KEW KNEW???

Hercules fights the snake
 "MAGNIFICENT"

Bee attacks a flower
"BUSY POLLINATING"

Carnivorous Plant ~ Waterlily House
"LOOKING FOR A TREAT"

Lily Pads ~ Waterlily House
"LOVELY TO THE EYE"

Couldn't pass these adorable flowers!
"TOO CUTE"

Japanese Garden sculpture
"PEACEFUL"

"BUTT'S UP" ~ Sackler Crossing
"GOOD FOR A LAUGH"

Poppy by Tom Hare ~ Willow Seed Sculptures
"VISUAL TREAT"

Tiger Butterfly ~ Princess of Wales Conservatory
"SIMPLY AMAZING COLORS"

Strutting Peacock ~ near the Pagoda House
"PROUD OF HIMSELF"

Red & Green "mini" Cactus ~ outside the Palm House
"PERHAPS I LIKE CACTUS AFTER ALL??"

Another awesome butterfly!!
"WHAT CAN I SAY - THE BUTTERFLIES DESERVED ANOTHER VISIT"

A place to rest our feet ~ Orangery Restaurant
"OF COURSE, WE DON'T PASS UP AN OPPORTUNITY FOR TEA"

~ KEW GARDEN ~
Royal Botanic Gardens

Tube: Kew Garden station

 spent 5 hours exploring the 300 acres of 

botanical treasures!

This garden is like...

...Disneyland

you would need several days to experience it ALL!

We spent an hour in the 

"Butterflies, Bugs & Beasties"

special exhibit!!

It was difficult to select only

T-W-O 

butterflies!

We downloaded over 365 photos...
from two cameras...


"KEW KNEW"
we would find such
a variety of
experiences to
tempt our
SENSES??

SUNDAY HUMOR???

GARGOYLE 

is a carved stone grotesque

with a spout designed to direct water 

from a roof and away 

from the side of a building.

originates from the French gargouille, 

originally "throat" or "gullet"

& the French verb gargariser, 

which means "to gargle."

WATCH ME SPIT IN THIS PIPE!

CAN I JUST CLOSE MY MOUTH NOW??

HELP ME! I'M SLIPPING!!

COME ON!  EVERYONE NEEDS TO PULL THEIR OWN WEIGHT!

SOMEONE ~ PLEASE GET THIS SNAKE OUT OF MY HAIR!

YUCK!! THAT TASTED TERRIBLE!

 

GARGOYLES

=

EROSION CONTROL? 

(prevented rainwater 

from running down the walls,
which would erode the mortar 

between the stone blocks)

DON'T WEAR OXFORDS...

from wikipedia

An Oxford shoe is a style of leather shoe with enclosed lacing;

in other words,  dressy shoes in the US.

Heh!??!  JPE is more of a Merrell man or an ECCO kind of guy! Nevertheless, I don't see him getting a pair of "oxfords" any time soon...

BUT, we did see some "gray-haired" professor-type guys (riding rather rickety bikes) around OXFORD on our day-trip Saturday!!

Oxford ~ Keble College

OXFORD is located about an hour (by train) NW of London... Purchased a map from the TI  (tourist information) Center... the 11am tour was sold out, so we got our tickets for the 13:00 (1:00pm) tour - which was led by Danielle (a Belgian, with a thick accent, whose husband is a professor).

What we learned:

• the University of Oxford is comprised of 38 Colleges
• the teaching staff & students studying for a degree of the university are affliliated w/one college
• in general, students attend "tutorials" with professors from their college BUT lectures, examinations & labs are run by the University of Oxford. 

A bit confusing, huh?

Danielle took us through Keble College (a beautiful, Gothic design, known by architects for their college chapel)...

• each college has a chapel (chapel played a significant part of an Oxford education in the past, but is no longer required!)

Keble College, Oxford ~ Chapel

William Butterfield, (Keble's architect) refused to include any paintings inside the church, so a separate room was added for displaying a painting that was left by a patron of the college.

Keble Chapel is accented with mosaic tiled pictures & stained glass, not found in all college chapels.

• The colleges have interlinked courtyards, with several having beautiful garden-like courtyards or statues in the center of the quad. 

Keble College had a very ordinary courtyard ~ It appears they may have spent their money on the chapel!

• A professor has an office at their college & holds their tutorials on-site.
• Students live on-site (too expensive, otherwise), study (each college has a library), socialize, (some colleges have bars) & dine together. 

Keble College, Oxford ~ Dining Hall

Keble College, Oxford ~ Dining Hall windows

Keble College, Oxford ~ Library

Pretty impressive huh??? an this is just one of the colleges in the Oxford University system. Several colleges were holding "Graduation" which is hosted by the University of Oxford - and happens here....

Bodleian Library

INNS of COURT...

Royal Court of Justice - Strand St

Took a London Walk called 
"Legal & Illegal London"
check it out at:

www.walks.com

Tour Guide (Angela) shared:
Judges 
(the "Big Wigs")
preside over court

Barristers
belong to one of four "legal societies"

(Middle Temple, Inner Temple, Lincoln's Inn 
or Gray's Inn)


deal with more complex legal (high profile or expensive) court cases 


Soliciters
don't have to belong to a "legal society"
deal with divorce, simple criminal cases etc

Each legal society has its own courtyard for their barristers

(including dining facilities, legal library, & offices)

the courtyards are "drop-dead" beautiful, quiet & difficult to find!?!

Angela took us to see...

the

Temple Church

Inner Temple & Middle Temple 

barristers & their families

are invited to attend the Temple Church

(sound familiar? remember reading about the 

Knights Templar in the Da Vinci Code?)

With all this "legal-speak" 

my eyes were starting to glaze...

but as we rounded the corner ~
the tour redeemed itself...

Judges & barristers purchase 

their wigs & robes 

from this shoppe...

AND

you know the term

"BIG WIG"

this is what the 

"Big Wigs" (judges) 
wear in court

Barristers 

(high legal attorneys) 

wear this

"UP-DO"

(in high school, any hairdo 
that was curled & off your shoulders 
was called an "UP-DO")

I'm just ITCHING to wear this!

(actually, thinking about wearing

ANY wig

on a humid or foggy day in London 

makes me itch)

 All this "legal mumbo-jumbo" 

is making me tired...

BUT ~

this cute pub sign

reminds me...

...if you need legal assistance,

make sure you pick a 

BULL DOG

to win your case!!

WEEKWORD = BRAID

WEEKWORD from London

I'm participating in 

WEEKWORD

stop by Hennie's blog

http://henniemavis.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/my-weekword-braid/ 

to check out the other bloggers

B - R - A - I - D

interpretations...

Does this qualify as BRAID?

Architectural BRAID

I think the "vertical" designs

in this church steeple look like BRAID!

Consumable BRAID

OR... when I was buying tea in

Covent Gardens

LOOK what I found...

a "tea" BRAID

I forgot to ask how to brew this tea !?#!

Window BRAID

 BUT... my favorite BRAID

was this

eye-catching, pastel window display...

"WINDOW BRAID"

check back again

for more posts from

London...

 

TOUR 'ROUND THE GLOBE!

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
 ~ William Shakespeare

Took the tube: Mansion House

& walked across the Millennium Bridge to

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

Top-view of Shakespeare's Globe Theater

M - U - S - E - U - M
included:

miniature display of the original theater

timeline of Shakespeare's life & Elizabethan theater

costume, music & special effects displays

explanation of the rebuilding of the Globe Theater

T - O - U - R

 included:

explanation of theater vocabulary

what's a "groundling"?

explanation of seating areas

lower, middle, upper class

first three rows were in the sunshine

difference between new Globe & old Globe

NEW: lights for evening performance

OLD: males played ALL roles (even Cleopatra)

stage-hands setting up for Anne Boleyn

LOVED the tour & museum so much we

$$  purchased  $$

tickets 

for August 7th matinee

performance of

"ANNE BOLEYN"

view of stage from middle class section

I think we might qualify for 

M-I-D-D-L-E   C-L-A-S-S?

stage-hand in GROUNDLING seating

 THINK AGAIN!!!

ONLY AVAILABLE SEATS

"GROUNDLING"

we'll experience

ELIZABETHAN THEATER

up CLOSE & PERSONAL

GROUNDLING = lower than lowest class

we will be front & center

STANDING on the GROUND!!

Our "GROUNDLING" mates...

Shakespeare Globe pigeons