What I did on my Feb vacation - part one
Feb. 17th, 2003 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitanziWell, I went to England, and to Quinze. I meant to actually take notes and do a proper conreport for once, but I slacked off on that some time in the middle of the con, so I know I'm going to forget something and kick myself for it later when I'm reminded, but here it is anyhow.
Ok, ACat and I took Wednesday off to finish getting ready, so that morning was a whirlwind of last minute laundry, cleaning out the fridge, and packing up with a great deal of anticipation and quadruple checking on passports and credit cards. We woke up early, too excited to sleep, and were all set to go by 11:30 except... ACat's friend had loaned up a digital camera. It was a rather nice one, but she'd accidentally left the 4 mb chip in it, instead of the 128 mb. She promised to bring it by Tuesday night, but in a comedy of errors and frustration ACat went and bought one at Walmart after we spent the rest of Wednesday afternoon waiting. Friends who do favors are a wonderful thing and a blessing. Friends who promise favors then leave you waiting, and waiting while promising on every phonecall that it'll be there in the next half hour are, well, less so. Still, the camera had a LOT of use during the trip - over 1000 photos all told, I think - and we were very glad to have it.
We finally headed out about 3:30 (after leaving her a final voicemail to let her know we would be gone if she or her nanny did show up) and joined up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladyat and her husband Bill since we were all flying out together to Quinze. Thanks to their experience (and his crown club membership!) everything went smoothly and pretty painlessly, even though the plan left about 3 hours late. (ACat and I hoped to sleep on the plane, but only got about an hour apiece. Those seats were TINY for a 7 hour trip.)
Due to that delay we got to London later than we expected, but since we'd all planned to do sightseeing that day anyhow, it wasn't a huge problem. We left the luggage with Left Luggage at the airport (a wonderful convenience, but they had stricter security checks than the airlines did) and took a train to Victoria Station. ACat and I amused LadyAT and her husband by looking goggleeyed at the scenery, but hey, if you can't be a goggleeyed tourist on your first trip to England, when can you be? We happened to spot an ENORMOUS ferris wheel in the distance, and persuaded them that we really, really wanted to go on it. (Ferris wheels have a personal significance for me and ACat, and oddly enough this was the first one we'd found since we got together.) This was a real doozy of a ferris wheel, too, the Sky Eye! It was absolutely stunning, and with the photographic guide they ever so thoughtfully sold, we could identify a lot of what we were seeing in all directions, from Charing Cross Station to Big Ben. The ride ended with a photo of everyone in the capsule, and we got a very cute copy of it. (I appear to be wearing an ACat cloak. *G*)
From there we went to Westminster Abbey which was just beyond words. No photos were allowed inside, but there was gorgeous stained glass, some glorious architecture, and memorial stones, graves and all sorts of funeral effigys and such. It didn't feel like a museum - everything was too obviously not there for show and very much real, crammed in on every bit of floor, wall and platform. It was a bit overwhelming, especially when sleep deprived, but it was unforgettable.
After that we spend a chunk of time finding the right phone store to help Bill with his cellphone problems, then we found what I am convinced is the World's Worst Chinese Buffet, and from there went to the Silver Cross Pub to say hi to folks at the tun, which as far as I understood was a local science fiction fan get together. By this point I was beyond exhaustion and mildly sick from the buffet, but I do remember seeingcadhla and khaosworks and djbp plus a pile of people I knew mostly through LJ who I wasn't tracking well enough to correlate who they were. (My notes don't remember either, though I know I saw a lot of them again at the con. Sorry to all of you!)
I had a sip of ACat's ale there, the best I had in my time in England, but passed on it myself which I'm now sorry for. Eventually we headed out to reclaim our luggage, and with the help of a demon posessed luggage cart got it into the car LadyAT and Bill had rented. About 12:30 am local time, after an ungodly number of hours awake, we arrived at the home offleetfootmike and his lovely wife. We were sociable in a semicomatose way for a bit, then fell over sideways until the next morning.
The next morning gave me a better chance to appreciate their marvelous home, and their charming selves, especially after they provided us all with showers and food and TEA. At that point, clean and fed, we all undertook to get ourselves loaded up and off to Quinze!
Next up: Quinze
Ok, ACat and I took Wednesday off to finish getting ready, so that morning was a whirlwind of last minute laundry, cleaning out the fridge, and packing up with a great deal of anticipation and quadruple checking on passports and credit cards. We woke up early, too excited to sleep, and were all set to go by 11:30 except... ACat's friend had loaned up a digital camera. It was a rather nice one, but she'd accidentally left the 4 mb chip in it, instead of the 128 mb. She promised to bring it by Tuesday night, but in a comedy of errors and frustration ACat went and bought one at Walmart after we spent the rest of Wednesday afternoon waiting. Friends who do favors are a wonderful thing and a blessing. Friends who promise favors then leave you waiting, and waiting while promising on every phonecall that it'll be there in the next half hour are, well, less so. Still, the camera had a LOT of use during the trip - over 1000 photos all told, I think - and we were very glad to have it.
We finally headed out about 3:30 (after leaving her a final voicemail to let her know we would be gone if she or her nanny did show up) and joined up with
ladyat and her husband Bill since we were all flying out together to Quinze. Thanks to their experience (and his crown club membership!) everything went smoothly and pretty painlessly, even though the plan left about 3 hours late. (ACat and I hoped to sleep on the plane, but only got about an hour apiece. Those seats were TINY for a 7 hour trip.)Due to that delay we got to London later than we expected, but since we'd all planned to do sightseeing that day anyhow, it wasn't a huge problem. We left the luggage with Left Luggage at the airport (a wonderful convenience, but they had stricter security checks than the airlines did) and took a train to Victoria Station. ACat and I amused LadyAT and her husband by looking goggleeyed at the scenery, but hey, if you can't be a goggleeyed tourist on your first trip to England, when can you be? We happened to spot an ENORMOUS ferris wheel in the distance, and persuaded them that we really, really wanted to go on it. (Ferris wheels have a personal significance for me and ACat, and oddly enough this was the first one we'd found since we got together.) This was a real doozy of a ferris wheel, too, the Sky Eye! It was absolutely stunning, and with the photographic guide they ever so thoughtfully sold, we could identify a lot of what we were seeing in all directions, from Charing Cross Station to Big Ben. The ride ended with a photo of everyone in the capsule, and we got a very cute copy of it. (I appear to be wearing an ACat cloak. *G*)
From there we went to Westminster Abbey which was just beyond words. No photos were allowed inside, but there was gorgeous stained glass, some glorious architecture, and memorial stones, graves and all sorts of funeral effigys and such. It didn't feel like a museum - everything was too obviously not there for show and very much real, crammed in on every bit of floor, wall and platform. It was a bit overwhelming, especially when sleep deprived, but it was unforgettable.
After that we spend a chunk of time finding the right phone store to help Bill with his cellphone problems, then we found what I am convinced is the World's Worst Chinese Buffet, and from there went to the Silver Cross Pub to say hi to folks at the tun, which as far as I understood was a local science fiction fan get together. By this point I was beyond exhaustion and mildly sick from the buffet, but I do remember seeing
cadhla and khaosworks and djbp plus a pile of people I knew mostly through LJ who I wasn't tracking well enough to correlate who they were. (My notes don't remember either, though I know I saw a lot of them again at the con. Sorry to all of you!)I had a sip of ACat's ale there, the best I had in my time in England, but passed on it myself which I'm now sorry for. Eventually we headed out to reclaim our luggage, and with the help of a demon posessed luggage cart got it into the car LadyAT and Bill had rented. About 12:30 am local time, after an ungodly number of hours awake, we arrived at the home of
fleetfootmike and his lovely wife. We were sociable in a semicomatose way for a bit, then fell over sideways until the next morning.The next morning gave me a better chance to appreciate their marvelous home, and their charming selves, especially after they provided us all with showers and food and TEA. At that point, clean and fed, we all undertook to get ourselves loaded up and off to Quinze!
Next up: Quinze
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Date: 2003-02-18 10:36 pm (UTC)http://www.bfoms.com/images/w_abby_1.jpg (http://www.bfoms.com/images/w_abby_1.jpg)
http://www.crimelibrary.com/graphics/photos/notorious_murders/famous/the_princes/2b.jpg (http://www.crimelibrary.com/graphics/photos/notorious_murders/famous/the_princes/2b.jpg)
http://westminster-abbey.visit-london-england.com/westminster-abbey-2.jpg (http://westminster-abbey.visit-london-england.com/westminster-abbey-2.jpg)
http://westminster-abbey.visit-london-england.com/westminster-abbey-3.jpg (http://westminster-abbey.visit-london-england.com/westminster-abbey-3.jpg)
http://www.pcsaz.com/Craig/1968/057%20-%20Church%20-%20Westminster%20Abbey.jpg (http://www.pcsaz.com/Craig/1968/057%20-%20Church%20-%20Westminster%20Abbey.jpg)
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/diana/london.pix/abbey.jpg (http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/diana/london.pix/abbey.jpg)
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/diana/london.pix/ipix/route/abbey.poets.html (http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/diana/london.pix/ipix/route/abbey.poets.html) - KEWL! 360 photo of Poet's Corner
http://65.107.211.206/art/architecture/feist/21.jpg (http://65.107.211.206/art/architecture/feist/21.jpg)
http://www.onlinekunst.de/februar/Westminster.jpg (http://www.onlinekunst.de/februar/Westminster.jpg)
http://home.12move.nl/~sh829487/London/coronchr.jpg (http://home.12move.nl/~sh829487/London/coronchr.jpg)
http://home.12move.nl/~sh829487/London/wmabbint.jpg (http://home.12move.nl/~sh829487/London/wmabbint.jpg)
http://home.12move.nl/~sh829487/London/wmagoth.jpg (http://home.12move.nl/~sh829487/London/wmagoth.jpg)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/gallery/images/01040818.jpg (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/gallery/images/01040818.jpg)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/gallery/images/01040865.jpg (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/gallery/images/01040865.jpg)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/gallery/images/01040861.jpg (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/gallery/images/01040861.jpg)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/gallery/images/01040856.jpg (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/gallery/images/01040856.jpg)
http://www.culturalresources.com/images/ElizabethTomb.jpg (http://www.culturalresources.com/images/ElizabethTomb.jpg)
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/africa/livingstone08.jpg (http://www.galenfrysinger.com/africa/livingstone08.jpg)
Just because they said you can't take any photos inside, doesn't mean you can't have any from inside :)
See also: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/ (http://www.westminster-abbey.org/)
Sounds (and looks like) fun :) -H..
Re:
Date: 2003-02-19 03:58 am (UTC)