Hackney Central

Once again Bob and I took Silverlink trains from our respective locations and met somewhere in the middle, this time at Hackney Central station, and wandered up and down Mare Street before heading home to make dinner. We passed by Hackney Empire, a wonderful-looking venue where we hope we can see a show of some sort during our time in London. It's meant to be quite the spectacle inside--they even offer tours once a month.

I didn't get a pic of the arresting side-view of the theatre's contemporary addition, but you can click here to see a photo of it that puts anything I could have taken to shame. From Hackney Empire, we stumbled upon the Hackney Central Library, which shares a building with The Hackney Museum (who knew?). We had a quick look in the library, borrowed a few books, and headed back downstairs to peek in the museum. Although we took the stairs, I snapped a photo of the elevators in case any of you are wondering if Hackney's population is multicultural or not:
By the time we returned to the street, the sun had set and the Hackney "town hall" looked pretty, even surreal, with its palm tree, festive blue lights, and Christmas tree (which didn't make it into the photo, alas).

But what I liked most was the poster on the "Community Information" board outside the government building: