While my advisors were here this week, I went out to dinner every night through Thursday. Outside of lunch on two days, all of my meals were paid for by someone else. I definitely appreciated this, since I have to stretch my budget as far as possible. Next week, I'll be back to £ 5 take-away for dinner. There is a good variety of small shops (restaurants) all over London, and Camden is no exception. Some of the ethnic shops close earlier in the evening, before I get to the Camden Town station, so I haven't had a chance to try them all.

Thursday night, we went to an Indian restaurant on Gloucester Road called "Memories of India." I decided to have the lamb vindaloo, as I like to go for the spicier foods on the menu. One of my advisors, Joe Schork, not to be outdone, decided to have the chicken vindaloo. To backtrack, the night before we were at a Portuguese restaurant that seemed to make a big deal out of the spicieness of their different sauces for chicken, but neither Joe nor I thought that their "hot" sauce was all that hot. I assumed that Londoners, given their generally bland native diet, have a weak tolerance for spicy foods, and that any restaurant labeling their food "very spicy" was probably gearing the warning towards locals. Now back to Thurday night. The vindaloo at this Indian place was noticeably hotter than any I've had in the US. Both Joe and I finished our dishes, but it took every bit of rice and nan that we had to take out the burn. I don't think either of us will forget that experience.

On Tuesday, myself, Joe, and Martha (my primary advisor) went to Hampton Court palace, once used as a summer getaway from London. This palace was originally built for Cardinal Wolsey, who later fell out of favor with Henry VIII. Henry VIII wanted the palace for himself, so Wolsey wisely gave it up willingly. Additions to the palace were later made by William & Mary in the 1600s and George II in the 1700s, each in the current architectural styles, so the palace is really a patchwork from different periods. Some of this disparity is revealed in the pictures that I took. A lot of areas inside the palace were off-limits to photography, due to the fragile nature of tapestries and paintings. This was definitely a fun experience, not only touring the palace, but also learning about some of the different monarchs who occupied it.

Today, I went to the Museum of London, which covers the city from prehistoric times to the present day. Unfortunately for me, the lower section, covering from the Great Fire of 1666 to the present day, is closed until 2010 for renovations. I did get some nice pictures of Roman and medieval artifacts. Much of their collection was behind glass, so the glare from the lights was too much to get good pictures of some objects.

The Great Fire of 1666 started at 1 AM on Sept. 2, in the bakery of Thomas Farriner, who was the baker for King Charles II. It burned until Sept. 6, and destroyed about 13,000 houses, or 4/5 of the city, although only 5 deaths were reported as directly resulting from the fire. Farriner's bakery was in Pudding Lane, and the fire went out at Pie Corner, so some blamed the fire on the sin of gluttony. At the time of the fire, buildings had no insurance, so many people were left homeless, or worse, in debtor's prisons. London had no fire brigades in 1666, and the first proper fire brigade was not formed until 1866.