28-5-2022: Our last full day in London

This would be our last full day in London. We realized that we would not be able to keep up with the pace we'd set the past couple of days. There is so much to see & do and you can't do everything in just a few days. So we adjusted our planning, because enjoying things is also really important. 

We started our day at 221b Baker Street, the address of Sherlock Holmes! This address never officially existed, but we won't talk about that. The house is exactly as you'd imagine the house of Sherlock Holmes in the Victorian Era. Everything in the house is era-original. There were references to the books everywhere. There were actors throughout the house that told you about life in Victorian times and of course the Sherlock Holmes stories. It was very educational and fun. 

We were very happy that we'd gotten our tickets online, because the walk-in line was over 30 minutes.... After our visit to the house we had fun in the gift shop. 


We took the tube to Green Park. From there we walked to Buckingham Palace. The preparations for the Jubilee activities were in full swing (in case you didn't know: in 2022 Queen Elizabeth was celebrating her Platinum Jubilee, 70 years of wearing the crown!, the main celebrations would be 2-5 June.). Because of these preparations, a lot of roads were closed off. We did manage to catch a glimpse of the palace. After this, we walked past the Big Ben and Westminster Cathedral. It was too busy there to visit, so we decided we'd have to return to London one day to visit these places properly. 


To escape the throngs, we took the tube to Picadilly Circus. We ended up eating in a restaurant where, according to the local lore, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson first met. It happened completely coincidental, something for which the English have a lovely word: serendipity! 

To finish our day, we visited the Waterstones flagship store. They say it is the largest bookstore in Europe. We have no idea if this is true, but it truly is humongous! We didn't have the energy to explore the whole store (we gave up on the third floor). We did buy some nice books, including the book Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. It is a fictional story about Shakespeare's son Hamnet, who died at the age of 11. I figured it would be interesting to read more about Shakespeare's life, especially since we'd be visiting Stratford-Upon-Avon later during our trip. 

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