London -- Part VI: Last days

Thursday Brother Tom had an early flight home and D#2 stayed in our flat to work on a paper (due electronically shortly after the new year) and meet a friend who was coming in from Amsterdam, where she had studied for the past semester.  D#1, her BF, and I grabbed a double-decker bus and rode off to visit to Westminster Abbey, followed by a train ride to Cambridge to visit with D#1's BF's parents who now live there.

The chill, damp weather is almost visible in the photo I snapped of the nearby Parliament building with Big Ben.  

When I'd been here ten years ago, the Abbey had closed early for some event.  Even without this glitch, there is so much to see in this palpably sacred place that I was eager to spend some more time there, taking advantage of the now-available audio tour that ensured I missed none of the most important places, though I augmented the tour with plenty of just wandering about.

Looking through the ironwork fence:

Of course, I had to take a photo of the door leading to the "Librarian and Keeper of Muniments":

The statues above the Great West Door of the Abbey are of 20th century martyrs, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Oscar Romero, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

At my request, D#1 and BF had headed off to the train station and Cambridge without me, as I was feeling quite sick by then.  By the time I left the Abbey some of the clouds had cleared and, looking toward Big Ben, the London Eye was visible.  

Taking my time walking back to our flat, I enjoyed the sights and sounds of this incredible city, with the "Shard" prominent in the skyline.

While the chill and damp had been ever-present during the trip, it was never really cold, so many places had blooming flowers.  I loved these pansies in window boxes outside a shop.

On Christmas Eve day, I had not joined the others on their excursion to Borough Market, but now I found myself nearby and happily discovered that many of the shops were open!   Had a lovely time poking around, buying a few things here and there -- including some yummy chicken curry that I had for dinner. 

Tucked it all into a great Borough Market reinforced burlap shopping bag that is now my first choice "go to" bag for my grocery shopping here at home.

An earlier screw-up on my part had meant that a planned Friday outing to the Victoria and Albert Museum with quilter-friend Judi of Canterbury had been cancelled.   Turns out it was just as well.  Friday I was sick.  Really sick.  Coughing-and-hacking-and-not-breathing-very-well sick.  There was nothing I could do but stay in the flat, rest, and start packing for the early Saturday morning trip to the airport.  However, through email, Judi had passed on enticing information from her husband that our flat was very close to London's last galleried coach inn, which was frequented by the likes of not only Charles Dickens but William Shakespeare himself!   So Friday evening, we four set off to find it!

As with so many places in London, when you look around a corner, there are wonderful surprises to be found.  That's how we discovered "The George Inn." 

We could only wander into the courtyard, as the Inn was booked for a private party, alas.  Some months later, I was able to return the favor by emailing Judi that the book, Shakespeare's Pub had been recently published in case her husband was interested.

Saturday morning came, and meant that D#1 and I had to be on our way to Heathrow.   D#2 and her classmate were going back to her flat at Queen Mary where they would meet my "German daughter" who had arrived in London the night before.   They planned to see in the new year together and go their separate ways early on New Year's Day, with D#2 and friend stopping over in Paris (sigh!) for two days, and arriving back in the states later that week. 

I was, predictably, sad to leave London.  In two trips there -- a decade apart -- I still had not visited a single palace!   And my museum time had been limited to half an hour or so at the National Gallery on the Friday I arrived!   Even so, we had managed to enjoy a number of activities in the available time, without rushing through them, which left me no regrets!  

So.

I suppose I will have to return one day.  The next time I go to London, it will be in nicer weather, especially because I want to attend at least one production at Shakespeare's Globe, to visit Hampton Court Palace (D#2's favorite), to see the V&A (at least), to see London from the Eye (maybe), to take the train to Cambridge to see the Corpus Clock, and, perhaps, to visit friend Judi in Canterbury, with its historic cathedral.  

Can't be too soon for me. 

W.I.B.W.O.

I had planned to finish up with one or two non-quilty posts and, by then, dump the photos of the most recent from my camera's memory card so I could show all the finishes from the past few months. But somehow a "draft" got posted with photos and temporary text so, rather than take it all back, I just added the correct text to the pictures. 

Graduation quilt for D#1's boyfriend.  He's from Seattle, spent a semester in India, and went to school in Washington DC.   The quilt, called "Oh, the Places You've Been" is made up of fabrics representing these places and was quilted by my usual long-armer.

The back is pieced from yellow (his favorite color) polka dot fabric with a strip of green for his environmental studies degree.  There's also a scrap of London fabric relating to the time he spent with us there over Christmas, and a strip with the Canadian flag (a late addition since I didn't find it until the back had been pieced) because he was born in Canada.

Our hand-sewing group made baby quilts for the Baby Bureau as a summer project.  Nancy posted photos of them here.  I'd forgotten to take mine to the meeting, but had finished up three small projects that were in process when we'd decided on the summer goal.  All of these were quilted by me.

My personal challenge from a while back.

Center was from sample blocks from previous quilts, bordered with a lot of scrap 2 1/2" squares.

Yet another way to use the "V-blocks" which I made by the hundreds!

I didn't put a label on these but did embroider my initials on the corner of the backs. 

More posts (and quilts) to come.

London -- Part V: Boxing Day

Boxing Day (December 26th) dawned, not unexpectedly, gray and dreary again.  On this day, public transportation was limited, but not absent, which slowed us only slightly as we were by now used to walking fair distances and were, fortunately, within a hike of much of the central city.  Our primary destination for the day was St. Paul's Cathedral, for many, itself the symbol of London.

The view as approached from the Millennium Bridge:

A large evergreen had been hung with weather-resistant decorations, marking the season.

In front of the entrance stands a statue of Queen Anne, the reigning monarch when the Cathedral was completed.

In keeping with my promise to D#2 to allow my picture to be taken whenever we visited a church, here I am with both daughters in front of St. Paul's.

I don't seem to have any photos of the interior, so I can only presume that photography was not allowed.   We explored the beautiful sanctuary on the main floor, with its mosaics, sculptures, and other art work (both old and quite modern), then climbed to the Whispering Gallery, which we (of course) tested to see if "it" worked.  ("It" did.)  From there, we ascended a long, tight, winding set of stairs to the "Stone Gallery", the highest outdoor viewing area that was open that day.  I confess it took me some time -- and several stops to catch my breath -- but I made it!   The bullet-shaped building just left of center in the photo below is one of the newer additions to the London skyline and is nicknamed the "Gherkin."  Need you ask why?

The triangle piercing the sky is another skyscraper, this one called, quite simply, the "Shard". 

In the distance you can see the circle of the London Eye, which we did not get to experience, in spite of discussion both of whether it was worth the cost and whether or not some of us (me) could deal with the height!   We never actually made a decision, but simply ran out of time slots in which to plan a "ride."

As with so many London churches, the undercroft area contained crypts and burial places, and, as one might expect because of the history and importance of St. Paul's, it was the resting place of many notables, including poet John Donne (For Whom the Bell Tolls), Christopher Wren (architect of medieval London), as well as military leaders, the Duke of Wellington and Horatio, Lord Nelson.  We were among the last to leave the cathedral, and I believe I still missed seeing some of the lower areas.

Night had fallen when we worked our way back past the cathedral on our way to the evening's entertainment.

Daughters had been up bright and early to try for student "rush" tickets to the hottest musical around.  Sold out for every performance, the theatre sold a handful of tickets to those with student ID's for a pittance -- I think it was around 10 pounds ($15 or so).   I doubted if they'd succeed -- after all, all the local students were home for the holidays, not to mention any visiting.  I was wrong.  They scored two of the scarce prizes.   Off they went to see "Matilda" -- especially appropriate since this was one of D#1's favorite books as a youngster and they'd both watched the movie multiple times on our VHS player. 

D#2's BF was staying in Cambridge for the holidays, as his parents now live there, so he had taken the train into London to explore with us several times.  He was staying over that night, so he, Brother Tom, and I went on a London Walks tour, exploring the sites connected with Jack the Ripper, a subject I'd been fascinated with for many years!   Almost nothing of Jack's day remains other than an open court area, but we walked in his footsteps, or in the path his carriage took, if, in fact, he traveled by carriage....  

Walking back to our hotel from the Tower Hill tube stop where our tour ended, we had a nighttime view of the lit-up Tower of London. 

Of course, we took a few minutes to stop in a pub on the way back to the hotel, and raise a pint to quench our thirst!