The hotel we stayed at last night was excellent. Soft beds. Quiet atmosphere. In-room shower. Tres bien.
The bed was actually too soft for me, as I like to sleep laying on my back and there wasn’t a lot of support. I didn’t think I’d ever say that a bed was too comfortable for me to sleep comfortably!
We got a little bit later start today, having breakfast around 10:15 or so. Hot breakfast! I had the Full English Breakfast, which consisted of bacon, a sausage, mushrooms, an egg (I had it poached), and a hash-brown triangle thing, like you would get at Arby’s (except this one was actually good). Both the clotted cream and jam was fantastic, and I had about six pieces of toast just so I could have more of the toppings. Maybe that’s an exaggeration. Maybe its not.
After breakfast, we toured the house Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare’s wife, not the actress) grew up in, as well as the gardens outside the house. The house was neat to walk through, and I managed to not hit my head on anything.
In his will, Shakespeare had left his second-best bed to his wife after he passed on. Historians are still trying to figure out if that was a good or bad thing. Beds, in his time, were a huge wealth image, like luxury cars are today. Usually the first bed goes to the eldest son. Since he also left a third of his estate to her alone, it was probably intended to be a positive thing.
The gardens were pretty to walk though. There was a really cool photo opportunity, but I didn’t take it. There was a round hedge surrounding a beautifully cut lawn, with one person laying in the grass reading. The way the individual was laying contrasted with the cut of the lawn and was just off center of the circle created by the hedge. The picture would have turned out beautifully, but since there was only one person laying in the grass I didn’t feel comfortable with it. Probably for the best.
We then went back to London. The trip was fairly uneventful, and I think I slept through most of it.
After arriving in London, eight of us decide to see the place where Sherlock is filmed. I’ve only seen a part of one episode, so I wasn’t really sure what we were looking for. Turns out it was the external shot of the flat he lives in (in the show, of course), and the cafe he eats breakfast in every day. Now when I see the show, I’ll be able to say I’ve been there!
After having a bite to eat (it was a pretty terrible chicken burger with avocado with a side of not very good onion rings, but the chips were good), I went back to the hostel to change for the show.
The Elephant Man was very thought provoking. It was a short play, about an hour or so in length, about a man with a terrible disorder that makes him look mangled and have difficulty functioning. Everyone felt sorry for him by the end of the show, but I expect most people, back in the real world, will continue doing their best to avoid people like him regularly. Its quite sad, really.
