Thursday August 29
Once again, we take the Bakerloo line after breakfast. This time we get off at Lambeth North, the second to last stop on the line. This stop is over the river and is where we find the Florence Nightingale Museum. It covered nursing challenges over a number of wars over a much longer time than she lived.
Don’t blame me. This was Sarah’s choice, but I did find it interesting.
A short walk back to the river, we return to the wharf where we did the river cruise yesterday. This time we are looking for the ‘River Bus’, to take us along the river a couple of bridges. This is accessible using the octopus card. Just another means of transport.
When we get off at Bankside Pier, Shakespeare’s theatre is right there. There’s a nice restaurant attached, so we do lunch. Unfortunately, they are doing performances in the theatre today, so a theatre tour is off the menu. Never mind. It’s apparently the last thatched roof building in London. Since the great fire of London, no more we’re built. This is also a replacement. The original was burned down. Not in the great fire, because that was on the other side of the river. This one was burned down during a performance. It seems that one show needed the sound effect of a cannon. So someone came up with the cunning plan of using..., you guessed it..., a cannon! Doh!!🤦🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️
So off we go again, and we come to Southwark Cathedral. Yes, another one. This one doesn’t have much in the way of Sponsor’s Alleys, so not over fussy. Beautiful church. Then just around the corner is a place Sarah wanted to see. It’s called The Old Operating Theatre Museum. I already said I’m not responsible for what Sarah finds interesting. This is another one, but I got her there.
And then she saw it. This museum is in an attic, and these days the only way up is 55 steps (they went to the trouble of counting them for the warning sign) up a very tight spiral staircase. Not only could they not get the patient up there, forget about the furniture.
Sarah doesn’t like spiral staircases, but she copes when they are either very wide or only curved at the end. Personally, I appreciate the design elements of a spiral staircase, but like all normal humans, I need to use the steps as far towards the outside as possible, to fit my feet on them. This one, however, was built for the skinniest tower possible. So that was a bust.
Another couple of train rides, and we were back in Paddington.
Sarah has chosen a Lebanese restaurant around the corner. Lovely food. Just as we were finishing, something went wrong in the hotel upstairs, and there was a trickle of water over the till. Staff quickly unplugged everything and covered the till, but the trickle got bigger, and started coming out of every light fitting in that part of the ceiling. Pretty soon about 4 tables we’re getting splashed, including us. Their eftpos was out, so Sarah offered to come back to the hotel and get cash. They said it doesn’t matter because nothing is working. Everything was turned off.
So we’re going back there tomorrow night to pay the bill. Maybe we’ll have dinner again. It really was good. That’s assuming they have reopened.
Once again, we take the Bakerloo line after breakfast. This time we get off at Lambeth North, the second to last stop on the line. This stop is over the river and is where we find the Florence Nightingale Museum. It covered nursing challenges over a number of wars over a much longer time than she lived.
Don’t blame me. This was Sarah’s choice, but I did find it interesting.
A short walk back to the river, we return to the wharf where we did the river cruise yesterday. This time we are looking for the ‘River Bus’, to take us along the river a couple of bridges. This is accessible using the octopus card. Just another means of transport.
When we get off at Bankside Pier, Shakespeare’s theatre is right there. There’s a nice restaurant attached, so we do lunch. Unfortunately, they are doing performances in the theatre today, so a theatre tour is off the menu. Never mind. It’s apparently the last thatched roof building in London. Since the great fire of London, no more we’re built. This is also a replacement. The original was burned down. Not in the great fire, because that was on the other side of the river. This one was burned down during a performance. It seems that one show needed the sound effect of a cannon. So someone came up with the cunning plan of using..., you guessed it..., a cannon! Doh!!🤦🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️
So off we go again, and we come to Southwark Cathedral. Yes, another one. This one doesn’t have much in the way of Sponsor’s Alleys, so not over fussy. Beautiful church. Then just around the corner is a place Sarah wanted to see. It’s called The Old Operating Theatre Museum. I already said I’m not responsible for what Sarah finds interesting. This is another one, but I got her there.
And then she saw it. This museum is in an attic, and these days the only way up is 55 steps (they went to the trouble of counting them for the warning sign) up a very tight spiral staircase. Not only could they not get the patient up there, forget about the furniture.
Sarah doesn’t like spiral staircases, but she copes when they are either very wide or only curved at the end. Personally, I appreciate the design elements of a spiral staircase, but like all normal humans, I need to use the steps as far towards the outside as possible, to fit my feet on them. This one, however, was built for the skinniest tower possible. So that was a bust.
Another couple of train rides, and we were back in Paddington.
Sarah has chosen a Lebanese restaurant around the corner. Lovely food. Just as we were finishing, something went wrong in the hotel upstairs, and there was a trickle of water over the till. Staff quickly unplugged everything and covered the till, but the trickle got bigger, and started coming out of every light fitting in that part of the ceiling. Pretty soon about 4 tables we’re getting splashed, including us. Their eftpos was out, so Sarah offered to come back to the hotel and get cash. They said it doesn’t matter because nothing is working. Everything was turned off.
So we’re going back there tomorrow night to pay the bill. Maybe we’ll have dinner again. It really was good. That’s assuming they have reopened.
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