Rainy London and then home again

After breakfast Monday 9-14-09 we took this bus from Keswick to Windemere, painting in hand and at this point not sure how we are going to get it home. Once we arrived in Windemere we had 1 1/2 hours to find a way to mail our painting home. We struck out at the post office as their mailing supplies would not accommodate. The postal workers suggest an DHL office but we found the same problem. At this point we were kinda desperate. As we were making out way back to the post office we passed a gallery. On a lark we went in and asked if they happen to have any old packing boxes which they did not. So we asked the shop owner Caroline if we could pay them to wrap our painting and she did! This very nice woman only charged us 3.5 pounds so we bought a small print from her shop for 5 pounds. We thanked her profusely and head next to mail home to us. The cost to mail and insure was 50 pounds. The first leg was not so crowded but later it was and our painting would not have fared well. We arrived at the B. family home late afternoon. They live in a neighborhood near Holland Park. It is a 1960's development with green spaces between the buildings. Their home has lots of natural light. It has been about 5 years since we have seen their girls, Ellie (7 1/2) and Jasmine (5). Neither of the girls are shy which makes it nice as we have so little time to get reacquainted. Ellie has just learned how to ride her bike "without trainers" the previous day anxious to show us. Jasmine played her guitar and let me read a Dr Seuss book to her which hopefully she understood since her father's accent is similar. They showed us pictures of their school friends and were just as sweet as can be.

That night we ordered Indian for dinner and had fun catching up on what is going on in our lives.

The next day John and I went Greenwich and the V&A. It was also the first time since we arrived in England that it rained. And it rained sideways.

John and I took a boat cruise down the Thames to Greenwich.

We had lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern hoping to wait out the rain. We both liked this fireplace behind our table, I particularly like the seating. This wood paneled restaurant is about 150 years old and was popular with many famous Victorian era Londoners (including Dickens). Politicians used to mark the end of parliament with dinners at this restaurant. After lunch John asked the bartender if we could see the upstairs ballroom. He escorted us up and showed us around. He said that they usually have lots of weddings, but this year they were scheduled to host VIP's for the Michael Jackson concerts and since that was cancelled they have not had many bookings. These rooms were filled with plaster ornamentation and marble statues. The bartender told us the view at night was stunning, not hard to believe.

When we left the rain was again coming down in sheets so we took in another gallery. Then another and another. Finally we were able to move on. We went to he Queen's House, a house built for King Jame's wife in the 1600's. This building is mostly empty except the galleries on the upper floors.

We finally got a break in the rain and headed to the Observatory. In the next picture I am standing in the Eastern Hemisphere and John in the Western.

From Greenwich we took the DLR train to Canary Wharf (the financial district) near the docklands and then the tube to the V&A.

We went through the Sculpture, Fashion, Japanese and Chinese Galleries as well as the 19th Century American.

Chihuly glass chandelier in the Lobby.

Princess Di's "Elvis" dress from her trip to Japan in 1989

The piano dress.

From the V&A we took the Circle Line to Notting Hill Gate and walked back to the B's flat. We got on the tube a little after 5:30 and experienced underground rush hour. Pretty much our timing was off all day. Once we got off at Notting Hill the skies opened up again and we arrived at their home soaking wet. We changed clothes and went to dinner with John and Nicolette just a short walk from their home. About 1/2 to the restaurant it rained as hard as it had all day. But once again we had a wonderful dinner catching up. Both John and Nicolette have lived all over the world and have some amazing experiences.

The next morning we had just enough time to walk around Holland Park adjacent to their home.

This is a fushia "tree".

This 2008 sculpture in the Napoleon Garden is titled T-Rex.

Nicolette drove us to Heathrow. Since we had checked in from their house the night before and only had carry-on luggage it was pretty much a breeze getting through the airport. It was an extremely long trip home as we had an additional 3 hour layover in Atlanta. Unfortunately I was not able to sleep on the flight home but at least there were some good options to watch from our seats. I saw 5 episodes of In Treatment with Gabriel Burns that were fascinating.

We arrived home after midnight to a very happy cat who almost sounded as if she was crying when she heard us come in. After that I believe she purred for the next 12 hours straight.

I had a much more difficult time adjusting to jet lag and had to take a long walk in Eden Park to try to stay awake long enough to adjust back.