Sunday, November 24, 2013

An owl’s eye view of London | @GrrlScientist [ W4llppr ]



Adult female snowy owl, Bubo scandiacus (formerly Nyctea scandiaca).
Image: pe_ha45 (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)

I have returned to London for another too-short visit. This time, I was invited by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) to celebrate the publication of their Bird Atlas 2007-2011, and of course, I will attend the Royal Society’s 2013 Winton science book prize.

These book-related ceremonies bookend my visit, which leaves me some time in the middle fpr other events. For example, today, I am taking a tour of Warner Brothers’ The Making of Harry Potter: Hogwarts in the Snow. As an avid fan of the books and then later, of the films, I am excited for this tour, despite the expense.

Here’s a short video interview with the trainers who worked with all the animal actors — especially my favourite, Hedwig the snowy owl (the Animal Actors tour is another event that is quite popular):

[Video link]

In addition to the book-related events I’ve mentioned, here’s some of the other exhibitions I plan to attend during my stay:

The Tate Museum:

National Portrait Gallery:

Museum of London:

Tower of London:

  • Following up on the jewel theme and since I really enjoy seeing stones and minerals, I’ve decided that I really must visit the Royal Crown Jewels

V&A:

Being a fan of ales and bitters, I will be sipping a few local brews. (Of course, I am always interested in visiting pubs that have a science theme or where famous writers used to hang out, too.)

Also thanks to my twitter pals’ suggestions, I have a list of recommended vegetarian/vegan curry houses to dine at — there’s a plethora of such places that I’ve been investigating near the Euston Street station. Thanks to a commenter, I now know there’s a few vegetarian/vegan south Indian and Sri Lankan restaurants near Tooting that are worth exploring.

Have I missed any special exhibitions? Do you know of a special pub or curry house that you think I must visit? If so, please do let me know so I can add it to my (not yet overcrowded) schedules!

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GrrlScientist can also be found here: Maniraptora. She’s very active on twitter @GrrlScientist and sometimes lurks on social media: facebook, G+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

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