Afternoon Tea

This Friday was a free day for our group, no class and no work for everyone. So, we decided to finally to have afternoon tea while in London. We booked afternoon tea and champaign at the Hempel Hotel. This was such a beautiful location. We ended up booking an early tea, so we were actually the only ones in the garden for the first part of our tea. The garden at the hotel where we had tea is where one of the final scenes in Notting Hill was filmed. Click here to a link to a YouTube video to refresh your memory.

Our table looking into the garden.

They needed to hold a credit card at the bar to make sure we paid...so I put mine on file. It got it's own individual safe and I got to hold the key while we were at tea. I thought that was pretty cool.

The spread (and Alex in the background).

My first cup of tea in London and one of the sandwiches.

We could tell that the garden was being set up for an event. Our waiter said that there was going to be a party for 250 people there later that evening. As we were eating, we saw large, wrapped items being unloaded into the area. We figured out (before they were opened) that they were replica elephants from the Elephant Parade (go to this post for a reminder). These were smaller than the ones I saw in the actual parade...but they were still cool to see again, especially as they were being unpacked while we were there. Here are some of the pictures of the replicas after they were set up:

Natural History Museum, Part 2

Today we had class in the morning. It was our first 3 hour long class and students gave presentations today. It was interesting to see what the students picked as topics related to British Life and Culture and also how they presented. After class a few of us went (back) to the Natural History Museum. Today we went through the "Green Zone." This contains reptiles, fossils, birds, minerals, evolution, and ecology. I still have to go back to go through two other sections, but I am okay with that!

Some pictures from today:

An extinct animal. Look at how big that thing was.

Some of the birds in the collection.

Long legged birds!

A dodo bird.

The ostrich was huge...so tall!

An emperor penguin.

I thought this was a cool exhibit showing how egg sizes can vary based on the size of the adult bird of the species.

Can you guess what is in this case?

They are all different kinds of hummingbirds. This is an antique collection that had been donated to the museum, it was pretty impressive to look at.

Last Wednesday Update

So to conclude my tourist day on Wednesday, I made two additional stops. The first was at Liberty of London. This was a very impressive store and one that you can get lost in. The outside is so quaint with its tudor style appearance and so is the inside with beautiful woodward and grand staircases. The store is huge! I couldn't even fit all of it in a picture. I was very pleased once inside when I found the fabric and crafts department. It was interesting to look at Liberty's own lines of fabric and the fabric that they carry from other designers.

Wednesday was also the night of musical #4: Phantom of the Opera! It was absolutely fabulous! The sets, scene changes, and actors were amazing. It was such a great experience!

Museum of London

I also was able to go to the Museum of London on Wednesday. This museum is a more contemporary museum that depicts the history of the city from "London before London" to present time.

The entrance to the museum.

The very helpful theme from the Museum...too bad I don't always know where "here" is. :)

There are windows in the museum that show part of the London Wall that is still standing.

A model of the first theatre built in London on the banks of the Thames River.

A display showcasing some of the modern additions to the city skyline...it even included models of some of the London 2012 Olympic buildings that are going to be built for the games.

Museum of Childhood

On Wednesday I was able to spend the day being a tourist...it was great. I visited several different sites throughout the city. I started at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood. This museum contains the UK's collection of childhood-related objects. The collection spans from the 1600s to present time. They have toys, dolls, doll houses, games, puppets, nursery items, children's clothing, and children's furniture. It is a pretty impressive collection! I only wish I could have played with all of the toys!

The front of the building!

Tamagotchi! I remember those things...I think mine always died.

A big robot on display...apparently cheering for UGA!

The large gliding horses...lots of children were riding them, they looked like fun.

The little people house! We had one of those!

Some of the childhood clothing display. It was pretty impressive to see how children's clothes have changed over time.

The first toy lawn mower...I think it looks pretty real to me.

The toy sewing machines!

Currently the museum has an exhibit about child size seats and chairs. It was pretty interesting...really it was! Here was the big sculpture in the center of the museum.

Some of the different chairs that were on display from various time periods.

A Goldilocks display...which chair is right for you?

Consumerism in a Museum!

Today I went to the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising. Remember that I am getting a PhD in Consumer Economics...so a museum about consumers and consumer products is a pretty intriguing thing. This is a small museum in the Notting Hill area, so I was able to walk through the beautiful neighborhood and through part of Portobello Road Market.

The museum has thousands of products and brands that are set up in a timeline starting from the Victorian Age (in the late 1800's) to present day. It was pretty impressive how much products have changed over time. I was more impressed how well packaged and branded products were as early as the 1800's. Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures in the museum, but here is one I swiped from the museum's website.

Tonight I am going to see the third Twilight movie: Eclipse. It was just released in the UK on the 9th, so now I can finally see it.

London Sea-Life Aquarium

Today I spent part of the day grading student papers (a lot of homework assignments are due on Mondays). I also did my first two site visits with students on their internships today.

In the late afternoon/early evening, I met my friend Alex (after she got off of work) and went to the London Aquarium. It was a pretty neat aquarium, though not quite as big and interactive as the Georgia Aquarium. We went late in the day (right before closing) so there were not many people there which was nice.

The building that houses the aquarium.

The sting ray bay. Sadly, this aquarium did not have a sting ray petting area...apparently it is bad for their health.

One of the big sting rays.

Some of the sharks.

Such colorful fish!

The beautiful sea turtle at the aquarium.

Tell me why in the rainforest section one of the tanks had a longhorn skull in the bottom of it?