London Day 2



The British Museum's Atrium

After sleeping in late, we made some tea and stared out the window at London. From the window we could see St Paul's Cathedral, one of the oldest buildings in London and the Shard, one of the newest. Completely undecided about what to do we checked in with Lizzie to see what suggestions she might have. Lizzie offered to take us on a quick tour of her neighborhood.

The first stop was a really well done artsy gift shop. Lizzie and I had been talking about Tucson and the types of commerce it still lacks. So Lizzie wanted to show us a couple of good examples of shops in London that had done it right. By now we were in need of a drink or at least a lemonade. Lizzie suggested The Lamb. Built in 1722 it was named after John Lamb who built the water source for the street in the mid 1500's. Refurbished in the Victorian era, this pub is one of the few that still has it's privacy screens intact. These frosted panes of etched glass prevented the wealthy drinker from having to be looked at by the commoners. Charles Dickens and Sylvia Plath are some of it's former patrons.

The entrance to Coram's Field

We walked on and arrived at Coram's Field. As Lizzie is on the trustees committee, we were exempt from the rule of having to be accompanied by a child and were allowed entry. The 7 acres of tree filled open space is a children's park. Included in its grounds are a wading fountain, playground, duck pond, and lots of grass covered space to run around. In one corner is a small zoo with birds, chickens, several roosters, goats and sheep. There was also a zipline that was currently out of commission, some children had recently set it on fire. Around the entire perimeter was a lovely covered arched walk that was once part of the original foundlings hospital.



Constructed in the mid 1700's the hospital was a home for unwanted or uncared for children. Initially, only children under 12 months were accepted, but the age was eventually increased to 24 months. A basket was hung from the entrance so children could be left anonymously. For the first 4-5 years the children would be sent to the countryside to be cared for by wet nurses. At that point, they would return to Coram Hospital. At age 14 for boys and 16 for girls, the residents would be apprenticed, most as servants. Music was a large part of Corum 's and many children were encouraged to learn to play instruments and sing. In 1750, Handel became involved in the with the music program and was granted a position as the hospitals music director.

Today the setting is completely different as it is teeming with happy children ruining all around having fun. The charity is now one of London's oldest and the park is entirely supported by donations. If you are interested in supporting a really good cause, please visit their site www.coramsfields.org to learn more.

Camden Market (behind a mass
of people)



Lizzie needed to get back home, so we agreed to meet at 8pm for dinner and said our goodbyes. At the Barclay's Bike stand we picked up two bikes. These bikes are located all over London and are easy to rent. You simply pay the access fee, receive a code and use it to unlock a bike from the stands. When you are finished you simply find an open spot in one of the many sites and re-park it. Peddling off, we went north towards Highgate cemetery.



Passing through Camden Market we stopped briefly to look at the many vendor booths. The place was packed! As we couldn't leave the bikes nearby, we had to walk them through the crowds which got annoying pretty quick.



We then arrived in Hampstead Heath. The Heath is an ancient park located on the highest point in London. We biked through the park then stopped at one of the many ponds to soak up the sun. After an hour or so of relaxing, we decided we didn't really want to go to highgate cemetery. Instead, we rode back down the hill to the center of London.



Not the Rosetta Stone...
but its at the museum too.

We found a spot to drop off the bikes near the back entrance to the British Museum. As we entered, I asked one of the workers if the museum had an exhibit on world war 2. I had seen an exhibit years ago and could not recall where it had been. The Indian guard proceeded to tell me with a very heavy accent that he "could not understand my American Accent". Pretty funny since I could understand his. With only 45 minutes before they closed, we did a quick tour through ancient Egyptian artifacts, an exhibit on clocks, and Iranian (Persian) pottery and sculpture. Evidently, there was no World War 2 exhibit at the British Museum. Heading out of the museum we went through the giant atrium which is pretty impressive.

We spent the next few hours just walking around London. Suddenly, it was almost 8pm so we rushed back to Lizzie's flat for dinner. She made a delicious cheese enchilada dish which we really enjoyed.