Got up earlier today than yesterday in order to try and beat the masses at the
Tower of London. Since this wasn't exactly tourist season we had no problems (though the tube was pretty crowded) with the Tower queues. We had also booked our tickets online in advance so we didn't have to wait (though it wouldn't have been a long line at all) in the main queue. The many school groups that ended up being there, however, were another problem indeed...
Walked into the main entrance and took some photos of the area to kill some time before the
"Beefeaters" (aka
Yeoman Warders) tour commenced. This is a tour headed by a military dude who gave us an overview of the Tower complex and was as sarcastic and funny as any Brit comedian. When he asked if there were any French in the audience and no one answered he yelled out, "well that's good to hear!" There were also some jabs at Americans for not knowing the difference between the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge. He proceeded to tell us interesting facts about the ravens (why they must never
leave, and, hence, why their wings are clipped), the "Traitor's Gate" (where Anne Boleyn, among others, passed through), and other facts and miscellany about the various beheading, torture and palace intrigue which occurred since 1078 when William the Conqueror had it built.
After the tour ended we walked over to see the
Crown Jewels. This was an impressive display that also showed coronation films in the various rooms we walked through. Many school tour groups decided to pick this, of all days, to bother us so the queue was starting to fill up. The structure of the exhibit was very Disney-esque in that you are forced to walk through a particular path that was reminiscent of waiting for lines at Disneyland attractions.
After taking many photos, ogling awe-inspiring gems and shiny, gold historical objects and enjoying the exhibits we made it out of there, grabbed a (mediocre at best) bite to eat at the Tower cafe then went over to the
White Tower which they were renovating for an interactive, informative display that begins in...April -- we were two weeks too early! But there was a lot of stuff we could see such as weapons and weaponry, coats of armor, a strange line up of models of the horses that had belonged to the kings, etc. The spectacular
Chapel of St. John in the
White Tower is one of the oldest remaining parts of the Tower of London, and apparently one of the oldest Norman church interiors in existence. It was truly breathtaking and in amazing to behold. Another memorable artifact was the "
Horned Helmet" that was given to Henry VIII by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. A truly bizarre looking object that seems more "Metropolis"-era, early 20th century than early 1500s. It was also interesting to see early "toilets" in the White Tower - basically open shoots leading to less publicly visible portions of the building that some poor shlub had to clean up after.
The White Tower also had some really interesting interactive displays about past and present weaponry, where you were able to see first-hand what it was like to be in combat wearing the helmet portion of a suit of armor. Tough luck on the peripheral vision, much less anything to the side beyond a 45 degree angle! You could also try on a "gauntlet," the glove portion of a suit of armor. Pretty heavy but surprising easy to move your hand in.
After this we went over to the
Beauchamp Tower which had an interesting display of various graffiti the political prisoners carved into the wall -- amazing that it survived for hundreds of years!
The
Bloody Tower (aka the Garden Tower) was where Sir Walter Ralegh (yep, that's the correct way to spell it) was held for a few years - in relative comfort - he had his wife and servants with him. If he hadn't screwed up about trying (and failing) to get "El Dorado" gold for the King he might not have been executed.
The Lower Wakefield Tower had an interesting (yet nauseating) display of various tools for torture -- like something out of an old Vincent Price movie. The infamous "Rack" which stretched out the limbs of hapless victims was next to "
the Scavenger's Daughter" -- a lovely piece of work -- unlike the rack it "compresses" your body into a kneeling position -- breaking many bones and causing
permanent damage in the process. Oh what a delight. Thankfully, the text in the exhibit mentioned that such devices were rarely used.
Right outside the Tower of London was the
Tower Bridge. We paid a separate admission to enter this exhibition which allowed you to travel inside the bridge and on the walkways. Once inside we were shown a detailed history (through photos, films and displays) of how the bridge was built and the various hydraulic devices used to keep it running.
Many, many, many hydraulic displays. A lot of information was given on the hydraulic/mechanical processes -- maybe this would be a little more interesting to a civil engineer! Since it was such a clear day we had great views of the Thames River.
We ducked into a nearby cafe for some espresso and semi-stale cheesecake. Nothing too memorable about this place (which also doubled as a wine bar). The most interesting moment occurred when a young African-American pre-teen strolled in, pointed to a piece of fruit on the counter then told the bartender that he was taking it and casually walked out without paying!
We strolled through the picturesque Bermondsey neighborhood eventually making our way to Southwark where we avoided the ghoulish "London Dungeon" barkers and eventually found the next stop on our itinerary -- the old
Operating Theatre! Yes,this is an actual medical O.R. from the 1800s -- in the glorious pre-anesthesia days! This museum had been closed since the late 1990s for renovation and had just opened within the last few months. We got there about an hour before closing which gave us plenty of time to look through some of the gut-wrenching exhibits. Specimens in jars were situated next to horrible-looking medical instruments -- many devised to poke around various bodily orifices - and man, let me tell you, it de us appreciate the time we live in all the more when you have to look at the condition of hospitals back then! We walked away from the tonsil-cutting devices and amputation saws and went down to the actual operating theater -- devised so that many students
and faculty could look in on the operations being conducted. A bizarre, cut-in-half animatronic man was lying on a table with a pillow behind him. The machinery inside this unfortunate creature was not working correctly. It was supposed to allow him to talk but instead it just made his lips and chest move a bit and some gurgling sounds came out of his mouth -- this was an unintentionally eerie effect!
We were told by someone who was overseeing some repairs that this is the only remaining operating theatre of its kind in Europe, and that during renovations they had come across sawdust under the floor boards that was most likely sawdust from the time the operating theatre was in use. Apparently the sawdust appeared bloodstained so they were sending it off to get tested.
Somehow the combination of examining old surgical instruments and the smells of various dried herbs on display demonstrating types of remedies was making us both queasy, so we decided it was time to move on. We needed some fresh air and time to regain our composure, so we headed to...Starbuck's...to figure out where to go next as we had a couple of hours to spend before meeting up with the "Hidden Pubs of London" tour later that evening.
Southwark is a great neighborhood with winding medieval cobblestone streets and cool buildings. We found ourselves passing the
Borough Market, a food market that's been around in some capacity for 250 years. The market was shutting down but we walked through it for a while before heading down a nearby narrow street where, to our delight, we passed in front of
Neal's Yard Dairy, a cheese shop specializing in cheeses from the British Isles which we had seen on a Rick Steves video. Unlike Sir Walter's sad fate, we had found our El Dorado! We sampled a few cheeses before selecting the Coolea and Keen's Cheddar to take with us on our overnight trip to Bath the next day. Naturally, us dorks had to take pictures inside the shop.
We knew we had to grab a bite to eat before our pub tour, so we ended up passing by The Anchor, one of London's oldest pubs, but it was packed with an after work/St. Patrick's Day crowd, as was the amazing
George Inn - the only remaining half-timbered, galleried inn in London which had been rebuilt in 1676 after the great fire. In fact all of the pubs in this area were completely packed -- we now understood where the throngs of people we ran into were headed just half an hour ago as we wandered around the area near Neal's Yard Dairy.
We got on the tube to
the Temple stop in the Fleet St. area where the
"hidden pubs" walk was set to start in about 40 minutes. There had to be a pub nearby where we could grab a bite, right? Indeed there was. After stumbling about for a few minutes we ran into the
Edgar Wallace, a small neighborhood bar named after the British crime/mystery writer. The place was packed. Every pub at any time in London is packed, we were soon to find out. We ordered at the bar and scouted for a seat. There were none to be had. Then the bartendress, perhaps out of pity, went up to Laura and pointed out some small table in a corner - the very last one! We grabbed it just before a loud group of women trotted in, eying us with a mixture of envy and hatred. After downing the beer and chow (Laura had soup, Charles a roast beef & horse radish sandwich which was surprisingly good) we headed back to the tube station for the tour. An affable British bloke took our money and brought our group over to the Inns of Court where he gave us an interesting history of both the Knights Templar and the lawyers who learned their trade in this area. A visit to a not-so-interesting pub (the
Devereux) which didn't have the beer our guide recommended (but did have crappy service) was followed by a walk by the Royal Courts of Justice,
Samuel Johnson's house and St. Bride's (see photo -- the design of the building apparently inspired a baker to design a tiered wedding cake which is the style still used today). Finally we reached the pinnacle of cool pubs --
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. If you have but one hour to spend in London, we must insist that you go here. This pub was built in 1676 (after the great fire destroyed its previous pub incarnation) and is one of the most strangely built places we've ever seen. Unlike American bars where there
is a single dining room connected to a single pub (and widescreen, obnoxious TVs in every corner) this building had strange little rooms hidden all over. If you wanted a drink in one bar but it was too crowded you'd just go up or down a flight of stairs (or around the bend) and find another that would serve you. It was weird but in a good way and we could think of nothing (in L.A. at least) that could possibly compare. According to this
website, "The dark wooden interior is an enchanting warren of narrow corridors and staircases, leading to numerous bars and dining rooms. There are so many, even regulars get confused." Amen to that. We meant to come back with Roger and Issy but, alas, this was not to be...
The tour ended and we headed back to the apartment (stopping at the largest Whole Foods we've ever seen to pick up some rice for Issy) to grab some shuteye. Tomorrow would be another long day as we had to get up early for a train to Bath.
Busy packing and getting last minute details ironed out. Still haven't decided exactly what days to do most major attractions. Got our restaurant, B&B, theater and ballet tickets (the most important items, I guess). Still a lot ahead... 
United Airlines sucks. Don't use them. We tried them for some shuttle flights to SF and Portland in the past and were disappointed with their "cattle car" attitude. They had the best travel times though so we decided to chance their 777s - how bad could an international flight be? Well, sad to say the same cheap attitude has taken over their international flights as well. The class system is in all its glory -- great-looking first class seats with full lounge chairs and all sorts of remote control electronics followed by a so-so "economy upgrade" section followed by the worst -- the "cattle car" section, aka "economy"...I felt like we were in a 3rd world country - actually nothing in any of our SE Asian flights from last year could compare to the misery of this flight.
We made it in and, after fumbling around a bit trying to get an "Oyster Card" for the subway (credit card machines weren't working, luckily we had over 100 GBP we bought from a friend who just been in London a few weeks ago)we checked the map and waited for the train which was going to take us to the Gloucester stop where our friends' swank pad in the Kensington area was. It was most amusing to see that we would be on the "Cockfoster's" line and we laughed everytime the lusty-voiced female announcer mentioned it...
watching a film on Victorian times but started falling asleep! Walked out of the viewing area and went through a few exhibits including fashion history, a small SE Asian gallery (mainly devoted to Buddhas of various countries), and a handful of galleries focusing on British cultural artifacts (including the "Great Bed of Ware" - see photo)
couldn't resist because the interiors looked so sumptuous. She swore she saw ghosts of Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman walking out of one of the townhomes (nod to "Gaslight" - this will surely be the first of many movie references in this blog). Then we came across an old red phone booth which, of course, we had to take a picture of. Laura was shocked to see postcards of escort services plastered all over the inside. On our way back to Issy & Roger's, we passed by some great pubs and shops which made us even more excited to be in London and start exploring.
We decided to go to Issy & Roger's local pub, the Gloucester Arms (briefly mentioned on this site as "a stolid affair") , for dinner that night. We were looking forward to some authentic pub food and tasty beer. It was fun for all of us to go together, including the kids, which is something you don't see in the US too often. We got a kick out of bringing Maya up to the bar with us to order food and drinks. (Of course we didn't order drinks for her!) Laura had one of the meat pies of the day which was quite tasty with a nice, flaky crust. Charles had fish and chips. All of our meals were superior to any pub fare we've had in the US, and the beer selection was great. We stayed for a while, quaffing a few pints and hearing about Issy & Roger's time in London. Roger amused us with tales of cultural differences including one story 
about a co-worker asking him to join him for a "swift half." Roger had no idea as to what the gent was referring to and it took a few amusing moments of repetition and explaining for the guy to convey that he wanted Roger to join him for a "quick half pint of beer"...
What a day! Since we successfully avoided jet lag by forcing ourselves to stay up til 10PM last night (hence the less-than-pleasant sounding blog entry - we were dead tired and crabby...) -- or in Laura's case 11:00ish, we were able to get up early and make an 11am reservation for the London Eye. Once off the Tube we immediately saw "Big Ben", the Thames River, Westminster Abbey -- made you really feel like a tourist in London.
Found our way to the London Eye -- all the guidebooks talk about the dreadful 2-hour long queues -- well, maybe for summer and for the middle of the day. Since we were half an hour early we just walked on. This oversized ferris-wheel is really something else. Since the weather cooperated we could see everything clearly. London is HUGE. And tons of construction going on so maybe the economy is not doing so poorly over here...if you do go on this attraction make sure you dress like it's going to be a warm day at the beach- there is no ac and the little glass bubbles you go in (see pic) roast you medium well done. Man, as cool as it was to see London from this height we were glad to get out and cool down! 
glass on the floor - guess we did end up livening up the place a bit -- with his backpack... oh well...
ago we had done one in Boston and found it to be pretty fun and interesting. Alas, the London version was not. Not much ground covered, a sarcastic guide that liked to make subtle fun of various British celebrities we never heard of, and a short tour down the Thames...Charles started to nod off...
kept exactly as it was and an audio guide led you to the different rooms - strategy, maps, bedrooms, etc. Then, the second part of the building was dedicated entirely to Winston Churchill's life. This could have been deadly dull but the curators made it lively and interesting, filled with interactive displays, short videos you could watch at your leisure -- even a year-by-year display where you could choose which day you wanted to see from his life. Very informative -- we were actually there til closing.
Got up earlier today than yesterday in order to try and beat the masses at the Tower of London. Since this wasn't exactly tourist season we had no problems (though the tube was pretty crowded) with the Tower queues. We had also booked our tickets online in advance so we didn't have to wait (though it wouldn't have been a long line at all) in the main queue. The many school groups that ended up being there, however, were another problem indeed...
leave, and, hence, why their wings are clipped), the "Traitor's Gate" (where Anne Boleyn, among others, passed through), and other facts and miscellany about the various beheading, torture and palace intrigue which occurred since 1078 when William the Conqueror had it built.
After taking many photos, ogling awe-inspiring gems and shiny, gold historical objects and enjoying the exhibits we made it out of there, grabbed a (mediocre at best) bite to eat at the Tower cafe then went over to the White Tower which they were renovating for an interactive, informative display that begins in...April -- we were two weeks too early! But there was a lot of stuff we could see such as weapons and weaponry, coats of armor, a strange line up of models of the horses that had belonged to the kings, etc. The spectacular Chapel of St. John in the White Tower is one of the oldest remaining parts of the Tower of London, and apparently one of the oldest Norman church interiors in existence. It was truly breathtaking and in amazing to behold. Another memorable artifact was the "Horned Helmet" that was given to Henry VIII by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. A truly bizarre looking object that seems more "Metropolis"-era, early 20th century than early 1500s. It was also interesting to see early "toilets" in the White Tower - basically open shoots leading to less publicly visible portions of the building that some poor shlub had to clean up after. 
The White Tower also had some really interesting interactive displays about past and present weaponry, where you were able to see first-hand what it was like to be in combat wearing the helmet portion of a suit of armor. Tough luck on the peripheral vision, much less anything to the side beyond a 45 degree angle! You could also try on a "gauntlet," the glove portion of a suit of armor. Pretty heavy but surprising easy to move your hand in.
permanent damage in the process. Oh what a delight. Thankfully, the text in the exhibit mentioned that such devices were rarely used.
We strolled through the picturesque Bermondsey neighborhood eventually making our way to Southwark where we avoided the ghoulish "London Dungeon" barkers and eventually found the next stop on our itinerary -- the old Operating Theatre! Yes,this is an actual medical O.R. from the 1800s -- in the glorious pre-anesthesia days! This museum had been closed since the late 1990s for renovation and had just opened within the last few months. We got there about an hour before closing which gave us plenty of time to look through some of the gut-wrenching exhibits. Specimens in jars were situated next to horrible-looking medical instruments -- many devised to poke around various bodily orifices - and man, let me tell you, it de us appreciate the time we live in all the more when you have to look at the condition of hospitals back then! We walked away from the tonsil-cutting devices and amputation saws and went down to the actual operating theater -- devised so that many students
and faculty could look in on the operations being conducted. A bizarre, cut-in-half animatronic man was lying on a table with a pillow behind him. The machinery inside this unfortunate creature was not working correctly. It was supposed to allow him to talk but instead it just made his lips and chest move a bit and some gurgling sounds came out of his mouth -- this was an unintentionally eerie effect!
Southwark is a great neighborhood with winding medieval cobblestone streets and cool buildings. We found ourselves passing the Borough Market, a food market that's been around in some capacity for 250 years. The market was shutting down but we walked through it for a while before heading down a nearby narrow street where, to our delight, we passed in front of Neal's Yard Dairy, a cheese shop specializing in cheeses from the British Isles which we had seen on a Rick Steves video. Unlike Sir Walter's sad fate, we had found our El Dorado! We sampled a few cheeses before selecting the Coolea and Keen's Cheddar to take with us on our overnight trip to Bath the next day. Naturally, us dorks had to take pictures inside the shop.
We knew we had to grab a bite to eat before our pub tour, so we ended up passing by The Anchor, one of London's oldest pubs, but it was packed with an after work/St. Patrick's Day crowd, as was the amazing George Inn - the only remaining half-timbered, galleried inn in London which had been rebuilt in 1676 after the great fire. In fact all of the pubs in this area were completely packed -- we now understood where the throngs of people we ran into were headed just half an hour ago as we wandered around the area near Neal's Yard Dairy.
the Temple stop in the Fleet St. area where the "hidden pubs" walk was set to start in about 40 minutes. There had to be a pub nearby where we could grab a bite, right? Indeed there was. After stumbling about for a few minutes we ran into the Edgar Wallace, a small neighborhood bar named after the British crime/mystery writer. The place was packed. Every pub at any time in London is packed, we were soon to find out. We ordered at the bar and scouted for a seat. There were none to be had. Then the bartendress, perhaps out of pity, went up to Laura and pointed out some small table in a corner - the very last one! We grabbed it just before a loud group of women trotted in, eying us with a mixture of envy and hatred. After downing the beer and chow (Laura had soup, Charles a roast beef & horse radish sandwich which was surprisingly good) we headed back to the tube station for the tour. An affable British bloke took our money and brought our group over to the Inns of Court where he gave us an interesting history of both the Knights Templar and the lawyers who learned their trade in this area. A visit to a not-so-interesting pub (the Devereux) which didn't have the beer our guide recommended (but did have crappy service) was followed by a walk by the Royal Courts of Justice, Samuel Johnson's house and St. Bride's (see photo -- the design of the building apparently inspired a baker to design a tiered wedding cake which is the style still used today). Finally we reached the pinnacle of cool pubs -- Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. If you have but one hour to spend in London, we must insist that you go here. This pub was built in 1676 (after the great fire destroyed its previous pub incarnation) and is one of the most strangely built places we've ever seen. Unlike American bars where there 
is a single dining room connected to a single pub (and widescreen, obnoxious TVs in every corner) this building had strange little rooms hidden all over. If you wanted a drink in one bar but it was too crowded you'd just go up or down a flight of stairs (or around the bend) and find another that would serve you. It was weird but in a good way and we could think of nothing (in L.A. at least) that could possibly compare. According to this website, "The dark wooden interior is an enchanting warren of narrow corridors and staircases, leading to numerous bars and dining rooms. There are so many, even regulars get confused." Amen to that. We meant to come back with Roger and Issy but, alas, this was not to be...
Though the previous day was exhausting we had little time to unwind. Why? Well this morning we were taking an 8:30am train to Bath! What is Bath, you may ask? Good question. See the map to your left to get an idea of where it is in relation to London and read this for info:the main spring was treated as a shrine by the Celts, and dedicated to the goddess Sulis. The Romans probably occupied Bath shortly after their invasion of Britain in 43 AD. They knew it as Aquae Sulis (literally "the waters of Sulis"), identifying the goddess with Minerva.
we discovered that the fine, most accommodating folk at the Henry Guest House were good enough to let us check in early. The very nice proprietress clued us in on a free walking tour that commenced in a few minutes. We barely had time to put our belongings in our spacious and clean room and make our way over to the Bath Abbey (a gorgeous, "Perpendicular Gothic" structure) courtyard where the tour had just started. The tour got off to a meandering start (it wasn't a bad tour but would have taken two hours to complete) and we were eager to start seeing some of the sights, so we peeled off and headed to the Roman Baths, (links to the fine wikipedia description, not the completely useless and uninformative "official" website which you can find here if you must) hoping to get a head start on the growing number of tourists and dreaded school groups that appeared to be multiplying each minute.
as well as an amazing view of the late 15th century Bath Abbey. This was such an awe-inspiring view onto centuries of great buildings! The tour then took us down into an indoor museum showing various sections of the baths and displaying artifacts taken from the site, allowing visitors to get an idea of how glorious and large the baths complex truly was and insight into the culture of the peoples who visited the site. Some highlights of the museum included a carved head thought to be the Gorgon's head, headstones of those buried at the site (including some who had traveled to the site in the hopes of curing themselves) and artifacts of offerings to the goddess Sulis Minerva (for whom the baths were dedicated) and curses carved in metal that visitors threw into the sacred spring.
used to bring water from the main spring into the Great Bath. It was amazing to walk around on stones that you knew people had walked in for thousands of years. It was also amazing to think about the lifestyles people led at the time. Apparently the baths were part of a great social network for the Roman upper class. Business meetings were held in the Baths for hours at a time followed by servants giving rubdowns, followed by feasting. Not a bad life!
at a local pub we started the double-decker bus sightseeing tour of Bath. It was nice to have someone drive us around for a while and point out areas of interest. This is where we had a chance to see the truly beautiful Georgian architecture that makes Bath as spectacular as it is. You really feel like you're stepping back in time. We left the bus (a get-in, get-off type of operation) once we reached the world-famous No. 1 Royal Crescent. This was a "a magnificently restored Georgian town house that creates a wonderfully vital picture of life in Georgian Bath." And that, essentially was what it was -- a look into how the upper crust lived back in the late 1700s. According to one of the guides this whole building was in terrible shape until the late 1960s when a preservation group got ahold of it and started putting it back together ("it cost a fortune just to heat a building of this size..."). Much of the furnishings were donated from wealthy individuals and organizations all across England. One of the more bizarre bits we learned about life during this time was how certain "private" functions were viewed. In the "study" room men would play cards for many hours at a time. 
A "gentleman's pot cupboard" was situated next to the fireplace. When any of the card-players needed to "relieve" themselves they would simply pull the pot out of the cupboard, urinate in open view of everyone, then put the pot back into the cupboard! Going down to the basement area was the kitchen where the main object of interest was the bizarre "dog wheel" -- in which a large wooden wheel was affixed to a spit turning meat. A specially-bred dog was placed in the wheel and was forced to keep running so the spit would turn! If the dog did not run it would be prodded with a hot poker. These dogs were given two-hour shifts to keep from being worn out. According to the literature in the kitchen this practice still existed up until the 1950s in certain rural counties!
with a couple of glasses Zinfandel (from California!) and a South African cab.
Got up early to have our first, real "English" breakfast in the guesthouse common area. We met two older women in the breakfast room. They heard us speaking to each other and said, "You sound like Americans." It turns out they were as well and from California, no less! One from the central coast and the other from the Ft. Bragg area. How ironic that the first people we sit down to have a chat with are Americans! We had a nice conversation about coastal California and exchanged stories about our time in England. They were lucky enough to be able to stay in Bath for several days and were about to do a "Mad Max" tour of Stonehenge. Lucky bastards! They were envious, however, when we told them about 
the play we had seen the night before...
themselves. (See our photo and this link for illustration on how this works). We walked through the canal, past a beautiful park (Sydney Gardens), down Great Pulteney Street (the widest street in Bath lined with beautiful Georgian homes), through Laura Place (!), then over the Pulteney Bridge (the one we drove over yesterday), taking many great photos in the process. We popped into one of the stores on Pulteney
Bridge to pick up a few souvenirs and looked down on the River Avon. Laura commented on how nice a view the proprietress had from her window and she commented on how it was one of the best views in town. Lucky her!
We then walked back to the Bath Abbey so we could have a quick walk inside of it before we had to head to the train station. The Abbey was originally built in the 7th century (but rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries). It is considered one of the largest examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture in England. The "fan vaulting" on the ceiling was gorgeous (see strange picture of Charles with ceiling).
to Bloomsbury and decided to explore the neighborhood first, checking out a few of the squares including beautiful Russell Square. On one side of the square is the incredibly huge, 19th century-era Hotel Russell. We stopped for a much needed beverage and then walked toward the magnificent St. Pancras Railway Station (see photo). Laura wanted to check out the champagne bar at the station but we were getting tired (getting?!) and knew we needed to conserve what energy we had for the British Museum.
At last the British Museum! Words can't describe the treasures inside of the museum we'd only seen in books and slides - artifacts from the Parthenon, Assyria, Rome, Greece, ancient Britain, Egypt, etc. Charles went up to the huge exhibition on "Roman Britain" (could have spent a day there alone) while Laura went to see the excellent Egyptian exhibit. 
We also saw the world-famous Rosetta Stone (see photo) which was most impressive as well. We only scratched the surface in the two or so hours we were there. After almost collapsing from exhaustion in the southeast Asian room, we decided to make our way back to Issy & Roger's flat. We still had to get our bags from Paddington before returning to their place AND eat!
our late dinner (now almost 10 PM) we decided to try the "proper hamburgers" at Byron down the street from where we were staying. Our friends had been and said it was pretty good, although they scoffed at the locals eating their "proper hamburgers" with forks and knives - how improper! We were both craving a good burger at this point on our trip and our interest was piqued! We opted to "take away" our burgers so we could hang out with our friends and share some (much needed) alcohol while recounting our adventures.
