TTWW: London Day 3

Day three was BUSY. That morning Miles had scheduled to go in for a quick conference call with the SSI London office. We attempted to leave at a reasonable hour (early) so he could get there for the call. However, we got a bit lost trying to find the office and there 20 minutes late. When he arrived, he signed in downstairs and went to the elevator. He rode to his floor but we greeted with doors that required a card entry. Luckily there was a woman on the elevator with him who let him in when he told her about the call. He asked around to find out where he should go and no one knew who he was or what "meeting" he was talking about. Someone showed him where a meeting had taken place, but no one was there. So after a pointless attempt, we left.


Our next stop was nearby at the Soane Museum. We got there a little before it opened, so we just sat in the nearby park, people (and dog) watching. The Soane Museum was pretty interesting. Here is a little blurb I found here, about Sir John Soane and his home:


Soane was born in 1753, the son of a bricklayer, and died after a long and distinguished career, in 1837.Soane designed this house to live in, but also as a setting for his antiquities and his works of art. After the death of his wife (1815), he lived here alone, constantly adding to and rearranging his collections. Having been deeply disappointed by the conduct of his two sons, one of whom survived him, he determined to establish the house as a museum to which ‘amateurs and students’ should have access.


Here is a picture of the outside of the home (as they wouldn't allow any pictures inside), as well as some walls they have built up while they are doing construction/restoration on two unfinished stories of the home.

The inside was crazy. It was super eclectic with items everywhere (statues, paintings, books, stonework, stained glass, furniture, etc.) Basically everything was an antique and likely very valuable. You could look in all directions, including high above you on the walls, or small nooks and crannies, and find something to look at. Here is a picture found on the same site that shows a view from inside.

He actually had a sarcophagus in the basement. Apparently he acquired it when the National Museum of London decided it was too expensive to buy. I can't remember how much he paid now, but I am sure it was a lot for the times. He seems like he was a very interesting person.


Following that, we went across the park to the Hunterian Museum. It is located in the Royal College of Surgeons of England. (This should give a clue as to what the museum is like.) There were definitely some things that were interesting, but there was a whole lot of gross going on too. There were a LOT of animals/human body parts displayed in formaldehyde, pictures of surgeries, etc. Some of the interesting displays were the extinct animals, paintings of abnormal humans, old surgical tools, and a skeleton of a 7'7" tall man. Here is a picture I found here showing the skeleton (and lots of jars of formaldehyde).

After we were both sufficiently grossed out (surprisingly, Miles tapped out before me) we went to Covent Garden. It's a pretty cool place. It's kind of like a street market with other shops surrounding it, that also has street performers as well as singers and entertainers. It was fun to browse the vendors and walk around. I also had to take a picture of the Laduree that was there. It is a fancy French store that sells super expensive macaroons. My Mom and I went when we were in Paris.

Here are a couple of the street performers that we watched while we sat and ate lunch. They were fine. Nothing too exciting. The guy on the right put his body through the frame of a tennis racket while riding a unicycle and sharing his dirty British humor. Nothing to get too worked up about. However, the thing that really bugged me and Miles is that no matter who they were, it seems like all street performers have the same schtick. They all spend at least half of the time telling you how great they are, and that they spend hours training, and this is how they make their money...SO...you should obviously donate money to them. And the more the better. Blah, blah, blah. It's just too much of a sale's pitch for us.

Once we were done being haggled for money, we walked over to Leicester Square. On our way I took a couple pictures. I loved this frozen yogurt store name:

I also thought this was a cool view of a quaint London street and buildings:

And here is the London Hippodrome. I believe it is used for theater and other events.

Our main goal in Leicester Square was to see about getting broadway tickets from the TKTS booth where they sell discount tickets to shows. It took us a while to find the place. We wandered into the huge M&Ms store.

Then we wandered through China town.

Finally, we found the booth. Most tickets were either sold out, or still super expensive because it was a Friday. And apparently, Wicket is always sold full price at the TKTS booth. So we passed on buying tickets that day.


After that, we went to yet another museum - the National Gallery...which is BIG. It was somewhat interesting, but really the best stuff was the impressionist/modern area - Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Mannet, Seurat, etc... I thought I snapped some illegal photos, but I can't find them. Ah well.

After that, we went where? Oh, right...another museum - the National Portrait Museum. Again, the modern areas were the most interesting. Miles had about had it with standing and looking at paintings, so he sat (and fell asleep) while I wandered through the rest of what I wanted to see.

I woke him up and we headed back over the the shopping area I had gone to the day before. I wish I had taken him into Harrods so he could see it, but I think we were both pretty worn out by then. We checked out some trendy shops (Top Shop, Zara, etc.) I felt like they were very expensive. (Apparently not for the two French teenage girls that were in the other room of the flat we were staying in, since they spent hundreds of pounds shopping in the few days they were in London.) We wandered around a bit more, then headed to the train station to buy tickets for Bath the next day, and then headed home.


We made dinner and chatted with Laura (the flat owner) for a long time. We talked about health care (In England, they get one year of maternity leave with descending pay for the whole time. They generally have good benefits, but it is not uncommon to have to wait to see a doctor for up to a month. However, if it is an emergency, they can go to the hospital.), religion (She's Jewish, we're LDS. She said she watched Big Love. We answered her questions about our religion and misconceptions she had about it from the show. We discussed how it will be for she and her husband, Camilo to raise a family since she is Jewish and he is Catholic.), work (they get 5 1/2 weeks of leave. She could not believe we get so little vacation and said, "How do you have proper family time?"), etc. It was a good, long, deep discussion. I really enjoyed it and I appreciated her open, honest, nonjudgemental demeanor.


I attempted to Skype with my baby, but since we had talked so long I missed my chance before he went to sleep. :(


After ALL of that...we finally went to bed...LATE...for our early morning to Bath the next day.