2007 big vacation: Day 2 - London 2007

Hard to believe we've been here less than 48 hours. Partly, I'm sure, it's the extra number of hours in my day due to not sleeping as much as normal, but mostly it's because we know how to pack a lot in!

As I had just finished up my blog post in the Club Quarters living room yesterday, Joe came downstairs ready to start the day, so no morning nap for me. He went up the block to Tesco and got some bread & cheese and we had that to get our day started. In retrospect, it would have been wise for us to then go get something more substantial, but we survived some very minor moments of being spacy from jetlag and hunger later in the day.

After a bit of confirming of hours & opening days of places we want to go and establishing that there were no shows to try to see today, we set out first to walk to the British Library. I couldn't recall ever going before - I see you are shocked, but somehow I think it's truly escaped my agenda on past trips - and Joe was very excited about the current exhibit, Breaking the Rules: The Printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900-1937.

We wandered our way up through Seven Dials - all the shops closed - and past the British Museum. Many people out en route to Remembrance Day events wearing their red poppies. Lots of men of all ages with military medals on. Crossed lovely Russell Square in Bloomsbury where there's a nice walkway with overhanging trees just getting started. Have to make a point of coming there on future visits to see how it's coming along as the little trees grow. Got to the British Library about 15 minutes before opening and once allowed in began our visit in the cafe with cups of tea and a small snack. Nice to sit and look at the lovely old bindings of the materials in the glass-encased stacks. (I think this was the King's Collection, but I'm having trouble finding info on it on the British Library website; finding your way around at the actual location is similarly confounding at points. The catalogue design is quite nice, but the rest of the website could use a bit of navigation help, I'd say). Joe having seen the gallery of treasures of the collection before, he went on to the special exhibit while I looked around at, oh, you know, stuff like the Magna Carta.

Definitely worth a visit for us both, but by the time we were done it was clear we were feeling the jetlag and the need for lunch. Since our next destination was the Science Museum, we went over to King's Cross, bought 1-day transit passes and rode down to Hyde Park Corner. Sure enough, walking along Knightsbridge it was only a few blocks before we spotted an intriguing sign: Masgouf House Iraqi Restaurant. One look at the menu outside and we could tell we were on to a good thing. We were not disappointed; a great meal, particularly the lamb dish Joe had (makhsoos) and our appetizer which was ground lamb in a small crust which had been fried (I hate not being able to find a menu online to get all the names right!) which was made really fantastic by having a leaf of what I assume was fresh tarragon with each bite. Very delicious and worth a repeat visit!

Thus fortified we headed onward for science! No disappointments there either: it's a fantastic science museum and if we weren't a bit jetlagged we probably could have spent more hours more. As it was we checked my big coat and Joe's bag containing the camera, reaffirmed our decision to have a smaller pocketable camera for our next trip, and headed down to the basement for The Secret Life of the Home. Joe has made me an enormous fan of Tim Hunkin's work and in addition to having some great explanatory pieces by him this is also a gorgeous collection of general household machinery going back a few hundred years. I think every city should have a simple, down-to-earth household science resource like this; it is a fantastic foundation for exploring scientific principles behind the things we use every day.

After a break to sit down on the basement terraces (ideal for school groups, we both thought) and have something to drink. Mmm, hydration! We went upstairs to ogle the prototype Clock of the Long Now before heading out.

By this point we realized we were quite tired and so journeyed back to our hotel by tube - wishing for a pneumatic tube to drop us straight onto the bed for a nap, but settling for the London Underground.

Since it's almost time to pack up and head out by train, I'll leave us napping and resume the tale later.

Comments

2007 big vacation: Day 2 - London

Hard to believe we've been here less than 48 hours. Partly, I'm sure, it's the extra number of hours in my day due to not sleeping as much as normal, but mostly it's because we know how to pack a lot in!

As I had just finished up my blog post in the Club Quarters living room yesterday, Joe came downstairs ready to start the day, so no morning nap for me. He went up the block to Tesco and got some bread & cheese and we had that to get our day started. In retrospect, it would have been wise for us to then go get something more substantial, but we survived some very minor moments of being spacy from jetlag and hunger later in the day.

After a bit of confirming of hours & opening days of places we want to go and establishing that there were no shows to try to see today, we set out first to walk to the British Library. I couldn't recall ever going before - I see you are shocked, but somehow I think it's truly escaped my agenda on past trips - and Joe was very excited about the current exhibit, Breaking the Rules: The Printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900-1937.

We wandered our way up through Seven Dials - all the shops closed - and past the British Museum. Many people out en route to Remembrance Day events wearing their red poppies. Lots of men of all ages with military medals on. Crossed lovely Russell Square in Bloomsbury where there's a nice walkway with overhanging trees just getting started. Have to make a point of coming there on future visits to see how it's coming along as the little trees grow. Got to the British Library about 15 minutes before opening and once allowed in began our visit in the cafe with cups of tea and a small snack. Nice to sit and look at the lovely old bindings of the materials in the glass-encased stacks. (I think this was the King's Collection, but I'm having trouble finding info on it on the British Library website; finding your way around at the actual location is similarly confounding at points. The catalogue design is quite nice, but the rest of the website could use a bit of navigation help, I'd say). Joe having seen the gallery of treasures of the collection before, he went on to the special exhibit while I looked around at, oh, you know, stuff like the Magna Carta.

Definitely worth a visit for us both, but by the time we were done it was clear we were feeling the jetlag and the need for lunch. Since our next destination was the Science Museum, we went over to King's Cross, bought 1-day transit passes and rode down to Hyde Park Corner. Sure enough, walking along Knightsbridge it was only a few blocks before we spotted an intriguing sign: Masgouf House Iraqi Restaurant. One look at the menu outside and we could tell we were on to a good thing. We were not disappointed; a great meal, particularly the lamb dish Joe had (makhsoos) and our appetizer which was ground lamb in a small crust which had been fried (I hate not being able to find a menu online to get all the names right!) which was made really fantastic by having a leaf of what I assume was fresh tarragon with each bite. Very delicious and worth a repeat visit!

Thus fortified we headed onward for science! No disappointments there either: it's a fantastic science museum and if we weren't a bit jetlagged we probably could have spent more hours more. As it was we checked my big coat and Joe's bag containing the camera, reaffirmed our decision to have a smaller pocketable camera for our next trip, and headed down to the basement for The Secret Life of the Home. Joe has made me an enormous fan of Tim Hunkin's work and in addition to having some great explanatory pieces by him this is also a gorgeous collection of general household machinery going back a few hundred years. I think every city should have a simple, down-to-earth household science resource like this; it is a fantastic foundation for exploring scientific principles behind the things we use every day.

After a break to sit down on the basement terraces (ideal for school groups, we both thought) and have something to drink. Mmm, hydration! We went upstairs to ogle the prototype Clock of the Long Now before heading out.

By this point we realized we were quite tired and so journeyed back to our hotel by tube - wishing for a pneumatic tube to drop us straight onto the bed for a nap, but settling for the London Underground.

Since it's almost time to pack up and head out by train, I'll leave us napping and resume the tale later.

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