Madman in a Box

I am going to preface this post with the warning that you probably need to know at least a little bit about Doctor Who to understand what I am going to be talking about. There is also a chance of spoilers for later seasons of the show, so you have been warned.

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Walking into the Doctor Who Experience, housed in a long grey and blue building resembling a giant tent, we were afraid we would not be allowed on our tour because we were ten minutes late. Our worries were unnecessary as the man scanning our tickets did not even check the assigned time.

I was surprised by the the number of children on the tour. I know that Doctor Who is considered as  family show (that is why it airs at 8pm instead of later), but all of the people I have known to watch it are all at least teenagers. Some of the aliens and situations could also frighten young children (i.e. the creepy Silence creatures and the Weeping Angels).

We queued in the lobby next to the small cafe until we were allowed in to the "adventure" portion of the tour, which would be followed by the exhibition. Our group of about twenty people filed into a dark room with a projection screen. A compilation of scenes from the episodes of the 11th Doctor were shown, ending on a final shot of the crack in the universe first shown at the introduction of Amy Pond, the Doctor's companion.

I thought, "It would be so cool if the crack in the screen opened up for us to move to the next section, sort of like at the Harry Potter Studio when the screen opened to show the doors to the Great Hall." And what do you know, that was exactly what happened. It was a great start to the tour.

The frist room was built to look like we were in the UK starship from the episode, "The Beast Below." The room was dark and lit with red lights. A Frowner, a creepy clown-like doll inside a glass case, was behind me and I kept waiting for it to move.

Inside the TARDIS

The story for the Adventure began here, with the Eleventh Doctor appearing on a screen and telling everyone that he was stuck in the Pandorica (a large stone box  that was thought to be only a fairytale). The Doctor was trying to call his companion Amy to help him but he just got us "shoppers" instead.

Moving to the next room, we were inside the TARDIS (the older version from the 9th and 10th Doctors). Joysticks were arranged around the center console labeled "navigation," "diagnostics," and "mechanical." When told by the Doctor on his screens, the kids in the group messed with the joysticks. Some caused smoke to filter from the console, others made the metal platform under our feet rock slightly.

Alerts began to sound, telling use that the TARDIS was being boarded by unknown creatures. We left the TARDIS console room quickly, and walking down a hallway. We ended up inside of a Dalek ship. Three Daleks moved out of their alcoves accompanied by a lot of smoke while yelling, "EXTERMINATE" in their robotic voices. Their rant about how they are the superior species and how they were going to eliminate the Doctor was cut short when their ship was attacked. The attackers were another group of Daleks who claimed that they were the Supreme Daleks. Of course, the two groups got into a fight about who was better and the ships starting firing their lasers at each other.

We took this opportunity to escape...right into a Weeping Angel graveyard. Now, the thing about Weeping Angels is that they are frozen whenever someone is looking at them. They can only move when they are unobserved, so the only way they can not get you is if you keep you eyes on them. Whatever you do, don't blink.

The graveyard was full of stone angels and the lights flashed off and on, tricking your eyes into thinking that they might have moved. Our group moved through this section quickly, urged forward by the voice of the Doctor telling us to hurry and not to blink.

The final room was decorated a bit like a jungle with a rock face in front of us. A 3D video was projected onto a screen in the rock face showing the swirling time vortex being put to rights, and the Doctor being released from his prison inside the Pandorica. Us "shoppers" had helped save the day.

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Weeping Angel

The exhibition portion of the tour was full of props and costumes from throughout the Doctor Who series. There were all of the different sonic screwdrivers used by the different incarnations, as well as a display showing the main outfits of all eleven doctors.

All of the creatures were represented from the Face of Boe, to Cybermen, the creepy Silence creatures, and Silurians. A very interesting display showed the evolution of the Daleks. They have gradually become larger over time and changed colors. The most recent versions are about five feet tall and are painted in solid colors like red, blue and yellow so as to be able to tell them apart. Older Daleks tended to be more metallic colors.  

Each companion of the Doctor had a poster and one of their main outfits on display. I was disappointed that the plaques only told the basics about each character instead of special, behind-the-sences knowledge. I would assume that most people at the Doctor Who Experience already know the basics behind each of the characters. 

I had a really great time on the tour. It was nice being with friends that you can geek out with and no one will judge you for your strange interests.

A Day Trip to Cardiff

This past Friday, November 2, Caitlin, Amy, Libby and I went on our first day trip outside of Oxford. Our destination was Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, our main goal to visit the Doctor Who Experience.

When we left for the train at 7:45 am, I was worried that the weather was going to be miserable. The forecast for Cardiff was a high temperature in the low 40s Fahrenheit and a 70% chance of rain. Looking out of the windows on the train ride, our spirits lifted as we saw white clouds with some bursts of blue sky. Since being in England I have learned to appreciate any little bit of blue that manages to peep through the almost constant cloud cover.

However, all of these hopes were dashed when we emerged from a long underground tunnel under the Severn River into Wales, to be greeted with a sky that was dark with an almost greenish tinge. All l could think was, "What have we gotten ourselves in to?" and "Don't worry. They do not get tornados here in England even if those clouds do look really ominous."

We had to transfer trains several times in Cardiff until we reached the stop for Cardiff Bay. By this time we were running late, it was 11:45 am and the entrance time on of Doctor Who Experience tickets was for between 11:00 am and 12:00 pm. We were planning to use Libby's iPhone for directions but neither the Apple version or the Google version were working properly, so we walked briskly towards the bay since we knew that it was somewhere in that area.

We were in such a rush that we had little time to appreciate the fact that it was actually very sunny with fluffy white clouds in the sky. Time ticked on until we found a tourist information centre and the woman working kindly gave us a map and the directions we needed. We just needed to walk right along the bay for about ten minutes to get to the Doctor Who Experience, and even though we arrived ten minutes after 12:00 pm, the employees did not even check our designated times on our tickets. We had been worried that they would not let us in.

(Full details on my time at the Doctor Who Experience are posted here)

After leaving the Doctor Who Experience, we strolled casually along the waterfront admiring the modern architecture of the surrounding buildings and the way the sun glistened on the water of the bay. The rays of sun made it feel unusually warm and we unbuttoned our coats and found little use for our scarves and gloves.

We were starving by this time and decided to take the recommendation of our British friend Beth's friend Daniel who studied in Cardiff, and eat at Eddie's American Diner. It might seem strange to want to eat American food while abroad, but sometimes it is just nice to be able to look at a menu and know every dish being offered.

Eddie's American Diner was a long, rectangular restaurant decorated like a 1950s diner. Red, vinyl booths lined the right-hand wall with the open kitchen on the left, separated by a counter with bar stools. All of the booths inside were taken so we had to sit at the tables outside, though it was colder now that we were in the shade. The tables outside were small and silver with two matching chairs on one side and a red and black bench seat designed to look like that of the seats in a 1950s car on the other. The place looked strangely familiar to us. We figured out why when Amy returned from the restroom to tell us that a scene in a Doctor Who episode had been filmed in the restaurant.

We all ordered various kinds of burgers and a side order of french fries to share. This diner at the little things that we had been missing since leaving America. Things like ice in your drinks, the square, orange cheese slices, and, for me personally, mustard for my burger. The only thing not typically American were the buns which tasted freshly baked with a crisp outside instead of the soft, full of preservative kind that we would have gotten in the States.

Sitting at our table deciding what to do next, we watched as an employee left the Starbucks Coffee Shop next door with a tray of free samples. All we could see in the cups was a bunch of whipped cream, we wanted to try some even though we had no idea what it was. We then walked by her post on the sidewalk, trying not look like we had taken that route for the express purpose of being offered the samples. The small red, Christmas themed cups were filled with a new toffee flavored coffee that was actually pretty good considering I do not typically enjoy anything coffee flavored. The best part though was the frothy whipped cream sprinkled with crunchy toffee bits.

Our coffee cups in hand, we walked back to Roald Dahl Plass to take pictures of the Millennium Centre and the Millennium Tower. The Millennium Centre is the setting for operas, plays and concerts. It is a newer building constructed in a modern architectural style, its most notable feature being the curved, copper frontage embellished with the phrase "In These Stones Horizons Sing," in both English and Welsh.

Millennium Centre

The Millennium Water Tower is a semi-circular sliver tower set directly across from the Millennium Centre. It is basically a tall water feature, with water cascading down its flat, metallic sides. This area of Cardiff Bay was also strange to be in because I had seen these sites before when watching Doctor Who and its spin-off series Torchwood.

Millenium Water Tower

Knowing that it would be dark in several hours, we chose to leave Cardiff Bay and head into the city centre to visit The Cardiff Story, a free museum about the history of the city. I found it very interesting because it was more interactive than most museums and it focused more on the individuals who had lived in the city throughout the years.

All of the exhibits were found in one main room with alcoves dedicated to different subjects like the coal and steel industry, the docklands and the city's beginnings. One station held a dollhouse with each side showing the progression of family life over the past two hundred years. The little rooms were decorated for the time period with hand carved wooden people. With the press of a button some parts of the people would start moving. The little boys sitting at the dinner table holding knives and forks bang their fists on the table. The modern woman typed loudly on her laptop while her husband was in the kitchen cooking.

Caitlin, Amy and Libby had a fun time rolling a dice which was just light dots projected on a table which you touched to roll, and then moving their pieces along a game board designed to relfect the history of Cardiff. The person with the train piece invariably won because it was so much more useful to the development of the city than the horse piece.

We exited the Cardiff Story just before it closed at 5:00pm. Not wanting to wander around Cardiff in the dark, we decided to end our day trip and return to the Cardiff Central train station. Luckily, we only had to wait on the train platform for about twenty minutes as the temperature had dropped considerably with the setting of the sun.

The nearly two hour train ride was uneventful. I wrote notes for my day to aid it writing blog posts later (this post in fact) and then spent the rest of the ride listening to an audiobook version of Peter Pan on my iPod.

Our first day trip was deemed a success. Our main goal of visiting the Doctor Who Experience was attained, and it never rained more than a brief sprinkle.  

Expectations: Cardiff, Guy Fawkes Day and Chislehurst Caves

Cardiff, Wales

On Friday November 2, Caitlin, Libby, Amy and I are taking a day trip to Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. I know practically nothing about Cardiff or Wales. The little bit I do know comes from watching television shows like Doctor Who and Torchwood, and from talking to our British friend, Beth.

The Doctor Who Experience is the reason that we are going to Cardiff. I am really excited about it, probably more than I was about going to see the Harry Potter Studio. I am expecting the tour to be like the Harry Potter one, just on a smaller scale, and about Doctor Who, of course. It will probably be focused more on the most recent television episodes and the 11th Doctor, though there should be props and displays about all of the Doctors throughout the years.

Beth went to Cardiff for the first time last weekend to see the premier of Skyfall, the new James Bond movie. She described the city as a mixture of old classic buildings and ultra-modern ones. It will probably be really busy since it is the capital city and we are going on a Friday. I hope that the streets will be in better condition than those in Dublin, and the people more careful when crossing the roads.

It looks like the weather is going to be pretty bad. The high is in the low 40s Fahrenheit with a 70% chance of rain stretching throughout the day. The dampness from rain always makes it seem colder and I am not looking forward to having to walk around outside most of the day.

Guy Fawkes Day

Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night, is a UK holiday celebrated on November 5 every year. The holiday is in celebration of the capture of the Catholic terrorist, Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up Parliament in the 1600s.

There are parties and fireworks like Independence Day in the United States. The biggest part of the night are the large bonfires. Into the fire, people throw effigies that they have made themselves. These effigies are usually made by taking old clothing and stuffing them with newspaper, similar to a scarecrow. Beth has told us that sometimes you make the faux-person with a theme in mind. Last year her friends dressed their effigy as a gangster.

I am expecting it to be pretty similar to the 4th of July mixed with the county fair, except that it will be freezing outside. We are planning on going to see the fireworks in a nearby park where they have been setting up fair rides for the past week. There will probably be a lot of children out with their parents, along with the inevitable person who has had a little too much to drink. The big events will probably be over relatively early since they start before 7pm. Since the time change, the sun has been setting around 5pm so at 7 pm it will be plenty dark enough to start the fireworks.

Chislehurst Caves

Tomorrow, Sunday November 3, Caitlin, Amy and I are going to Chislehurst Caves. They are located in Kent, outside of London. All I know about them is that they are caves and I am not going to read anything on the website so that there is a little element of surprise about it.

I am expecting the tour to be about 45 minutes to an hour long. The caves will be dark and spooky but relatively safe since it is a tourist destination. I am hoping that the tour guide will tells us stories about people who lived or hid in the caves and its historical significance instead of a lecture on how the caves were formed. I've always found history to be more interesting than science. 

We are going by train via London so the trip should be relatively relaxing because we are now familiar with using the railway system. Some of the day will probably be spent in London, perhaps at Piccadilly Circus.