Silver Linings 4 ME

Friday, August 6, 2010

WEEKWORD = BALANCE

WEEKWORD = BALANCE
Covent Garden banner (London)

This week's word was chosen by
MARY

Check Mary's BLOG
to see what the other bloggers
have posted as their response to
BALANCE

What keeps me in

B-A-L-A-N-C-E??

"NATURE"
KEW GARDEN flowers (London)

"MUSIC"
Portobello Market Musician (London)

"HUMOR"
Portobello Market t-shirts (London)

"EXERCISE"
DOVER street sign (London)

"HEALTHY FOOD"
Covent Garden food vendor (London)

"TIME to be CREATIVE"
Bath street art (London)

"TEA & TIME TO REFLECT"
KEW Garden (London)

"A NICE BATH"
Leeds Castle - Lady Baillie's Bathtub (London)

LONG, WINDING ROAD!

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

NO ANSWER?? THEN RING THE BELL!

Following an 80 minute bus ride SE of London,
we pulled into
the gatehouse for
LEEDS CASTLE

A place of opulence... comfort... and beauty...

Luscious, fragrant lavender scents the air at the front door.

In 1926, Olive Wilson Farmer (later becoming
Lady Baillie) fell under the magic spell of
LEEDS CASTLE.

Coming from an aristocratic background,
she used her acquired wealth

to purchase & then refurbish the 500 acre
castle area for viewing by today's public.

Lady Baillie's bedroom w/needlepoint pillow

Side view of castle... moat & beauty! (pic by JPE)

Lady Bailie's beautiful English garden

Grain was milled here during the war!

Lady Baillie LOVED animals & birds...

~ Early history - Leeds Castle ~

Leeds Castle was built in 1119 & passed into royal hands in 1278, as part of the Queen of England’sdower (settlement widowed queens received upon the death of their husbands). In addition to serving as a residence for six different medieval queens & several private families, it also served as a garrison (place for military troops), a prison, a hospital (WWII) and a convalescent home.

~ Visiting the Castle ~

Tour buses, families on "holiday" and mommies w/strollered children visit the castle & its' grounds.There is a special playground area for children - with picnic tables, benches & a play structure. Our tour didn't allow us time to wander thoroughly wander the grounds... we missed the bird aviary, the boxwood hedge maze, and the golf course (sorry Dad!!).

Canterbury Cathedral

Next STOP...

One of England's most important
religious destinations;

prime destination for religious pilgrims;

sometimes called

the English Vatican!

The exterior of
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
is showing its age!?!!

Begun in 597, the church is a
patchwork of various architectural designs,

best viewed inside the nave.

Loved the color & detail of the pulpit!

Pulpit overhang

Pulpit box

Detail of carvings

Nave architecture

Ceiling design + wooden carvings along the nave

Drove to
DOVER

(sea coast)

for a breath of fresh air

and a view of DOVER CASTLE

(pics didn't turn out)!

OUCH! this is the beach in Dover!!!

Our LONG, WINDING ROAD Trip

ended with a ride on

the Thames River

from Greenwich to Embankment...

NOPE! this is not London Bridge!! but Tower Bridge...

Thursday, August 5, 2010

TRAINS, BUSES & DICKENS....


London Transport Museum

Museum hopping today!

The London Transport Museum is a must-see!
wished we had Lydia with us to share our visit!
Website link London Transport Museum

All types of transportation were captured in a time-line that circled two floors of the museum... since we have used the TUBE (or Underground) as our mode of transportation on this visit, I was especially intrigued with the development of this system of transport.

What I didn't count on was the museum also displaying information about boats (Thames River), trolleys & street-cars & buses!

Trolley ~ Transport Museum

The green trolley was purchased from a Brit who was using it as a chicken coop - then it was refurbished for the museum. The inside of the trolley could hold 25 people with 18 people on the top section - looked a bit scary riding up there... but times were different then.

London's double-decker buses!

Have you ridden a double-decker bus before?

Tube (Underground) signs

These signs announced the tube stop -
they were on rollers

& changed at each stop -
sounds labor-intensive!

Covent Garden Market Place

Ate our picnic lunch outside

Covent Garden Market Place!

Lots of vendors + picture taking opportunities -

WILL make another trip to this area

before we leave London!

Took the TUBE to Russell Square.

NEXT STOP ~ DICKENS HOUSE...

YEP!! Charles Dickens, author of
A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, Pickwick Papers, etc

Dicken's House Marker

All over London you see homes of well-known people

(& people I've never heard of)

marked with a BLUE historical marker.

There are a lot markers in our neighborhood,

Kensington-Chelsea...

I've even "googled" a couple of names to find out more

about their contribution to London history.

JPE outside Charles Dickens Museum ~ London

Too busy reading the exhibit info
to take many pics!

This is Dickens' only surviving house,
so artifacts from his other homes

(he moved around London a lot),
theaters, & museums
have been collected & are being displayed here!

On the bottom floor is the Library
which has copies of all Dickens books;

including those translated into another language.

The one most often translated??

A CHRISTMAS CAROL!!!

Wooden Midshipman

This wooden figure was donated to the museum in 1946.

Dickens incorporated this character in his book,

Dombrey and Son (published in 1846).

I'm embarrassed to say, I've never heard of this book!!

Two more museums checked off the list!

our days are numbered ~ AND we have more to explore!

OFF to CANTERBURY, LEEDS & DOVER tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

WEDS REPLAY!!

LONDON cast ~ JERSEY BOYS

Our day ended at Prince Edwards Theater - for the London performance of JERSEY BOYS! The cast was incredible! our seats were spectacular! I liked Stephen Ashfield (actor on left) who played John Gaudio, the songwriter for the Four Seasons. he was least like a "Jersey" boy ~ didn't get into trouble! never wanted to be a performer! Amazing choreography & set decorations. Thanks Lars & Kathryn for "insisting" we see this performance!

Brewmaster's Pub ~ Charing Cross

Wandered up & down Charing Cross Rd & walked through Soho looking for a place to eat!

I had taken a picture of this pub sign, hoping to get back and see it lit up at night!!! and this is where we ended up eating!

PUB FOOD at the Brewmaster's - sign said the establishment has been there since the 1840's... um! don't know if I believe that???

Our ORDER: Bangers (Suffolk pork sausage) & mash (mashed potatoes) w/red onion gravy... and a "vegie" Red Leicester (crumbly English cheese) + Spinach burger & chips (fries)... and split a "pint" of Old Speckled Hen (yummy! even JPE liked the taste). It was ALL tasty! service was good! and close to the theater! perfect!

A-MAZING WEST END ~ Trafalgar Square

TRAFALGAR SQUARE is still the "happening place"...
Last Sunday evening, "A-Mazing West End" was erected overnight!
Along the maze path are signs asking questions & giving info about some of the "hidden gems" (their advertisement lingo) in the West End of town. Would have walked the maze, but we chose to people watch! (free! interesting!)... and the queue for the maze was about 45 minutes! The maze is being taken down on Friday! wonder what's cooking in Trafalgar Square for the weekend?

A-MAZING WEST END sign ~ Trafalgar Square

Started the day with a "London Walks" led by Karen - a fiery, energetic, actress - who was selected as a "Blue Badge Guide of the Year." She explained that the British Museum houses 2 million years of history & civilization. Our first stop was the "Rosetta Stone" - I saw lots of heads & not much of the hieroglyphics BUT I was cool with that! everything is amazing!

Athen's Parthenon ~ British Museum

Standing in front of the Parthenon (yes! it's here & not in a museum in Athens), Karen wove such a descriptive story, you could almost visualize being in Greece! about 8+ people started tagging along with our group (a bit annoying, because we had paid for this talk!)... but - I'm sure the publicity for London Walks is welcomed!

JPE & I browsed through some other sections of the museum before leaving for our afternoon "tea break"... Incredibly interesting exhibit on "mummification" & why some bodies were preserved & others deteriorated. Researchers determined the environment was very important! exhibits showed a body laid on reeds vs a body laid on moist earth... The reeds pulled all the fluids from the body, leaving a pile of bones - the body placed in the moist earth was preserved!

Aphrodite - Venus

JPE is a Renaissance lover! so here's one of the gorgeous
statues in the Greek & Roman Collection room.

British Museum ceiling - former British Library

Karen, our London Walks tour guide mentioned the glass ceiling was added in the late 1990's... making the entire museum under one roof & creating London's first indoor public square. It is now used to host special exhibitions.

The circular building (the Reading Room) was billed as a "center for learning" & used by scholars world-wide.

By now, you've realized I posted our day's events in reverse... I fell asleep humming, Big Girls Don't Cry! I really didn't want the play, JERSEY BOYS to end!!

STONES, CHURCH & a BATH!!

RAIN was predicted ~ bus view in Salisbury

It's difficult to get to STONEHENGE unless you take a tour... no public transportation gets you to the site. JPE booked a full-day bus tour (Golden Tours) w/Tobey, as our guide. Our first stop - STONEHENGE.... the mystical, majestic stone circle located about 15 minutes from Salisbury.

Stonehenge Display

STONEHENGE means "hanging stones" & this stone circle is different from the rest (England has other stone circles) because it has horizontal crosspieces called "lintels."

Monoliths, lintels + bluestones

An audio-guide was provided - but it was difficult to juggle capturing pics of the site & listen to the information. My camera won the struggle!

The tall monoliths (largest is 45 tons) & lintels (about 7 tons) came from an area 20 miles away... The shorter stones (foreground of the pic above) are "bluestones" and originate in Wales, 240 miles away. It's mind-boggling thinking about moving these stones & then standing them upright!

The only way to get "close to the stones" is by booking a special tour with the English Heritage http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/explore/stone-circle-access/ website - IN ADVANCE. These tours take place before or after regular visiting hours. I first visited Stonehenge in 1971 & was able to wander the area freely. Of course, I don't have to tell you why the area is roped off... tourists had taken a hammer & chisel to take a piece of the stone for a souvenir!!!

damaged stone

STONEHENGE is still considered a "celestial calendar" & studies of other stone circles determined that they were designed to calculate the movement of the sun, moon & stars. People used "celestial calendars" to tell them when to plant & harvest their crops....

Read more information here http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/history/

Salisbury Cathedral

Next stop - Salisbury Cathedral.... Known for its huge spire (404 ft) ~ the tallest in ENGLAND!

Learned this Gothic cathedral was built in 38 years - an amazing feat in the Middle Ages! Cathedrals often took centuries to build, instead of several decades. For this reason, this structure's style actually looks uniform & not a patched together design like other churches.

As you can see from height of the exterior, the inside stone columns would have to be massive - they were!!!

Just off the cathedral is the "Chapter House." This is the part of the church where the daily prayers or verses were read. One of four "copies" of the Magna Carta (our Constitution is based on this document) is located in this Chapter House. The writing is extremely small & difficult to read - pictures were not allowed in this area.

LOVED the richness of the burgundy in this stained glass window ~ Salisbury Cathedral

Our final stop ~ the "BATH" part of our trip!

The medieval Roman baths were crowded! chaotic! they might have been spectacular but we've been to Rome, so so JPE & I breezed through the site... the tour cost included an audio guide w/lots of info... at the "numbered spots" you would key in the number to hear the information. Author, Bill Bryson, Notes on a Small Island, was one of the narrators!

We took in the "street scene" and visited the Bath Abbey, located just outside the bathhouse.

We learned this was the "last" medieval church built in England, over 500 years ago.

The church facade was pretty scruffy - but we loved the carvings... The angels are descending down the ladder....