Across the Pond, 2020 February 20, 2020
The Webb 2020 winter odyssey has taken us across the pond to London to begin the European phase of our escape from snow. In our plans, we were intent on re-connecting with some of our friends whom we've met along the way in the past 14 years of travel. And, of course, there would be sights to see, as well.
So, join us as we begin by visiting John & Mary, whom we first met during our initial whole year away, 2005-2006. (The other whole year away was 2011-2012.) That was the year that Bruce taught for the fall semester in Grand Cayman, through his work at St. Joseph's College in Maine, and I took a sabbatical from teaching kindergarten at Breakwater School. For that spring semester, we had rented a house in Lagrasse, France, which is the village where we encountered John & Mary, Brits who had been living there for several years. They were older than we, lovely folks with kind hearts and great stories, lovers of good food and current events, and we immediately established a friendship. Over the intervening years, we've visited with them in France, Spain, and London, where they live now.
This year we spent a Sunday afternoon together, taking the tube from central London out to John and Mary's home in North London, which takes more than an hour and some brain power to figure out all the connections, etc. Thank goodness for Uber to get us from the tube station to their home, as it was raining quite hard, part of Storm Dennis which has flooded much of England & Wales. Then off to a favorite resto, the Green Dragon, where we've eaten with them before. It's not Asian, as you might expect, but an old pub not too many miles from their house, located on the greenbelt. The route feels like countryside, with rolling green fields and horse paddocks along the way, in spite of being so close to London.
We all ordered traditional Sunday roast with roast beef and all the fixin's. This included yorkshire pudding, which seemed awfully similar to our popovers, which they are, it turns out. It was so good to see both Mary & John looking well after some health issues. We got caught up on our personal lives, as well as the dreadful politics that have taken hold in both of our nations, with conversation flowing right through to the sticky toffee pudding and coffee finale.
Being admittedly slow and frugal travelers, we took our time making the rounds of interesting sights in London. We tried to get cheap tix to a play, any play :), to no avail. Instead we went on a 2 hour guided walking tour of the Clerkenwell area, which was very interesting and got our steps in for the day - and more! This neighborhood is near St. Paul's Cathedral, which was convenient since we had our hopes set on Evensong there.
London has such a long history, and the tour took us through lots of it, albeit in a rather small area, as we followed our guide from one historic spot to another. He's a retired teacher, and I could imagine him corralling a group of middle school kids. Among the more shocking discoveries was that England had a wife-selling practice for 200 years, beginning in the late 1600's! This often took place at the Smithfield Market, a commercial venue that still sells meat.
Historic Smithfield Market
We visited the remains of a Christopher Wren church, bombed in the WWII blitz, where the walls have been left standing and the empty sanctuary space has been made into a garden.
We learned that London bricks are a particular brownish-tan color due to the local mud from which they're made. After that, I began noticing "London bricks" everywhere!
We passed under St. John's Gate, site of a former priory dating to the time of the Crusades and headquarters of the Hospitaliers, who took care of sick pilgrims, offering them meals on silver plates, since they were the embodiment of Christ. Its work survives to this day in the form of St. John Ambulance, which trains volunteers to offer emergency aid.
Medieval St. John's Gate in Clerkenwell
Bruce & I slipped away from the tour a bit early in order to warm up with tea in advance of our evensong date at nearby St. Paul's Cathedral. As expected, the service was lovely - and brief! The readings and the choral pieces, sung by sweet young voices, which echoed into the high glorious spaces, were like silk floating in the air and descending ever so gently. We do enjoy these nuggets of transporting spirituality.
A religious presence in London since earliest times, the current St. Paul's, designed by Christopher Wren in the late 1600's, miraculously escaped destruction in the blitz.
Other special moments from our 5 days in London included a couple of hours at the Natural History Museum, a fabulously grand building in the complex of free national museums. We saw beautiful treasures from nature and lots of enthusiastic, curious children. The kids were soaking up the amazing sights like the little sponges that they are.
The Natural History Museum, newly spiffed up!
Blue whale skeleton suspended in a great exhibition hall.
The extinct dodo bird.
amazing sea skeletons
Bruce and I enjoy wandering rather aimlessly anywhere that we are visiting. Inevitably we stumble upon interesting sights that give us a flavor of the place.
Old Nissan model called the Figaro.
And a Morgan sports car that took Bruce's fancy. Aren't those curves delightful?
Delicately colored hellebore blooming in a park.
It was Fashion Week in London
Spring is here.
The old and new: top with London bricks and red bricks - and the bottom a Gap store with pink neon!
Our London experience is over for now. We'll be back very briefly before flying home in April. But now, we are in Madrid and excited to begin the Spanish phase of our travels.
Before I leave, for those readers who can't let go of the situation on the US/Mexico border, as I can't, I'll include links, from time to time, to recent pieces as they come into my orbit. Sonia Nazario, the acclaimed author of the Pulitzer prize winning Enrique's Journey, had a story this week in the NY Times. In it, she describes her own family's harrowing immigration story, as well as excellent commentary on immigration reform - and something we can all do to help!
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/opinion/sunday/immigration-trump-refugees.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
London has such a long history, and the tour took us through lots of it, albeit in a rather small area, as we followed our guide from one historic spot to another. He's a retired teacher, and I could imagine him corralling a group of middle school kids. Among the more shocking discoveries was that England had a wife-selling practice for 200 years, beginning in the late 1600's! This often took place at the Smithfield Market, a commercial venue that still sells meat.
We visited the remains of a Christopher Wren church, bombed in the WWII blitz, where the walls have been left standing and the empty sanctuary space has been made into a garden.
We learned that London bricks are a particular brownish-tan color due to the local mud from which they're made. After that, I began noticing "London bricks" everywhere!
We passed under St. John's Gate, site of a former priory dating to the time of the Crusades and headquarters of the Hospitaliers, who took care of sick pilgrims, offering them meals on silver plates, since they were the embodiment of Christ. Its work survives to this day in the form of St. John Ambulance, which trains volunteers to offer emergency aid.
Bruce & I slipped away from the tour a bit early in order to warm up with tea in advance of our evensong date at nearby St. Paul's Cathedral. As expected, the service was lovely - and brief! The readings and the choral pieces, sung by sweet young voices, which echoed into the high glorious spaces, were like silk floating in the air and descending ever so gently. We do enjoy these nuggets of transporting spirituality.
Other special moments from our 5 days in London included a couple of hours at the Natural History Museum, a fabulously grand building in the complex of free national museums. We saw beautiful treasures from nature and lots of enthusiastic, curious children. The kids were soaking up the amazing sights like the little sponges that they are.
Bruce and I enjoy wandering rather aimlessly anywhere that we are visiting. Inevitably we stumble upon interesting sights that give us a flavor of the place.
Detail of an embroidered kimono at the Victoria & Albert Museum
Our London experience is over for now. We'll be back very briefly before flying home in April. But now, we are in Madrid and excited to begin the Spanish phase of our travels.
Before I leave, for those readers who can't let go of the situation on the US/Mexico border, as I can't, I'll include links, from time to time, to recent pieces as they come into my orbit. Sonia Nazario, the acclaimed author of the Pulitzer prize winning Enrique's Journey, had a story this week in the NY Times. In it, she describes her own family's harrowing immigration story, as well as excellent commentary on immigration reform - and something we can all do to help!
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/opinion/sunday/immigration-trump-refugees.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
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