The Six Napoleons and a Stegosaurus

Yesterday everyone was given the freedom to chose what adventures to find in London. Hannah and I paired up to visit 221 Baker Street and the Natural History Museum. Both were excellent choices. Most of our cohorts went to the Tower of London and were able to see the crown jewels and the armory. Others went to the Globe Theater, or were clever and did some of the required assignments for the semester (I really wish I had done that).

Riding the tube to Baker Street turned out to be more difficult than we had thought. The station nearest to our hotel was closed for service- apparently a common occurrence on weekends. The Londoners around us had only minimal reactions. But the trip was well worth it- the Sherlock Holmes museum has incredible! The tiny flat was absolutely filled with artifacts from the stories (the books- not the movies or TV show). Guarding the entrance was a gentleman dressed as a convincing Lestrade, with Mrs. Hudson knitting just inside the door with a ubiquitous cup of tea. The mock home of everyone's favorite detective clearly illustrated who was supposed to live there, small touches could be definitive traced to either Watson (like the small office filled with medical equipment and texts) or the cramped bedroom jammed with monographs, suspicious syringes, and all the makings for an excellent disguise.

The top floor held and unexpected surprise- remarkably realistic wax figurines of some of Holmes' greatest foes. Grimesby Roylott from the Speckled Band had the eerie characteristic of having eyes that followed you around the room regardless of your standing position. It took Hannah and I a bit to determine that these were in fact made of wax, and not petite docents. Please don't judge us.

After our fill of mystery, we hopped back on the tube to visit the Natural History Museum. And there we saw dinosaurs. I don't know what it is, but something about fossils just bring out my inner child. Hannah and I did agree that we were the oldest people there without children. The end of the exhibit was a darkened room with a massive animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex- which was coolest thing ever. This trip was the ultimate preparation for Jurassic World.

We then got a quick lunch from a street vendor- hot ciabatta  sandwiches filled with cheeses and pesto. Fueled, we began to look for a tea shop. Several disappointing failures eventually resulted in us finding Fortnum & Mason- which was half department store and half just tea. Needless to say I bought a lot of tea.

On the way back to the tube we stumbled into a small church courtyard that housed a petite market of artisans. It seemed mostly to have locals- so the two of us were very pleased for finding something off the beaten path. It was a fun twist to the day.

Eventually, after a short rest we trotted off to what we thought was a quaint cafe and turned out to be the restaurant of a fancy hotel a few blocks away- talk about inaccurate advertising. Nonetheless the food was wonderful, and they managed to seat around a dozen of us. Finding places that can feed all 17 of us has been a bit of a hazard. After dinner a group of the ladies went to a Old Mary's- a supposedly haunted underground kitchen of an old townhouse. We didn't find a ghost- but there was suspicious activity when our room's TV kept turning itself on in the night...

I forgot to mention- another London experience was a quick downpour while walking to the Natural History Museum. It only lasted about two minutes but we managed to get remarkably wet!