It was, yet again, a rainy day in London. It wasn't quite so cold as it has been, but it is still quite wet. My feet have been aching all day and truthfully I shouldn't have walked as much as I did today, but sitting around in the dorm, even in such pitiful weather, seems like such a waste. So, I ate some breakfast (croissant, banana, fig rolls, and orange juice) then got a shower and made my way out to The Globe Theater.
I got there very early and spent about twenty minutes just watching London from the bank of the Thames. A lot of people were out jogging this morning. At 9 o'clock the building opened and I went through the Globe Exhibition before going on a tour of the building at 10. The tour was rather quick (only thirty minutes) although informative. I think that if they weren't rehearsing for a play today we may have been able to go backstage. Alas, we did get to go into the Globe and get a couple of photographs. It was a very impressive building. It was built out of the exact same materials as the original Globe. The roof was even thatch, just like the original Globe Theater. Of course, the Globe now sits about 200-300 meters away from the site of the original Globe.
After the Globe I made my way towards the aquarium. Anjelica met me inside (I had been running late) and we toured through the aquarium. It was not quite as impressive as I would have hoped (certainly not as impressive as the aquariums in America), but it was still fun to see. There were some interesting exhibits and we had a good time. It was, much like the Globe, a rather quick trip. Once we had finished at the aquarium we decided to head back to the dorms for lunch. I also wanted to lay down and rest. Like I said, my feet were still hurting from the previous day. Even as I write this, my feet are still quite sore. My toes are starting to callous over from all of the walking.
I took about a two or two-and-a-half hour nap in the afternoon then got up and decided to go to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. I ended up getting on the wrong train and I rode for probably about 30 minutes more than I had to, but I finally reached 221b Baker Street. The Museum was nice. It was a bit pricey (6 pounds, or 12 dollars) for how long it lasted (only about 20 minutes for me). But, it was fun to walk through a house completely fitted to resemble the home that Dr. Holmes and Watson did their famous case-solving in. The gentleman playing Dr. Holmes in his study was even kind enough to point out his opium stash to me when I asked. There were other rooms filled with mannequins representing some of the famous cases that Dr. Holmes solved. After I was done, I made a quick stop in their gift shop, which I now believe is the most expensive gift shop I have ever seen. A pipe key chain was 5 pounds--that's 10 dollars.
I continued down Baker Street and stopped in an Elvis memorabilia shop. I told the shop owner how surprised I was to see such a shop in London, which prompted him to tell me there are a lot of Elvis fans in the UK. He then went on to explain how Graceland sued him several years back because of his distribution of Elvis merchandise and won in the U.S. He still seemed quite bitter about this. He said he sued them in the U.K. and won though, so I guess he broke even. I mentioned to him that my grandmother is from England and a big Elvis fan, which in retrospect I think was a mistake for me to do. He decided to take the opportunity to give me his sales pitch for all of the "banned" Elvis merchandise that he sells and promising me that my grandmother didn't have this and didn't have that. Though frankly, I don't think there was much in there she would actually be interested in.
He tried to sell me some Elvis playing cards and even an "Elvis Lives In My Heart" coffee mug that, when filled with hot water will cause an image of Elvis to appear. I tried not to be rude and thanked him for showing me the items, but I'd wait and decide on what souvenir to give her. He kept assuring me that the prized Elvis memorabilia in his shop was something really to beheld. Not to say that it wasn't or anything, but if I bring my grandmother a souvenir back from England that is an Elvis item, I have the feeling she would be less than impressed and probably think I was stupid for spending 10 or 12 dollars on a coffee mug.
I got back to the dorm and read about the flaming truck driving into the airport in Glasgow. I was a bit concerned because some of the people here have gone up to Scotland this weekend although they are staying in Edinburgh. Just prior to leaving the Sherlock Holmes museum, there apparently was a bag left on a street corner nearby, which the man outside of the museum noticed. I saw it when I went into the Elvis shop but when I left it was gone. You would think people would not do things like that given the situation over here, but nonetheless.
I ate a microwavable dinner from the Tesco (which wasn't bad!) a few minutes ago and now I'm probably just going to take it easy for the rest of the night. I have to get up early tomorrow so that Dr. Ross and I can take the bus (coach) to Oxford to see Reverend Cooper. It should be a fun day and I'm really looking forward to it.
Pictures of today's wanderings around London can be found here:
http://flickr.com/photos/8494714@N03/
P.S. I found out that yesterday (Friday) Gideon got arrested while at Wimbledon. No real reason to worry, though, they didn't book him or anything. He was carrying a locking pocket knife (you know the kind, everyone back home carries them), which are apparently illegal in England. So, they took his knife and took him to a station and got his fingerprints and DNA. Apparently the police were very nice and they understood the situation pretty well. They did say though that if got in trouble here they would reinstate the charges as an automatic conviction. But, it was a simple mistake and really no big deal. Of course, I'm hearing all of this second-hand.
