The Forty-Third Day: Westminster Abbey, Camden Market the Sequel

Saturday, March 22:

This morning, we went inside Westminster Abbey for the first (and only) time. (Only because it cost £18, which is a little pricey. Worth it once, though.) It's so weird seeing all these things in person. I mean, I watched the royal wedding on the telly, like everyone else did. But to actually be here in person? 

To be in the same place where every coronation of every English Monarch since 1066 has happened? 

Surreal. Amazing. Also, the PEOPLE THAT ARE BURIED HERE, guys. Check it out:

Sir Issac Newton

Yup. THAT Charles Darwin. 

Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales

Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate.
 "Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all"

Robert Browning, poet and playwright. Penned the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Dr. Samuel Johnson, English essayist and Lexicographer. Compiled A Dictionary of the English Language. 

If I need to tell you who Charles Dickens is... that's sad. 

Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book.

Laurence Olivier, the great Shakespearean actor.

George Frederic Handel, composer. Known for The Messiah.

And that's not including any of the Royalty! I thought about posting more photos, but just look at the website. (This blog is taking entirely too long to compose. haha.) 

My favourite highlights were the resting places of Henry V, Richard II, Elizabeth I, Mary I (Mary Tudor) and Mary, Queen of Scots. 

Disclaimer: None of the prior photos have been mine. They don't allow photography inside the Abbey. However, once we got into a small courtyard portion, we could snap a few. 

Afterward, I took Chris to Camden Market (yup, the place I just went the other day. With the amazing churros. Yes, I ordered another one.)

CYBERDOG IS SO WEIRD, guys. It's mainly a clothing shop, but they sell clothes and accessories for raves.
Weird environment. They had some really interesting dresses I TOTALLY would have worn, though.
Check out some of them.

Everything is very futuristic, but in a retro way. Like what you'd see spacemen (women?)
wearing in a 1950s sci-fi flick. 

We walked down to the canal in Camden, and watched a boat go through the Camden Lock. I hadn't the foggiest what a lock was. Now I do. It's like an elevator, but for boats. Here's a video, if you'd like to see it in action.

All in all, a great day. 

Cheers!

Kami & Chris, the Pseudo-Londoners

The Forty-Second Day: Knightsbridge Blue Plaques

Friday, March 21

The daytime was pretty quiet today, as I spent time editing photos to put on the blog. In the evening, Chris and I planned to do a walking tour around Knightsbridge, which is a pretty ritzy area. Harrods is in Knightsbridge, if that tells you anything.

BUT! We got stuck in the underground for about half an hour and missed the start of the tour. There's no way we could track them to catch up, so we walked around the area on our own. And BAM! We ran into about a million blue plaques! Remember these? I haven't posted any in a while. Brace yourselves for a whole lesson in history and culture today, guys.

Blue Plaque #4: Jane Austen

“It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” 
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Blue Plaque #5: Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke

“There are three kinds of lies: fibs, lies, and statistics."― Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke
(Often attributed to Mark Twain. But I did my research, although there's still debate about its origins) 

Blue Plaque #6: Sir Herbert Tree

"Every man is a potential genius, until he does something."
–Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree

Blue Plaque #7: Peter Warlock (born Philip Arnold Heseltine)

"Music is neither old nor modern: it is either good or bad music,
and the date at which it was written has no significance whatever."
–Peter Warlock
(Hear his work here.)

Blue Plaque #8: Bram Stoker

"Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, 
then it says there is nothing to explain.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula

Blue Plaque #9: Mark Twain (born Samuel L. Clemens)

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life.
A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” 
― Mark Twain

 Blue Plaque #10: Oscar Wilde

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ― Oscar Wilde 

Blue Plaque #11: Lord Dr. Leslie Haden-Guest

"Is it not possible to settle this unfortunate dispute by direct approach and a little friendly conversation?"
–Lord Dr. Leslie Haden-Guest, in regards to Euston Station Strike. 10 December 1948 

Blue Plaque #12: George Frederick Samuel Robinson

And these are some other blue plaque photos taken a bit earlier. (March 14. The day I went to Abbey Road.)

Blue Plaque #13: Sir Edward Elgar (he opened and recorded at Abbey Road Studios!)

Best known for this piece. 

Blue Plaque #13: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Best known for this piece. 

Blue Plaque #14: Sir Thomas Beecham

Conductor of London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. Watch him in action here. 

I wish The States had these blue plaques. They're really cool.

Cheers!
Kami & Chris, the Pseudo-Londoners

The Forty-First Day: Camden Market & Stables Market

Thursday, March 20

Ventured out to some markets today with the lovely Kate Baxter. Camden Market and Stables Market have some of the best food carts I've seen in London.

All of the storefronts on the main street have these giant plaster sculptures on them. Real weird.

I liked this rainbow building. No idea what it is, but it was neat. 

Bang Bang Chicken. Some of the best asian food we've had here in the UK. It was so freakin' good. 

Between these two buildings is a HUGE conglomeration of food carts/stands. Just a few yards down is where I ate the best churro I've ever had. Chris says the Mexico ones are better, but I didn't try one while we were in Ensenada at the orphanage, so I wouldn't know. All I know is this one was real amazing. Coated with cinnamon and sugar and filled with hot caramel sauce. Yum. 

A HUGE carved staircase. It's a giant tree and the branches are filled with all kinds of wildlife.
It reminds me of the big Tree of Life in Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando. 

 I can't really decipher where Camden Market ends and Stables Market begins, but you can tell you're in Stables Market when you're surrounded by horse sculptures. In its previous life, Stables Market was a horse hospital. During the Victorian times, when horses were injured pulling barges or what have you, they were treated at the horse hospital in Camden. And now each of the stables are individual shopping stalls. You can buy handmade clothing, bags, art, old illustrations and maps, jewelry. All kinds of stuff.

Let's just zoom in on that horse on the bottom left shall we?

Creepster.

Some hand-blown glass lamps.

That cartoon woman's speech bubble says "I love cactus leather!"
(They sold all kinds of leather bags, wallets, etc.)
I love her expression. Cactus leather, the horror!

Before we knew it, it was about 5:00pm! Time flies in the Stables Market.  Each of our husbands would be done with work shortly, so we made our way back to the underground station. Just outside the station, we found a weird group of bohemians inside a chalk circle. We normally would have ignored them, but this time, the police were involved. Something about them being anti-social. Not really sure what it was all about. There's a weird culture of disrespect for law enforcement here. If a cop tells you to do something, you fight back about it. Typically the law enforcement backs down, which is what happened in this case, after the crowd started chanting "Music, music, music!" and "Fight for your Rights! Fight for your Rights!" London is weird, man.

Dancing with a rain stick.

Baton Twirling.

Percussion. (What are these little shakers called, even?) 

Drum line.

Clapping and asking the crowd for money.

This guy rocked a bear ponytail, I'll give him that. 

Also, for lunch there, I ordered a Turkish wrap of some sorts, filled with chicken and pork. Delish. And I bought some salted-caramel fudge to bring back to Chris. A successful day at the market.

Cheers!

Kami & Chris, the Pseudo-Londoners