Travelog for: Rendolph

Hi Mum,

Christmas is coming soon!  Do you have your tree up?  The tree at my host's house is up and decorated!  Can you find me?






Look at all the pretty Christmas cards mum!





I wonder if we will have any snow this year on Christmas.  What do you think Mr. Snowman? 

Hi Mum!
It finally snowed today!  I was so excited I rushed outside without my hat or scarf! Brrr! Don't worry, I didn't stay out too long! 




Today my host and I decided to make "snow cream".  It wasn't really snow cream as my host has a diet that prohibit's sugar, so we made an altered version that was well... not very good! 


First we gathered some snow.





Then we added in some coconut milk and mixed it up.







Blech.  Not very good!  Everything is better with sugar! Don't you agree mum?

Here is the real recipe mum:

1 gallon of snow (or about 4 litres)
1 Cup white granulated fine sugar (236ml)
1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract
2 Cups of milk (472 ml)

Collect the new top snow only.  Then mix in the sugar and extract.  Stir in milk to creamy consistency.  Eat.

Hi Mum,
Today we went to Borough market in London. It was VERY busy, so we did not get many pictures I'm afraid.







Next we went to China town to visit the cake shops.


Which one should I get?




This one looks good... but I don't like coffee so much...




In the end I got this vanilla cupcake! Mmm!




My cupcake reminds me of my new friend George.  He likes to curl up on the bed and have a good nap.

Hi Mum!

Today we went for a walk in a nearby wood as the weather has been pleasant recently. On our walk we came across several horses. This one I think is pregnant.







A man made pond within the forest full of plant life.













We hunted for bluebells but did not have much luck. Oh well, maybe next time!

Hello Mum!

Today Mabel and I went with our host to have a picnic in the woods! This wood had blue bells but unfortunately most of them had started dying so we did not take any pictures of them.

We had lots to eat - crackers, meats, olives, potato salad, you name it! But my favorite part was when dessert came.  Mabel and I shared some custard and strawberries!

Hello Mum!

Today we took a trip to the beach.  It was suppose to be a two hour drive but due to all the traffic it took four hours! By the time we got there we did not have much time to stay before we had to leave but we still had fun!

I sent you a birthday card mum, did you get it?










Enjoying the sun's rays... what do you think of my tan?






Wee! I'm captaining this ship!  Hold on tight!






I tried to rescue these poor toys, but alas it seems I am no good at the grabbie machine!

Hi Mum!
My host and I are slowly going through photos and updating my travel logs now that the site is back up.

In the fall we visited London College to see the auto icon of utilitarian founder and philosopher Jeremy Bentham. My host had studied him in college and finally got to visit him. 

The story behind his "autoicon" via wikipedia:

Bentham died on 6 June 1832 aged 84 at his residence in Queen Square Place in Westminster, London. He had continued to write up to a month before his death, and had made careful preparations for the dissection of his body after death and its preservation as an auto-icon. As early as 1769, when Bentham was just twenty-one years old, he made a will leaving his body for dissection to a family friend, the physician and chemist George Fordyce, whose daughter, Maria Sophia (1765–1858), married Jeremy's brother Samuel Bentham.[18] A paper written in 1830, instructing Thomas Southwood Smith to create the auto-icon, was attached to his last will, dated 30 May 1832.[18]

On 8 June 1832, two days after his death, invitations were distributed to a select group of friends, and on the following day at 3 p.m., Southwood Smith delivered a lengthy oration over Bentham's remains in the Webb Street School of Anatomy & Medicine in Southwark, London. The printed oration contains a frontispiece with an engraving of Bentham's body partly covered by a sheet.[18]

Afterward, the skeleton and head were preserved and stored in a wooden cabinet called the "Auto-icon", with the skeleton padded out with hay and dressed in Bentham's clothes. Originally kept by his disciple Thomas Southwood Smith,[19] it was acquired by University College London in 1850. It is normally kept on public display at the end of the South Cloisters in the main building of the college; however, for the 100th and 150th anniversaries of the college, and in 2013,[20] it was brought to the meeting of the College Council, where it was listed as "present but not voting".[21]

Bentham had intended the Auto-icon to incorporate his actual head, mummified to resemble its appearance in life. However, Southwood Smith's experimental efforts at mummification, based on practices of the indigenous people of New Zealand and involving placing the head under an air pump over sulphuric acid and simply drawing off the fluids, although technically successful, left the head looking distastefully macabre, with dried and darkened skin stretched tautly over the skull.[18] The Auto-icon was therefore given a wax head, fitted with some of Bentham's own hair.













My host also wanted to post a link to a project that has been going on the last few years regarding Bentham's work. The Transcribe Bentham project allows volunteers to transcribe his written works into typed format so that all may read and study his philosophies. My host tried her hand at transcribing a few lines but the writing was difficult to read.

Transcribe Bentham

Hi Mum,

Just a few pictures of our trip to the British Museum.








After a few visits to the museum my host finally found the Mayan crystal skull... but come to find out it's a fake unfortunately.











A tree made up of ammo shells from Africa.

Hi Mum!

I hope you enjoy the pictures we took when we visited the Aldenham County Park!

Oh, a petting zoo!




*Poke Poke*  Hmm, something wrong with this pig. It just stands here.




Oh, much better! These have an oink box to make sounds with!



What do you mean you've never heard of Thanksgiving?












Oooh, a sign post.  Hmm, a 100 akerwood? Sounds interesting enough...




Where to go first?



So many signs!!







I seem to have stumbled across a few houses.
*Knock Knock*  Anyone home?










Hmm. No one answering.  Perhaps they are having a picnic?

Hi Mum,

I thought you might want to see some more pictures of a pub crawl we did last year.  We started at the "Devil's Dyke"  and worked our way around through the woods to two different pubs.



A little about Devils Dyke via Wikipedia:

The Devil's Dyke earthworks are part of the remains of an ancient settlement of the Catuvellauni and thought to have been the tribe's original capital. The capital was moved to Verlamion (which after the Roman conquest the Romans would rename Verulamium, which in turn would become modern St Albans) in about 20 BC. The Devil's Dyke is reputedly where Julius Caesar defeated Cassivellaunus in 54 BC,[citation needed] although this claim is disputed. Some historians[who?] suggest that the dyke was part of the same defensive rampart as nearby Beech Bottom Dyke, which, if correct, would make the area one of the largest and most important British Iron Age settlements.

During our trip we came across the house where author John Bunyan used to write.



The only thing left is the chimney.




We passed lots of beautiful scenery on our hike.



We were not sure what this piece of architecture was suppose to be, but it was pretty.




Alas, when we walked to the pubs they were not open until later. Oh well, at least our five mile journey was an interesting one! 

I'm heading home mum... I've had a nice time with my host but now it is time to see other parts of the world! 

I'm home after my travels. Time to have a snooze.