Sunday 24 March 2013

21st birthday weekend...

Last weekend it was my big two-one birthday, and to celebrate me and the boyfriend went to London for the weekend to do some of the necessary touristy things. 

First of all we went to the Rainforest Cafe, which is the most fantastic place i've ever been to. Not only is the food great but the entire atmosphere is amazing! If you are in the PIccadilly Circus area, it's definitely worth a visit. 


My Calypso Chicken Sandwich, was so yummy. 



The huge waterfall we sat next to. Was so loud but was a great place to sit as we could see everything from here. There were so many things to look at around the restaurant, from mechanical monkeys and birds, to tropical fish and thunderstorms.





On the second day of our adventure, we attempted to go shopping in Oxford Street. However, there was so many people, dashing in and out of all the shops from the rain, we gave up and went to Starbucks. My strawberries and cream drink was definitely a well deserved rest from the hustle and bustle of London shoppers!

On the final day, I really wanted to visit Ripley's: Believe it or not museum which consisted of a collection weird and wonderful objects and artefacts. In particular, I really liked the microscopic section, and the collection of wax works based upon the worlds tallest and largest people. Was so fascinating to see what Mr Ripley himself had collected for his London based believe it or not museum, as everything was chosen based on what he found interesting or unique!


Robert Wadlow: The worst tallest man.. And me!





Life's mircoscopic wonders: Painted pumpkin seeds of biblical reference and miniature eggs painted with famous faces from Albert Einstein to Charlie Chaplin.


 There were five floors which spiralled down through the bulding ending up with a trip in the mirror maze! Again, this is somewhere I would definitely recommend visiting as I had such a wonderful time and is like nowhere else I have ever been!

Due to the rain, we also visited the Science Museum to keep ourselves dry and away from the cold. I've never really been, so was another really exciting experience. These tiny little medicine pots and lace covered buttons really intrigued me, and might even use them as part of my inspiration for my current BA textile project. So delicate and beautiful in every way despite being such an everyday item for people living 50-100 years ago. 




In the basement of the museum, Google have introduced interactive experiments that people can do within the Museum, and then store onto a 'lab tag' which the data can later be uploaded to a computer. Additionally,  Google Chrome users can have their experiments fed live to the Science Museum itself. My boyfriend couldn't drag me away from one experiment in particular called 'Sketchbots'. This involved a computer taking a photograph of you, special software then adapted the image to then create a vectorised image which the information then passed through to a robot which draw your face in the sand! I could have spent all day watching as more and more faces appeared in the sand but we had a train to catch so could only draw a few!





My sketchbot being drawn into the sand



Overall, I had a really lovely 21st birthday weekend, with thanks to my lovely boyfriend.. Ben <3 Would definitely do it all over again!