London - Tuesday, June 28th
Today's post is brought to you by my stupid Credit Union.
I cannot recommend London Walks enough. You show up at a pre-determined Tube stop, pay your £8.00 and you get an awesome tour about some particular piece/place of London history. Some of the walks even combine a tour with places like St. Paul's Cathedral or the Tower of London. My plan was to get some cash out of the ATM (hole-in-the-wall), and head off to St. Paul's for the LW's tour. But the machine would not give me money. That's strange. Hmmm. It gave me money Saturday morning. Oh here, let me try this other one. Huh. Nothing, Undaunted, I went on to St. Paul's and looked for a cash machine there. Found two, neither would work for me. Sonnavabeech, now the tour has started without me. Fuuuuhhhhk3
Oh, well, maybe it's because the bank is not open in Maryland yet?
Anyway, hopped on the Tube and headed back to the museums - this time The Science Museum and another go at the V&A ('cos I love it so much!).
The Science Museum is definitely intended for kids, although I was very interested to go see the "History of Veterinary Medicine" exhibit. Anyone who has read my journal knows that I am an avid equestrienne. I have a horse, two cats, a dog, and have in the past owned gerbils, hamsters ('typical' and Siberian), a Florida Yellow-Bellied slider (turtle), parakeets, lived with a guy who owned a Chinese Water-Dragon, mice, and fish - gold and tropical.
How to tackle this museum? Go to the top and work my way down? Sounds good to me!
The Vet exhibit was immediately disappointing. The room was very small and had a few display cases of different devices from the past that were used to treat various maladies in horses. It was interesting, but there was nothing about any other animals! No dogs or cats or exotic pets, or how zoo animals are cared for. Nerds. The vet exhibit shared the top floor with "The History of Medicine", a very thorough and interesting display about the sometimes amusing, sometimes odd, and oftentimes shocking way human illnesses were diagnosed and treated. There was also a fair bit about non-Western medicine - China and India, etc.
I kind of puttered about the rest of the museum for a couple more hours, eventually making my way outside to get myself some lunch at a near-by Thai cafe (where I once again embarrassed myself by being unable to find the door, wandering back and forth a few times before reallizing I was suppose to go into the building first and then into the restaurant. The entrance was not on the street.)
There was actual rain today. Real 'get out your brolly" rain. But luck did right by me again by eventually sending way the rain. The sun never did quite come out but the air was refreshing and cool.
Wandering around the good ol' V&A again, it occured to me that maybe I should go back to the British Museum since I had only been there that little bit on my first day. I couldn't go tomorrow because I had plans to meet one more cyber-friend and finish out with another performance of MAAN. So off I went to TBM. Boy, that Tube is handy!
The British Museum is crowded. I did get a peek at the Rosetta stone and a few other really neat things, but it occured to me perhaps I should get things figured out about why I couldn't get at my cash. Reluctantly, I left the museum and spent the next two hours wandering around, going into different banks seeing if someone could help me get cash. I finally did find someone who offered to call my bank for me (since my phone, an INQ phone, was proving to be cumbersome and confusing to use [I'm an iPhone girl myself]). However, they hung up on her while she was trying to convince them to call me. The lady was apologetic. "But wait," said I, "can you go to a grocery store and ask for cash back when you pay for your food? "Certainly", she said. "And where would I find one of these grocery stores?" She took my outside and pointed down the street. "Right there", she said. I thanked her, she wished me good luck, and off I went.
Problem solved, right? Nope. I wasn't allowed to get cash back because my credit cards did not have a 'chip' in them. They were only swipey cards.
Shit. Now what?
I paid £15 more on my phone and made a long distance call to my Credit Union. By this time, I was hopping mad. It turned out that I was three days late paying my credit card bill so they blocked access to my accounts. "You are fucking kidding me!" I felt like yelling into the phone at the idiot 'helping' me. "I'm here on a vacation where I should be enjoying the sites and sounds of London, but I'm in my hotel room talking to YOU." (I actually did say that.) Then I said, "Take the money you need and I want my account unblocked NOW." He said credit card payments might not post for three days, in which time my account would stay blocked. "That is not good enough," I said, "By the time I get off this phone, I better be able to go to any ATM in this city and get as much money as I want." And he made it so.
AUAUAUGHGHGHHH! Stupid banks. They're all the same. They're not in it for you, despite what they may say. It's all about them.
Now where was I? Oh, yes, so I marched over to the nearest cash machine, got my money and went on a very fun "Ghosts of Old England Tour" with London Walks.
The End
The Real Rosetta Stone
Ramses II
The phone that confounded me throughout my vacation:
It gets good reviews, but hell if I could figure it out
I cannot recommend London Walks enough. You show up at a pre-determined Tube stop, pay your £8.00 and you get an awesome tour about some particular piece/place of London history. Some of the walks even combine a tour with places like St. Paul's Cathedral or the Tower of London. My plan was to get some cash out of the ATM (hole-in-the-wall), and head off to St. Paul's for the LW's tour. But the machine would not give me money. That's strange. Hmmm. It gave me money Saturday morning. Oh here, let me try this other one. Huh. Nothing, Undaunted, I went on to St. Paul's and looked for a cash machine there. Found two, neither would work for me. Sonnavabeech, now the tour has started without me. Fuuuuhhhhk3
Oh, well, maybe it's because the bank is not open in Maryland yet?
Anyway, hopped on the Tube and headed back to the museums - this time The Science Museum and another go at the V&A ('cos I love it so much!).
The Science Museum is definitely intended for kids, although I was very interested to go see the "History of Veterinary Medicine" exhibit. Anyone who has read my journal knows that I am an avid equestrienne. I have a horse, two cats, a dog, and have in the past owned gerbils, hamsters ('typical' and Siberian), a Florida Yellow-Bellied slider (turtle), parakeets, lived with a guy who owned a Chinese Water-Dragon, mice, and fish - gold and tropical.
How to tackle this museum? Go to the top and work my way down? Sounds good to me!
The Vet exhibit was immediately disappointing. The room was very small and had a few display cases of different devices from the past that were used to treat various maladies in horses. It was interesting, but there was nothing about any other animals! No dogs or cats or exotic pets, or how zoo animals are cared for. Nerds. The vet exhibit shared the top floor with "The History of Medicine", a very thorough and interesting display about the sometimes amusing, sometimes odd, and oftentimes shocking way human illnesses were diagnosed and treated. There was also a fair bit about non-Western medicine - China and India, etc.
I kind of puttered about the rest of the museum for a couple more hours, eventually making my way outside to get myself some lunch at a near-by Thai cafe (where I once again embarrassed myself by being unable to find the door, wandering back and forth a few times before reallizing I was suppose to go into the building first and then into the restaurant. The entrance was not on the street.)
There was actual rain today. Real 'get out your brolly" rain. But luck did right by me again by eventually sending way the rain. The sun never did quite come out but the air was refreshing and cool.
Wandering around the good ol' V&A again, it occured to me that maybe I should go back to the British Museum since I had only been there that little bit on my first day. I couldn't go tomorrow because I had plans to meet one more cyber-friend and finish out with another performance of MAAN. So off I went to TBM. Boy, that Tube is handy!
The British Museum is crowded. I did get a peek at the Rosetta stone and a few other really neat things, but it occured to me perhaps I should get things figured out about why I couldn't get at my cash. Reluctantly, I left the museum and spent the next two hours wandering around, going into different banks seeing if someone could help me get cash. I finally did find someone who offered to call my bank for me (since my phone, an INQ phone, was proving to be cumbersome and confusing to use [I'm an iPhone girl myself]). However, they hung up on her while she was trying to convince them to call me. The lady was apologetic. "But wait," said I, "can you go to a grocery store and ask for cash back when you pay for your food? "Certainly", she said. "And where would I find one of these grocery stores?" She took my outside and pointed down the street. "Right there", she said. I thanked her, she wished me good luck, and off I went.
Problem solved, right? Nope. I wasn't allowed to get cash back because my credit cards did not have a 'chip' in them. They were only swipey cards.
Shit. Now what?
I paid £15 more on my phone and made a long distance call to my Credit Union. By this time, I was hopping mad. It turned out that I was three days late paying my credit card bill so they blocked access to my accounts. "You are fucking kidding me!" I felt like yelling into the phone at the idiot 'helping' me. "I'm here on a vacation where I should be enjoying the sites and sounds of London, but I'm in my hotel room talking to YOU." (I actually did say that.) Then I said, "Take the money you need and I want my account unblocked NOW." He said credit card payments might not post for three days, in which time my account would stay blocked. "That is not good enough," I said, "By the time I get off this phone, I better be able to go to any ATM in this city and get as much money as I want." And he made it so.
AUAUAUGHGHGHHH! Stupid banks. They're all the same. They're not in it for you, despite what they may say. It's all about them.
Now where was I? Oh, yes, so I marched over to the nearest cash machine, got my money and went on a very fun "Ghosts of Old England Tour" with London Walks.
The End
The Real Rosetta Stone
Ramses II
The phone that confounded me throughout my vacation:
It gets good reviews, but hell if I could figure it out