Monday morning I took it easy after getting home late from the festival. I had asked my Airbnb host if I could do some laundry while there and she told me if I gathered it up on Sunday she'd take care of it. Which meant I woke up to all my laundry on a drying rack because they don't have dryers. It made me sad to think some of these people have never experienced a warm fluffy towel right out the dryer after a bath. My mother was/is extra, but 100% spoiled us as kids with loving gestures like this. All the towels are kinda crusty feeling and there's just always a light hint of mildew...
Around lunchtime I finally took myself to Borough Market. This was like the French Market in New Orleans had a baby with Reading Terminal. A dear college friend said to go hungry and I'm glad I did. Free samples everywhere of cheeseses, meets, olive oil, preserves, curry, mussels, bread, and much more. You could spend a whole afternoon here just putzing around. I grabbed myself a Pimm's cup to go early on, and walked around munching my samples. My favorite booth was Rosebud's Preserves which ships to the states and I'll certainly be buying some cuz the guy after asking if my hat was for Penn State and saying his brother lived in Pittsburgh for a while and that he's a penguins fan, humored me as I tasted ALL of them. This was like 15 different kinds and he told me I was the first he ever saw do it LOL. Reminded me of when I went to salt & straw in Portland and sampled all their flavors of the day. Idk man if it's not inconveniencing anyone, why not?
I decided to eat my Kevin Pie in this beautiful area. It was so serene even among the hustle and bustle of the market.
After a few hours here I walked around the general area before I had to head to Victoria Coach Station for my Jack the Ripper Tour.
This is what is left of Winchester Palace, it's apparently something to see, I just happened to walk by and think well that looks old af and took a picture.
As I kept walking in the general direction of the Tate Modern I came to an underpass and it felt like I was in Les Mis with the tune this guy was playing on his accordion with his big fluffy dog and felt the need to give him some pence I had from my purchases at the market. Then as I glanced back at him I was gifted with this beautiful mural of Willy Shakes.
Shortly after this I happened upon the near identical replica of the Globe Theater not too far from the original location from Shakespeare's time. Decided to take a gander at the box office and there was a 2:00pm show the next day that quickly bought tickets for and I'm so grateful I did.
I've heard this building referred to as the Boomerang but also Kim Kardashian LOL
As I continued walking along the river, I noticed a man painting and then some of his works displayed. I didn't have any more quid on me after the Borough Market but he agreed to my 10 euro I'd been gifted on a first date after telling the guy about my impending trip. I was so thrilled he was willing for the exchange and happily hugged it to my chest as I was finally in view of the impressive and massive Tate Modern - free and open to all.
I didn't take any pictures inside even though you can because it was massive and I saw only a very small portion of it and I think if started to take pictures I'd want to take pictures of it all. This building was once a power plant and was decommissioned after oil prices went too high. They converted the "tank" rooms where the tanks of oil we're kept into these performance piece exhibits which is where I spent a good deal of my time. Modern art is fucking weird but awesome at the same time because it almost inherently makes you uncomfortable as if to say fuck you and what you think things should be or shouldn't be seen or used as. It quite literally forces you to question reality more often than not and I like it for that very reason.
After the Tate I headed to my Jack the Ripper tour on an old vintage open top double decker red bus. And like seriously vintage with awful suspension and the driver had trouble starting it twice across the trip.
And now a series of more important buildings and statues that I was actually told about but now completely forget 🤷 I think in retrospect I wish I had done this tour earlier on the trip because there was some cool things pointed out that I might have made a note to see but since it was my last night I just kinda took it in and let it go.
I don't think this one is important...I just thought it looked cool af.
Now this is a church at the "gate of the East end". You were supposed to stop and pray for safe travels. This was the first stop of the tour where we then walked around the area to as near as possible to all the locations of where the bodies of the 5 brutally murdered women were found. The level of disfigurement increased significantly as the murders went on. I really was ignorant to most of this story so my mouth was wide open in gross astonishment nearly the entire time the guide was talking. This killer would first choke these women out, then slit their throats, and then slice them open from the belly up to their sternam and pretty much empty out as much of their organs as he had time to. There's evidence he took the second victim's kidney and ate it... And the last victim which was the most gruesome with the skin of her face removed and that of her legs folded on her table with the rest of her organs except he took her heart. Seriously if you like gruesome stuff this tour was awesome.
This is the approximate area where they used to hold public executions. The area was once a completely open field, but now has streets and such and this patch of green space. Bloody Mary apparently burned upwards of 285 people here for being heretics (refusing to convert back to Roman Catholic from Protestant).
This is also the place where Sir William Wallace aka Braveheart aka Mel Gibson was hung, drawn, and quartered. Which was a death for those guilty of high treason and was a gruesome af way to die. To be hanged, means you have a noose around your neck and then the support beneath you is removed and typically death is quick when your neck breaks. To be hung means they tied the noose around you and then pull you into suspension and let you hang for a bit but not to death, they then cut you down and let you fall which usually is a bitch, then if a man, they emasculate you (buh bye dick and balls), then draw out your intestines in front of your very eyes until you died. Apparently skilled executioners could keep someone alive for quite some time while doing this. Then you were beheaded and then quartered, aka the torso was chopped into four pieces for each limb. In William Wallace's case they put his head on a pile on London Bridge for all to see, and then his 4 quarters were coated in tar to preserve them and sent off to various places of Scotland as a good ole fuck you from England.
And then finally the tour dropped us off at a Sherlock Holmes themed pub, however the place was packed so I scooted. Thought about taking the underground home, but it was my last night so even though it was nearly an hour walk, I decided it was worth it. I actually quite like going for a long walk, something soothing about it especially if you have no time constraints. When the time presents itself to finally be a good fur parent to a pup I most definitely would like to have one that would be game for walks and hikes. My ex-husband insisted on an English bulldog and while I loved the crap out of that pain in the ass smooshy faced lump, he couldn't make it one block around 🙄 lol
Couldn't leave London without at least one photo of these adorable booths.
This fountain in the courtyard of my complex just seemed majestic when I got back.
The next morning I had to pack but then had a whole day to explore before my 9pm flight. I thought about exploring near Buckingham Palace before heading to the play, however the Cheeto followed me to London apparently. I tried to cut through Green Park but there was a demonstration because of his visit happening. I was curious about the mayhem, but mostly was trying to avoid it to get to the Globe however I found myself in the midst of it anyways while desperately looking for an underground station that was accessible. The cops had closed many of them down and blocked pedestrian access on many of the paths, it was annoying af. However, getting stuck in the park due to blocked paths wasn't the worst. Although as I sat on a bench to eat a croissant crossed with a bagel, a lady started feeding the ducks right across from me and then walked away and they all turned towards me. I seriously started to fear for my safety they got awfully close and we're eyeing my food so got the fuck out of there.
I've never seen feet like this! Look how weird they are!
LOL. People's signs were hilarious.
Eventually I made it to the Globe for the hilarious show of the Merry Wives of Windsor. The show was so great, I was laughing for most of it and just had this big smile on my face nearly the whole time because I could feel how much fun the amazing cast was having with the show and each other. I really need to get back into theater.
After the show I had about two hours to kill before needing to head to the airport. I found myself at the Blackfriars Pub for my last meal where I met a lovely Canadian couple who had just gotten to town the day before.
These dragons mark the entry points into London proper.
Saw this guy on my way to grab my bags before heading to the airport. Made me giggle.
On the train to the airport I decided to finally start reading this book titled "The Untethered Soul" my therapist recommended and when I opened it up the first quote of the first chapter is the very quote my very first tattoo is for and is the source of a family saying started by my maternal grandmother. Seeing it and reading it made my sappy ass start to cry on the train. I'm about half way through the book, but if like me you feel spiritual but the rigidity of organized religions doesn't jive with you, give this a read.
Alrighty I'm in bed after a glorious day in Paris and can't wait to write about it tomorrow while on a train through the country.
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