Blogs that discuss topics around travel and tourist attractions as well as a variety of travel tips and tricks

Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts

Friday

March 17 & 18: Up in the air and The Perpetual Sunrise

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The yesteryear 25 hours accept been predominantly in-flight , sandwiching a hectic Changi stopover.  After maxim goodbye , nosotros stood behind lx strange Japanese schoolhouse students too panicked near locks (subsequently bought locks) , ate a corn too edible bean burrito , too then moseyed some waiting for the flight.  No surprises that I was near to moisture myself at final boarding telephone telephone too nosotros were almost likewise piece of cake to brand the flying - their words , merely mothers amongst toddlers were withal faffing near too stowing luggage after nosotros were sitting , blanketed too had set my fluffy socks on.

Burrito-eating accessories

Cameron gave me a beautiful , beautiful majority to diarise my experiences

Nicholas was hell-bent on cramming every bit many movies every bit physically possible into the firstly 7.5 hr flight.  I watched one-half of Interstellar , waking upward intermittently to enquire what was going on , which made me plough into a panicky mess at the firstly sign of turbulence.  I watched a few documentaries to help travel yesteryear away on me awake.  Did yous know that in that place was a betoken where in that place was agency likewise much oxygen inwards the air too insects grew to the size of crocodiles? True story.  That's actually all I got out of it because I was distracted yesteryear the sunset.  We had almost iii hours of sunset , every bit nosotros chased it some the public to Changi.

Changi was hot too sticky.  We went upstairs to the sunflower garden , where the air was likewise sweetness merely the sunflowers were pretty too glowing inwards the darkness , thence they balanced each other out.  We watched the butterflies inwards cocoons because most of them were sleeping. Some uncurled piece nosotros watched (Sophie would've hated it) too their wings were withal soft too tissue papery.


By the minute flying I was beyond exhausted.  I kept falling asleep piece eating my baked potatoes too chickpeas.  It was my plough to ability through films too I watched What We Did On Our Holiday too it was all the expert things: David Tennant , viking mythology , the Scottish Highlands too Billy Connolly.  10/10 would recommend.  It was pretty funny.  The kids were super cute too amazing.  When nosotros flew over New Delhi , the Sun was showtime to rise.  I didn't know how this could survive possible , given nosotros withal had half-dozen strange hours until nosotros arrived inwards London at 6am (when I would presume the Sun would survive rising).  For the next hours , the Sun dipped higher upward too below the horizon business every bit nosotros moved some the public , glowing dissimilar colours over dissimilar countries.  Over Moscow it was reminiscent of the Dark Side of the Luna cover.  Over London it was a pale pinky haze.

The sunrise over Singapore too the sunset over Moscow

Heathrow was busy too I almost cried when the Border Control lady quizzed us near WHY nosotros were spending thence much fourth dimension inwards the United Kingdom of Great Britain too Northern Ireland of Britain too Northern Republic of Ireland too WHY Nicholas was a contractor too WHY he hadn't worked since January.  Nobody asked me anything though (thank God).






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March 18 & 19: Whales dinosaurs and A Pilgrimage to Northern Norway

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Lena , who is allowing us to slumber inward her Fulham storey , is a beautiful as well as extremely talkative High German missy who late moved to London as well as speaks alongside a potent American accent.  She's preparing an interview as well as thus she tin ship away report musical theatre. She's vegan , every bit good , as well as describes cooking every bit her shape of therapy.  Her entire studio storey is decked out inward pastel furnishings , she wears a wardrobe of strictly pastel have on as well as her pilus is pink.  She's a walking , talking , singing , dancing fairyfloss.

The walk to Lena's house

Our showtime proper repast inward London was a vegan buffet , where nosotros ate agency every bit good much 'cheesy' broccoli as well as garlic mashed potatoes.  We jumped onto a double decker autobus (!!!) as well as rode to the Natural History to scrap impending jetlag alongside the utter radness of a bluish whale skeleton as well as the most consummate stegosaurus inward the whole world.  Maybe because it was nearing bedtime inward Commonwealth of Australia as well as perhaps because it was 25m long , I sat on a platform feeling completely overwhelmed staring at a bluish whale for unopen to one-half an hour.  A lady as well as her missy came as well as sat side past times side to me.

"Where is the data on the bluish whale?" the woman nurture asked.
"There is none.  Just that plaque that says Balaenoptera Musculus ," the missy replied.
"That's stupid.  We don't know anything most them.  Are they genuinely that big?"
"They can't be.  That's every bit good large to move." 
Wrong. This specimen is indicative of the average size , only they grow to 30m.  I had read this before on a plaque.
"How many produce yous intend at that spot are?"
"There can't hold upwardly a million.  Then there'd hold upwardly no room for me to swim inward the ocean."
Due to whaling inward the early on 20th century , numbers diminished dramatically until at that spot were approximately grand bluish whales living inward the ocean.
Then they got upwardly as well as left inward a huff.

Modern dinosaur (blue whale)

Triassic dinosaur

Stone animals trouble the windows

Everybody else took a selfie hither , as well as thus nosotros did too.

Nick's Scottish childhood friend from Mackay met upwardly alongside us as well as nosotros scoped out the dinosaurs.  Apparently at that spot is commonly a trouble to larn into the dinosaur exhibit , only because it was an hr until closing , nosotros were inward the clear.  The lighting was genuinely dramatic as well as cast eerie shadows all over the wall , giving it a Jurassic Park vibe.

Did yous know that for a working professional person to alive inside thirty minutes commute of London CBD , they're looking at paying approximately 1300 pounds? For a room inward a shared house.  With other immature professionals.  London is ridiculous.

The side past times side solar daytime nosotros decided to larn the subway scheme (Mind The Gap) to Westminster to own got a piffling await at Big Ben as well as the span , before heading to the National Gallery.  At Big Ben , Nicholas offered to accept a film of some tourists (his film was pristine , centred , colour balanced , straight) as well as they returned the favour (it was terrible).  We decided to walk the scenic road to the gallery.  Typically , nosotros went the incorrect scenic road , ended upwardly the the incorrect gallery as well as thus nosotros got inward a less scenic autobus trip at ane time to Trafalgar Square.



Worst. Tourist. Photo. Ever.

One of my favourite things most London is Marks as well as Spencer's who sell gelatine-free versions of all their candy.  This is us waiting for the autobus when nosotros got lost.

The showtime one-half of the National Gallery was beautiful.  They had a Peter Balke retrospective on inward their temporary space.  I had seen ane of his paintings during a lecture inward my Politics of Art as well as the Environment class inward 3rd twelvemonth academy , only this fourth dimension they were as well as thus dissimilar as well as the lite was as well as thus beautiful as well as all the crashing oceans made me as well as thus excited to larn upwardly to the Arctic Circle.  He had done a pilgrimage upwardly to the N of Kingdom of Norway , close Russian Federation , as well as done hundreds of landscape paintings that basically informed the ease of his fine art career.  Nick as well as I added a twosome of places to our To Visit In Kingdom of Norway list.
Technically no photographs inward the Peter Balke exhibition... Oops.

Commemorate your trip to the National Gallery alongside a Giant Rembrandt Chocolate Coin

The wallpaper was genuinely fabric


Nick especially enjoys Impressionism because he showtime saw Impressionist paintings before he got his spectacles , as well as thus he 'saw' them properly.

The National Gallery

By mid-afternoon , nosotros were completely delirious alongside exhaustion (it would hold upwardly nearing 2am inward Melbourne) as well as had flora ourselves surrounded past times Renaissance paintings of leering babe Jesus' as well as bizarrely proportioned men.  I was giggling as well as thus difficult I was nearly crying as well as worried I was going to hold upwardly kicked out of the gallery.

Nick lusting later this sexy Duchess

??????

Double pipes?

Double pipes were land a thing.

We had a few hours until sunset as well as idea the "brisk" atmospheric condition would wake us upwardly , as well as thus nosotros wandered through St James Park , past times geese , goslings as well as the aptly named Duck Island to Buckingham Palace. Queue selfie sticks as well as teenage girls as well as anglophiles as well as Nicholas insisting nosotros accept photographs on things that nosotros could run across on a 10p postcard.

"Spring"

Making friends at St James Park!

Grumpy tourist needs a coffee

Being a statue

I don't know what these people were doing only they looked pretty cool

Big blood brother is watching


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March 20 & 21: Two museums and a rainy day at Hyde Park

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There are a lot of lions inwards London , considering in that location are no wild lions inwards London.  Perhaps they should starting fourth dimension erecting statues to pigeons.

This is me coming together the Rosetta Stone.  She was lovely , but surrounded yesteryear paparazzi. 

The British Museum is big.  Like , truly big.  In high schoolhouse when I studied Ancient History I was told that the British Museum was , you lot know , pretty big.  Nobody said that it was this large though.  We spent five hours in that location (on in all likelihood the alone sunny hateful solar daytime inwards London) as well as alone looked at ¾ of the Ancient Arab Republic of Egypt department as well as less than one-half of the Ancient as well as Medieval Europe section.  Needless to state , nosotros didn’t budget plenty fourth dimension for this.  We ask to practise a whole lot of shuffling thus that nosotros tin instruct dorsum as well as watch the Hellenic Republic as well as the Assyria as well as the Mesopotamians as well as the Africa.  They had an exhibition on at the 2d of Indigenous Australians , but nosotros figured we’d seen quite plenty of that dorsum home.

Apart from beingness truly , truly large as well as filled with lots of materials , has anyone always told you lot how BIG the British Museum is?  The foyer? Big. The Harry Potter-esque rock stairwell downward to the toilets? Gigantic.  The indoor picnic area? Huge.  It’s merely big.  Everything’s thus big.  Lucky though , otherwise they wouldn’t live on able to casually set an Easter Island statue adjacent to the café.

"This lobby is , similar , truly big."

Nicholas , rolling with his homie (Ramses II , I think)

After we’d finished marveling at the Rosetta Stone as well as the gigantism of everything (I’m pretty certain it was never inwards trend to truly create a statue the same size equally the model) , nosotros decided to caput downward to Tate Modern because they’re opened upward piece of cake on Fridays.  We met upward with some friends for ridiculously overpriced fries as well as curdled soy milk earlier having a walk through a truly beautiful collection of industrial plant dealing with concepts of dreams as well as poetry.  It was cool to watch some Jospeh Beuys as well as Bill Viola inwards person.  Nick liked a lot of the surrealist works.  We saw the 1 Sidney Nolan locomote (the Token Australian Artpiece) as well as it was all orangish as well as angular as well as mountainous as well as reminded us a fleck of home.

London from the Tate across the Thames.  There was a truly professional person guy taking photos from hither , thus nosotros watch it must live on a adept location to accept pictures.

We were completely wrecked from having such a long hateful solar daytime but decided that since we’d come upward all that agency , we’d await at some other show.  We browsed through a Louise Bourgeois retrospective , which Nicholas watch was lightheaded , because it was a lot of her afterward work.  We made our agency to a Cubism as well as Minimalism exhibition as well as – 1 time to a greater extent than , nosotros were utterly exhausted – were reduced to giggling at the silliness of abstraction.  With the exception of 1 Hans Haacke locomote (am I biased? Maybe) the whole exhibit was on the lightheaded side , fifty-fifty though I spent a adept xl minutes reprimanding Nicholas for laughing at art.


Nick admiring some Max Ernst.

"Square Tubes? This locomote is called 'Square Tubes'? It should live on called Vent.  It's a vent."


The adjacent morn was Sabbatum as well as nosotros intended to instruct dorsum to the Natural History Museum to watch all of the weird as well as wonderful things that nosotros missed out on seeing on Wednesday.  Hint: bad idea.  Don’t instruct to a museum inwards London on the weekend.  Just don’t practise it.  It’s hell.  The trouble was yesteryear the gates , thus nosotros popped off to instruct some breakfast (in London they serve tabular array salt flavoured chips with their nutrient which makes me uncomfortable) as well as thus decided , against our amend judgment , to brave the impending air current as well as mutual frigidity to instruct for a ‘stroll’ through Hyde Park.  We went via the Royal Albert Hall , which is acre of import but I watch to a greater extent than frequently than non racist , given the statues of nude African women with the fully clothed , noble white ones.  There were quite a lot of swans as well as 1 human being taking selfies with his greyhound , but it was to a greater extent than frequently than non a mutual frigidity , moisture experience.  There were no squirrels , which makes me recall everything anybody always told me nearly London is in all likelihood riddled with lies.


This is the Royal Albert Hall.  All the signs seemed to holler for to a cafe , but I wasn't interested inwards to a greater extent than parcel chips with sandwiches , thus nosotros continued walking.

There was a gallery nosotros stopped yesteryear , equally good , as well as they were selling some Gerhard Richter prints , merely casually.  It was a fleck mind-boggling.  There were lots of dogs roughly , which were to a greater extent than exciting than Richter , thus nosotros kept walking as well as I kept getting berated for trying to pat all the moisture , dingy dogs.

When nosotros approached the Marble Arch , Nick said , “Can you lot watch the Marble Arch?”

I said , “Is it that large white arch?”

“Yes , it’s made of marble ,” he said.

If London’s equivalent of Mx has an Overheard department , we’re pretty unlucky.

A human being inwards a arrange , blowing on a bubble piping was making huge bubbles with a large metallic wand.  We cleared our wallet of pennies as well as I chased bubbles with the other children until I dropped my telephone as well as had a bubble-blowing human being waggle his finger at me.  It was embarrassing , thus nosotros went for a little store downward Oxford St , thus Regent St , thus Bond St (effectively moving our agency roughly the Monopoly board) until nosotros went out for dinner with some friends Nick made on his Kilimanjaro climb. 
Note: don’t instruct looking for a pub the nighttime that the football game is on.  
Also note: inwards Mayfair there’s a store where you lot tin purchase legitimate canopic jars.  They’re extremely expensive , but if you lot tin afford to alive inwards the bluish department of the Monopoly board , you lot tin in all likelihood afford one.

Chasing bubbles as well as beingness able to popular them all (because I was a adept human foot taller than everybody else chasing bubbles)

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