Tag: Museums

Channel Islands 2: Setting the Scene for the Rest of the Series

Resuming my coverage of my holiday to Guermsey and Alderney, setting the scene for what is to come in this series of posts.

I wasn’t entirely sure when I put the first post of this series about my holiday up as to when I would be able to post. There was no internet connection in Alderney, although I was able to edit plenty of photos ready for use. Yesterday we travelled back from Alderney to Guernsey, and then visited two places which both proved of huge interest, and left me with over 300 photos to edit to catch back up with that side of things. Between last night and this morning (I was underway before 7AM) I completed that job, meaning that at least until the end of today I am up to date in terms of photos. I am going to use the rest of this post to outline the rest of the series for you.

PLANNED POSTS

I will devote one post to the day we spent on Guernsey before we were able to travel across to Alderney.

The journey to Alderney will account for the next post.

The Harbour at Braye, Alderney – the boat bottom right of shot is the one we travelled on from Guernsey to Alderney.

I will produce several posts about Alderney:

A cricket themed post in honour of John Arlott who spent his last years on Alderney – this will take the form of a two-fold journey, through a large amount of space and centuries in time as I cover cricketing links relating to my journey (two of them highly contrived, I admit), creating a spectacular XI in the process.

Students of the game will instantly realise how the road sign in this picture enabled me to sneakily fill one of the opener’s slots -the other was already filled fair and square.

A post about our first visit to St Anne, the sole town on the island.

Probably two posts about the walk we did on our second full day on the island.

A special post featuring maps of Alderney and the Channel Islands, several great examples of which I saw:

A special post dedicated to the birds of Alderney, of which I saw some fine specimens.

A post about the return journey to Guernsey.

Every post relating to Alderney will feature a view of Fort Clonque, where we stayed.

A view of the fort taken from the far end of the causeway that links it to the rest of the island.

Events since arriving back on Guernsey warrant at least three posts already:

A post about the Little Chapel.

Two posts minimum about the Occupation Museum (Guernsey was occupied by the Germans from 1940-5).

I have no doubt that today’s events will be worth at least one further post, and then there is the return journey.

Accepting Extra Walking: The Natural History Museum

A look at the Natural History Museum and possible alternatives to a straight to/from South Kensington, plus a related twitter thread. Note that the ideas around the museum are strictly for thinking about for the future.

To start a brief warning: the main attraction at the heart of this post is closed at the time of writing and even if things go according to Johnson’s ‘road map out of lockdown’ it will be some while before it reopens and before travelling for leisure is again safe. By all means note the things I write about here down for future reference but please do not attempt to put plans into practice just yet.

This post was inspired by a thread posted on twitter by the Natural History Museum earlier today, which I shall be saying more about later.

POSSIBLE ADDITIONS TO AN NHM VISIT

The Natural History Museum is served along with a number of other attractions by South Kensington Station (Circle, District and Piccadilly lines, subject of two station posts on my other site – here and here) and you can choose whether to use the underground passage that links the station to the museums or walk at surface level, where you will see some fine wrought ironwork.

Once you have enjoyed the museum, the logical next step is to visit Hyde Park, and there are stations all around that park that you could use as the station from which to begin your journey home. You could also head into London’s West End, where after Marble Arch you could choose Bond Street, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus by walking along Regent Street, or go a little north to Baker Street, home to the Sherlock Holmes Museum and Madame Tussaud’s. Also you could extend your walk in a westerly direction, aiming for Notting Hill Gate. For those interested in a longer walk you could continue beyond Baker Street and take in Regent’s Park. Here are a few map pictures of various kinds to conclude this section:

THE TWITTER THREAD

The Natural History Museum today put out a superb 13 tweet thread about a very recent meteorite strike (a tiny meteorite which did no serious damage – it’s journey through the earth’s atmosphere lit up the skies on the night of February 28) and about that object’s journey, a story four billion years or so in the making and yet 13 tweets in the telling. A screenshot of the start of the thread is below, and you can read it in full by clicking here.

For more about these sorts of objects I recommend the book “Comet”, by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan:

PHOTOGRAPHS

A very brief usual sign off – I have been unable to get out today since I am waiting for someone to examine an issue with my drains – they should have been and gone by now…