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Published: September 24th 2007
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The 17th of September is a special day for Iz and I, as it is the anniversary of our wedding…two years married and still madly in love - awww. We didn’t have anything terribly romantic planned - being half way around the world, in London was pretty good anyway, and considering our time restraints, we didn’t want to sacrifice a day of sightseeing for a day of lazing in bed, or wining and dining.
With our priorities in check, we made a few quick phone calls to friends back home - hello again Amanda, Simone, Tam and Lea - sorry Cath - you weren’t home L It was great chatting, but we had to get to the Museum meeting place - Holborn Station. After arriving, and talking to the tourist info people, they suggested we actually skip the walking tour we had planned to take, and tour the museum ourselves - it would save some dough after all.
The British Museum is actually free to enter - one of its bonuses, but it definitely doesn’t meet up to the standards set by the New York MET. We grabbed a map and a highlights guide, and after checking out the
Rosetta Stone - the coolest artefact they had, we did a quick hour long tour of the other rooms. One thing that did surprise me, was the amount of Ancient Greek artefacts they had in their hands - almost the entire Pantheon friezes and statues were in one particular room - all taken from the Acropolis. I did find out later though, that these were mere replicas and that the originals had been returned to Athens, who, as you know, are in the process of completely rebuilding a lot of the Acropolis to its former glory.
With our quick tour at an end, we caught another tube down to the end of Hyde Park, to visit Kensington Palace, the home of the late Princess Diana. The Palace had advertised a photo and clothing exhibition of the Princess, which I thought would be quite large, but after a couple of slideshow rooms, and a handful of dresses, that part of the tour was over. It was still lovely to sit and watch the Royal Wedding and see the beautiful photos of Diana.
The ticket also allowed us to walk through the state rooms of the Palace, which could do
with a bit more investment from our tourist dollars. The rooms were shabby, and a lot of the décor looked as though it needed restoration. I can understand the desire to keep things looking authentic, but the furnishings were at the stage were they did not resemble their original state - they looked more like Endeavour Foundation bargains. The Hapsburg’s of Vienna definitely kicked arse in Palatial terms - and we didn’t tour Kensington for too long.
On the way back to the tube station, we noticed a small Italian café with a bargain lunch - 3 courses for 5 pound. We quickly grabbed a table, and celebrated over Minestrone Soup. Steak Pie, and Cheesecake - yum! The day before, our tour guide had told us about a Star Wars Exhibition, and if you’ve read the previous blogs, you’ll already know that I’m a bit of a fan. So after finally tracking down WHERE the exhibition was, we made our way back to the tube, for the last stop of the day.
The exhibition was in the London Customs Hall - a strange place to house a sci-fi/fantasy expo, but it was kinda cool walking through these stately
rooms, looking at Pod Racers, Droids and Costumes. I had the best 2 hours! Shortly after arriving we were asked to join the Jedi Training Academy, and so Iz and I walked down the passageways, to a small room, with half a dozen light sabres at the front.
Not everyone could participate, but after calling a few volunteers to the front, and still needing a couple more, I put my hand up - how often do you get the chance to become a Jedi. At the front of the hall, in front of 20 odd people, and a giggling Iz, I learnt how to wield my sabre. Then, when we were truly ready, who should step in but the Emperor and Darth Vadar.
That poor little girl at the front, shit herself, and came straight to the back to hide behind me. Darth was bloody tall - I can tell you that (we found out later that the guy stands at 6ft 10!) One by one, we had to take on Vadar in a quick dual, and luckily, the power of the force prevailed, and in the end, we used our JedI powers to vanquish them from the
room.
I loved looking at all the props from the movies, including actual models, and clothing worn by the actors, but the original storyboards and sketches were just as interesting. I could have spent ages there, but by 5:30pm it was time to head home. We went for a quick walk to the London Eye, which was only 2 minutes away, but decided against going on it - we both though it looked rather boring, and the weather wasn’t the best.
Back at King’s Cross it was time to snuggle up, and enjoy the wonderful time we’ve had together, not only on this trip, but as a couple so far. Besides, taking a girl to a Star Wars Exhibition, with a couple of Storm Troopers thrown in, always sets the mood 😉
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