I really should be calling this a throwback post, since I’m finally finishing/publishing it in September after getting back from this trip in April, but I don’t wanna, so I’m not gonna. 🙂

The final full day of this UK trip was the only one with rain, so Felicity and I planned to be indoors. As it turns out, we didn’t actually need to be indoors that much because we only had to deal with some rain in the morning and then the rest of the day was fine, if somewhat cloudy. Rain or not though, we had decided the first stop of the day would be The World of Tim Burton, an exhibition at The Design Museum in Kensington. Both the exhibit and the museum were new to us, so we were excited to see them (I was at least, and I feel fairly comfortable in saying that Felicity was at least happy to go along with the plan). A friend of mine had told me about the exhibit because her cousin had recently visited and, while I’m not a devoteé of Burton’s work specifically, I do enjoy several of his films, so I figured it would be a fun event. Happily, it was!

Getting to the museum was simple enough, as it’s about a half-mile from Earl’s Court station. It was really just on the walk from that station to the museum when we had to deal with any notable amount of rain and, even then, it wasn’t too bad. Umbrellas in hand, we easily found our way there and made our way inside, with tickets already purchased. I was surprised (though maybe I shouldn’t have been, given the rain) at how crowded it was inside the museum in general and the exhibit specifically, but it wasn’t SO busy that we couldn’t easily navigate from space to space.

The setup was very clear – we walked through different sections, each one focusing on a different period in Burton’s life and/or a different movie he worked on. He’s a fabulously creative person, not only as a director (which is what most people undoubtedly know him for), but also as an artist. I didn’t go into this exhibit knowing anything about his art (which he started doing as a kid), so it was cool to learn more about it (and see it, too) and to see so many neat examples of his work. That’s really what this exhibit was about – just walking around to learn more about Burton and to see some of the evolution of his craft. It’s definitely a story best told through photos (especially as the exhibit has since closed), so check them out below!

It may have been raining, but I still made sure to take a couple of directional sign photos.

Heading inside the museum.

This placard gave us an overview of the exhibit. The photo on the right is the view of the first section at the start of the exhibit.

A cute drawing Burton did as a child, plus some artwork he created that was used in an anti-litter campaign in his hometown.

A couple of collections of spooky drawings, some of which are from a project/movie of Burton’s called Trick or Treat, which never came to fruition.

Drawings from two of Burton’s films – Corpse Bride (left) and Frankenweenie (right).

One of the really cool things about many of Burton’s films is his use of practical effects, stop-motion animation, etc. Cool to see stuff like this in person!

So many drawings to see!

Some drawings and sculptures from Mars Attacks!

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

Edward Scissorhands has to be one of Burton’s more unique films. Cool to see the costume up close!

Don’t forget that Burton was involved with both Batman and Batman Returns. Some really cool visuals in both films!

Sculptures from two other movies – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

Although these sculptures weren’t made by Burton, they were made from drawings that he did create so they could be used at his first exhibit at MOMA in New York City.

Speaking of colors, check out the brightness in these drawings!

Right at the end of the exhibit, I saw this cabin diorama, which looked cute. It got way more interesting looking in the window!

After the exhibit, we decided to walk through the rest of the museum. It was somewhat interesting, especially some of the stuff about technology design, but it’s not one that I would likely have visited had this exhibit not been there. Really cool layout though!

The Burton exhibit was enjoyable and a great way to spend a rainy Tuesday morning – glad my friend recommended it! By the time we finished, the rain had stopped, so we decided to wander down towards the station to see if anything looked interesting for lunch. As is ALWAYS the case, when you aren’t ready to eat, you pass all kinds of great-looking restaurants, but when you’re ready to eat, you either suddenly realize you’re in a restaurant desert or you just don’t see any tasty places. In this case, we didn’t actually spend much time looking around, but I was getting pretty hungry (maybe even a bit hangry?), so we ended up walking into The Blackbird as it’s hard to go wrong with a pub lunch. Unfortunately for me, it did go a little wrong as the cheese and onion toastie I got wasn’t great. Not the worst, but definitely didn’t really hit the spot. But, food is food, so it wasn’t the end of the world.

Yep, we had to see the police box because we walked right by it! I made sure to get photos both right by it and across the street (love to see the box with the station entrance behind it).

A nice-looking pub and an okay-looking sandwich. The chips (fries) were really good, but the sandwich was barely toasty and the onions had an odd flavor. Just not my fave!

While we were eating lunch, we worked out what to do next. I remembered that Felicity had mentioned the London Mithraeum earlier on the trip, which I’d never even heard of, but it sounded interesting enough, so I brought it back up. She agreed that would be a great way to spend some of our afternoon, so we finished up lunch and caught a train there.

If you’re wondering what a mithraeum is, wonder no more! It’s just a temple dedicated to the worship of the god Mithras. The cool thing about the London Mithraeum is that it’s right in the City of London (which we just explored on our recent walking tour), so while you’re skipping around London’s financial district, you can also see ancient Roman ruins! It was only unearthed in 1954 during excavation for an office building and, as a result of that new building, it was actually disassembled and relocated a short distance away, which understandably pissed some archaeologists and historians off. However, when Bloomberg bought the same space decades later as part of the build of their new European HQ, they decided to move the mithraeum back to its original home, over 20 feet below ground, with an exhibition space above it. As part of this reconstruction, the mithraeum was made to look as it did when it was first excavated in 1954, without any of the later Roman additions, which had been added when it was relocated the first time. In addition, there’s some neat info and some artifacts on display that were also found in the area, so it’s certainly an interesting stop. And as an added bonus, it’s free! Do be sure to book ahead though, as it still requires timed entry, so if you just show up, you run the risk of there not being any space available. We lucked out and were able to book our spaces while we were finishing up lunch, which was probably made easier by the fact that it was a random Tuesday in April, as opposed to a weekend or any time during the busier travel season.

Onwards to pictures!

These are from an exhibition called 0.1%, which was inside Bloomberg SPACE, above the mithraeum.

Looking at the mithraeum from a few different angles. It’s actually quite a small space and this is really all there is to it. Still neat to be in the presence of something so ancient though, isn’t it??

Isn’t it amazing how even pieces of pottery still exist, centuries later?? Especially with such vibrant colors!

These coins and weights were also pretty neat.

After exploring those artifacts a bit more, we wrapped our time at the London Mithraeum. It’s a great museum and, because of its size, doesn’t need more than an hour to experience. Even if you aren’t particularly interested in Roman history or temples, I think it’s still so cool to be in the presence of ancient architecture, so I think it’s a good stop for most anyone. And it’s free! Can’t beat that. 🙂

At this point, it was late afternoon, so we decided to head back towards our hotel. Me being me though, I wanted to get some steps in (especially since the morning rain kept me from walking before our Design Museum visit), so Felicity caught the tube back towards Goodge Street while I did my typical final night stroll around London. I’m sure if I looked back through this blog, I could pinpoint when I started falling into this routine of walking around London on the night before I have to fly home, but that sounds like a lot of work for a travel blog. 🙂 So I’ll just say that it really is something I enjoy, even though I often end up seeing things I’ve already seen plenty of times before. I think it always goes back to that energy I get from London, so as I prepare to head home, it’s nice to just walk around, absorbing as much of that energy as I can so I can store it up until my next visit.

Whatever the reason though, it’s something I always look forward to doing! I didn’t see anything earth-shattering on this particular stroll, but I did enjoy the nice weather (somewhat cloudy, but the rain was long gone and there was definitely some sun) and I even made a second stop at my favorite movie store, Fopp.

And that just about put a bow on this trip! We didn’t do anything else in the evening, other than pack up our stuff and chill out. Thankfully, I didn’t have to get up early for my flight the next morning and Felicity didn’t have to get up at all because she stayed a day longer than I did.

As always, I had a ton of fun, enjoyed nearly-perfect weather, saw friends, visited new-to-me places, and even found time to geek out with some Doctor Who fun. My flight home was pretty uneventful, but as usual, I did get a few pictures of my time at Heathrow.

Heathrow is very precise in exactly when they release the gate information for each flight, so once I saw mine was available, I meandered that way. Glad to see a plane waiting when I got there!

I was VERY lucky to score a Delta One upgrade! This was my first time in one of the suites, which means I even had my own sliding door. So fancy!

Cheers to a comfy flight home!

Of course, I had WAY too much food on the flight, all of it pretty tasty! From Thai soup to braised beef short ribs to ice cream to a mid-flight cookie to a pizza/calzone hybrid before landing, the Delta crew did a very nice job of taking care of alllll my food needs (and then some!).

I got some nice views out the window throughout the flight.

This was definitely another UK trip for the books! Or rather, for the blog. 🙂 I’ve been to NYC and a couple of midwest road trips since this trip, but I’ve got another “big” trip coming up in a couple of days. And I bet you won’t be surprised when you see where I’m going. Stay tuned!