Christmas with Dickens

My first day on reserve and I got a last minute trip to London.   It was the trip I would have asked for if I had a choice.  I was mostly ready when they called me, so I finalized my packing and headed to the airport.  We landed the next morning to a snowy landscape.  It was the most beautiful London layover






























I had visited the Charles Dickens Museum on my previous trip, but left my camera in the hotel room.
Duh.  In all fairness, sometimes the lack of sleep just dulls the mind.





http://www.dickensmuseum.com/
















The walk to the museum from the Russell Square tube station is interesting.

You walk past Brunswick Square with all it's classy shops, restaurants, and condominiums.

I would love living in this great location, but I would pay about twice as much money for about half as much space as I have in Dallas. Maybe I will rent a place here someday, if just for a while.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Square

Also along the way you pass Coram's Fields

http://www.coramsfields.org

 and occasionally meet some of London's wilder crowd.

Everthing turned out well, since, as I had hoped, the museum now was decorated for Christmas. The woman at the entrance remembered me and my forgotten camera, and she allowed me to enter without charge to take my photos.

The drawing room is a bit gaudy, in a popular early victorian manner, and the festive decorations befit it well.

The study was where Dickens liked to seclude himself and write.

















During the time he lived here on Doughty Street, he wrote "Pickwick Papers" and "Oliver Twist", among other lesser know works.

Dickens was said to be an excellent host, who enjoyed entertaining immensely.








I loved the small basement courtyard which held his wine cellar.

I also loved the outdoor Dicken's Courtyard

and the cafe courtyard, though neither are inviting in wintertime
















The snow covered tables were best enjoyed from inside the cozy cafe while having a warm mince tart and a hot latte.









If you visit London, love Dickens, and would like to be a part of the wonderful organization that supports it's upkeep, you may become a member here.  There are some nice perks included with membership, but mostly a sense of preserving history.

http://www.dickensmuseum.com/join-us/american-friends.html