It's very tempting to gloss over our morning and just start this entry from after lunch time....but surely some of the best things about travel are the things you learn from your mistakes. In which case I better jot down our comedy of errors of a morning. If nothing else it will be a reminder to Jacqui and I to laugh at ourselves in years to come.
We thought we might try and see the other heritage house on our list (given we'd had to strike Osterley House from the record yesterday). So off we took ourselves to find the Denis Sever House in Spittlefields. Excellent negotiation of the underground as usual but once up on the street our map reading ability deserted us and we strode off for a good half an hour or so in entirely the wrong direction. We both knew it was wrong and that we were hardly coming across anything worth seeing, but on we went deeper and deeper into the wilds of Spittlefields. Rechecked google maps a couple of times and still just kept on going despite being sure that this couldn't possibly be the way. We finally admitted to each other that this wasn't really all that much fun, so hailed a taxi to get ourselves back on track. Straight back the way we came and then totally the other direction we headed- where we both had thought we needed to go in the first place. Not exactly our finest navigational moment! Even better was that the taxi dropped us right outside the house- which was clearly closed up tight. We may well have read the opening times information a total of 10 or so times- before arriving, last night while planning and then a good 8 or so times while the taxi turned around. We both still completely puzzled by the information- you would think that we would be able to process that kind of information but it clearly had not stuck in our heads. We took ourselves off to Nandos nearby (oddly a seated restaurant, not a takeaway place) to fortify ourselves with some lunch and a sit down after our morning's exercise.
Since we were in Spittlefields we decided to make the most of it and go to the other attraction there- the Old Spittlefields markets. We thought a coffee might clear our heads- it was at least super hot and kept our hands warm. The fresh mini cinnamon scrolls did a better job. Wandering through the markets was like being in a giant Vinnies all laid out in stalls. As Jacqui said it was like looking for diamonds in the rough. Our good humour restored we thought we might try our luck at going to the Sherlock Holmes musuem, though we did google it first to check it was open (every day except Chrismas as it turns out- now there's some easy information to retain).
A quick change or two on the underground and we popped up at Baker street. Luckily worked out we needed a ticket before standing in the line too long and then it was just a matter of a 15 minute or so wait in the freezing wind and we were in the hallowed halls of Sherlock's headquarters. Roaring fires in all the rooms went a long way towards endearing the museum to us, as well as trying to emulate a photo that Mum and Dad took here last year. Some helpful American tourists helped us achieve that. We did manage to contain our shock when the real man set up to look like a dummy moved and spoke- we covered really well we think.
Thought we might just pop in to Madame Tussauds since it's just round the corner, but as it turns out you only pop in there if you have a spare 3 hours or so to line up. We gave it a miss and pulled out our London map (for the first time this trip) to see what else was around. We decided to head up to see Marble Arch, which was lovely to get to by wandering through the Oxford Street crowds. Selfridges have all their Christmas windows and lights set up already- very early but very magical to see all the same. On our way back down the street we happened on a street parade for Poppy day- great fun to be part of.
So- a day of poor planning that turned into a day of happy surprises, oh and lots of walking again.
We decided that we'd better have takeaway- to celebrate our information retention and successful return and also Andy's birthday. Happy Birthday Andy!
