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Back in London for the second time in a week! This time we were going to explore some a couple of places we’ve often walked by but never explored. Train from home into Paddington then tube across to London Bridge. Before we started exploring, an early lunch at Borough Market and the Food Hall.
Borough Market is a real hotspot for tourists and workers for lunch. With a huge variety of street food on offer, it’s not really a surprise. Today we reverted back to an old favourite – fish and prawn wraps with chilli sauce.
From here, we walked around the corner heading towards The Shard. The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret had always intrigued us as we passed by so wanted to explore more.
It’s housed in the attic of the early eighteenth-century church of the Old St Thomas’ Hospital and offers a unique insight into the history of medicine and surgery. The original timber-framed Herb Garret was once used to dry and store herbs for patients’ medicines, and in 1822, an operating theatre was installed. Once used for operations that predated anaesthetics and antiseptics, it is the oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe for female patients.
Access to the museum is via a narrow spiral staircase. Once in the attic, the space opened up and a lesson in herbs and medicine. Most fascinating was the operating theatre. It was so incredibly basic and people would come in to watch the procedures!
From here, it was a walk along South Bank as we headed towards Waterloo. The Golden Hinde was looking quite busy so we skipped this for today and continued along Southbank to The Clink – The Prison Museum!
The Clink Prison dates back to 1144 making it one of England’s oldest and most notorious prisons. The Clink Prison Museum presents the scandalous truth of Old Bankside through a hands-on educational experience. On display are archaeological artefacts and you can experience the sights, sounds and smells of the prison, handle torture devices, and to view and hear all about the tales of torment and many misfortunes of the inmates of the infamous Clink Prison.
One thing that did surprise us was that there was no additional charge to receive the photo! Most places will sell these for a fortune.
We wandered around Covent Garden for a bit trying to decide where to eat. We couldn’t take too long as it would soon be rush hour and everyone wanting a table.
In the end we settled on Steak and Company in Covent Garden. The food was really nice – it was a bit like eating steak in The Beach House on P&O. You chose your steak, finish cooking it yourself on the hot lava stone and you’ve a choice of butter and sauces to try. The only downside was all the tables are on top of each other (although great for earwigging on other conversations!)
