On board the 8:30 to Newcastle. We’re sitting facing backwards and I’m trying to convince myself it’s adventurous rather than nauseous. Jim says it’s like flying Southwest: 15 minutes for everyone to get seated in a free for all. The large black pack has gained 20 lbs. We’re blaming it on the t-shirts.
After the British museum yesterday we stopped in a pub for beer and a nosh. It was the same pub Jim had stopped in on his last trip – where he had that fateful beer.
Then we toddled off to British Library and were glad we did. We saw Carroll’s original Alice in Wonderland that he wrote and drew for Alice, Jane Austen’s History of England and Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
I was especially moved to see an actual Wycliffe bible, an original King James, and two of the ancient codexes. The Lindisfarne Gospel was simply breathtaking. They also had a collection of embroidered book covers- mostly 16th and 17th century – Kathy Staples type works complete with a sweat bag. Gorgeous.
London is much more of a melting pot than I remember it being 24 years ago. It definitely feels more like New York or LA in that respect. Fun.
The library is a fabulous building and I wished we’d had more time to explore. But they closed so we tubed to Picadilly Circus where we were greeted by a real rain – even the locals commented on how hard it was raining. Dive into a sporting goods store that won’t be expanding to the States any time soon: its name is Lillywhites. We killed time waiting for the rain and found some shoe inserts I’d been wanting. As the rain turned to drizzle we ventured out and hmm, found a bar. Jim tried and failed to order a Sapphire Martini – they had the sapphire but the bar tender couldn’t deal with something not on the menu. Wondered when they sold sapphire since nothing on the menu called for it. Walked on and realized we were entering cruise mode so found a pub where I successfully ordered Jim a Guinness.
Dinner at an Italian place with Italian wait staff made Jim ponder that being fluent in English doesn’t seem to be an essential for customer service as it would be at home.
London is much more of a melting pot than I remember it being 24 years ago. It definitely feels more like New York or LA in that respect. Fun.
This post was written by
Nadya – who has written 117 posts on UniBrain Trust.
Nadya is the resident food giver and trip planner. She likes to make things, and occasionally finishes them. Look! Shiny thing! You can often find her fixing JIm's spelling errors.