A Visit to Highgate Cemetery - My Digital Story

Our photo challenge today was to create a story in 5 pictures.  In case you cannot intuit the meaning of the following I will give you a few hints.

Clearly the woman in the first photo is a spy or someone trying to remain anonymous. (She bears a striking resemblance to a colleague, but that is of no consequence.)  Where is she going?  The other photos give you clues and in the end, well....I give you the answer just in case it has been a few years since you read any of Dahl's books.  The Dahl Centre is brimming with creativity and encourages it in both children and adults.  So no need to remain anonymous, mysterious lady in green.

I had a less than creative day, having to miss our group's visit to the Harry Potter Studios.  It started late yesterday when I discovered when London's commuter rush occurs.  I was taking the tube (translation: subway) on an exceedingly hot day and was underground waiting for my connecting train when the sign showed it was "held."  I was told this generally means a malfunction or that something happened on the train.  My friend and I waited as the platform got fuller and fuller with people coming off other trains, and it got hotter and hotter. (One also has an uncomfortable feeling about being too close to the edge of the platform with so many people pressing behind.) 

The train finally arrived and all of us crushed into it.  It was incredibly hot and when we finally arrived at our destination station the platform air felt cool by comparison.  (This area of Europe has been experiencing an uncharacteristic heat wave which seems to be breaking today.)  After walking back to my flat I was dehydrated and had the beginnings of a heat headache which would not respond to pain relievers.

Anyway, to see reports of the amazing visit to the Harry Potter Studios, see my colleagues' blogs as listed on the group Facebook page.  I had an adventure of my own today, spending several hours removing malicious traces of a program from an Eastern European country from my laptop.  Thoughts of the money removed from my checking account during a previous visit to that area, where the sophisticated skills of those who perpetrate internet theft are unequaled, finally drove me to make an appointment with the IT Administrator here.  He helped tremendously, making a number of changes, and I now feel safe.

 



I have also been told by the mystery woman that the IT gentleman doesn't just handle these sorts of issues, but takes the hardware portion of his job seriously also.  He was the only person she could find who had a Phillips head screwdriver and he fixed the clasp on her purse!

High tea at the Orangery!  Scones and finger sandwiches and little tarts with tea after touring Kensington Palace. Our photo focus today was water, and I liked the fountains surrounded by flowers and foliage.

My favorite part of the palace tour was the section about Queen Victoria's life, and particularly her devotion to Albert.  She always wore mourning dress after his death.  The exhibit featured photos and memorabilia from Victoria's youth through her Golden Jubilee.  There were numerous letters in her handwriting and quotes from her on the walls.  It was an informative and touching exhibit.

Another interesting display was the dresses worn by Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and Princess Diana in the decades of the 1950s through the 1980s.  Each dress was displayed next to a photo of it being worn and a caption describing the occasion. 

London has a series of Royal Parks, as I have mentioned before, and today I visited Kensington Gardens.  There was another water-related site which is the Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain. I expected a more traditional fountain, but what I found was an unusual sort of river of water, with bunches of little spurts keeping children cool as they played on this hot day.  I somehow think Diana would have liked that.

Kensington Gardens has a forever child in the form of the Peter Pan statue.  It was commissioned and given by Peter's creator, J.M.Barrie, in 1912.  Kensington Gardens is where Peter lived with the fairies after he ran away from home.  You can see them around him in the statue.

 

 

 

Monday in London

The visit to Westminster Abbey this morning is another highlight of my visit to London.  We had an extremely knowledgeable tour guide who covered many details of British history.  I never wanted it to end!  We saw the graves and memorials of numerous famous people, including Elizabeth I and lots of authors.  It was somehow touching to see that Elizabeth is buried with her sister Mary who briefly had her imprisoned in the Tower of London.  I found myself wishing that I remembered more Latin so I could read all the inscriptions.  Westminster is of course the place where coronations and state funerals are held. 

Our photo assignment of the day was to stitch photos together to create a panorama if our cameras did not have that setting.  My digital camera is quite simple and I rarely take photos at all, so all of these assignments have been good for me and this one was challenging to say the least.  If you look closely at the result of my practice (the photos were taken looking across the street from Westminster Abbey) you may see some buildings and people that look like clones of each other.  There is only one London Eye (giant ferris wheel) in this one though so I am improving!  Did I mention that our group will be riding on the Eye one night later this week?

 

 

London has beautiful parks and we picnicked in one as we often do.  I have noticed people doing this on their lunch hours and it is satisfying to see so many natural areas maintained and used in a city this size. 

 

 

 

 





After lunch we went to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery which are close to each other.  These museums, like many others in London, offer free admission.  I enjoyed the National Gallery, but after visiting the two art museums in Paris so recently I was soon ready to move on to the Portrait Gallery.  This museum is fascinating.  The portraits are organized chronologically, and I saw for the first time the faces of people I have only read about.  Additionally the official portraits of British leaders and royalty are featured.  Kate's was right inside the door. (How exciting to be here on the day her baby was born.)  As the exhibits move into the present time, the variations in style of art increase.  I enjoyed seeing these all together rather than separated by style as they are in traditional art museums.  It was a different way to experience art. 

 

On the way back to our flat, a few of us dropped by Harrods.  You probably know about this huge department store in Knightsbridge, founded in 1834.  It is beautiful, with an Egyptian themed central escalator, and covers an entire city block.  I can't think of anything you could not find there.  In addition to all the departments a traditional department store would have, there is a food area that has a meat market, fish market, and produce area, as well as places to sit down and eat various types of foods.  There are restaurants and cafes throughout, and exemplary service from employees who are all dressed in black and white. 

 

My parents have brought me gifts from this store before, so I was "good" and only window shopped.  One of my friends bought some great gifts for her family at home.  Harrods is owned by the father of the man Diana was dating when the two of them were involved in the fatal car accident.  I took this picture of the memorial to them which occupies a central spot in Harrods.

 

 

 

Weekend in Paris

 

 

 

Who knew the Eurostar was so comfortable and could get from London to Paris so fast?  Not this librarian, but I loved the experience (all but the part of leaving our flat at 4:30 am) of having breakfast on the train and lunch in a park in Paris.  In between we visited the Louvre!  I knew it was huge, but that is an understatement. We only had time to see a small portion of the museum, but I saw masterpieces I never thought I would have an opportunity to view in person.

After ordering lunch in a bakery that sold sandwiches, trying to recall French words I once knew and doing a lot of pointing, we ate in a park near the Eiffel Tower.  This icon is well guarded and our backpacks were searched before we were allowed to take the elevator to the second viewing level. 

The view was amazing.

 

 

 

 



 

We saw Notre Dame Cathedral, took a boat ride on the Seine, and enjoyed dinner in a French bistro.  That was just the first day!  Here is a collage I made of my name using details from the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

 

I learned that Paris is composed of twenty neighborhoods, and that each one has its own shops, restaurants, etc. so that the people that live there essentially are part of a neighborhood village.  The second day my friends and I started exploring some of these neighborhoods.  We met at a café for breakfast and then visited the Musee d'Orsay on the left bank.  This museum has an incredible art collection including many Impressionist works - a favorite of mine.  I was lucky in that one of my librarian friends majored in art history and she was a fantastic learning resource as we strolled through the Orsay. 

 

We attempted to visit the catacombs, but the wait was more than two hours in the blazing sun.  (France and the UK are experiencing a heat wave right now.)  Since I have visited Kiev's Caves of the Winds with the mummified monks, I decided to pass on this experience.  Exploring the neighborhoods was fun, and the Parisians were friendly.  Dinner at an outdoor café was a special treat. 

 

For our last day in Paris we visited Versailles.  The Tour de France was coming through there, so we waded through media and crowds.  Louis XIV's estate is so large it was difficult to walk it in 90+ degree heat, but we saw most of the palace, Marie Antoinette's house, and the gardens with many fountains. 

 

 

 

We returned to London on the Eurostar.  I changed the time back on my watch, but didn't notice the time on my phone did not change as it should have done automatically.  I use it as an alarm, so I got up a whole hour early this morning! 

 

The Tower of London!  For so many years I have read about this place and finally got to see it.  One of my roommates and I were lucky enough to get in on a tour given by one of the Beefeaters.  These Yeoman Warders live inside the Tower walls with their families, and are extremely knowledgeable about the history of the site.  Ours also had a great sense of humor! 

I thought I knew a lot about British history, but this gentleman certainly filled in some gaps.  The tour ended inside the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula where several of Henry VIII's executed wives (including Ann Boleyn) are buried.  There is a plaque on the wall listing all the people who are buried there and it reads like a Who's Who of people who fell out of favor and lost their heads. 

There are many moods inside these historic walls.  We saw the Crown Jewels first to avoid the lines, and that was quite an experience.  I had to buy a book about them.  In fact I bought another book about the history of the Tower.  It is actually a complex of towers, the most famous of which is what we now call the Bloody Tower.  I reddened the window frame so you can see where a doomed prisoner might watch someone else being carted off to be executed.  The yeoman told us as many as 2,000 people would turn out to watch a beheading.  One had to be in special favor with the ruler to be granted the privilege of a private execution.

 

The Queen's Guard is present at the Tower as well as a couple of other palaces.  The last time I saw one of them was in Ottawa as a child and my sister tried valiantly to get him to move or laugh.  We thought we saw his mouth twitch.

 

 

 

We ended the afternoon at the Borough Market.  I walked over London Bridge into this huge marketplace full of every sort of food stall.  There was lots of fresh produce and all kinds of interesting products to buy.  We are leaving for Paris early in the morning, so I just browsed.  Can't wait to ride on the Eurostar.

 

 

Imagine going to the town where Roald Dahl lived for 35 years!  Today our study group walked through this picturesque English village and visited the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.  The museum is particularly engaging as it follows Dahl's life and has interactive exhibits in each portion.  The first room is based on his first autobiography Boy, with letters he wrote his mother from school,  family photos, notes about pranks, and references and manipulatives related to his books throughout.  Children examining the exhibits were enthralled.  I took a photo of candy wrappers he saved when the company asked the boys at his school to taste test their products.  The seeds of Charlie were sown.

 

Other rooms contained the actual writing hut Dahl used in his back yard, materials for children to create books and artwork, and a replica of the hut's interior so visitors can sit his chair and be photographed.  The doors to one of the rooms look like a giant Wonka bar!

The village itself was charming, with old cottages and lots of beautiful gardens and climbing roses.  We visited Dahl's grave, next to an old church, right up the hill. 

 

We were asked to look for small details today and take a picture of one.  I liked this finial on a fence post.  It seemed ironic to me, as most of the houses in the village were old, or were built to look like they were.  This abode must have been especially so!

 

 

We ended the perfect Roald Dahl day by attending Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Musical at the Drury Lane Theatre which is opulent and historic.  The musical was fantastic, with a superb cast and lots of special effects.