One thing I have learned so far; wool is the best fabric on earth. It doesn't smell, dries quickly, keeps you warm but not too warm. Icebreakers are becoming my clothing of choice and I've ditched the very expensive synthetic 'wonder fabric' shirt I bought. As in, 'I wonder why I bought that'.
My time in London has mostly gone towards revisiting old favourites; Gordon's Wine Bar - an underground bar that's hollowed out of the rock, the V&A Museum, Angel in general, All Bar One for a cruisey Sunday lunch, Borders - and discovering new favourites; Vinoteca in Farringdon (thanks Chris!), Primrose Hill (thanks Peta!), the Wellcome Collection (my own find, and truly incredible).
The stand-out experience was the Wellcome Collection. Located near Euston station, it's a centre dedicated to showing off a selection of the more than one million items that Henry Wellcome collected throughout his life. Henry Wellcome was responsible for the invention of tablets as a means to take medicine. He was fascinated by medicine and the ways that different cultures practised it and his collection is testament to this interest. There were some pretty amazing things there (some photos on my flickr site), for example:
- A fragment of Jeremy Bentham's skin (he was a philosopher and social reformer - English)
- A shrunken head (African tribal tradition, shrinking the head of your enemy and putting in on display)
- Darwin's walking stick - made from the penis bone of a whale according to a zoologist who visited the museum at the same time that I did
- Various paintings, including many ex-voto paintings (painted or commissioned by people to give thanks for some lucky incident or recovery, most popular in the 18th- early 20th centuries)
- Florence Nightingale's moccasins
- Plenty, plenty more
Leaving the centre, I felt that 'oh wow I really am mortal, must enjoy life' feeling that you get when you look at objects like those; they are such poignant evidence of the transience of life. So, naturally, I went straight to the pub, sat down with a beer and wrote in my little notebook. I'm doing a pretty good job at making the most of my life so far. Anyone heading to London really should consider making the pilgrimage to check out this place.
On Saturday, Paul, Amber, Luke and I met up with Chris, his girlfriend Emilie, and some of her friends and we went bowling. I was fantastic... for about the first five minutes. After that I was merely average, but considering I've only been bowling once before I think I did ok. We had our own private room with a little bar and the French crew kept expressing surprise that the Aussies were all drinking OJ. To remedy that, we all went to Primrose Hill for a picnic, played some soccer, sat around eating and drinking and chatting. We had approximately 1.75 hours of sunshine - go London! Then it was back to Luke and Purdey's for the Chelsea game, and then to the patisserie at the end of the street. Paul and Amber hadn't known it was there - I think they will be very fat next time I see them. It was like something out of the Magic Faraway Tree, meringues the size of basketballs (well, maybe a 5year-old's basketball, but still big), little cupcakes with a very distinct taste of rum, cheesecakes, everything you could imagine. Far better than any patisserie I saw in France!
So, there are the London highlights for you. I'm heading back to the V&A with Blake (a work friend) this afternoon and tonight I'm cooking mussels for Paul as a thank you for my spot on his floor. It's been great - a very slow warm-up into life as a wanderer.
(p.s. I have forgotten almost all of my Italian, should be an interesting week ahead!!)
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