London Cemetery Adventures

We're in London!!! And we met up with Beanie and crew... that's Beanie, Jelly Beanie and String Beanie... We had a committee meeting and decided we were going somewhere new...

On a bus... Beanie is the Wizard of Buses... seriously...

Little Fox admired a whats-it that Beanie hung off the seat... think it's one of the floppy disc artworks...

Beanie had never met Leo before so they had a little chat and talked about the story of the Lion and the Mouse... you know the one... the mouse who pulled the thorn out of the lion's paw... they figured out that that was likely their Great GGGGGG grand parents (give or take a few "great"s)...

We are going right into the crack of the map book... both Andrea and Mama decided that the print keeps shrinking...

We got off here... one guy on the bus had told us to go to the end of the line and then walk down hill cause this part was soooo steep... ppsshawww! We got off where we had planned to and it wasn't that steep...

Beanie says these aren't "real" tudor houses... but they sure look cute.

We had a bit of a break here cause even though the hill weren't steep... it was a bit of a hike.

And we're here!!! It's Highgate Cemetery...

This is Douglas Adams... who wrote Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy... don't think we've read that... Beanie joked about a towel and a satchel and we all looked a bit blank....

Let's go exploring!

Good thing it's sunny out... this cemetery would be right creepy on an overcast, rainy day... we might have all run screaming out of there!

This was a massive headstone...

From a big bearded guy... turns out it's Karl Marx... his tombstone gets a LOT of vandalism...

The mice left a Book Crossing book here! I checked... but it wasn't Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

Some cool headstones here... lots of celtic crosses... and lots of famous people!

And not so famous people... this one is for a lady who was a women's rights and anti-slavery advocate, as well as a freethinker... her husband was a silversmith, reformer and freethinker... wonder who their stuffie pals were...

Oh geez!!! Seriously... get some pants buddy!! Although Bob T. Bear would love this one!! We think it's a statue of ... that guy who pushes the rock up the hill for ever... what's his name... Syphillus?? No... wait... Sisyphus!! Close enough...

Lots of celtic crosses...

Little Fox liked this one with a dog's head... cool.

Pretty flowers too...

We had no idea who this one was... and thought the bust was a bit creepy... Beanie said it was Malcolm McLaren of the Sex Pistols... Hmmm... we're not doing so good in the Cultural Recognition category here!

We took a break on this bench...

Stuffies with good balance sat up top (all with long legs)...

And stuffies with poor balance sat below... all with short legs... is there a connection??

This one was kind of art deco...

This one had a nice cascade of stone pebbles down the side...

We all agreed this guy had the best epitaph: "Curator of Oddities"!!! Betcha he had a few stuffie pals...

Best celtic cross we think...

Best obvious epitaph....

Most well-tended plot... guy was only 16 years old when he died...

Most natural headstone (there is writing on the inside...)

Most poignant sculpture...

Holy mackeral... that's a lot of walking!! Short-legged stuffies (and long-legged stuffies) are all pooped... do we have snacks??? No... we do not... sigh...

Otto's favourite headstone... water to frolic in!!

Little Fox's favourite... a whole dog sculpture!

And there you go... we're done!! The west side is also a cemetery but it's closed... only open for tours... apparently even more famous people are buried there!! Like George Michael... It's also got crypts and mausoleums and stuff...

Now we're catching another bus back...

And stopping at the Laduree kiosk at St. Pancras...

mmm... macaroons...

Or is it macarons... we had quite a discussion and...

 Wait a minute... how come Andrea has a bag from Laduree and we don't?????!!!!

No macaroons/macarons????? What do you mean "tomorrow"??? Ack!!!

After a bit of a regroup... we headed out for dinner to a place that Beanie says is "Better than Bryon's Burgers"... which seems quite impossible but... you never know. It's a "blink and you miss it" place... called Burger and Shakes...

We are all starvingly famished! No snacks on the cemetery trip and NO macaroons for us!

Ooohhh... I see why we didn't get to have dessert first... that is a massive burger...

and a goodly pile of sweet potato fr... hey! "Just sniffing..." said Beanie... uh-huh... gotta watch these mice!

Right then.. we are going to Byron's tomorrow so this is a bit of a taste test... bacon was seriously nice and crispy... burger patty was angus beef and... it was juicy and succulent and VERY GOOD!

 We all had a bit of a drink and got a tad tipsy... Beanie was thumping the table squeaking "Fondue for All!!!"

And we went back to the hostel... and fell into bed... pooped!

PS... Rose was off at Harry Potter Studios for the day... not sure how that won out over a trip to a cemetery but....