I have returned from my travels. Came back late Wednesday night with plans to sleep in and then go in to work for a bit. I woke up at 8:00 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I got out of bed and unpacked, then walked to work. Seemed asinine to drive to a place at a distance where this week prior I would've been relieved by the brevity of it. The sun was shining and I could hear the birds chirping. Silent almost. Tejon street felt incredibly vacant and quiet. There was a calm to it that I enjoyed after the hustle and bustle of London, but there was also a void of excitement, people, distractions and the unknown around the corner. Things felt better with a coffee and danish in my hand.
So here are some excerpts from my travel journal:
We travel to St Paul's Cathedral for evensong. We get there early enough to be invited to sit in the choir area and get an inside view of the beautiful mosaics. The service is moving - the men and boy's choirs sing Psalm 107- about how God continues to save his people from their distresses. I do a fine job of standing, kneeling and sitting when I am supposed to. The boys in the choir have white collars on their robes. I wonder what these angelic voices are like outside of this scene. Are their massive tryouts? Did their mothers prod them to be choir boys? Or did they desire it? Their voices echo through the cathedral...breathtaking.
First stop, Westminster tube stop. We cross the bridge and go to the London Eye (a ferris wheel with a bird's eye view of the city). The lines aren't bad and we get to ride in a capsule with just 6 other people. The views are beautiful and we take pictures. All was well until I realized I had lost my nose ring while blowing my nose! S and I looked around and eventually the kind passengers helped. So there we were on the ferris wheel with a beautiful view of the city hunched over, looking for a diamond I wear in my nose. I was so embarrassed. No luck - so sad. ( I do later fine it in my bag and am so delighted.) When we get off the wheel we can't resist the smell of fresh waffles and grab one, eat it on the way to Westminster. We arrive at Westminster too late...again. It seems I will only see the outside of this beautiful church. We decide it is time to eat and look for the pub we had our drinks at last night. After some wandering I am defeated and we settle for the Westminster Arms. We head to the cellar-like basement and order fish n' chips ~ it arrives with scales... not impressed but the beer helps it go down.
We stop at Pub and order Bailey's (in honor of St Pat's day). What we get is a shot of something (I suspect whiskey) with Bailey's on top ~ it goes down too smoothly. There is a man impressing his friends and a lady onlooker with his magic tricks. I am behind him and can see as he flips his magical metro card behind his fingers. His friend draws our attention to the talents of his mate. I admit I have seen the secret. He does another trick for us with a coin. As we ooh and ahh on our way out, S encourages him, "You've made our evening...magical."
It begins to rain, maybe snow, while we are inside. Fortunately, the sun come back out and we are able to stroll through the park (Kensington Gardens). We find the children's park and enter, despite the sign that advises adults without children are not permitted. A ship, ocean sounds, treehouse fortress - oh to be young with an imagination. Near the exit is an old oak tree with little toys in its crevices -gnomes, mice, little people. Fanciful. We pass the Round Pond and the clouds are rolling in. We get to the Albert Memorial - a huge statue. Gold. Blue sky. Clouds. We meet Steve and James, we take photos for each other. Another 2 from California. They tell us about a cool club near Piccadilly "maybe we'll see you there." Right. The first of rain and I pull out my green umbrella.
We are famished and decide to grab brunch across the street at Paul's bakery. We both get sandwiches, share a salad and an apple tart. Tart it is. We sit at the only table in the corner and watch as the business men and women come in and out for lunch. Many are couples. What a life, to pop out for lunch, down the cobblestone street to Paul's for a take-away brie sandwich. If I lived here, could I afford one of Paul's sandwiches?
Next stop: the United States Embassy. We almost miss the large American flag hanging from the top of the building. We walk through a small park - Roosevelt memorial. There is construction and I manage to choose the path to the employee entrance: rejection. Around to the otherside... to find a long line that does not move. We are outside for at least 1 hour - freezing! Snow was expected today. While I can be thankful there is no snow, I am sure it is cold enough to snow. Miserable. The security guard uses his position to chat it up with the ladies in line - bounceresque-like. We finally get inside. Wait in line and explain our anti-climatic story and are directed to fill out paperwork.
Name: /Address: /Employer: /What happened to your passport?: Oh yes, this again. Um, they were just gone. /Parent's birthdates: /Parent's birthplaces
S and I get into giggles as we admit that we are rusty on some of our vitals. We are sure we will get the kabash on a shiny new passport. Perhaps they'll pull the alarm: Impostors!
Next: photo shoot in passport photo booth. I get to take 3 pictures and none are worth keeping, by the way. We laugh and laugh. A girl comes up and asks accusingly, "Is this for fun or for passport photos?" Yeah, well, maybe both.
After dinner we order chai and thumb through the papers. Every M-F, beginning in the afternoon, workers stand outside the tube stations and beg you to take the paper. The London Lite and The London Paper have the latest star news, along with sports, other entertainment and news. During rush hours everyone is reading a paper and many leave theirs behind. Luke explains the calibre of journalism is terrible - he refuses to read them. I've grown to love the declarations of love only available in the The London paper: Gorgeous travel advisor at St Pancras station. There are only so many tickets a man can buy. I want to take that gorgeous smile for a drink. ~ To the girl in the purple coat with the beautiful dark almond-shaped eyes and long dark hair, who sat opposite me on the Tube from Wood Green to Leicester Square on 17 February. You were reading, but out eyes met once or twice and I wished I had said hello. Get in touch.
So here are some excerpts from my travel journal:
We travel to St Paul's Cathedral for evensong. We get there early enough to be invited to sit in the choir area and get an inside view of the beautiful mosaics. The service is moving - the men and boy's choirs sing Psalm 107- about how God continues to save his people from their distresses. I do a fine job of standing, kneeling and sitting when I am supposed to. The boys in the choir have white collars on their robes. I wonder what these angelic voices are like outside of this scene. Are their massive tryouts? Did their mothers prod them to be choir boys? Or did they desire it? Their voices echo through the cathedral...breathtaking.
First stop, Westminster tube stop. We cross the bridge and go to the London Eye (a ferris wheel with a bird's eye view of the city). The lines aren't bad and we get to ride in a capsule with just 6 other people. The views are beautiful and we take pictures. All was well until I realized I had lost my nose ring while blowing my nose! S and I looked around and eventually the kind passengers helped. So there we were on the ferris wheel with a beautiful view of the city hunched over, looking for a diamond I wear in my nose. I was so embarrassed. No luck - so sad. ( I do later fine it in my bag and am so delighted.) When we get off the wheel we can't resist the smell of fresh waffles and grab one, eat it on the way to Westminster. We arrive at Westminster too late...again. It seems I will only see the outside of this beautiful church. We decide it is time to eat and look for the pub we had our drinks at last night. After some wandering I am defeated and we settle for the Westminster Arms. We head to the cellar-like basement and order fish n' chips ~ it arrives with scales... not impressed but the beer helps it go down.
We stop at Pub and order Bailey's (in honor of St Pat's day). What we get is a shot of something (I suspect whiskey) with Bailey's on top ~ it goes down too smoothly. There is a man impressing his friends and a lady onlooker with his magic tricks. I am behind him and can see as he flips his magical metro card behind his fingers. His friend draws our attention to the talents of his mate. I admit I have seen the secret. He does another trick for us with a coin. As we ooh and ahh on our way out, S encourages him, "You've made our evening...magical."
It begins to rain, maybe snow, while we are inside. Fortunately, the sun come back out and we are able to stroll through the park (Kensington Gardens). We find the children's park and enter, despite the sign that advises adults without children are not permitted. A ship, ocean sounds, treehouse fortress - oh to be young with an imagination. Near the exit is an old oak tree with little toys in its crevices -gnomes, mice, little people. Fanciful. We pass the Round Pond and the clouds are rolling in. We get to the Albert Memorial - a huge statue. Gold. Blue sky. Clouds. We meet Steve and James, we take photos for each other. Another 2 from California. They tell us about a cool club near Piccadilly "maybe we'll see you there." Right. The first of rain and I pull out my green umbrella.
We are famished and decide to grab brunch across the street at Paul's bakery. We both get sandwiches, share a salad and an apple tart. Tart it is. We sit at the only table in the corner and watch as the business men and women come in and out for lunch. Many are couples. What a life, to pop out for lunch, down the cobblestone street to Paul's for a take-away brie sandwich. If I lived here, could I afford one of Paul's sandwiches?
Next stop: the United States Embassy. We almost miss the large American flag hanging from the top of the building. We walk through a small park - Roosevelt memorial. There is construction and I manage to choose the path to the employee entrance: rejection. Around to the otherside... to find a long line that does not move. We are outside for at least 1 hour - freezing! Snow was expected today. While I can be thankful there is no snow, I am sure it is cold enough to snow. Miserable. The security guard uses his position to chat it up with the ladies in line - bounceresque-like. We finally get inside. Wait in line and explain our anti-climatic story and are directed to fill out paperwork.
Name: /Address: /Employer: /What happened to your passport?: Oh yes, this again. Um, they were just gone. /Parent's birthdates: /Parent's birthplaces
S and I get into giggles as we admit that we are rusty on some of our vitals. We are sure we will get the kabash on a shiny new passport. Perhaps they'll pull the alarm: Impostors!
Next: photo shoot in passport photo booth. I get to take 3 pictures and none are worth keeping, by the way. We laugh and laugh. A girl comes up and asks accusingly, "Is this for fun or for passport photos?" Yeah, well, maybe both.
After dinner we order chai and thumb through the papers. Every M-F, beginning in the afternoon, workers stand outside the tube stations and beg you to take the paper. The London Lite and The London Paper have the latest star news, along with sports, other entertainment and news. During rush hours everyone is reading a paper and many leave theirs behind. Luke explains the calibre of journalism is terrible - he refuses to read them. I've grown to love the declarations of love only available in the The London paper: Gorgeous travel advisor at St Pancras station. There are only so many tickets a man can buy. I want to take that gorgeous smile for a drink. ~ To the girl in the purple coat with the beautiful dark almond-shaped eyes and long dark hair, who sat opposite me on the Tube from Wood Green to Leicester Square on 17 February. You were reading, but out eyes met once or twice and I wished I had said hello. Get in touch.
3 comments:
I would so buy a book about all your travels. What a good story-teller you are! *sigh* What a magical place London is, indeed, even with all the chaos and high prices. Glorious! ~ S
Sounds amazing and magical and joyful and fun and enchanting!
But where are the pictures???
B: Photos! I know! There are some fabulous ones. If only I could figure out how to download them on Chris's archaic computer...I'll work on it.
S:Well, this travel book could be yours for a small price. Call now and a customer service agent will be happy to assist you. :)
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