Elementary, My Dear Watson

We’ve been on a bit of a movie binge since we got the new TV, and ended up catching the new Sherlock Holmes movie, which lead to me downloading the complete Sherlock Holmes series for my kindle, which then lead to me googling 221B Baker Street to see if it was real, and discovering it not only existed, it had been transformed into the Sherlock Holmes Museum, a replica of the boarding house that Holmes and Watson (fictionally) lived in. Sherlock Holmes was, of course, not real, but 221B Baker Street was, and that location was an actual boarding house from 1860-1934, so in 1990, they turned the location into a replica of the suite Holmes and Watson shared. What did that lead to? Well…elementary, my dear Watson.

Anyway, since Mike is the bossest boyfriend ever, he indulges my silly whims to see weird and interesting sites around London, we went.

The good thing about it being so new is that it was a lot more interactive than many of the other tourist attractions. When you visit 300 year old castles and whatnot, you tend to be forced to follow a specific path through the attraction, and areas are roped off so you can see but not touch. It makes sense because the stuff is OLD and it would not last through thousands of people sitting on it and touching it and all that other stuff. The Sherlock Holmes Museum is a bit different. Nothing is really roped off, and you’re totally welcome (in fact, encouraged) to pose on chairs, and pose next to wax figures of people from the books, and all that other jazz.

This, of course, is right up Mike and my alleys! Neither of is very sure about this fellow in the mask:

But I’m more than willing to give this dead dude a lap dance. Dude looks pretty horrified by it.

Mike does his best to imitate his look of horror.

Anyway, it was a fun way to kill half an hour. After that, we went walking in and around Regent’s Park, which is actually bigger and awesomer than Hyde Park. Hyde Park has a lot more attractions, and just general Stuff To Do In Londonness appeal, but Regents Park is way prettier and fun to lounge in.

On the way, we found a bust of JFK, which doesn’t even really make sense because dude..London? I’m cool with just accepting the fact that it’s there.

Mike is more WTF about it

The first thing I noticed in Regents Park were the paddleboats. Since I am a huge dork, and Mike is an awesome boyfriend (see first paragraph), we went paddleboating!

We did a lap around the island thing in the middle, then paused in the shade to cool down, chat, and watch the cute little ducks (and geese and whatever other birds were there)

Mike found a leaf that looked shocked, so we had a bit of fun with the macro setting on the camera.

Then we were ready for lunch. We decided to pick up some snackies from a grocery store and sit in the park, since it was such a pretty day. It took a while for us to find a grocery store, but on the way, we did find Prince Albert Road *snicker*.

We finally managed to pick up some beer, diet pepsi, cheese, ham, bread, and grapes, and made our way back to the park to feast and enjoy the weather. Mike still finds it especially cool that he can enjoy a beer in a park without getting fined.

The evening has been mostly spent watching The Big Lebowski and relaxing. I think it’s going to be pretty soft for the next few days because on Wednesday, we fly to Denmark!! I’m not bringing my laptop or phone or anything because it’s a music festival, and we’re sleeping in a tent, and frankly I don’t feel like babysitting it all, but I will attempt an epic post soon after we return!