Last London Days

I am on a train to Scotland at 6 a.m. I don't usually do things at 6 a.m. but if you can't get up early to go to Scotland; when can you? Luckily the National Rail in England has FREE Wifi on their trains! So, I have plenty of time to update you all on my travels (for free no less)~

Regents' Park 

What I really do enjoy about London is the shear expanse of their parks. The main ones are Hyde and St. James and Regents'. We went and wandered Regents' because it was Lorna's old stomping grounds; she went to school at Regents' College which is plopped right in the mist of the gardens and such. Nothing recharges my batteries while traveling like a visit to the park. Somehow connecting with nature and soaking up some sunshine away from the city din is just the thing. We walked about looking at waterfalls and ducks (ask me sometime to show you the duck video; perhaps I'll post it here when I have more bandwidth) 

* Travel bulletin* The sun is rising over the hills and is blindingly beautiful. 

I do love a good stroll in the park; I got a tad carried away taking pictures of flowers but thats bound to happen in the gardens!

Baker Street

Can't be in London and be a Sherlock Holmes fan and not pay homage to 221B Baker Street can you? Obviously not; 221B has been turned into the Sherlock Holmes Museum; three floors of a complete facsimile of the Great Detective's Rooms complete with an actor playing Dr. Watson!

 You can take pictures of course because it is all pretend but very well done the "memorabilia" from Sherlocks paints for disguise to full scale mannequins depicting scenes of his famous cases. I really had fun in here and here's a shout out to my dad; a fellow Holmes Virtuoso!  * Fun Fact* The statue of Sherlock Holmes outside the Baker Street Tube Station is the only statue of a fictional person (I'm not sure if this is in the world or just London). 

Charring Cross Road

For any bibliophile Charring Cross Road is the place browse, buy and basically yearn for books; old beautiful books. This is my second trip to this hallowed road, well alley really, but my first on purpose. Last time I stumbled upon it by happenstance; us bibliophiles and sniff out a bookstore at a 100 paces. My favorite shop this time around was "Rare Maps, Books and Prints: T. Alena Brett." I bought two Prints there; an engraving and a small color one could be water color. 

The Engraving is so detailed of a little country scene and it's over 150 years old! The small color print is a Jane Austen drawing complete with quote; I just couldn't pass that up! Next I visited the bookshop I frequented on my last visit and picked up a small volume of compiled poetry. It's got a smooth green cloth cover and isn't bigger than the length of my hand. I love it. Lorna and I quickly left then as to keep us from buying more than would fit in our luggage. 

*Travel Bulletin* The sun is up and we're well on our way to Edinburgh; I'm having tea and biscuits from the trolley cart and we just passed through a sleepy little town that had a beautiful cathedral.  

The National Gallery

If I could I would pull up a grate in the floor of the National Gallery and live there. No matter how long I spend there it is never enough. Lorna and I hit the gift shop first; since we both weren't able to spend much time or money in the last respective times we were each in London. I got all kinds of goodies; the best probably being the companion guide to the gallery. Which probably weighs 5 lbs; we both decided that we're carrying it on the plane for the trip home, afraid it will tip our check bag over the weight limit! 

"Sunflowers" by Van Gogh

We broke down the gallery into the rooms we HAD to see so that we wouldn't lose ourselves in there; easy to do indeed. I, of course, had to see the Van Goghs as well as the Turners and Monets. 

"Rain, Steam and Speed" by William Turner

Lorna and I discovered we both had a love for the painting "The Execution of Lady Jane Gray" we sat on the bench and stared at this one for a bit. 

"The Execution of Lady Jane Grey" by Paul Delaroche

If a person can be in love with a place; that's me and the National Gallery - its sort of a long distance relationship, we're both understanding that way. 

* Travel Bulletin* Well, I'm going to take break from blogging for a bit. We're about an hour in to the journey. Sure to post more before we leave England proper.