Day 8

This morning we headed over to the Priory church of St. Bartholomew the Great for a tour. This is one of London's oldest churches and is insanely beautiful. It's a popular sight for movies, and has a reputation for being one of London's most haunted places. It's not spooky at all though and once inside it is really really peaceful. In fact I felt so good inside this building, that I didn't want to leave. (www.greatstbarts.com)

The front coach house:

The coach house from inside the courtyard:

The church from the courtyard:

This is an amazing photo from the church website:


The tour:

A statue by Damien Hurst of St Bartholomew holding his flayed skin:
(St Bartholomew was martyred by being skinned alive)

This is (I think) the tomb of Rahere, the guy who established the church and adjoining hospital:

An empty grave. The whole place used to be a cemetery:

We then met at the adjoining hospital for some drawings. But because it was raining, went back to the church to sit and draw some more (which was fine with me). I could have spent all day in that place!

We ate lunch and then headed over to the Natural History Museum's Darwin Centre. This section of the museum is not open to the public, and is where the research labs and bottled specimens are held. Stuff in jars!! Yay!!

Interesting sign outside the Darwin Centre:


Cottage outside the Darwin Centre:

Opening up a large vat:

Showing us some fish and a big ray:

Tentacles from a giant squid:

Snakes in jars:

After seeing all the animals in jars, everyone went back to the hotel. Erin and I stayed at the Natural History Museum to check out the public exhibits. The building was beautiful, but the exhibits were not that impressive. The animal mounts were well made, but there were no dioramas at all! Unfortunately this is one of those entertainment museums...a lot of fancy lights an buttons to push, but with little substance. I would have not been surprised to see cheesy automated rubber dinosaurs! This was a surprising disappointment!

Only worthy of a couple pictures:

We then headed back to the hotel where Patrick and I went with Paul, Ann and Clive to visit their friend William Palin in his home. William is the son of Monty Python's Michael Palin, and is an expert on historical London homes and works to preserve London architecture. After serving us some wine, William took us on a tour of his beautiful historical home. He was really knowledgeable about the fine details, including the intricacies of wood paneling! (sounds boring, but it was great!)

He then took us on a walk through the neighborhood, which ended at a mysterious black door. He knocked on the door, and a man with a clipboard stepped out and they quietly passed words. William then turned to us and said good bye. Before entering this mysterious home, we were told that once inside, talking was forbidden. The home was a living museum created by Dennis Sever, an American who moved to London in the 70's and created a fictitious family to reside in this home. Each room was set up as if the inhabitants had just walked out, and follows the family through history. The rooms are lit solely by candlelight, and contain actual food, unmade beds, and unbelievable attention to detail. You could even hear the inhabitants talking in the next room and the clip clop of horse drawn carriages outside! It was an amazing experience, like walking into a diorama! A few photos can be seen on their website, but they don't compare to the actual experience. (www.dennissevershouse.co.uk)

We then went to a pizza joint where I had a salad and everyone else ate pizza with an egg on top! I wish I could have tried it! After dinner we met up with the rest of the group to re-cap the trip and share our experiences. Everyone would be leaving first thing in the morning, and I would be heading out to Paris!