RANDOMOSITIES

Huge difference in riding the tube on a Monday morning vs. a Saturday night. Lots of suits and skirts clutching Kindles or newspapers instead of drunks clutching bottles.

Hounslow Heath is in London, but with all the green, you'd swear you weren't in the city anymore. No wonder highwaymen roamed this area.

Today I learned that Southwark is pronounced "suth-ock." Huh. Go figure.

For only the 2nd time on our entire trip, it rained today. But just for a little while. And really, what's London without rain?

Smoking is a lot more trendy here than at home. I haven't seen an ashtray in years, but they're on most tables outside of pubs and restaurants in London.

English mustard is a kick in the head.

TIMELINE

8:30 Hit the tube, bound for St. Mary Woolnoth Church.

9:30 Spend some quiet time in the middle of a noise city at the church where John Newton pastored.

10:45-12:30 Attend a Victorian London Walk (guided tour).

12:30-1:30 Tour the Old Operating Theater (oldest remaining surgical theater from the late 1700's).

1:30-2:30 Wander around and eat LOTS of food at the Burrough (pronounced burr-ah) Market, which is the oldest market in London, dating back to the 1100s.

2:30-5:30 Travel to a completely different type of market -- the high-end Bond Street area, where we didn't buy any Prada or Cartier, but I did manage to score a new book at Hatchard's, the oldest operating bookstore in London.

5:30-8:00 Head up to Hounslow Heath and dine at the Spaniard's Inn, in operation since the 1500's and known hang-out for highwayman Dick Turpin and his gang.

9:00 Return exhausted to our lodging and try to cram everything into our suitcases.

THOUGHTS

Today was one of the biggest highlights of my time in London. Taking time out of our busy schedule to sit in Reverend John Newton's church and pray was priceless. This is the church I set a few scenes in A HEART DECEIVED, so seeing it in person was a treat. Was it how I imagined? The outside, yes. The inside, mostly, except it was much more ornate than I expected.

If you ever get a chance to go on a London Walk, do it. Our guide was fantastic. Had I known, I would've done a walk every day. It was an hour and a half of sheer historic informational bliss where I learned tidbits such as most people didn't name their kids until they reached 5 years old because of the high infant/child mortality rate. This area (Southwark) was where Charles Dickens would walk the streets late at night as inspiration/ideas for his novels. 

The old operating theater was great. If you've got an interest in medicine, this is the place to go. The lecture on how surgery was performed was explicit, so it's not for the squeamish. I loved it.

As we were eating dinner tonight (a traditional plate of scrumptious bangers and mash), it dawned on me that I haven't cooked a meal in nearly 20 days. That is a record, folks. I've been responsible to get dinner on the table since I was 15, so this really has been quite the vacation.