What the Dickens?!

Okay, so let's face it, I have a lot to catch up on. I had intended to blog about Monday and Tuesday before I left for Wales on Wednesday morning, but... I just didn't get around to it. So let's see if I can remember everything I've done with all those rich details and embellishments that keep all of you so fascinated and entertained.

Monday was rainy, very rainy. As you might recall, our trip to the Tower of London last Friday was canceled due to snow, but the only day we could reschedule was Monday. Needless to say, then, the pictures that resulted from a day in the rain are not the most flattering but certainly amusing. Kate, Sarah, Elizabeth and I stuck together like 3 pieces of gum and a shoe. I'm not sure who was the shoe. Definitely the highlight of the trip was seeing the Crown Jewels, upon which are the first and second largest cut diamonds in the world, of perfect clarity. Suddenly a 1-karat diamond doesn't seem so big :) JUST kidding.

Tuesday I finally went to the Charles Dickens museum. I have been trying to go for ages, but everyone kept postponing it -- so I finally said, "I'm going today, whoever wants to come can come, but even if it's only me, I am going!" As it turns out, I did have one companion -- the very sweet Janessa, who also takes interest in literary sites, so we shall probably visit many of them together in the future. 48 Doughty Street was, in a word, lit-acular. Wow I'm not as clever as I think I am. Anyway, it was pretty amazing to walk around inside the very house where dear Charlie finished The Pickwick Papers, plus wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby in their entirety. There was a ton of original furniture, so I got to sit at the desk where he penned his last words. They also had a drawing room roped off because it had a bunch of his original furniture, including his very famous armchair. He was known to always sit in it, and several drawings that are done of him are done of him sitting in that chair. I decided I needed a picture in the chair, not just of it. After filling Janessa in on my scheme, we hovered. The room eventually cleared out except for us, I handed Janessa my camera, and stepped quite stealthily over the rope. The second I put foot to very old carpet the alarm went off. I set off a freaking alarm. Hahaha needless to say we booked it out of there, and I did not get my picture. The whole experience was perhaps one of my favorite trips so far in London. Also, there was a French school group touring through, so I lingered a bit with them in rooms and listened to their tour of the place given in French, which was pretty cool. My comprehension is still pretty good! I also bought a copy of Oliver Twist. I mean, how many times do you have the opportunity to buy a copy of Oliver Twist in the very house where it was written?

I'm already tired of blogging. I'll write more later about my Wales trip that took up Wednesday - Friday. For now, Happy Valentine's Day, and Papino, happy birthday!!!

Me and Janessa in front of Charles Dickens' house, 48 Doughtry Street

The golden arm from A Tale of Two Cities, my favorite Dickens

At the desk where Dickens wrote his last words

The window from which Oliver Twist is pushed

Mrs. Dickens' engagement ring

Blast it, I have more pictures, but I can't upload them right now. Whatev.