#shieldsmaiden

Hi! I hope you have so much fun! November is a great time to be in London. Whatever you decide to do, it really helps to map out places you want to visit so you can hit them in groups. Otherwise, it’s more costly and takes more time. 

I’ve tried to asterisk places that might be up your alley for 18th/early 19th century Romanticist stuff. 

Here are some suggestions: 

Bookshops and libraries: my number #1 tourist attraction 

London Review Bookshop

Jarndyce* (you gotta buzz in bc it’s antiquarian books, but don’t be shy)

Gay’s the Word

Daunt Books (in Marylebone)

Hatchards (in Piccadilly)

Word on the Water

The Second Shelf* (broad periodization, but women’s rare bookshop)

Gosh! Comics

Marchpane Children’s Books

Watkins Books

Persephone Books

John Sandoe Books

Skoob Books

British Library* (lmk if you have questions about doing research here)

London School of Economics (really only worthwhile if you’re doing research probably)

The London Library

Museums and galleries:

Sir John Soane’s Museum

The Wellcome Collection

Keats House*

Victoria and Albert Museum*

Natural History Museum

British Museum

National Gallery*

National Portrait Gallery*

Tate Britain*

Baker Street Museum (Sherlock Holmes)

Restaurants and cafés: 

Mr Fogg’s Tavern 

Sherlock Holmes Pub (very dorky—I just got a half pint and sat outside but if you’re in to SH, it’s worth it)

Bubbleology in Soho (bubble tea)

London Review Bookshop (also has a café! so cute)

I once got the best take out from this Indian joint in Marylebone (maybe on Marylebeone High St.?) behind the Westminster dorms 

Get afternoon tea somewhere. It’s cute and fun. Idk the “””best””” place to go, but I went to a little shop in Camden, near the LR Bookshop and it had what I wanted, and wasn’t expensive. Do check prices ahead of time. They can get pricey, especially in hotel restaurants. 

Take a walk through Soho 

I can’t recommend a lot of places to eat bc the last time I was in London I stayed at a place with a Great Hall and they had cheap meals, so I mostly ate dinner there and would get something small for lunch. I mostly just drop in wherever looks good and is nearby. The weirdest place I went was like six years ago at a literal hole in the wall coffee shop off of Regent’s Street. Just a dude and his espresso machine. Three people and an end table with scones could fit in the shop.

Misc:

See a play/musical in Convent Garden. If you like Agatha Christie you cannot go wrong with The Mousetrap. It’s the longest running play ever. 

Like Shakespeare? Go to the Globe (or take a tour). Buy tickets online ahead of time. £5 standing tickets are fine, but get there super early if you wanna lean against the stage (I recommend) and you’ll be beat afterwards.

Just like. scope everything out while you walk. The blue plaques denoting where artists, writers, etc lived are everywhere. Take the Tube or a bus when you have to travel far, but walk in between if you can. You see so much just by walking aimlessly, or going from place to place.

Winter Night by Dark-Arya

This drawing has been subject of many changes while still in my head, at first it was going to be Victorian inspired, then Japanese, and it ended up being Viking inspired, since I've been remembering my trip to Norway and my dear friend mio-mio has come back from there. I used a mixture of drak blue and black for the grisaille so I could give it a bit of ambient light, as I wanted it to be a night scene, I actually like how the grisaille came out and it was really helpful when I had to colour it, but I'm not pleasured with the way the background color came out...it actually looks way better in person, but it seems that I'm still unable to make a firm wash :/ I have also added some details with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry colors, but you can't see all the sparkly and gold colors in the scanned version, you can see them here. I have finally managed to create a new Commissions Sheet as well as a Terms of Service document, they will be uploaded in september, once I have moved to my students house.

🥺🥺🥺literally kindness is stored in doing silly little shots with ppl you love!!! but also you nailed me i HAVE fully worn that outfit…diversity loss your local lesbian dresses like romantic punk vampire at his most depressed :/

ngl googled 1872 to see what happened that year/if it was important

found out it’s a leap year still no idea what significance it holds

A Monologue on Tumblr User shieldsmaiden: