Old Bill's Town

On Sunday the 12th of Feb I got up at a hideously uncivilised hour to jump on a bus bound for Stratford-upon-Avon. Unfortunately the weather was a disappointment; it was cold enough that there was still snow on the ground and a heavy fog followed us for most of the day. Nevertheless, I fell for this cute little town and am almost certainly heading back in Spring.

The tour was organised by the International Society and our ticket included entry to three Shakespeare houses. Sadly, Anne Hathaway's cottage was not included as it is a little way out of town. We did a hop-on-hop-off tour in the morning so we got to see the outside of the cottage at least, but sadly I wasn't quick enough with my camera to get any decent snaps. To make up for it, I went camera-crazy the rest of the day.

The only shot of Anne Hathaway's cottage I managed to get.

Mary Arden's Cottage

Mary Arden's Farmhouse

This is the back of Mary Arden's farm which is still used. Poor sheep, must have been freezing.

Definitely the best lampost I've ever seen

Holy Trinity Church and Shakespeare's burial

Hall's Croft

The Avon

Couldn't take photos inside any of the houses unfortunately but the back of Nash's house and gardens looks something like this...

Tudor buildings

The last stop of the day was to Shakespeare's Birthplace. Only part of the original house is still there but they've set up a museum called The Shakesperience. As tacky as the name is, the museum was pretty cool. 

The museum ends with a hall of fame of actors who have taken on Shakespeare's roles. Joseph was definitely the best one.

In spite of the weather, it was a really lovely day. I can only imagine how pretty the town is during spring. 

Fallen Empires

Last Friday I saw my first live act in Manchester. And they were brilliant.

I've been a fan of Snow Patrol for a long time, and not just because they are Irish, but I've never had the chance to see them live. Manchester delivered.

The warm up act was a Manchester band by the name of Everything Everything. In spite of their rather lame name, I quite enjoyed their set. They classify themselves as indie electronica.

We got general admission (standing) tickets and since we got there super early we managed to get nice and close to the front. I'm horrendously out of practice with my concert photography so in spite of the fact that I took about a million photos there are very few worth posting.

I know this isn't the besst photo but I love it anyway. I took this during 'Run' when the crowd
was singing louder than Gary; he found that hilarious.

I will probably be back with more photos once I finish sifting through them all. I think these will suffice for now though.



Manchester United

Last Tuesday 31st I went to the Manchester United vs. Stoke city soccer game. Yes, soccer, not football. I don't know much about soccer (I've never been able to figure out the off-side rule) but it was alot of fun regardless. It was also freezing. I have never been so cold in my life. It took an hour of walking from the stadium back to the city to get the feeling back in my feet. 

I'll be honest, it wasn't the most exciting of games; Stoke were never really in it. The end result was 2-0 to Man U. The crowd got more excited when they found out Man. City lost to Everton because it put them equal on the top of the table.

The photos are a little blurry; my camera can only zoom so far.

Our Whale is Better

Thursday 19th Jan - Natural History Museum

To round out my last week in London I headed back to the Natural History Museum (I say back because it is directly across the road from the V and A). And this is what I saw...

The Natural History Museum and the V and A

Oh, hello Hogwarts

Now, onto the exhibits...

Not the most kid-friendly display

The Primates hall

I spent far too long loitering around the opal displays

The Mammals Room

The Mammals room was definitely my favourite, mostly because it was dominated by Cetacean displays. The Blue whale was rather impressive, but I do love our (Brisbane's) Humpback Whale.

The rare double horns of a Narwhal (they usually only have one)

The Marsupial display was interesting, as in, none of the marsupials actually looked like real marsupials. Case in point: Koalas don't look like this...

And apparently this is a Tasmanian wolf...sorry dudes, that's a Tasmanian Tiger*.

I took a stupid number of photos in the Museum but I might leave it here for now - I can sense your boredom is slowly growing. That, and I really want to go frolick in the snow.

Stay tuned for posts on all things regarding Manchester United, Snow Patrol, and snow.  

* Yes, I realise they go by both names but seriously who has ever called it a wolf??