The list so far

Merchants on Brick Lane

Here is M. Lee's list of places we've visited so far in London. Naturally, I've taken hundreds of photos a day along the way. Just the idea of sorting them out is exhausting. Sunday we went to Brick Lane in  Spitalfield, London's East End. Wild place. I loved it there. Today we went back to the V&A and the Darwin Center at the Natural History Museum. The place is also a research center. I had no idea. The Cocoon houses plant and insect collections that go back 400 years to the Museum's origins.

Graffiti w/ people, Brick Lane

"This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list and I've probably missed a thing or two, but here's where we've been in about 3.5 weeks. I'll start with Frommer's Top 15, of which we've visited the following.

British Museum (3 or 4 times by now)
Hampstead Heath on a rare sunny day about 2.5 weeks ago
Hampton Court Palace
Hyde Park once upon a time when there was sun
Imperial War Museum (in preparation for the Churchill War Rooms)
National Gallery (several times)
Natural History Museum incl. the Darwin Center & The Cocoon
Tate Modern (sort of hate modern art, for the most part, but some things were stunning)
Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) repeat visits

Not 3-star according to Frommer, but this list includes some pretty excellent stuff:

Windsor Castle (this brought out the inner princess in all of us)
The Mall
National Portrait Gallery
Kensington Palace
Ashmolean Museum in Oxford
Somerset House
Courtauld Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
Sir John Soane's Museum (unexpected hit, one of our faves)
Wallace Collection
Wellcome Collection
Trafalgar Square (hardly needs mentioning since it's inevitable)
Changing of the Horse Guard (more ceremony than Buckingham Guard, plus horses)
St.-Martin-in-the-Fields (mostly for the downstairs crypt cafe - you're having tea on top of the graves)
.Museum of London (again, an unexpected hit)
Museum of London Docklands (can't believe all these great museums and galleries are free)
Whitechapel Art Gallery (something had to disappoint, and this was it)
British Library (they no longer display a letter from young Elizabeth I which was half the reason I went)
Wimbledon Car Boot sale
Harrod’s
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Portobello Market
Borough Market
Chinatown (four times so far)
Hamleys (massive upscale toy store) -L."

To which I add the Poetry Café and their Poetry Unplugged open mic night.

Happy monkey guy, Brick Lane, London

Kansas City Weirdness

First there was Roy the Redeemer, then this.  It's your week, Roy.

SubTropolis, Kansas City

I didn't know your hometown has one of the 10 weirdest urban ecosystems on earth. Or at least according to i09.

Kansas City native

Quite a distinction.
 (link via M. Lee)

Ps. Sorry, I forgot to mention the one detail which adds color to this otherwise halftone post. Ninety percent of the world's underground office space is in, or shall I say under, Kansas City. Thx M. 

Bedlam

I remember, especially on rainy days, my dad yelling, "You kids quiet down!!! It's bedlam in here!". We knew what he meant though we'd never heard of Bedlam even though it's been around since 1247. But we're going there today. Well, we're going to the original location of Bedlam. The hospital moved to its new location in the 1930s but, in a town where history goes back thousands of years, they'll be the new kids on the block for the next several hundred years. Until 1770, visitors to Bedlam could watch the lunatics through glass as a Victorian style freak show for the low low cost of one pence but no such show today. Lucky for me. Otherwise chances are I'd be in the show rather than watching it. Bedlam's old Gothic building is a museum now, and perhaps fittingly, London's War Museum which is, in my round about way of telling it, where we're going, the War Museum at the old Bedlam.

So, sorry if this is all too confusing. I'm out of time. We're headed out now and down the Tube. Sandwiches are packed, camera batteries charged and the sun is out but we're not fooled. M. Lee has counseled us to be prepared for rain. He's addicted to the hourly weather report which claims "rain at noon". It said the same thing yesterday but stayed dry and even a bit sunny all day. But it didn't fool M. As far as he was concerned, it might as well have been raining rats.

Windsor Castle w/ Happy Face

Windsor Castle, Middle Ward

I've totally failed to keep up with this trip. Traveling with M. Lee is like being in the army. Up early, eat the porridge then march into the Tube and away. Once again, it's too late to begin anything so here are a few photos. For now, I'll have to call that good.

Arrow slits, Middle Ward, Windsor Castle

Arrow slit close up

Perfunctory tourist shot

Windsor Castle, Upper Ward

Roy the Redeemer

One hundred foot Roy the Redeemer in the act of
Divinely Intervening above the white cliffs of Dover.

Hey Roy, here's one for you....compliments of Ireland’s biggest bookmaker, Paddy Power and the Metro, one of several free dailies read in the Tube. Have you been keeping something from us?

Article in London Metro.

Friday at the opera elevator

This morning we visited the home of London architect and collector Sir John Soane. It was turned museum upon his death at his bequest. Like Turner, he wanted to protect his fortune from greedy, conniving family members. Unlike Turner, he was successful. It has been a public museum since the early 19th century. Amazing place. I'm actually glad I hadn't applied for their (free) photographer's permit before going. The collection and home itself are so over the top. I would have taken way too many photos and really bogged myself down with editing. If you are ever in London, check it out. That is all.

Church across street from British Library.
How can anyone pretend that religion is not all about politics and power?

After the Soane , we went to the British Library. Their website describes the library as a "world-class cultural and intellectual resource that serves the needs of today’s researchers as well as being the custodian of the nation’s written and spoken heritage". We saw the Magna Carta, handwritten drafts by various famous authors such as William Blake, Shakespeare and Jane Austen to John Lennon's scribbled beginning for Hard Day's Night. No matter. M. Lee was extremely disappointed. The personal letter penned by Lillibet, Queen Elizabeth's name when she was a girl, had been rotated out of the displays.

After that, back to Harrods. Kathy wanted to buy a tin of cookies for a gift. A different opera singer was serenading customers on the elevator.

Another day, another museum

We're headed out in about 15 minutes so I only have time to post a few photos from yesterday, that beingTuesday. Wednesday we were at the British Museum where we finally made it to the mummy room. Of course that exhibit was packed. Photos from that later. So, have a great day. I'm off...into the rain and down the tube...

Down the tube and off and away

Inexplicable. Horse and  rider at Vauxhall Bridge

Tate Britain

JMW Turner, self-portrait at age 24

Turner wanted to leave the bulk of his portion to help poor painters but, after his death, his greedy conniving family members got it for themselves.

Ophelia by John Everett Millais.Big hair day at the Tate Britain. 

Inexplicable...man on the street

Morning in Tooting Bec.

Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, Day Four

Elizabeth, then and now. Subway billboard.

The Queen's four day Diamond Jubilee has finally come to an end. Lovely event. The Queen was Her usual regal but human self; classic and modern. She had History to make and did.

Silver hand, V&A Museum

The luncheons, carriage parades, concerts, horses, ships and river boats, jets (the RAF finally got to do its flyover), cheering throngs, snipers lining the rooftops. The rain. The stress put poor Prince Philip in the hospital. Today our neighbors on Huron Street started taking down the flags and cleaned up the detritus from yesterday's Jubilee block party. Done. Good.

Whitechapel High Street

Today, we took the tube to the Museum of London Docklands. Excellent exhibit. Wonderful life-size, walk-though dioramas to draw you in. Afterwards we went to the Whitechapel Gallery in London's East End. It has a prestigious history but I can't say much for the exhibits we saw today. Seems the place is more geared to events and projects like their writer-in-residence program and workshops. It has the only store I've ever seen that carries art books by Yoko Ono.

Whitechapel High Street

It's been raining since mid-afternoon and we are home and tucked in early. The opera singer who lives across the street has been practicing again today. Her soprano voice goes well with the rain. I was going to read at the open mic at the Poetry Cafe tonight but we have to get up really early tomorrow morning to accompany M. Lee's mom downtown so we need to get to bed early tonight. I'll probably read next week instead.

Dockland walkabout

Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, Day Three

Holy cow! Day Three of the Diamond Jubilee is almost over and I am only just now beginning this post. Big day at the Palace. Ten thousand people were Her guests for a lovely basket lunch in the garden and it didn't rain. Fantastic. We took the tube to central London to visit the Victoria & Albert museum. Overwhelming.

Royal chamber....or is it?

As lions watch

Lovely museum goer

The alter of fashion

Man on the street

Big concert at the Palace tonight. We enjoyed a pleasant walk around Tooting Bec.

Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, Day Two

Rainy day in Tooting Bec

A.M. It's raining in Tooting Bec. Too bad. Today is the Queen's grand river pageant on the Thames. We decided not to attend. To begin with, M. Lee's mom is 82 so we thought, with over a million people jostling for a view, we'd do better watching the broadcast from home instead. So, we're taking the tube this morning to the nearest grocery store to pick up some things for our own version of high tea and watch all the fun live online via the skyNEWS feed.

High tea and Jubilee

P.M. It is almost 6. Nearly the entire flotilla has now passed by the Queen as she stands in review with her entourage on the Royal Barge in furious rain. They are saying that it's cold enough to see your breath. The fly pass of military jets, the grand finale, had to be cancelled due to the weather but the Queen has stayed strong through it all. My hat is off to her. In the brief time we've been in London I have really come to appreciate the fine standard she has set during her 60 years as Monarch. We have no such thing in America and have torn ourselves apart trying to establish a reference point.

London Philharmonic Orchestra and choir's grand finale serenade.

Finally, the London Philharmonic Orchestra boat arrives before the Queen. They serenade her with several rousing numbers including a happy little sea shanty which brings smiles then laughter from Her, Camilla and Kate. And at last they sing the National Anthem which thereby brings this glorious Pageant to a merciful close.

Footnote: An especially big hit around here today was the unexpected appearance along the river of Joey, star of War Horse currently playing at the National Theater. Swami, Ella and Minerva were thrilled.

Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, Day One

This morning we walked over to the Saturday market and got og veggies, British pasties and eggs from hens who supposedly spend their days in an orchard nibbling soft fruit and tasty bugs. Last Saturday we went to the Portobello Road flea market instead but regretted missing the local market so today it was at the top of the agenda.

Wild Country Organics, great greens!

After bringing everything home and putting it away we took the tube to central London. Our first stop was a Salvation Army store Kathy read about online. That's M. Lee's mom. The three of us are traveling together. She read that people from the nearby College of Design and Vogue Magazine offices check the place early and often with good results. She's like a bloodhound when it comes to these things and actually did dig up a treasure, a fabulous cashmere top coat for £75 that would sell new for about £1000 but it turned out to be a heart breaker. Too small.

Sleeping Venus by Paul Delvaux on display at the Tate Modern

But no matter. We went to a nearby park and ate our sandwiches. I couldn't help but share a tiny bit with the pigeons but very much on the down-low as there's a £500 fine for such things. After lunch, we took the tube back to London Bridge then walked along the Thames to the Tate Modern. Wow. What a great place. Like the other museums we've visited in London, we saw only a fraction of what's on display. We'll try to make it back again before we go.

Borough High St. street party

Today is day one of Queen Elizabeth's four day Diamond Jubilee Celebration. I hear she went to opening day at Ascot. On our way back to the Tube and home, pub and street parties were well underway. I'm not sure people were celebrating anything in particular, just having a good time. Tomorrow we'll do our best to catch a glimpse of the historic Thames Jubilee Pageant. The Queen will travel in a flotilla of up to one thousand boats for what is expected to be a seven and a half mile long water parade and largest fleet of ships to be assembled on the River Thames in 350 years.

Photo dump

Gargoyle, Windsor Castle

Once again, I'm overwhelmed.

London Saturday flea market

I've already taken far too many photos to manage and we're only just over a week into this trip.

Huron St., London
The flat we're renting is on this street.

It happens every time.

Wedding photo shoot.
St. Paul's cathedral.
The groom standing off to the right.

Anyway, we came upon this fun scene the other day while walking to the tube.

These gigantic, multi-location, muli-costume professional photo shoots are the current fashion at the weddings of young Chinese couples.

They didn't seem to mind me taking a few of my own.

So, that's it for now. As usual, I'm up too late lost in the hodge podge. 

Chelsea reflections

English or American

I agree with Ghandi when he wrote, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” and, by that measure, both the United Kingdom and the US are neither truly great nor even very moral. However, since we arrived in the UK, I have been enjoying how differently they use of our common language and am wondering just how deep those differences go.

Perhaps I have merely succumbed to novelty but, at the moment, it seems more polite to ask drivers to "give way" rather than "yield" like we do in the US.

And even though I'm vegetarian, I find this unobtrusive window sign both amazing and delightful. "Proper Hamburgers"?

American restaurants advertise "fast" food, even "healthy" and "organic" food but "proper" hot food? Never! I believe I speak for the majority of my countrymen when I say that no one shall ever enforce the eating of "proper" food on an American. By god Southerners, cued by their Corporate Overlords, thoroughly vilified the First Lady for merely suggesting that parents feed their children healthy food.

Hyde Park, London

Perhaps I am belaboring the point here but I also thought the dog poop bins in Hyde Park were pretty civilized.

Thought for the day

London Tube
That blurry blue line is a speeding train.

Alrighty then.

The Queen is home but I am out

It's going to be hard keeping track of our experiences in London. Tonight again I am far too tired to retrieve the mental notes I made during the day. All that's left is bits and scraps but I'll do, well not my best, but I'll do what I can.

We took the tube to the center of London. Because I like horses we started with the changing of the Horse Guard. It was not conducted in the regular field as that area is being turned into a volleyball field for the upcoming Olympics. The entire city is preparing, not only for the Olympics in July, but the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June.

Anyway, after watching the Horse Guard, we wandered through Admiralty Arch and ate our peanut butter and banana sandwiches on the steps leading up to a bigger than life sculpture of someone or other then made our way up The Mall, the giant red carpet like road leading to the Palace. Along the way, The Mall passes through Green Park, a lovely area "acquired" in the 16th century by Henry VIII from a colony of female lepers. He desired a convenient place to shoot deer. But what can I say? The grim old structures, the gothic spires rising above the trees, the enormous royal residences and pompous towering halls of government facing The Mall had the desired effect. I was impressed. Even the obviously phallic stylized ship's masts topped by red and gold crowns lining the parade way between the Arch and the Palace hold their own.

As it turned out construction is also underway directly in front of the palace and the last part of the way barricaded. The flag was up on the Palace which means the Queen was in but we were out of luck. No big deal. Even with the construction, barricades and walk arounds, I am here to report that London is still a great show, an extravagant display of great world power, incalculable wealth, ruthless, fearful and magnificent.

But enough of that. M. Lee and I went for bike ride after getting back to Tooting Bec. It was rush hour so traffic was horrendous. The cool thing is that motorists are pretty accustomed to cyclists, much more so than in Nevada anyway, so it seemed quite natural being in the flow. This is partly due to the efforts of London's cycling mayor Boris Johnson who is bent on making London a more bike friendly city. We brought our own bikes with us. I think I failed to mention that before. Bromptons. Folding bikes. They take a little getting used to but are great fun. Along the way we stopped to pick up some maps of bike routes at Crazy Horse, a bike shop in Tooting Bec. We got to talking with the owners and discovered that the woman and I are actually related but more about that later. It's already too late. I've got to try to sleep now.

London, hello and good-night

A couple of photos is about all I can do for now. It's been over 30 hours since I last slept. We're in London. We arrived around noon today and are staying up to catch up with the new time zone.

Travel buddy stowaways, Swami and Minerva.

Our apartment is in Tooting Bec, an interesting, very diverse neighborhood in south London. M. Lee found it on AirBnB.

London customs.
More a concept than a place.

We had dinner tonight at a tiny nearby restaurant our landlords recommended, Chennai Dosa. Yum. It was perfect comfort food. Anyway, it's finally getting dark so, for now, good night.

Obese magpie

Breakfast in the Bird Park and once again, the magpies are loading up with peanuts, sometimes flying off with two in a beak, while the cautious crows look on. Actually, the magpie are not really obese, well there is one. I just like the image. I want to shout, "Come on! Grab a goodie before everything's gone" as one crow finally begins inching in sideways toward the kibble but no. Can't do that. They tolerate me through the window but otherwise our relationship is pretty tenuous.

The cool thing is that Minerva the crow is here this morning. She's been a Bird Park regular for years. You might wonder how I know but I have my ways. Actually, it's not all that mystical. She has that feather protruding from her right wing and her companion has a distinctive brown feather in her right wing. Her/his? I don't know. Maybe they're siblings but, in any case, they are out there right now and Brownie has finally grabbed a beakful of kibble and flown off. Breakfast in bed for the chillens? I am so going to miss this. Yes. I am looking forward to London and Paris. We leave on the 21st. I'm not addled, for Christ's sake, but I am also very attached to my bird friends. Awww well. It's spring so they won't be out there foraging in the snow anyway and Penny Robin, who had to have her apple first thing in the morning, has already gone back to higher ground.

Oh. It's just you.

That's the response I get from a lot of the birds out in the Bird Park when I sit down at my computer, as I did just now. Before they figure out it's just me they do that little crouch birds do before launch then they notice it's just me, straighten up and go back to their business. I'm flattered.

Other than that, the feeling in the house among us two humans is as though we are drawn up into a great wave that is, in six days, going to come crashing down around us. Ready or not, we leave on Friday and will be gone until the end of July.

So, last week M. Lee decided to paint the house alone by hand. It's been on the project list for a few years. At this point, were you to ask, he might say he underestimated the job. In any case, it has upped the pressure about a thousand degrees. Other than that, for me, traveling is always preceded by great, amorphous anxiety and I am fully in it. I worry about the birds. Don't even say it. I know how pathetic that sounds, as though I am Mother Nature incarnate.They are wild. They will, somehow, survive my absence. My regret, in part, is purely selfish. Currently, a group of red wing blackbirds are regular customers at Bird Park and all day long they fill the silence with their charming conversation. This is the first time they've been regulars and, of course, they will be long gone when we get back. I know that's nothing but it at least it distracts me from the anxiety of what I'll forget to do or bring and how horrible that 10 hour flight is going to be.

Anyway, thanks for listening, if you got this far. I don't know why but it helps to write about it but it does and, like the message in the bottle, it's comforting to think there is another shore. Now I've gotta go. I've got a list of things to do. Have a great day.

Ringtones for a weeping eye

My poor left eye is not doing nearly as well as my right eye after its cataract removal last week. I have a post-op with the doctor tomorrow so we'll see but I'm not too worried. The results are still within what he has explained are "normal" even though at the moment it feels like there's a stick jammed into the side of my eye. Last week was simple, in and out, but today I came home with a terrible headache and a blood shot eye oozing rubbery pus and surrounded by dried blood. Sorry for the gory details. I just report. So, I spent the afternoon downloading ringtones for my phone. I got some cool ones, a couple which I will share with you in hope of making up for the gory details I have inflicted you with. I'd post more but zedge.net is currently too busy to access. Sci-fi Creepy is one of my all-time favorites. My daughter has had it on her phone for a couple of years and I was delighted to finally stumble across it this afternoon.


Get this on your phone | Make your own free ringtones


Get this on your phone | Make your own free ringtones