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| The view of Buckingham Palace from St James Park |
Though my final exam is only two days away,
I spent much of Wednesday exploring a couple new (but important!) areas of
London. This morning, I finally managed
to get into the Sherlock Holmes Museum, and after class, I walked to St James’,
Buckingham Palace, and Fortnum & Mason.
In the three weeks that I’ve been in
London, I have thrice attempted to visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B
Baker Street, but was unsuccessful until this morning. The other times I tried
to get in, the queue was incredibly long – and probably because they can only
allow a few people into the cramped flat at a time. Well, this morning, I woke
up bright and early, made it to the museum half an hour before it opened, and
was one of the first people in. Ha!
Of course, the iconic address, doorway, and
entry were thrilling enough on their own. But on the first floor, I found
Sherlock’s bedroom, outfitted with a little bed, fireplace, single window,
etc., and packed with knick-knacks. Every inch of the entire flat was
outfitted with little objects that either tied directly into one of Sherlock’s
cases, or fit with the general character of Holmes or Watson. There were
shelves packed with bottles, potions, and medicines, all sorts of knives and
pistols, tobacco pipes, body parts (dried ears and thumbs and such), magnifying
glasses, letters, and unusual old items from every corner of the world. Next to
Sherlock’s room on the first floor was the drawing room, with the two chairs
beside the big fireplace, the two large, heavily-draped windows (all I could
think of was them blowing up in the television series!), and the infamous wallpaper with bullet holes.
The second and third floors were more
museum-like, with various artifacts from Sherlock’s cases enclosed in glass
boxes. There were also two rooms with life-sized wax figures (made by Madame
Tussaud’s?) of some of the most famous characters from Sherlock’s stories,
including my beloved Irene Adler. It was actually a little spooky! The whole flat was very
cool to see though, especially that famous entry and drawing room.
I had to head off to class after that, but
when I finished my lecture at 17:00, I walked down Aldwych and the Strand to
the Mall (the broad, tree-lined street that leads up to Buckingham Palace), and
through St James’ Park, which lines the Mall to the south. St James’ is smaller
and more woodsy than Hyde Park, and is very beautiful. There’s a shallow pond
filled with geese and swans, and there were even a couple of squirrels
scurrying about – but everyone was taking pictures of the little pests! There
are almost no squirrels here, and it’s too funny to see the way people react to
them here. After three weeks, the total count of insects and squirrels that
I’ve seen is three and four, respectively. It’s incredible.
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| Buckingham Palace |
Anyway, I walked around St James’ and the
front of Buckingham Palace, which were both really picturesque and stunning. The statues in
front of the Palace were some of my favourites, and the gates and guards were
impressive. I wish I could see the gardens behind the Palace though! What’s really been the most
incredible thing for me on this trip has been seeing these locations that are so iconic for me. I’ve revered these
places for years (mainly through television and film), and it’s so strange and
thrilling to see them in person, to actually physically be there, to see that
they are truly tangible! Places like Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler’s homes
(which I’ve seen thousands of times in the television series), Buckingham
Palace (especially in The Queen, which is one of my favourite movies), Shaftesbury Lane and
Millennium Bridge (Harry Potter), and
many others have always been surreal to me, and now here I am. It’s way too
cool.
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| Gates at Buckingham Palace |
I had dinner at a Spanish tapas restaurant
in Victoria (delicious!), then walked back through St James’ Park up to
Piccadilly to stop in at Fortnum & Mason. Good lord, one would be hard-pressed to
find another shop as glorious as Fortnum & Mason. I can’t decide whether I
like Harrod’s better! Fortnum & Mason is known for being the grocer to the Queen,
and has been on Piccadilly for more than 300 years. It’s much smaller than
Harrod’s; the ground floor is dedicated entirely to tea (from Fortnum &
Mason’s exclusive blends to jams, honeys, and biscuits), and the lower ground
floor has the actual grocery (so many beautiful fresh fruits and meats… luxury
oils, wines, champagne…). It was wonderful. I bought their Smoky Earl Grey
blend, which was apparently made specially for the Palace when the Queen
requested a smokier Earl Grey tea. I’m proud to say that I have greatly
expanded my tea collection while I’ve been here, from Harrod’s Flowery Earl
Grey to Whittard’s Afternoon Tea blend and the London Tea Company’s White Tea
with Elderflower. When I get back home, I’m going to need a whole room for my
tea collection… I think I have every kind of tea that can be found on the face
of this Earth.
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| Fortnum & Mason |
It was raining lightly (of course!), and I
couldn’t have said that I truly experienced London until I had walked through
St James’ and Piccadilly in the cool, grey London rain! The weather has been
quite cool while I’ve been here; I can’t imagine how cold it gets in the
winter. But the summer is so lovely.
I couldn’t think of a more perfect place to spend my August.
Early tomorrow morning, Eli will be arriving at Heathrow airport!! I am uncontrollably excited that she will be joining me for my last three days in London, and then we'll be traveling France together. It's sad that I'll have to spend much of tomorrow studying, but I'll still be able to show her a handful of my favourite study spots: Waterstones, La Pain Quotidien, the Delaunay Counter... and we have reservations for afternoon tea at the Dorchester! Check back in tomorrow to hear all about our first day together in the city!
