Up bright and early! Shane had work and Kayl was going to explore. Breakfast at the hotel - one interesting thing is the milk is labeled differently. Semi-skimmed we think is similar to the 1% Shane normally has with cereal. We also got a pot of tea with breakfast.

— Kayl —

I started by walking up to Baker street, where there was a Sherlock recreation/museum in a house near where 221b could have been. It was really cool to see, and seemed like a well-done representation of what things could have looked like.

This is the study, where prospective clients would be seen. Watson at the desk on the left, taking notes. Sherlock in the chair on the right. The client would sit in the left chair, to be well-illuminated by the large windows. The decor and items in the space reflected the character’s interests and major aspects of the story. Chemistry equipment from the Victorian era in the back right, pieces over the fireplace mentioned in the books. Upstairs was doctor’s equipment as well for John.

In the upstairs portion there were things specifically called out as relics from specific stories. There was also a bit dedicated to modern re-tellings of the story and what actors have played Sherlock on screen.

A few months ago I started listening to the Sherlock & Co Podcast, so this was quite fun. Comparing the modern retelling of the stories I had just heard, with these artifacts from the original books. The hotel we were staying in even had an anthology of British written works, including an original Sherlock Holmes story that matched one of the stories told on the podcast.

From there I took my first tube journey and headed over to the British Library.

It was mostly a place for people to study, or read materials in the archives. They collect all things published in the modern day, and have a lot of historical items like books, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, prints, drawings, maps, and manuscripts. They also collect items published in the digital space and if I remember correctly, this collection grows by hundreds of Terabytes each year. Quite the database to have!

They also had exhibitions to walk through, showcasing some of their collection. These pictures are from small sections about computing & queer literary history.

In the afternoon, I wandered towards Westminster Abbey with the plan of walking around and seeing the outside of buildings.

This includes Big Ben:

And the Palace of Westminster: (government building)

The rain had picked up at this point and I needed to get inside for a bit - I ended up stopping inside an open church briefly but there was no one there. I went to a coffee shop a few blocks away and dried off, waiting for the rain to pass with a chai.

There were some cool buildings on Whitehall Road.

Also saw the “Horse Guards Parade”, a spot where the guards who ride horses are stationed.

Made my way over to St James Park, where I saw pigeons hanging out in the grass. There’s a lot of them on the streets of London but it was nice so see them here without the concrete.

Next door was Buckingham Palace:

And then I ended up heading back as the sun was setting. I think I took a brief nap as well waiting for Shane to get back from the pharmacy.

— Shane —

My day was significantly less exciting. After a one-hour commute to the pharmacy on the tube, I saw some legacy pharmacy software and learned how a compounding pharmacy operates in the UK.

For lunch, we enjoyed a classic British meal of fried chicken and curry. The chicken was very crispy, and the curry was quite flavorful.

I also toured the compounding lab to see their space and workflow. We had to wear lab coats, gloves, hairnets, and shoe covers. They had a large pill making machine capable of producing hundreds of pills per hour.

Part of my visit involved configuring a balance to work with one of our IOT balance readers.

We discovered that unlike in the US where an NDC identifier is standard for APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients), the UK and EU lack a uniform identifier, making it more difficult to track and manage inventory with our system.

Then after another hour long tube ride back to London, I met up with Kayl and we went to dinner.

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For dinner, we ate at the hotel since the rooms came with a food credit. It was quite fancy and Japanese inspired.