Today was the final full day for us in London. We had originally thought we’d get up early in order to make the most of the day. After the two previous nights, however, where we didn’t arrive back at the bed and breakfast until nearly midnight, we decided to take advantage of a good night’s sleep instead. We also decided that we wouldn’t try to see as much today, and instead would just enjoy soaking in the culture. All the walking the previous week, and our sore feet, may have had something to do with this.
The first thing on the list for us was the British Museum, which is supposed to be one of the best museums in the world. By the time we got into central London, however, it was nearly eleven o’clock, and we had plans to meet Roweena, another member of the Harris family who lives in London, for lunch at 12:30. Seeing this, we decided to instead make a quick stop to the one place in London that Libby absolutely wanted to see. She had been talking about this place all week. It was a place of mystery, a place of murder, and a place of fantasy. Actually it was entirely a place of fantasy; it was Sherlock Holmes’ home.
If you don’t know the Baltes twins, one thing that you should be aware of is that they are fanatical Sherlock Holmes fans. They grew up watching the movies and have been in love with him ever since. The last time Libby had been in London, she hadn’t been able to make it over to 221 Baker Street, so we decided we had to go now.
Arriving at Baker Street, we rapidly found the place. Sitting at (roughly) 221 Baker Street, a large sign proclaimed the Sherlock Holmes Museum (and gift store). We eagerly bought our tickets, and got into the queue to enter. While waiting Libby got to try on some new headgear (see the picture).
We entered the museum, and it pretty quickly became apparent that the experience was not all that Libby had hoped it would be. It appeared to be an old English flat, filled with knickknacks and old 19th century appliances. Going farther into the museum, we ran into a series of memorable scenes from the books, re-enacted with wax characters in several rooms. This only had the effect of further unsettling us though, as most of the scenes they’d chosen were pretty grizzly. Eventually we made it out of the Museum, and as we exited Libby said “Well, I’m glad we came, I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t seen it. But Em and I could have done a much better job.”
By the time we got out, it was nearly time to meet Rowena for lunch. As we had told her we’d be at the British Museum, we had to run across town to get there. We hopped on the tube and arrived just in time to meet her at the gates of the museum. She quickly led us over to a pub from the area that she remembered as being good, and we settled down for a nice lunch. We ended up talking with Rowena for nearly two and a half hours, about all sorts of things ranging from life in London to art jobs (she’s a budding artist herself, working on her MFA). Libby and Rowena swapped stories about teaching at Marshland High (Rowena had done some practice teaching there as well) and we learned a lot about how to get around London.
From lunch we headed across the street to the British Museum. By this point we were both exhausted from the cumulative efforts of the previous days, but we felt that, already being here, it would be a shame not to take a look. Once inside we were extremely glad we made the choice. The British Museum is the most fantastic museum we’d ever seen, if only for the sheer number and antiquity of its artifacts. The fact that entrance to the museum is free only made it better. Some of the historic items that call the museum home include the Rosetta stone, the Elgin marbles (from the Parthenon), and a dizzying array of Egyptian statues and mummies. We made a point to visit the most famous pieces, and in the Greek section saw the recreation of the Parthenon’s pediments and friezes. We also looked through the Greek pottery display, where Libby gave an interesting lecture on the history of Greek pottery (her masters thesis had been on the subject). Unfortunately, we were so tired that we didn’t have time to really take in everything. We didn’t get to over half the museum, really hitting only the Ancient Egypt and Greco-Roman displays, and even those we didn’t spend a great deal of time on. We both decided that we would need to come back on some future date, and make a priority to go to the museum early enough in our trip that we could fully appreciate it.
We finally decided that we were tired enough that it was time to head back. We still had to pick up some souvenirs though, so we began walking towards the shopping district of London on Oxford and Regent streets. We quickly found one of the things we were looking for: a tea shop. Making our purchases, we moved on towards Hamley’s toy store, the most famous toy shop in London. We got side tracked for a little bit along the way; neither of us can resist a Borders bookstore with a “Going out of business, everything 1 pound!” sign. We didn’t find anything good though, and moved on.
Arriving at Hamley’s, Libby began looking for something in particular. I hadn’t known what it was, but it turns out she was trying to find me a Paddington bear! I had talked about how I used to have a Paddington with a rain jacket and Wellington boots, and how I used to try and eat marmalade because Paddington did. Hearing this, she had decided I couldn’t leave London without one. We quickly found what we were looking for, and we left the store with the cutest Paddington bear we’d ever seen.
Hopping onto the tube, we arrived back near our Bed and Breakfast. It was dinnertime, and we were starving, so we decided to take the advice of our fellow tenants, who had suggested the Curry Garden as a great place to eat. It turned out to be an excellent choice. The restaurant was run by a very nice group of Indians, who upon hearing that we hadn’t really eaten Curry before, advised us on exactly what to get. They also asked us all about American food, discussed British food (“Paper, boiled and salted”, they said), and talked about a number of other things. Of course, if the German sausage and cheese hadn’t given our stomach issues, if the fish and chips hadn’t finished it off, the Curry finally, utterly, defeated our gastro-intestinal systems.
Signing off,
Sherlock Steven and Lieutenant Libby
Question of the day:
Who will make a better Sherlock Holmes: Basil Rathbone or Robert Downey Jr.?