An Antarctic adventure in London - courtesy of the Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum

The Museum

The NHM - true temple of nature

Tony stands patiently outside

Tony and I realised early on in our London life that if we weren't careful, we'd leave here to go home to Australia in a few years having seen lots of things outside of London - and nothing in it. Weekends were quickly being swallowed by domestic stuff and lazy breakfasts on our rooftop. So, after yet another Saturday morning cleaning and shopping, we dragged ourselves out of the house on a sunny Saturday morning and set out to start ticking off some London tourist destinations. We had already achieved the Tower of London when Kate and Cam were here, and St Paul's when our dear friend Liz came to visit recently (I feel we will accomplish quite a few courtesy of having guests) - but none on our own. 

We had heard that the Natural History Museum was showing an exhibition on Scott's expedition to the South Pole which we were keen to see - and the museum's permanent collection is free - so we thought it was worthwhile heading over for even just a few hours. 

Dog flanked by fish

Dog flanked by lizards

Pelican/pterodactyl - flanked by leaves

The NHM - built in the height of the Victorian era's fascination with science, is a 'true temple of nature' - designed from the ground up with flora and fauna in mind. Like gargoyles on a church, the pillars and drains of the NHM are decorated with beautifully carved animals - both as the prominent features, and as the flanking decoration. My favourites from the outside are below - Tony stood very patiently while I took lots of photos. In particular I love the dogs flanked by lizards and fish - and the one below where I can't work out if it is a modern day pelican or a relic of the dinosaur age.

Inside the tribute to the natural world continues with vaulted ceilings and panels - each bearing a different type of plant lovingly represented on the ceiling.  The gilt pears and apples were really too high up to really appreciate - or reach.

The Scott Exhibition

The Natural History Museum currently has an exhibition on the Scott Exhibition to the South Pole - the one where he made it to the Pole - but was not the first, and died on the return journey. Not the most uplifting subject for an exhibition - but certainly fascinating. 

Tony has just finished reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica aloud to me - which has been such a treat. Its not a small novel and it has taken us the best part of 6 months - picking away at it with sometimes weeks between chapters. KSR wrote the book for the most part as an excuse to write about the history of antarctic expeditions - and one of the main characters in the book leads tour expeditions that recreate the journeys of the explorers - some of them in their amazingly inadequate gear. The concept of doing this is probably more crazy than that of the explorers setting out the first time.

The Cape Evans Hut

So armed with our knowledge of Antarctica courtesy of KSR, we were excited to go and see the exhibit of the famous and fateful trip. The curator had decided to focus much of the exhibition not on the trekking across to the Pole - but on the lives the men lead whilst at the Pole. The artifacts - which included original provisions, gear, diaries, scientific specimens - was set up in a replica of the Cape Evans Hut that the team built on their arrival. In this hut, lined with boxes of provisions, the men slept in bunks side by side for years whilst planning and preparing for the trek to the Pole itself. 

Inside the Cape Evans Hut 

The hut itself still stands in Antarctica - with many of the original provisions and pieces of gear as the team left them. It has been preserved as a national heritage site - and it takes a long time for anything to rot in the Antarctic.

Walking around the exhibition - with lines on the floor marking out where the men's bunks were, where they ate, where Scott wrote his diaries, the most striking thing was the space dedicated in this tiny hut to science. There was a desk for biology another for geology etc. The team collected thousands of specimens that had to be examined on the spot or preserved for the long journey home to England. The also risked their lives on little side expeditions to collect specimens - in one journey called 'the worst journey in the world', the men nearly died in a storm on an expedition to collect penguin eggs. In another case, a group had been sent for the 'summer' to a separate camp to collect specimens and readings and were to return to the Cape Evans Hut for winter. They didn't make it back in time - and so wintered in a snow cave, warmed only by burning seal blubber - I'm assuming they ate the seals too. When they were finally rescued they were coated in black sludge from the burned seal blubber... I can't imagine how they didn't go mad.

The lost team covered in blubber

There was of course a large part of the exhibition dedicated to the trek to the Pole itself. The trek was a bit of a race - with the Norwegian explorer Amundsen setting off at the same time, using dogs to pull sleds, and Scott's team - who were pulling the sleds themselves. Amundsen planned to use the dogs not only to pull them along - but also to eat on the way. Scott's team - pulling their own supplies, had to be careful with weight, gear and food. They had done some preparation trips - setting up food depots along the proposed route to feed them on the way back.

The second team to the Pole. 

Amundsen's team were the first to the Pole - and made it back alive. They didn't have an easy time of it - and in fact Amundsen wrote a letter to Scott that he left at the Pole saying that he wasn't sure they would make it back alive. Scott's team - when they finally made it to the Pole around a month after Amundsen's team - found that they were second. They were crushed - and looks on their faces in the photo at the pole say it all. None of them made it back alive. Scott wrote a number of letters - and kept his diary to the last day. They were found by the team that came searching for them several months later. Many of them were on display in the exhibition - this final letter to the public being one of the most moving - mostly because even in the days before their death - they remained so forthrightly English.


Message to the Public

The causes of the disaster are not due to faulty organisation, but to misfortune in all risks which had to be undertaken.

1. The loss of pony transport in March 1911 obliged me to start later than I had intended, and obliged the limits of stuff transported to be narrowed.

2. The weather throughout the outward journey, and especially the long gale in 83° S., stopped us.

3. The soft snow in lower reaches of glacier again reduced pace.

We fought these untoward events with a will and conquered, but it cut into our provision reserve.

Every detail of our food supplies, clothing and depots made on the interior ice-sheet and over that long stretch of 700 miles to the Pole and back, worked out to perfection. The advance party would have returned to the glacier in fine form and with surplus of food, but for the astonishing failure of the man whom we had least expected to fail. Edgar Evans was thought the strongest man of the party.

The Beardmore Glacier is not difficult in fine weather, but on our return we did not get a single completely fine day; this with a sick companion enormously increased our anxieties.

As I have said elsewhere we got into frightfully rough ice and Edgar Evans received a concussion of the brain--he died a natural death, but left us a shaken party with the season unduly advanced.

But all the facts above enumerated were as nothing to the surprise which awaited us on the Barrier. I maintain that our arrangements for returning were quite adequate, and that no one in the world would have expected the temperatures and surfaces which we encountered at this time of the year. On the summit in lat. 85° 86° we had -20°, -30°. On the Barrier in lat. 82°, 10,000 feet lower, we had -30° in the day, -47° at night pretty regularly, with continuous head wind during our day marches. It is clear that these circumstances come on very suddenly, and our wreck is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe weather, which does not seem to have any satisfactory cause. I do not think human beings ever came through such a month as we have come through, and we should have got through in spite of the weather but for the sickening of a second companion, Captain Oates, and a shortage of fuel in our depots for which I cannot account, and finally, but for the storm which has fallen on us within 11 miles of the depot at which we hoped to secure our final supplies. Surely misfortune could scarcely have exceeded this last blow. We arrived within 11 miles of our old One Ton Camp with fuel for one last meal and food for two days. For four days we have been unable to leave the tent--the gale howling about us. We are weak, writing is difficult, but for my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past. We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last. But if we have been willing to give our lives to this enterprise, which is for the honour of our country, I appeal to our countrymen to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for.

Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale, but surely, surely, a great rich country like ours will see that those who are dependent on us are properly provided for.

R. SCOTT.

All in all we left not exactly uplifted - but filled with a sense of wonder at what these men achieved - and a sense that they must have been more than a little crazy to attempt it in the first place. 

Pro-wrestling - Mexican and Burlesque style.

Luche Britannia - Mexican wrestling with Burlesque interludes

This blog is a little out of sequence - partly because I hadn't started the blog when we first went to see Luche - and partly because the weekend we went for the second time was also the weekend of the trip to the Tower of London and Portobello Road - so there was already too much to write about for one post. Also - the Luche experience deserves a post all of its own. 

Luche Britannia is pro-wrestling - mexican style. All of my friends and family will think immediately - what on earth is Annie doing going to pre-wrestling - let alone loving it. 

The first time we went it was at the suggestion of Tony's mate Collo. Collo is one of those guys who always knows what 'the thing' of the moment is to do - and in May in East London - that thing was  - and still is - a night at Luche Britannia. 

We rocked up at 9.30 on a Friday night to an unmarked door down a lane way. On the inside - past a 1950s pin up look-alike girl on the door, we made our way into a large room filled with people and a boxing ring. The music playing was hits from the 50s and 60s, and the girls were all dressed accordingly - think red gingham kerchief with high waisted shorts and bangs. I wished I was dressed like them - so glam. 

The MC came out to rev up the crowd - bringing with him two gorgeous girls in blue and red lycra corsets - sexy as anything - but stylish at the same time.  The MC himself was my favourite part about the whole night - he called all of the fights - but mostly he was hilarious.

The fights - all stage crafted and choreographed - were involved really amazing acts of strength and acrobatics. The crowd chose favourites and cheered them on - for example the 'Piranha' fighter incited the call 'squish the fish' - we all joined in. Tony was particularly vocal.

The fights were in disbursed with burlesque strip performances to the delight of the boys and the genuine fascination of the girls. One of the burlesque acts involved a woman drinking wax from burning candles and pouring it over her (mostly) naked body. Confronting - but interesting.

The soundtrack and vibe to the whole night was excellent - so much so that I insisted Kate and Cam come along the next month for the next show. The whole thing is put on by a group who are learning how to be pro wrestlers - and some who are well and truly qualified - and who exhibit their latest choreography once a month to their friends, fellow students and the pubic who are happy to pay a small fee for the pleasure.

Portobello Road and theTower of London

Portobello Road

The next Beatles?

Portobello Road has been on my London 'must do' lists since I was small.  One of my favourite childhood movies - Bed knobs and Broomsticks - had a scene where the characters wandered Portobello Road and its 'riches of ages'. When we visited in 1998 we were only in London during the week (the Market is only open Saturdays) and so didn't get the opportunity to see it for ourselves. Thus, a childhood dream to wander the stalls and get lost in antiques had to wait until my late 20s.

Portobello Road

We had made our first visit on Tony's birthday in May - exploring all of the winding galleries that go in one shop and come out in another lane - or sometimes 2 shops down. We purchased some old advertisements to decorate our bare walls - and some luscious silk scarves (it was still really cold). We both enjoyed it - but had no money so felt we couldn't really engage in a serious way - window shopping is only interesting for so long.

Kate in the bustle of Portobello Road

With my sister Kate in town for a visit I decided we should do a girls trip to explore it again. The boys (Kate's husband Cam and Tony) were not interested in the slightest - and instead spent the morning in the closest pub showing the Rugby in Australia (some Wales v Australia game).

I think Portobello is one of those markets that never gets old, and in fact gets better the more you go. There is simply so much to see that you are overwhelmed by the time you're only 1/3 of the way down. I took in far more on the second visit.

On our way in we passed a group of handsome boys playing Beatles covers in amongst their own stuff - and drawing a crowd. Kate picked up an interesting gold and turquoise bracelet for ￡20 in the first shop we went into - whilst I made a mental note to come back to do my Christmas shopping there this year.

Stag buttons from the 1880s

You can find anything you are after in the long street of stalls. My favourites so far are a shop that sells Harris Tweed (we picked up a new cap for Dad), a shop that sells old prints and maps (we came out with a Cecile Alden print of a dog for Mum) and a shop that sells buttons. So many buttons. The vintage cape I wrote about in Columbia Road Flower Market lost a button the very afternoon I got it home. I was very sad - and knew I'd have to replace all 5 of the lovely gold buttons because I would never find one to match. When I stumbled upon the button shop I was overwhelmed by choice - so many vintage buttons that could go on my vintage cape! I was sorely tempted by ones with a little soldier on them (but at ￡10 each I felt losing a button would become a costly exercise - especially having to replace all 5 each time). My second favourite were ones with a Stag, holding a branch in his mouth. They are solid - and quite heavy - and according to the little man at the shop - made in 1880. I am looking forward to sewing them all onto my cape.

The map and print shop is really quite amazing. It has maps (actual maps - not reproductions) of maps drawn in the 1400s - that don't have Australia on them at all, maps from the 1600s showing mangled versions of what the 'great southern land' must have looked like based on the glimpses of various explorers - and maps of early Australia - marked as 'new holland' and maps of early explorer's Australia - a large empty space only mapped up the rivers as far as the expeditions could make it. It feels like a journey back in time to flip through these maps - and I have a mind to collect a few to bring home.

Tower of London

The different phases of the Tower

I have just finished reading Bring up the Bodies - the sequel to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall - both novels providing a fictional account of Thomas Cromwell, Master Secretary to Henry VIII during the Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boylen and Jane Seymour period. So many characters spent time in the Tower of London I was keen to go visit again with fresh eyes and perspective on this historical site.

Part of the defences - Lions

The Tower of London has had a varies life - from a lived in castle and  royal home to prison to storehouse - people and things were sent there to keep them safe, it was used for ceremonial purposes (Anne Boylen was housed there in the lead up to her coronation) and of course its most well known purpose as a gaol.

Once there was a moat - then they grew vegetables. 

What fascinated me was how the buildings had changed over the years to suit the current purpose. In its days as a stronghold it had all the defences expected of a medieval castle - complete with moat, siege weapons - and even lions used to guard the gates. I think my favourite facts of the whole day was how the moat's purpose changed.

The Tower of London moat vege garden

Other defences - Trebuchet

When it was a functional castle, the moat served as the standard defences - but also smelled really bad as all of the Tower's waste was simply emptied out over the walls and out the windows into the water below. At one stage there was a polar bear (given to the Tower as a gift to the Queen) kept chained to the wall - with enough length so that it could go for a swim in the moat (yuck). During WWII, and long after the moat had been drained, they used the lush grassy flat to grow vegetables!

Traitor's Gate

The Tower was only actually threatened directly by England's own citizens - it never faced foreign threats - so the defences were never really put to the test. The only ones to ever breach the walls were a rabble of peasants. Oh well - it all looked very impressive and certainly deterred people.

In fact it seems that the Tower really was only used against its own people - imprisoning them for 'treason', be that difference of religious beliefs, inconveniently refusing to stand aside as queen to allow your king husband to take a new wife, or simply falling out of favour. It was fascinating to walk the towers where notable 'guests' had been held - often for years at a time - seeing the graffiti they had left behind.

One of the most interesting parts was the 'Traitor's Gate'. This water gate opened onto the Thames, and was how prisoners were brought into the Tower. Anne Boleyn was brought into the Tower through this gate in a small boat. It conveniently avoided any protesters, peasants or other rabble intervening. 

Henry VIII's Armour - a young Henry

The White Tower - the central 'castle' in the Tower of London holds a fascinating collection of armour - tracing the history of the armour of the Kings of England - and their knights and soldiers. Armour was not just for battle - much of the armour we saw was for jousting or just made in celebration. The suit to the left is was made for Henry VIII just after his wedding to Katherine of Aragon. H&K are worked into the hem of the 'skirt'. Off his horse this armour must have been pretty impractical - the skirt stuck out some distance from the body (and was completely rigid). If used in battle, once unhorsed, you'd have small chance of keeping your feet. I guess that's not something you really need to worry about as a king - so your armour can be impractical - and beautiful. 

Craft Beers

We dragged our tired feet from the Tower in search of craft beers to celebrate Kate's husband Cam's 30th. We found what we were looking for at the Craft Beer Co - a small pub with 32 beers on tap. We worked our way (1/2 pint at time) from one end to the other. We have really been enjoying discovering all of the boutique ales and lagers available in the UK. Having so many to try in one place took the effort out of seeking them out - but didn't diminish the fun out of the tasting. Even with each of us sharing our halves, having a sip or two of each beer was enough for all of us to roll happily out of there, via dinner, to home.

6 of the 32 beers at the Craft Beer Co