Post by Celestial on Apr 5, 2012 13:57:40 GMT -5
Because there were photos instead, Sarn. =P
Anyway, I guess it is time for me to type up my experiences with the meetup. For the sake of not boring everyone, I'll skip ahead to the day of the meetup, having arrived in London the day before and was kindly allowed to stay in Elcie's flat. Me and Elcie were unfortunately late due to a combination of us mistiming how long it would take us to get there and bad underground services. We would have been ok if it weren't for the fact that I heard about a Doctor Who shop from Elcie and asked her to show it to me. It was way out in the East End though so a little bit out of our way. However, I can safely say that the trip was worth it.
TARDIS One
TARDIS Two. That shop is made out of very stern stuff to be able to resist the paradox of two Tardises (Tardii?) in such a small space. x3
And a Dalek, shot from the side so it can't see me.
And all of that is not accounting for all the awesome stuff they had. It was all fairly expensive but when you have the old out-of-print Doctor Who novels in one big shelf, you're onto a winning shop.
But, alas, all good things have their price. We left the shop a bit too late and ended up being an hour late to the meetup because on top of us leaving at a bad time, Piccadilly Line, the only line going to Covent Garden station, was closed. We had to make several changes and run from Charing Cross to the meetup spot, arriving at 12 pm in front of the Apple Shop. The only consolation was that Pac and Jo had met up earlier so nobody was left alone and thankfully there were no hard feelings. ^_^
Once we had all met up and squeed a bit about how awesome it was to meet everyone, we went to a cookie shop was Elcie recommended. It was easy to find, the entire area smelt of delicious baking. It was very small but there was a queue outside it, which is a very good sign. Pac was kind enough to pay for all of us so we bought a tin of four cookies. However, we were all pretty hungry and it was an unspoken decision that a meetup with an empty stomach is not much of a meetup at all. So we all found a nice pie shop in Covent Garden and each had a pie (I had a pasty, because I am an awful hipster and pies are too mainstream. xD) The shop was pretty small but there were a fair few people, so we sat on barstools.
The food was nice and the conversation was relaxed and easy. ^_^ Among some of the things we talked about were previous meetups and how many we were veterans of as well as just got to know each other better. And when we finished the pies, we had our cookies. The recommendation was well-justified. <3 They were delicious. I had a milk chocolate cookie, although originally I wanted chocolate orange because the guy mishead me. It was still good though.
After we had finished our food, we set off on a small walk around Covent Garden. When we came across a seemingly random statue of a pirate, I took the following picture:
Yes, that's a Meepit plushie. He was one of the ones that Hunty gave out during the last UK meetup. He's going to appear in every meetup I go to at least once. And here was the perfect opportunity.
That pirate was scared out of his wits, despite being a statue. xD
We came out of Covent Garden and headed towards Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery was out of the question, due to the massive queue outside it. There was an interesting anti-war demonstration outside it though. And, to somebody who lives in Scotland, a terrifying sound: bagpipes. ._. Coming from this chap:
Official...piper? xD Is the UK going to terrify other countries into submission during the Olympics?
Also, random dude is random. >>
After a trek across Trafalgar square, the lack of nerd at an NTWF meetup was sorely felt. Elcie guided us (there was a reason we were calling her 'Tour Guide Elcie' at the end of the meetup) to a Waterstones, where we picked up our respective books and made camp. For two hours. It was blissful, especially considering the weather outside was no good.
Pac is getting lost in the writings of Cicero.
Jo, trying to smile while reading 'The Fault in our Stars'. Not an easy task. ;_;
Same can't be said for Elcie and Girl Genius.
And no photos of me because A) I'm camerashy and unphotogenic and B) That would look silly. =P
I read Sandman at first but once I got through the second volume, I wanted something different (because some of the content is fairly questionable and I felt uncomfortable having naked people on the panels while other people milled around us). So the choice was Game of Thrones or Name of the Wind. I figured since I know a guy who has Game of Thrones and I could get it off him, I picked up Name of the Wind due to seeing several NTWFers like it. I liked it and since it was a 'buy one, get one half price' offer, I bought both that and Wise Man's Fear. xD
We decided that it was time for a chance of scenery so we all agreed to go to Forbidden Planet, the holy grail shop for geeks everywhere. But not before we found a small shelf with toys on it. This is when Jo decided to reenact Firefly.
You know the dialogue that goes here.
Once that was sadly over, we set out on our trek to Forbidden Planet. On our way we saw many things, things that cannot be described in words.
A Sherlock Holmes restaurant. Not pictured: snarky, genius waiters who know your life story and dress in snappy coats. (Me and Elcie were watching the second season of Sherlock during this trip so, yeah. xD)
A tiny alleyway leading...who knows where? A magical kingdom perhaps?
As well as the above, we saw several giant easter eggs, including one with aboriginal drawings on it that Pac took interest in, an alleyway of shops selling antiques, including one specialising in currency and medals, which interested me a lot since I'm a bit of a military history lover, a beautiful magnolia tree, an sad, old-looking church tucked away cosily, and lots of giant umberellas to advertise Singing in the Rain. London is full of surprises.
We came at last to Forbidden Planet. Me and Elcie made a mutual pact to stop each other buying anything but I cheated a bit and spent three pounds on a Pokemon vending machine. In fairness, two of the three items I got were gifts for RL friends. There were however no photos in Forbidden Planet, not because of lack of stuff to photograph but because we were all too busy squeeing at all the geeky stuff to even think about photography. I cannot count on my fingers how many things I was tempted to buy.
We regretfully left Forbidden Planet eventually, thankfully without purchases. xD We began to feel rather peckish again, since it was getting late. Elcie, as usual, told us of a Mediterrenean cafe that her group went to before so we made a beeline for that, having passed it on the way. It was really nice, packed but nice. We managed to find seats and enjoyed an excellent meal of hummus, pitta bread, falafel and balaklava. Probably the best Mediterrenean food I've ever eaten. ^_^
Jo and Pac's side of the table. The side with me and Elcie is on either Pac's or Elcie's camera, as well as a group photo of us.
After dinner, to finish off a perfect day, we did doodle sheets for each other.
Jo did the dinosaurs, Elcie the dragon and Pac the two penguins (awkward turtle with no fingers FTW).
Alas, nothing lasts forever. Me and Elcie said goodbye to Jo and Pac and went our separate ways, retaining wonderful memories of wonderful friends. <3
-EPIC TEXTWALL AHEAD-
Anyway, I guess it is time for me to type up my experiences with the meetup. For the sake of not boring everyone, I'll skip ahead to the day of the meetup, having arrived in London the day before and was kindly allowed to stay in Elcie's flat. Me and Elcie were unfortunately late due to a combination of us mistiming how long it would take us to get there and bad underground services. We would have been ok if it weren't for the fact that I heard about a Doctor Who shop from Elcie and asked her to show it to me. It was way out in the East End though so a little bit out of our way. However, I can safely say that the trip was worth it.
TARDIS One
TARDIS Two. That shop is made out of very stern stuff to be able to resist the paradox of two Tardises (Tardii?) in such a small space. x3
And a Dalek, shot from the side so it can't see me.
And all of that is not accounting for all the awesome stuff they had. It was all fairly expensive but when you have the old out-of-print Doctor Who novels in one big shelf, you're onto a winning shop.
But, alas, all good things have their price. We left the shop a bit too late and ended up being an hour late to the meetup because on top of us leaving at a bad time, Piccadilly Line, the only line going to Covent Garden station, was closed. We had to make several changes and run from Charing Cross to the meetup spot, arriving at 12 pm in front of the Apple Shop. The only consolation was that Pac and Jo had met up earlier so nobody was left alone and thankfully there were no hard feelings. ^_^
Once we had all met up and squeed a bit about how awesome it was to meet everyone, we went to a cookie shop was Elcie recommended. It was easy to find, the entire area smelt of delicious baking. It was very small but there was a queue outside it, which is a very good sign. Pac was kind enough to pay for all of us so we bought a tin of four cookies. However, we were all pretty hungry and it was an unspoken decision that a meetup with an empty stomach is not much of a meetup at all. So we all found a nice pie shop in Covent Garden and each had a pie (I had a pasty, because I am an awful hipster and pies are too mainstream. xD) The shop was pretty small but there were a fair few people, so we sat on barstools.
The food was nice and the conversation was relaxed and easy. ^_^ Among some of the things we talked about were previous meetups and how many we were veterans of as well as just got to know each other better. And when we finished the pies, we had our cookies. The recommendation was well-justified. <3 They were delicious. I had a milk chocolate cookie, although originally I wanted chocolate orange because the guy mishead me. It was still good though.
After we had finished our food, we set off on a small walk around Covent Garden. When we came across a seemingly random statue of a pirate, I took the following picture:
Yes, that's a Meepit plushie. He was one of the ones that Hunty gave out during the last UK meetup. He's going to appear in every meetup I go to at least once. And here was the perfect opportunity.
That pirate was scared out of his wits, despite being a statue. xD
We came out of Covent Garden and headed towards Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery was out of the question, due to the massive queue outside it. There was an interesting anti-war demonstration outside it though. And, to somebody who lives in Scotland, a terrifying sound: bagpipes. ._. Coming from this chap:
Official...piper? xD Is the UK going to terrify other countries into submission during the Olympics?
Also, random dude is random. >>
After a trek across Trafalgar square, the lack of nerd at an NTWF meetup was sorely felt. Elcie guided us (there was a reason we were calling her 'Tour Guide Elcie' at the end of the meetup) to a Waterstones, where we picked up our respective books and made camp. For two hours. It was blissful, especially considering the weather outside was no good.
Pac is getting lost in the writings of Cicero.
Jo, trying to smile while reading 'The Fault in our Stars'. Not an easy task. ;_;
Same can't be said for Elcie and Girl Genius.
And no photos of me because A) I'm camerashy and unphotogenic and B) That would look silly. =P
I read Sandman at first but once I got through the second volume, I wanted something different (because some of the content is fairly questionable and I felt uncomfortable having naked people on the panels while other people milled around us). So the choice was Game of Thrones or Name of the Wind. I figured since I know a guy who has Game of Thrones and I could get it off him, I picked up Name of the Wind due to seeing several NTWFers like it. I liked it and since it was a 'buy one, get one half price' offer, I bought both that and Wise Man's Fear. xD
We decided that it was time for a chance of scenery so we all agreed to go to Forbidden Planet, the holy grail shop for geeks everywhere. But not before we found a small shelf with toys on it. This is when Jo decided to reenact Firefly.
You know the dialogue that goes here.
Once that was sadly over, we set out on our trek to Forbidden Planet. On our way we saw many things, things that cannot be described in words.
A Sherlock Holmes restaurant. Not pictured: snarky, genius waiters who know your life story and dress in snappy coats. (Me and Elcie were watching the second season of Sherlock during this trip so, yeah. xD)
A tiny alleyway leading...who knows where? A magical kingdom perhaps?
As well as the above, we saw several giant easter eggs, including one with aboriginal drawings on it that Pac took interest in, an alleyway of shops selling antiques, including one specialising in currency and medals, which interested me a lot since I'm a bit of a military history lover, a beautiful magnolia tree, an sad, old-looking church tucked away cosily, and lots of giant umberellas to advertise Singing in the Rain. London is full of surprises.
We came at last to Forbidden Planet. Me and Elcie made a mutual pact to stop each other buying anything but I cheated a bit and spent three pounds on a Pokemon vending machine. In fairness, two of the three items I got were gifts for RL friends. There were however no photos in Forbidden Planet, not because of lack of stuff to photograph but because we were all too busy squeeing at all the geeky stuff to even think about photography. I cannot count on my fingers how many things I was tempted to buy.
We regretfully left Forbidden Planet eventually, thankfully without purchases. xD We began to feel rather peckish again, since it was getting late. Elcie, as usual, told us of a Mediterrenean cafe that her group went to before so we made a beeline for that, having passed it on the way. It was really nice, packed but nice. We managed to find seats and enjoyed an excellent meal of hummus, pitta bread, falafel and balaklava. Probably the best Mediterrenean food I've ever eaten. ^_^
Jo and Pac's side of the table. The side with me and Elcie is on either Pac's or Elcie's camera, as well as a group photo of us.
After dinner, to finish off a perfect day, we did doodle sheets for each other.
Jo did the dinosaurs, Elcie the dragon and Pac the two penguins (awkward turtle with no fingers FTW).
Alas, nothing lasts forever. Me and Elcie said goodbye to Jo and Pac and went our separate ways, retaining wonderful memories of wonderful friends. <3
