Lost and Found....

Leaving the house this morning I thought I had it all planned out....tube transfers and stops mapped out and streets noted.  Everything was going along fine until I stepped out into the street after getting out of the underground.  All my pre-mapped out streets were no where to be found and of course I still don't have a map...remember they are for sissy's.
Let the wondering begin....
I make my best guess at the right direction and head off.  This area is not very touristy so there aren't any of those lovely signs with the arrows pointing me to where I need to go.  I go to a few blocks and realize  I am headed in the the wrong direction and am lost.

British Army anyone?

Just as I am about to turn around this crazy castle, not an old castle but a castle type building none the less, shows up in the middle of this financial district. This intrigues me a bit so I cross the street to take a closer look.  Turns out this "castle" is the british army building. Good news guys...if you ever are looking to join I can tell you where to go!  Just to  the right of it I notice there is an old iron garden style fence surrounding what looks like a cemetery.  I walk through the iron gates and feel like I have been transported back in time.  There are hundreds of cement headstones and crypts.  Turns out I have stumbled upon a cemetery that was started pre 1600's and doesn't have any plots later then the 1800's.

Bunhill Cemetery

Turns out that the man who wrote Robinson Crusoe was buried there.  As I walked through I was really taking in the uniqueness of this place I had stumbled upon and I was pretty focused then I walked around a corner and took in the bigger picture. Amongst  the headstones there were park benches and tons of men in suits, who I am assuming work in the the financial district, sitting having lunch.  Kind of funny to think that something that was so unique for me was a part of these guys everyday lunch break.
Since I still had not found the museum I was looking for I moved on and wandered another way...once again the spot I was looking for was no where to be found but I did wander into a design mecca.

Amazing treasures inside!

It was a really hip, urban area with art gallery coffee shops, tons of design firms and studios and some cool "architectural salvage" type shops, but add a few hundred  years to how old the stuff is that is being sold.  I absolutely loved just weaving up and down the little streets and ally ways and checking out the different spots.
At this point I had used up all my time the I had allotted for the museum wandering around looking for it so I headed back to the underground station again to head to my next stop for the day.  For a moment on the steps down to the station I felt a bit disappointed that I got lost and never found what I was looking for but then realized by getting lost I found some other really great stuff that I never would have known about except by stumbling across it.
Next stop...Banqueting House which is another one of the palaces.  Got off at westminster and had perfect directions...no way to screw this one up...don't underestimate me!  Clearly I have a gift of avoiding correct locations (no matter how specific my directions are) on this day.  I walk to where it should be and of course.....Nothing.  So back to the corner signs with arrows that point me right back to where I just was...seriously, lost again!  I must have walked up and down the street 4 or 5 times. Thankfully it was packed with tourists so I didn't look like a complete idiot since I think a few people that I passed each time I walked back and forth were doing the same thing since they started to look suspiciously familiar.  If they didn't have the tourist issued messenger style passport holder and fold out map in hand I would have thought I was being stocked.
Finally I spotted a door with a etched royal crown on it and knew I had found it....Success at last!!!

Banqueting House

  The best word I can use to describe this place is grand.  I walked in and the first words that came out of my mouth were "Holy Crap".  I know, not very refined or cultured but it's what I said.  The entire ceiling, which seems to stretch for miles, is covered in 9 exquisitely painted panels.  It has been used as a a place for elaborate masque balls, the execution site of Charles II who commissioned the building and the paintings, a church, and is still used by parliament for huge parties. I would love to go to one of those.   The photo doesn't express the true grander and beauty of it....you will just have to use your imagination a bit.
Today as I finished this day of wandering my realization was this...no matter how lost you get you always end up found,  just by something different then you expected.