Day Forty-five from Melissa - Regent's Park

Hi, all!

More pictures to be added later but I didn't want to keep you waiting.

Today was our last class from Dr. Durham. Basically he told us what to expect from the final tomorrow, and wished us luck. I have really enjoyed him as a teacher. 

After that, Miriam and I hit the streets. First we got our data plan up and running again. That will be invaluable when we get to France, and for our last couple days here. 

Then we set off to finish our last few assignments. This is our main tube station. 

First we went to Lincoln's In.  This is a place where lawyers live, and is actually shaped much like an Oxford college. 

Have you ever heard the phrases, "no man is an island," or "never ask for whom the bell tolls - it tolls for thee?"  Well, those were both written by a fifteenth century poet who was a Catholic turned Anglican. His name was John Donne. So we visited the church he used to preach in. He also lived here as a young man. 

Interestingly enough, this church is unique in that the under croft, the basement, is open. These are the vaults that, in normal churches, would be inside the basement, with perhaps a chapel or two and some graves. This one is open, so people can run through if they like. 

Anyway, then we went to another church. St. Coles Cripplegate. We took the bus and got almost front row seats on the top. 

Then we had to walk for a while. We passed a hospital. To be specific, St. Bartholomew's hospital. It's one of the oldest hospitals in London. 

Also, if you're one of those people who watches Sherlock, that's the hospital. Different side though. This is the new wing. We tried to walk around it but there was too much construction. 

Here's St. Giles Cripplegate. 

It is unique in that it was one of the few medieval churches in downtown London to survive the Great Fire in 1666 and the Blitz during WWII. The poet Milton is buried here. A staunch Puritan, Milton had to go into hiding after Oliver Cromwell's death. He was only pardoned years later. Blind, he dictated his greatest epic to his daughter who acted as scribe. Paradise Lost has been studied by scholars ever since. 

I'm vaguely familiar with it because we have it in our set of Harvard Classics, but I need to read it properly. He wasn't buried in Westminster Abbey because he was a Puritan. 

After that, we ran off to Camden Market. Miriam heard of a fabulous chicken place, so we stopped off there. Then we hurried back for dinner. Which was chicken. I was so glad I didn't have any at the market!  I got my chicken and saved my cash!

It was blisteringly hot today. So hot. We were all boiling. 

It was 73 degrees. 

I'm going to be in trouble when I come back home. 

Yesterday was supposed to be warm. So everyone wore short sleeves and it was cold. Today was supposed to be warm, so there was this big discussion of "how much do we trust the weatherman?"

I changed into a skirt after dinner. The weatherman was right. It's warm. 

After dinner, we headed off to take our last walk, which goes through Regent's Park. I'm pretty sure I told you something about this park before. Four miles around, remember?  That's huge. Thankfully, we didn't have to walk the whole four miles!

It was close though. I know we made at least two miles, zigzagging around. We kept getting carried away by how pretty it was and going off course. 

In the middle of the park is Queen Mary's rose gardens. Each bed has a different variety of rose, and they had heir names listed on little placards. "Keep Smiling," "Singing in the Rain," "Iceberg," and my favorite, "Jam and Jerusalem."  Where did they even come up with that name?

It was really, really lovely with the sun sinking in the sky. People brought their children or dogs, feeding the ducks. 

We had a wonderful time. 

Then home and studying. We have a final in the morning after all!