Adventures in London: Cathedrals and Grilled Cheese

The inside of Middle Temple Hall from the back.

So, this morning seems like such a long time ago. My days are so full of stuff that each day feels like a week. Just trying to think back on the day is hard because it was so jam-packed. Anyway, this morning we went, as a group, to Middle Temple Hall, which is this hall that was built in the 1500s used by lawyers, then and now. It was amazing. Gorgeous stained glass windows of different coats of arms. Amazing woodwork. It was awesome. However, on the way there, London decided to give us our first experience with its famous rain. Of course, not having my mom to remind me to layer jackets or to even wear a rain jacket, I just wore my leather jacket. It kept me dry, but not as warm as I would’ve liked. It also doesn’t have a hood and occasionally it was too windy for an umbrella. So, I was pretty cold for a while.

I mean, look at those windows!

Anyway, back to the little tour we took (we called it the Shakespeare Walk and in case you were wondering how the Middle Temple Hall relates to Shakespeare, the first performance of Twelfth Night was done there.

Then we went to Temple Church, which had fabulous dark blue stained glass windows. They had a fantastic organist too (which is something I really appreciate now that I sort of play the organ – they also had plaques to recognize past organists, which was also cool, because most pianists/organists get overlooked).

Then we headed towards Southwark Cathedral and Borough Market we crossed the Millennium Bridge, which is the bridge that the Death Eaters blow up in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was awesome. I took my picture on it of course, and as soon as my friend sends me the picture I’ll post it. Anyway, after our nerdy Harry Potter moment, we went to Southwark Cathedral. It was beautiful inside, but you weren’t allowed to take pictures. It was wonderful though. It had an iron chandelier that was intricate and ridiculously long. I loved it.

Then, Borough Market. It puts all of the Farmer’s Markets back home to shame. I can’t wait to go to other outdoor markets. We wandered for a while and it smelled amazing! There were so many different types of food. Indian food, Italian food, desserts, everything under the sun. It was awesome! We ate these grilled cheese sandwiches that were to die for. They dumped a huge handful of cheese on them and then added chopped onions and other spices to them and they were dripping grease. They were amazing! First time I really enjoyed picking the crusted melted cheese off of my sandwich. And it was so filling! (I will have a picture of it as soon as my friend sends it to me. I was too lazy to take out my camera in the rain.) I bought this amazing-looking raspberry tart too. I couldn’t eat it today. It’ll be my treat for tomorrow. I’ll take a picture beforehand so you can all see it.

Came back to the flat after all of that amazing food and struggled to stay awake long enough to read Richard III, which is a really good play. It’s funny. We went to see King Lear tonight at The National. Before we saw the play we went to get dinner because one of the girls in our group had her birthday today. We went to Wagamamas, which is a Japanese restaurant. The portions were HUGE so a couple of us just got side dishes and rice. It was so good! I loved the sauce. It wasn’t spicy and it wasn’t ridiculously hot, but it had a nice heat to it. So, Mom, when you come out here we should share the entrée that I was going to get originally because there’s no way I could eat it by myself. J

I actually like the play King Lear, but I was so tired that I kept nodding off during the first half of the play. I never fully fell asleep, but would jerk awake constantly. But, the stage was definitely my favorite part. It rotated, like a Lazy Susan table (and I’m sure there is a theater name for this kind of stage, but I’m not a theater person, so please forgive me). I loved the lighting. It was darker, blues and grays. They spinning part of the stage had two intersecting pathways (like a cross or an ‘X’) and one of them lifted up off the stage at one point, which was really cool.

After King Lear, we decided to stop at a little store on the way home and buy ice cream and chocolate. I bought a Magmas ice cream bar (chocolate and caramel). It was so rich! Then I bought a bar of Cadbury chocolate and a package of Twirls, just because.

And, yeah, that was my day. Pretty full. So, enjoy the pictures below and I’ll add the rest of them as soon as I can.