans came to
refer to the American quarter as two-bits, or equal to one quarter of a
silver crown.  This was also the reason that, until recently, the American
stock markets were based on eights, sixteenths, and thirty-seconds.

By this time we left this area, we were all tired and hungry.  We made one
final survey among the family to see if there was anything else that anyone
wanted to see again or if there was something that we might have missed.
Everyone was satisfied that we had been thorough in our tour, so we left
the museum to eat and then crash.  This brought to a weary end our first
week in the UK.

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If you have enjoyed reading this story, you will find other stories by me at
http://members.tripod.de/wolfslair, in the 'Other Stories' section.
E-mails may be sent to: bwstories8@aol.com.