The Emperor Qin pronounced Chin

What a hectic day yesterday but so very interesting. Up at six in time to collect daughter and drive down to Tiverton to catch the train up to Paddington. It's a good job that the rail companies don't rely on me for a profit as I worked out that I hadn't been on a 'big' train for over 25 years! Uneventful trip up except for a yummy bacon sandwich from the buffet car, and this was to set the tone of the day. Eating, walking, resting and more walking. My nerves failed me when it came to going on the tube so we grabbed a taxi to the museum, collected our pre-booked First Emperor tickets for the afternoon and then had a lazy wander around parts of the rest of the museum. You can't see it all but we made a point of seeing the Lewis chess set, the Sutton Hoo treasure, the Rosetta Stone and the Egyptian and Assyrian galleries. It was very busy but I did manage a few quiet communes with some very ancient artifacts. I like to sit or stand and stare with ancient things. It's a sort of meditation.

After a quick lunch and another look round it was time to file in to THE exhibition. It was set up in the old circular Reading room - very dark and very warm. The exhibition tantalizes you, leading you along with smaller models and artifacts, background history, and visual aids until you come to the main room containing the Warriors. They did not disappoint. When you eventually get to stand in front of a life sized, two thousand year old terracotta figure is one of those life affirming , spine tingling moments. I found it all totally fascinating and not only for the Warriors. There is always a 'Know it All' who has read all the books, seen all the documentaries and likes to let everybody know it. Sadly our KIA's research had not extended to learning the correct pronunciation which was on all the available documentation, hence the title of the blog.

After the museum we walked through to Covent Garden and thence to Leicester Square for supper at Wagga Mama's followed by dessert at the Hargen Daz restaurant and then it was time to grab another taxi back to Paddington. Too late as we trundled past Liberty this fabric junkie was kicking herself. Perhaps that's for another trip. Our chatty taxi driver thought we were totally potty for doing this all one day and wished us a cheery safe journey back to Devon.

After a delay we eventually pulled in to Tiverton station at 11:15, OH and Minne waiting in the car park to whisk us back to Bideford.