Day 6: Sep. 9, 2018 - Holborne & Temple

After rising to greet the day and getting ready to head out, we decide on today’s destinations. The walks in Holborne, Somerset House and Temple. These are older parts of London, around Fleet Street and the Law Courts.

(Perhaps I did not explain: We have a deck of 50 cards, each about 3 inches by 5 detailing walks in various sections of the city. One side has a map, the other describes the walk with text. These are CityWalks, published by Chronicle Books. They are a great way to visit an interesting city and we have used them in Paris, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, even Seattle. These are the "Walks" I refer to in this blog.)

After getting on the tube at Notting Hill Gate, we make our way out of the Holborne Station and head to Lincoln Fields. Walking around the Fields, we encounter dozens of tractor trailers. Many have food ready to eat: it’s a movie/TV shoot of some sort! We ask a worker making a delivery what’s going on, but she has no idea, she’s just delivering some food.

We continue on to view Lincoln’s Inn, one of the four Inns of Court. Oops, it’s Sunday, so the Inn is closed to the public.

Lincoln's Inn

We deviate from the Walk’s designated path, and rejoin it as we pass by the Seven Stars pub and the Wig Box, an absolutely vital local business, as they supply those white wigs that lawyers must wear in court in the UK.

We continue on to the second walk, Somerset House. Today is a special day as they are having a Design Biennale Festival: the competition has been fierce for the theme “Emotional States”. We decide to take part and see all sorts of interesting exhibits. Samples: a discussion of the constructive uses of coal mineral which do not involve burning, and a computer system that interprets people’s emotional states by "reading" their faces.

After seeing most of the exhibit, we continue out the back of Somerset House to move along to the third walk of the day: Temple. Alas, some of the alleyways we are supposed to walk through are shut tight on Sundays. Thwarted, we retreat to the “Tipperary” for Sunday Roast Dinner. Amy has the Roast Beef and I have the Lamb Shank. I find it delightful. Amy’s RB is a little tough, but it is tasty and the sides are satisfying.

We decide we have had enough walking for today and head home. The closest tube station is St. Paul’s, so we head that way. We pass straight by St. Paul’s and think about going in. But wait! It’s Sunday – no tourists allowed today, only worshippers.

St. Paul's

We find the station and eventually board a train, but decide we want to do some more walking through Hyde Park, so we get out of the tube at Hyde Park Corner. As we pass the Mustaba again (see Day 3), there is a soft-serve Ice Cream stand! We both have a serving. Yumm.

We get home and rest up. We decide that after a heavy mid-day meal, a dinner of pizza would be just fine. We head to Portobello Pizza, just a few short blocks away. Amy has the Margherita pizza. I have the Capricciosa. We enjoy a leisurely walk back to our flat, stuffed and happy.