75 in London

Russell Square

Hyde Park

Our patio

 

Need I say more? The city was bathed in the glory, of as one person told us, "The first day of summer." I told a few people I talked to when booking rooms for the trip that we would bring sunny weather in our suitcases. But it has been the coldest May on record so far, so we can't take any credit for this. Tomorrow they say it will be 80.

We took some time to visit the British Library today and it was a humbling experience to see its treasures, which included the Magna Carta, St. Cuthbert's Gospel, dated 698, the oldest bound book from Europe, opened to a page with his own note in the margin, the original hand written copy of Jane Eyre, the original manuscript of Handel's Messiah, a Mercator atlas from 1570, a Durer star chart, and an original Ordinance Survey Map of Exeter. The reading rooms were so perfect, we decided to come again with a research project.

Rick Steves has a three day tour of London mapped out in his book. All we can say is good luck to that. We have decided to take our time and do what we can and see the sights in our neighborhood, which is definitely not on the list of places to go. London is a place we will come back to for a month some day.

The highlight of the day was dinner with Ben, Melanie, Blair and Mike.