The Four Seasons

We arrived in England last summer. However, I didn't notice this tree until autumn, when its colours were just spectacular. (To the right is our church hall, from where I observed the changes throughout the year during my Wednesday activities.)



Somehow I made it through the short winter days.



Spring arrived, and the green leaves returned.



We've now come full circle, and the long summer days are wonderful - again.



There are many more events from these past few weeks about which I should write, so maybe I will continue the blog for a bit after we get home. But for now, we've got a lot of other things to do before our plane leaves on Wednesday....

return to chiswick

in april judy took me on the train to the fuller's brewery in chiswick. i had such a great time that i decided to return, this time on foot. it turns out that fullers is only about seven miles from king's, and as nothing tastes better than a fresh pint after a long run ... off i set :) the following map shows the approximate route (pronounced 'root' for you colonists) i took.



this took weeks of planning because i had to do a number of reconnaissance runs to learn the terrain and the turns. as an added bonus, one of these took me (after a wrong turn) through chelsea! it looks like this run will be my last in london proper for some time :)

129 Warmoesstraat

the winston is just down warmoesstraat from the train station. here is the front door.



looking back toward the train station you can see that amsterdam is all geared up for euro08, in particular the match tonight against france. (future edit: with a final score of 4-1, there was a party all night long!)



after an early morning run i snapped this shot of the same street ... "preparing" for the day.



inside, the winston has many art rooms. i liked space, the room i had at my last visit best. this visit my room was titled something like "visit my family," which i don't get ... but then it is art :)
here is a picture. perhaps you can explain it to me?



i could not resist snapping this door ... wonder what color the walls are inside??



finally, a picture taken on my walk from the winston to the royal netherlands academy of arts and sciences - a classic journey in amsterdam showing a canal, a bridge, and of course lots of orange!



sorry i can't post the picture from later that night when i walked home. for some reason the camera can't focus with all the red lights glaring :(

T5 to Amsterdam

tuesday beth left us at 4:05 (yea am). on the same day (at a much much more reasonable hour) i headed for amsterdam. in general, i don't care for traveling much, but i like amsterdam! as a bonus, i got to leave from the new terminal 5 at heathrow. judy will like terminal 5 ... just look.



here is the view from the end of the terminal building. compare it with the next one.



here is the view from outside the train station where i arrived in amsterdam.



hmmm shall we compare carbon footprints?

finally, after a short 200 meter walk i arrived at my hotel. here is the view from my artroom window looking back at the first floor garden.



an "artroom" you ask :) ... i'm staying at the winston, which is an art hotel. if you are artistically inclined you might get invited to do a room! click here for some example rooms, though they omit some of my favorites. i did like the following painting more for the possibility than for the art.



more from amsterdam tomorrow.

Champagne on the London Eye

This was our view of the London Eye as we approached Waterloo Pier by boat on Monday evening.



Beth and I had no interest in visiting Madame Tussauds, but couldn't resist posing with Pierce Brosnan in the London Eye ticket office. Imagine a whole attraction filled with these wax figures.... We did purchase tickets for a "flight" on the Eye, and only minutes later were on board.



The capsule ahead of us splurged on a champagne trip, and we soon found out why. See the 2 people standing on the left? At the start of the ride they weren't engaged...



...but soon after reaching the top they were! I failed to get a picture of the down on one knee part - probably because, like the rest of the people in our capsule, I was too busy staring, then "Awwww-ing," and finally clapping. It may not seem like it from this blog entry, but we really did spend most of our 30 minutes taking in the more traditional London sights!



On Tuesday, Beth flew to Pisa in the morning to see another friend, and Dave flew to Amsterdam in the afternoon for a conference. They will both return to London tomorrow.

Beth's Visit

My sister arrived in London on Saturday 7th June. She had been here once before on business, but didn't have time then to sightsee. We spent much of Sunday at the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. Between the two, we relaxed in Trafalgar Square. The Korea Summer Festival was in full swing, and when we arrived, Noridan was performing. They were fun to listen to and watch, especially when they were on the go....



On Monday, we traveled by boat from Westminster Pier to Tower Pier. Yeoman Warder Kevin gave an excellent guided tour around the Tower of London - again. (What are the odds of that happening? Look back at "of tides and beef" from 22nd August to see another picture of him!)



We ate a late lunch overlooking the St Katherine Docks. We also had a partial view of Tower Bridge from our outside table. London was in the middle of a heat wave that day - 80 degrees. It was great! Can I bring that home with me? Baltimore was also in the middle of a heat wave that day - 98 degrees with a triple digit heat index. Ugh. By tomorrow, London's high of 63 will be lower than Baltimore's low of 66.



Enough about the weather. This is where we returned to watch the 16:15 bridge lift. When it was over, we hopped on a boat at Tower Pier and headed back upstream, this time getting off at Waterloo Pier, right by the London Eye.

Bournemouth

Chris wanted to see the English coast, so last Thursday (5th June) we headed off by train for the 90 minute journey to Bournemouth and its 7 miles of sandy beaches. This was our first glimpse of the water. Can you find the yellow and orange kite?



We walked down the cliff via an official zig zag path, and had a section of the beach almost to ourselves for a couple of hours.



It was a sunny day, but it was also breezy, and the air temperature was only in the mid 60s. Nevertheless, some people soaked up the sun in their bathing suits, and a couple of nutters even went swimming in the 58 degree water. (No, not these two!)



As we walked closer to the pier, the crowds increased. Along the way, we passed several informal games of cricket on the beach. You know it's not too serious when the wicket is made from a case of Foster's and a case of Strongbow, and the wicket-keeper is checking his mobile phone!



Most of the beach huts, which can be rented by the day or the week, were not in use. That will change come July and August, when school is out and families go on holiday.



Chris and I (but not Dave) ended the day with a ride on the Bournemouth Eye.



This allowed us to take one last look at the English coast, but now from 500 feet in the air.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Plan B - On our way from Birmingham back to London, we detoured briefly from the A40 to stop in Shakespeare Country. One of the first books Chris read in English literature this year was King Lear. He also saw a production of it last month.



So it was very appropriate for him to visit Shakespeare's birthplace as well.



William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway are both buried in Holy Trinity Church.



In addition, there is a cool climbing tree in the church grounds!



We stopped for a drink in The Black Swan (better known as The Dirty Duck). Unfortunately, we weren't able to ride the passenger ferry across the River Avon, because it was closed that day.



How do you know you're in Shakespeare Country? All the boats are named after his literary characters!

Cadbury World

We weren't ready to leave Solihull until early in the afternoon on Friday, May 30th. Because our schedule was uncertain during our stay there, we couldn't purchase advance timed tickets to Cadbury World.



But since Bournville is a southern suburb of Birmingham only about 10 miles from Solihull, it would've been a shame to leave the area without at least trying to get in. Alas, we arrived to find that there was over a 2 hour wait, and we weren't willing to hang around that long. So instead, we consoled ourselves with a quick visit to the world's biggest Cadbury shop, and then moved on to Plan B.



Before heading out, I specifically took this picture for one of Erin's friends who loves creme eggs. Amazingly enough, it's one Cadbury product of which I'm not particularly keen. But the car itself is cute!

William and Ursula Hawes

When we visited Hillfield Hall on Thursday evening, the owner of #3 came out and asked if she could help us. Even though the land is now private property, we were the third group of descendants to show up since she bought her residence less than 2 years ago. After a slightly gruff start (I'd be wary of trespassers also), she encouraged us to visit St Alphege Church (which we were planning to do), as well as the local history section of the library (which we hadn't before considered). She even noted that she had lived in Solihull for 26 years, and had never eaten at Hillfield Hall when it was a restaurant, but now wished she had!



We visited St Alphege Church on Friday morning. Between the north porch (right) and the north transept (left), you can see 2 nave windows. The one on the left looks into St Thomas a Becket's Chapel (below). This used to be the location of the Hawes' family pew. It was not the ideal place to view a service - the stained glass panel on the right was formerly a small opening through which to look. However, it was the ideal place - in front of all the other pews - to emphasize your wealth and status.



Above the stained glass panel is a Jacobean monument containing a brass, dated 1610, to William and Ursula Hawes. It was restored in the 1990s by American relatives. We found a copy in the Solihull library that was easier to read, primarily because we could get closer to it!



The Hawes' coat of arms is on the left, and the Colles' coat of arms is on the right. They also appear in the church guide book, so we searched throughout the rest of the building and found them once more - in colour!

Hillfield Hall

On Thursday May 29th, we drove from Cardiff, Wales, to Solihull, England (a southeastern suburb of Birmingham). The timing was very appropriate, because it was Dave's mom's birthday, and the reason we went to Solihull was to track down a home of her ancestors. Hillfield Hall was built for William and Ursula Hawes in 1576. It remained in the family until the 1660s, at which time it was owned first by the Feildings, and later by the Greswolds.



More recently, it became a nightclub (1964) and then a restaurant (1974), and now it has been converted into apartments. The main house was divided into 3 units with a total asking price of 2 million pounds (4 million dollars). To the left, with a side entrance, is The Tower.



In the middle is The Manor, and to the right is The Hall. Above the main doorway remains the Latin inscription Hic Hospites in Caelo Cives (Here we are guests, in Heaven citizens), along with the initials of William and Ursula Hawes, and 1576.



Perpendicular to the main house, these existing buildings were also converted into 3 residences. Back when the house was a restaurant, at least some of this property was a bar called The Stable, so you can probably guess its original use....



New housing was built on the rest of the land, for a grand total of 19 units. It would be fun to live there now, but it would be even more exciting to go back in time and see Hillfield Hall in 1576!

Cardiff Bay

By Wednesday evening, the rain had ended completely. We walked to a pub near our B&B for dinner, and stayed for a big screen viewing of the international friendly between England and USA at Wembley. We then took a short stroll around central Cardiff to see Cardiff Castle (lit up) and Millennium Stadium (not lit up), before turning in for the night. Thursday morning we drove north of the city centre a couple miles to visit Llandaff Cathedral, and then turned around and drove south of the city centre a mile to reach Cardiff Bay.

Naturally, we visited the Doctor Who Exhibition. It's smaller than the one that just opened in London, but this one has been a fan favourite since 2005. All of the signs are in Welsh and English (as required by law throughout Wales), and there are the requisite props, costumes, and monsters.



We also enjoyed the personal touches added by local schools.



Students worked together to create Daleks from clay, and a Cyberman and K-9 from cardboard and foil. If you'd like to compare them with the authentic versions, see "Exterminate!" from May 22nd.



Here's Cardiff Bay itself. This view doesn't show it, but with numerous shops, restaurants, boat rides, and other attractions in the vicinity, I was reminded a bit of Baltimore's Inner Harbor.



Close to the water is the ornate Pierhead Building...



...and behind it stands the Wales Millennium Centre. A premier arts complex in its own right, Doctor Who fans may have seen it in various episodes because the series is filmed in and around Cardiff.



Finally, it was Chris who noticed this Panorama Stone, which shows places around the world linked with Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, and Wales. Note the city at the top of the picture.



Need a close-up?



We'll be back home there before the end of the month.