Margate

Margate and Broadstairs turned out to be kind of a let down. Still... even a bad day on the coast is better than a good day off it! I tried to do the Eastern beach towns to balance out the South and West that I love so much… But these towns were a bit dumpy and dated and DEFINITELY not either Bournemouth or Brighton--which remains the favorite of the "local" to London beach towns.

Got my usual early start… and for the first time doing one of these day trips, the weather was decidedly not cooperating. Freezing and crazy windy and overcast all day… even drizzling at times… and sometimes the drizzle was actually the ocean coming up to getcha! (See my photo below.) Fine train ride-- was hoping for some ocean views but no such luck… 

Got into Margate and headed off to the Turner Contemporary Museum… I always try to hit a museum or something and do my bit… It was alright. My favorite piece was this first picture below… A cat self portrait. Excellent!! Of course I got told off after taking this by the museo-nazi, but this shot turned out alright… So I didn't really need another. Typical of contemporary art museums. Half the stuff was kinda interesting and half looked like a deranged kindergartener's work. And I don't care if that makes me sound unsophisticated--I guess perhaps I AM unsophisticated in this way… 

The theme was self-portrait, and it centered around a loaned Van Dyck (made into cupcake decorations, below--my fave element of the museum after the cat self portrait!). Apparently he made it the fashion in Britain to paint self portraits as an artist. There was one of him, Constable and Turner, and even (though probably not surprisingly) Andy Warhol. I also liked seeing lots of 19th century women artists' self portraits… That was cool and felt decidedly modern… :)

Also in keeping with a modern art museum, there was an instillation of cymbals arranged in the front foyer--in front of fabulous windows overlooking the raging gray sea. Visitors were encouraged to gong them and become part of the art…  It was goofy and cool… :) It was beautiful watching the water boil and bubble outside, so I thought later I should go for a bit of a walk on the breakwater… Whoops!!  I got wet! 

Will that teach me, I wonder?? Also while I was at the museum cafe getting "lunch" (and by lunch, I mean a pot of tea and a chocolate Guinness chocolate cake) I finished reading Harry Potter 3 for the billionth time… I brought e-copies with me because I'm JUST that nerdy… (In case you don't already know this, I have the books in old-fashioned American hardcover editions, British editions--so I can read about "jumpers" instead of "sweaters" and that kind of thing, and the e-books. I am now on a quest for cheap versions of the audio books…) It made the time FLY on the way into Margate, and I barely was able to put it down to actually walk around the museum before I basically got lunch for an excuse to sit at the window overlooking the same view as the cymbals piece and finish… :)

(Fun shops around the VERY quiet and half-shuttered Margate downtown area)

 

Finally, I finished the story I've basically got down by heart already, and decided to head over to Broadstairs--Dickens country… Ironically, I still have to visit the Dickens Museum here in London--but I do much of the OTHER Dickens stuff! I never did get quite to Ramsgate--the third in the trio of Margate-Broadstairs-Ramsgate and mentioned in a sketch in Sketches By Boz… But I passed through on the train, and I figured that was good enough for now. There was even less to do in Ramsgate than the other two towns…

Broadstairs actually had two Dickens museums. Both were open, though no one I asked knew that. But I just wandered over to check for myself… and there they were. The first, called the Dickens House, was not ever lived in by Dickens…which is ironic as it's named after him and he lived all over the town! I counted at least three other plaques around the other parts of town… He did visit, and a friend/aunt did live there and she became a character in David Copperfield… The museum was cheap… and I was really trying to give some of my money to the locals… SO I looked at lots of Victorian era stuff… Glove stretchers and an old wedding dress and baby clothes and that kind of stuff. A man's chair from the era and one for women… The difference seemed to be in the arms… The man's chair had arms, and the woman's chair didn't. I assume it had something to do with big dresses…

Then I went up to Bleak House--which EVERYONE said would be closed. But it was partly open--and partly a B&B-- and partly a pirate museum… So THAT was fun!! Actually, the rather cheap pirate cave museum under the house was pretty fun… A lot like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney. And that's not faint praise. It was cool to check out some of that history of the area, in fact… Yo ho! Yo ho! And a bottle of rum… ;)

Then I got to see something actually connected to Dickens for the first time today. His study, his writing desk, and a few chairs that had belonged to him. Oddly enough, they encouraged photography here--maybe they realized that they were fighting a losing battle to NOT let us take all the pictures we wanted… Check out Dickens's view out the window as he wrote!! Swoon and sigh!! Yep--I signed the guest book… And check his (non period) green bank lamp-- I love those things!!

Next, I took a picture of a bleak house (what this museum is called, and what Dickens named on of his books) on an appropriately bleak day… :)

After this, which was perfectly entertaining if strangely organized and laid out… I wandered around the town… I REALLY tried to stay in the area all day. I ALWAYS stay in the towns I visit the WHOLE day-- get into town sometime between 10-12, and leave around 7 or 8pm… I was HOME by 7pm today, though… There was just nothing else to do. I went into antique shops--then realized I didn't want to buy old tea cups and deal with packing them. I tried several used book thrift stores, to decided against their large supply of romance novels and nothing else… I DID get a gelato--in keeping with my theme of eating apparently NOTHING healthy today. I don't know if you remember Brighton having more veggie restaurants than I could visit in a day?? Margate and Broadstairs were NOT like that!! But there were some cute photo ops, and it was kind of nice getting home in time to do laundry--especially as my jeans had crusty salt water on them!! And I was oddly knackered still. I fell asleep on the train on the way back and had to nap for a bit at the flat before I could deal with doing my laundry…

And I have no out of town or theatrical plans for tomorrow. And the weather is still supposed to be pretty crappy. Maybe I'll attempt the Dickens Museum… or return to one of my stand by museums… (tho Sundays there tend to be CHAOTIC--especially on a "let's do indoor stuff" kind of day)… We'll see-- I'm 1/3 of the way through Harry Potter 4, btw. So there is always THAT to finish… ;)