Paris: Notre Dame #2

All in a row.... repetition as an artistic device seen in a lot of art, works magnificently around these magestic cathedrals of Europe, I love it!    ... [Continue Reading...]

Paris: Notre Dame

            Too tired for words, so it's a good time to post more of our photos of Paris. Notre Dame de Paris is a magestic awe-inspiring beauty, both architecturally and sculpturally. Just across the Seine and short... [Continue Reading...]

Paris: arches

                        Arches beguile me, these ancient architectural and structural elements, these passages of invitation to something magical beyond...     (Should you have missed them, earlier posts about our spring trip to the UK and Paris... [Continue Reading...]

Paris: details #4

                Even in Paris, birds of a feather stick together. Even the lady has had a visit from feathery friends.    ... [Continue Reading...]

Paris: details #3

                        Sculptures everywhere in Paris, an abundance of art in everyday life, feasts for the eyes and the soul...... [Continue Reading...]

Paris: details #2

    Some time ago already I had finished the posts about our London and UK portion of our spring trip. Since then I've been trying to find time to get back to writing about our week in Paris before this... [Continue Reading...]

London: details #6

                Continuing the photo series of street furniture in London's Muswell Hill neighbourhood... I love Thomas Dudley, Dauntless Ductile who sounds like a character in a children's storybook. See also: London: details (#1) London: details #2... [Continue Reading...]

visiting Tate Modern

On the morning of our last day in London we went to the Tate Modern to see their collection of modern and contemporary art to balance out the older works seen previously. With us were our daughter and granddaughters who... [Continue Reading...]

visiting the National Gallery

        On our last two days in London, we really packed in the sights and gallery visits. I wrote about the morning of our second-to-last-day's visit to the Annette Messager exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, after a ride... [Continue Reading...]

London: details #5

                    More details underfoot and on garden walls in London's Muswell Hill neighbourhood See also: London: details (#1) London: details #2 London: details #3 London: details #4... [Continue Reading...]

Annette Messager

Annette Messager: Casino - image from Art Knowledge News After our London Eye ride, we walked over to the nearby Southbank Centre and left the granddaughters to play with their Opa. Elisa and I went into the Hayward Gallery... [Continue Reading...]

London Eye

        A ride on the London Eye with daughter and granddaughters. It's touristy, it's expensive, it's scary for height-phobics like me. An impressive work of engineering and what fantastic views to satisfy the human eye. A hazy cloudy... [Continue Reading...]

the Greenwich tour

Back to my travel diary and our last few but extra busy days in London.... Our 'Londoner' daughter had once taken one of the walking tours of London and enjoyed it so she suggested we all take the Historic Greenwich... [Continue Reading...]

more blog friends

Thoughts about meeting blog friends are still on my mind. I recently wrote about one meeting among several such meetings on our trip. We had one more meeting on our last day in London. Barrett Bonden of Works Well... [Continue Reading...]

London: details #4

                More from London's Muswell Hill neighbourhood See also: London: details (#1) London: details #2 London: details #3 PS July 28th: Compare these to some in Vancouver... [Continue Reading...]

Tunbridge Wells, Joe, Heidi

            Photos top to bottom: The Pantiles area, Heidi (in green jacket) and I chatting, and Joe.     One of the great delights of our trip to England has been the opportunity to meet a few blog friends.... [Continue Reading...]

Ancient Britain: Avebury

                            Last of our destinations during our day long tour of Ancient Britain was Avebury. Like Stonehenge, Avebury is very well-known and many believe it is the superior stone circle. Certainly it is... [Continue Reading...]

Ancient Britain: Silbury & West Kennet

                    Soon after passing the White Horse we could see Silbury Hill, a huge man-made chalk mound near Avebury. It is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the world's largest. Composed... [Continue Reading...]

Ancient Britain: White Horses

            Leaving Stonehenge, our drive continued on through the lovely Wiltshire countryside towards nearby Avebury, with a few quick highlights along the way. A very quick sighting was of a White Horse, a chalk hill figure. My... [Continue Reading...]

Ancient Britain: Stonehenge

                        The high point of our guided tour of some of Britain's ancient sites has to be Stonehenge. It is so well known, researched and written about that I won't even try to touch... [Continue Reading...]

Ancient Britain: flint

                Odd title, I know. One of the very interesting tidbits of knowledge passed on by our tour guide was that the Wiltshire region of England, home of the ancient sites we visited on our tour,... [Continue Reading...]

Ancient Britain: Old Sarum

After visiting Salisbury on the first stop of a guided day tour to several ancient sites of Britain, we moved on to nearby Old Sarum. This hilltop is surrounded by banks and ditches with layers of 5,000 years of... [Continue Reading...]

Ancient Britain: Salisbury

A highlight of our trip to the UK was a guided day tour to the ancient sites of Salisbury, Old Sarum, Stonehenge, West Kennet, Silbury Hill and Avebury. I don't usually link to commercial sites but this tour pleased us... [Continue Reading...]

Anna, Courtauld, Westminster

        The day after our outing to Brighton, husband and I headed into central London and Somerset House (house? it's a palace!). Here we were to meet long-time blog-friend Anna of Self-Winding who was coming in from Norfolk to... [Continue Reading...]

Brighton's roofs: details

                        Some closer shots of Brighton's fascinating roof panorama and some of its wild life. The seagull nest attracted me, and soon the watchful seagull came closer... in warning or in friendly interest? Note the... [Continue Reading...]

Brighton's roofs

                    Lunch in Brighton was in a lively large Italian restaurant. We were seated upstairs in a bright room next to large windows that looked out onto rooftops. The roofs and chimney pots in London... [Continue Reading...]

visiting Brighton

After our weekend in Birmingham, already the next day we were off on another train trip with our daughter's family, this time for a day trip to Brighton. Our son-in-law had accepted a long-standing invitation from a cousin whom he'd... [Continue Reading...]

visiting Birmingham (UK)

I'm falling behind in reporting on our trip to London and a bit beyond and to Paris. I've been so busy gardening and watering that by the end of each incredibly warm day I'm too tired and hot to think,... [Continue Reading...]

London: details #3

                Continuing my photo series of details that caught my eye in London... The earlier ones are here and here. More still to come. UPDATE: details #4... [Continue Reading...]

London: British Museum

    The day after the art-filled visit with Natalie, and feeling a bit more confident with the transit system, my husband and I ventured out on our own on the double-decker bus. We sat up on top, front row and... [Continue Reading...]

London: blogger meetups

(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... [Continue Reading...]

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 past of the city. That was our... [Continue Reading...]

London: details #2

                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... [Continue Reading...]

London: Muswell Hill

    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... [Continue Reading...]

home again

    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... [Continue Reading...]

Paris: details

    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... [Continue Reading...]

London: details

        See also: London: details #2 London: details #3... [Continue Reading...]

travel update

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... [Continue Reading...]

travel bug

    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,... [Continue Reading...]