British Museum, London Eye and Time Team!

Yesterday was a busy day! Having started the day with plans to see the British Museum in the morning and to do the London Eye in the Afternoon, we also managed to day along to see the show Oliver with the Redline team. (we have also seen Billy Elliot and the Lion King, which I will post an update about later).

The British Museum has an amazing collection of important historical artefacts, serving not as a museum for British history, but more as an example of world history, with exhibitions dedicated to ancient Egypt, Africa, Asia and the Americas (disappointingly, Australia seems to be missing, but I suppose modern Australian history is relatively young, plus its not why I went to the museum in the first place, but it would have been nice to see us included).

A trip on the London eye was a fantastic experience, just like St. Pauls Cathedral, it provides a fantastic perspective of the city. The ever changing view allows you to take in different parts of the city and towards the end, provides probably the greatest views of the Westminster area, with the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the Abbey, from anywhere in the city.

With what must be an amazing coincidence of timing, for the last few days, there has been excavation working occurring on the grounds of Westminster Abbey. It was a little hidden at first, as the whole strip from Victoria station, to Westminster and up to Trafalgar Square is undergoing maintenance works (in anticipation for the 2012 Olympics, I think). Walking past we discovered that it is a excavation for the show Time Team! They are digging up the early foundations of the Abbey for an episode of the show to air early next year. All of the shows ‘stars’ were also on site!

I simply cannot believe the amount of luck that I have had during this trip. Things that would be notable sights on any given day, I’ve discovered out of chance by just walking around where ever I am. Be it Time Team at the Abbey or the Buddhist Temple in Tokyo, the number of things I have discovered without prior planning has been amazing.

The Competition Begins

The 2009 F1 schools kicked off on Tuesday (15 September) at the Royal Horticultural Halls and Conference Centre in Westminster, London. This, off course was the spark for this whole journey, as my brother is a member of the Redline Racing Team, representing Australia (see below for a picture of the team at Australia House).

 

The competition as drawn 31 teams, representing 17 countries (many more are represented by individual students), with each team bringing a unique approach to the competition, their displays and the designs of their cars. The make up of the teams were equally diverse, with teams representing each continent, some teams consisted of hybrid, collaboration teams, such as partnerships between Australia and Canada, and combinations of Scotland, China, the United States, Germany and South Africa.

At the end of the first complete day of racing, Redline Racing were well placed. Originally running in second the team were elevated into first place after the previous leader was penalised for having a car that did not meet weight requirements. Each of the teams are assessed on the speed of their car, as well as verbal presentations and the quality of their display booths, with approximately equal weighting. With the fastest car on the track, the team refocused on the presentation of their team and design with a welcomed confidence boost.

The competition continues for the following three days, with the conclusion on Thursday 17 September corresponding with a visit from current Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton!

Westminster and TARDIS – Part 1

As today was the last day in London before leaving for Cardiff (returning to London again in about a week), I decided to make a quick trip out to the apparent tourist Mecca of Westminster, home to the Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. As there are quite a few images to show, I’ve split the post up into 2 parts.

 

Coming out of the tube station at Westminster, you are greeted straight away with a great view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Similar to the Tower of London, I think there is quite a bit of restoration work going on at Westminster, they were even rebuilding the entrances and exits to the Green Park tube station near Buckingham Palace to make it more user friendly.

Literally just around the corner from Big Ben and co. was Westminster Abbey, again, like the Tower of London, a place that has hundreds of years of history centred around it. Home to almost every royal coronation since William the Conquer and the resting place of numerous kings and queens, as well as important historical figures.

Walking around the Abbey halls you encounter countless tombs and dedications made to well known figures in history. Poets corner in particular contains at the very least a remembrance display to almost every important author from British history; Charles Dickens, George Eliot, T. S. Eliot,John Keats, Rudyard Kipling, William Shakespeare, Alfred Lord Tennyson and William Wordsworth and the three Bronte Sisters inclusive.

Most of the visitors seemed sucked in to visiting and searching out the famous names of Poets corner, but I was most looking forward to seeking out what happened to be a very quiet and overlooked part of the Abbey where the dedications to scientists appeared.

The monument dedicated to Isaac Newton was very spectacular and takes quiet a prominent place in the main nave, however there are quite a few other notable scientists who make appearances within the Abbey, notably; James Prescott Joule, Paul Dirac, Alfred Russel Wallace, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell and the Aussie inventor of penicillin extraction Howard Florey. But the person I had been most looking forward to finding, was surprisingly hard to discover, Charles Darwin himself. Once I had found this monument, I realised why.

 
Charles Darwin at Westminster Abbey

Originally uploaded by @dino – not my own image

There lay the dedication to someone who made arguably one of the greatest contributions to science, and his grave displays just his name, date of birth and date of death. No mention or reference to his life’s work or accomplishments, as most others in the Abbey received (Dirac’s even had this equation inscribed on his). Surprisingly, this effected me quite a lot. I can understand the reasons why no reference to his work was made, the grave of the man who sparked evolutionary theory laying in probably the most important religious buildings in Europe, after the Vatican, but I really feel he deserves the respect of making reference to his life accomplishments, rather than appearing to ignore it. It sort of soured my visit to the abbey…

Westminster and TARDIS – Part 1

As today was the last day in London before leaving for Cardiff (returning to London again in about a week), I decided to make a quick trip out to the apparent tourist Mecca of Westminster, home to the Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. As there are quite a few images to show, I’ve split the post up into 2 parts.

 

Coming out of the tube station at Westminster, you are greeted straight away with a great view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Similar to the Tower of London, I think there is quite a bit of restoration work going on at Westminster, they were even rebuilding the entrances and exits to the Green Park tube station near Buckingham Palace to make it more user friendly.

Literally just around the corner from Big Ben and co. was Westminster Abbey, again, like the Tower of London, a place that has hundreds of years of history centred around it. Home to almost every royal coronation since William the Conquer and the resting place of numerous kings and queens, as well as important historical figures.

Walking around the Abbey halls you encounter countless tombs and dedications made to well known figures in history. Poets corner in particular contains at the very least a remembrance display to almost every important author from British history; Charles Dickens, George Eliot, T. S. Eliot,John Keats, Rudyard Kipling, William Shakespeare, Alfred Lord Tennyson and William Wordsworth and the three Bronte Sisters inclusive.

Most of the visitors seemed sucked in to visiting and searching out the famous names of Poets corner, but I was most looking forward to seeking out what happened to be a very quiet and overlooked part of the Abbey where the dedications to scientists appeared.

The monument dedicated to Isaac Newton was very spectacular and takes quiet a prominent place in the main nave, however there are quite a few other notable scientists who make appearances within the Abbey, notably; James Prescott Joule, Paul Dirac, Alfred Russel Wallace, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell and the Aussie inventor of penicillin extraction Howard Florey. But the person I had been most looking forward to finding, was surprisingly hard to discover, Charles Darwin himself. Once I had found this monument, I realised why.

 
Charles Darwin at Westminster Abbey

Originally uploaded by @dino – not my own image

There lay the dedication to someone who made arguably one of the greatest contributions to science, and his grave displays just his name, date of birth and date of death. No mention or reference to his life’s work or accomplishments, as most others in the Abbey received (Dirac’s even had this equation inscribed on his). Surprisingly, this effected me quite a lot. I can understand the reasons why no reference to his work was made, the grave of the man who sparked evolutionary theory laying in probably the most important religious buildings in Europe, after the Vatican, but I really feel he deserves the respect of making reference to his life accomplishments, rather than appearing to ignore it. It sort of soured my visit to the abbey…