Ampitheater's and Pubs

This morning's class was a guest lecture from the Dean (I think) of Regent's College that was a historical perspective of religion (specifically Christianity) in London. Although the lecture was interesting, the woman was a little too opininated for my liking.

After class we headed out to Guildhall, which is an art gallery with some Old Masters works of King George II, etc. The paintings were nice, but the best part was the basement that housed the remains of a Roman ampitheather leftover from the London occupation of Londinium. Apparently in London, anytime a new building goes up, a team of archaeologists digs at the site to unearth anything that might have been resting at the site. In this particular site, they expected to find an old cathedral - which they found - but then they dug a little deeper and ended up finding the ruins of a Roman Ampitheater! The gallery did a really good job of setting up the exibit to give it an exciting and dramatic feel and for giving the viewer an idea of the size and mass of the actual ampitheater.

After that, we traveled east towards Canary Wharf and Limehouse to a pub called Grapes, which was the basis for a pub in Dickens' Our Mutual Friend called the Six Jolly Fellowships Porter. I felt incredibly English sitting in the dark little pub drinking beer and eating a plate of Miss Abbey Potterson's (a character from the novel) Bangers and Mash. In case, like me, you are unsure of what Bangers and Mash is, it's pork sausage and mashed potatoes, and it was delicious. It was definitely better than Fish and Chips and may end up being my favorite traditional English food.