Before I moved here, I was sure that I wouldn’t get complacent. I was sure I’d keep wanting to tour the city. I wouldn’t be like city dwellers all over the world who live in a place surrounded by amazing sights but then rarely visit them. I was sometimes that person in DC, but I was certain I’d be better here. But then yesterday morning I was off of work. I was sitting my pajamas, watching TV, and working on the computer and all of a sudden it was 11:30. I had promised myself I would go out, but it was 11:30 and I hadn’t showered yet, I hadn’t really eaten anything but handfuls of granola, it was rainy, and I was lazy. But I promised myself I’d be better. So, I looked at my visit wish-list and decided to get off the couch and check out the British Library.

It’s a really interesting and nice place, but I’ll be honest it isn’t a very sexy tour. Basically the tour is learning about the history of the library and how people get access to books. I was the only one on the tour, which at first made me feel awkward but it turned out just fine. I don’t know the name of my tour guide. I’m choosing to believe the book Watching the English, which says English people don’t like to introduce themselves at the beginning of conversations with new people. Regardless, he was a great tour guide because he was friendly, and knowledgeable, and so passionate. Learning about how the books travel the building or the inner workings of their storage facility might not sound fascinating, but for me, listening to someone who clearly loves what they do makes the material so much more engaging. He’s also been with the library since before 1997, so he’s seen it when it was housed in the British Museum and when it started in its current location.

Anyway, the tour started properly with this model of the library. It gives you a sense of its really large size and a little bit about the storage. Most of the storage is in an automated facility in Yorkshire, but beneath the main library building are four levels of book storage. He told me about the history of the library and its connection to the British Museum and how eventually it outgrew its original home. The library building dates to 1973. It’s large and allows for a good bit of natural light, but in my opinion it looks like many university or large public libraries.

Books here can’t be checked out, they can just be used for the day in the library. He took me to the staff area to see where the books are collected and how they are sent throughout the museum. Basically, it looks like the conveyor belts at the airport. Books go into a bin and then roll down a belt all across the library. I even saw a DVD of how it all works. It was nice being on the tour myself. I asked lots of questions about using the library, conservation, types of books, digital copies – ever random thing I wanted to know. When I asked about acquiring digital copies over hard copies, my guide said they will continue to get hard copies “in case civilization collapses.” I just love that optimism – if there is a zombie apocalypse and there is no technology, at least we will have all kinds of books.

After that he started to show me some objects. This photo below is of an atlas. I know it looks like a door, but it’s an atlas. It’s called the Klencke Atlas. You can see our reflections a bit in the glass, so you can tell it’s really tall. He said it weighs 30 stone, which equals over 400 pounds! It was owned by King George III and was used at some point as a table. In person you can make out a cup ring in the leather – moral of the story is that coasters are important!

The literal, and to some extent figurative, center of the library is the King’s Library which was donated by George III. It’s a gorgeous tower in the center of the library displaying so many gorgeous leather books. My guide said George III spent his life collecting and then he added “and doing other things of course.” I chuckled because, you know, he collected books and dealt with “other things” like America’s Independence. No biggie. Anyway the books are gorgeous and were donated with the stipulation that they would always be on display and available to the public. It’s lovely to look at.

However, the best things to see are in the Treasures gallery. They have digitized a number of important historic works like Leonard Da Vinci’s notebooks and Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. They are amazing! You can see the words in the author’s own hand (and Da Vinci’s right to left writing!), you can scroll through each page, you can zoom in, AND you can see all their virtual books online at home.

I took pictures of all kinds of books and realize that those pictures might not be that interesting, but I’m going to go on gushing. I saw a letter to Winston Churchill about forming the Monument’s Men. I saw Gutenberg’s Bible, which was the first real book to be printed using the printing technique Gutenberg invented in the 1450s. And I saw the Magna Carta (below).

I also saw some gorgeously illustrated religious and scientific texts. Look at these beautiful classification of plants!

I’m going to end with the object that really stunned me, even though it’s not visually very astounding. If you’ve read my post gushing about Hampton Court Palace you might know I’m very interested in Tudor History. I watch the dramas and documentaries, I read everything, I have a Henry VIII stuffed bear, and I currently have an Anne Boleyn biography in my purse. So, when I saw this letter I was struck. It’s a letter written by Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII to Cardinal Wolsey. This is the kind of document that informs all the things I’ve read and seen about these people!  Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII were present there in that letter, and for a second it felt like the gap in history was smaller, that I could be closer to those people and those moments. At its very best, that is what museums, artifacts, and libraries should do – connect people with information and history. And I felt lucky to have that nice experience at the British Library.

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This weekend was a lovely long weekend filled with food! Ryan had a half day on Friday and he came home and we made lunch together. I was in the mood for a delicious sandwich so we went to the grocery store to get ingredients for steak sandwiches. Ryan was the executive chef and I was the sous chef. He made all the decisions and did most of the cooking. I did the prep and washed the dishes. Our steak was topped with cheddar cheese, onions, and mushrooms on a baguette and served along side fries. It was so good and I ate so much, I didn’t even eat dinner!

On Saturday we had a relaxing day. It’s practically fall here so we were craving pumpkin spice lattes. Unfortunately it’s too early for that so we got regular coffee, then did some shopping, and then went to the pub for the Arsenal match.

Sunday we went to the BBC Good Food Festival at Hampton Court. I’ve gushed about Hampton Court before. It’s the palace of Henry VIII and it’s gorgeous and wonderful. When I heard about this festival I could not contain my excitement. Lots of food in my favorite place?! YES PLEASE! This past weekend the palace gardens were foodie paradise. There were demonstrations and lectures and cookbooks on sale. And there was so much food to eat. There were tons of vendors selling and giving away samples. I tried sauces, curries, blood orange liqueur, wine, and cheese. I also tested out some fancy knives. One of them was truly impressive. I cut through a turnip like it was butter and the vendor showed me how she could easily peel a tomato. It was a really cool knife.

We were lucky to have a gorgeous sunny day. We sat in the grass, listened to the brass band, and indulged in food. Ryan and I had venison sausage, a steak sandwich (Ryan’s was better), churros, gelato, and a lemon cake. We did share most of that food, but in total we still ate a lot. I especially liked the lemon cake. We were walking along when a boy came up and asked if we’d try his stands’ cakes and biscuits. I said no and he looked so crestfallen. I felt so guilty and I was about to go back to him when I saw the Little Round Cake Co. Everything they had looked so beautiful. Ryan took one beautiful picture of the cake and then some silly pictures of me pretending to eat it. People looked askance at us but I didn’t care, I was eating cake.

Don’t worry too much about my eating, I worked out on Monday to make up for the weekend’s gluttony

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On Saturday, Ryan planned for us to go to Hampton Court Palace. This was Henry VIII’s home. What you might not know about me is that I’m crazy about Tudor history. I have read so many books, both fiction and non-fiction. I was obsessed with the Tudors TV show. I had TWO mugs that when you put hot water in them, Henry’s wives would disappear. I love Tudor history so I was really excited for this trip. I was buzzing with excitement. I was the kind of excited children get when you take them to Disney. For all I have read about Henry VIII, I never thought about going to see his palaces or anywhere else related to him. So Ryan planning all this, was fulfilling a dream I didn’t even know I had. It was amazing.  He won some major husband points. Anyway, let me nerd out a ton so I can tell you about my greatest day.

We get there and we’re in line to buy tickets, and I convince Ryan that we should become members. We get free admission to Hampton Court and five other places! One visit to Hampton Court and the Tower of London (which I haven’t done yet but am DYING to) covers the cost of the membership. So now we’re members and I’m so flipping exciting because now I can go back whenever I want. We walk in and I’m overwhelmed with things to look at. We started in the kitchens where costumed interpreters were actually cooking meals. One guys was making a crown out of marzipan and gold foil! He was saying you can actually ground up lapis lazuli into fine powder and put it on the crown, but that it doesn’t taste very good. We saw huge casks for wine and ale and a gigantic fire place. It was so amazing.

We then went out to the main courtyard to meet up with a costumed interpreter for a mini tour. The main court has a fountain that ran with wine! WINE. How cool is that? We met our guide, Jane Seymour’s father (before he was father-in-law to the king), and he took us to meet the king himself! I took one picture and it has half a guy’s head in it but oh well. We listened to that for awhile, then peeled off from the tour to look around for ourselves. Ryan and I picked up the audio guide, which was well worth it! The guide is told with lots of voices, from curators, historians, and costumed interpreters. The screen on the device also shows images and videos, which was a really cool touch. Not only did the guide tell us about the history, but it also told about the conservation of the palace and its contents.

We used the audio guide to tour Henry’s apartments. I was blown away by the great hall. There were amazing tapestries and huge stained glass windows. The room was arranged with long tables and on the table cloths were printed period appropriate etiquette tips. Over the course of the tour we saw where he married Catherine Parr, where Katherine Howard screamed for her freedom, and where Henry went to church. In one hallway there was a painting of Henry with his children and the deceased Jane Seymour. I have read so much about that painting that when I saw it, I audibly gasped.

After that, we toured the gardens, which were truly spectacular. There were immaculately trimmed trees, bright flowers, and beautiful fountains. I can’t adequately describe the love, attention, and beauty that is evident in the gardens so you’ll just have to look at my pictures to understand. Also, I took a creeper photo of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour’s father strolling through the gardens. Is it possible to be star struck by a long dead monarch? If so, I totally was. I loved the trip and left with a souvenir kitchen towel. It’s completely tacky with pictures of Henry VIII and all his wives. I don’t care that it’s tacky. I love it.

Sunday, it was drizzly and we were tired from our long day trip, so we stayed in. I made breakfast and then we went out to the pub later to watch the Arsenal game. I decided to make this breakfast because I thought it looked cool – and that’s really the only reason to make this. It does look cool, but basically it’s toast and eggs. So unless you’re showing off, save yourself the effort and make a regular breakfast. If you’re looking to get mildly fancy, then this is the recipe for you. It’s yummy and satisfying and a nice Sunday brunch treat.

Ingredients:

butter

bread (as many slices as eggs you want to make)

eggs (as many as slices of bread)

salt & pepper (to season)

Directions:

1. Use a glass, or a circular cookie cutter, to cut a hole out of the center of the bread. Set the circle aside.

2. Heat a skillet over medium heat. If you’re making more than one slice of bread, you may need to lower the heat between batches so you don’t burn the bread.

3. Melt the butter in the skillet. When it’s melted, add the slice of bread. Let it cook until it is just getting golden brown. For the first slice this may take 5 minutes or more, for later slices when the pan is hot, it can take 1-2 minutes.

4. When the bread is getting golden, crack the egg into the bread’s hole. I cracked the egg in a glass first then poured it in the skillet.

5. Let the egg cook until the egg white is set enough that you can get a spatula under it. You can flip it after 1 minute if you want a runny yolk, or you can wait longer.

6. Flip the egg and bread. Cook for 1 minute, more if you want the yolk mostly cooked through.

7. Remove from the skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Use the bread’s circle to sop up extra yolk.

8. If you’re making more than one, be sure to butter the skillet between times.

Messy level:  Two spoons. The first one I flipped I splattered egg white all over the pan. After that I was more careful and let it cook longer. Other than that, there was no mess!

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