For example, below: Charles Dickens, novelist lived here.
Or, as a boy, Charles Dickens worked here.
Which happens to be posted on a T.G.I. Fridays.
Ha! Charles Dickens' career started as a busboy.
(Or this was previously the location of the blacking factory, which could have inspired his novel Oliver Twist).
Take your pick, it can be "write your own history" like those choose your own ending books.
I'm not sure I believe this one at 221B Baker St that said Sherlock Holmes lived here. My rational side says that a character that only exists in the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle's books and my imagination probably did not once live at this place where they have now created a "museum" where you can pay £6 to "see the chair Sherlock Holmes sat in." This may be an even more ingenious get-rich-quick scheme than the previously discussed postcards.
Perhaps everyone was already aware of this, but I just learned it, so I thought I'd share. The character House (from the TV show) was actually modeled after Sherlock Holmes. I didn't immediately make the Holmes connection until it was pointed out to me, but it does make sense since House is actually a sort of detective and - like Holmes - has virtually no ability to form personal relationships and is slightly addicted to drugs. So House is kind of like Holmes - but I actually think House is rooted also in the man who inspired the Holmes character - Dr. Joseph Bell who Doyle once worked for and was noted for "drawing large conclusions from the smallest observations" when he worked for the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. This doesn't explain why the first diagnosis from House is always Lupus, but it does make me look at the show in a new perspective.
Anyway, I digressed. I did actually pay the £4 to tour the Dickens House, which I think was a little more worthwhile since Dickens actually existed - and I was actually able to see the table he wrote on and the garden he sat in.
Two of my favorite parts of the Dickens museum:
1. A painting of him the museum had on display
The placard said it was unfinished... but I think I would prefer it this way. It is very artistic to have only him and his immediate reality colored - the characters, novels and works he finished - leaving the rest of his imagined, unfinished stories sketches as they likely were in his mind. I believe most artists and writers will likely always have a number of ideas that never come to full existence.
2: The dress-up box.
Not to be a complete 5 year old, but it was pretty fun to put on some period clothing and wig. (I actually think the wig is on backwards. Oops). Fun fact: The attorneys here still wear wigs (real horse hair, not fake of course). Our professor Peter took us through the Inns where they train, and we saw a few just after a ceremony where they all had worn theirs. The most basic, simple one costs.... £600. Maybe I should go into that business!
Speaking of really cool houses of people who are no longer living, we visited the house of Sir John Soane, architect and crazy art/sculpture collector, which has now been turned into a museum. We couldn't take pictures, but click here for a virtual tour of just one of the many rooms. He could illuminate entire rooms - even in the basement - with natural light and mirrors - even on a typical cloudy British day.
On that note, the British are terribly optimistic about their weather... They have SUNDIALS everywhere. Why? This doesn't seem like a very reliable way of telling time where it is cloudy or rainy seemingly daily. I haven't taken pictures of all of them, but this was one pretty cool one at the Royal Observatory in the Greenwich Park.
It reminds me of the Little Mermaid when they bring the sheet music to Sebastian, and I initially thought it was just a sculpture. False. When the sun is shining, the shadow is casted and the space between the tips of the dolphins tails lands on the scroll which is marked with hours. Pretty cool, huh?
If I don't get into British wig-making or museum curating for people who never existed, I might actually go into meteorology here. I have decided to stop checking the weather because they haven't any idea. The days when it says a high percent of rain all day, which then deterred me from going to the park or outdoor market, have ironically been sunny and dry, but that could simply be the irony of life. But I figure I can say chance of rain any day and be right most of the time. I've officially gone on a tangent, and I apologize. More adventures to come.
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