GeorgeLondon

Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236MiscellaneousLondon Cultureseekers Meetup GroupOne of the activities which I did notreport was the visit to the Wellcome Collection which is a medicaland science museum sponsored by the world's largest pharma companyGlaxcoSmithKline. This visit was an event sponsored by the LondonCultureseekers Group – meetup group with an astonishing number ofmembers: nearly 24,000. The organizer is a young Londoner namedRobert who, with the energy of the Energizer rabbit, single handedlyorganizes about fifteen events a month. Since 2012 I have visitedBletchley Park, St Paul's Cathedral, the Imperial War Museum, theScience Museum...with his group. His events typically end at a pubwhere there is lots of friendly conversation. Next time you are inLondon check out the web page for London Cultureseekers – you mightfind something intere... read more

Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236Nov 9 – 13: Remembrance Day, Lord MayorNovember 9, WednesdayBritish MuseumThe British Museum is a world class institution that is dedicated to the study of human history, art, and culture. It houses perhaps the largest collection in the world with eight million objects in it inventory. Because I had spent a full day exploring the British Museum on my 2014 visit to London I focused on a temporary exhibit titled "Sunken Cities" which was about two major port cities in Egypt which sank into the Mediterranean Sea around 300 AD due to liquefaction of the silts on which they were built following earth tremors. The underwater ruins were not discovered until the 1990s. Here is a description of the exhibition copied from the British Museum's website:"Vanished beneath the waters of the Mediterranean, the lost ... read more

Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236November 3 – 5: Guy Fawkes Day in LewesNovember 3, ThursdayLanded at Heathrow and made my way towhat would be my home for the next two weeks. This was theInternational House of the University of Westminster, a universityresidence hall located in the Lambeth borough of London. It is in theSouthwark area not too far from the Lambeth North (temporarilyclosed) and the Waterloo underground and train stations and theLondon Eye. I stayed in the same facility back in 2012 whileattending the Summer Olympic Games. The neighborhood is off thetourist radar, and the residence hall is across the street from theImperial War Museum which is my most favorite museum in London.November 4, FridayThe morning was spent walking throughthe government district in Westminster; you know: Big Ben, 10 DowningStreet... The walk ended at the Horse Guard... read more

Geo: 54.5973, -5.93019Belfast Day 2 (March 31)On this day I took a walking tour ofthe Falls Road area lead by Robert, a former member of the IRA whospent twelve years in prison. This was advertised (and also mentionedin the Rick Steves book) as a three hour walk but it fact it lastedfour and one-half hours. Robert's past membership in the IRA and hiscurrent work for Sinn Fein has given him lots of street creed: itseems like every driver of a black taxi and every person over fiftyyears gave him the high sign as our group walked along the street.We met at Divis Tower – a twentystory apartment building located at the edge of Falls Road (000). Thetop two stories of the building has been used by the British army asan observation post. Because there were ten ... read more

Geo: 53.3441, -6.26749Dublin Day 6 (March 29)This is my last day in Dublin. Themorning was spent taking a tour of the 1916 sites by bus. There were at least four companies that provided Rising bus tours, and today wasthe only date on which I could reserve a spot; like the other placesin the city there was much demand for the bus tours. (020)The approach that this particular bustour company took was to have a male and a female performer act outwhat was in the minds of some participants of the Rising as the busdrove from one important site to another. We would get off the bus atcertain stops (Saint Stephen's Green, Dublin Castle) to hear whathappened at that particular site. (010, 030, 040, 050)At the conclusion of the bus tour Iwalked over to the General Post ... read more