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amulySo of course we took a million pictures on the UK trip. Also of course, I'm not going to post all of those. Yes, we saw the Tower of London, and Westminster Abbey, and Whitehall, and all that good stuff. That is not what this post is about. This post is all about the amuly-specific, crazy nerdy/Doctor Who fan/Classics major STUFF that we saw over the course of the trip.
Warning:
Image heavy
Me acting like an idiot.
Pictures of my little brother.
Pictures selected purely because of weird associations in my brain.
So! Best get us started with a stupid brain-association photo, yeah?
Why is this a stupid association thing? Because when I saw it, my brain went to Christian saying "This isn't the Royal Albert Hall, Zainab." YES. I did see this entire trip through the lens of British television. .... Oops?
Look! A phone booth! And it's all British-y! I was amazed at how many of these were around, and how they were like, actual functional phone booths. NEAT!
HAYFEVER. OH DEAR GOD WHY?! WHYYYYYY?!??!?!?!!?
No, this isn't me posing for a picture. I was just FREAKING DYING because of the damn HAYFEVER. WHAT THE FUCK, LONDON?!
Ooo, look, a random street? I wonder why I was so determined to take a picture here....
IT'S WHERE BOWIE SHOT THE ZIGGY STARDUST AND SPIDERS FROM MARS ALBUM COVER. :DDDDDDDDDD
And while I'm the Bowie fan in the family, Mom's the Beatles fan. So I plotted our route (which, oh my gosh, so proud of myself for the Tube routes I designed for this day. You've got to remember, I'm from Florida, where there is no public transportation. So yay for me!) and we found Abbey Road! And then we did the terrible tourist thing and darted between cars to try and get the shot :P
Then I met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
myprettycabinet !!!!! Who is, I'm telling you, even more awesome in person than she seems online. SIRIUSLY. OH MY GOSH. I wish we lived on the same freaking continent so we could be IRL besties forever and ever, but we'll just have to be satisfied being internet besties because SO FREAKING AWESOME, YOU GUYS!!! We ate dinner and drank and made terrible Rent jokes the whole time. And her and my brother are both smell-blind!! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!
Now, I'm Italian (OH MY GOSH THIS IS A HUGE SURPRISE) and a Classics minor (ANOTHER HUGE SURPRISE). So Roman history is like, big big deal to me.
HADRIAN'S WALL!! :DDDDD
TAKE THAT, YOU BARBARIAN CELTS!!!
We found some loose pieces and stole bits of it! Shhh!
Scottish border! As you can see, the weather was entirely appropriate. Me and my poor mother (Side note: the old people on the tour with us kept assuming that her and I were sisters. This... I mean... yeah, my mom looks good and everything, but... what the hell?!?! ;____;)
I HAVE EATEN THE HAGGIS! I thought it was quite good, actually.
Another moment of intense nerdiness brought on by too much British Telly. IT'S WHERE IANTO'S DAD WORKED!! :DDDDD
Another telly moment: I know about Gretna Green due to Eastenders. No, really. So I was like "Oh my gosh, Gretna Green! EASTENDERS HAS BEEN THERE!!!"
Okay. Beasties. Why have none of you, my British friends, told me about these cool thingys?!?!?! THEY ARE SO NEAT!
Also, you guys have a ridiculous amount of sheep. And it was lamb season! THERE WERE LITTLE BABY LAMBS EVERYWHERE! :DDDD
They were sticking with their mommies and running around and just being generally ADORABLE on every hillside we drove by!!
Note: In America - the part of America I'm from - if you drive up the highways it's all cows. Tons and tons of cows. So to see cows replaced by sheep was just a really weird little culture shock. Obviously there are sheep in America, but... weird. It was just a very "you're not home" thing as we were driving around.
Big surprise of coolness: Chester! Wow! I had no idea this place existed, but oh my gosh, so cool! We didn't have time to walk the entire wall, but we did walk a bit of it from where our tour bus dropped us off over to the amphitheater/Roman gardens. Super nifty!
And you were totally allowed to just wander around the amphitheater! I don't think I've ever gotten to do that, anywhere in Italy/Rome or anything. So THAT was nifty.
CAAAARDIIIFFFF!!!!!! :DDDD
We actually got there like, evening afternoon (which, by the way, Europeans: what's up with EVERYTHING closing down at 4:30/5? It was like that in Italy, too. Geeze Louise. What, you never have to do stuff later in the day?
So, wandered around the Plas, DUH.
Yes, that's my brother and I pretending like the stone is sinking down. SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP.
Ianto Jones memorial still up and depressing as ever ;____;
Oh my gosh oh my gosh it's where Jack and Ianto were talking the second day that Ianto tried to get the job at Torchwood and gave Jack the coffee and they were walking down this pathway RIGHT THERE OH MY GOSH!!!! :DDDD
Off Torchwood for a moment, onto Doctor Who:
Thanks toelectrictoes via twitter, she informed me that the diner the Impossible Astronaut was filmed in is on the bay! So we wandered around, found something that looked close...
And then asked someone who worked there AND IT TOTALLY WAS THAT DINER! :DDDDD
Look at me: trying to look 1/100th as cool as River. (IT'S NOT WORKING ;____;)
Finally, to round out the telly-based experience of Cardiff, we managed to catch one of those forward/backwards cabs (taxis?) back to the hotel JUST LIKE the one they road in for the Series 2 premier. Eeeee!!
Then, at the urging of all my UK friends on twitter, I tried Irn Bru.
It is awful. You jerks. --_--
It tastes like cough medicine! YURGK!
My brother liked it though, so... no account for taste, I suppose.
On one of the last days of the tour, we made our way to Bath. Which, as you should know by this point in the post, Roman shit = I AM SO HAPPY.
UNFF. You guys. SO FREAKING COOL. Like... UNF. Romans, man. ROMANS. Fucking brilliant.
So there I am ^ just chilling at the bath house. Like a pimp, yo.
Then we were back in London, and my brother and I had done some research online to try and figure out if there were any Police Boxes still in London. According to Wikipedia, as of 1997 there was only one, and it was above the Earl's Court Tube station. Not a lot to go on, but we had one last evening in London, so damn it, we were going to try.
...
...
...
And guess what?
...
...
...
...
We so totally found it!!! *high fives*
So that was about it! Our tour of the UK! We did lots of other like, important stuff that I didn't include in here: Buckingham Palace, boat ride down the Thames, York, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Stratford Upon Avon, &c &c &c. But I just thought I'd share the nerdy part of my trip, because, duh, that's obviously the best part ~.^
Cheers!
Warning:
Image heavy
Me acting like an idiot.
Pictures of my little brother.
Pictures selected purely because of weird associations in my brain.
So! Best get us started with a stupid brain-association photo, yeah?
Why is this a stupid association thing? Because when I saw it, my brain went to Christian saying "This isn't the Royal Albert Hall, Zainab." YES. I did see this entire trip through the lens of British television. .... Oops?
Look! A phone booth! And it's all British-y! I was amazed at how many of these were around, and how they were like, actual functional phone booths. NEAT!
HAYFEVER. OH DEAR GOD WHY?! WHYYYYYY?!??!?!?!!?
No, this isn't me posing for a picture. I was just FREAKING DYING because of the damn HAYFEVER. WHAT THE FUCK, LONDON?!
Ooo, look, a random street? I wonder why I was so determined to take a picture here....
IT'S WHERE BOWIE SHOT THE ZIGGY STARDUST AND SPIDERS FROM MARS ALBUM COVER. :DDDDDDDDDD
And while I'm the Bowie fan in the family, Mom's the Beatles fan. So I plotted our route (which, oh my gosh, so proud of myself for the Tube routes I designed for this day. You've got to remember, I'm from Florida, where there is no public transportation. So yay for me!) and we found Abbey Road! And then we did the terrible tourist thing and darted between cars to try and get the shot :P
Then I met
myprettycabinet !!!!! Who is, I'm telling you, even more awesome in person than she seems online. SIRIUSLY. OH MY GOSH. I wish we lived on the same freaking continent so we could be IRL besties forever and ever, but we'll just have to be satisfied being internet besties because SO FREAKING AWESOME, YOU GUYS!!! We ate dinner and drank and made terrible Rent jokes the whole time. And her and my brother are both smell-blind!! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!Now, I'm Italian (OH MY GOSH THIS IS A HUGE SURPRISE) and a Classics minor (ANOTHER HUGE SURPRISE). So Roman history is like, big big deal to me.
HADRIAN'S WALL!! :DDDDD
TAKE THAT, YOU BARBARIAN CELTS!!!
We found some loose pieces and stole bits of it! Shhh!
Scottish border! As you can see, the weather was entirely appropriate. Me and my poor mother (Side note: the old people on the tour with us kept assuming that her and I were sisters. This... I mean... yeah, my mom looks good and everything, but... what the hell?!?! ;____;)
I HAVE EATEN THE HAGGIS! I thought it was quite good, actually.
Another moment of intense nerdiness brought on by too much British Telly. IT'S WHERE IANTO'S DAD WORKED!! :DDDDD
Another telly moment: I know about Gretna Green due to Eastenders. No, really. So I was like "Oh my gosh, Gretna Green! EASTENDERS HAS BEEN THERE!!!"
Okay. Beasties. Why have none of you, my British friends, told me about these cool thingys?!?!?! THEY ARE SO NEAT!
Also, you guys have a ridiculous amount of sheep. And it was lamb season! THERE WERE LITTLE BABY LAMBS EVERYWHERE! :DDDD
They were sticking with their mommies and running around and just being generally ADORABLE on every hillside we drove by!!
Note: In America - the part of America I'm from - if you drive up the highways it's all cows. Tons and tons of cows. So to see cows replaced by sheep was just a really weird little culture shock. Obviously there are sheep in America, but... weird. It was just a very "you're not home" thing as we were driving around.
Big surprise of coolness: Chester! Wow! I had no idea this place existed, but oh my gosh, so cool! We didn't have time to walk the entire wall, but we did walk a bit of it from where our tour bus dropped us off over to the amphitheater/Roman gardens. Super nifty!
And you were totally allowed to just wander around the amphitheater! I don't think I've ever gotten to do that, anywhere in Italy/Rome or anything. So THAT was nifty.
CAAAARDIIIFFFF!!!!!! :DDDD
We actually got there like, evening afternoon (which, by the way, Europeans: what's up with EVERYTHING closing down at 4:30/5? It was like that in Italy, too. Geeze Louise. What, you never have to do stuff later in the day?
So, wandered around the Plas, DUH.
Yes, that's my brother and I pretending like the stone is sinking down. SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP.
Ianto Jones memorial still up and depressing as ever ;____;
Oh my gosh oh my gosh it's where Jack and Ianto were talking the second day that Ianto tried to get the job at Torchwood and gave Jack the coffee and they were walking down this pathway RIGHT THERE OH MY GOSH!!!! :DDDD
Off Torchwood for a moment, onto Doctor Who:
Thanks to
electrictoes via twitter, she informed me that the diner the Impossible Astronaut was filmed in is on the bay! So we wandered around, found something that looked close...And then asked someone who worked there AND IT TOTALLY WAS THAT DINER! :DDDDD
Look at me: trying to look 1/100th as cool as River. (IT'S NOT WORKING ;____;)
Finally, to round out the telly-based experience of Cardiff, we managed to catch one of those forward/backwards cabs (taxis?) back to the hotel JUST LIKE the one they road in for the Series 2 premier. Eeeee!!
Then, at the urging of all my UK friends on twitter, I tried Irn Bru.
It is awful. You jerks. --_--
It tastes like cough medicine! YURGK!
My brother liked it though, so... no account for taste, I suppose.
On one of the last days of the tour, we made our way to Bath. Which, as you should know by this point in the post, Roman shit = I AM SO HAPPY.
UNFF. You guys. SO FREAKING COOL. Like... UNF. Romans, man. ROMANS. Fucking brilliant.
So there I am ^ just chilling at the bath house. Like a pimp, yo.
Then we were back in London, and my brother and I had done some research online to try and figure out if there were any Police Boxes still in London. According to Wikipedia, as of 1997 there was only one, and it was above the Earl's Court Tube station. Not a lot to go on, but we had one last evening in London, so damn it, we were going to try.
...
...
...
And guess what?
...
...
...
...
We so totally found it!!! *high fives*
So that was about it! Our tour of the UK! We did lots of other like, important stuff that I didn't include in here: Buckingham Palace, boat ride down the Thames, York, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Stratford Upon Avon, &c &c &c. But I just thought I'd share the nerdy part of my trip, because, duh, that's obviously the best part ~.^
Cheers!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Awesome!
Date: 2011-05-16 05:35 pm (UTC)Re: Awesome!
Date: 2011-05-16 05:37 pm (UTC)