Warwick Castle
On Tuesday we took a train from London to Warwick, a tiny Tudor town in Shropshire, in order to see Warwick Castle, one of the best, most famous castles in England. I did not want to get up that morning because our room in London …
Tag: travel
London: Day Two
On day two we took the tour bus to Westminster Abbey. It was so cold–I mean, brutally cold. We went on a guided tour of the abbey. Our guide was a verger in a long black cassock–a rather prissy, persnickety fellow who didn’t put up …
First Day in London
Prince Albert Memorial
Rob and I just got back from England! It was my first trip to Europe (Rob’s second), so it was a really big deal and very exciting!
We were in London for three days and out in the countryside the rest of the time. In London, we stayed near Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. The park and gardens were so big, we only saw tiny parts of them. And we learned just a little bit about their long history: In 1536 Henry VIII seized the land that is now Hyde Park from the Westminster Abbey monks for use as a private hunting ground (it was forest then, perfect for deer and boar hunting), and it wasn’t until 1637 that Charles I opened the park to the public. I’ll tell you just a few of the things we saw in the park and gardens: ornate Victorian fountains in the Italian Gardens; rows and rows of London planetrees (sycamores) along the Broad Walk; and, near the Queen’s Gate, the Prince Albert Memorial (a gilded pavilion containing a golden statue of the prince). White swans sailed about on the Round Pond, and there were pigeons perched on the heads of all the statues.
We spent our first morning in London running around in the freezing cold, taking pictures of stone dolphins and goddesses in Kensington Gardens. We oohed and ah-ed over the beautiful Victorian buildings in the surrounding neighborhoods–including the cathedral-like Natural History Museum, and Royal Albert Hall with its magnificent dome and friezes.
We kept having the same dumb conversation over and over again:
Leslie: “Oh, look, isn’t that neat?”
Rob: “Oh yeah, that is neat.”
The things we were seeing were so famous and so awesome, we didn’t know quite how to talk about them. As Rob put it, “When you’re looking at all this great stuff, you feel like everything you say is completely inadequate and totally stupid.”
Around mid-morning we had a weird breakfast at Pret a Manger. Rob got a “cheese toastie” (grilled cheese sandwich), and I had some icy veggie sushi. (A traveling vegan always has a tough time of it.)
Later we took a tour bus to Trafalgar Square, where all the fountains were blowing in the cold wind, splashing the stone paving of the plaza. It was about 3:00 and nearly dark. We walked around in the freezing gloom and fountain mist and admired the huge but gentle-looking bronze lions at the base of Nelson’s Column; we later learned that the reason the lions look so tame is that the sculptor used his dogs as models.
We spent some time in the National Gallery, where we got to see the Leonardo Cartoon, a beautiful unfinished drawing by Leonardo da Vinci; it shows Mary and the baby Jesus with St. Anne.
After that we went on a freezing ghost tour of old London, strolling through dark tunnels and dimly lit alleys, under shadowy gargoyles, and past the scary dragon statue in front of the Royal Courts of Justice. Our guide, Phil, was a real card. He turned all his ghost stories into jokes. For example, he led us to an old stone building, once the studio of a Victorian portrait painter, and he told us the place was said to be haunted. It was haunted, he explained, by the ghost of one of the painter’s nude models. Then he added with a sly grin, “The ghost of a naked lady. So what, should we wait here for the next 40 minutes and see if she appears?” Then he laughed in a devilish sort of way, did a gleeful little jig, and skipped off into the darkness ahead of us; he was on to the next stop!
I Once Lived in Taiwan
When I was 27 I spent a year teaching English in Taiwan, in a little town called Chang Hua. Here are some excerpts from the journals I kept then: January 31, 1994 We live in a little house, a little wood-frame cottage, attached by guy …
Once Upon a Time in New Orleans
Okay, I confess I’m back into the 2008 journals. This time I’ve been reading about the trip that Mom, Bun, Kris, Sophie, and I took to New Orleans in July. Sophie was only seven then, and we all loved to tease her and she loved …
More from the Oregon Journal
This is how little Jake was when we went to visit Jacob in Bend.
Here’s a little more from the journal I kept during our Oregon trip (so long ago, when Sophie was three):
Monday, July 12, 2004
This morning I was teasing Sophie. I called her “Baby Hind.”
She responded: “No, my name is not Baby Hind because I not a baby!”
“Okay,” I said. “Fair enough. How about I call you Sweetie Hind instead?”
“No,” she said in her pouty little robot voice. “Because Hind is a mean name.”
*****
Rob told Sophie she should teach little Jake how to walk.
“Okay,” Sophie said. “I will show he. Just go like this, Jacob.” And she walked casually across the living room, hand on hip. “Just do this and walk wherever you want to go.”
“You see, Jake?” Rob said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Jake was chewing on the seat of a chair and looking very goofy.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
This morning Kris told Sophie to model her newest outfit for me. It was a little white sleeveless top with some denim pedal pushers with ruffled hems. The hems were decorated with lemon and lime appliques, and the finishing touch was a pink gingham sash tied around her waist. Sophie stood in the middle of the room to model for Rob and me. She had one hip cocked and a shy but proud smile on her face.
“Oh! You look adorable, Sophie!” I said.
Rob said, “What’s that girl’s name on The Beverly Hillbillies?”
“Rob!” I said.
“What?” he smiled. “It’s a totally unrelated question!”
“You look terrific, Sophie!” I said.
*****
Jake came downstairs this morning in a jolly mood. He had a big wet spot on his pajamas because his diaper was leaking, but he didn’t care. He was rolling around and grinning, charming everyone.
Then Mom changed his diaper and put him in a fresh outfit. His mood changed immediately. He began to fuss and buck.
“I don’t know what you did to him, Mom,” Jacob said. “He was doing fine in that wet diaper. He was smiling. . . .”
Jake has a little pink plastic pig, and every time you show it to him he opens his mouth. He wants you to insert the pig’s snout into his mouth like a pacifier.
Oregon Memories
Last night I was reading the journal I kept during our trip to Oregon in 2004. That’s the last time we visited my brother Jacob–six years ago, which makes me sad. Sophie was only three then, and Jake was a smiling, serene baby with big blue eyes and a bald head …
