Our second day in London was devoted to hitting some favorite sights from our last trip.  We started with a morning stroll by Buckingham Palace, which was a mere 15 minute walk from our hotel.

We saw a guard in a Sentry-Box.
“One of the sergeants looks after their socks,” says Alice.

(We didn’t actually see the Changing of the Guard this time.  We’d seen it in 2008, and once was enough.  I’m 4’11” – the perfect height to get smacked in the mouth by elbows and cameras.  Crowds don’t really agree with me.  I’m sure hubby and I will go to the Changing of the Guard again some years from now, perhaps when we’re (hopefully) toting a little traveler with us.  But for this trip, we both agreed that we were cool with skipping the spectacle, and we just stopped by to tip our imaginary hats to the Queen, and then went on our way.)

Onward to King’s Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express!  The station was under construction and there were signs everywhere directing Hogwarts students to the new location of Platform 9 3/4.  Hubby and I had a giggle – wouldn’t it have been easier for Harry to find the platform with helpful posters to guide him?  Instead of having to ask directions from a disgruntled station employee?

I struck a pose with my brother’s newspaper.  And then forgot to send it to him, so it never ended up getting published.  Ah, well.

Then it was on to one of my favorite places in London – the British Library!  Oh, how I love this place.  Let me count the ways: (1) the King’s Library; (2) Jane Austen’s writing desk, with her GLASSES!; (3) the last chapter of Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte’s own hand; (4) Beatles lyrics written on the back of an envelope; (5) the Magna Carta; (6) Shakespeare’s First Folio (yes, another one)…  It’s a magical place.  I could have stayed all day, but I courteously restricted my library lovefest to two hours – for hubby.  (He was fine, actually.  He loves the rare science and nature texts on display there, so we tend to split up as soon as we get inside.  He knows he can find me by the literature section and I know I can find him in the science corner if we need to reunite.)  The British Library never disappoints.  Gosh, I adore it.

All that walking and bookish excitement got us hungry, so we headed off for a special lunch at Wild Honey.  The food was phenomenal – we each had the prix fixe lunch, starting with a velvety squash soup garnished with pepitas, followed by a fish fillet and couscous salad, and then dessert, which I actually forgot what it was; the soup was the highlight.  But really, what makes Wild Honey special is that it’s the site of a former gentlemen’s club that was said to be the model for P.G. Wodehouse’s Drones Club – the raucous house of iniquity where Bertie Wooster and his pals smuggled stolen taxidermy, played made-up (and nonsensical) bar games, and escaped the law by fleeing into the dining room, where the hapless policeman would be immediately assaulted by hundreds of flying dinner rolls hurled in his direction.  I’ve been a fan of the Jeeves books for years and hubby loves watching Jeeves and Wooster with me – one of my favorite British television shows, starring the incomparable duo of Hugh Laurie as Bertie and Stephen Fry as Jeeves.  We were both ecstatic to visit the fictional Drones Club, and we planned to celebrate by hurling the dinner rolls at anyone who walked in the door after we were seated.

We didn’t, though.  We were charmingly well-behaved.  Look at my classy hubby getting ready to enjoy his lunch.  Wild Honey was fantastic, and we’ll definitely be dining there again on our next trip to London.

Next Friday we get our culture on!  Check back!