London Redux

I caught the 6am train to London yesterday. I spent most of the trip dozing or staring out the window, lost in my own little world. Didn't even bother getting out my book. Once I arrived, I went to the Sherlock Holmes museum, which was a bit of childish indulgence on my part. *L* They treat is so seriously, and the line between fiction and fact becomes rather blurred. I think the letters to Holmes that they display in the museum are almost worth the price of admission. I particularly liked the one from the Prince of Wales secretary, who must have been giggling to himself/herself while drafting it.

Afterwards, I went to the Covent Garden and Jubilee markets, and ate lunch while wandering around. I bought lots of playing cards because they're small *g* I also found the LUSH in Covent Garden market, and just to make the lushites on my friendslist jealous - it has two stories and had two new lines of products that haven't been released yet. I got some almond body butter! *eg* Afterwards, I hunted down Forbidden planet, which despite being bigger, still didn't have that good a selection of anime merchandise. Did eventually pick up a Saitou figurine, but there really wasn't that much. I'm left wondering why they were missing the Naruto manga as well. They did have the most impressive selection of scifi books I've ever seen in Britian though. I later managed to walk by every other comic shop in central london. None had good anime selections. Go figure.

Shopping done, I headed to the British Museum, and proceeded to get lost while getting there. This is becoming a habit of mine. For such a large building, they hide it very well. And despite spending several hours there and having been there before, I still didn't get to see it all. *pouts* And I didn't even take the time to read through the many displays too. I did see the Asian section this time. They have an impressive Chinese collection. Wandering through the British Iron Age section was a bit like looking through my textbooks. I didn't even bother putting my camera down (ooo, look the Battersea shield, ooo, look the lithgow man etc.). My goal was to go through and take pics of all the interesting artefacts, which is kinda like a scavenger hunt since they rarely label the things that appear in all the books all that prominently. I had fun imagining just how some of these artefacts got out of their home countries as well (Ah, Victorians...)_My only regret is that they kicked us out of the upper galleries before I could get a pic of the Etruscan helmet with grafitti from the sanctuary at Olympias. It's mentioned so often in the literature that I'd like to see it. I still missed out the entire Africa section too. Ah well. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, even if I was near exhaustion from all the walking and carrying a backpack that although light enough, got heavier and heavier as the day progressed.

Dinner was a quick falafel (good) and some pistachio ice cream (not so good) before I caught the train to dizziebeth's family's house, where I was made quite welcome and plied with tea and conversation. My only regret being that I didn't get to sleep until 1am, which means I've only had 6 hours of sleep today, on top of about five the day before. I expect I may crash heavily on the train home. My plan is to meet up with gramayre1971 for lunch, before going to the matinee of Les Mis. then rushing to catch the train home. We'll just hope my feet and shoulders hold up until then. Ja ne!

London Redux

I caught the 6am train to London yesterday. I spent most of the trip dozing or staring out the window, lost in my own little world. Didn't even bother getting out my book. Once I arrived, I went to the Sherlock Holmes museum, which was a bit of childish indulgence on my part. *L* They treat is so seriously, and the line between fiction and fact becomes rather blurred. I think the letters to Holmes that they display in the museum are almost worth the price of admission. I particularly liked the one from the Prince of Wales secretary, who must have been giggling to himself/herself while drafting it.

Afterwards, I went to the Covent Garden and Jubilee markets, and ate lunch while wandering around. I bought lots of playing cards because they're small *g* I also found the LUSH in Covent Garden market, and just to make the lushites on my friendslist jealous - it has two stories and had two new lines of products that haven't been released yet. I got some almond body butter! *eg* Afterwards, I hunted down Forbidden planet, which despite being bigger, still didn't have that good a selection of anime merchandise. Did eventually pick up a Saitou figurine, but there really wasn't that much. I'm left wondering why they were missing the Naruto manga as well. They did have the most impressive selection of scifi books I've ever seen in Britian though. I later managed to walk by every other comic shop in central london. None had good anime selections. Go figure.

Shopping done, I headed to the British Museum, and proceeded to get lost while getting there. This is becoming a habit of mine. For such a large building, they hide it very well. And despite spending several hours there and having been there before, I still didn't get to see it all. *pouts* And I didn't even take the time to read through the many displays too. I did see the Asian section this time. They have an impressive Chinese collection. Wandering through the British Iron Age section was a bit like looking through my textbooks. I didn't even bother putting my camera down (ooo, look the Battersea shield, ooo, look the lithgow man etc.). My goal was to go through and take pics of all the interesting artefacts, which is kinda like a scavenger hunt since they rarely label the things that appear in all the books all that prominently. I had fun imagining just how some of these artefacts got out of their home countries as well (Ah, Victorians...)_My only regret is that they kicked us out of the upper galleries before I could get a pic of the Etruscan helmet with grafitti from the sanctuary at Olympias. It's mentioned so often in the literature that I'd like to see it. I still missed out the entire Africa section too. Ah well. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, even if I was near exhaustion from all the walking and carrying a backpack that although light enough, got heavier and heavier as the day progressed.

Dinner was a quick falafel (good) and some pistachio ice cream (not so good) before I caught the train to dizziebeth's family's house, where I was made quite welcome and plied with tea and conversation. My only regret being that I didn't get to sleep until 1am, which means I've only had 6 hours of sleep today, on top of about five the day before. I expect I may crash heavily on the train home. My plan is to meet up with gramayre1971 for lunch, before going to the matinee of Les Mis. then rushing to catch the train home. We'll just hope my feet and shoulders hold up until then. Ja ne!