We began our morning with an energizing walk to Gordon’s Museum of Pathology. The Museum, which is a part of King’s College London, is the largest medical museum in the UK and is only open to medical professionals and doctors, not the general public (but we were able to sneak a look!). The museum housed thousands of embalmed human pathology specimens sorted neatly by organ and body system. The oldest specimen was collected in 1608 and the newest specimen was added just 14 weeks ago!
After spending two incredible hours at the museum, we were able to take a longer lunch break. We split up into small groups and leisurely ate at locally owned restaurants, before shopping for trinkets and souvenirs at the Red Bus Shop.
Next, we made our way to the Old Operating Theatre, the oldest surviving operating theatre in the UK, dating from 1822. We heard a short presentation on what surgery looked like in the nineteenth century (hint: it was quite unsanitary and no anaesthetic was used - imagine that!). Then, one of our own students participated in a live demonstration: the presenter tourniqueted and sawed off her right leg (no legs were harmed in the making of this demonstration, we promise).
With some free time on our hands, we stopped at the Apple Market at Covent Garden, where market sellers ran stands full of handmade jewelry, prints, antiques, and collectables. We had dinner at Wildwood in the Seven Dials neighborhood, with tasty options like Tomato Bruschetta, Penne alla Norma, and Sticky Toffee Pudding.
We ended our night with the exciting and suspenseful play, The Mousetrap. Written by Agatha Christie, this murder-mystery play is the longest-running play in the world, with over 25,000 performances in London's West End. After solving the whodunnit, we returned to the hostel, eager to catch up on sleep before an early start the next day.
