Birmingham :)

Stratford upon Avon

Last weekend I went to Birmingham to visit my dear classmate :) We had a fun weekend!

On Saturday we went to Stratford upon Avon, a place where Shakespeare was born. The weather was so nice and the city is cozy. We visited butterfly farm which was delightful. Firstly, it was very warm in there, a true relief for the whole body. And then there was butterflies fluttering all around waving their little wings... beautiful. Not girly-glimmering-pink-butterfly-ish beautiful, but really delightfully heavenly beautiful.

Then we found a nice pub where Shakespeare was drinking and writing. We had nice lunch there and watched a bit of rugby, there was an important match and everybody around was so excited :) And I understood what is the game about :)))

In the evening we went Warwick and just walked around.

And we finished the day with a dub/ska/reggae concert, which was really nice :) it was different from the ones in Lithuania, though. Firstly, there were people of ALL AGES, and secondly, ppl were not reggae ppl. There were punks and ordinary ppl and some pink-blond kind of ladies :))

On Sunday we had a walk in Birmingham, but it was rainy and cold so we did not stay there for long...

Butterfly farm

Butterflies

Farm

Warwick castle

Shakespeare's house

Reggae concert place. Guess what time is it?

Birmingham

Brimingham

Birmingham :)

Spring is in the air!

Natural History Museum

Hey hello!

Maybe some of you, especially Lithuanians, will find it hard to believe what I say, but it is totally and surely spring in here! I felt it since i came back after xmas (6th of Jan), but I thought the feeling is due to the sudden temperature change. But soon I also felt that it really is spring, that violets and pussy-willow (kačiukai) would blossom if they were around. And really, I noticed buds on some trees and now they are opening! There are days when you would take your jacket off...

The other thing is that I started going to the museums. yes, you would not believe that, but these museums are nothing like what you would expect a museum to be... Not only big in size, beautiful, free, but so modern and interesting, they would grasp your attention by accurate images, hifi sounds, moving shapes, interactive pictures,... I went there on Fridays, with the little one she was very excited too :)

And a little everyday thing - we made chocolate muffins with the boy (he loves cooking). Except we didn't put eggs and it turned out brilliant!! He said they're the best muffins ever :)

NHM interior

Victoria and Albert Museum courtyard

Buds

The story of a six pence coin

During one active weekend we decided to eat in Camden. As we were enjoying the vegetarian chinese cuisine of a reasonable price and unlimited amounts, somebody came across a six pence coin. How curious is that! It is just slightly bigger than the teeny tiny five pence coin so I suspect that it is generally taken as a five pence.

Six pence, also known as tanner or half-shilling, was used in a pre-decimal system, along with florin (2 shillings) and shilling (12 pence), (the name of half-shilling becomes pretty clear now, doesn't it?). The first sixpences were struck in the reign of Edward VI in 1551 and continued until they were supposed to be demonetized upon decimalisation in 1971. However, they remained legal tender until 30 June 1980.

Some interesting traditions related to the tanner:

-Put in a Christmas pudding (the one to find it in his piece is lucky/will be wealthy/etc)

-Lucky charm for brides. There is an old rhyme which goes "Something old, something new / Something borrowed, something blue / And a sixpence for her (left) shoe."

-a good luck charm by Royal Air Force Aircrew who have them sewn behind their wings or brevets, dating back to the Second World War.

-can be found in that time's plays, songs, etc.

So that's the story for today! Going to Birmingham for the weekend, curious how is it gonna be!

A weekend out!

I had a very active weekend. Some friends were visiting London so I spent all the time walking and looking around. I saw tower bridge which looks nothing like in the classic-London-logo pictures :))) we also went to tate modern and admired the modern art and also made fun of it :) I actually enjoyed seeing an original of Monet water lillies and some installations...

Then there was chinatown. Fascinating. London has sooo many interesting places to see in and outside the centre... Both days were finished in Camden. Great place.