Good Morning, London!
Dan had an early morning meeting.
I laid in bed planning my itinerary for the day and then got up and got going,
proud of myself for not wasting the day.
Just as I was putting on my shoes to leave, Dan came in.
His morning meetings were over and his lunch cancelled.
So we had the day to spend together and fortunately for me,
he thought the things I had planned sounded fun.
Everything was within walking distance of our hotel,
The Rosewood, in Holburn, east(?) of SoHo.
First stop, Sir John Soane's home and museum, recommended by our designer, Jason Wilde.
A famous architect of the 1700/1800's he collected architectural details from around the world
as inspiration, bought the homes on either side of him and created a public museum alongside his private living quarters. On another trip, I'd love to tour his private home.
This drawing of Stonehenge was done by one of Soane's students who drew himself
into the rendering as one of the "fanciful figures" (the name for the imaginary people
added to architectural drawings to add perspective.)
Next we walked around the block to the Silver Vaults.
We discovered later we could have walked through the beautiful campus of
Lincoln Inn (one of four "Inns" of court--barrister's school/quarters),
with a beautiful above ground arched church foundation of Lincoln's Inn Church.
I'm including pictures of it all here, even though we saw it the following morning.
(Because if we ever refer to this post for a walking tour, it's a don't miss!)
The Silver Vaults were housed in a non-descript building that was actually a vault
for rich people's treasures in its previous life.
A fire burned the original building, but the items in the basement vaults were saved and the building was later transformed into shops for silver dealers,
conveniently "vaulted" when their shops are closed.
It's open to the public and fun to look inside the individual stores.
I thought this pot hanging on a tree with an owl and frog was darling.
It's a brandy warmer. Trying to think of a different use because it sure would make a cute decoration!
Just down the street is Samuel Johnson's home--a compiler of the first English Dictionary.
I thought I'd read two books about him and loved and admired what I knew about him
and the enormous task he took on.
But as I visited with the docent and the stories I knew didn't match up,
I did a quick search and realized I'd read about Dr. James Murray,
also a compiler of an early English Dictionary.
(Great minds think alike?)
Although it wasn't the man I admired, they both had similar processes,
trying to compile volumes of an exhaustive source of words in the 1800's,
complete with context and usage! Can you imagine that undertaking?!
Dr. Johnson's took nine years. Dr. Murray's, forty.
(The books I read were: The Dictionary of Lost Words, by Pip Williams (historcal fiction)
and The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester (non-fiction))
The home tour incuded dress-ups!
And fortunately Dan was taking his time browsing downstairs so I could surprise him when he came to find me. And surprised, he was! Ha!
We took a taxi to get to Borough Market for lunch,
with everything you could imagine--
humongous 36 inch round pans of risotto, paella or cheesy potatoes (Courtney!),
chocolate strawberries, fresh produce, a fish market, pick-your-own fudge, a date bar and more.
We chose sandwiches from The Black Pig, eating on stairs used as chairs,
snuggled in with dozens of people.
We loved the atmosphere and energy (and the food)!
After lunch, we went to see the site of Shakespeare's Globe theater and then the reproduction
a few blocks away.
It was a bit disappointing to learn it wasn't the original, but I love they recreated it.
Next trip I'd love to tour the inside and see a play.
The Millenium Bridge
The Tate Museum of Modern Art is housed in an enormous Old Power Plant.
We made a quick trip around a couple of rooms with art that interested us and skipped the rest.
Next stop, The Tower Bridge.
(Can you believe we're still on the go!)
We toured the interior and got to walk across a glass bridge as well as see the
old steam mechanics. (I love how mechanics always interest Dan.)
All this and time to attend Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral,
a daily 45 minute free evening church service open to the public and
accompanied by a boys' choir.
Dan had dinner with clients, so I was on my own and ate fish n' chips around the corner
at Ship's Tavern on the recommendation of Saul.
After dinner I walked around for an hour, hoping to see Lincoln's Inn church but the gates were closed.
Then walked north through a campus quad and other charming streets on the hunt for a treat,
but this neighborhood is a little sleepy in the evenings, so everything was closed.
I was thrilled to climb into bed early because it takes a lot of time in the evening to do all my daily puzzles and Duolingo!
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