In 2006 I got the opportunity to again spend the summer in London. This time I got to take classes rather than do an internship. I had already started my Master's program but they only had undergraduate classes available, which meant I had super easy classes that I had pretty much already taken but I got to use them as Graduate classes! :) Win, win!
My friend, Dani, also got to go back for classes. This time, we didn't get to live in the beautiful and cushy South Kensington area. We stayed instead in Bloomsbury, which is more of the student district. Our flat was attached (kind of) to Christ the King Church and across from Gordon Square.
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| Christ the King Church |
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| The view from our room |
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| Looking towards Gordon Square from our room |
Our first day, after we got to London and dropped off our luggage, we headed again to the first pub in the area. That happened to be the Marlborough Arms.
Marlborough Arms:
We had only been in London for about an hour when I went to use the restroom and my purse was stolen. Some very nice people had seen the person who took it and followed them into the men's restroom and got my purse back. Unfortunately not with everything inside it but fortunately, I had left my important stuff in my flat. Nothing a quick call to the credit card companies didn't fix! Those people ended up being some of our closest friends and to this day, I still speak with a couple of them!
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| Stanley, my personal hero, and one of the funniest men ever! |
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| Me & Michael |
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| Bobby & Stanley. Stanley hated getting pics taken. |
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| Trying again...and failing. |
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| Bobby & me |
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| Michael & Dani |
It was nice to have so many wonderful people living so close to where we were living. We got to see them all just about every day. There was a park right across the street from our place where we would go read or just hang out. Unfortunately these pictures were taken at night so you can't see how cute the little park was.
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| Me |
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| Dani & Michael |
It has been a number of years so I can't really remember in which order everything happened that summer but I'll try to remember. Dani had more classes than I did and she also had funner classes than I did so sometimes I was able to go with her to her classes. I loved those days. I got to see so much more of London that way.
The Florence Nightingale Museum was pretty neat and very informative. I thought it was a little sad that she ended up shutting herself in her home when she was old and was quoted as saying that she couldn't even remember or relate to the outgoing and innovative person she once was. But the medical field was forever changed by her contribution to history. Jack was in the medical field at the time, so it was even more interesting to me than it normally would.
Florence Nightingale Museum:
We also got to to go to the oldest surgery theatre in England. Also, very cool, considering Jack was a surgery tech at the time.
Surgery Theatre:
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| The Old Operating Theater and Herb Garret in an old church |
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| For compassion not for gain |
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| The Herb Garret |
The Museum of London was also one we would have gone to without it being a class trip. We did get to see it with someone explaining things to us though which made it more enjoyable. Unfortunately I can't remember all of what we saw but here are a few pictures of what was there.
Museum of London:
We next, got to go to
Brighton, not on a class trip but on a paid tour.
Brighton was one of the coolest places in England that we got to go to. Although we spent much of our time drinking Pimms towards the end of our visit!
Dani's Mom got to come to London. We had no idea how energetic she would be. So much more than us! Pretty much, our lounging time was done.
Random Bits O'London:
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| Big Ben |
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| Charlie Chaplain in Leicester Square |
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| Cleopatra's Needle |
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| The super cute Ruth! |
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| Guards Memorial |
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| Me & Dani with Lying Man by Sean Heny |
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| National Gallery |
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| St. Martin's-in-the-Field Church |
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| St. Martin's-in-the-Field Church |
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| The National Portrait Gallery |
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| Wellington Arch |
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| Top of the Wellington Arch |
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| Shakespeare's Memorial in Lecicester Square |
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| Will Shakespeare |
We went to Buckingham Palace, which was cool in it's own way but the part that I found fascinating was the Victoria Monument. When you see it in pictures as a whole, it's huge but you don't actually take in all the other smaller statues around it. They are amazing and when you read about it, it's even more amazing!
Buckingham Palace:
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| Ruth at Buckingham Palace |
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| Dani & her Mama! |
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| The Victoria Monument |
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| Statue of Justice |
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| Statue of Truth |
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| Statue of Motherhood |
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| Military & Naval Power Whole |
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| Military & Naval Power Fountain Relief |
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| Military & Naval Power |
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| Military & Naval Power Back side |
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| Art & Science |
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| Agriculture Statue |
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| Manufacture Statue |
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| Peace Statue |
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| Progress Statue |
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| Regent's Park |
The Albert Monument was my favorite! Maybe because Queen Victoria loved him so very much....
Kensington Garden:
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| Queen Victoria's Statue at Kensington Palace |
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| Albert Monument |
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| Albert |
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| Albert Memorial Africa |
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| Albert Memorial America |
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| Albert Memorial Asia |
Even when we headed to China Town....adventure followed! Gay men LOVE Dani...They flock around her like she is a rock star...
China Town:
Another place I will never forget was Hampton Court. This palace was passed on from one wealthy person to another as a "gift". Ummm....I think I need friends like that! :)
Hampton Court:
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| Dani in front of the entrance gates |
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| Getting closer... |
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| So close! |
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| The entrance |
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| Hand painted ceiling and walls...pretty spectacular! |
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| A royal bedroom |
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| The chapel |
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| Love those ceilings! |
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| The inside court |
Going outside, there were amazing gardens! The English sure know how to do a good garden!
The back of Hampton Court was just as impressive as the front.
Dani's Mom, Ruth, even got us a horse drawn carriage ride. It was my first and it was pretty great!
Kew Gardens was also a very special place. I hadn't realized how much I enjoy gardens until I saw English gardens.
Royal Botanic Gardens/Kew Gardens:
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| Cambridge Cottage |
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| I LOVED the poppies! |
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| The Glass Houses |
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| Kew Palace front view |
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| Kew Palace back view |
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| Marianne North Gallery |
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| Inside the Marianne North Gallery |
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| Palm House Parterre |
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| Queen Charolette's Cottage |
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| The rock gardens |
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| The Dukes Garden |
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| Another view of the Dukes Garden |
We also took a bus tour of London which allowed us to see all of London we hadn't yet seen and gave us the opportunity to hop off and catch a ride on the London Eye!
Tower Bridge:
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| Dani on the Tower Bridge |
South Bank:
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| Coade Stone Lion |
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| County Hall |
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| Part of the Salvador Dali exhibit on South Bank |
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| Part of the Salvador Dali exhibit on South Bank |
London Eye:
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| Ruth & me on the London Eye |
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| Dani & Ruth on the London Eye |
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| Looking into the next pod over |
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| View from the London Eye |
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| View from the London Eye |
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| Dani |
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| Dani & Ruth |
We went on a walking tour of our own to Trafalgar Square.
Trafalgar Square:
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| The Edith Cavell Statue |
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| Close up of the Edith Cavell Statue |
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| Nelson's Column |
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| Close up of Nelson's Column |
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| Close up of Nelson's Column |
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| Close up of Nelson's Column relief at the base |
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| Trafalgar Square |
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| Mermaid 1 Sculpture in the fountain |
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| Mermaid 2 Sculpture in the fountain |
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| Merman 1 Sculpture in the fountain |
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| Merman 1 Sculpture in the fountain |
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| Admiralty Arch |
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| Statue of George IV in Trafalger |
Westminster:
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| Westminster |
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| Westminster Abby |
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| Me & Ruth in front of the Abby |
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| Dani & Ruth in front of Westminster Abby |
We also had the chance to go to the Victoria & Albert Museum. I loved this one. It had so much to take in.
Victoria & Albert Museum:
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| The Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Dave Chihuly Chandelier |
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| Breathless by Cornelia Parker from below |
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| From above |
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| Effigies of Sir Ralph and Elizabeth Fitzherbert |
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| Ruth inside the Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Puerta de la Gloria by the Master Matteo Santiago de Compostela |
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| The recreation of David by DaVinci |
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| This is how huge it is! |
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| Green sandstone cross, Dublin, Ireland, 10th century |
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| And this is how huge this is! |
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| Trajan's Column |
The clothes were stunning. I kept thinking that people must have been very tiny back then. It seems everyone must have been a size 0 to 3.
I think the sculptures were breath taking. I can't believe things like this can be carved from stone!
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| The Sculpture Room |
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| Eve by Sir Thomas Brock, 1900 |
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| Peasant Woman Nursing a Baby by Aime-Jules Dalou, 1873 |
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| Princess by Gilbert Bayes |
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| Rodin |
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| The Renaissance Gallery |
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| Samson Slaying a Philistine by Giambologna, 1562 |
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| Samson Slaying a Philistine by Giambologna, 1562 |
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| Pluto and Proserpina by Vincenzo de Rossi, 1570 |
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| Pluto and Proserpina by Vincenzo de Rossi, 1570 |
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| Vertumnus and Pomona by Laurent Delvaux |
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| Vertumnus and Pomona by Laurent Delvaux |
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| Queen Victoria |
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| Richard Temple by Peter Scheemakers, 1740 |
In between going to all these fantastic places, we had time to hang out with friends too!
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| Ruth & Stanley |
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| Ruth & Gianna (Stanley's wife) |
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| Our Gianna & Stanley |
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| Michael & Ruth |
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| Dani, James, & Jayesh |
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| Me & Dani |
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| Me, Dani, & Ruth |
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| Dani & Oliver |
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| Me, Oliver, & Ruth |
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| Mr. Keenan, me & Dani |
We really loved England and it has forever changed our lives. In 2008, Jack, the kids and I were living in Alaska. We got the news that our Stanley had brain cancer and Dani and I were able to meet in London and stay with Gianna and Stanley for a couple days. We wanted to go and see him before he passed so he could know how much he meant to us. I am beyond grateful to Jack for being the kind of man that is so supportive. It meant the world to me to spend those last moments with Stanley.
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| Ruth & Stanley |
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I hope you enjoy this blog and find it helpful to your own future travels. I also welcome those that just like to live vicariously through my wanderlust.
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