(no subject)

[charloween]

The running joke of the vacation was how civilized things were. But then, there was a book vending machine at Heathrow - obviously they know something about capitalism that North America has yet to pick up on. And no, we didn't get to see Hamlet, but it would have cost $500 to get tickets off of eBay and I have my limits.

Anyway. Cardiff was hilarious, London was fantastic and the museums were all a little creepy.

Highlights:
1. Me and piratefanatic outside the Millennium Centre in Cardiff. The picture is wacky-underexposed because Teagan was taking the picture and didn't know how to use my camera.


2. An inappropriate suggestion from an interactive display at the Doctor Who exhibition.


3. Cardiff: A Fine Place to Raise a Family.


4. Look! A room full of bits from the Parthenon! (On Teagan's camera there's a shot of me doing a thumbs-up move in front of the Rosetta Stone. Good times...)


5. Oxford! Just under that bridge and to the left is a fantastic hidden pub.


Gone 10 days and there're lots of stories to tell (and pictures!) but for now this'll have to do. I got back yesterday afternoon and was at work today, so I'll probably stumble around the next few days in a wee haze while I get those residence handbooks completed and printed.

The weather was gorgeous, the food was fantastic, the tea was excellent (they do tea better over there, I don't know what that's all about) and I've got plenty of ideas about what to do next time and how to document it. (MOAR PICTURES and not dropping and breaking my camera would help with that last one...) It drizzled a little on our first day there, but the rest of the time it was lovely blue skies. I got a tan and everything. I also only bought two pairs of shoes, which I feel showed remarkable restraint.

On the bus home from work today, a friend was reading Neverwhere. Amusing, since I'd just spent the last week quietly geeking at the names of the Tube stations.

Comments

[serrico.livejournal.com]

1) Yay, Millennium Centre! Did you go stand on the invisible lift and do weird things other people couldn't see?

2) Oh, my. How many times have Tennant's friends made fun of that, d'you think?

3) It's the overrunning ellipsis at the end that makes it art.

4) But I thought the *Acropolis* was where the Parthenon is???

5) Oxford! Just standing there makes people look smart.

It looks like you had a very good trip, lack of Hamlet notwithstanding. (I imagine that was a pretty desirable ticket, anyway.) I look forward to more picspamming!

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

1) We did indeed, but we didn't try to order any pizza, 'cause pizza in the UK is a damp, limp travesty.

2) I would hope the answer is "with great frequency". And possibly with attempts to follow the instructions, ending in tickle fights.

3) That's what every has been commenting on. I've also got a funny picture of a road sign that says "Humped Pelican Crossing" but I'm saving that up for later.

4) If by "Acropolis" you mean "Russell Square, London" then yes, yes it is.

5) I know! Even though everything is made of yellow brick, which is quite hard on the eyes after a while.

I'd have loved to see the Hamlet in Stratford (or the one in London with Jude Law!) but $500 + the $$ to get up there is a bit much. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have a Flickr, Facebook and/or Photobucket hosting the photos, with some text telling ppls what they're looking at... :D

[firstgold.livejournal.com]

YAY CARDIFF!

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

I KNOW. I'm surprised it withstood all the giggles.

[firstgold.livejournal.com]

The rift helped. *nods*

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I hope so, or else we may have hastened the destruction of the planet.

Also: introduced Reed to the fic with "Turchwad" and now he's calling it that, too.

[firstgold.livejournal.com]

Turchwad??

[wicked-g.livejournal.com]

My mum's BFF saw Hamlet!! Turns out she lives in Cardiff. I had no idea. And she love love loves Star Trek guy. And Dr Who. So she was super excited.

Waaahhh I love the photos!! More stories! And I'm on season seven! Just whipping through those things...man!

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Wow, wacky coincidence! I'm holding on to the fact that the version of the show in my head is probably just as awesome as the one on the actual stage. But for $500, I don't know... I'd rather spend that on shoes. Or food. Or, like, the plane ticket home?

There will be stories! There will be more photos! And omg season 7 already? I'm going to have to dig out the list of my favourite episodes and ask you what you thought of the. "Grotesque"? "Bad Blood"? The 3-parter that bridges s2 and s3? "X-Cops", if you're on s7 already? Man oh man.

[wicked-g.livejournal.com]

X-Cops was pretty effing amazing.

"...and why are there cameras here?"
*forced smile* "Because the FBI has nothing to hide."

I think she got her tickets through her theatre group or something. No idea, but seeing as how I always assumed she lived somewhere in BC until last week, there's a lot I don't know.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

That was the episode I wrote my 75-page thesis on. Oh, that episode. The nit-picky academi-wank I could go into about that episode...

Oooooh theatre group. I've got to find a way to be an insider. One of these days BAM I'll be all insider-y and then I'll have all the cool theatre tickets (just you wait!).

[skivee.livejournal.com]

A Tan??? How gullable do you think we are?
P.S. Did you break of that chunk of the Rosetta Stone for me?

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Seriously! Getting a tan from standing in the English rain. Except there was no rain. It rained more here than it did there. Though I suppose the last few summers they've been hit by record rainfalls that have caused massive floods, so I'm not complaining. But Teagan got sunburned because we spent a few hours in Trafalgar Square one afternoon. Hilarious!

They've got the Rosetta Stone under a few layers of glass, so... no. But their Rosetta Stone merchandise is amusingly diverse. They have ties, tea cosies...

[deleriumd.livejournal.com]

I must share this.

As I cannot stop laughing

http://community.livejournal.com/weepingcock/191081.html?page=1#comments

p.s. one of my friends from work has all the X Files dvds and slowly but surely I am watching them all.

[stickchick596.livejournal.com]

Ooh, your icon! I'm in the middle of those books right now.

Charlotte, it sounds like it was amazing. I am so jealous that you guys were over there. Major sadness about Hamlet, though. Not that other things weren't amazing. Alina told me she was just down the street from the pub in which Tolkein and Carroll wrote.....oh, if only! I can't wait to see more pictures/hear more stories.

How were the people? I've heard stories...

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

deleriumd and I both read the books in high school - oh the days of disposable income where you could just go out and buy 10 graphic novels... *sigh*

You shall have to come along with us on the next meet-in-a-city-where-neither-of-us-lives adventure. London was fantastic, though: it's trippy to wander down streets that you know because of pop culture stuff (Baker Street, anyone?), and every so often you pass a sign that says stuff like "Isaac Newton used to live here". It boggles the mind.

And the people... got a lot nicer when Teagan and I told them we were Canadian, not American. They would go from cold and bitchy to warm and friendly. It was really scary. I got hit on by an Irish lad, though. That was fun. :D

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Hee! I've seen that one, and its sequel. Adorable. Adorkable? Probably both.

What do you think of X-Files so far? Where are you at?

[hoskie.livejournal.com]

Fantastic!

... I'm so jealous. D:

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

It was, it really was.

And when we went to Oxford I had to keep taking pictures of that bridge 'cause it was in the credits for Brideshead Revisited. *flails*

[spells-disaster.livejournal.com]

wow. great pics.

the heroin and dr who pics are hillarious.

be sure to let me know if you have a flickr account should you post more pictures once you get a chance

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/charloween/UK%20July%202008/ Done!

Flickr will only allow me to upload 100MB of pictures per month, the fools.

[vulgus.livejournal.com]

SO THIS ONE TIME I MOVED TO THE CITY TO BE CLOSER TO YOU

LET'S GET TOGETHER RIGHT NOW.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

OKAY LET'S. WHERE ARE YOU?

[guitarromantic.livejournal.com]

Man, I wish we could have hung out, I'm really busy at the moment and I think my girlfriend would probably stab me if I was to say "hey, I know I'm apart from you all summer, but I'm gonna go hang with these crazy Canadian girls, okay?"... next time!

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Hee. I understand. I looked up Leeds on the map (you're in/around Leeds, right?) and it looked like a heck of a hike to get to London.

I'm sure there's going to be a Next Time, if not in November when I'm back in Cardiff (I'm sure Cardiff in November is only marginally more interesting than Whitby, Ontario in November) than when the Master Plan I have about spending a few years in the UK comes to fruition. Oh, I have plans. The plans I have...