Day Two [Baker Street, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge, Shoreditch, and a BONUS]

DAY TWO - 17 AUG 2013

Al, Matt, and I headed off to the Sherlock Holmes museum shortly after 10AM. We took the scenic tour on route 453 from New Cross. My first glimpse of Big Ben and London Eye up close came from a double decker bus. I could spot my fellow tourist kind, with the many groups of people taking pictures as if it were their mating call. Piccadilly came and went by really fast, but I was proud of myself for spotting it without help (this has been a rare occurrence, I've been naming around 85% of places incorrectly).

Before arriving at the Sherlock Holmes museum, we noticed an American dry cleaners on Baker Street, and further up the street was a London dry cleaners. The speculation as to the differences of dry cleaning in America and the UK is something that perplexes not only myself, but my friends as well.

A few things that we weren't aware of before arriving include:

- The initial queue time on a Saturday morning was 2 hours
- You had to queue to get a museum ticket, THEN you had to queue to get into the museum
- The queue moves slow... the whole process before getting inside took 2 hours

I could explain in intrinsic detail as to how AMAZING the Sherlock Holmes museum was, but I'd rather show you visually!

Bees! Oh, and what's this off to the side?

CLYDE!!!!

A stevengraph! Nerding out!

GRANADA'S IRENE! I AM DYING!

Surprised I even got that close...

We left Baker Street at around 15:00, so we had a few hours to kill before we needed to be in Shoreditch. Walked around Trafalgar Square, saw some of the Eid Festival that was taking place there. The artist who sometimes does paintings in the Square was also present, so I asked him how he was protecting his paintings from the rain. Luckily, he uses oil paints, so it doesn't damage his pieces.

My favorite bit about Trafalgar Square, however, was HAHN/COCK, by Katharina Fritsch.

Al took some time to rest while Matt and I walked around London Bridge. We ended up at the banks of the Thames. Not only can you find many, many bones, but various pieces of broken pottery as well. You can get a really good view of The Shard as well. The pieces of pottery I found are currently sitting in a bowl of dish soap, of which I will hopefully be able to do something productive with them once they're clean. Crossing my fingers that the smell of the Thames will disappear...

Our evening was spent in Shoreditch (pretty hipster place, in my opinion - the Box Mall is a very impressive architecture spot); we went to Slambassador's UK (my AuTheatre review of the venue and show will be up within the next few days, stay tuned).

One thing I did not expect to find in Shoreditch, the BONUS, was accidentally finding Labour and Wait, the location of Elementary's 221B Baker Street!

Not pictured: Lucas almost dying

Things I learned in London during my 2nd day:

1. The shower at my friend's place has two levers. The first goes from Cold to Hot, with Econ in the middle, in order of water intensity. The second goes from 1 to 10 in order of temperature.

2. I’m annoying myself with how much I’ve been talking about my home state.

3. Stop apologizing to your friends when you mispronounce something. They know you’ll mispronounce it. They know you’re trying. They know it’s your second day here. Stressing about it will only bring out the passive aggressive Minnesotan in you, so stop.

4. The Beatles London Store next to the Sherlock Holmes museum sells a set of four pens for almost 500 quid. It was horrifying.

5. Pigeons walk around in stations and sometimes ride the train. Without paying with an oyster card. Not cool.

6. It costs 100 pounds for immediate entry into The Shard. Don’t focus on the price, it will make you cry. Do not pass go. Don’t even pass by the Krispy Kreme donuts kiosk nearby, because you will remember that there are no more Krispy Kremes in Minnesota, and you will cry. My advice, just avoid that part of London Bridge altogether because of those specific reasons. I can't even afford to LOOK at The Shard, much less go in!

7. To check your balance on your oyster card, go to a top up machine at a tube station, put your card against the scanner, and before it asks if you wish to top up, it’ll say your balance (you can cancel your purchase if you feel you have enough on the card).

8. Garfield is huge in Germany, and Woody Woodpecker is huge in Spain.

TOMORROW IS THE FINALE PERFORMANCE OF THE TEMPEST AND A THIRD OF THE REASON WHY I'M IN LONDON BEFORE MY CAPA PEERS

Til next time, lovelies!

Lucas