uk trip, part two, autumn edition--- london, day four

i suppose i should post another WARNING: EXCESSIVE PHOTOS because TRANSPORT MUSEUM and i got a little shutterhappy.

what's that? why YES! i DID go to the tranport museum! some of you will recall that leff went on his own a year ago because i was busy fighting the dread welsh cold™. 

SADNESS!! BUT SADNESS NO MORE BECAUSE YAY I WENT TO THERE! and i took welsh cakes to fend off any dread welsh colds™ that might try to sneak up on me.

feed a cold food from its region, right? oh, i never get that saying right.

anyway, it was time to get back on the tube. i was a tad apprehensive about using my oyster card because, as regular readers will remember, i had busted it after jumping a turnstile while drunk the last time we were in london. heh. *scuffing foot*  I NEED NOT HAVE WORRIED as there were no oyster card related problems on this trip. HOORAY!

GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT leff and i took the stairs to the platform at this station. 175 STAIRS it was scary awesome

and way out. (ugh, sorry.)

the transport museum is in covent garden. i had quite a bit of trepidation about this place. i mean, who wants to get all pygmalionned, amirite? 'enry 'iggins can 'uck a 'ick as far as i'm concerned.

but HA covent garden is NOTHING like the miserable movies set there! (EXCEPTION:  "frenzy". that is a good movie. but SO GLAD I DID NOT GET FRENZIED. i mean, i loves hitch but, well....you know.)

anyways, here is that neoclassical st paul's church that you love!

there was busking. it was not maths related ERGO i did not care.

but i DID care about the transport. PEW PEW PEW IT IS TRANSPORT LASER IN YOUR FACE

this museum is super comprehensive and crazy interactive. LOOK AT THIS OMNIBUS HORSE IT IS NOT BEING AN OMNISHAMBLES but it had a speaker in its mouth so it could talk. EEP!

most of you probably know that i am a transit nerd, esp when it comes to london. this is partially due to the intensely wonderful branding of the system. not just the brilliant iconic logo either. many, MANY of their posters are just so spectacular.

i mean, it is serious business. seriously beautiful business.

anyway TUUUUUUUUUUBE MODELS!

these tube models are from the 70s. embiggen if you like. that guy in the back that the suit is dutifully ignoring is hysterical.

one way to tell that you are in the uk is that, sometimes, power is measured in the number of kettles that can be boiled.

PEW PEW PEW STATION NAMES IN YOUR FACE

also, WATCH OUT FOR THE THIRD RAIL

while you are minding the step.

and watch your personal appearance.

so, um, THERE ARE ROUTEMASTERS REAL FULL SIZED OLD SKOOL ROUTEMASTERS

i may or may not have audibly GASP EEPED at them. (i did.) (EDIT! one of those routemasters is NOT a routemaster but is, instead, a trolley bus. because shed says so. DO NOT QUESTION IT SHED KNOWS THESE THINGS OK)

one thing i DID NOT do, however, was try to hail this cab because HELLO the light is not on.

robinson says that the number 15 is a sacred route. THAT JOKE WILL AMUSE MAYBE TWO OF YOU BUT IT WAS WORTH IT

in addition to all of the trains and buses and etcs there was also the "mind the map" show. i was REALLY hoping that this was still up because i had read such glowing reviews.

superb. just. superb. and it all started with this incredible susan stockwell piece made from tickets.

here's a detail.

jeremy deller tube map!!

and a reminder to visit the empire on the london underground. heh.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

helen scalway's "travelling blind"

jonathan parson's "zoned out"

tim fishlock's "a to z"

and claire brewster's "from a time when everything seemed possible".

and then! more graphic interpretation of tube data. this short (and exceedingly crappy, sorry) video showed live time tweets of #love on the tube. aw!

it was all so very. and incredibly. and really. and I NEED TO GO BACK because there were lots of small britons running around so i couldn't do as much interactive stuff as i would have liked. NEXT TIME!

also next time, WE WILL BE GOING BACK TO MEATMARKET!

here is the chicken mushroom burger that i had.

also chili cheese fries that leff and i split.

so filling. SO DELICIOUS. i have not had a burger this good since before moving out to the dread pnw. (ps-- upscale burgers and hot dogs seem to be a trend thing in london right now. I AM SO GLAD. I CAN EAT WITH MY HANDS AND NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH FORK AND KNIFE ISSUES. it is complicated.)

covent garden is really close to seven dials. were you aware? were you also aware that the london forbidden planet is in that neighborhood? ya huh! it is!

we went inside and i 1) tried to pressure leff into buying a doctor who tshirt so he could be one of the doctors for halloween. (he passed) 2) checked out all of the london geek boys because HELLO LONDON GEEK BOYS THEY ARE SO MY TYPE

*cough* where were we? OH YES seven dials! here is a really crap picture of a truly weird monument.

leff and i only knew of it because of an agatha christie book. i still haven't researched it. sorry. look, you have google too. go for it if you need to know more, k?

kid robot is near the monument so we snuck a peek

before passing a rubbish bin on our way to......

84 CHARING CROSS!

oh, please. you are NOT SURPRISED that i am a fan of helene hanff. you MIGHT be surprised to learn that 84 charing cross is no longer marks and co but is, instead, an italian restaurant. (i wasn't. but that would be because i researched the place first.)

leff and i were exhausted and getting cranky because, wow, this area is touristy so HAHA we went to an even TOURISTIER place. YES CHINATOWN.

we really did not do anything other than walk through and quickly terminated at cockfosters.  NOT AN EUPHAMISM

no, i will never be able to take a picture of cockfoster's that is not blurry. this is because i am always laughing so hard. because i am twelve.

that night we stayed in because, wow, hurty feet. ALSO tele. what? part of our trips to the uk are for television. SHUT UP OK!

TOMORROW! um, i forget exactly what we did because my computer is being stupid slow and not letting me get to my pictures. just CHECK BACK! IT WILL BE FUN I PROMISE!