I decided to walk to my class at U London… which is a little more than an hour walk… half of it through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park… and that's often the loveliest part of the walk/day/week! All ponds and birds and frolicking dogs… I love that park!!
Then, I was on a bit of a high for having no medicine in my system for the first day in weeks AND the lovely weather…so I found a fun lunch place to stop at on my way to class. It is called The Attendant, and it's a cafe made out of an old Victorian-era men's restroom. They turned the urinals (well cleaned) into the seating area… and served a variety of coffee and tea and sandwiches… including that lovely new cheese I've see here that I can't remember the name of (the grilled mozzarella-tasting one). So I did that, one more thing to check off a list that I didn't even know was there!
And off to class… to learn about the history of rice cookers and their technology AND their role in women's lives in Japan since the 1950s. It was an interesting talk, and for a few dizzy moments I thought about studying appliances for a book from the US perspective. Except, there aren't a lot of appliances to analyze in the 19th century, so I think I'll let that one go!
On the way to the Tube station, I stopped at UCL's little Zoology museum, and gazed at a jar full of preserved moles (yep, you read that right), the bones of a dodo, a croc skull (sans teeth, which bummed me out), a HUGE elephant skull (I suppose it WOULD be) and deer antlers--MASSIVE ONES, and a penis worm (I don't even want to know) and other things of an equally bonkers nature. It's a remnant of the 19th century need to collect all the dang things they could find--and kill them if need be. There was a selection of brains of various animals, for example, with a note that said that they are still used in classes there. THAT was interesting. It was a tiny museum, but right by class, so well worth a visit-- And the place was pretty busy, too, interestingly enough.
Then I wandered up to the Jack the Ripper Tour area, but way too early, as I often do. So to kill time, I checked out the Bank of London Museum. It's exactly what it seems like--a museum about the history of British money, and what role the bank has had to play in it. The most interesting parts of the museum to me was the tourist-friendly bar of gold they SECURELY allow us to pick up and a history of the coins of Britain before 1971. The gold bit is obviously interesting, but the money bit was like an explanation of all the books I've ever read (not quite, but a bunch). Like, wth is a shilling? or a farthing? can one care a brass farthing about something??
So--for any other nerds out there: The pound sterling is the oldest currency in the world. Originally 240 silver pennies would make up a pound--and if it was good quality silver, it would be "sterling." The Latin word for pound is libra pondo, and that's where the L is their currency symbol comes from. In 1971 they switched to 100 pennies to a pound, like normal currencies (THAT recently!). Before that, there were "threpennies," that were three pennies, a florin was two pennies, and sixpence (being six pennies), 12 pennies made a shilling (or "bob"), 20 shillings per pound. And a farthing was a quarter (four thing) of a penny… AND a crown was five shillings…
Got it?? Me either-- :)
After all that, I went for dinner… I had assumed I've have to go to a London chain, which would be fine, as there are still loads of chains I haven't been to yet. But as I was wandering I bumped into a place called the Soup Larder. Just opened, total mom and pop, new-style all organic and such, place. Four of their six soups were veg… Dang!! So of course I went there…
THEN I was ready for the Jack the Ripper tour. Yep--we went all over the Whitechapel part of London… and saw the sites of three of the five *known* murders. It was fun… not terribly spooky--it was SOOOOO touristy. We would pull up to a site, and there would be two other tours there, too. Our poor guide (a great performer) would have to shout. He doesn't take in the new (what was it? a Polish immigrant?) theory of who the Ripper was-- He thinks it was the Royal Doctor, as a way to stop a pregnancy (the Ripper collected uterus souvenirs) of the Queen's grandson… (I can't imagine that would have been THAT rare--a royal with a prostitute, and sometimes they get preggers… but there IS the issue of the missing organs.) Of course, everyone knows it had to be someone with medical training, and there had to be an accomplice, as the bodies were moved. It's an interesting case, still!
During the walk, we just so happened to go down Diagon Alley (SQUEE!) from the movies, and the pub where Guy Ritchie filmed Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch (Diamonds? What do I know about diamonds??). As well as the pub where the victims all hung out and lived nearby. Still there, still named the same thing, and totally hopping on a Friday night with London yuppies.
Now it's Saturday, and it's gray and raining again--February wants to go out with a whimper, apparently… So I'm thinking something indoors… Maybe a museum… Maybe…..
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