It was a beautiful sunny day today. After breakfast at McDonald's, we headed to the The London Eye. I have to confess that I wasn't expecting too much from this attraction but it turned out to be really good! The height of it is quite amazing!
High..
Higher...
Higher...
Doesn't look higher but used zoom...
Higher...
Highest!
St.Martin-in-the-Fields Church
The Nave
The Pulpit
The ceiling and Royal Arms
From the sanctuary looking toward the organ
The Walker organ was installed in 1990.
An entertainer in Trafalgar Square
A very different pedestrian light!
Looking down The Mall from Admiralty Arch
This photo was taken from the same place as the one above but the zoom function was used for this one.
The Charles Dickens Museum - 48 Doughty St, London (the door on the right). Dickens lived here from 1837 for about a year. He wrote "Oliver Twist", "Pickwick Papers" and "Nicholas Nickleby" here. The museum was opened in 1924.
Mrs Dickens
Apparently, a hedgehog used to come in from the garden to spend some time in front of the fire. This one is more stuffed than frozen.
The podium which Charles Dickens used during his public readings
Dickens used this desk for the last decade of his life. He sat at it to write "Great Expectations", "Our Mutual Friend" and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood". It was originally at Dickens' home "Gads Hill" in Kent.
It was a special moment to look at a page of the original manuscript of "Oliver Twist". The passage is from Chapter 10:
"afforded another chase, had not a police officer (who is generally the last person to arrive in such cases) at that moment made his way through the crowd, and seized Oliver by the collar. 'Come, get up,' said the man, roughly. 'It wasn't me indeed, sir. Indeed, indeed, it was two other boys,' said Oliver, clasping his hands passionately, and looking round. 'They are here somewhere.' 'Oh no, they ain't,' said the officer. He meant this to be ironical, but it was true besides; for the Dodger and Charley Bates had filed off down the first convenient court they came to. 'Come, get up!' 'Don't hurt him,' said the old gentleman, compassionately."
This is page from the 9th Chapter of Nicholas Nickleby:
"into a noiseless exchange of kicks beneath it.
And, in this place, it may be as well to apprise the reader, that Miss Fanny Squeers was in her three-and-twentieth year. If there be any one grace or loveliness inseparable from that particular period of life, Miss Squeers may be presumed to have been possessed of it, as there is no reason to suppose that she was a solitary exception to an universal rule. She was not tall like her mother, but short like her father; from the former she inherited a voice of harsh quality; from the latter a remarkable expression of the right eye, something akin to having none at all. Miss Squeers had been spending a few days with a neighbouring friend, and had only just returned to the parental roof. To this circumstance may be referred, her having heard nothing of..."
A lock of Charles Dickens' hair.
A few personal belongings of Mr and Mrs Dickens.
Although Dickens was often at odds with the Church as an institution, he did have faith. He wrote "The Life of Our Lord" (the open book above) for his children. Also in the photo is the Dickens' Family bible and a brooch belonging to his mother.
As it was our last night in London, we went home and packed up, ready to head back to Cambridge tomorrow.