I love London. I spent two weeks there both years of my grad school programs. I museumed the hell out of that city.

runs to check V&A website

YES! The David Bowie exhibit will still be open when we're there in July! So between that and the fashion section, do you think I need more than one day?

YES! The David Bowie exhibit will still be open when we're there in July! So between that and the fashion section, do you think I need more than one day?

It depends. Just those two exhibits, probably not, but I would plan on spending most of the day there. If you want to explore more of the museum, probably. If you need a break in between exhibit, the food court there had been completely redone from the last time I was there, and it was very nice.

The David Bowie exhibit

meep!!!

whimper

One of those lucky happenstances: when I went to see St. Paul's Cathedral, the choir was in there practicing. It was glorious to walk around and hear them singing at the same time.

Strawberry-blonde sounds fun, erika.

I haven't been to the UK yet. It's near the top of the list, but things keep coming up. It'll definitely be a combo of museums and tourist stuff, with a number of pubs in the evening when I do go. Maybe a football game, too, depending on timing.

Jilli, when in July are you in the UK?

I have a hivemind Mirena question. I'm going in tomorrow morning and want to know what to expect. Like pain during insertion and/or if there is lingering discomfort after. I think I'm just overthinking things, but thought I'd ask.

Suzi, I have a low pain threshold. I'm pretty much of a wimp. It hurt when it was actually put into place (like, not when it was going up the vagina, but when it was being pushed past the cervix). It was a really sharp pain, but quick. I'm trying to think of what to compare it to -- sort of like the speculum for a pap smear, but much sharper (also, again, fairly quick).

For some kind of Teppy-is-a-wimp scale, I would say the speculum is maybe a 4 on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is no big deal and 10 is I WILL KILL YOU NOW WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME. And comparatively, the insertion of the Mirena was, for me, about a 7 1/2.

I was crampy and sore afterwards, intermittently, for a couple of days. But ibuprofen took care of it. I would recommend taking 4 ibuprofen about an hour before you go.

All that said, I know women for whom it was seriously no big deal. It was, like, a pinch-y feeling, and done. So it can depend.

Can I ask, are you on your period, or just done? Because that makes a difference in terms of pain.

Jilli, this was nearly 20 years ago, but when I was at the V&A, I found out about the Prints & Drawings Room, where you can sit at a desk and have the librarian bring you a big box of drawings to look through.

Including the original Winnie the Pooh sketches.

I spent a quality few hours with those, all cozy-like.

We actually didn't do a ton of museums when we were in London last September. The weather was so nice we ended up walking around a ton. Bob did the British Museum when I was sick for a day and we did do the Tower which was awesome. We were there for hours and didn't do the Crown Jewels. Plenty to see there!

We had this walking tours of London book that my folks got us that was a major source of inspiration. It looked fairly generic but the walks had a ton of macabre & offbeat features.

Here's our pics!

[link]

I'm totally with Vortex not wanting to go with her friend and a stranger, though. I feel like for a trip like that you want to make sure your traveling companion and your interests intersect pretty well.