Monday, July 5, 2010. Denis Sever's House

Denis Severs' House, 18 Folgate Street, Shoreditch, London

Monday, July 5, 2010. Denis Severs' House

Monday was a museum day. In the morning, I went to the Museum of London. Imagine if we had A Museum of Fort Worth or Dallas or Houston. There wouldn't be much there. But the history of London is just a little more detailed. They started in 500,000 B.C. and come up to the 1990's. My favorite parts were the walk through dioramas. They had sections set up like Victorian streets complete with shops. Another one was set in the 1920's with flapper dresses and two early British cars. The lunch there was good as well. I'm finding that museums have dependably good food with fairly reasonable prices. There's a travel tip for you.

The East End, home of the famous soap, "East Enders."

Yesterday evening I went to the most unusual museum I think I've ever been to. It was close to the Liverpool train station. That neighborhood was a revelation in itself. My mental picture of the East End was run down tenements with a few Yuppie types trying to restore some areas. Well I was wrong! It was old, but vibrant and teeming with sky scrapers and prosperous looking business people. That part of London is hilly, something I hadn't seen in central London. They've done a pretty good job of building new architecture in sympathy with the older building styles.  I found out later that this was the most heavily bombed area of London during the Blitz.  They had to rebuild major sections of this neighborhood.  That made me feel even more impressed.


The museum was called The Denis Sever's Museum after the last man that lived there. It's a 300 year old house, but it has never been modernized. No electricity! No Internet! Only Victorian plumbing!!! Severs moved into the house in the 1920's and set about decorating the house as if a family lived there, but each floor was a different time period. He lived there, without modern conveniences, until he died about twenty years ago.

The Parlour

Here's the gimmick. The museum is only open at particular times. You must book in advance. Tours are done in candle light. And most importantly, you CAN'T talk. If you do you are kicked out immediately! As you go through the house, your mission is to figure out the mystery. What's the story behind the stage set? After your eyes adjust, you have to notice all the details, and there are a lot of them. Every once in a while they leave a written clue. In various rooms, you smell lavender or tobacco or dust. Sometimes you hear a voice whispering or kids giggling in the background.


It was quite a sensory experience! It reminded me of JK Rowling's web site. Remember when she first set it up?  You had to find clues in various pages and figure out the proper sequence to do things in order to earn a reward.  You also had to be patient because things would happen randomly, not just when you wanted them to.  

This museum was like that. It felt like I had stepped back in time and was snooping through this family's life. I even felt a little guilty for reading their private letters and notes and literally looking at their dirty laundry.

The main stairwell

In one room there was a beautiful black cat right in the middle of the unmade bed. I thought it was a prop, until the end of her tail twitched. I almost started laughing out loud! Thank goodness I stopped myself. I'm happy to say that I did figure out the mystery. But, I'm not telling you the answer! I want you to go yourself. The tour took about an hour, and I had a smile on my face all the way back to Bloomsbury. London is fun!

Sherrie

 

The bedroom at Dennis Severs' House where the cat almost got me kicked out.

Are you paying attention to the details?  Do you see the big picture?

The Jacobean Dining Room

Sunday, July 4, 2010 "Cultural Shock and Awe!"

Windsor Castle

Today I went to Windsor Castle! Man oh man, is it ever big!!! I knew it was the largest castle in the world, but, wow, it is GINORMOUS!!! Imagine Biltmore House multiplied three, or maybe four times. You only get to see a small portion of the castle, but my feet were aching when the tour was over. The town of Windsor looks like a picture post card or maybe a movie setting. As much as I tried to suppress them, the words "quaint" and "picturesque" started to tickle my tongue as I walked the twisty streets radiating out from the castle.

Walking towards the castle's keep.

I arrived at the Eton Station, which is right on the Thames. Huge geese and sea birds I've never seem before were just strolling and paddling around begging for their pictures to be taken. I followed the crowds up and around a very steep hill passing all these adorable little shops in old Edwardian buildings. I was making a mental list of which ones to come back and explore. Then, I turned the corner of the hill and heard this American man ahead of me say very quietly, "It's huge! Wow!". And, there it was, that round tower in the middle of the castle grounds. If the queen's flag is flying, it means she is in residence. If the Union Jack is flying, she's not at home at the moment, Elizabeth wasn't there, but that hardly mattered. I started snapping pictures like some mad woman. Unfortunately, no one is allowed to take pictures inside the castle for security reasons. When all of us gawking tourist first entered the castle, we were taken in through several rooms stocked with weapons and armor from down various time periods. Remember last summer when I got so excited about the armor at the Wallace Collection? Well, the royal collection put that one to shame. I just stood there in the middle of the room and started laughing at my naivety.  That's probably why the woman and her assistant laughed at my amazement last summer.  They knew there were bigger and more amazing collections!   

The Queen's Guard marching to their next post.  If you click on
the picture and enlarge it, you can see that all of the
soldiers look like they are about 18 years old and taking
their responsibility very seriously.

Next , we were guided through a series of public rooms like "The King's Near Presence Chamber" and "The King's Presence Chamber," where kings would actually see people, if they were dressed well enough. No unwashed masses, please! These rooms and this castle was created for pure shock and awe.  They subtley scream (which is contradictory but possible when you are British), "Who do you think you are, peasant?  You better check yourself before you even think about coming to see the King, or Queen!" 

The famous portrait of
the young Elizabeth

Each of the rooms were beyond grand and filled with incredible portraits. Some were by famous painters like Hans Holbien, and some were just famous paintings by relatively unknown painters. I couldn't believe that they had one of the most famous paintings in the world right out there within four feet of millions of people. It was the painting of the young Elizabeth. She was about 13 years old and on the outs with her father. He had declared her illegitimate and banished her to the country. He had more or less abandoned her. The painting was the idea of Elizabeth's far-sighted supporters. It shows her standing in an orange dress with her hair pulled back severely. She is holding a book and on the table next to her are more books, a Book of Days, and a globe. The message was. "See, I am studious and serious, not frivolous. And above all, I am loyal to the King (even when he is being a big jerk!)".  The plan worked.  He increased her allowance and invited her to celebrate Christmas at Hampton Court that year.

A truly HUGE round tower.  It's the highest point in the castle
grounds and would have been used to survey the
surrounding countryside.
A good offense is the best defense! 

After that, we entered St. George's Hall which is dedicated to the Knights of the Garter and where State dinners are held. That room was amazing and huge! It is decorated with the coat of arms of everyone who has ever been a Knight of the Garter. The audio said that for dinners the room is filled with ONE giant table that stretches the length of the room and seats 160 people. I've seen it on television. The people are not crowded! This is also the room that received the most damage when Windsor burned. Remember the "anus horriblus?"  It was all the more impressive that this room was rebuilt carefully using ancient techniques and craftsmanship. They took pains to rebuild everything just the way it had been constructed originally. 

St. George's Hall inside Windsor Castle.  On the ceiling are the coat of arms of every person 
who was ever made a Knight of the Garter.  If that person disgraces his queen and country,
his shield is not removed.  Instead it is covered over with white cloth, but his name is left
exposed.  Shame in perpetuity!

Since it was Sunday, I decided to come back after the Castle closed to go to Evensong in St. George's Chapel. I don't have words to describe it! The chapel was built with Gothic architecture, but it is light and airy. The stone was a light grey, and the stain glass windows were surrounded by lighter yellow and green pastel glass. That kept the chapel from being dark like most churches from that time. It was serene and introspective.

And then the angels started singing. How do you describe sound? I can't do it justice, but just imagine the most beautiful, clear, precise singing you have ever heard and then double it. I thought I was hearing heaven, but then, a beautiful cherub opened his mouth and broke my heart!

St. George's Chapel

It was an all male choir and I couldn't see them at first because they were singing from behind the nave. When they processed out, I was astonished to see that there were only ten adult men and fourteen boys. It sounded like there were twice as many choristers. As they continued to sing the service, I was trying to find the cherub who stole my heart. Suddenly, I spotted him. The goofiest, gangliest ten year old you can imagine! I almost started laughing. The boys were truly regular boys. Several of them tried, rather unsuccessfully, to hide yawns. One boy had a cold and kept wiping his nose with a tissue. Another one couldn't keep quiet during the prayers. Somehow, that just made it all the sweeter. These regular boys were blessed with this beautiful gift that they can share with us for a few years, then they can go about their normal lives. Oh what an experience! I will never forget it.


Sherrie

     The Lavender!  You could catch the aroma drifting on the breeze all over the castle grounds.

These are "Grace and Favor" apartments which the queen gives to her loyal employees when they retire.  Can you imagine living at Windsor Palace or Buchingham Palace or Hampton Court?

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip at the Knights of the Garter cereminy in 2009.

I had to include Prince William because he is just so handsome
even in that goofy, Knight of the Garter get up.

Saturday, July 3, 2010. The Houses of Parliament

The view of the Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge

A few months ago, I bought tickets for the first group of the first day of a new tour of the Houses of Parliament. Only British citizens were allowed to take backstage tours of Parliament. This year they opened it up to us, the foreigners and the colonists. I didn't know any of this when I bought the ticket. I just thought, "Yea! Something that starts before 10 o'clock. The sun comes up at 4:30 in the morning, but no one hits the streets until 9:40-ish. Weird! At 8:30 I left my bed and breakfast, The Jesmond, and started walking down Tottenham Court Road which becomes Charing Cross Road which becomes Whitehall before running right into Parliament. I have to say that I love London best in the mornings when it's just me and the pigeons and the dust bin men. Peace!

Outside Parliament. 
 I never got use to bobbies carrying machine guns!

The tour started with a very thorough, but polite security check. I'm pretty sure I had a body scan! Then we were ushered into the oldest surviving part of Parliament, St. George's Hall. It was constructed in 1000 something or other as a part of a royal palace.  I believe it was part of the original Whitehall Palace, but that might have gotten confused in the sieve of my mind.   This gorgeous hall has the largest hammer beam ceiling in the world.  I'm not sure what a hammer beam ceiling is, but it was very beautiful and very ooooold! Our guide told us that modern engineers don't understand how it stays up, but she assured us that the roof is sound as we all looked up nervously. This hall is where Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth's father, King George, and her mother, the Queen Mother, all laid in state before they were buried. It is also the spot where King Charles I was tried and convicted, but not where he was beheaded. Thank goodness! It was the only part of the building in which we were allowed to take pictures. That was unfortunate because in this case a picture truly is worth a thousand words, and I am running out of adjectives to describe the wonders I saw.

The House of Lords at the annual Opening of Parliament

Most of Parliament burned down in 1830 from an accidental fire. Queen Victoria was on the throne, and Prince Albert had a passion for architecture. Project! He spent the next ten years or so choosing the architect and interior designer and overseeing every detail of the reconstruction. The Pre-Raphaelite movement was just starting, and the Victorians were obsessed with King Arthur and the legends of his knights. The choice of style was obvious! The new Houses of Parliament must be Gothic and must be covered with allusions to King Arthur.

The results -- priceless! Prince Albert and the architects seemed to have culled the best of Victorian tastes. It is elaborate with lots of gold and brass, crimson brocade, and rich textured marbles, but it's not nearly as overdone as some of the Victorian monstrosities I've seen.  Honestly, the Albert Memorial that Queen Victoria built to honor her husband really makes you wonder if she truly loved him or if their love story was just a publicity stunt.  It's that atrocious.

The House of Commons 

The tour was very interesting because our guide knew an incredible amount. Plus, she had one of those lovely, posh London accents. I don't know much about the British government and it seems particularly twisty and eccentric, so most of the details went over my head. But occasionally she would mention a name I knew and I could nod my head and look like I understood what she was talking about. What I found interesting was the marked difference between the two Houses. The Houses of Lords was very grand, very ornate. The House of the Commons was relatively plain. Bit of snobbery there? Ironically, the House of  Commons is the one that gets all the attention. It's the one we see on t.v. sometimes, with the avocado green leather benches. When we went through, they were cleaning the green leather benches with Q-tips!  The cleaners, who are really conservationists, complained that all the new MP's didn't know yet to be careful where they put their ball point pens when they sat down.  They had to have a special day just to carefully remove the pen marks from the historic leather.  I love inside gossip! 

The central area between the two Houses.
The ceiling was amazing.

To be fair, the House of Commons was bombed to smithereens during the Blitz. It was rebuilt right after the war when the government was skint, flat broke. A lot of it was rebuilt with small donations from regular people like us. I guess it will take time for it to become as exalted as The Lords. And, maybe the common, elected representatives like to have a little visual separation between themselves and the toffee nosed Lords.

I ended the day with some shopping at Harrod's. Whew!  They were having a 50% off sale.  I think everything was 50% off because it was a madhouse!  Remember those movies from the 1950's set in New York where the lead character, like Doris Day, would go into the city for a sale of Macy's.  Inevitably, she would get pushed around by the sale-mad crowds, someone would end up yanking a dress right out of her hands, and her perfect hair would end up completely, but beautifully, demolished.  Well, that's exactly what it was like!  In addition to all this craziness, The British seem to like shopping to very loud music.  It's like trying to shop while you are at a disco.  I don't get it!  Maybe this atmosphere is suppose to create an  adrenaline pumping, let your inhibitions down, party atmosphere.  But, all it created in me was anxiety!  I did make sure I saw most of the store before I gave into my impulse to leave. 

Harrod's!

The food halls were incredible!  They had the most beautiful produce I have ever seen.  Every piece looked like it had been hand picked, hand washed, and hand polished.  The Japanese tourists were swarming around the watermelons, making loud, astonished comments, and taking pictures.  Just before I left for this trip, I saw a show on the Food Network that mentioned that watermelons are VERY expensive in Japan, especially the big, old fashioned kind we grow in this part of the country.  They can cost as much as fifty dollars in Japan!  I'm glad I knew this.  Otherwise I would not have understood why these travelers looked so amazed at watermelon.

The strange memorial to Diana and Dodi in Harrod's

To get to the food halls, you have to go to the bottom floor on the escalator.  There at the base of the elevators is the tribute to Princess Diana and her last boyfriend, Dodi Al Fayad.  (I'm sure that spelling is not right.)  Doti's father is the current owner of Harrod's.  He was very upset when Diana and his son died in the car crash in Paris.  He even accused Prince Phillip of arranging a hit to kill Diana and his son because they were about to embarrass the crown by announcing their engagement.  To honor them, he had two life size statues made of them looking into each others eyes and holding a phoenix or eagle between them.  It's creepy!!!  I couldn't look at it very long, but lots of people were taking pictures and throwing coins into the little water feature next to the statues.  I think part of the weirdness was because the rest of the hallway is decorated in an Egyptian theme.  Right behind the statues is a Pharaoh's head with full paint.  The hall was decorated in black marble with gold Egyptian trim.  It was strange and didn't make sense.  Why a tribute to Diana in a department store?  And, why in an Egyptian hall?  Very weird. 

I'm glad I went to Harrod's.  It was an experience!  But, give me an American mall any day.

Sherrie

This is the clock that covers the bell, Big Ben.

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Inside St. George's Hall, the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament.

Friday, July 3, 2010 Hampton Court, Part 2

    Looking back over the Tudor knot gardens towards the back of Hampton Court.

Cozy, don't you think?

Today, I returned to Hampton Court. Isn't it amazing what lots and lots of money can do! This palace is just ridiculously beautiful. I went to Hampton Court last summer on a Saturday for a highly publicized celebration on Henry the Eighth's wedding to Anne Bolyen. It was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but there were easily a thousand people there that day. I was sure that I didn't get to see everything. So, I decided to go back on a weekday when nothing else was scheduled. This year it was a completely different experience. There were maybe a hundred people there. The docents were friendly and talkative. I could think and check off each part of the palace as I saw them. I like to be an organized tourist.  I even got to see a photographer or journalist taking detailed pictures of some of the gorgoyles in the palace.

Although they are still celebrating Henry, (He is a rockstar among kings!) yesterday the emphasis seemed to be on William and Mary. I'm sure I don't have all this straight, but they were crowned king and queen after William III was run out of the country. Mary was English and had some claim to the throne, but not really a strong enough claim. The powerful men in the country had had enough of King William, so they sent a letter to his BROTHER-IN-LAW, William of Orange that said, "Please come invade us. We'll help you if you will rid us of this useless king." They didn't actually promise William that they would make him the new king, he was already to king of Holland after all. But, William also had a claim to the English throne, so they sort of left the door open. After William saved England from Cromwell, they worked a deal. He and Mary would marry and become co-rulers. So, it was an arranged marriage, but they grew to be very fond of each other. When she died, he was genuinely distraught. They never had any children, however. Ah oh...more trouble for the English throne! What is it with these English monarchs? They either can't or won't have children, like Henry and Elizabeth, or they have way more than needed like Queen Victoria or Queen Anne. Anne had eighteen children! One out of the litter is bound to be a trouble-maker!

One of the many cherry trees in the orchard.  Each magpie staked a claim
to his own personal tree and defended that territory with the vigor of
a Jack Russell terrier!

Anyway, Hampton Court was truly lovely, especially the Tudor gardens and orchard. There were cherry trees covered in fat cherries with big black and white birds fighting over them.  I found out that the birds were Magpies and they are related to Blue Jays. That explains their aggresive personalities.  Never get between a Blue Jay and his fruit tree!  The cherries were shiny and glossy just like they are in those old master, still life paintings. I always thought the painters must have exaggerated those cherries, but no. They're really that transparent and delectable. I spent about 45 minutes sitting on a bench under a tree in a remote section of the fruit orchard just absorbing the peace and imagining that I was some grand lady and the gardener working close to me was my servant. Oh well. I don't think I would want to wear those Elizabethan dresses.


I ended my tour in the Tiltyard cafe. Yes, even the Royal Palaces are not above a little tourism. I got some short bread which was O.K. I can make better. But I also got a slice of Victoria Sponge Cake! Wow! It was delish. I thought sponge cake was tasteless yellow cake with big holes in it. Wrong! It was tasty and light textured with a little sugar coating on the top. It had a slight lemony taste to it. They split the cake and spread a layer of jam and English custard in between the layers. They put a little whip cream and powdered sugar on top. Wonderful! I really don't know why people complain about English food. The puddings are so good, they make your eyes roll back in your head.


Tomorrow I'm taking a tour of The Houses of Parliament. That should be interesting. Hope everyone is well!

Sherrie

A better picture of the photographer and his assistants preparing the gargoyles for their close ups.

See those round balls hanging down from that ancient tree.  That is MISTLETOE, real mistletoe!  It's not the same as our mistletoe, at all!!!

Looking back from the rose garden towards the Chapel Royal.  This chapel has the most beautiful Tudor ceiling I have ever seen!  But since it is an active parish church, we weren't allowed to take pictures.  Look at all the chimneys.

Thursday, July 2, 2010 St. James, St.Pauls, and St. Christopher

Buckingham Palace peeking through St. James Park

Thursday, July 2, 2010  Stilton Cheese and A London Taxi

Thank goodness for my ugly Merrill sandals! I might not have any feet left if I hadn't pushed my vanity aside and plumped down the money for these ugly, but comfortable shoes.

Today I discovered Regent Street. It is this long street full of impressive architecture befitting a street named for royalty. On the ground floor are shops, LOTS of shops. I spotted a famous London store called Topshop, a Scottish tweed and cashmere store, Jaegar, Monsoon, Hamlen's Toys, Whistles, Crabtree and Evelynn, and all the high end stores we are familiar with like Calvin Klein and Dulce and Gabbano. I guess Regent Street is sort of like a Galleria, but Brittish-er. Fortunately for me and my checking account, it was early and the shops weren't open yet.

I walked straight down past the hedonistic temptations and into St. James Park. Oh, the British really know how to do parks! It was a beautiful mix of formal planting areas and patches that looked like untouched countryside complete with stunning wild flowers. There was an adorable miniature thatched cottage next to the lake. It had a well attended cutting garden bursting with lavender and carrots and cabbage. It looked like my image of Peter Rabbit's liitle cottage. It turns out that it was a cottage built by one of the more recent King Georges for the Bird Master. Huh?

So many questions popped in my head. Bird Master? How does he master the birds? Was the man unusually short? I can't see how a normal sized person could fit in this tiny house. There was no one around to ask except for the hundreds of elementary and middle school kids in the park on a field trip. That's right. They're still in school! Nanny, nanny, boo, boo! Somehow that made my stroll through the gardens all the better. Shame on me!

From there, I tubed over to Southwark Cathedral. Southwark is on the South side of the Thames, close to The Globe Theatre. In fact, it was ol' Bill Shakespeare's home parish church, and he actually attended. The church has only been a cathedral since 1905 which a sweet, elderly verger assured me was quite young for a cathedral. However, there has been some type of church on the grounds since 1050, before William the Conquerer. Southwark was small and lovely and quite clearly a real working church which happens to get a lot of Shakespeare fans who come to see Bill's memorial. Oh yeah, it was also the home church for John Harvard who gave the money to start Harvard University.  He loved the idea of the United States, but never actually went to the U.S.

Have I mentioned how good the breakfasts are at The Jesmond? Well, they are fabulous! Maria, the maid from Portugal, remembered me from last summer and gave me two pieces of bacon this morning! The bacon is really delicious and sort of like thin ham. It's not nearly as fatty as our bacon, and it's cut more like slices of ham instead of strips of bacon. I tell you this to explain why I didn't get hungry for lunch until 2 o'clock. Southwark is literally right next to Borough market which is one of London's open air markets. This one is just for food and only held on Thursdays and Fridays. I had seen it on a show on the Travel Channel. The timing was perfect. I was finally hungry and here lay all this delicious and exotic food. Venders come from all over Europe, so there were Spaniards selling empanadas (very good) some flirty Greek guys selling chocolate baklava (very very good,) and understated Englishmen selling cheese. There was also a section for meats with pig's heads on display and a fish section. Neither seemed very appealing to me. Instead, I went into Neal's Yard Cheese. Now I've never been in a cheese store before. The first thing I noticed was the smell. Cheese is molded milk after all! But I wouldn't say it was a bad smell, just a strong smell. Walking into the store was like walking back in time a hundred years! I didn't see one modern tool or appliance. The men who worked there, and they were all men, were wearing funny green fabric hats and had those big canvas aprons folded over and tied around their waists. I got to try two types of Stilton. The pasteurized Stilton was very good, buttery and slighty flaky. Then I tried the unpasteurized Stilton which is illegal in the U.S. Oh my goodness! It was that much better! Stupid health and safety laws! I bought some. After that, I went to find the cheese toast man. I saw him on the Travel Channel, too. Apparently a lot of Americans saw him on the Travel Channel. He has gotten so popular that he had to move to a new spot that has more room for the crowds standing around his stand. He makes amazing fancy grilled cheese sandwiches. Sorry! No American cheese in sight.

Not surprisingly, I felt a little sluggish after the market. So, I took a digestive stroll over the Millenium Bridge, sat on the steps outside St. Paul's Cathedral, and listened to a free piano concert given to celebrate London. It was interesting. They set up an old beat up, up right piano and encouraged people walking by to stop and play. Little kids played their best recital pieces and adults played everything from The Beatles to Chopin.  After I listened a while, I noticed that the old beat up piano had an awfully good sound, better than just a Sunday school room piano, and I noticed that a few of the "volunteers" were strategicly placed in the crowd to help fill slow times.  But it was all done so artfully that the production truly seemed completely spontaneous.  And, it was fun! 

         The new Millenium Pedestrian Bridge looking over The Thames towards St. Paul's Cathedral.

By this time it was about 6:30, and I was exhausted. I started walking back to my hotel and wondering if I would make it. Just about that time, a taxi stopped right in front of me to let out a fare, and I jumped right in! I wanted to take a taxi last summer, but chickened out because I couldn't see how people flagged them down. It seemed like they stopped the taxis with telepathy. Well, the cab ride was great! There was a Celebrate Canada festival in Trafalgar Square and the opening of the new Twilight movie in Leicester Square, so the traffic was a mess! As I sat down in the cab, I noticed the driver had a St. Christopher medal around the rear view mirrow.  That was probably a good thing.  My cabby took all kinds of twisty one lane back streets. He even went the wrong way on a one way street on purpose! We almost ran over an idiot who jumped in front of the cab and another cyclist who refused to share the road. It reminded me of that wild bus ride scene in the second Harry Potter movie. In fact, I'm starting to think J.K. Rowling didn't make up all those creative things in her books as much as just exaggerate the eccentricity she saw around her daily!
My cabby was great. He never stopped talking and he saved me about forty-five minutes.  The experience was worth every bob!

See you tomorrow!

Sherrie

The Horse Guards performing some sort of mysterious ritual.  Whatever it was, it provided a great photo op for the camera ready tourists.

The Shakespeare's Memorial in Southwark Cathedral.  Notice the fresh rosemary in his hand? 
Rosemary for remembrance.  If this is life sized, than ol' Bill was a shortie!

This is an effigy for a knight interred at Southwark Cathedral.  The verger told me that if the knight's ankles are crossed, as this man's are, it means the knight went on one of the crusades.

    I loved this effigy.  This rich merchant gave boatloads of money to the church.  In exchange, he had this wooden effigy made for himself, his wife (the one in the Puritan hat), and his daughter, but not for the son-in-law!  Family politics at their 16th century finest.

Tuesday and Wednesday, June 29 & 30, 2010

British Customs and Immigation's Finest!

What a day it has been! A officious customs officer and a body on the tracks! Where's Miss Marple when you need her?

The day started out well.  We got into Manchester at 6 a.m., an hour ahead of schedule.  Who ever heard of that?  I was feeling more than a little brain dead from jet lag, when the customs officer called me up to the counter.  I said, "Good morning!" and the grilling commenced.  "Why are you here?  Why have you come two years in a row?  Do you know anyone here?"  He asked that one twice. "Are you single?  Do you have family at home?  What family do you have in Texas?  Where do you work?  What grade do you teach?" And then he consulted with his supervisor?  I ask you, do I look like a high risk security problem?!?  I was just starting to wonder what I was going to do if he didn't let me into the country, when he finally relented and let me in.  I have a strong suspicion that he did so against his better judgement!

A Virgin Pendalino High Speed Train

After a latte to settle my nerves, I made my way to the train station and succeeded in getting on the right train. It was pretty packed, so I asked a lady eating a chocolate croissant if I could sit next to her. She said yes and we started talking. The friendly lady was named Jan. Jan and her husband have traveled all over the world, especially in the Asian countries.  Maybe that was why she was so easy to talk to. She's met all kinds of people from all over the world. She's either naturally curious or has learned to enjoy how different other people's life experiences are.

We were having such a great time talking, that I forgot to look at the beautiful countryside. But when I did, it reminded me of how the Hill Country would look if it got about three times as much rain as it does. Rolling hills, pretty little streams, hundreds of oak trees, and of course, cows. 

Ahhh!!!  Beautiful, green England.  If only the Hill Country got this much rain.

We'd been on the train about an hour when it stopped. Dum..dum...dum! Finally the train manager came on the P.A. and said, "Well as if this day couldn't get any worse, they've found a body on the tracks up ahead."  I said to Jan, "He's kidding, right?". She said with that British deadpan expression, "It happens." He told us that we were going to backtrack to some town we had already gone through, switch tracks, and then continue on. He assured us that the delay would only add about thirty minutes to our two and a half hour journey.

I instantly heard phones all over the train click on as all the business people started rearranging meetings. We proceeded backwards on the track very slowly. There were cows in the fields running along faster than our train! We were almost back to Birmingham when the train stopped dead. Mr. Train Manager, whose voice I was learning to dread, came on, apologized, and said the train was broken, there were two or three more trains stacked up behind us, and our train was canceled. Huh!?! We limped into the station and people got off the train so fast you would have thought there was Saran gas in the air.

See the bridge?  We had to cross over and back several times
to get to the other tracks.  No one knew which
would be the next train to actually leave for London.

Bless her heart, Jan stuck with me. Otherwise I would probably still be in Birmingham trying to figure out what to do. Nobody seemed to know what was going on. One official would say there were three more trains coming to pick up our overflow. But the next one would say all the trains were canceled.  Passengers ran over the stairs back and forth over the tracks franticly trying to predict which of the platforms would be the first to get a London bound train. 

Jan played her instincts and said we aught to get on this one particular train. I pointed out that the trains were packed. She said we should go into one of the first class carriages and pitch a fit if they tried to kick us off. Well I knew at this point if anyone could successfully pitch a fit, it was Jan. So that's what we did! Once on the train she skillfully guilted two nice men into giving us their seats. She was so good at it that I don't think they even realized they were being worked! Finally, finally, we got into Euston Station. A trip that was suppose to take two and a half hours, took five and a half hours. It took longer to get from Manchester to London than it took to fly from JFK to Manchester! Oh well, travel is ALWAYS an adventure, and I bonded with a new friend.

I guess you can bet that I was pretty tired. But Rick Steves says that the worst thing you can do is give in to the urge to go to sleep.  So, I walked around in the bright London afternoon sun.  It was surprisingly warm.  The city throbbed with buses and black taxis and scurrying office workers trying to beat the rush hour(s) madness.  I made myself stay up until eight o'clock, then I hit the sheets and slept the sleep of the innocent...until one A.M. An ambulance screamed me awake, wide awake for over an hour. But sweet Orpheus and another sleeping pill took me back to the land of the ZZZ's.

What a day!

Sherrie

This is Russell Square, a public garden close to my bed and breakfast.  Completely jet lagged, I grabbed a sandwich, some water, an American style biscuit, and a British style tabloid and watched the free entertainment.  Notice the huge plane trees. 

I LOVE the name of this pub!  The Jack Horner.  Do you remember the nursury rhyme, "Little Jack Horner,...sat in a corner."
This picture also shows that all cities are just the same -- always doing construction!