The Spark

We wandered around for a bit today, and I quite liked this line of lean, golden lions, guarding their building with resolve:

Although we've passed it many times, we've never entered Lincoln's Inn, one of London's four Inns of Court (organized bodies of lawyers). Lincoln's Inn traces its continuous existence back to 1422, and has included Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, and John Donne amongst its members. The grounds are lovely and peaceful:

I doubt the man sitting in the open window below (just out of view) was feeling as relaxed as we were--as we walked past, he frantically flipped through books and papers and then tossed them onto the growing pile as he continued to search for . . . something.

Considering the history of Lincoln's Inn, this sign isn't that old!

The current chapel opened in 1623 as a larger replacement for the first chapel. John Donne not only laid the foundation stone, he also delivered the dedication sermon upon the chapel's opening.

As we walked around the grounds, we had the place practically to ourselves.

Although the current library was completed in 1845, an extension was added in 1872 to house the ever-growing collection of books.

The great hall was officially opened by Queen Victoria in 1845, and serves as the main dining hall for students and barristers, as well as a space for examinations, lectures, and special events. Perhaps most significant to student members of the Inn, the great hall is where successful students are eventually called to the Bar.

After we left Lincoln's Inn, we continued wandering, passing this cute sculpture, Baby Tembo, on the London School of Economics campus. Tembo seemed a bit cross at all the construction work going on--or maybe he was in a foul mood because of the wad of gum someone has unkindly stuck on his ear?

We stopped in today at this pretty building on Clerkenwell Green, home to the Marx Memorial Library, which was founded in 1933 on the fiftieth anniversary of Marx's death, and served as a place where people could bring radical books that were in danger of being burned in Nazi Germany.

The library keeps limited hours and we were disappointed for a second when we saw the sign on the door that said the library was closed for refurbishment, until we noticed the starting date of the closure was tomorrow. The library's namesake greeted us as we entered:

Originally built as a Welsh Charity School, the building housed various radical organizations and publishers before becoming the library. This striking 1935 mural, The worker of the present upsetting the economic chaos of the present, had been covered with books and was only rediscovered in 1975 when the library moved upstairs into what used to be the hall. The mural has since been restored, although bombing damage to the lower-right portion of the fresco was left untouched.

The library attendant told us a lot of history about the building and library, and we learned that Lenin had an office in the building when he was exiled in London from 1902-1903. Remarkably, his office has been preserved, and the attendant grabbed the room key and unlocked the door to the tiny office space so we could have a peek at the place where he produced ISKRA (The Spark), the Russian Social Democratic newspaper. A copy of the paper sits on his desk:

After we left the library, we realized that lunch was long overdue, and I remembered that there was a nearby place that I've long wanted to try, so we headed over to Leather Lane, one of those London market streets that seems to exist for the sole purpose of serving lunch to crowds of office workers. Although there were many food choices, we were here for burritos--actually, Daddy Donkey doesn't use the word burrito on their menu--so this is my half-eaten burro:

Whatever name you use, lunch was very tasty and extremely spicy!