Bath

While I was stuck attending a course (which wasn't particularly enjoyable- for a host of reasons), hubby went off to see Bath, which was a £5.50, one-hour bus ride away from Bristol. Hubby enjoyed himself in Bath (which I've visited before) so it was a good place to keep him occupied for the day!

Bath is a World Heritage City, and as such, it attracts a lot of tourists. Legend has it that Bath was founded in 860 BC by King Bladud, who was miraculously cured of leprosy when he stepped into its natural hot springs!

There is quite a lot to see in Bath- but be prepared to do some walking! The most popular attractions include the Roman Baths Museum and Bath Abbey, plus walking around the city is quite pleasant too :)

So cute!

London to Bristol

The next day saw us travelling from London to Bristol, where I was due to attend my two-day course held at the Marriott Hotel. Traffic was heavy on the highway, so we arrived in Bristol quite late in the afternoon.

Bristol seemed like a rather small and sleepy place; we walked around a little and saw places like the Centre Promenade, Corn Street and the Corn Exchange.

We popped by Wetherspoon's for an affordable meal- like my friends and I used to after CU meetings on Thursdays back at university, although prices have most definitely gone up since those days! Think it was £5.99 back then?

Bottom right: Just HAD to get this when I saw it...

Part of the memory lane experience :p

Day 3 in London

Ok, back to London.

I was dying to go back to the Natural History Museum to check out the dinosaurs (I'm a huge fan) so that was where we spent the 3rd morning of our trip. I just love seeing and learning more about all the wonderful and fascinating creatures that roam (and used to roam) this amazing planet that we live in.

The Natural History Museum

There was so much to see but we had so little time, so we ended up only visiting the ground floor! Just enough to see the Dinosaurs, Fishes, Amphibians and Reptiles, Mammals, Creepy Crawlies and Fossil Marine Reptiles.

Check out the pictures...

Amazing huh?

Talk about weird 'before and afters'

Moving on from the museum, we went to Harrods and headed straight for the Food Halls. It was just amazing- all the tempting smells and wonderful colours makes one want to take a basket and buy everything within reach (until one sees the price tag :p).

Since I couldn't afford it when I was student; I decided that we ought to have lunch there. We sat ourselves down at one of the bar counters- the Rotisserie; and I ordered the Mixed Kebab with Rice (which was yummy) while hubby had the Roast Beef (which was so-so.. not great). We also ordered some roast potatoes which cost £5.50 (there were only 5 of them!), and the total bill came up to almost £50!! Yikes.

The memorial to Diana and Dodi..

and one of the many statues and carvings that have faces that strangely resemble the owner of Harrods, al-Fayed...

Our next stop turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip- a visit to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium! And I'm not even an Arsenal fan.. heh. It was a really cool experience; it's not often one gets to go behind the scenes and learn more about the club and the players.

Emirates Stadium is HUGE; I gasped when we walked in and caught the first glimpse of the inside. We also got to enter the dressing room, walk through the tunnel and sit on Arsene Wenger's seat! There were also a couple of interesting facts that we learnt on the guided tour- like how Arsene Wenger insists that only English is used (except for certain areas) and that there is a 8-year waiting list for membership to the Diamond Club (hope I got the name right) despite the £100,000 fee!

Bottom left: the preserved centre spot at Highbury :)

Last on our itinerary for the day was a musical- Wicked! The storyline was clever and funny, and there were a few memorable songs, although I wouldn't exactly rank it on par with musicals like Les Misérables or Miss Saigon. Wicked is about Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, (and how she came to be known as such), and it reminds us of how there is always two sides to every story.

Wicked was wicked! (Pardon the pun..)

Food poisoning!

Since the blogging about our London trip is so 'tergendala' anyway, I might as well put in some 'real-time' stories in between...

I just got discharged from hospital this morning. I started throwing up in the early hours of Tuesday morning and even after seeing the doctor a bit later and getting a jab, I still wasn't feeling any better. I couldn't keep anything down- not even water. As I was already dehydrated (blood pressure and heart rate were already outside normal range); and re-hydration via oral re-hydration salts was not working (since I was throwing everything up), I called the doctor again and she suggested that I get further help from the A&E dept at a nearby hospital. I would be needing fluids and medication intravenously.

I SOS-ed hubby and he flew back from his meeting in Shah Alam to drive me to the hospital. I wasn't even able to stand properly by then, much less drive. We arrived at the A&E dept in the late afternoon, and after a brief examination, the doctor decided that I had to be admitted. That came as a surprise- I thought that an IV drip would do the job. But apparently I was quite dry and also running a temperature, so oh well...

Hospitals are depressing; all the needles, wheelchairs, equipment, etc look so cold and scary.. nothing quite so glamorous as what you see on House and Grey's Anatomy. Just how do doctors and nurses do it? Eh.. Moonie? :)

All in all, I'm feeling much better now. A special thank you to all who showered me with concern and kept me in prayer.

I really need to learn to watch what I eat. Sigh.

To the British Museum and down memory lane...

We have been back for more than a month now- but as you can see, the blogging is lagging far behind! :p

Back to day 2 in London. We began our adventures for the day at the British Museum. We actually got there late and missed the guided tour because I made a stupid mistake reading the Tube map (can u believe it :p); but we ended up taking the audio tour instead so everything worked out fine.

It wasn't my first time there, but the Great Court was new (to me), and I thought it was quite a sight indeed.

Other famous objects on display include the Rosetta Stone, the Nereid Monument, Lewis Chessmen, and of course- those famous mummies! The British Museum is absolutely fabulous- there is just so much to see. I think it's impossible to see and appreciate everything in one day; how I wished I lived near enough to pop in and check out a couple of galleries at a time! Much more interesting then hanging out at a mall (the favourite pastime here in KL :p). We were exhausted and overwhelmed after a few hours, and so we ended up just listening to the audio guide and referring to the pictures on the floor guide; sitting comfortably on a bench instead of dragging our tired legs to the African galleries. Haha!

Check out the mummified cats!

I used to live down the road from the museum, so I dragged hubby there to have a look. We then made our way to my university, taking the same route that I walked for 3 years. Things have changed quite a bit. My beloved university has changed- it has grown in size (they bought more buildings), some things are newer, some things are gone, and it looks like my favourite lecturer no longer teaches there. I couldn't even remember how to make my way through those hidden passageways that connect the different areas of the university. I left with a heavy heart, thinking of how quickly time has flown by. Sigh.

Oh well, at least my favourite sandwich from the university sandwich bar- the 'Mexican Tuna Bap', still tastes the same! :p

We then made our way to Covent Garden to check out the little shops, the markets and of course- the buskers; but I was a little disappointed that the discount bookstore and the cool gadget shop that I used to visit was gone. We walked down Neal Street after that and ended up wandering all the way to Tottenham Court Road.

Covent Garden

Later that evening, we met up with some friends for dinner at the Old Thameside Inn. We wanted to sit outside, but it was freezing! And this was mid-May! :p

I had the Steak and Timothy Taylor Landlord Ale Pie, which was quite nice (although some bits of it were a tad salty) and hubby had the Fish and Chips, which didn't impress. Hmmm.. better luck at the next pub, maybe? :)