Keeping with the academic theme from last week, we made a quick day trip to the University of Cambridge.
Cambridge spares no expense to make their "NO" signs clear and abundant. If you wanted to smoke, loiter, park, get change, pay with a debit card, leave a bicycle against certain surfaces, walk on grass, be a visitor in certain areas, or moor your punt, you're gonna have a bad time.
That said, no one ever makes a sign that says "NO ___" as a preventative measure. Usually it's only after whoever's paying the bills gets sufficiently annoyed by the antics of others to invest in a sign. While a sign never stopped anyone from doing anything, it's the vague threat of a violator getting in trouble if caught that hopefully prevents further annoyance. Cambridge was backing up their signs with plenty of security guards and CCTV surveillance.
The fun started at the park-n-ride, where we were tempted with a discount price from ticket machines which took only coins in pound, 50p, and 20p denominations. Of course I had none of those. I have noticed that my UK friends have an uncanny ability to produce exact change all the time. Back home I'd go without currency for weeks, and when I do have a stack of pound coins, they seem disappear in groups of 3 (but oddly pints appear at the same time...). Since the park-n-ride fined us 60 pence for not having exact change in the right denominations, I passive-aggressively gave the bus driver my five-er note and dumped a thick stack of pennies into her palm.
Ahh, it wouldn't be a proper weekend trip without a good parking story, so anyway, on to the actual activities.
Comparing Cambridge to Oxford, I would say that Cambridge has more of the university feel I'm used to. The academic campuses were spread out with lots of green spaces, and the nearby shops and restaurants had that eccentric college feel that I'd get when I'd visit Kerry at Indiana University. Of course, even though Cambridge is younger than Oxford, it has a couple hundred more years of history than any other school I'm familiar with. Oh and there were more bicycles here than I've ever seen in one place in my life.
A narrow lane lined with old flats
Punts are boats you push along the canal with a long pole (works in shallow water only)
King's College was the real standout in terms of architecture
Side view of King's college, with the chapel on the right
More amazing architecture, manicured lawns, and picturesque bridges. Get the idea yet?
We had a nice stroll along the Backs - a greenway along the canal with a footpath, but kept running into dead ends on the campus grounds - gates to prevent visitors from trespassing We kept having to weave back out to the street, and couldn't get too close to the buildings. They were impressive, however. That said, the best way to see the buildings and enjoy the scenery would be by punt - 30 pounds for about an hour, and they offer a guide who can give you some facts and figures. We passed.
The bridge was gated to prevent visitors from storming the yard and causing a ruckus. Got to keep a 400 meter distance; can't be disturbing the students, you know
Early blooms cheered us up for spring!
Requisite tudor-style building in the town
Farmer's market detour - we never pass up an opportunity to look around one of these
Stopped in a university bookstore - new English translation of Newton's Principia Mathematica for 600 pounds (almost $1000!)
The bookstore was a fun stop. So many interesting titles covering economics, anthropology, zoology, physics, and politics. All this knowledge at my fingertips makes me feel like a slob when I go home and watch an episode of Parks and Recreation (via Hulu using a virtual private network to get US progamming).
To try to make up for our 15 minute hyper tour of Pitt Rivers at Oxford, we gave ourselves 2 hours to go to free museums at Cambridge. But there's no comparison.
After Pitt Rivers, Cambridge's Anthropology museum was a bit sparse...*shrugs*
We made it through that museum pretty quickly, so we moved on to the highly rated Fitzwilliam art museum.
Fitzwilliam art museum's exquisite roof - taken before Kerry saw the sign that said no pictures.
I would say this is worth going to, similar to the National Gallery, these old paintings must be growing on me. The modern art was decent as well (not like the quack Tate modern). We had some tasty chinese food at Charlie Chan's, and warmed up with some jasmine tea. I like it done properly with the tea leaves just floating freely in the kettle, no pouches.
I forgot to take pictures of us so here's one on the bus back to the parking lot. We got front row seats on the upper deck, which was more fun than you might think.
Well that's a brief recap of a short visit to a nice college town. 2.5 day weekend coming up with a road trip to Brussels! Time to charge the camera battery.
As the optimist says the glass is half full, we're happy to say we've fully reached the halfway point of our expat adventure. Not to say every day is full of optimism - Kerry's latest post pulled no punches!
While my goal is to use this blog to share the fun parts of our year in the East Midlands, January has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows. While Kerry was gone during the first half, my main task was to keep Lucy and Stanley alive. I held up my end of the deal, and they tolerated me. They were as happy as I was when she got back.
I did unravel pretty bad, my routine consisted of a long day at work (in early and out late to avoid traffic), gym, eat my man-stew, watch a netflix movie, go to bed, repeat. I tried to keep the bungalow in decent order, but I did not appreciate how much Kerry does around the place while I'm at work. [N.B. - Kerry will be referring to this statement many times in the future.] I did figure out how to use the washing machine and discovered the sublime combination that is a cold Melton Mowbray pork pie smothered in Branston pickle. I'm not sure if a proper Brit would ever combine the two, but it works.
Tangent: Branston pickle is most similar to what an American would call relish. It's a sweet brown sauce mixed with pickled root vegetables, cauliflower, and gherkins. And gherkins are what an American would call a pickle, or more accurately, a pickled cucumber. While the origin of the hotdog likely stems from Europe, Wikipedia has not listed a hot-dog variation that is named after Great Britain, so I'd like to take this opportunity to propose that the GB-style hot dog should include Branston pickle. I'll work on some prototypes and get back to you. If something works maybe I can add to the Wikipedia article?
After Kerry returned from her big trip we kept the rest of the month very low key with no travel, and a few episodes of homesickness. That said there were some pretty big highlights that I'll share in this post to catch everyone up. This post is in the spirit of Eric Idle in Life of Brian, "always look on the bright side of life." Warning - some might find the following link is irreverent (or 'cheeky' as they say here).
First up is the weekend of Jan 19-20.
The snow started on Friday, and persisted through the night. Since there are no plows, the snow was packed down by cars and turned the hill up to our house into an ice sheet. While it was only a few inches, it was enough to keep us indoors. We were looking forward to attending a snatch clinic at CrossFit Nottingham - hosted by Team GB's Olympic weightlifting coach, Dave Sawyer. It had to be cancelled due to the weather, but has been rescheduled.
By Sunday, the snow had melted sufficiently that things were back to normal, and it was my birthday! I told the crew at the gym to meet us at Annie's Burger Shack at the Navigation. This place serves the best burgers around, with an American cook who's made it her duty to make sure chopped onions, eggs, and breadcrumbs stay OUT of the hamburger patties.
We packed the pub! I felt so special that so many turned out to join me for a burger. I had the "Navigation Blues" which is an epic concoction burger topped with a sausage patty, chicken patty, bacon rasher, then lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I had seasoned curly fries on the side.
To top it off, I was surprised with an ice cream dessert delivered by Annie herself (complete with a hug). Really started my 30th year off right! I'm definitely looking forward to what the future holds, and I am so thankful for the friendships that this year has brought us.
Next is the weekend of Jan 26-27.
Some time ago our neighbors (Phil & Christine, a retired couple across the street) invited us to "Ladies Night" an annual 'do' put on by the local Masonic lodge. It was a black-tie event, so I set up a tux hire, and to be modest, it looked good on me, haha. Kerry glitter-ized her boot, and our neighbors hooked up a mini-bus to take our group to the event so no one had to drive. It was a beautiful night full of good food, new friends, and plenty fo wine. We even managed to dance a bit! We got back around 1 am, and I walked down to the kebab shop in my tux to pick up some late night eats. I got some interesting looks by the local pubgoers.
Owning the dance floor
And that brings us up to date with our impromptu trip to Oxford last Saturday. It was cold, but the sky was blue and the sun was bright, so we just had to get away. Our 2 hour drive turned into 3.5 when we came to gridlock standstill as they closed the southbound M1 in Loughborough. This was painful - it makes being spontaneous not very fun. 3 lanes of traffic had to exit to a country 1 lane road and go about numerous roundabouts until we could join back on the M1 in Leicester.
By the time we got to Oxford (park & ride, under 5 pounds for the 2 of us), it was past noon. We did not make much of an itinerary, but we really only had time to just touch on a few highlights before things started shutting down. Our first stop (after a detour for Starbucks "filter" coffee) was the Bodleian library and Divinity school, at the epicenter of Oxford University.
Radcliffe Camera on a sunny day for learning
There are numerous colleges spread around Oxford which comprise the university, and I didn't take the time to really understand what was special about each one. At Purdue it was easy - College of Engineering, College of Pharmacy, College of Science, and College of "Liberal Arts" *snort*. But as many students who were going about their normal weekend routine, it felt like there were twice as many tourists.
Divinity school quadrangle
At first I was a bit put off that so much of the campus is "off-limits". I came from a university where anyone could sit in the back of a large lecture hall all day and no one would think twice. Anyone could wander around the libraries and use the free internet access (with near-limitless access to countless peer-reviewed journals). I've always said you paid for the degree not the education.
I recall once when I was a sophomore, 2 guys came by my dorm in Cary Quad and said, "Hi! We lived in this room back in the 70's!". I sure hope I'm not like that in 20 years. But here at Oxford, as a tourist, I started to get the levels of security. Badges, security guards, and gates control the crowds and prevent students from getting harassed. Fair enough, I have no idea what these students are paying, but what an experience it must be to think of the minds who came before going all the way back 1602.
Learning about the early schola metaphysicae on the audio tour
Admiring the students' bicycles while they're hard at work in the camera - the massive repository of books and ancient, rare collections reside within the walls, under the ground, and behind the photographer in the "new" library building.
My favorite type of British architecture - not sure what keeps it from toppling over.
We had to stop for some lunch at this point, and the tradition has become to stop at a noodle house. It's a good pick, and we've yet to had a bad experience, but I always end up putting way too much chili oil on mine and suffer the consequences.
Next was to stop in Exeter college, where Tolkien attended. It was literally across the street from the Bodleian.
At Exeter college gardens - trying to trick security into thinking I'm an academic by wearing my elbow-padded cardigan.
Exeter was small, and no students were around on a Saturday afternoon. It was pretty cold so they were probably all getting pints and reading old books.
Our final stop was to hit up the Pitt Rivers museum. This place is a bit unusual - just imagine a big room filled with stuff from all over the world, grouped by similarity in display cases. It could not be any further from the sparse focused-theme displays of modern museums. It's a hoarder's dream collection with upwards of 500,000 items with everything from taxidermed beavers to shrunken Amazon heads. The focus is on anthropological artifacts grouped by theme. For example they have a display case full of early combs from different parts of the world. Everything was so COOL! Oh, and by the way it doesn't close at 5, it closes at 4:30 and you have 15 minutes to see as much as possible.
Densely packed museum is a bit daunting for a rushed visit
After we were kicked out of the museum (CURSE YOU M1 CLOSURE!!!), the University was getting pretty quiet. Not known as a party school I guess. So we made our way back to the bus to get back to the parking lot on the far north side of town. The parking lot was just a mile away from Wolvercote Cemetery where Tolkien is buried, so i thought I'd swing by to see if it was accessible. No, of course it closed at 3 pm, but I took a picture through the gate.
A peaceful final resting place for a famous author
So that brings us up to date - looking back at all this I gotta say we shouldn't complain! We're having so much fun making new friends and enjoying some "different" (non-travel) experiences. I was remiss how rushed our trip to Oxford was, but it's easy enough to go back for a budget day trip in the future.
To be honest, sometimes I feel like there are certain differences over here (compared to the US) where you just can't win. My main issue is with commuting - whether it be big trip agendas, trying to get home by 6, or a simple errand run, something is bound to hit a snag and things unravel quickly or end up costing more than you anticipate. You gotta stay positive, you gotta adapt and improvise, but it does wear you out and you have to "manage" your expectations.
To end on a positive note, I discovered that New Zeland-raised grass-fed lamb legs go on sale around here for 1/4th the price of what I'd pay for the same quality back home. So you can bet what I'll be filling up on in the next 6 months.
Hello! I've been back from my trip home for a week and a half now, and I was hoping that Jeff would forget I said I would write a blog post. But he asks me every day when I'm going to post something, so here you go. I want to start by saying that I spent the entire 2 weeks at home in complete awe of the amount of amazing people in my life. I have no idea what I've done to deserve them, and I can only hope that I get a chance to return their kindness. I knew I had a good life in Indy before I left, and I was constantly reminded of this during my stay. Also, I took no pictures so I had to steal from those that did. A big thanks to them as well.
In case you weren't sure where Indiana was.
We'd been living in England all of two weeks when I booked my trip home to Indiana. I knew I would need the break. Living in a foreign country isn't easy. Everything is harder than you think and nothing comes naturally. This doesn't mean that I don't like living in England, but I do miss the ease and familiarity of living in the US. Life without a job and a car can be very boring and isolating. I'd been looking forward to this trip for months, I even had a countdown app on my phone. I woke up before the alarm on departure day, and Jeff dropped me off at the Manchester airport with more than 2 hours to spare before my plane took off. The airport stresses me out, so I love to be there early. The more time to deal with all the lines, the better. I'm not relaxed until I'm sitting at my gate reading a gossipy magazine and eating peanut butter M&Ms carrot sticks.
If you read this blog regularly (which you should because it's awesome), you'd know that something goes wrong at the airport every time Jeff and I travel. But since I wasn't flying into a small European country where I don't speak the language, and I wasn't going to have to figure out how to pay for and find a bus to get to a hotel once I landed, I thought this trip would be the exception. But of course not! I walked in to find a huge, overflowing line of people at the American Airlines counter. They had a full flight to Chicago and a full flight to New York scheduled to depart within an hour of each other. The kiosks that print boarding passes kept running out of paper. The baggage belt system for the entire airport was broken. The boarding pass scanner at security was broken also. It took nearly two hours just to check my bag. Every flight out of Manchester left late that day.
Thankfully my arrival was much better than my departure. I was greeted by my parents and sister holding up a glittery sign with my name on it. I've always wanted my name on a sign at the airport, and this one even had Mini Eggs attached to it!
I hate my nickname, but at least it's in glitter.
We headed to Valpo, where we spent the rest of the day playing cards and eating Mexican. The next night (Friday) my family had planned a "garage party" for me, which is exactly as it sounds. The garage was heated and decked out in Christmas lights, corn hole boards were set up, pizza was ordered, drinks were poured and a plethora of family members were in attendance.
Fronczak Garage Party.
It's instinctual to lean in, even though it's entirely unnecessary.
I have no idea how to get pictures side by side.
Out at a bar, taking shots. Normal Saturday night for this family.
Saturday morning was my favorite part of the trip home. I woke up to my sister demanding I come out of my room. When I finally gave in, my family was in the living room yelling "Merry Christmas!," presents were under the tree, and the Jimmy Buffet Christmas cd (a Fronczak family favorite) was playing.
They had recreated Christmas! I couldn't believe it! I'd been telling them to just leave me out of Christmas this year since I wouldn't be home and couldn't really bring them gifts or bring back any gifts. I'm so glad they didn't listen.
The "Christmas" morning mess.
After a great weekend with my family, I headed down to Indy with my sister and brother for the rest of my trip. I picked up my rental car and spent the next 5 days driving myself to Target, Panera, and CrossFit Indy North (CFIN). I spent more time socializing than working out, but I had lot to catch up on and was in rest mode due to an upcoming competition. My trip home happened to coincide with the third annual Great Lakes Invitational, which is a competition CFIN hosts every year. I had competed in the two previous GLIs, and since a Team category was added this year I decided to give it a go. My three teammates were all good friends and people I had competed on a team with before. Doug, Matt and I were on the Bee Team at Regionals last year and "2Bunz" Linsday and I were on the very first CFIN Regionals team the year before. How could this not be fun?
The competition started Saturday morning with 3 minutes for all four team members to establish max reps bench press at a designated weight. The weight for females was 125 pounds. The two times I'd practiced this I'd only gotten 1 rep. Which I was fine with because my former 1 rep max was 135 and I hadn't really done bench press in the past 8 months due to an elbow inury. But thanks to my teammates yelling, I got three reps! My day was made, I could quit now and be happy. That was not an option, so onto event 2. This event was done in guy/guy, girl/girl pairs and included overhead squats, overhead carries, box jumps, and pullups. It was perfect for 2Bunz and 2Gunz, she loves overhead squats and I love box jumps and pullups. Our team did great and we were off to a good start.
Box jumps. One of my favorite CrossFit movements.
My teammate Lindsay repping out 110# overhead squats
We all headed to our camp of gym bags and coolers to refuel and rest before the next event. This is when the universe decided it had shown me enough love and kindness. I got up to walk and felt a stabbing pain in my ankle. I couldn't put my full weight on it or walk normally. Considering the next event had double unders (jump rope in which the rope passes under your feet twice each jump) and buddy carries (carry your partner on your back and a 65# barbell with one hand for 200 feet), this was not good. But my years as a competitive gymnast taught me to ignore pain, so I continued on. I wasn't about to let my team down.
Matt having a blast being carried by Doug.
Fellow CFINers Vic and Gina. I love their intensity.
Doug falling off Matt.
Buddy carries make for great photos. I didn't even try to make those last two pictures side by side. It just happened.
We made it through and finished the day in 6th place. Our goal as a team was to get to the final event. To do so, we had to finish in the top 6 after 6 events. (Three events Saturday, three on Sunday).
I woke up Sunday morning and was still in a world of pain, so I had my nurse friend and fellow CFINer Sarah tape up my ankle. Between that and a massive amount of painkillers, I was able to get through the first event-a clean and jerk ladder. My fellow teammates are crazy strong and did very well-this moved our team into 5th place! Next up was deficit handstand push-ups followed immediately by a spring/lunge combination. Lunges suck. They will make your butt sore for days. Add a 95# barbell in the front rack position and you're really screwed. Add an injured ankle and you should probably just go home. But between the adrenaline, the painkillers, and the ankle tape, I could barely feel my ankle at this point. I hobbled through it as fast as I could. Thankfully that was the last event before the field was cut from 30 to 6.
Deficit handstand push-ups. Another favorite of mine.
My teammates yelling at me not to put the bar down during the lunge/sprint event.
Results were posted and we were in 9th, thus not making the finals. To be in the top 10 is no easy feat, and I'm very proud of my team. I had so much fun spending the weekend with my friends and cheering on all the other competitors. However, I can't help but notice that this is where I've ended up in every team competition I've ever done. Close, but not quite there. You'd think it'd be easier to mentally handle each time, but it's entirely the opposite. I don't like to let competitive exercise get me down, especially something as silly as not being able to do a 7th workout in 2 days. So I did what any sad woman would do and surrounded myself with friends, pizza, and a movie about male strippers, "Magic Mike." (Horrible movie, I don't recommend it.)
Team Never Was. Love you guys!
My ankle was swollen and angry Monday morning, so I went directly to the walk-in Sports Clinic at Methodist hospital. Within 90 minutes I'd seen the doctor, gotten an x-ray, an MRI, a boot and depleted my health savings account. I was thankful this happened in the US and that we were forced to keep our US health insurance. If this had happened in England I'd probably still be waiting to see a doctor. The worst part of this injury is that it leaves me home bound. I have to walk at least a mile to get anywhere from my house in England, and that is not going to work with a giant boot.
Glitter boot.
Monday night was my second favorite part of the trip home. A while back I had mentioned to my friend Marne that I really missed big, fat American steak. So she got together with our CFIN friend Kevin from Ruth's Chris steakhouse and they planned a special dinner for our CFIN crew. Twenty-five of us enjoyed a private room, appetizers, wine, and the most amazing 3-course steak dinner. I could go on forever about how awesome this night was, but I won't. Mostly because the majority of the conversations that night should not be repeated. I don't have any pictures because I was too busy drinking wine, stuffing my face, and laughing until my cheeks and abs were sore. I wish Jeff could've been there, but I suppose this gives us a reason to plan another dinner when we return to the US in August.
After two weeks of stress free, care free life in the US (other than ankle injury), it was time to head back to England. I was looking forward to getting back and planning the next round of European adventures. Me and my boot survived the long flight and arrived at Manchester airport early Friday morning. Jeff was picking me up and decided to park the car and come into the airport to help get my 100 pounds worth of luggage through the British snowstorm and to the car. It was as if England could sense my relaxed state of mind and wanted to immediately destroy it. We got stuck in the parking garage for 30 minutes due to a mechanical error with the parking ticket dispenser. We ran out of wiper fluid on the drive home in the snowstorm and had to stop to buy some. Not a big deal but when you need to use the car manual to learn how to pop the bonnet (hood), it gets annoying. (You have to open the passenger side door to see the lever.) Also, when you've been traveling for 20 hours with no sleep, anything is annoying. Then Jeff tells me that the boiler in our house is broken and therefore we don't have heat. Our house was 42 degrees when we walked in. Welcome back.
It's 2013 which means we have less than seven months remaining before moving back - that's only 28 weekends left - no more room for lazy Sundays. We must keep exploring!
Generally speaking, I'm not a big fan the year "2013" in terms of reading and writing it. It just looks awkward, no symmetry or evenness. Now I didn't think of this myself, but I read that 2013 is the first year since 1987 where there are 4 different integers. I was just a youngster then, so it's a brave new world, indeed.
Nonetheless, it will be a great year of new experiences, and I look forward to every moment. I turn 30 in a few weeks, so it's high time I start thinking about what I want to be when I grow up.
This weekend, however, will be pretty low key. I dropped off Kerry at Manchester airport a few days ago for her flight back to Indiana to visit family and friends. One advantage of not working is that you can travel after the holidays when prices drop 30%. She has promised me to take pictures and write at least one post about her experiences! In the meantime I'm just going grind through the next two weeks to research and save up for some trips we are planning this spring. That said, I thought I'd spend a few minutes to document the tail end of the holiday break, since it was a doozy.
We planned a budget day trip to London on Dec 29 - the itenerary was to catch the 6 am train from Derby to put us into London at 7:30. Tour some free attractions and mueseums, grab a lunch, then catch the return train at 4:30 to be home for dinner. Unfortunately there was a derailment which meant we had to take the bus to Leicester, hop on a later train, and get into London around 9. Feeling entitled, I went to the ticket counter to try to argue my case to change my return train to a later time - there's a train every half hour, but cost goes up for these high demand times. However, since I bought our tickets at the discount "no refund" rate, everyone was generally unhelpful and just kept passing the buck. Having burned another 30 minutes walking around St. Pancras, I cut my losses. We topped up our Oyster cards and made our way to Greenwich.
"Weel done, Cutty-sark! And in an instant all was dark."
As usual, I don't find out much about a place until after I visit. So, I just read the Scottish poem Tam o' Shanter, from which the clipper ship was named. "Cutty sark" is Scots for what is essentially a shirt that is too small for the wearer. In the poem, a man is riding his horse drunk when he stumbles on a bunch of dancing witches. He hides and watches the witch Nannie dancing in her skimpy shirt, until he can't contain himself and shouts out "Well Done!" giving away his hiding spot. Basically this poem from 1791 was the inspiration for the movie Porky's.
Anyway, Cutty Sark started out shipping tea from China, sailing around Africa. After the Suez canal opened, steam ships were more cost effective so it switched to running wool shipments from Austraila, where it was popular for its speedy delivery. You can guess what its figurehead was...
Not much support there, Nannie
We did not pay to go inside the Cutty Sark exhibit since there were plenty of free things yet to see, so wandered around the grounds of the Royal Naval College for a bit. We got to try on some jousting armor, which doesn't make much sense to have at a college, but as a Purdue engineer what do I know? The school used to be a hospital for naval veterans, so that's probably a good reason why it has the museum/tourist attraction aspect to it.
From the college we strolled to the Royal Observatory, again sticking to the portions which did not require admission fees. The work done here in the 18th century is beyond impressive. I have a casual interest in both astronomy and maritime history, and here is where it all ties together. I apologize in advance if the next few paragraphs get a bit nerdy.
Ships needed a way to know their location in the open sea using the stars as reference, and thanks to the hard work from gents like Flamsteed (born in Derby), Halley, and Bradley, among others, they figured it out here. It's only fair that we recognize this place as the modern datum of time (Greenwich Mean Time) and space (Prime Meridian, 0 deg longitude). In the end it's all relative, isn't it? This line is determined by the location of the transit telescope which tracks star positions, so it's as good as any. Certain things just work better when we're all using the same reference point.
You know, I just read that NASA is looking into the possibility sending a robot out to snare an astroid and put it into orbit around the moon so astronauts can "safely" practice landing on it. Reference. I wonder what Sir George Airy would think of that?
Bradley's original meridian was used for 134 years, it's 20 milliseconds off from the current meridian, which moved when Airy upgraded the transit telescope in the 19th century, and everyone had to buy new maps.
An early copy (2nd edition?) of Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica on display. Flamsteed got a lot of help from Newton in the early days of the Observatory, but they had a big falling out because Newton and Halley published Flamsteed's star records without his approval. Flamsteed went out and bought all the copies and burned them. Newton and Halley were buddy-buddy, so as head of the Royal Society, I can't help but think Newton played a role in getting Halley the spot as successor to Flamsteed as Astronomer Royal.
After a fascinating time at the observatory, we wandered over to the National Maritime Muesum for a quick walkthrough. This was an unscheduled detour, but I just couldn't resist. You know with my wife away, I should go back again and take my time.
After we grabbed a quick lunch near the Greenwich Market at Noodle Time (I was pleasantly surprised), we headed back to central London for our final stop, the British Museum.
Weather was less than perfect, so going to a free museum was a popular option on this day.
I should have called it a loss and spent more time in Greenwich. By the time we arrived at the museum, we had less than an hour before we needed to get back to the train station! We didn't even have time to listen to Rick Steve's complete audio tour which only covers the most popular highlights of the museum, haha. Oh well, we did make the best of it, and I was blown away by the artifacts here. Seriously old stuff, and I was able to appreciate what we did see thanks to the audio tour. We caught the highlights from the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek sections of the museum.
I don't know why I'm putting pictures here because the internet is littered with them. But more than anything, appreciate the crowds which rivaled Birmingham's Christmas market minus the drunkeness.
The ego of Ramesses II
Assyrians were badass tough guys; they were all into hunting lions and not too friendly to strangers
A Greek vase for drinking parties, depicting drunk saytrs doing their version of keg "stands". And you thought the Cutty Sark name story was raunchy.
The museum is pretty close to St. Pancras station, so we walked to catch our train. I was happy to do so, as you see interesting bits of London you'd miss spending all the transit time underground. This way you get a feel for the city as a whole, instead of feeling like you're a whack-a-mole. And to see St. Pancras from the outside was a nice surprise, you might mistake it for a cathedral.
St. Pancras at night
Moving along to New Year's Eve, we attended a house party with our friends from the gym. A huge shoutout goes to Athalie, for hosting and putting on a really fun night and letting us crash in a spare room. The celebration had a Disney theme, so I bought a Mickey mask that made me look creepy. Kerry had a Minnie mouse ears headband. I ended up in a monkey suit at some point later in the evening. Te night got progressively more interesting from there, with many details escaping me at the moment. Nothing to be ashamed of however, it was relatively tame compared to the stories behind the ancient Greek vases or 18th century Scottish poetry.
Not sure what Disney character I am, but Happy New Year anyway!
