haha mediaeval? lol You will mostly find Elspeth at jazz clubs
I was with my SL boyfriend this morning - a rare treat as he isn't able to get online very often. Buying Robin Hood outfits, his and hers, very pretty. Then we went wandering around a mountaintop and discovered a ruined Lost City. Later was fixing (RL) hubby's (SL) home for him. (That is the other thing I am often doing :P )
And there is a great Sim made by NASA - where yes you can see Shuttles - models made by I believe the people at NASA who made the initial 3D models, of all the shuttles. You can ride up to a space station too. Shorty I will take you there. That group has regular updates on all the missions.
But if you buy a Shuttle of your own, you may well find you can only fly it or even rez it, on your own land, so beware. Vehicles are a newbie trap...
Shorty I don't know that it is BETTER than Sims, just different - but it is fascinating. Lately I've been playing Sims 1, Sims 2, SL in about equal portions.