London Day Four

Today was a little different. Our course took a break for one day as it coincided with Spring Exchange 2009. This was just around the corner from our training venue, in the Old Sessions House. This is a beautiful building, both inside and out. It’s an old court house, now a conference centre and now owned by a Masonic trust.

Spring Exchange was a mixed bag. It was nice to get to hear Rod Johnson speak, and interesting to hear talks such as what’s new in Spring 3.0, which reinforced the training I have been receiving all week. Some of it was a little like a sales pitch, pushing their own dm Server and tc Server. The last session sounded less interesting, so I skipped our early for something more interesting…

I grabbed a train (or three) to find my way to the O2 Arena (formerly the Millenium Dome).


Here I went to see the BodyWorlds exhibition. For those of you who don’t know what this is, a chap called Dr Gunther von Hagens invented a means of essentially turning biological specimens (such as people :-) into a plastic form that looks as real as it did before, but it doesn't perish or smell. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to see this, but a kind of morbid fascination drew me in. I will admit to needing a nervous pee before entering. The exhibit was incredible, allowing laymen to learn all about the human body by actually seeing it. Different cross-sections, and ways of layering the specimens, allow us to see how every part of the human body is constructed. It’s truly amazing. I think the hardest part to see, and what would put many people off, is seeing babies in varying stages, they show fetuses from only a few days old, right through to newborn. They also had an array of mammals including rabbit, horse, and a full size giraffe which was just incredible. Those not put off by what I've said here can view promotional images here on the official website. Sadly I was not allowed to take my own photos.

Once finished there, and admiring the O2 venue, I headed to Westminster to walk around a little to see sights I've seen before. It was cold, but in an hour of walking I saw Downing Street (well actually a set of iron gates guarded by armed Police), Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (small after York Minster), the Thames.

All this was nice to see again, but I did get a first, I saw a Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 drive past up Whitehall. What a beautiful car!