Elementary my dear Watson...

oops, too long hanging around Baker Street I guess.

So, after breakfast at the hostel Wendy and I got on the Picadilly line to Holborn. We walked to Lincoln's Inn Fields and visited the Sir John Soane's Museum. Wow, it was manic! Sir Soane was a famous architect and a collector of just about anything it seems. The museum was his home and it is covered in treasures absolutely from floor to ceiling including a 3,000 year old sarcophagus. He must have been a bit of a nutter because the house is insane. It has not been changed - nothing added, nothing removed - since it was made a museum by an act of parliament on the occasion of his death. Apparently he had it protected as a museum so his disinherited son could not get it. They did not allow photography so you'll have to take my word for it that it is amazing and probably a claustrophobic's nightmare. I found a picture online though:













Next, we walked through Bloomsbury and checked out Russell Square on our way to the British Museum. We had lunch in "The Great Court", the beautiful glass-ceilinged area. We saw the Rosetta stone and a bunch of mummies on our way back out to the street.

We walked through the lovely Fitzroy Square, saw the spacey-looking BT tower and headed down Euston Road for Regent's Park. The Park is so refreshing. The plantings were dripping with flowers and the grass was cool and green. Queen Mary's Rose Garden was covered in roses and smelled like it too. I can't believe that in my many trips to London I've never been to this beautiful park. Oh, in the open air theatre we could hear the musical going on, "The Boyfriend". Mike, you'll be pleased to know that it sounded to me like a Jeeves and Wooster production with the 1920's English musichall music. I could almost hear Jeeves saying "I'm sure that your cool head and undoubted thespian powers will see you through the day, Sir."

We walked out of the park, down Baker Street, past Sherlock Holmes' place and down into the Baker Street tube. We're resting up at the hostel now in anticipation of our evening walking tour - Apparitions, Alleyways and Ales. ta-ta for now. (pictures to come)

George and Harry (or Dinner and a Movie)

A beautiful day in London and the weather couldn't be better. My friend Wendy arrived in the morning. She flew in to Gatwick and I met her at the Gloucester Road tube station (well, actually, the Starbucks across the street) when she got into the city. We went back to the hostel to claim a bed for her then we were back out in the fine weather. We took the Underground to the Embankment station, crossed the Thames and ambled along Bankside. We went to Shakespeare's Globe and did the walking tour and a special educational presentation about costuming. They were doing tech rehearsals for a show that's opening next weekend about the writing of the American Constitution called We The People. Next we walked to the George Inn, London's only surviving galleried coaching inn. We both had steak pie with mashed potatoes and peas - yumm. I tried the George Inn Ale - I don't recommend it. We sat there and chatted for a good while before walking back to the Globe and crossing the Thames on the Millennium Bridge. We walked up Fleet Street and turned right into Aldwych and up into the theatreland. We slowed down at Leicester Square long enough to decide to see the new Harry Potter movie in the theatre there (where the HP movies have premiered). The screen was huge, the seats were nice and big, the sound was excellent and the movie was great. After the movie we shuffled like sardines through the Leicester Square tube station and made our way back here. No specific plans for tomorrow but we've got "groundling" tickets to Merchant of Venice on Friday night! More later.

Londontown

I enjoyed my day here in London at 2 museums that are literally in the next block down from my hostel: the Natural History Museum (underwhelming) and the Victoria & Albert (overwhelming).

The Natural History Museum was not as good as it's counterpart at the Smithsonian in DC. The dinosaur exhibit was pretty extensive and pretty well packed with kids. (I'm glad they had a good time!) The architecture of the place was clever and fascinating though. There were carvings of animals in all the walls and columns. In the main hall, which looks like a Victorian train station, there were monkeys carved into the stone pillars so that they looked like they were climbing all over. It made me think of Kathy.


The minerals & meteors exhibit was closed for renovation. There was a cross-section of a giant sequoia on display with a few plaques of information - that was right up my alley. Too bad everything else was just a big display of taxodermy - mammals, fish, snakes, horses, bats, reptiles... I'll borrow the nickname Dubliners use for their natural history museum: the dead zoo. I pushed my way through the crowds of youngsters and headed for the Victoria & Albert.

The V & A was amazing! I'd heard about it for years (and maybe even went in on one of those whirlwind tours in high school) but I really saw it today. I literally explored the exhibits until my feet were aching and forced me to end the day as the museum was closing at 5:30. They had a fantastic collection of modernism and 20th century stuff. They seemed to have nearly every modernist icon right there (except some notable American ommisions - no Eames lounge chair, no Frank Lloyd Wright). They had included as a modern icon worthy of note a Nike running shoe; way to go Oregonians!

The musical instrument collection was fascinating, the textile collection was surprisingly captivating, all the exhibits were engaging and stunning in their completeness (again, except for the lack of American 20th cent. icons).

Finally, here is a picture of me on my bed in the hostel. Well, just my foot really. It's a bit of a challenge to get pictures of yourself when you're traveling alone so I've settled for pictures of my extremities (laws of common decency notwithstanding) :)

Molly "Braveheart" Khatcheressian

My first day driving on the left I was rewarded with the experience of encountering Loch Lomond. It was beautiful!

Well, here it is from the beginning.
5AM leave the hostel in Dublin to stand in the rain and wait for the city bus to take me to the airport
6ish wait around in the Ryanair waiting area (think Greyhound station) until my flight to Scotland
7:59 scheduled departure
8:10 in the air
9ish arrive at Glasgow-Prestwick Airport
shortly after 9ish pick up rental car
now it was about 45 minutes after this that I had the only semi-breakdown of the trip so far - here's the story:
My plan was to drive from Prestwick to Oban by way of Loch Lomond. I was a bit anxious of being swooped into Glasgow traffic. The driving on the left was a bit overwhelming at first. In an attempt to avoid the city traffic I diverted too soon and ended up wandering around the country roads and suburbs. Finally, worn-out, hungry and frustrated, I pulled off the road into a neighborhood. I inadvertantly pulled into a no-way-out street and a truck with a lawn mower on a trailer pulled behind me. We both had to back out so I could escape. (eee gads) I turned in to the next spot which was a gravel lot with some community trash dumpsters and a woman selling snacks out of a trailer. I sat in the car on the edge of tears trying to decide what to do. I finally got out and went to speak with the snack lady. She was a saint. Really, it's like one of those stories of a random stranger showing up out of nowhere to offer needed assistance. Long story shorter - she called her husband for directions, a friend stopped by the trailer and actually wrote the directions down for me, she made me a burger, gave me a candy bar and wished me well on my journey. Also, she was the first of several people to call me "braveheart", really. (Is it too pretentious to start using that as a nickname?)


I'll have to get into the story of my Loch Lomond adventure in another post.

Scotland Overview

I've travelled to many countries over the years and have now decided that the Scots are the nicest. I would definitely enjoy spending more time in Scotland.
Ways the Scots are cool:
*everyone you encounter verbally greets you
*the Scottish drivers are gracious and wave to other drivers a lot
*not a single Scot treated me like an outsider (even when they heard my American accent)
*it has to be a cool population that encourages something like the Edinburgh Festival (especially Fringe)
*teenage workers (gas stations, waiters...) were even polite
*I moved out of the way to allow 3 ruffian kids on bikes to careen by me and they all said "thank you" (I about passed out at that one)
*the audience all held hands and sang "Auld Lang Syne" at the Edinburgh Tatoo

I was really sorry to leave the land of the Scots and hope it's not long before I'm back.

(this is a beautiful ancient standing stone in Glamis)

Dublin's Fair City

Well, after several flight delays, I made it to Ireland. I took a city bus from the airport to O'Connell Street (the main drag). A very nice lady on the bus helped me figure out at which stop to get out and even gave me directions from the stop to my hostel. The hostel is great. The staff is very nice and helpful. My bed is an upper bunk and looks fine to me.

I rode the double-decker sightseeing bus all the way around the circuit and just got out at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

I've spent very little on food today and had a good time doing it too. I went to a local bakery and the nice Irishman made me a ham sandwich - very homemade - like something one's mom would pack for a trip. I ate that for breakfast and lunch then I went to the local pub for dinner. I had a student special... bowl of onion soup, free bread and butter and a pint of cider. I sat up at the bar and everything!

I went on the Guiness tour. The tour is 7 floors of more info than you ever wanted about stout. At the end of the tour, you get a free pint of Guiness in the Gravity Bar. The Gravity Bar is on the top floor of the old beer factory and it is a glass room with 360 views of the city. There were these dorky Italian guys trying to take a picture of themselves. I told them I'd trade them and take their picture if they'd take mine. I really wanted a picture of me with my pint of Guiness. They just got my face. I had one of the guys get in the picture with me. They thought I was crazy.



Everyone I have encountered has been pleasant and affable - bus drivers, bus riders, hostel attendants, man in the deli... So, things are good so far.