Travel Diary – London

Thursday morning I visited the National Science Museum. This required me to take The Tube. This was an experience. Buying the ticket – a Daypass for sections 1 and 2 – was easy and only #4.30. What was strange was the life to get to the platform. I found out later it is about 30 meters down, or about 7-8 stories down.

There was a train there as soon as I arrived. But like normal the train was comfortably full. And unlike Sydney trains, the trains were small. They were more like an aircraft body, the type where there are 2-3 seats on each side. On the 2nd station a guy at the door I was at got out, put up his hand and yelled “Unattended Bag”.

Security seems to be the reason for this – out of concern for bombs and the like. Immediately a station assistant came, and the guy collected the bad – presumably since the woman who owned it had turned up. Then things continued as normal.

When I arrived at the station things were just as you would expect with a subway. There was a little walk to get to the museum. Once the museum opened I had a good chance to look around.

I was actually disappointed with comments on many of the space exhibition about how things were reproductions. They had a lunar lander that was a copy, and not a good one. [OK, so all landers are preproductions, but the Smithsonian at least has the authentic units that were made as a backup]. There was also a Sputnic reproduction. I was very unimpressed.

Then I started going further and some things improved. The first steam train was on display – The Rocket. They also had part of the original Babbage difference engine on display. Up stairs they had the operational version I had come to see, the one that could actually work thanks to improvements in manufacturing.

Also on display in the same general area as a cesium time and frequency standard. This was something I was impressed with since I had never seen a naked one before. One of the other artifacts was the Pilot Ace which beat Eniac as the first digital computer.

One area they could have improved was the Cray supercomputer. Theirs was behind Perspex. The Smithsonian lets you sit on theirs – which is why this device is called the worlds most expensive love seat. [Under the seat cushions are the cooling devices for the computer]

The Grenwich Talking clock was on display, next to an Ampex Video Recorder. What I need to point out about the later is that it was from 1956, and was the size of a large washing machine. Next to these is a prototype of The Clock of the Long Now. An attempt to build a clock that can count minutes and millennia.

The museum had a lot of medical machinery on show – such as the first heart-lung machine, and many MRI scanners.

Following this I took the tube and then the new Docklands Light Rail over to Greenwich. Ok, technically I didn’t since I got out at Cuty Sark. Although this might sound like something from the TV Show Alias, this is actually the name of a ship they are restoring. I have no idea what will happen when it is restored. This is like naming Sydney’s Darling Harbour station after that ship they are restoring there.

I then walked up the hill to Greenwich. This took me past the National Maritime Museum which I didn’t worry about. I also walked past a shop marketed as “The First shop in the world 0 deg 0 min 24 sec” What they forget about is that their next door neighbor is a bit closer, although it sells food rather than souvenirs.

I was a bit puzzled since I had my GPS with me. I could not get it to line up. Someone had told me that zero degrees longitude is the same regardless of datum. It was out by about 20 seconds. The people there could not help either. One of them says that his GPS could not show this correctly, and that this is because GPS is a US system. After some playing I could “Ordinance Survey” in the GPS datum list and this fixed things. The GPS did actually line up with the thin red line. I was impressed.

Looking through the facility was interesting. What I was disappointed about was that I could not take photos of the Harrison clocks. I was really impressed with them though – they looked great. Also on display were some of Halley’s tools such as his inclinometer.

They did allow me to look though the siting tube set up on the prime meridian. Rather impressive. I then wended my way back to the hotel via London Bridge, after finding a Starbucks to get my email.

Friday I took a tube down to Buckingham Palace. This required that I go through a park, and I was shocked to see deckchairs for hire. The weather was distinctly overcast. Are the British this hard up for summer? Buckingham Palace seemed nice from the outside. With all the other buildings around it was not really that impressed. I then waked down to the houses of parliament.

Down there I visited Westminster Abby. I thought that this was a church. But they charge admission which is reasonable. But they say that they don’t get any income from “The state, the crown OR FROM THE CHURCH”. Why not? Then again my local church could say the time at many times.

The Abby is not a church, it is really a mausoleum, a museum, and a memorial. I pity anyone who goes there for a funeral. Most of the congregation will not see anything thanks to an area in the center of the church. I get the impression that the entire place is quite political, with who gets to build what.

I saw parliament and Big Ben. Parliament is serious about security. They have an area that all cars entering must pass over with lights and cameras before a barrier is removed. I then walked up to London bridge, and saw it along with the Tower of London.

Although I did not go in at this stage, at the tower I did see an interesting artifact. There was a small building there, maybe 3 meters high, and a similar diameter, with the label of “London Hydrolic Power Company”. This company was purchased for a real song about 20 years ago. The business was declining and I think the previous owner was happy to get rid of it, and happy to get any money for it. After all many of the pipes were starting to decay, and everyone wants to use electricity.

But the company who purchased it set up a phone company. They used the pipes to run phone cables, and worked out that they could use the right of way for communications cabling. And they made a killing on the deal.

Just around the corner is the “Hung, Drawn and Quartered Pub”, with the inscription of “I went to see Major General Harrison Hung, Drawn and Quatered. He was looking as cheerful as any many could in that condition. Samuels Pepy’s 13 October 1660”. I can only assume that this was before the procedure since after it had started I am sure that he could not have been looking cheerful. After this I found a Starbucks to get my email, and then went back to the hotel.

Saturday I realized that there was one place I really should visit. It was next to the Vauxall bridge – The MI6 HQ. This was blown up in the James Bond movie “The world is not enough”. I then walked down to the Tower of London and went inside. It really was a castle, moat and all. I was quite impressed.

They have so many artifacts on display, including the beheading implements that were apparently used on Anne Boelin. I got to see the Crown Jewels. I was impressed, but not that impressed. I thought there would be more of them, and that they would be flashier. There were also swords and scepters from the past millennium. Wow.

OK. I am now starting to get London and the Tube. Rush Hour would be horrible but apart from that it all makes sense. Roads are too narrow which would make driving fun. In fact if you take the USA roads, and then compare them to Australian roads, and go one step further, then that is London roads. I have yet to see a road that is more than two lanes each way. Must be bad during peak hour.

More on the hotel. There are some issues. I think I have mentioned previously that they only use real keys, with a 12” aluminium rod to discourage you from taking them out of the hotel. This includes a key for the “MiniBar” which of course is empty, but is actually a real “Minibar”.

Pay per view on TV? Ha. There are about 10 channels, of which one is from Europe, and one is from Italy. After all, who needs Pay Per View when you have Italian TV. The Miss Italy was on a couple of nights on that channel. BBC World is the best channel available.

The towels in the hotel are quite small. In fact most other hotels give you bigger floor mats. I can only just put one around me. And depending on the day, there is only one towel there. Too bad if you are a woman and want to wrap up your wet hair. The bathtub/shower is about 6 inches higher than is normal. This is strange, and actually quite dangerous when you are getting out. Also the bath is only just wide enough for me. Just. There is no exhaust fan in the bathroom making things humid after showering.

Another couple of missing features refer to the door. Firstly there is no peep hole. So crime rates are low. But there are no door hangers saying “Please Do Not Disturb”, so you have to make sure that you lock yourself in… There is only one power outlet in the room which is fine. I brought an Australian power board. Things were simpler that way. Room service is fine, but they do not collect trays over night from outside the room. Actually they don’t even always do it if you leave them in your room. [Room service is a great way to escape the cigarette smoke in the restaurant].

Basically with some improvements the hotel could be so much better than it is…