Elementary my dear Watson...

oops, too long hanging around Baker Street I guess.

So, after breakfast at the hostel Wendy and I got on the Picadilly line to Holborn. We walked to Lincoln's Inn Fields and visited the Sir John Soane's Museum. Wow, it was manic! Sir Soane was a famous architect and a collector of just about anything it seems. The museum was his home and it is covered in treasures absolutely from floor to ceiling including a 3,000 year old sarcophagus. He must have been a bit of a nutter because the house is insane. It has not been changed - nothing added, nothing removed - since it was made a museum by an act of parliament on the occasion of his death. Apparently he had it protected as a museum so his disinherited son could not get it. They did not allow photography so you'll have to take my word for it that it is amazing and probably a claustrophobic's nightmare. I found a picture online though:













Next, we walked through Bloomsbury and checked out Russell Square on our way to the British Museum. We had lunch in "The Great Court", the beautiful glass-ceilinged area. We saw the Rosetta stone and a bunch of mummies on our way back out to the street.

We walked through the lovely Fitzroy Square, saw the spacey-looking BT tower and headed down Euston Road for Regent's Park. The Park is so refreshing. The plantings were dripping with flowers and the grass was cool and green. Queen Mary's Rose Garden was covered in roses and smelled like it too. I can't believe that in my many trips to London I've never been to this beautiful park. Oh, in the open air theatre we could hear the musical going on, "The Boyfriend". Mike, you'll be pleased to know that it sounded to me like a Jeeves and Wooster production with the 1920's English musichall music. I could almost hear Jeeves saying "I'm sure that your cool head and undoubted thespian powers will see you through the day, Sir."

We walked out of the park, down Baker Street, past Sherlock Holmes' place and down into the Baker Street tube. We're resting up at the hostel now in anticipation of our evening walking tour - Apparitions, Alleyways and Ales. ta-ta for now. (pictures to come)