London: Tate Britian

With as many art museums as London has I figured I'd better have a look at one while I was there. Luckily, the Tate Britain was just a couple blocks away. It contains British art from 1500-present day, along with international modern art. I mostly skipped the modern art because I don't really enjoy it, and my feet hurt due to me breaking in new shoes during my visit.

I enjoyed seeing the original paintings of some of my favourite works as well as discovering new-to-me artists.

The Lady of Shalott by John Waterhouse

Mr Heatherley's Holiday: An Incident in Studio Life by Samuel Butler

Holyday by James Tissot

An Iron Forge by Joseph Wright of Derby

Still Life with a Volume of Whither's 'Emblemes' by Edward Collier

The Gleaning Field by Samuel Palmer

London:The Who Shop

I was back in London for more cat-sitting last week and decided it was time to venture out of the city center and see The Who Shop. It was an easy journey via the London Underground. My house-sitting host had given me an Oyster card with money already on it so I didn't have to pay anything to ride the tube from Victoria Station to Upton Park, a journey that would have cost me £9.40/$15.23 round-trip if I had paid in cash (it cost £5.40/$8.75 when using my card). If you're going to visit London and plan to do much non-walking traveling at all I highly recommend getting an Oyster card. You can get visitor cards at various tube, overground, and rail stations in London.

The Who Shop was a short walk from the tube station and in an area with a variety of interesting shops and restaurants. The shop itself was fairly small, but really packed with all sorts of Doctor Who items. I found a little backpack for £3/$4.84 that will be perfect for carrying bottles of water and snacks while in Jordan.

There's also a "museum" in the back of the shop filled with props and things from over the 50 years Doctor Who has been on the air. I paid the £3/$4.84 to go back for a look. You enter by unlocking the TARDIS in the shop, which is a nice touch. That alone is worth the £3 to many Whovians. The museum wasn't terribly impressive, but now I can say I've been.

I'd only recommend going to The Who Shop and seeing the museum bit if you are a totally crazed Whovian, otherwise it's not worth the trip nor the £3. 

English Movie Theaters

My friend and I went to see the Lego movie at the movie theater here in Cambridge. It was a weird experience.

First of all, you buy your ticket and your snacks from one person. I haven't decided if this makes more or less sense than having separate lines. 

Secondly, you get assigned seats! Your ticket has your seat number on it. You tell the cashier if you want front, middle, or back of the theater, and then it's just luck if you have to sit next to someone or not. My friend tells me that you're not expected to always sit in your assigned seat unless the theater is rather full, like it was when we went. 

Thirdly, the popcorn. Popcorn in England is either salty or sweet, but not buttery. I don't understand how anyone can eat unbuttered salty popcorn. How does the salt even adhere to the popcorn kernels without the butter?

Fourth, the advertisements. In the states if you arrive well ahead of the movie start time you watch the same 10 commercials on a loop until the lights dim and movie trailers begin. In England the advertisements start when the lights dim and you sit through like 10-15 minutes of them before the trailers. 

Some things were the same, like the snack prices being insanely high, kids being annoying, and the temperature in the theater either being way too hot or cold.


**I'll be flying to Jordan on the 13th so I might be a bit difficult to get ahold of. I have several blog posts scheduled to go live Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays while I'm gone though.**

London: British Museum

I managed to get to the British Museum a little after noon. The website said I'd have until 5:30 PM before it closed. In actuality they start herding people out at 5:10 PM.

I got to see the Rosetta Stone, mummies, massive statues from ancient Egypt, tiny Viking figurines, coins, jewellery, weapons, tools, and even part of a temple that had been disassembled and rebuilt in one of the rooms. 

Even with five hours I still didn't have time to see everything. While I was able to see everything on the lower and ground floors, I only saw half of the upper floor. I would recommend getting to the museum when it opens, leaving for lunch (the cafe prices are outrageous), and returning after lunch. There's no way to see everything and actually read any of the information about any of it in less than a full day. 

I didn't take any pictures while in the British Museum because the lights were very dim and my photos wouldn't have turned out well at all. So here's a picture of the cats I was watching during my stay in London. 

London! Natural History Museum Edition

Today I ventured out of the Pimlico area where I've been cat-sitting since Thursday for possibly the most amazing lady I've ever met.

Here's what the area looks like.

And a few blocks away.

Natural History Museum

The museum was amazing. Like many of the museums here in London, it is FREE. So, definitely worth a visit if it's raining cats and dogs. My visit was slightly marred by the masses of screaming children, so maybe bring earplugs. Seriously, it sounded like they were being eaten alive by the stuffed exhibits. (If only...)
Highlights of the day were the massive collection of rocks and minerals, dinosaur fossils, and the Spirit Collection which was tucked back into a corner and I nearly missed. I wish I had known about the tours at the time I was there, I might actually go back to do one.

There were rows and rows of these specimen jars behind glass.

Pickled snakes, anyone?

I totally want to decorate my house with specimen jars now, whenever I get a house again that is.

Who is that adorable little guy? Oh, just a vampire bat. (If they sold these in the gift shop I would have purchased one on the spot.)

Dundee (City Center)

Spent some time in Dundee last week and again yesterday. Overall impression: it reminds me a bit of Springfield, Missouri - if Springfield wasn't designed solely for cars and the people were much friendlier.

Here's a street illusionist I saw while waiting for my friend.

I've seen much better street performers in New Orleans, but listening to all the freaked out people as they passed by was amusing. 

Halloween

Oban Backpackers put on a great party for Halloween. I was so thrilled to hang out with this group on my favorite day of the year. We even went en masse to a pub down the street (running when it started to hail). Here are just a few shots, taken by a very talented French traveler (his cooking is even better than his photography).

My hostel family!

Before and After

It was a glorious morning here in Oban so I decided to walk up Battleship Hill. I wasn't exactly sure which hill it was, but everyone said it was behind Dunollie Castle so I figured it wouldn't be too difficult. It only takes about 15 minutes to get to the castle, especially if you go via the walking path and not the road along the water.

The path takes you to a gate, and then it's sheep pasture the rest of the way. It wasn't problematic until I got to about halfway up where there was another gate. The mud was deceptively deep and I sank pretty far down. I'm so glad I decided to buy new boots. My Simple wool boots would have been ruined. 

Here's the view from the hill looking down at Dunollie Castle. 

See the rain in the distance? It took about 15 minutes for it to reach me. Luckily, I had my rain jacket. Unluckily, IT HAILED. I just waited the shower out partially sheltered from the hail by some rocks.

Here's the same view after 15 min rain/hail shower. 

I love Scotland, you get rewarded with rainbows so close you can almost touch them.  
Can you see the snow on the distant peaks?

I didn't fancy another pelting of hail so I decided to head back into town. 

Oh La La

I was talking with a fellow traveler this evening about alternative money making opportunities and Fiverr came up. A few years ago I had a gig on there where I hula-hooped for 30 seconds with messages written in dry-erase marker on my stomach while wearing a swimsuit. It was a weird job, but I made about $12/hr with very little work. The song I used most often was Goldfrapp's Oh La La. Just thought I'd share in case anyone is starting to look at their bank account and the rapidly decreasing days until Christmas with nervous dread.

Manly Scottish Battle Cry

A fellow American traveler and I decided to walk to Dunstaffnage Castle today. It was supposed to be an hour walk there. It took us five hours round trip.

On the way there we stopped at the beautiful beach just a ways outside Oban and climbed a hill. 

We also encountered some ferocious young Highlanders practicing their battle cries.

Then we walked to Dunstaffnage Castle while discussing David Tennant's beauty and Scottish men's general sexiness. 

Cat v Sweater