Walking around Glasgow #2

Next up for my walking around Glasgow were visits to the Riverside Museum and the Tall Ship "Glenlee".

The museum has a wide range of ground and sea transport, including cars, trains, trams and ships, and a mocked up Glasgow street from days gone by. On the street, all the "shops" can be entered, including the subway terminal. There are also displays about some older technology [that is, 20-30 years ago]. What's better, it was free entry [after an easy 40 minute walk from the hotel].

The ship has been restored and all decks are open. I see they do school visits, so probably better to avoid that day :-), but also appear set up and able to cater for events/ parties.

Pictures are from around the museum, then the Glenlee and one of a water taxi service. These attractions are right next to each other, and are well worth the visit if you're in Glasgow!

London's Science Museum and Blackfriars station

It has been an exciting few days, so this and the next couple of posts are catch ups on the last few days...

On 6 September I went to London's Science Museum for a few hours. I was very impressed, it was well worth the visit! The museum had a wide variety of exhibits and interactive activities including steam engines, enigma machines and other IT stuff, biology and geography. The aviation stuff will be covered in my aviation blog in due course, but here are a few of the other photos. I particularly liked the old computers [they bring back a few happy memories!] and, for some reason, the "Woman's Friend" washing machine! ha ha ha

Other photos include Blackfriars Tube Station, a view of the Thames from the Blackfriars bridge and a photo of one of the local families.

Europe Trip 2011 #27: Prague day 3 wanderings

Today started off with a wander up to Wenceslas Square, and decided to go to an impressive looking museum. You'll see from the picture that it looks at least as big as Te Papa Tongawera/ The Museum of New Zealand, and I thought that it would be a good look around, not to mention some shade from the sun! There was an advert for a butterfly exhibition, but I didn't let that put me off [it certainly wasn't an encouragement!]. At CZK60 [about NZD$4] it was cheap. Unfortunately, despite going to level 3 for the exhibits, it consisted of a whole two [!] exhibitions, the butterflies and an exhibition on antibiotics. Very sad. I think my ticket could have been used to get in to some related museums, but I was not that keen so decided to go wandering instead.

I decided to go for a wander away from the main tourist areas this morning which was really nice. I came across a small island [there are several of them in the river], which had bridge access and a combination of nice views and some welcome shade!

Prague is hot at this time of the year! It has been getting so hot in Prague that I've generally been calling it a day around 1pm each day, having a rest, then going for in the evening for a while. This at least makes it bearable, although it can still be in the late 20's around 6-7pm. Today was a little cooler and quite nice at around 20 degrees when I went for dinner this evening.

Anyway, here are the pictures. the first is the impressive museum building. Note the second picture. It was advertising pedal and row boats. I'm not sure exactly how to take this - perhaps all river trips are to be done naked? In any case, it is clear that the men are required to do all the work!

The last photo is some general statue I saw on the way back to the hotel.

Europe Trip 2011 #12: Checkpoint Charlie and Museum

It's drizzling today with occasional rain, which is actually a big relief! The cloud and drizzle has kept the temperature down to 21 degrees as of about 2pm - almost 10 degrees cooler than previous days! Yay for rain! :-)

I had intended to take today fairly easy anyway as I had been rushing around a lot the past few days, and I'm supposed to be on holiday, and therefore taking it easy :-) Yeah right! Today I have been to Checkpoint Charlie and to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Checkpoint Charlie is around 5 minutes walk from my hotel, so very close and convenient.

It is a bit "fake" in a sense [for example, there used to be a huge checkpoint here with 8 or 10 lanes in and out], and the poeple in US uniforms are genuine, original German actors :-) However, it's a good place to visit, in fact, one of the "must see" attractions. Around the area there are large areas of fences with information in several languages about the historical significance and happenings not only at this location, but also other places where the wall stood.

Similarly in the museum there are large number of exhibits and information displays about many of the awful, and brave things that occurred while the wall was up. There are many stories of escapes, and attempted escapes, as well as displays of artefacts from the era, from both side of the wall. Moving and very interesting. I didn't get a lot of pictures from inside the museum itself - there were very few cameras out and I didn't want to be that tourist looking for pictures but not taking anything in.

Anyway, on to a few pictures. firstly, 2 pictures of the checkpoint.

Next is a piece of the wall. note the post next to it. It says DEUTCHE DEMOKRATISCHE REPUBLIK [German Democratic Republic]. Democratic? Yeah right :-(

Next up is the outside of the museum, followed by two photos from inside. Click on the one with the picture of Stalin - it shows what people think of him these days! The odd contraption that follows is a home made aircraft [looks like a weight-shift trike] which was used in a successful escape. The caption beside it read as follows:

The first self-built escape aircraft until now. Manufactured components were only a Trabant car motor tank and wheels, all other parts, even the propeller were self-made. 100km/ 4. Aug. 84

Last photo is a bit different. It was raining hard for a few minutes after I got out of the museum... so hard that it even [temporarily] got between me and a tasty rostbratworst sausage... My stomach won eventually though :-)