Biella for Now

Hello! Sorry for the silence, but we do not have much access to internet at the farm. We are enjoying our work and our time with Andrew's family. We have had the delight of taking the goats into the forest together. They are beautiful and smart and have a lot of personality! 

Last Day in London

Our last day in London was decidedly more relaxed. We realized we need this every so often! Wait.. now I'm remembering what we did... hmm... maybe not that true after all. We headed out of the apartment in the morning, amidst a bit of rain, and happened upon a little shop which sold used designer clothing and shoes for women (sorry Andrew). Sure enough--a pair of Gucci stillettos are coming home with me.

This little florist and plant shop claimed on the sign to be the longest garden shop in London. It ran alongside a train overpass, and delighted us every couple steps. My favourite was their description of Evergreen Jasmine--made me want one, but I'm not so sure it would do well in my luggage.

We spent the afternoon back at the Victoria & Albert Museum to see one of the exhibits, which featured the development of Italian fashion since 1951. We saw some beautiful dresses (they always steal my heart), and a suit made by Emengildo Zenga. Andrew's grandparents, who were tailors in Italy, worked alongside him. The exhibit also talked about the offerings of different regions of Italy, and Biella was featured for its wool. We head to Biella tomorrow. 

We ran out of the gift shop to meet with these two, only a couple blocks away. I went to school with Geordie and Christine in Brandon School of Music. Geordie is doing studies for his doctorate on the effects of certain elements of performance and how the audience reacts to them. Christine is teaching music at an upper middle school which presents many challenges in its variety of ethnicities and religious conflicts. It was really great to see some old friends, and catch up on what life has been like in the meantime.

We walked through neighbouring Hyde Park, and stopped for a wee sit while Andrew tried out his pipe for the first time. I've learned since that the birds we saw were storks. They were definitely not ruffled by human presence!

And so we walked down the street, bought Andrew a few more 'James May' shirts on sale at Debenham's, and waited until just past times that kitchens were open, even in Soho, and ended up at a Diner trying to be American. They were suitably obnoxious to our senses, and the food tasted oddly like MacDonald's, but with high quality ingredients. It was weird, and we wished to have gone elsewhere... but food was the priority by that point, so we must forgive ourselves.

Friday morning we packed up and headed out to St. Pancras Station to catch our train through the Chunnel. While we waited to go through security, and to spend the rest of our cash pounds, we stopped at the little Fortnum & Mason's. This was my first experience of truly British tea. We had a pot of the St. Pancras blend, particular to that station. It was delicious... nevermind the crumpets with fine marmalade and raspberry preserve, all served up on beautiful china. We were glad for this last minute experience--it was Britain, after all, and Brits drink tea--beautiful tea!

Guards, Pipes & Towers

We began the day at Buckingham Palace with the throngs of people trying to get a spot to be able to watch the changing of the guard. Luckily it is not easily missed, and lasts for more than half an hour. Those brass players had to play for quite a while! The flag flying above the palace told us that Her Majesty was in fact there that day, but no--we did not see her.

After walking and watching, and walking and watching, and taking pictures of tourists for them with the guards, we went out in search of a pipe shop. Andrew was told that during his studies, he may find need for an occasional pipe smoke with his colleagues, and London seemed the place to find one. The shop had copies of documents showing that Oscar Wilde shopped there, but also that he owed them money when he went bankrupt. It didn't look like they suffered from it!

And thus we wandered some more, and came across a department store that looked interesting... for good reason. I heard after the fact that they are the royal grocers, and apparently that's a big deal. So first we wandered around looking at all the chocolate truffles, but little did we know what we would find downstairs. The actual grocery section was beautiful--cheeses in beautifully painted canisters, pastries, canned foie gras, dry aged iberico ham (we were even offered a sample--the deliciousness lasted at least ten minutes in my mouth!), all sorts of spices, and some really expensive scotch (10,000 GBP?)

Upstairs, we found the hat shop. These were far more works of art to us than hats. We also were not allowed to try them on--a pity.

The grand stairway for the 5 floors

We laboriously chose which truffles to buy just to eat as we exited Fortnum & Mason's, but when we asked the lady at the counter which were her favourite, she handed us two more of the gin-lime truffles. Oh delicious! We wandered further down Picadilly and encountered a market at St. James Anglican, where we gladly took the chance to sit and rest a bit.

At this point, we realized that we needed to hurry over to Somerset House so as not to miss seeing Andrew's favourite artist's paintings--here he is with the card players by Cezanne.

And because it seemed right, here are two men with pipes.

My favourite at this exhibit was 'Woman tying her shoes' here by Renoir.

The stairwell at Somerset House

One more rest on the grounds before we continued. The fountains were not running this time because they were setting up for a concert series in the courtyard. Too bad!

Right next door, we came across King's College, and thought--hey--John goes there--and walked through the buildings a bit. While trying to find a way out, we found a completely blocked staircase, and then a midget door.

Just a little north down the river, we found Temple Church. To quote the historical notes in the square:

"The Temple began as an outpost of the Knights Templars, an Order founded to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land. Soon after the Templars' spectacular downfall early in the 14th century, lawyers started moving into the premises. Today, the Temple comprises two of the four Inns of Court, providing barristers' officesm training and dining facilities, a few residential flats, gardens, and a church."

No wonder we felt underdressed! We were also witness to a private garden party of the World Gold Council. Thankfully when we sat down at the park for dinner, the pigeons did not judge us. They were concerned with fighting over some hard cookies someone had left, but they need to bash at them with their beaks to be able to eat any. It was quite the sight.

We left in search of London Bridge, which we found out was different from the Tower of London, and different yet from Tower Bridge. I won't expound much about how we felt by the end of this adventure, but we managed to smile for the photo, and drag our sore feet to the nearest tube stop for the ride home.

From the last place we stayed in London, I show you our host's little friend, Tudor. Such a small dog! Our host was a Brazilian who moved to London, and worked as a hairdresser. Tudor hung our while we watched the sad sad World Cup soccer games.

Wanderings in London

Welcome to Sherlock's violin! Isn't it a bit weird that we went to a museum for an imaginary person with things that someone imagined he would own? It was delightful anyway. Andrew bought a full copy of the stories. 

Monday morning, we ventured to the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington. They had many displays large and small. This one was simply epic!

I will have to learn at some point how to read this, just for the sake of knowing

The courtyard offered a perfect spot for picnic lunch, and the hydrangeas were glorious. We also watched a child chasing pigeons as if he were a tiger, but did not manage to document that gem of a moment. Pigeons are funny birds to watch, bobbing their heads in unison while they walk along.

At this point, our day became far more hectic--as we attempted to find the finish line for the Tour de France. We ended up at a spot just past the finish line, heard the crowd go crazy, and watched some interviews. The cars carrying the extra bicycles were legitimate convoy a few minutes long.

Even though we didn't see the glorious moment, it was fun to be there, and Andrew and Nigel have a history of watching the Tour de France together, as well as drooling over bicycles and going for epic rides. We said goodbye to Nigel and Laura the next morning, and felt a little lost because we don't officially have plans to see them again, and we don't live near each other. But we didn't get to linger long on that thought, because we needed to pack up, clean the place, and move to our next spot of residence on Battersea Park Road. I wish I could forget how long it took us to get there, but it was at this point that we learned about National Rail, which is a different network, but is connected to the subway... Because the nearest underground stop was a 45 minute walk away... We hurriedly borrowed an ironing board, got changed, and went to the Savoy Grill for dinner, followed by Dirty Rotton Scoundrels at the theatre. It was nice to actually sit for an evening, but also be entertained by such quality actors and dancers. The food tasted great, and it was fun to be in such a fancy place, but everything was very salty! Or sweet. I suppose that's how the English do it.

London Stretch

Alas we are clearly on vacation, and our blog posting lacks consistency--have you ever seen a vacation blog that was consistent? Alas--I will try to catch up. Today was a very wonderful day, and that is what I want to tell you about, but alas--it will come. First we remember back to London. 

After happening upon a beautiful farmers market a short walk away from our place and stocking the fridge with greens, cheeses, breads, and farm fresh raspberries, we ventured to the Portrait Gallery. Highlights for me were Queen Elizabeth the first, Maggie Smith, and this fellow: Thomas Cranmer, who wrote the Anglican prayer book. I snuck a photo... Living on the edge, yes? We also saw Shakespeare and Robert Burns, and King Henry VIII.

Andrew has this little project going where he picks up a Magic card in each city we stay in-- this has ended up in a few adventures already, but this one was the most memorable. We found the location of the shop, but it had moved. They provided us with directions, so we set out by foot. First direction was to go through the graffiti tunnel.

It was a neat thing to walk through, snap a few photos, and know that it will never again look quite as we saw it in that moment.

We walked through a bit of Lambeth, and the area included a number of religious themed mosaics along the way. I especially enjoyed this one:

We found the shop, but it was closed, therefore we got to find it again another day. We walked past Lambeth Palace on our way home. Here is the door knocker ONLY for guests of the Archbishop, or a few other certain people. I suppose it was tempting, but we think he was at a conference elsewhere that weekend.

After we arrived back at the apartment with sore feet, we went for fish and chips with Nigel and Laura at the pub on the corner, Tommyfield. The fish was a whole fillet in a little batter. Yummm! We had wanted to watch the World Cup game, but the seats on the other side of the screen were all taken--so we had great conversation instead. We are all in a period of transition right now, without any fixed addresses, and encountering upcoming new adventures. It was great to be with good friends.

London as a Tourist

We arrived in London at Acacia Hostel after travelling about nine hours--first the ferry, then my first passenger train ride, and then the underground. We were relieved to find out that we were given our own room with Nigel and Laura, so no sharing with strangers after all. We were less excited about being on floor 4... And may I also mention that it seems that ground floor is considered 0, not 1 in Dublin and London. Ah well--it was obviously a well-to-do area in South Kensington, beautiful cars, and well-dressed people relaxing in restaurants. Unlike Dublin, we felt we maybe should dress up a bit to fit in better.

Nigel and Laura went to bed early to prepare for a day trip to the track at Silverstone, so Andrew and I went out in search of good wifi to plan our day on Friday, and found a delightful restaurant called Muriel's Kitchen. The espresso is good, the waiter was Italian (we've encountered a lot of Italian everywhere we've been!), and I had my first little bit of cheesecake since I've healed of my allergy to its ingredients--it was a worthy one!

After a good long sleep, we began our exploration of London at St. Paul's Cathedral for 12:30 Eucharist. Unlike at St. Patrick's in Dublin, they don't shoo out all the tourists during service, so there was a mild bit of noise constantly in the air. It seems like an interesting ministry, though, to speak the words of the liturgy where people may hear them without intending to. The service took place by the low altar, where they have rows of chairs in a half circle. There were countless memorials to English and American troops, arched ceilings with glittering paintings. Numerous angels were depicted. After trying to walk up near the ceiling and being told off for sticking around after service without paying entrance, we made our way into the crypt, where there were yet more war memorials. The Queen's jubilee service was held there, and there is a statue of her out front (see below). 

We wandered down a street called "The Strand" which Wiki tells me used to be where the banks of the Thames came or, before the embankment was built. Now it is about a block away. We came across Somerset House, which we will go back to another day for the art exhibits, but on a warm sunny day, the fountains were delightful. I also appreciated the inscription featured by the fountain--it was a reminder of how God has cared for us, and how much I appreciate this vacation!

We happened upon St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and found ourselves listening to a rehearsal for a concert that evening. Being July 4th, it feTured some American works, and I do believe the one we heard was American Seasons. 

The musicians in the chamber group seemed to all be pretty young, but they were playing really well. The featured window, though not stained glass, is quite striking, and I thought it showed how Christ interrupted and rearranged time and space when he redeemed us, but maybe that's a bit lofty.

After crossing through Trafalgar Square, which was partially barricaded in anticipation of the Tour de France, we walked past St. James Park, where there is a lovely English garden, which upon further inspection was actually mostly vegetables, but had a nearby pond. This is the black swan which came to say hello.

After a bit of a rest back at the hostel, we ventured back onto the underground to be tourists and ride the London Eye. I've seen it on Sherlock so many times, so I figured it was necessary.

The station at the end of that bridge is Charing Cross, and the big box of a building lit up on the right used to be the largest hotel in Europe. I think it is office space now. Just beyond that, outside of the photo, is the Savoy hotel, where we are going to dinner and a show tomorrow night. If you look to the left, you can see the National Gallery, with a dark tower in the middle of it, which is Trafalgar Square. We walked past Big Ben and Parliament Buildings a couple times that day, but here is a shot from across the Thames with the light of a street lamp. It is neat to hear bells ring on the hour all over the city.