6 Days in London - Day 4 Temple Church, Sir John Soanes, and Highgate Cemetery
Day 4 ended up being sort of a miscellaneous day surrounding a tour at Highgate Cemetery. We started at Temple Church, a really stunning church, built in the 12th century. There is a small admission fee, and it was a quick stop, but a great way to start the day.
From there we strolled over to Sir John Soane’s Museum, a small museum dedicated to the life of Sir John Soane, an english architect. In his house, it is free and no pictures were allowed, and it was strange and fascinating, filled with interesting architecture and collections (think Egyptian sarcophagus in the basement).
It was a chilly day, so lunch at Ippudo for ramen, really hit the spot.
After lunch, we hopped on the tube to Archway Station and walked over to Highgate Cemetery.
There are two sides to Highgate Cemetery, East and West. The West Cemetery is only accessible by tour, due to safety issues. The East Cemetery is more accessible and you can wander around without a tour. Tours can be booked on their website.
Our guide was great, full of information and enthusiasm, he encouraged us to keep moving quickly, so that he could get through everything he wanted to talk about. There are some wider lanes, and then many overgrown areas, and lots of ivy.
Our tour highlighted some of the interesting people buried in the West Cemetery along with the architecture. I found it notable, that people are still being buried both of the cemeteries.
After our tour was finished, we took a quick wander through the East Cemetery, and it was definitely more wide open, with less grand monument.
As the sun started to set, we headed back to the tube and stopped for some hot chocolate to warm up.
Back in central London, we hit up TKTS for discount theater tickets. Our selection was “True West” at The Vaudville Theater, starring Kit Harrington of Game of Thrones fame. We had been seeing posters all over town for this one, and thought why not, even though I’d never heard of the play previously.
The National Portrait Gallery was right there, so we wandered in briefly to take a look.
There are many burger chains in London, so we gave Honest Burger a try for dinner before heading to the play.
