luckykaa

flickums had a birthday. We went to London for the weekend to celebrate

I had bought her a gift. Cunningly, I thought I could hide it in plain sight, on my bookshelf. In hindsight, it would have been better to have hidden it outside of plain sight. Ooops! I also found it a little difficult to keep which play we were seeing a secret since of the ones she picked, only one of them was happening on her birthday. I am apparently Blackaddder's Prince Albert when it comes to surprises.

First stop was an open top bus tour, because this was an easy thing to do while lugging luggage. It was a little cold.

Actually it was bloody freezing, but dammit, we were going to do this tour! Lots of London, and a commentary by captain obvious. Although the bus did stop at one point, and the commentary didn't. Not all that clear what one of the sites was.

Tour finished, so we made our way to hotel. Then stepped out for food. Decided Gordon Ramsey Gastropub was a little pricey, but there was a nice looking Italian restaurant nearby. It was very nice, although it was a little odd that we seemed to be the only customers.

Saturday we went to Westminster Abbey. Flick liked it because she's a history nerd. I enjoyed a scavenger hunt for markers and memorials for famous scientists, and other people of interest. It's a lot bigger on the inside.

We finished up there, and went to Forbidden Planet, because a friend of Flickums was holding a book launch. Flick liked the look of a book. I sneakily bought it when her back was turned. We then went to Warhammer shop, because Flickums was hoping to buy an Eisenhorn miniature. No chance. Apparently they had sold out in seconds. Then went to Foyles. Feel Flickums may have been a little disappointed. I wanted to go to Orc's Nest, and ended up accidentally buying 7th Sea. I like the idea of running a swashbuckling adventure! Caught up with Flickums at Forbidden Planet. She was disappointed that someone had bought the book she saw...

Went to Camden Market. Was a little disappointed. It used to be possible to get tasty foods for a fiver or so with a range of food stalls all competing for trade. They've all been replaced by much more hipsterish fare that costs a lot more. It was also depressingly full.

Followed up by tracking down a nice place to eat. Flickums chose The Lion And The Unicorn in Kentish Town. It had a nice roaring fire and a lot of noise from nearby. Really good food!

Sunday started off with opening of the presents. Flickums was somewhat surprised that the "surprise" gift was actually a surprise (the book she saw in Forbidden Planet). She was less surprised to find that the other gift was tickets to see The Lion King. I then presetned her with the third present which was the spoiled-surprise.

Went to the Tower of London.  It's a very interesting place since it's been used as a royal residence, an armoury, a royal mint, a prison (but largely only in an ad-hoc way) and now is being used to store the crown jewels. Wish we'd had a little more time. We were a bit rushed, because we had theatre tickets that couldn't wait.  We did see almost everything we wanted to see tough. Started with a Beefeater tour, which I think was worth following.

Saw The Lion King. Was absolutely fabulous. Will go into that some other time. Then we went to Planet Hollywood. Flick kept calling it Forbidden Planet so we renamed the place Forbidden Planet Hollywood. Met Flick's friend. Geeked. Put a message on the screens, except they coudn't read my handwriting, so she is apparently a "geer" rather than a geek. Food was huge! Flick's dessert came with a sparkler.

Finished the weekend by heading home via Buckingham Palace. We caught the start of the changing of the guard!

We had a really nice time. Really need to come back and see more London!

The Ulster Museum has many exciting and interesting exhibits. Probably. We just went there to inspect the tapestry. And distracted only by an Oxfam, we set off.

This particular tapestry is one of the newer exhibits.  77 metres long, it tells us the story so far of A Game Of Thrones. Designed in a manner reminiscent of the Bayeaux Tapestry, it has all the essential events of the last 7 seasons.

So we saw it, thereby catching up with the story. Certainly an impressive achievement. 

We also had a quick look around the museum.  But I wanted to go see the transport museum, so off we went,  distracted only by another charity shop, and an inexpensive cafe where we stopped for food (the museum is next to the university so there's a decent choice of cheap places to eat.

The transport museum is about 6 miles out of town, so one train ride later we were there.

It's not a huge collection but quite nice. There's a range if locomotives and railcars, plus an inspection bicycle. Also some tiny little brewery locomotives. A lot of the trains and coaches have signs inviting us to step aboard, so I did. Flickums had gone of to look at the Titanic exhibit next door. 

One of the things in the Titanic exhibit, but not in the Titanic museum was a selection off artefacts from the wreck. They also had a rivet game where you had to press buttons as soon as they lit up. Hard mode was impossible.

Next room was the transport room. Mostly trams and buses, including a few trolley buses. After that was a display of cars. They had a Delorean (it is Belfast's most famous car after all)! One of the cars was a little single seater "invacar", which seemed to intrigue a couple of American tourists.

Finished off with a visit to the air, land, sea section. Not a lot there but they did have a Short SC1 VTOL experimental aircraft.

I had a nice day. What can I say? I'm a train nerd.

I have a rule that each year, I should spend my birthday in another country. Other parts of the UK do count here, so this year, it's Belfast.

We waited a frustratingly long time in Manchester's budget terminal, before a very short flight in a cute little purple turboprop across the Irish Sea. We caught a taxi, and a very chatty taxi driver took us to our hotel. A fine place, a stone's throw from the city centre.

Only really had a short time, so spent the time wandering around the city getting our bearings, and visiting tourist tat shops. Git add far as Belfast City Hall, before deciding it was time to headback to hotel, and then go for dinner. flickums had found a fantastic little restaurant, and I enjoyed a "Trixie Firecracker" (mainly because it has a name similar to Flick's D&D character) and Trio of Duck. All very tasty. Followed up by heading to a Cuban themed cocktail bar, which seemed popular with Hen Parties... 

Actually there were quite a few Hen Parties, many on those pedal powered mobile bar things that are so popular in touristy cities. 

Decided Cuban bar was a bit loud so went on a hunt dir another. I liked the look of a Victorian themed bar, but it seemed a bit of a dive. Next option was Rita's. Sadly, Flick didn't meet the dress code. Jeans are apparently fine. So is a t-shirt. So it's a hoodie. So are my battered DM's, but light tan coloured boots are "too casual"  

Decided we didn't want to go there anyway, and found another place.

And that was it for the day.

It was a nice birthday