london

[solipsistnation]

So far:

- Hotel nice, especially for the price. Across from a Sainsbury's and Boots, so not bringing any of our own toiletries hasn't been inconvenient at all.

- We have tea and biscuits, bread for toast and marmelade. Breakfast has been quite pleasant.

- We are very close to the British Museum. We made a quick visit this morning (only an hour or two, as it got very crowded very quickly) and we'll be back later this week.

- We then visited the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, which is the most fascinating collection of stuff in jars I have ever seen. This guy spent his time collecting things and dissecting them in particular ways in order to expose various aspects of anatomy. There's everything from bugs and birds to all kinds of bits of people (including, you know, "bits") and Charles Babbage's Left Hemisphere. (In mathematicians, that would be the more interesting part, I guess.)

- Then a cup of tea and a half-hour nap, and I was quite invigorated.

- Then to Picadilly Circus for conveyor belt sushi, a Lush store, and some Turkish Delight from a confectioner along the way.

- Now back at the hotel thingy, more tea, more BBC, and crashing soon.

Man, I do like London. I don't know why, since it's not entirely like New York City, a place I intensely dislike. Maybe it's just that I'm a total Anglophile. Better tea here, anyway. (Or PG Tips, at least, which is pretty decently functional tea for swilling at leisure. It's about the best teabag tea I've found.)

Comments

[pir.livejournal.com]

The other half of his brain is in the Science museum next to the working difference engine...

Welcome to civilisation :)
Come to Vagabonds later if you feel like it and you're not crashing out.

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

I find that really disturbing. Maybe he didn't care, but I wouldn't want my brain split up and put in different museums. I'm cool with donating an organ to someone who is gonna use it, but I think my modesty extends beyond this life, and I don't want people poking and peering at my bits, inside or out, after I'm dead, even if it's in the name of science. gives me the heebiejeebies. OTOH, it's a great honour to have ones brain revered enough to be preserved and put in a museum. two, at that. but still, ick.

[pir.livejournal.com]

It was apparently quite common at the time, they wanted to work out why the smart people were that smart.

Can't say it'd be high on my list either but then I don't qualify anyway :)

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

It looks like they spent a lot of time on brains-- they had a cast of the inside of Jonathan Swift's skull, too, to see how big it was, and lots of devices for measuring skulls.

Overall, this guy must have been a fascinating occasional dinner guest, but not an ideal constant companion. It seems like every time he encountered any animal at all, the first thing he'd do is cut it up and stick it in a jar. Or into lots of smaller jars.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

There's still a lot of brain research and a shortage of healthy brains to compare with.

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why, but I find PG Tips vile. It always makes me queasy.

As to why you like London over NYC: easy, NY is full of New Yorkers.
(but I think London is smelly)

[sweh.livejournal.com]

Actually, I find New York more smelly than London. It's definitely more dirty (something that shocked me when I moved to New York 8 years ago, just how _dirty_ it was).

I find it odd when people think London and New York are similar; I find them pretty different. Sure they have similarities, but no more so than any other major metropolis. London is older and quirkier; things like tripping over (literally in my case, once) a roman wall on the way to the underground station, or the way that London is lots of small towns all glommed together, causing massive differences in feel as you go from area to area...

I don't like New York; I'd readily move back to London. And with the pound so weak, I'd get a good deal on my dollars! Except the person I love is here. Ah well.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

It's pretty high in tannins, which might be a problem (especially if made with teapot-size teabags in a cup).
Each to their own on the tea front, however I do prefer teas not blended to be so strong and high-tannin as PG Tips.

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

That's probably it. I have to be careful what I drink on an empty stomach, and I don't tend to drink tea at mealtimes.

[ex-susumu64.livejournal.com]

From points 1 and 3 I think I know which hotel you are in. What day are we going to the pub?

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah? Where are we? You can answer by email if you'd like. (It might be more convenient to plan on The List rather than on The Ell Jays.)

And when would you like to to go the pub? We have vague plans on Thursday and we're leaving town Friday. Sunday (which is, I think, today, although strange jet-lag-type issues have hit and we both woke up at 1:30am feeling totally rested and like it's time to get up) we're doing our Bletchley Park visit. We'll be back probably late afternoon, but that may be too soon for planning, plus we won't have email there most likely...

[ex-susumu64.livejournal.com]

Balls, I think I'm only free on Friday.

[ruggrat.livejournal.com]

I really like Red Rose tea if we're talking about supermarket teabags : ).

[mangosteen]

Having lived in Manhattan for a while, and been to London a fair bit, the main difference I've seen is that London "lets up" every now and then. Because it was cobbled together, there's a lot more quiet interstitial space (green and otherwise) than one typically finds in Manhattan.

Manhattan is tough on people because disengaging is never really an option.

[trystero.livejournal.com]

Denmark Street. And Forbidden Planet, on Shaftesbury Avenue. And then the British Museum some more.  :-)

[air-hadoken.livejournal.com]

A lot of the natives I had the opportunity to spend time with over there recommended Yorkshire Tea over PG Tips, claiming it had "richer flavor." I haven't tried it yet to verify, but I certainly still drank a lot of tea while I was there. I drank a lot of coffee, too, but I'm a cappuccino nut and needed the caffeine to keep up.