 The UK experience-2
The Asian gallery in the British Museum has the richest collections of Chinese antiquities in Europe with a display of Chinese jade in 33b.The Chinese collections range from the 4th century BC to the 19th century AD.
The large intricately carved wooden panels from Amaravathi and a black Ganesha with spouse, (I thought it was a rare piece) are special attractions besides the beautiful icons of Buddha from Nepal. For a moment we felt we were in THE Land of Buddha and not in London. Equally attractive was the shapely gilded bronze figure of Tara, a Buddhist
goddess.
The gallery consisting of money and medals has a magnificent collection of over 750,000 coins covering the history of coinage from its origins to the present-day. The HSBC Money Gallery offers changing displays and handling sessions in addition to its permanent exhibits. The currency that caught my eye was the gold mohur of Moghul Emperor Jahangir, the paper currency of the Portuguese which contained Kannada script on it and the three-coloured Great Ming circulating treasure note of China.
 The following day we made it to the Windsor Castle in Berkshire, a must-see for a tourist to London. The imposing statue of Queen Victoria at the approach to the castle appeared as regal and prominent as the palace in the background. Standing on chalk bluffs overlooking the Thames, Windsor Castle is the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world. In 1992, a fire destroyed more than 100 rooms in the castle but restoration was completed in five years and there is little to indicate the fire ever started.
A tour of the castle is an experience by itself. The State Apartments are a combination of museum-style exhibits and formal rooms. The furniture in these is just fabulous and the treasures are a feast to the eye. You find time standing still watching the collection of works of art by Van Dyke, Rubens and Rembrandt.
The piece de resistance, however, is Queen Mary’s Dolls House. The work of architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, it was built in 1923 on a 1:12 scale with the aim of raising money for children’s charities. It is an exact replica of a grand home down to tiny books in its library handwritten by their original authors. (The castle guide directing the queue
warns, "If you take pictures of the Dolls House, your head will be cut off.").
The architect of this marvellous piece should be greatly admired for his ingenuity and skill for not leaving out a single detail in its conception and design. It consists of everything in miniature befitting the lifestyle of royalty - exquisitely furnished drawing, dining, bedrooms, sit-outs, kitchen, pantry, a garden and what not.
 On the fourth day of our stay we headed to Edinburgh by the Virgin train reaching our destination in six hours. You don't get to see much of greenery or the meadows en route as you do if you travel by road through the Lake District. The cabbie outside the station took us to Allison House, which is a guest house/hotel where we had booked for our three-day stay. Expecting it to be a hotel with a set of rooms, we were surprised to find it looked more like one of the Scottish town houses we see in pictures with potted plants at the entrance. A closed door greeted us and when we rang the call bell, a middle-aged woman emerged and opened the door with a smile and beckoned us.
After allotting a room on suite, she handed over two keys saying one was the room key and another for the main entrance and disappeared with the words, "Breakfast is at 7.30." Only later were we informed by the present owner that Mayfield Garden was originally a horse track and Allison House, which looked identical like other guesthouses situated in a row on this main road, was originally a town house which was converted into a guesthouse when it changed hands.
The three-level dwelling consisting of six large rooms and a basement where the servants lived, when sold away by the original owner, was remodelled into a guesthouse with 11 rooms on suite.
The UK
Experience -1
The UK
Experience -3
(To be continued)
N Meera Raghavendra Rao
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