Mar 192013
 

She froze – ears at attention, tail on guard.  I followed her gaze and understood immediately.  She looked at me questioningly and then back across the road.  The beasts on the other side were obviously alert to her presence.  They stood placidly chewing yet somehow taut and ready to spring into action.

She shied away from their massive forms and began to whimper just slightly. Straining at her lead, she backed away while managing to advance down the trail.  Her head pivoted as her eyes bounced from theirs to mine trying to assess the level of danger.

I named her fear and placed my hand reassuringly on her head and that’s when it happened.  Seemingly without cause or warning one of them began to run.  The others joined in, herding us along as they paralleled our path.

We made halting progress as she continued to keep one eye on the stampede and one eye on me, waiting for permission to bolt for home.

Just then each creature came up against the barbed wire at the edge of the pasture, her adrenaline slowed to a trickle and she returned to her easy gait: eyes on the path ahead, nose in the air ready for the next great adventure.

 Posted by at 16:19
Mar 092013
 

Imagine you are a fish.

The fins, the scales, the bulgy eyes.

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Spending your life in water. Gliding through plants and rocks. Turning around to glide back through the same plants and rocks again and again and again.

 

 

 

You’re inside a fish tank. What’s in it?  Plastic plants or real ones? Is there a treasure chest or a ceramic castle you can swim through?

What size is your tank? Is it one of those round little fish bowls or is it a massive tank filled with gallons of water?

Now, step back for a moment.

You are not a fish.  

There are no glass walls that allow you to see out, but keep you in.

There is nothing confining you or defining the limits of your life.

Or is there?

What limits have you put on yourself? What limits have you allowed others to put on your life?Who told you that you couldn’t go there or do that? Who did you allow to put you in a fish tank?

You are not a fish.

 Posted by at 12:49
Jan 022013
 

westminster-tube.jpgWe woke early on our last morning in London to give ourselves a few more hours of sightseeing before the tour bus came to take us back to Heathrow.  Having skipped a few key sights, we hopped on the Tube and headed for Westminster by way of the Embankment.  Our first stop was the Battle of Britain Memorial on the shore of the Thames.

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The memorial is really amazing. It was dedicated in 2005 to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Battle. It highlights various events in the nearly four month long siege designed to annihilate the Royal Air Force.

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We headed back past the House of Parliament. The bobbies were particularly laid back that morning.

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Just past Big Ben, we finally made it to Westminster Abbey, church of the royals, which dates back to 1065. It has been the location of countless coronations, weddings and funerals since then. 

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We didn’t have time to take the 90 minute guided tour of the inside since we were on the clock, but the Gothic facade was absolutely gorgeous. The detail on every bit of the building was overwhelming. I can only imagine how beautiful it is from the inside.

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As we stood outside and marveled at the majesty of the area, we spied a little stone church wedged between the House of Parliament and the gorgeous Abbey. It was called St. Margaret’s Church and is the working church for the House of Commons.  It turns out it is also the burial site of Sir Walter Raleigh (See Tower of London).

As you stand with your back to the Abbey, there is a beautiful lawn and courtyard ringed with statues, monuments and other important buildings.  It is said that if you drive a vehicle onto the lawn, it will sink into the Underground.

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We headed west from there and found ourselves outside the New Scotland Yard (boring office building).  Just a few blocks up, we stumbled across the back of the Royal Guards where they were either training or holding tryouts. It was pretty cool to get a glimpse behind-the-scenes.

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We walked a bit further along St. James Park. It was really beautiful even though it was drippy and cloudy.  st-james-park.jpg

squirrel.jpgThe squirrels in the park were especially friendly and Hubby held a rather long conversation with one of them. 

diana-walk.jpgThey park was also home to some rather fat pigeons, one which we named “Winston.”  

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As we got closer to Buckingham Palace, we came across the Princess Diana Memorial Walk.
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Our first sight once we got to Buckingham Palace was of the Queen Victoria Memorial out front. It is rather unmistakably her.


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The palace itself was rather unimpressive and I kept thinking that couldn’t be it.  After the gothic splendor of the House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, the ‘palace’ seemed plain and unimpressive.  After being extremely underwhelmed by Buckingham Palace, we headed back to the hotel to pack for home.

 Posted by at 15:27
Jan 012013
 

Faced with our last night in London, it was time to get serious about what we wanted to do.  Being unable to function without eating, we headed to a local pub for fish and chips.  Since it was tea time when we arrived, we were the only ones there.  Our waiter was from Hungary and very chatty.  He apologized to us for the weather and couldn’t believe it when we explained that living in Southern California, we get tired of sun all the time.  He assumed I wanted white wine with my fish – um, wrong.  I managed to get him to bring me a beer and we had a very nice meal.

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Once fortified, we headed off to Covent Garden to shop the markets.

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It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and full of activity even though it was raining and near closing time.  The area has a rich history with performers and artists and is home to the Royal Opera and St. Paul’s (the actor’s church). 

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It is said that the first British performance of Punch and Judy took place here in 1622.   The night we were there, we saw street performers ranging from opera singers to break dancers.  acrobat.jpg


Hubby’s favorite was an acrobat who also told jokes as she performed.

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We were able to shop the various markets and buy some Christmas presents.  I had been looking all trip for a ring for myself and finally, I found one!  There was a vendor selling sterling silver rings and I immediately fell in love with a square one.  I put it on and haven’t taken it off since.

As the markets closed for the night, we again wandered back towards the hotel to make the most of our remaining time.

agatha-christie.jpgSometimes the things you see on London streets are completely random like an Agatha Christie memorial or a post in the middle of the street declaring that you can not dig there.  (Is this an issue?)strictly-no-digging.jpg

I don’t think Starbucks in the US would get much business if they piled their garbage outside every night, but in London, everyone does it. Go figure.

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Piccadilly Circus is pretty gaudy and held no appeal for us.picadilly-piano-bar.jpg


I think the Piccadilly Piano Bar and Comedy Pub may make the list for next time….Sounds intriguing!

 Posted by at 16:17
Dec 312012
 

The pastor of the American Church in London used to be part of our home church and that’s how we were invited to London to sing for the Thanksgiving Service at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  As part of the package, we also got to sing and help lead worship at the American Church in London the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Their sanctuary is a big open space featuring tall arched windows with tinted glass panes.  Each window sill was decorated with a white orchid and candles.

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As we arrived Sunday morning, the worship leader (who was also the choir director/composer for the St. Paul’s service) threw a packet of songs at us for Congregational singing – a few hymns, a few choruses, and a song we didn’t know.  We ran through everything, and with a healthy dose of faith, lead the service.  mackenzie.jpgOur organist opened the service with a beautiful prelude and we sang an arrangement of Psalm 118 as a call to worship.   My take away from the sermon was the thought that we are chosen by God because God chose us- not because of anything we have done.

The result of him choosing us is that we are to be a blessing to others.  John 15:16 says “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.”

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After singing a few more songs, we closed the service with the same benediction that brought tears to my eyes the first Sunday at GPC: “You go nowhere by accident!  Wherever we go, God is sending us.  Wherever we are, God has put us there.  He has a purpose in our being there.  Christ who indwells you has something He wants to do through you where you are.  Believe this, and go in His grace and love and power.”

acl-cross.jpgThis brought everything full circle for me and I started to think about what God’s purpose was for me in London.  While this may be a question that has many answers and continues to evolve, I came up with the following:

Being in London

-broadened my perspective on the world

-broadened my understanding of God and his effects over geography and time

-gave me perspective on my own life, showing me more of what is possible

-strengthened my ties to wonderful people

 Posted by at 16:21
Dec 302012
 

Somehow, we never quite got the hang of three meals while we were in London.  We either ate too much or got hungry at the ‘wrong’ times.  In an effort to fix this problem, we opted to eat cake for dinner on Saturday night.  We stopped at Patisserie Valerie (another place that was recommended to us) and chose a piece of lemon cake and a piece of chocolate cake to take back to the hotel.  slicetreatbox.jpg

We popped in to Starbucks to get some hot chocolate and forks while we checked our email.

When we arrived back at the hotel, we bumped into one group that was headed out to the theatre, another that was having cocktails in the lobby before heading to dinner, and still another that was dragging themselves home from a day trip to the Cotswolds.  As we traded stories and savored friendships, I marveled again at the awesome opportunity we were given.

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 Posted by at 19:10
Dec 292012
 

We ducked out of the British Museum and dashed across the street to Starbucks to use the free WiFi to plan our next move.  As we were waiting for Hubby’s phone to log on, another friend from home appeared.  Since we were craving paintings, he recommended we head over to Trafalgar Square to visit the National Gallery.  We thought that sounded like a great idea.

jarndyce.jpgOn our way to our next destination, we stumbled across Jarndyce Antiquarian Bookseller.  Named after the court case from Charles Dickens’ Bleak House and housed in the building where Randolph Caldecott lived, I couldn’t resist posing for a picture, even if it was raining.

When we arrived at the National Gallery, we immediately marked the rooms on the map that we wanted to focus on.  We had resigned ourselves to being unable to see it all.  I chose the rooms that had artists I had heard of.  The Impressionists were first: Monet, Manet and Renoir.  It was amazing to see the different sizes of the canvases: in books, all art is the same size.  My two favorites in this room were Monet’s Water Lillies and Renoir’s Umbrellas.  All the paintings at the British Museum are available to view online.  I love how free Britain is with its art.  Not only that, but they have a free monthly podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the exhibits.

In the room called “Beyond Impressionism”, I enjoyed Pissaro and Seurat.  Seurat did some “sketches” that were 8 x 11 inch oil on wood pieces to prepare for a very large piece called Bathers at Asnieres.  From there we moved on to Gaugin, Cezanne, Degas, Picasso, and Van Gogh.  I especially enjoyed the geometric paintings of Cezanne and a portrait Picasso did of a well known eccentric which looks like Robin Williams.  Van Gogh’s A Wheatfield, with Cypresses and Sunflowers were so fascinating to see in person.  There is so much depth to his work and you can feel the emotion in the ridges of paint.

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Having seen the Impressionists that I was most excited about, we moved on (or rather back) to the 16th and 17th century masters: JordaensRubensVan DyckLeonardoVermeer, and Rembrandt.  I had never heard of Jordaens before.  His portrait of the Holy Family with St. John the Baptist really grabbed me because of Mary’s face: she looks so young.  jordaens-holy-family-with-john-the-baptist.jpg

The Rubens paintings were full of fat and naked people like I remembered, but the paintings by Van Dyck, his student, were absolutely huge portraits of royalty and other important people.  It seems he would paint the subjects in a very flattering light – forget realism.  It turns out I don’t like Rembrandt that much.

My soul was renewed by the beauty of all that we saw.  I was intrigued by the way I was drawn in to some paintings and could walk right by others without a second thought.  I found I really prefer paintings over artifacts and like my paintings to convey deep feelings.  Not bad for an afternoon at a FREE museum.

 Posted by at 10:27
Dec 282012
 

After a day of marathon sight seeing, we slept in a bit on Saturday.  Since it was the weekend and we were slower to get moving, the lifts were busier and the breakfast lines were longer. We lingered over breakfast with friends, savoring their stories, and then set off for the British Museum.

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Just a few blocks from our hotel, the British Museum is completely free and stuffed with artifacts andtreasures from all over the world.

king-george-iiis-room.jpgWe made the mistake of not planning our visit.  Instead we just headed into the first exhibit we saw.  This turned out to be a room filled with random treasures from all over the world that was collected by King George III.

The best part of this room was the hands-on table where you could handle various artifacts under the supervision of a docent who explained the history and significance of the items.  One of the tables was staffed by a docent and two preteens who wore buttons printed with “I’m taking over.”  They had undergone training to learn about the items and were allowed to spend a day at the Museum being the ‘experts’.  It was a pretty cool program. We got to handle a panel from a relic box that was made to hold a bone from a dead saint.  Beautiful piece of art – kinda creepy purpose.hands-on.jpglooking-at-cabinet.jpg

After being completely overwhelmed by that room, we looked at the map and choose our next move carefully.  

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The British Museum is home to the Rosetta Stone.  As a linguistics major, the Rosetta Stone was a priority.  We made a beeline to see the huge piece of rock which was inscribed with a decree by Ptolomy V from about 200 BC in three different languages.  When it was discovered in 1799, it was the first text to provide a translation key for Egyptian hieroglyphics.  Up until this point, no one was sure if hieroglyphic symbols were sound units or meaning units. The term ‘Rosetta Stone’ has come to mean the crucial key to unlocking information.  As we approached the Rosetta Stone, we bumped into a few of our friends.  It’s a bit surreal to see people out of context.piriosjeffromy.jpg

After the Rosetta Stone, we headed to the Elgin Marbles.  They are pieces of the Parthenon and other buildings from the Acropolis of Athens.  elgin-marbles.jpg

The Earl of Elgin was the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century and received ‘permission’ to remove about half of the Parthenon.  

temple.jpgThey were purchased by the British government and placed on display in the British Museum. Eventually, they constructed a customized gallery to display the pieces.  The debate continues about whether they should remain in London or be returned to Greece.  It is quite amazing how many huge pieces were brought over.  As we walked out of one room, I overheard a teenager ask her parents “How did they move an entire temple?”  It’s a good question.

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We identified “Mummies” as our next destination and wandered through rooms and rooms of ancient dead people.  jon-mummies.jpg

Then we moved on to more Greek, Roman andAssyrian artifacts.  rock-sun.jpg

Some of the pieces spoke to me more than others. These busts of ancient philosophers reminded us of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

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At that point, I was yearning to see a painting or drawing.  I’d had enough of artifacts.  

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We checked the map and found that there was only one room of the British Museum with two dimensional art: a collection of Spanish drawings. They looked alot like illustrations from old newspapers.

We were surprised to find a ‘cartoon’ by Michaelangelo tucked into a corner of one room.  

michaelangelo-cartoon.jpgSomeone who lived close could spend a lifetime exploring the treasures of the British Museum for absolutely free.  Pretty amazing!

Having reached the end of our rope, we checked the map again for things we would regret missing.  There were two rooms dedicated to the history of clocks. 

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I know, this doesn’t sound like a ‘must see’, but a friend of mine is married to a clock guy and I thought he might appreciate some pictures of cool clocks.  It was amazing to see how clocks have evolved over time and how creative clockmakers have been.

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After the clocks, we surrendered to our mental overload and headed across the street to Starbucks to plan our next move.

 Posted by at 23:04
Dec 282012
 

When we emerged from the underground labyrinth of the Churchill War Rooms, it was pitch dark.  We headed towards 10 Downing Street which is nearly unrecognizable behind iron gates and security barriers.  Finding ourselves on the backside of the Horseguards building, we picked our way across the yard and backwards through the central archway which is the official entrance to St. James Palace.  The city is beautiful at night and very safe to walk around in, so we headed towards the river and spent some time wandering along the Thames including exploring the Golden Jubilee Bridge and taking more pictures of St. Paul’s.st-pauls-from-bridge-night.jpg

The London Eye at Night.  The whole area is lit with shades of blue and purple.

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There are quite a few monuments and statues along the Thames including Cleopatra’s Needle, one of three obelisks removed from Egypt in the 1800’s.  The others are in Paris and New York after a storm busted up the original shipment. cleopatra-needle-plaque.jpg

 

 

The plaque attributes the acquisition of the needle to “the patriotic zeal” of Erasmus Wilson.

 

A view of The Savoy from the Golden Jubilee Bridge.

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Crazy nuts that we are, we decided to just walk back to the hotel so we could explore a bit more.  More like Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Chinatown,  and Bloomsbury. 

The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square at Night. trafalgar-square-night.jpg

 

st-martin-in-the-fields.jpgSt. Martin in the Fields church.


 

 

Best known to us as the church where the soundtrack to Amadeus was recorded. The current building dates back to the 1500’s and the church is now known locally as “The Church of the Open Door” and reaches out to the homeless in the area.

 

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Chinatown.

 



Lots of restaurants everywhere. I liked this window and made Hubby take the picture below.ducks-in-window.jpg

After sufficient wandering, we found our way back to an Indian restaurant that friends had recommended and finished our marathon day with some wicked curry and naan.

give-way.jpg Then we gave up.

 Posted by at 13:50
Dec 272012
 

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Under the Clive Steps beneath the Treasury buildings in Whitehall are the “Churchill War Rooms”, the underground complex where Prime Minister Winston Churchill centered his administration during World War II from 1940 to the 1945 surrender of Japan.  It was sealed up until the 1980’s when it came to the attention of a Member of Parliment who insisted that the rooms be opened to the public.  

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A gas mask with communications modifications so that the government could continue to function even in the direst of circumstances.

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The original rooms are now part of a museum with the original furnishings arranged as they were during the war.  The map room even has the map with the original pin holes showing the troop movements throughout the war.  The remainder of rooms have been turned into an exhibit about Churchill’s life from birth to death. 

 

After a long day soaking in all the sights, we bailed on the museum before we saw even half of it.  It deserved much more time and attention than we had to give.  Sometimes you just have to move on.with-the-guard.jpg

 Posted by at 11:47