Camden Markets and Sloane Museum!

So I promise I am working hard--hence the lack of posts since the weekend. There was a good/solid day of Library-ing in there--and yesterday I walked the tours for both classes for today and tomorrow. That one wiped me out! This afternoon is Global Foods London town, and tomorrow is Twain London town. There will clearly be overlap! ;)

I have managed to do a little tourist-stuff in there, too, of course… Sunday I went to Camden Markets-- for the first time. I am heartily ashamed of myself that I hadn't been there before… It's a funky, flea market, Venice Beach kind of place. I people watched for HOURS… and managed not to buy much. ;) But I will be back, of course. (I think one of the little souvenirs I might get for people is a tea bag holder for used tea bags. Basically an entire item that takes the place of a saucer or empty cup--or wherever you want to place your used tea bag. But there are such cute ones everywhere!! I'm strongly tempted…) Best of all was the food stands. Oh so many food stands. And as is the case everywhere in London, it seems, I could pick and choose the stands that were only vegetarian. I haven't had as much falafel this trip as I thought I would, so I was drawn to that… And got a falafel with what turned out to be grilled mozzarella cheese added to it. OMG it was so good! I now suggest that all food has grilled mozzarella--with the grill strips on and everything--to it. :)

Speaking of food--I can't remember if I mentioned my random stall lunches for Thursday and Friday?? Again--all veg, all the time. Thursday has a group of food stalls at the university--so right across from the Library. I got Indian, of course. Oh, the samosas!! Friday IN the university student union a woman was selling her own home-cooked vegan Caribbean food. OMG!! The plantains! :)

OK--back to my touristy bits: yesterday (Tuesday) after my rehearsal for the class walks, I went to the Sloane Museum for their once-monthly after hours candlelit tour of the museum. It's a tiny place, and jam-packed full of stuff (crap? chochkies? architectural detail? BOOKS??!) so we have to line up outside and wait our turn for a limited number of tickets… So, I waited for an hour in the cold… but when else will I have this chance? Should I count on this opportunity next month? And the cold will help keep the numbers down… (It did--they didn't seem to have run out of tickets by the time I left-- and I was glad to have been in the early set…)

Sloane was a famous-for-his-time architect who had plenty of money and a passion for things from Italy and Egypt--antiquities, I suppose you'd call them. And he was a bit wacky… So he started collecting…and collecting…and adding onto his house to have more room to display his collections. He had a room just for his paintings--and added fake walls that could be opened out so you could see the paintings behind. One of these opened up to the other rooms--and to the Monk's room in the basement! The man had an imaginary friend ghost of a monk--and he made a neo-Gothic room for him if/whenever he wanted to visit. That's where he'd serve his friends tea. It was fabulous! Especially as it was right across from a huge sarcophagus that Sloane bought up when the British Museum declined… :)

If I had to compare it to something state-side, which of course I don't--but now the impression has been made, it would be to Winchester Mystery House. Same kind of go-because-you'll-never-see-this-again kind of feel to it. Quirky, would be a great word for it. Sloane doesn't seem to have had as much tragedy in his life, of course… so good for him!

The museum is the way it is because when Sloane died he said he wanted it to be left in JUST the condition as it was… so they have done… it's just like it was in Sloane's time, as much as possible. This is the coolest part! So my favorite rooms, in addition to the Monk's room, were the upstairs breakfast room with the ceiling painted to look like a trellis outside--so charming!--and the LIBRARY!!! (Goes without saying!) Neither room was represented in a postcard, which was really too bad as we couldn't take photos…

OK--and now we are at today. Time to see all these fun old bits of London and dispense some factoids about the authors and the spots themselves! Till next time!! :)

(Last thing-- I am reading Innocents Abroad for my Twain research and I just got to a part where he is mocking his fellow travelers for giving up on their journals… Everyone starts so ambitiously and then just falls off. I felt the shame!!! So color me motivated!)