BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HOUSE & BRITISH OPTICAL MUSEUM - London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
Esther and Bob left London today for Havent, their last stopping place before returning home on Thursday night. After breakfast they brought some luggage not required in Havent to Wendy's for Di to take to the airport on Thursday night. We discussed possibly spending the day together in Winchester on Tuesday, depending on their activities and timing when they arrive down south. Di talked to Doug for some time before Wendy appeared, again bothered by her cold. We decided she should have a day in and try to build her reserves for work tomorrow. Di decided to visit one of London's many houses without realising that today was Open House London 2015. Benjamin Franklin House looked quite interesting, so a walk to Northfields and a train to Charring Cross was the order of the day. Train was relatively empty until about half way into the city a brave lady boarded with at least 12 extremely active and noisy boys, probably aged around 8 to 10, clearly heading for a football game. On the way down Craven Street to Benjamin Franklin House a monicalled gentleman dressed in WW1 army uniform tried to lure Di into the Optical Museum, also open today. Glancing further down the street there was quite a queue clearly in front of Benjamin Franklin House, so Di decided to queue there and come back to the Optical Museum. They were running a special tour of architectural details of the house rather than their normal experience for visiting the house, and could only take 15 people at a time. When I joined the queue I was last person in for the 3.30 tour, a wait of more than an hour. Had some great chats with other people, some waiting patiently but most not, and then it was my turn to go on the tour. In conserving the house they have tried to keep as many authentic features of the house as possible - floorboards, ceilings, fireplaces, panelling and stairs etc - but unfurnished as any furnishings would have been replicas and not the original pieces. This is the world's only remaining Franklin residence and he lived here for nearly 16 years between 1757 and 1775. The building was rescued from dereliction and it felt very special being there. There were 3 floors of the British Optical Association Museum to explore, but it was quite crowded and I don't really enjoy looking at eyes so skimmed the exhibits very quickly. Both Houses were part of the Open House London day and so were free to enter. Feeling a little hungry, popped into All Bar One at Charring Cross for a salad and coffee. They were sold out of the particular salad I wanted so chose an entree of tempura prawns with sweet chilli instead, quite tasty, before heading back to Ealing. Wendy still not feeling all that great so take-away Thai for dinner.