The ASDAL Conference and Home

The next few days are spent in meetings. We do get a few tours, more than the usual amount for these ASDAL conferences actually. We go to Oxford, Blenheim Palace, Windsor and the Virginia Water Park near the college. Those are fun. The meetings are, well, meetings. Somehow it gets to the organizers that I've taped a couple of these conferences before, so I get asked to help out with this one. So once again, I am AV Boy. I don't mind. Gives me something to do. We also get to know the bathrooms and the cafeteria pretty well. That's about normal for conferences.

The last full day that I'm in Britain, I finally get to go to London. We're scheduled to go and tour the British Museum and Library. The bus drops half of the group off, and the rest of us are treated to a flying bus tour of the major sites in town. I end up taking several pictures out the bus window as we drive past landmarks I'd really like to see close up. Ah well, gotta save something for next time, right? Just hope there is a next time.

Before my tour of the museum & library starts, I have some time to go and see the Sherlock Holmes museum up on Baker Street. I manage to successfully navigate the London Underground ("Mind the gap!") to the famous Baker Street Station. I've seen pictures of the inside of the station with the Sherlock Holmes head on the wall, but to see it in person is always more fun.

I've arranged to meet my library director up here for the tour, since she's a big fan of the detective, too. But I'm early, so I still have time for an egg mayonaise sandwich at the shop across the street from Number 221. When she shows up, we go into the museum. The admission a bit pricey, but given the fact that Holmes lovers like myself will pay it, I guess they're not losing alot of business for that reason. The museum is actually pretty interesting. They have a replica of Holmes' sitting room as it was described in the stories, and you can sit in the chair and hold the pipe. So naturally, that's what I do. Upstairs, there's a gift shop of course, and I get a Holmes teddy bear for my brother. It's an odd souvenir, but cute. I think he'll like it.

Time to get back to the Museum for my tour. Again, getting back to the right station on the Underground is no trouble at all. The trouble starts when I exit the station. After about 10 minutes of walking I finally find where I am on my map. Looks like I turned the wrong way coming out of the station. It's a long way back, and I don't have alot of time. But even after running most of the way back, my group is not around when I get there. The guards haven't seen them, so I go into the museum to try and find them. I do get to see a good share of the British Museum, but I'm not paying a great deal of attention to the exhibits. I never do find my group, so eventually I give up and go off exploring on my own.

I spend most of the rest of the day going up and down Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road looking in all of the bookstores I can find. I also get a good look around the Virgin Atlantic Megastore, but they don't have that Simon & Garfunkle album I'm looking for. There's also a pretty good comic book store that I spend some time in. I also find my way to the American Express office and cash my last two traveller's checks. Just for a joke, I ask them if they take VISA. The guy actually starts seriously thinking about ways they can accomodate me before I assure him that I'm only kidding. Not sure he entirely appreciated the humor, but he was doing his best to be helpful, which I had to appreciate.

Before I get back on the bus, I do have a chance to pick up a vegeburger for supper. I haven't really had a problem finding good vegetarian food on this trip, so it's been kind of hard to see where the English get their reputation for bad food, but then again, I've mostly been eating variations on my favorite American foods, and not the local, mostly meat-based dishes. So for my experience at least, English food ain't all that bad.

Today is Fly Back Home Day. A couple of other librarians and I share a taxi from Newbold to Heathrow. Yeah, we're plenty early for my flight, but that's OK because it takes awhile just to get through the check-in process. It's just after the big Royal Ascot race and just before Wimbledon. Security is pretty tight. I fill out a slip volunteering myself to be bumped and spend and extra day in London, but I don't get taken up on it.

On the flight home I decide to stay awake for the whole ride, watch all the sitcoms and movies, and try to enjoy the flight. The movies are Circle of Friends and that Paul Riser divorced dads/McDonald's commercial movie. However, I'm sitting near the back and outside of the plane, so it's tough to hear the sound over the engine and air noises. Even tougher to see the films when the flight attendants are constantly going up and down the aisle in front of me doling out coffee and food. I finally give it up and read while listening to one of the music channels on the headset over and over.

When I land, I get myself back to my apartment via the Washington Flyer and Metro. Then walk home from the Metro station. The bags are really heavy by the time I get home. I call my brother to let him know I'm back. He's somewhat surprised. He was expecting me tomorrow and was planning to pick me up at the airport. Ah well, since I wouldn't have been looking for him, I guess it worked out OK.

All in all, a really great trip. I saw some great sites, had some good food, made some good friends. I also experienced a new appreciation for free public toilets. Most of the time, it's more important to find those than the local American Express office.

I've got to get back there sometime to see more of the sites I didn't get to see this time, and to get more of that fantastic brown bread in Ireland.

Back to England.

Back to the Trip Page.

Way back to my Homepage.

scottrel@cuc.edu