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fenchurchWe decided to take the advice of the airport cabbie and our next door neighbor, so today we bought tickets for the Big Bus Tour. It was definitely worth doing! We managed to get good seats on the top level of the bus, so we just stuck with it for an entire loop. By the end, we were both freezing and my hair was all horribly ratted from the wind, but we got to see so much of London. And it also included a one way tour down the Thames... also incredibly cool and informative! This entire vacation has been wonderful for helping to pull together all the bits of history we've learned in our lives.
After doing the full loop, we hopped off at the stop just down from Madame Tussaud's. I'm glad we did that one, but wow... is that a tourist trap! Still, the historical figures were incredible to see... and even some of the contemporary celebrities. I was actually amazed at how short some of the celebrities really were... assuming they have the height right, Sarah Michelle Gellar sure is TEENY!!! The Pirates of the Caribbean display was quite cool, too (and apparently fairly new). However, I'm not entirely sure what the point was of the movie they show at the end... if we'd known where to find the exit, I think we would have slipped out when it first started. I would have been much more interested in seeing a video about the process and techniques they use in making the wax figures.
Rather than jumping back on the Big Bus Tour (which sort of meanders around a bit) we headed to the closest Underground station and rode over to Kensington High Street where we wandered around enjoying the sights and the people watching. Eventually, we made our way to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, which are both HUGE. In fact, we really only touched on a small portion of the parks...![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rackham was a bit disappointed when we weren't able to find a sundial anywhere near Round Pond, since he rather wanted to try to unscrew the gnomon from the sundial in the wabe and chase the roadrunner that had stolen the ruby that had fallen out of the bag of breadcrumbs he'd bought from an old woman by the statue of Queen Victoria, which we did see (the statue, now the old woman selling bread crumbs). Um, but you may have to be a fan of old Infocom games to understand any of that. ;-)
It was getting on toward evening at that point and we figured we begin the trip back to the hotel, possibly stopping off somewhere for dinner along the way. At that point, we were in the middle of Hyde Park so we decided to head north to Lancaster Gate Station (since we were about midway between three different stations and that was one we'd never been to). Ha! We finally got there only to discover that it's closed for renovations... with notices and directions to the Queensway Station. There were even some signs pointing the way... and since it looked to be slightly closer than any of the other nearby stations, we headed off for it. Well, neither of us are really used to doing this much walking, and we haven't been doing too badly, but this was seriously pushing our limits. We finally found a map (London is actually quite nice that way, with maps placed conveniently at regular intervals) and discovered that we'd completely missed the station... a bit confused, we headed back and still couldn't see it. We decided it must actually be up a side street and wandered that way for a bit, eventually finding Bayswater Station which was plastered with notices letting everyone know that Queensway Station was going to be closed this weekend. Sure would have been nice to have that info at Lancaster Station... you know, instead of signs instructing us to GO THERE. *grumble*
As a consequence, we headed straight back to the hotel and ended up having dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was surprisingly yummy (although if that steak was cooked medium, I'd hate to see what their well-done looks like).
Sorry these are all being so barebones... I'm afraid that by the time we get back in the evening, we're pretty much so exhausted that I'm surprised I'm even able to type up anything coherent. And today really was supposed to be the easy day, where we would spend most of it just riding around, so we wouldn't be so tired... didn't quite work out the way we'd planned!
After doing the full loop, we hopped off at the stop just down from Madame Tussaud's. I'm glad we did that one, but wow... is that a tourist trap! Still, the historical figures were incredible to see... and even some of the contemporary celebrities. I was actually amazed at how short some of the celebrities really were... assuming they have the height right, Sarah Michelle Gellar sure is TEENY!!! The Pirates of the Caribbean display was quite cool, too (and apparently fairly new). However, I'm not entirely sure what the point was of the movie they show at the end... if we'd known where to find the exit, I think we would have slipped out when it first started. I would have been much more interested in seeing a video about the process and techniques they use in making the wax figures.
Rather than jumping back on the Big Bus Tour (which sort of meanders around a bit) we headed to the closest Underground station and rode over to Kensington High Street where we wandered around enjoying the sights and the people watching. Eventually, we made our way to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, which are both HUGE. In fact, we really only touched on a small portion of the parks...
rackham was a bit disappointed when we weren't able to find a sundial anywhere near Round Pond, since he rather wanted to try to unscrew the gnomon from the sundial in the wabe and chase the roadrunner that had stolen the ruby that had fallen out of the bag of breadcrumbs he'd bought from an old woman by the statue of Queen Victoria, which we did see (the statue, now the old woman selling bread crumbs). Um, but you may have to be a fan of old Infocom games to understand any of that. ;-)It was getting on toward evening at that point and we figured we begin the trip back to the hotel, possibly stopping off somewhere for dinner along the way. At that point, we were in the middle of Hyde Park so we decided to head north to Lancaster Gate Station (since we were about midway between three different stations and that was one we'd never been to). Ha! We finally got there only to discover that it's closed for renovations... with notices and directions to the Queensway Station. There were even some signs pointing the way... and since it looked to be slightly closer than any of the other nearby stations, we headed off for it. Well, neither of us are really used to doing this much walking, and we haven't been doing too badly, but this was seriously pushing our limits. We finally found a map (London is actually quite nice that way, with maps placed conveniently at regular intervals) and discovered that we'd completely missed the station... a bit confused, we headed back and still couldn't see it. We decided it must actually be up a side street and wandered that way for a bit, eventually finding Bayswater Station which was plastered with notices letting everyone know that Queensway Station was going to be closed this weekend. Sure would have been nice to have that info at Lancaster Station... you know, instead of signs instructing us to GO THERE. *grumble*
As a consequence, we headed straight back to the hotel and ended up having dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was surprisingly yummy (although if that steak was cooked medium, I'd hate to see what their well-done looks like).
Sorry these are all being so barebones... I'm afraid that by the time we get back in the evening, we're pretty much so exhausted that I'm surprised I'm even able to type up anything coherent. And today really was supposed to be the easy day, where we would spend most of it just riding around, so we wouldn't be so tired... didn't quite work out the way we'd planned!
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Date: 2006-10-07 10:17 pm (UTC)London Underground aren't the best at signposting stuff! Glad you found out before you got to Queensway :)
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Date: 2006-10-07 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 10:42 pm (UTC)Somehow it never does ;)
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Date: 2006-10-07 11:46 pm (UTC)Hmm. I must admit I wouldn't mess with the Tube stations just north of Hyde Park myself - the Circle and Central Lines tend to be better.
Londoners do tend to walk quite a bit. The Tube stations are nowhere near as close together as Paris Métro stations, so it's worth walking quite a bit. Buses are always an option, though - and you get to see more that way. (Real, London Transport red buses I mean, not the open-top tour buses which are fun but always seem to go from A to B via Z...
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Date: 2006-10-07 11:51 pm (UTC)I never played any Zork, but got to be a whiz at Sorcerer. "You are in a little maze of twisty passages, all alike." *g*
The Madame Tussaud's in Las Vegas lets you stand with/touch the figures - I have a picture of me with "Sarah Michelle Gellar." She is teeny! I've seen a documentary on the making of the figures - I'm surprised that's not what they show!
I don't mind the "quick bite" posts - it's fun!
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Date: 2006-10-08 08:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-08 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-08 06:57 pm (UTC)But yes, they did release the Infocom games on CD-ROM awhile back, though I'm not sure they're still available.
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Date: 2006-10-08 10:02 pm (UTC)Maybe I could troll around on eBay and see if I could find 'em again.
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Date: 2006-10-09 09:44 pm (UTC)BTW, love the icon!
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Date: 2006-10-10 02:16 am (UTC)I just got the first season of The Tick on DVD. Icon heaven!
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Date: 2006-10-08 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-08 09:54 am (UTC)Re: the Underground closures - I suspect this is some kind of game that London Transport play with the tourists every weekend. Sorry you got caught in it.