Okay, first off the list: The Forbidden Planet bookstore. Well....actually it's full name is The Cult Entertainment Megastore/Forbidden Planet, but everyone just calls it Forbidden Planet. What can I say? It's the ultimate nerd's paradise. And I love it. It's two levels; the main level is costumes, movie and book memorabilia, action figures for a cheap price and a glass case for the highly expensive non-child play figurines (they even had Tidus from the Final Fantasy video game, and Mickey in Kingdom Hearts). A coin bank in the shape of the golden idol from the beginning sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harry Potter wands, time turners, robes, scarves, Lord of the Rings board games, everything Star Wars.....you name it, Forbidden Planet's got it. I also took pictures so you can see it as if you were there!
On the bottom floor, it's................books!!! Every fantasy, scify, graphic novel, comic, art, movie guide you could ever possibly want is on this floor. There's even a whole section devoted completely to Tolkien. It was brilliant. And the first time I visited, I spent at least 45 minutes just browsing through all the sections. What makes my memory of my first trip to Forbidden Planet even more amazing was the author of the Inheritance series (Eragon, Eldest, Brisinger, and Inheritance - coming out in November) was visiting to sign his books! I had no idea until I saw several people unpacking his books from boxes onto a table. When I asked why, they told me he was coming! So of course I got in line, and I was 5th! (The line ended up being super long, so I was unbelievably lucky!) I was in line for almost 2 hours waiting for him to arrive, but I don't think there's a better place to pass the time in a line than a bookstore! Plus, you get to meet other people, and I exchanged emails with girl named Laura who told me she was almost done writing a book of her own and was planning on publishing it! Cool how things work out, yeah?
Two weekends ago, I toured Buckingham Palace with Ameh. There's basically two parts of the tour: the Queen's Gallery, and the actual Buckingham Palace which includes the State Rooms, and the Royal Mews. Photography is allowed in the Queen's Gallery, but not in the State Rooms (of course). It's hard to describe the magnitude, detail, and luxury of the State Rooms because each room is entirely different from the last, and there's so much to see that the best way for anyone to get the full effect is to see them in person. Painted portraits and sculptures are guaranteed to be seen in every room though. The tour of Buckingham begins at the same entrance seen during the wedding ceremony of Will and Kate after they've taken their carriage ride back to the palace. My favourite part of the tour was soon thereafter when the audioguide leads you up the Graaaaand Staircase. I think it was the closest feeling to royalty I'll probably ever get, haha!
The weekend past, we had a group trip to Stratford on Avon, Oxford, Bath, Stourhead Estate, and Stonehenge. Whew! Action-packed, ka-bam! Except really. It was a very full weekend. We left on Thursday afternoon, and took a coach bus up to Stratford on Avon where we spent the evening and the next morning. We caught Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company theater, and in the morning we visited Anne Hathaway's cottage (Shakespeare's wife), his birthplace, and his gravesite at Holy Trinity Church. (I do have pictures of all these places). We then left for Oxford, and my favourite part there was visiting the Eagle and the Child pub! Tolkien and C.S. Lewis frequented this pub, along with the group they created called the Inklings. It was here that they used to share their story ideas and say how things were coming along...
and I'm going to stop here for now. More soon!!
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