...for it was imperative they should see him today in London.
Fortunately, this presented no problem. Pat and Colleen got on the London Underground train at Tottenham Court and made their way to Baker Street with their London Underground multiday travel card. Spit-spot, and they were there on Baker Street. As soon as they came out of the station, an imitation Sherlock Holmes, or perhaps the real thing in the most cunning of disguises... himself... gave them directions to 221B Baker Street. He pointed around the corner and up the street about two blocks. Pat and Colleen walked on.

How could one go to London and not pay a call on that most famous detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes. Granted, the man himself has retired to his beekeeping in Sussex, but the digs he and Dr. Watson shared are as lively as ever they were in the days they followed the trail of Professor Moriarty, or unraveled the case of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Actually, affectionados of Mr. Holmes have restored 221B to its former glory, with mementos and interesting clues and evidence from all the best cases of our unique friend. It has become a veritable museum, and you are welcome to visit.

You've been expected.
So feel free to sit down in Holms' own chair, even pick up one of his pipes and have a companion snap a picture of you. The maid in attendance will encourage you to do so. And surely it is not only because of the very modest tariff you pay at the desk downstairs. No, you are a guest here, and as you climb the stairs from story to story (literally) you start to become a part of this literary reality. Mind your step...

Surely, we could resist a little posing; we are sophisticated adults. No, of course we could not. But we'll share just the one below of me in Holmes' parlor. Not the one of me with Professor Moriarty, nor Colleen as... well, we just won't show it. I'm tempted to include the photo of the attic with the, um, no not that, either. You'll just have to see for yourself.

After we had our fun at the Sherlock Holmes Museum
at 221B Baker Street ...(the post office may consider
the address to actually be 239 Baker Street,
but in any event there is a gift shop downstairs that has not only
the predictable touristyinexpensive keychains and whatnot,
but also some reasonably nice Victorian style
memorabilia, and even a few impressive antiques.
Whatever your budget - or all the better, if budget does not
matter - you will probably find something
you'd like to take back with you.)
... we headed back to the center of London.
But first, we had to stop off for a bit of lunch.

I had been thinking about fish and chips. English fish and chips (really thickly cut french fried potatoes) with malt vinegar. In past I could find them many places in London. But we had not been able to get the 'real thing' yet. We'd tried in a couple of likely places, but the batter was not very memorable, and the chips... the less said the better.

On the way back to Baker Street Station
On the corner is a restaurant called The Globe. It's all dark woods and glass and brass, and it looks like it has been aged nicely. We decided to try it. Downstairs is the pub-and-lunch part, and upstairs is a dining room that looks like Ben Johnson might have kept company there. Thick wood tables and decorated walls with cryptic phrases and flowered designs. We ordered fish and chips, naturally. When they came, we ate it. It was absolutely fine restaurant food. The fish was fresh, and the chips not too crisp, not underdone, just right. There was even malt vinegar of the correct type. Colleen liked it a lot. But I'm still searching for that old style I used to know. Perhaps I'll search around the smaller towns near the coast the next time I'm in England. But you know, sometimes it's not the finding that is all the fun. Sometimes the searching can be just as exciting.

So we have solved mystery number one. The Case of the American Couple. They were found fed on Baker Street. Now the second mystery. Who in the English mansion in the Countryside on a cold and stormy night is the real murderer, and who are just the guests.

To find out what this could possibly mean, and why we had a very enjoyable evening, Click here for another bit of exploring around London, day and night.

But if you're tired of mysteries and just want to find out the easy way
to travel by train to London, and from there to the other cities in Europe,
Click here for Rail Europe

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