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Sep. 16th, 2008 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sue_n_julia London was great, but a bit wet. We got in around 5-6-ish on Saturday, but had some trouble finding the dorm. Part of this was Julia thought the directions were printed on the confirmation e-mail but they weren't. Another problem had to do with confusion over which building we were in (the original directions specified the wrong building and that is where we thought we were). Finally, when we asked for instructions -- from a place THREE BLOCKS AWAY -- we were sent in 180 degrees the wrong direction. When we found the building we thought we were in, it was locked up. So we found the other one -- which turned out to be the right place. Whew.
Sunday we went to the British Museum and took lots of pictures. I carefully made sure I could take pics without flash, but didn't ask about a tripod. Oops! Seems they think a tripod is a sign of commercial photography (give me a break -- I'm using a Canon Powershot 540 that fits in my purse). Sigh. So Julia took most of the pics. And boy did we take lots of pics. We had dinner that night with Jeanne-Marie.
Monday Julia went to the coffee org offices to do research. I tried to go to the Museum of London, but -- remember it was wet? -- one of the stations flooded. None of the Underground lines that went through that station were running and that meant I couldn't get to the right stop. I didn't want to figure out the buses, so I went back to the British Museum for more pics. I met up with Julia and we ran to get reader's passes at the British Library (I didn't know I could get one till I got there!). Then we went to dinner and saw Wicked (after going to the wrong Apollo theatre first). Boy was it good. Of course TPTB who run the Underground decided to close the line that ran through the West End (big theatre district) at 10:30 to reset the trains after the flooding. Excuse me, but who thought shutting down the Underground just as the theatres are letting out was a good idea??? We got the last train available at that station, but some who were behind us were high and dry. At least they could catch buses.
Tuesday Julia went off for more research and I went to Hampton Court Palace. Way cool! They've reconstructed a Tudor kitchen and do demos 50 days a year (unfortunately, the next demo was the Saturday of Known World -- the event we flew to attend). Then I toured the King Henry VIII apartments, the Queen's apartments, and King William II's apartments. I couldn't take pictures in the apartments, so I bailed before taking the King George apartments. I then walked the Maze and the gardens. I really enjoyed this. I also got to see a period tennis court. It reminds me of arena football -- all enclosed by walls. We had dinner with Elspeth and Alaric, which led to another escapade getting back. They had someone jump on the tracks in the same station that the flooding the day before was in. So they were theoretically shutting down the line we needed. So the station nearest dinner was closed, but we caught the line at a different station and got home.
Wednesday we got together with Elspeth and Alaric again and went to the Tower of London. While all of us have been to London before, Elspeth hadn't done the Tower. Then we went to the Museum of London and learned a lot about the evolution of London and the Great Fire. Then we had dinner with them, Jeanne-Marie, and some of Alaric's family. Yummy quirky pizzas and a waitress who didn't seem capable of remembering me. When they brought out all the entrees, they forgot mine (though I did get my side salad). When they brought coffee and desserts, they forgot my coffee. Elspeth and I were splitting a desert and she ordered it, so I got that. The waitress was very apologetic.
Thursday Julia and I spent in the British Library! I wish I spent all week there! I got to look at 15th and 16th century manuscripts!!! And we can order pictures of up to 100 folios of a manuscript on CD for only 27 pounds, so guess what we're doing this year. Oh yeah.
Friday Julia went on the tours for the event. She loved the Guildhall. The Parliament tour didn't happen. I planned to go as well, but there was a snafu of communication and there wasn't room, so I went back to the British Library. Oh, shucky-darns. Friday night we toured the CoA in London. It was really, really cool!!!!!! And during the reception Somerset agreed to turn pages of one of the rolls of arms for us (we weren't allowed to touch). Sweet. Dinner was with several heralds coming to the event. The group of us returned to our room (since we had a big double) for chitter-chat after.
Saturday was the event. It was lovely, though I didn't attend nearly as many classes as I planned. Big surprise. I got other stuff done though. Julia's classes went well, especially the Heraldic Titles class. The court confirming Ary as Pelican was one of the nicest courts I have ever attended. The excursion to the pub didn't work out well though. There wasn't enough room for all of us and the food was all little stuff. We broke into two groups and had dinner in a couple different places. Some of us retired to Ary's room for chitter-chat again.
Sunday was the Laurel roadshow. It went well. Unfortunately, Julia and I had to blow out right after the meeting to make the Eurostar to Paris. We succeeded. I'll talk about Paris later.
Julia flew back to be with her parents this morning. While we were in Paris, her paternal grandmother had a stroke or seizure and it caused some significant brain damage, so they've removed the feeding tube that was inserted earlier this year. She's been slowly declining for the last several years, so this isn't too much of a surprise. Julia just called and said they expect her to go tomorrow. I wish I could be there for her right now, but we can't afford it after the vacation.
S
Sunday we went to the British Museum and took lots of pictures. I carefully made sure I could take pics without flash, but didn't ask about a tripod. Oops! Seems they think a tripod is a sign of commercial photography (give me a break -- I'm using a Canon Powershot 540 that fits in my purse). Sigh. So Julia took most of the pics. And boy did we take lots of pics. We had dinner that night with Jeanne-Marie.
Monday Julia went to the coffee org offices to do research. I tried to go to the Museum of London, but -- remember it was wet? -- one of the stations flooded. None of the Underground lines that went through that station were running and that meant I couldn't get to the right stop. I didn't want to figure out the buses, so I went back to the British Museum for more pics. I met up with Julia and we ran to get reader's passes at the British Library (I didn't know I could get one till I got there!). Then we went to dinner and saw Wicked (after going to the wrong Apollo theatre first). Boy was it good. Of course TPTB who run the Underground decided to close the line that ran through the West End (big theatre district) at 10:30 to reset the trains after the flooding. Excuse me, but who thought shutting down the Underground just as the theatres are letting out was a good idea??? We got the last train available at that station, but some who were behind us were high and dry. At least they could catch buses.
Tuesday Julia went off for more research and I went to Hampton Court Palace. Way cool! They've reconstructed a Tudor kitchen and do demos 50 days a year (unfortunately, the next demo was the Saturday of Known World -- the event we flew to attend). Then I toured the King Henry VIII apartments, the Queen's apartments, and King William II's apartments. I couldn't take pictures in the apartments, so I bailed before taking the King George apartments. I then walked the Maze and the gardens. I really enjoyed this. I also got to see a period tennis court. It reminds me of arena football -- all enclosed by walls. We had dinner with Elspeth and Alaric, which led to another escapade getting back. They had someone jump on the tracks in the same station that the flooding the day before was in. So they were theoretically shutting down the line we needed. So the station nearest dinner was closed, but we caught the line at a different station and got home.
Wednesday we got together with Elspeth and Alaric again and went to the Tower of London. While all of us have been to London before, Elspeth hadn't done the Tower. Then we went to the Museum of London and learned a lot about the evolution of London and the Great Fire. Then we had dinner with them, Jeanne-Marie, and some of Alaric's family. Yummy quirky pizzas and a waitress who didn't seem capable of remembering me. When they brought out all the entrees, they forgot mine (though I did get my side salad). When they brought coffee and desserts, they forgot my coffee. Elspeth and I were splitting a desert and she ordered it, so I got that. The waitress was very apologetic.
Thursday Julia and I spent in the British Library! I wish I spent all week there! I got to look at 15th and 16th century manuscripts!!! And we can order pictures of up to 100 folios of a manuscript on CD for only 27 pounds, so guess what we're doing this year. Oh yeah.
Friday Julia went on the tours for the event. She loved the Guildhall. The Parliament tour didn't happen. I planned to go as well, but there was a snafu of communication and there wasn't room, so I went back to the British Library. Oh, shucky-darns. Friday night we toured the CoA in London. It was really, really cool!!!!!! And during the reception Somerset agreed to turn pages of one of the rolls of arms for us (we weren't allowed to touch). Sweet. Dinner was with several heralds coming to the event. The group of us returned to our room (since we had a big double) for chitter-chat after.
Saturday was the event. It was lovely, though I didn't attend nearly as many classes as I planned. Big surprise. I got other stuff done though. Julia's classes went well, especially the Heraldic Titles class. The court confirming Ary as Pelican was one of the nicest courts I have ever attended. The excursion to the pub didn't work out well though. There wasn't enough room for all of us and the food was all little stuff. We broke into two groups and had dinner in a couple different places. Some of us retired to Ary's room for chitter-chat again.
Sunday was the Laurel roadshow. It went well. Unfortunately, Julia and I had to blow out right after the meeting to make the Eurostar to Paris. We succeeded. I'll talk about Paris later.
Julia flew back to be with her parents this morning. While we were in Paris, her paternal grandmother had a stroke or seizure and it caused some significant brain damage, so they've removed the feeding tube that was inserted earlier this year. She's been slowly declining for the last several years, so this isn't too much of a surprise. Julia just called and said they expect her to go tomorrow. I wish I could be there for her right now, but we can't afford it after the vacation.
S