Just Normal Life

So life has settled down a bit lately. Our travels have subsided till baby girl makes her appearance in June. But we're still very much enjoying life in London, whilst occasionally venturing outside the city limits. I thought I'd compile a bunch of the random photos that have been filling up my phone lately. 

“It was true, she thought, that the big things awe us but the little things touch us.”

Bess Streeter Alrich,  A White Bird Flying

We spent a morning at the Tate Britain museum, and found this little gem in its galleries. I can't tell you how often college friends, and I mused over this photo and the stories of its time.

A few weeks later, we went down to Brighton for the day with some friends. While I've been in England long enough now to not expect the quaintness of Jane Austen's Brighton, I didn't expect it to be a kind of Jersey Shore of England. I saw more blue/green hair than I've ever seen before. I also didn't see Brighton beach. The mist from the sea floated inland about 10 minutes and stayed all day. It was bright and sunny farther in, and back in London, but not on the beach. We briefly saw the outline of the pier, and saw the waves along the shore 20 feet out from the pebbles. That's it.
But I have now been to Brighton. :-)

The other week, I opened my curtains one sunny morning to this stunning view, and it's reminder that yes, I do live in one of the biggest, and busiest cities in the world.

A bit of excitement in our routine was the chance to go to a rugby match! We saw the Saracens vs Harlequins (for those of you that know rugby), and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was similar enough to American football that I could appreciate the basics, though I know I didn't get it all. And I enjoyed it MUCH more than the football (soccer) matches we've been to. Way more chilled and fun!

But I was amazed at the crowds going into Wembley Stadium. Apparently there were about 70,000 fans-- a record for the Rugby league. It was crazy!

  

And then we left the stadium afterwards and hightailed it for the tube, trying to beat the rush. The crowd going in had nothing on the crowd leaving after.

Here's a small perspective from the stairs going into the tube...

and if you can see it.... the path on the other side of the bridge is completely packed with people. About 30-40 people across... for half a mile. Just crazy!!!

But spring is on the rise, and with it, London is showing off its flowery side! I love it!
I actually found this amazing tree (tree? massive bush?) last summer, but forgot about posting it. Two stories of wisteria! And the property was for sale. I wanted to buy it on the spot!

In March, all the crocuses burst out, defying the cool temps with their bright colour!

And these beauties have popped up in the park near us! I love spring, and was so happy to find London's parks full of it, not just cement and concrete!

So thanks for stopping by and sharing some of our little moments. We're enjoying them, and I hope you are too!

Out-and-Abouting

Well, again, I find myself needing to make up for mass amounts of missed posting opportunities. The last couple months have been full of lovely experiences with plenty of photo ops, just not the time (or discipline) to follow through and post about them. So I'll take January to catch up from 2014 and post the pics I have left.

Here are a few days worth of being out and about.

Every September (yes, I'm so far behind, I still have pictures from September!) London hosts and 'Open House London' event, where buildings around the city, normally closed to the public, open for one day. Though there are tons of buildings available, the more famous structures have long queues to get in- meaning you have to pick one, maybe two to see in a day. This year, the hubby and I chose to see Lloyds of London (i.e.: the inside-out building!) It was equally as impressive on the inside-- though the 2 hour wait took its toll! :-P

The view from the bottom:

   

The views from the top:

I can't believe how packed in everything is, and as you can see, there's still more going up!

Though frankly, at the end of the day: it's still a desk job-- at which you share a 4x6 desk with four other people. Not my cup of tea!

From the outside- the 'guts' of the building look pretty cool. Elevator shafts on the left, ventilation on the right.

Right next to Lloyds is Leadenhall market, a covered arcade where parts from Harry Potter were filmed! :-)

They had a display of books that I kind of loved, kind of hated for how they ruined so many books!

And we found a 'mini' Gherkin... though it's not really very mini at all...... and its made out of Legos!

Up the street, about halfway between Lloyds and our home, is Bunhill Fields, a cemetery for non-conformist (ie: not Church of England) pastors throughout history. Here is John Owen (who the hubby is studying for his ThM and hopefully PhD and John Bunyan!

Right across the street is John Wesley's chapel and home.

I love that we live here, right next to so much history!

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All right- enough of London for now! I took a day trip with a friend to Manchester. She was looking at the university there so I had the day to tour Manchester myself. Quite frankly, I wasn't too excited. I mean, what's in Manchester? But actually- it was a lovely little city. Reminded me of some of New England's small cities--- maybe Philedelphia?

And I discovered the John Soanes Museum... a little museum with gorgeous historical reading rooms!  I mean, LOOK!

Ah!!!! Look at these libraries!

 And the sunset lit up the arches of this church so beautifully, I considered it a lovely end to my day.

I still love my London-- but Manchester's all right too!

#LFW14

For those who were wondering, that stands for London Fashion Week 2014.

This world-renowned event, which I've heard about from across the pond, was apparently on last week. A few banners and ads aside, most Londoners had no idea it was happening. But I decided to walk down to Kenwood House to see what the hubbub was all about. (And I promise, this is my first, and last, fashion post. This won't become a regular habit!)

Of course, I didn't plan to pay the exorbitant prices to get a seat to any shows or exhibition, but it wasn't needed. The crowds standing around hoping to be seen were enough. Don't let the labels fool you- "street style" is as manicured and preened look as any runway fashion. And they are by no means normal. At least, I sure hope not!

I think the girl on the far right looks a bit British Jersey Shore, don't you agree?

Apparently, this lady with the slicked back hair is on Made in Chelsea- a reality show that really does seem like the UK's Jersey Shore!

Some cool cats taking in the scene.....

Apparently, the lady on the right didn't get the notice that its Fashion Week, NOT the Royal Ascot!

These two showed up together, and were pulling off the retro thing pretty well.... ish.

Why yes, that is a latex dress, why do you ask?

Apparently, the lady in blue in the middle is famous. I had no idea why, but I took a picture, then Googled when I got back home. Jourdan Dunn- a British model. Who knew?!

A couple dapper looking gents!

And this was actually one of my favourite looks of the day! Of course over the top- what would you expect?! But at least it coordinates and looks kind of attractive!

And of course, one has to take the obligatory selfie, right? Okay maybe it was just the vanity floating around in the air making my head a little crazy.

My ego was a little puffed when a couple people there asked to take my picture. But it was duly squashed when those pictures were never posted or tagged anywhere. I even saw some photos where I'd been cropped out of the background. Ouch!

So, I went, I saw. I watched people see and be seen. And while there's a buzz in the air, cameras flashing, and beautiful (and frightening) people milling about... it was empty. Most people were alone, or in giggling gaggles of girls (ooh, like that alliteration?!). Phones and cameras dominated faces, and 'style' and labels out-shadowed real beauty. A fun place to visit for an hour or too, but I wouldn't want to live there.

The Tall Ships Festival

I recently found out that the Royal Burrough of Greenwich hosts an annual Tall Ships Regatta. It seemed like a fantastic photo opportunity, so I dragged the spouse to the far side of the city to try our luck!

The day didn't go as expected.

The ships were moored at several locations along the Thames, and I researched the spot that should have the most, since I didn't plan on making it to all the ports. We took the Overground and the DLR waaaaaaaay to the West part of London, all the way to Woolwich (seriously, my friend who has lived in London her whole life has never been to Woolwich)! We made our way anxiously through the festival crowds towards the dock, where we pushed past cotton candy sellers, dance parties, even Jack Sparrow and a few other 'old world' characters.

We peered excitedly over the embankment wall to find..... two ships. 

While they were indeed tall (and ships), as advertised, I thought the vinyl advert hanging across the mast stole some of its appeal. And neither husband nor I cared to queue up for the hurried, self-guided tours you could take. So... we pondered and decided to make the most of the day and walk the river a bit. After starting off the wrong direction, we found our bearings and headed inland towards Greenwich, where the rest of the ships were moored. "Lets just enjoy the river walk," we said. "We can always catch a bus when we get tired," we said.

*Note: I'd worn some cute ballet flats, thinking we wouldn't be walking much, and by this point, my feet were already getting a tad sore.

So we began walking, and were rewarded with lovely views of other ships cruising up and down the river.

Note this next ship is called Tolkien.

(Please note I am well aware that this is not a tall ship. But it reminded us of Scuffy the Tugboat from our childhood Golden Books, and that made me happy!)

We quickly passed the Thames Barrier, which you can read more about here. I know very little, except that it keeps London from flooding, and is somewhat an industrial architectural statement.

We made our way through industrial parks, where remnants of old loading belts, rusted and torn, still reach out out into the Thames.

... and we even found the Greenwich Yacht Club, which was less than impressive. (Google it, even in the best of light its pretty lacklustre.)

By this time, we had missed lunch, had walked much farther than anticipated, and my feet (in an out of the shoes as the pavement permitted) cried and ached with pain. (I've decided this weekend I can never be a ballerina. My feet don't have the stamina for it.)

We rounded the Greenwich Peninsula, started the last leg towards Greenwich, and began 'discussing' signs we'd seen long ago for Greenwich.

"My feet hurt. Was that 6 kilometres, with the 'k' fallen off or 6 miles?" 

"I think it was for something else that was 6 metres."

"No- we'd have passed that ages ago. I think it was Greenwich..... how far have we walked?!...... I want to go home. ............ There's no bus to catch from here. ............ My feet hurt."

"No- I'm not paying £5 for a coke from the festival booth- that's ridiculous!"

"My feet hurt."

We finally rounded the bend to see the Old Royal Naval College, symbolic of the end of our tedious journey!

Plus, the last (and best!) ships were there!

We found our way to the Cutty Sark Tube station, and began the journey back home. "Just think," we told each other, "in time, we'll forget about the pain of the walk, and just remember the cool day, the river, the ships, and the lovely memories."

I looked it up when we got home. It was 6.5 miles.

Good times. :-)