London: blogger meetups

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(left to right: Jean, Lady Penelope, yours truly, Stuart, Natalie and Dick)

I was very excited to meet a few blogger friends while visiting the UK. The very first meeting, only two days after arriving in London, was with the amazing Natalie d’Arbeloff whose alter ego is Blaugustine. Natalie kindly invited me to her apartment, or flat as the English say, which turned out to be only a short bus ride away. Daughter, granddaughters and husband accompanied me, making sure I would not get lost, and after introductions went off to nearby Hampstead Heath in the meantime.

I felt awed to be there, yet right at home with Natalie chatting about our lives, our artmaking and printmaking, just picking up from our online friendship. It was fabulous to see her work on her walls, some of it so familiar from her blog, and to see her spacious attic studio above her flat, a romantic garrett studio, can you imagine!? I so enjoyed looking and touching the many artist books that Natalie has created, for nothing can compare to experiencing the real thing. Thank you, Natalie, for this time with you!

Two days later, Natalie and I met again at a charming tavern nearby for lunch, joined by several other mutual blogger-friends. How amazing to meet in person the beautiful Jean (Tasting Rhubarb) and Lady Penelope (twisted rib) plus Stuart (Hydragenic) and Dick (Patteran Pages). Such warm and wonderful people, even better in real life! Thank you all for coming to meet me, especially Dick who had to come from out of town and Jean who had to take time off from work just before a long business trip to China.

Meeting online friends is like meeting penpals in the olden days, hmm? More to come about some other bloggers that we met later on…

K.A. Laity’s Unikirja: Dream Book

I want to take a short break from the subject of our recent trip to tell you about a special book that I’m very excited to learn is now published and available: Unikirja: Dream Book. Author Kate A. Laity has Finnish roots, owns several kanteles which she plays too and has a blog Wombat’s World.

Here’s a most intriguing description of Unikirja:

The schemes of witches and sages and giants. Doomed marriages and supernatural bargains. The magic of music, of the sauna, of family. A fish who’s a girl, a girl who’s a wolf. The creation of the world. Author K. A. Laity weaves timeless magic in UNIKIRJA. Tales from the KALEVALA and KANTELETAR, the ancient myths and folktales of Finland, receive new life and meaning in these imaginative retellings. Mixing the realistic with the fantastic, the mythic with the modern, the dream-tales of UNIKIRJA reinterpret the beauty of the original, time-honored Finnish stories for contemporary readers.

Some readers may remember my post about Kate’s amazing trip to Finland’s rock art site in Astuvansalmi. The wonderful image on the cover of Unikirja looks like it may be from there!

To assist readers unfamiliar with Finnish myths and folklore, Kate has written a bit of a background about the The Kalevala and The Kanteletar as well as a couple of tastes or excerpts: Vipunen and Palakainen.

Naturally this book is of special interest for me so I shall be ordering it right away! Congratulations, Kate!

London: Tube, Piccadilly & more

Enough relaxing around Muswell Hill! Later that day, our son-in-law announced that we are all going into central London to the Apple store then dinner to his favourite restaurant in his favourite part of the city.

That was our introduction to London’s public transit. We first took one of those ubiquitous red double-decker buses to the nearest tube station. London’s underground is VERY deep which meant many flights of stairs and escalators to navigate. Unfortunately for me and my bad knees, this station’s very long down escalator was out of order (and remained so for the rest of our stay so we ended up always bussing to the next metro station on the line.) We also had the youngest granddaughter in a stroller which had to be frequently lifted and carried by two people. It was not the place for people with mobility issues! Not being used to the underground (Vancouver’s Skytrain has only a short section underground in the downtown area) we felt quite overwhelmed by the great rush of people all elbowing their way past and pushing into and out of the tube. Canadians are definitely more polite! It’s fast, efficient but not the most pleasant way to commute, we felt, even after doing it for over two weeks. We liked the bus much better.

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When we emerged from the underground into daylight at Oxford Circus, we were totally stunned by what we saw! Immense streets and palace-like buildings with huge crowds – it was rush hour after all. While the men went into the Apple store to pick up something we girls briefly browsed through some of the very upscale fashion shops on Regent Street, I think it was. Then we all strolled along several grand streets and areas with well-known names like Piccadilly Circus, Bloomsbury, Carnaby Street, Soho, Leicester Square…. my head didn’t know which way to turn! All somewhat of a blur but very impressive! Even the dinner in a Spanish tapas restaurant in the Soho area was amazing. The entertainment district at twilight with its big theatres, neon lights and lively crowds was a memorable finale to our introduction to big city London on our first full day there.

London: details #2

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When I did take photographs, it seemed to be mostly when I was captivated by interesting or unusual details. In London’s Muswell Hill neighbourhood, I was amazed at the great variety of utility covers underfoot on the sidewalks and roads. Here are a few of my favourites, more to come!
See also:
London: details (#1)
London: details #3
London: details #4

London: Muswell Hill

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After a long overseas flight, it’s wonderful to have family welcome us into their home and let us gradually acclimate to the new surroundings. As I mentioned before, our middle daughter, British son-in-law and their two little girls are presently living in London. They are renting a terraced flat, as I think it’s called, in the north London suburb of Muswell Hill. It’s a very old and interesting area on a hill with narrow sloping winding streets, some of which have a great view over central London. On a clear day higher up this street, we could see the tops of the highrises of Canary Wharf. It’s a very high density but pleasant neighbourhood popular with young families, close to many shops nearby. The area is not as posh as some think, for it is showing it’s age and the wear and tear by the dense population, many of whom are renters.

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Like so many areas of London, Muswell Hill consists of large old homes full of interesting architectural details in the doors, trims and chimney pots, but which decades ago have been converted into flats. This one is a narrow three level unit with a small garden at the back. We were very surprised at how many cars, small ones certainly, were parked on both sides of the street pointing in both directions (something that’s illegal here in Vancouver) while barely leaving enough room for a single lane of traffic. Yet most of them are rarely driven except on weekends while the owners used the excellent bus and tube service for commuting. Sidewalks are uneven and narrow, with small trees planted on them and front yard shrubbery hanging over. It’s all quaint, pretty and historic, so different from our wide open modern suburban sprawl in North America!

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It was great to spend the first day relaxing with the family and getting to know the neighbourhood and to go to nearby Highgate Park, so freshly green and serene compared to the busy streets. The girls rode bike and scooter around, including in the very nice children’s playground area. Interesting for me was to see a sign noting an area that was the site of very ancient burial mounds (below).

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Another interesting observation: because there are few side yards for access to the back gardens, there were renovators and gardeners in some houses actually hauling mud THROUGH the houses to the front, sometimes via elaborate board walks through windows! One day our daughter had bags of manure delivered, which husband and son-in-law had to carry through the house to the back garden!

(By the way, I should mention two things regarding this series of posts about our trip. First, with some hesitation, I’ve made a new category called “Travel” into which to group these, the hesitation because I have older posts on some of our travels which have been shorter and closer to home but I feel it’s confusing and too laborious to go back and incorporate them into this new category. Secondly, many if not most of the photos I’m going to display have been taken by my husband, I was lazy.)

May 29th: Added the link for Highgate Park or Wood above – interesting – I keep learning more about the places we’ve been to!

home again

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My apologies for being so silent for the past month, even now that we are at home after our three-and-a-half-week trip to the UK and Paris. My good intentions of blogging frequently did not happen and I often asked myself: why not? In a nutshell, I was overwhelmed by so many wondrous experiences that at the end of each day, I was physically and mentally too tired to sort the photos and search for the right words.

Naturally, leaving it all for when we got back home is not feeling any easier. I can never sleep in airplanes so our flights on Thursday from Paris to Montreal, and particularly Montreal to Vancouver were tests in endurance. We’re so happy to be home again, the best place on earth for both of us, and what wonderful weather here too! Sleep deprivation and jetlag meant naps interspersed with catching up with the family, home and garden jobs (the grass was a foot tall, the washing machine ran all day!), bills, emails, some blogs (still more to read), even a joyful walk to our favourite forested seaside park. Husband has gone back to work today and hopefully I will become more focused as well before I forget too many details of our journey.

From over 1500 photos to sort through, here is one that I feel captures a lovely moment in Paris, the city of cafés at every corner. This café just around the corner from our apartment in the Le Marais district was a serendipitous find as it is noted for having the best buckwheat crêpes in the city. In the background you can barely see the Stravinsky Fountain with Niki de Saint Phalle’s whimsical sculptures and the Pompidou Centre (more on these in another post). As we waited for our meal, we enjoyed the sight and sounds of children playing around the fountain and the warmth of the late afternoon sun as it came out of the clouds.

Paris: details

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Throughout our trip to London, a few parts of England and now Paris, I’ve been constantly looking, seeing, feeling, soaking in everything and letting my husband do most of the photography. Now and then I feel the urge to capture some small details such as this, as if the big pictures are too overwhelming to process yet.

This time in Paris is a way of celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary and it’s been memorable indeed. Yesterday’s many hours in an art museum, then hours and hours of walking left me exhausted so this Tuesday morning I’m taking it easy while my keen cyclist husband has gone to try out Paris’ fantastic Velib bike rentals. A week here is not enough! We’ll be on our way home in a couple of days and then I hope to sort through numerous photos and scribbled notes and begin to share my thoughts and impressions.

London: details

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See also:
London: details #2
London: details #3
London: details #4

travel update

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Time for a quick travel update while we’re having a much-needed restful pause here in London at our daughter’s home. We’ve seen and experienced so much around here as well as trips to Birmingham, Brighton, Tunbridge Wells and several ancient sites like Stonehenge and Avebury (above). We’ve met extended family, friends and several blog-friends, all truly wonderful and generous people, like old friends already. We’ve had to cut back on some side trips for we realized we are trying to do too much and we still have much to see here in London as well as one more blogger to meet before we leave on the 14th for a week in Paris.

I can barely manage to scribble a few notes in my travel diary each night to capture the impressions of each incredible day. I have much to share. My husband’s laptop is still a bit foreign to me as well. As the postcards of the past used to say… wish you were here!

travel bug

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Oh, I’ve had no time to blog! Instead I’ve been:
– printing itinerary, packing lists, maps, addresses
– transferring some of my files to husband’s MacBook so that I can keep ‘connected’
– shopping for gifts, special requests, used paperbacks from the library
– packing and repacking, including stuff requested by the family from home
– airing a musty old suitcase for that extra stuff, to be abandoned afterwards
– caring for plants and moving them out of now-too-hot solarium, with watering directions for daughter at home
– weeding just a little (my, there will be a jungle when we get back) and sniffing the flowers
– enjoying the tulips just starting to bloom (love my new parrot tulips ), the magnolias, camellias, forget me nots, spring at its very best now… how I will miss my favourite time of year here!
– waiting for that much-needed haircut tomorrow, then one last load of laundry and the last minute packing
– feeling stressed, but will relax and enjoy once we’re up in the air and heading over northern Canada, eastbound to London… though not the feeling of being a sardine packed in a tin can!

As some of you may know, our middle daughter, our English son-in-law and their two little girls are living in London. They have room for us to stay so we’re grabbing this wonderful opportunity, a first time for me to set foot in England! I’m looking forward to seeing our family and some major art, architecture, history in London and some other parts of the country. I’m excited to be meeting several friends including some blog friends for the first time! It’s all fodder for blogging and photography, we’ll see, it will probably just bore most of you seasoned travelers. Anyway, be good while I’m away!

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