It's in vain, Trot, to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present.

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It rains a lot in London, even in the summer time. Most of my days here have had some kind of rain, either a huge downpour or just an on-and-off drizzle. While the first day of rain drove me indoors, it is hard to discover the city when you're cooped up in your flat. Make sure an umbrella is on your packing list if you're ever going to come out to the UK - I never leave without mine.

On one of my free days last week, I set out to have myself a literary day. I wanted to go to the Charles Dickens museum and walk around in the neighborhood that inspired him to write some of his classics - namely, Oliver Twist. I've actually only read three of his books (David Copperfield, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist), but I enjoy his writing style immensely - I think I was the only one in my sophomore English class at Cal High that actually enjoyed Great Expectations. The Dickens museum is a quick walk down the road from my flat, but it took me over 20 minutes due to the torrential downpour of rain that day. By the time I got there, my shoes were completely soaked, as was my *perfectly straightened* hair. Anyways, the Dickens museum is actually one of Charles' old homes on Doughty Street. The rooms have been preserved in the way that he and his family had decorated the house when they lived there and is filled with his furniture, family heirlooms, original manuscripts of his books, clothing, family portraits and busts, and artifacts that he used and mentioned in his work. I spent well over an hour there, which is a long time considering it was a very small museum. My favorite part was the library, located in the basement. The library was simply a collection of Dickens' work, but he has written so many books and news articles that it was fascinating to see all of them on the shelves at once. These were original editions as well as modern ones, in every language imaginable. I also really enjoyed the back garden. I snuck back there when there was a quick 10 minute break in the rain. The flowers looked so fresh and alive after their long drink of water. The statues and fountain were really lovely to look at, along with a commemorative plaque in Dickens' honor.

After the museum, I wanted to make my way to an organic grocery store that Hayley had found. I pulled her directions out of my back pocket just as a huge gust of wind took me by surprise. Since I was juggling my umbrella, scarf, LAMB handbag and my little Dickens souvenir bag, the wind blew the directions right out of my hand. Oops. I walked in the direction that I thought it might be in but just ended up getting myself lost a little bit. I was soaked but I kept walking until I found this beautiful community garden. The rain really brought out the best of the plants and flowers, and they even had this one painting of a scene from the Jungle Book. Disney really does make everything a little more magical.

Speaking of Disney magic... I can't wait for Disneyland Paris with my family. AH. Simone, soon it will be three down, two to go. Tokyo and Hong Kong don't even know what's eventually coming their way, when Simone and I finally tackle the rest of the Disney parks.

Cheers,
xo Leah

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Photos

Dickens Was Here
Outside of the Charles Dickens museum.

Library
Library full of Dickens' work.

Golden Arm
Golden arm plaque from A Tale of Two Cities.

Community Garden
Bridge to the community garden I found.

Garden 2
Another angle

Mosaic
Tile kitty cat that I thought was cute.

The Bear Necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife.