Step 1: Obtain map of area around and including British Museum.

Step 2: Identify nearest subway stop and go there.

Step 3: Follow map to British Museum.

Step 4: Approach building from the wrong side; proceed to wonder why you’re in a residential area and where the heck the very large museum is.

Step 5: Wander around Bedford Square Garden for almost 45 minutes, tired and confused.  Don’t consult your map, because it’s obviously wrong.

Step 6: Debate taking a nap in the park, since it seems nice enough.

Step 7: Wonder if you’re losing your mind, and if it’s possible to hide a large museum in a residential area.  Seriously – you should be able to see it from here, right?

Step 8: Debate knocking on people’s doors and asking them if their house leads into the British Museum.

Step 9: Walk around the block, i.e. the supposed location of the British Museum.

Step 10: Find the entrance (located on Great Russell Street) and feel like an idiot for not having walked around the block sooner.

Congratulations!  You have now found the British Museum!  From now on you will forever remember that the entrance is on Great Russell Street!

And since the Museum isn’t open yet, you can go to a coffee shop to have a cup of tea and try not to think about the past hour of your life.

*

[Note: I kept a journal during this trip and yes, it really did take me 45 minutes to get from the Goodge Street Tube to the entrance of the British Museum.  It’s not a high point in my life, but I was really really tired and thus really really stupid.]