A Trip into the Past: Part Two

Atmospheric York *sigh*
I definitely want to visit again...to re-experience the sights, the feeling, the smell. Yes, the smell. In this part two about my York trip, I'll be focussing a lot on the smells my olfactory cells were lucky enough to process.
After our 'informative' tour of the Undercroft at York Minster, my sister and I ran off to York Museum, which was close-by. Unfortunately, we didn't enjoy ourselves much there. We did click a few interesting photographs but that about sums our time there. So I shan't dwell on this and instead I will talk about York Boat :)
Although the ride was less than an hour long, it was fun! Boat rides always make me feel giddy...in the best possible way and of course it's always great when all you have to do is sit, take in the fresh air, feel the breeze mess up your lovely hairstyle and learn something about a place in the process. Now I know that sounds a lot like the experience we had on the tour bus. But nothing beats salty air, quacking ducks and the feeling of being afloat in water without actually getting wet!
When the ride ended, we decided to hop onto the tour bus again so we could head over to our next interesting destination: JORVIK Viking centre.
If my olfactory cells were having a field day all this while, at JORVIK, they hit gold, baby! It was yet another ride although it was set indoors: perfect for a lazy person like me. It seems while excavating an old sweet factory, archaeologists found an entire Viking city. Makes one wonder what archaeologists were doing digging up the place in the first place...I mean, who tipped them off? I'll probably have to address this one in another entry :D
Back to my smell centre! The ride was designed to show us how the Vikings lived and what they ate and how they relieved themselves of digestive waste. Yes, there was one 'man' actually simulating egestion with sound effects! To add to that, the Vikings were not ones for deodorant in my opinion. And they didn't mind hanging their raw meat right next to the guy relieving himself. Its a wonder they didn't all die out of cholera and diarrhoea and what-not!
But if you know me at all, you will know how much I must have enjoyed myself at JORVIK. I recommend the place to anyone; the perfect romantic ride :D
After JORVIK, we went to the York Castle Museum, which was good fun because of all the sets representing different eras. There was also a Kirkgate street complete with a Bank, Prison cell and miscellaneous shops...too many opportunities for me to pose and photograph myself!
However, we had to literally run through the museum as it was nearly closing time. So, after that interesting marathon, we decided to brave the York Dungeon.
I will admit it: I was reluctant to go but my sister wanted to and I finally caved in. As fun as it was, I know I'm not going through it again. Although it was made to show us the different stages of horrific incidents in the UK's past, it wasn't without special freaky effects and sounds. This is how it all went down:
A few of us were thrust into a dark area and we heard a voice beckoning us to go through an even darker corridor. Obviously, none of us moved an inch and so finally after several minutes, the guy just came through and told us specifically to come through. I'm sure if we were still reluctant he would have reminded us that we paid quite a bit to go through with this. But thankfully, he didn't have to get out of character and we followed him into a small smoky room. This first bit was about the black plague pandemic and he happily told us with elaborate actions and fake models how the doctors of those times experimented on those poor patients.
We were then sent off to a small dingy room with a bar and there was this huge man in pirate garb. This giant of a man described to us how there was this crazy killer who was caught and hanged and how before he died, he cursed the hangman and some of the police officers because they mocked and mistreated him. After he narrated this story, he told us how those cursed men came into that very room to celebrate and how that killer's body was buried beneath our feet. Suddenly, the ligths went out and there was silence. I cannot even describe how I felt. All I can say is, I could actually hear my heart beating. The lights then came on but the man was nowhere to be seen and we could hear all sorts of horrible noises including some evil cackling. And then I felt something on my side and my sister screamed! The man had come up behind us and tried to tickle us. I think I would've screamed too except I had a slower reaction time :D
Anyway, after that, nothing else that happened to us was remotely scary. We attended a judging after which all of us were sent to the executioner who showed us how the people would be tortured in those days. But the guys acting as the judge and executioner were having too much fun to be scary enough.
We were also sent into a maze of mirrors and had to feel our way through. Then we were shown what happened on the original Guy Fawkes day and finally we were sent to this fat crazy lady who claimed to be the wife of a mad killer. After she tried freaking us out a bit, we were allowed to leave.
Boy were we glad to be out and see actual light!
Unfortunately, that was also the end of our York trip and we had to go back home. By the time we left, the wind had gone off to sleep so we weren't able to get all the gossip that we missed while hopping from one destination to another. Next time, I guess!

I will be honest...I was pretty glad to be back home so I could just take a shower and get that JORVIK-y smell off of me! Of course, I felt like I couldn't get it off but then again it may have been because my olfactory cells were simply in overdrive!

So, if you ever go to York, do visit these places but don't forget your umbrella and deodorant!

Till next time,
Jo

A Trip into the Past: Part One

When I think of history, I usually think of Ancient Egypt or Ancient South America. Rarely do I cast my mind to the Stonehenge or Loch Ness or 221b Baker Street. Oh sure, I know that last one is not a real historic site, but you have to admit, it's one of the places to visit!

Living here in the UK, you tend to hear about this historic city and that, museums and relics, folklore and bedtime stories based on a thread of reality. And so, after hearing so very much about York, I decided to visit the place with my sister who was here to see me...huzzah!

York. I literally felt like I stepped back in time as we got off at the Railway station. The breeze whispered stories in our ears as we walked to the tourist information centre. We weren't about to get lost in a place that talked to us you know. Tourist buses were all over the place and we could see domed buildings from afar calling out to us. The information centre didn't really tell us much. The wind spoke more we thought. But we did find out about a York Pass that we could buy and be granted free entry to several attractions. So we then had to decide if we would be able to visit most of those places or not. We took a risk and bought the passes and off we went! Now because we ended up doing quite a lot and because I love to mention all the details (whether important or not!), I'm dividing this account into two parts. Welcome to the first!

So, with a map in hand and no clue of how to read it, we ventured forth into the historic city of York. And yes, the wind was still busy chatting...the only problem was we had no idea what it was saying. We got onto one of the tourist buses, sat right on top with the chatterbox wind caressing our hair and tried to listen to the guide who went on and on about some lass who visited York only once and did something interesting (I did some research: the 'lass' was the Queen of England! Hahahaha!). Of course, we didn't catch the most important part of that monologue as it began to drizzle on us. Turns out that's what the darn wind was going on about all the while. Obviously, we politely asked for the rain to stop and it did after sometime.

Our first "attraction" was the York Minster, which wasn't really too far off from the Station but we enjoyed our bus ride anyway...even if it lasted all of two minutes. The Minster was huge and awe-inspiring. As it continued to drizzle, I brandished our bright green umbrella and we walked towards the entrance. It was pleasantly quiet inside and there were many statues of archbishops and saints of yore. We prayed a little there and truly felt the presence of God, which was simply awesome! After taking a few photographs we decided to go to the Undercroft; the entrance to which was within the Minster. The Undercroft has a few relics of the Norman and Roman times of York and is like a walk centred around them. We were given audio sets that explained each bit as we went through the tour. The voice that spoke into our ears was pleasant and clear and yet he made no sense at all. He went on and on about the Normans but the relics we saw before us were very Roman. Or at least they were labelled so. We went on further getting more and more confused with the speech. Finally we reached the end of the tour and suddenly we saw Norman relics. That's when it dawned on us that we entered through the exit and took the entire tour backwards! Yup, we had an interesting time down there. Suffice it to say, we quietly went back up, returned the audio sets and acted more knowledgeable than when we started the thing.

Yes, this is the end of the first part right here. Coming up next: The Yorkshire Museum, York Boat, Jorvik Viking Centre, Castle Museum and York Dungeon.

Life in Cartoon Motion

No, I'm not going to review Mika's debut album (although I will have to admit that I love many of his songs). I am going to talk about a book.

Recently, while browsing my University library, I saw a book out of the corner of my eye (now I'm simultaneously thinking of that Pink Floyd song). I promptly grabbed the book and ran to issue it. It was titled The Cartoon Guide to Genetics.

It took me all of two days to read the 209-page book because it was that interesting (this was while working on my dissertation). Never have I enjoyed reading a "textbook" before! The book described the origin and history of genetics in such wonderful detail that I could actually see how events unfolded and how the field of genetics came to be the way it is today.

After reading this book, I have been thinking a lot. Its funny how a comic book should excite me more than an extensive textbook with more details and information! (it's odd because I'm a postgraduate student and I should be excited with more information)
Is it all because this book had cartoon characters and little silly jokes? In fact, one of the reviewers of this book who happens to be a Harvard professor, actually stated that this book puts textbooks to shame!
Is it possible that soon, in a bid to interest students, people are going to start writing informative comic books? While that does sound pretty tempting, I don't think it would help much.

I know it seems like I'm contradicting myself but its true! If we move on to comic books to teach us the concepts of a complex subject, eventually we will lose the very essence of the subject. Unfortunately, life is not simple and thinking that it is won't help us get anywhere. If we start joking about genetics, we'll soon be joking about genetic diseases and then about cloning. Before we know it, we'll be cloning human beings just to get a kick out of it.

Maybe I'm just exaggerating the effects a comic book can have. And maybe comic textbooks will not replace regular old textbooks ever. I really don't know...what I do know is, like anyone else, I'd enjoy a comic book any day but I wouldn't want them to replace what we have now: huge tomes that seem boring but if you look close enough and just use your imagination to picture the concepts, you'll see that they do help.

Before I finish, I'd like to apologise for not updating this blog as often as I would've liked to and that the topic on God will come someday...not now though :)

I've also decided to stop the 'Question' thing at the end of every post. Instead I'll just continue with the polls. So, vote away!

N.B.: The Cartoon Guide to Genetics is written by Larry Gonick and Mark Wheelis and is an updated edition published by HarperCollins in 2005.

Till next time,
Jo