Day 5: our anniversary!

Thursday was our 32nd anniversary!  We ended up going to places that involved some of my heroes.

First a stop at Kensington Gardens to see the Peter Pan statue.

Then to

Abbey Road!!!

It cracked me up how everyone had to take a pic at the zebra crossing, crossing the road.  Of course, we did too.

Then to lunch at the Lamb.

It is reputed to have been the favorite pub of Charles Dickens, among others.

Then off to the Charles Dickens Museum, where I took way too many pictures.

This was his home in his younger days, when he was first famous.  I will show just a few pictures.

Note the sampler and the needlework box.

The young Dickens and his wife Catherine.

The kitchen.

Dickens' study.

A lock of the author's hair after his death.

The nursery.

Items from the blacking factory where Dickens was forced to work as a child when his father was imprisoned for debt.  (All of this is fascinating to me, a huge Dickens fan.)

The table from the chalet at Gad's Hill Place upon which Dickens wrote his last words.  I would love to go to Gad's Hill Place someday.

I need this book!  It's from a series published by Penguin Books with specially designed covers for each.

After this, we walked over to the British Library

to see the Magna Carta exhibition.

And also to go to the Sir John Ritblat Gallery where we saw many treasures, including pieces from the Beatles (lyrics), Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, da Vinci, Shakespeare, etc -- and a Gutenberg Bible.  So much to see and be amazed by.  But no pictures allowed.

We went back to our local pub for dinner.  Everywhere you go is picturesque and beautiful.  Even the pub.