Literary London

The last few days of our epic trip were spent back in London.  We had already done a lot of the "big stuff" (Tower of London, Buckingham and Kensington Palaces, Westminster, St. Paul's, Big Ben, etc), so we set off in search of some of the sights of literary significance.  This was a trip to celebrate Rebecca's college graduation, and since she majored in English and we have loved reading together since our first homeschooling days, this seemed particularly appropriate.

So as we drove through Devonshire on our way back to London, we were finishing an Agatha Christie novel - "Murder at the Vicarage," which was set in Devonshire .  Rebecca read aloud while I drove.  She had never read Agatha Christie before this trip, and I had only read one of her mysteries, but this story has made us both big fans.  In fact, there was an Agatha Christie Festival in Portsmouth the same weekend as the Jane Austen Festival.  Maybe we'll have to go back and do that one on another trip!

The next morning, we went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London.  We enjoyed it, but our tour group was very large, and our tour guide was very quiet.  So it might as well have not been a guided tour.  We were not allowed to take photos in the theatre itself because there were rehearsals going on. I may have broken a few rules when taking these photos.

They were rehearsing for "Nell Gwynn," which was to open in a few days.  Wish we could have seen it, for it looked very intriguing.  It is the story of Nell Gwynn, one of the first female actresses in Britain.

Other literary stops included Platform 9 3/4.  I had never even read Harry Potter until a few weeks before our trip.  I'm glad I did, otherwise I would not have understood why I was wearing a scarf and pushing a cart into a brick wall.

Rebecca,  sorry it just says "Atform" below.  I wasn't thinking when I framed the shot.  I was just trying to get the scarf flying.

Next week headed to Baker Street, home of Sherlock Holmes.

And home to Sherlock hats as well.  I really wanted to buy one for Noah, but they were $120.  So we took a photo instead.

And we found a site from Dr. Who, which isn't really a book but a TV show:

In addition to literary sites, we spent our last three nights going to the theater (another one of Rebecca's college interests).  We saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (a new musical based on one of our favorite books), "Mousetrap," (an Agatha Christie murder, appropriately), and "Wicked." I remember reading "Wizard of Oz" and its first sequel to Rebecca back in kindergarten as some of our first "read-alouds".  We have come a long way since then, but we still enjoy sharing books together.