Geeks unite! (and separate)

For our last tourist day in London, we went geeky. The Science Museum holds such wonders as several Babbage Difference Engines, the Apollo 10 Lander, and The Listening Post, a piece of artwork that takes data from chat rooms and presents it (in real time) either written or spoken.

Charles Babbage never made the Difference Engine himself, but the museum has made a few based on his designs, and they really do work. Of course, they aren't perfect. This is a great quote from him:

On two occasions I have been asked, – "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.

Yes, mathematicians have been pretentious forever. I am just following a long, overly proud tradition.

When we arrived at the floor containing both the Math and Computing areas, we of course separated. To each his own, I suppose. I took many pictures of the slide rules, klein bottles, and regular polyhedra, while Colin drooled over the Cray 1A and the PDP-8 (I have no idea what those are, ask him).

We eventually tore ourselves away from the wonders of the Science Museum and walked around Hyde Park. Speakers Corner was not quite what I expected, being just an open, cemented area, but the park itself is lovely. Pictures will follow for Grandma Smith.

The day ended with a moment of silence for Colin's floofy hair: he got a haircut in the morning. I love his floofy hair, but every once in a while, it must be shorn.

Happy Anniversary To Me

As on our first date, we spent the day walking around town - only this time, we were not picking out clothing so Colin could go out with someone else! Yay progress!

Today was Church day, when we made sure to wear proper clothes, to visit the various Anglican churches in town (yes, the appropriate dress is different from in Catholic churches). We were going to tour St. Paul's cathedral first thing in the morning, but in true Dellow fashion, Colin slept in. So first, we took the Tube to Buckingham Palace, where we watched the changing of the guards (more to come on that later).

After that, we moved on to Westminster Abbey, which was definitely worth the fee. Inside are buried Chaucer, several Kings and Queens, and Issac Newton, among many others. The artwork is beautiful, if a little ostentatious when you remember that it is for the dead. The cute little garden in the cloister was possibly my favourite part, since the tourists mostly pass it by between the crypts and the coffee shop. Unfortunately, we had just missed communion, so missed taking a service in this church.

St. Paul's Cathedral was still open when we got back to that part of town, so we went to Evensong - beautiful music, not too long, perfect for our short attention spans. Sadly we sat in the 'tourist' area, not the 'parishioner' area, so people were constantly moving around and we were far from the choir. This really is smart on the church's part, since people are generally pretty rude, but not so good for us!

What better way to end a day of Churches than with porn? We were only partly kidding in our last post: we went to see Avenue Q at the Noel Coward Theatre. This is the musical that boasts such songs as "The Internet is for Porn" and "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist." It was hilarious, Colin and his floofy hair felt right at home. I think it was a perfectly romantic way to end our 5 year anniversary.

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Days 0 - 2

Day 0, or "CIBC Sucks (Here, There, and Everywhere)": We arrived at Gatwick on the same flight as some of my classmates, so we shared a train to Victoria Station. Jenn and I found an ATM willing to dispense money on only our third try. Note: my debit and credit cards, both TD-issued, work quite well. Jenn's cards, from the venerable CIBC, not so much.

We spent the day hiking along the Thames with our packs to the hostel, where we promptly collapsed. However, since we are not the brightest bulbs you have ever read by, we got up again and wandered around Covent Garden for a while, watching the street performers.

Day 1, or "Modern Art (Not a Second Time)": We visited the Tower of London, a worthwhile place with many interesting artifacts therein, including the Crown Jewels. We visited Tate Modern, a worthwhile place, still filled with the clutter of moving in, apparently.



We spent the evening wandering around St. James park, where there are Geese and flowers.





Many buildings are beautiful at night, as we discovered on our walk home.



-Colin

Day 2, or "Too Much Art (Don't Pass Me By)": Culture day. No, there will not be another. We saw rare original manuscripts at the British Library, including the Magna Carta, Rachmaninoff's 2nd Symphony, and Shakespeare's Sonnets.

At the British Museum, we saw statues and works of art from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and Canada (yes, they were all stolen. Huzzah for the British Empire). Apparently, if your country was pillaged and you write a nasty enough letter, you'll get a replica of the item in question: it worked for Egypt, whose Rosetta Stone was taken. Then again, it didn't work for Greece: as they still have the Parthenon itself, I suppose they're not eligible for receiving a knock-off of the statues taken from it.

At the National Gallery, we saw precious works of art from across history. My favourite was, of course, Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

Unfortunately, if you touch any of the items at any of these places, they chop off your hands.

-Jenn

Day 3, or "Happy Five-Year Anniversary! (All You Need is Porn)": ...if you're not Dan, you might be confused here. Still to occur.

Poor Signage

We're staying at the YHA St Paul's Hostel, easily located due to its proximity to St Paul's Cathedral. While following a path along the Thames, we were happy to spot this street sign:

A few minutes later, we were less happy to spot this street sign:

Poor signage! Another Dellow vacation has officially begun!

A welcome to England? So, not really, then.

Jenn and I approached Passport Controls and were met by an officious woman who, glancing at us, inquired, "Are you related?"

Not wanting to fall foul of the law before we were even in the country, I said, "Er, we're engaged?"

An imperious sniff. "So, not really, then."

At first I was put out by this... but then I remembered that this was the country that birthed the Church of England. I can see a similar exchange on a potential honeymoon in a year's time:

"Are you related?"
"Er, we're married?"
"So, not really, then."

Waterloo -> Toronto, check

As we wait in the airport for the plane to board, we are of course thinking of those things we forgot. Did we pack those important papers, or just throw them out? Do I have any underwear, or did I pack it all in storage?

Just kidding, mom, we have everything we need. We have made it to the airport in plenty of time, and as long as the plane doesn't leave while I am posting this blog entry, we will make the plane!

Grimsby: We get it, it's not a sexy town

Tyler: "Isn't Grimsby in Dawson Creek?"

John Morgan:

Ah Grimsby. Famous Grimsby. Such songs as

I love Grimsby in the Springtime
I belong to Grimsby, dear old Grimsby Town
I left my heart in Grimsby.

Poor Simon...

Itinerary: Visually

I'm not so much for reading, so this post includes a visual of our general route. Picking a route was not easy: the transportation, the cities or the ordering!

In the beginning, the blueprint included a baffling bunch of buses and boats, between both blights (Bristol) and beauties (Bath, Berlin and Barcelona). But Jenn bemoaned as base the banter birthed of such a plan... so, we ditched the "B" cities and the "B" transportation in favour of trains and planes.

We cut Spain out of our travel plans and put a lot of southern France in. M. Bobby, your efforts as a teacher (and ours as students!) will be put to the test!

And yes, like the true nerds we are (and the true C&O student she is), we did analyze our itinerary in the context of the travelling salesman problem. "Visiting" all the cities on Wikitravel was discarded as an inelegant, if efficient, solution.


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Itinerary: Textually

April 25th to 26th, fly from Toronto Pearson to London Gatwick (9:30pm to 11:30 am)

April 26th to 31st, London

May 1st, train from London to Grimsby (12 to 3pm)

Dinner in Louth with Simon Nattress and family

May 2nd, train from Grimsby to York (11am to 1pm)

May 2nd and 3rd, York

May 4th, train from York to Manchester (8 to 10am), then fly from Manchester to Marseilles (2:45 to 6:25pm)

May 4th and 5th, Marseilles

May 6th, train from Marseilles to Avignon (8-9am)

May 6th to 8th, Avignon, including day trips to Nimes and Le Pont du Gard

May 8th, train from Avignon to Monte Carlo (8am to 1pm)

May 8th, Monte Carlo for the afternoon

May 8th to 9th, train from Monto Carlo to Florence (10pm to 7am)

May 9th and 10th, Florence

May 11th, train from Florence to Rome (8 to 10am)

May 11th to 15, Rome, including a day trip to Ostia Antica

May 16th, train from Rome to Venice (9am to 2pm)

May 16th to 18th, Venice

May 18th to 19th, train from Venice to Salzburg (11pm to 8am)

May 19th to 21st, Salzburg, including day trips to Munich and Untersberg

May 22nd, train from Salzburg to Vienna (12 to 3pm)

May 22nd to 25th, Vienna

May 26th, train from Vienna to Prague (8am to 2pm)

May 26th to 28th, Prague

May 29th, train from Prague to Frankfurt (8am to 1pm)

May 29th to June 1st, Frankfurt, including a day trip to Bad Homburg

June 2nd, train from Frankurt to Bonn (8 to 10:30am)

June 2nd, Bonn for the day

June 2nd, train from Bonn to Bruges (5pm to 10pm)

June 3rd to 6th, Bruges, including day trips to Ypres and the Belgian coast

June 7th, train from Bruges to Antwerp (8 to 9:30am)

Stop in Antwep for the day

June 7th, train from Antwerp to Amsterdam (8 to 10pm)

June 8th to 10th, Amsterdam

June 11th, fly from Amsterdam to London Gatwick (8 to 9am), then London Gatwick to Toronto Pearson (2pm to 5pm)

Europe-Bound!

Our blog finally works! Trust Google to think that our new email account created a new blog just so it could spam people. Pshaw.

Eventually, we (namely, Colin Dellow and Jennifer Smith) will post information here about our trip to Europe. All 48 days, 7 countries, 18 cities, and millions of pictures. In the nearer future, look for our itinerary here, since our mommies will want to know exactly what we are doing and where we are going.