Christmas in London II

I spent the last few days taking more Christmas pictures in London.  I figured it was one way to share Christmas with Mom, given that her sweet brown-eyed baby is not going to NC for the holidays.  ;)

So here is Santa from Selfridges.  I thought he was a very nice Santa, and I like his suit.  Very festive!

The decorations on the famed Carnaby Street were really cool.  They are throw-backs to the 1960s era that made Carnaby what it was.  And who doesn't want love and hope at the holidays?! 

More from Carnaby...

The Christmas tree at Buckingham Palace was not as spectacular as I had expected a royal tree to be.  And that was a theme I noticed with all the trees here.  Unlike in the States where there is more decoration than tree, Londoners seem to be much less flamboyant in expressing their Christmas cheer.  Call me crazy, Lizzie, but I think you could do better than this!!

Now with that said, the major stores in London put on a much better Christmas show.  The windows were spectacular.  This is one of the windows at Fortnum and Mason.  

This is another window at Fortnum and Mason, celebrating (I think) the all-male cast of "Swan Lake" playing at one of the theatres here.

The windows at Harvey Nichols were very colorful!

And finally, be gone before someone drops a Harrods on you!

Christmas in Belgium

This weekend--my final weekend in Europe--was spent in Belgium.  Unfortunately, I was a bit under the weather from a sinus infection that I probably developed after standing in the cold and rain last weekend.   I lost my voice on Friday, but never lost my energy.  I slept a lot on the bus and found a nice pharmacist who gave me good throat spray and night meds.  Anyway, Belgium was fantastic.   We went with the specific goal of seeing several of its Christmas Markets, and they were indeed brilliant.  Lots of food, crafts, and decorations to get one in the holiday spirit.  I certainly had my share of frites, rich hot chocolate (the way it was intended to be made, with hot milk and a block of Belgian chocolate melted in), and gluhwein (a mulled wine).

This photo is of the spire of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp.  The spire dominates the landscape, and the cathedral is adjacent to the Grote Markt.

This is one of the many buildings at Antwerp's Grote Markt.  It belongs to a collection that includes the Town Hall and the Guild Houses.  The statue reflects the legend of Antwerp's name ("hand thrower").  It depicts a Roman who cuts off the hand of a giant and throws it into the nearby river.  The legend is captured in statues, sculptures, and chocolate molds throughout the city.

Antwerp's train station in the background.

A troupe of horn blowers before service began in one of Antwerp's churches.

Europe is big on St. Nick.  Here he is in Oostende near my hotel.  He was greeting customers at a bakery and giving sweet breads to children.  All the bakery workers were in black-face to represent Black Peter, a companion of St. Nick.  We're not in Kansas anymore!

Incidentally, the little girl in this picture is terrified of St. Nick.  He had to drag here over to be in the picture.  It reminded me of John Watson's Little Albert case.  (You can never turn off the psychology!)

Brussels' Town Square.  The picture is blurry, but the Town Hall was spectacular.  When the sun set, the hall became a music and light show.  It was a really cool experience.

The ice rink at Brussels' Christmas Market.

I couldn't leave Belgium without moules and frites (mussels and fries).  These were quite good, though I did miss the Thai curry broth at Point Brugge...and the person with whom I enjoy them most.

Brussels' famous Pissing Boy (Manneken Pis).  He regularly appears in costume.  To celebrate the Christmas season and markets, he appears as St. Nick.  Trying to get near enough to take a pic was quite the challenge with all the tourists.

Not to be outdone is the lesser known Pissing Girl.

Sitting at the head of Jubilee Park is the Cinquantenaire Arch, commissioned by King Leopold II to celebrate Belgium's 50th year of independence.  This picture does not do justice to the massive scale and ornate detail of the arch.

The Atomium was built as part of the 1958 World's Fair.  It represents the cell of an iron crystal that has been magnified 165 billion times.

The ice rink at Brugge.

One of the canals in Brugge, the Venice of the North.

After reading about them in Dr. Chamberlain's Brit Lit class, I finally was able to see the White Cliffs of Dover.  A toast to you, Matthew Arnold and Anthony Hecht.

Christmas in London

Thanksgiving has passed and CAPA hosted a fantastic dinner for us, even though Thanksgiving is an American holiday.  For a country that doesn't observe our celebration, CAPA did a great job and the food was really quite nice.  I was quite happy with my first vegetarian dinner, though I may have had way too much sweet potato delightfulness.

(Harrod's Wizard of Oz tree to celebrate the book's 70th anniversary.  This tree is simply clever.)

So now the Christmas season begins in earnest without the craziness of Black Friday.  Slowly but surely, the Christmas mood is starting to set in as I think about having only 2 weeks left in London and quickly decorating the house in preparation for family visits.  I am now playing my Charlie Brown Christmas CD, and that is an instant injection of holiday spirit.

More Christmas pictures will come as I take in several Christmas Markets in London this weekend.  Next weekend, we are heading to Christmas Markets in Belgium and Germany.  I may be all Christmased out when I return to the States!

A shot up Oxford Circus, one of London's premiere shopping areas.

This is the Somerset House and Collections.  Beyond this beautiful Christmas tree (sponsored by Tiffany's) is a large ice skating rink.

The ice rink at Somerset with the Christmas Tree behind me.

A pic of Selfridge's, my favorite store here.

This is a picture of Leadenthal Market.  It is a beautiful market near the flat, and it is particularly beautiful when decorated.

It's not a Christmas pic, but I thought it would be a fun take on the Three Wise Kings...Henry VIII, King Kong, and Elvis.  This is a pub near my flat, and I love the sign!

Rudolph outside Covent Garden Market.  He is all twinkles.

Inside Covent Garden Market.  I went on a week day to avoid the masses of people that turn out (and ruin pictures) on the weekends.

Cologne and Craig

One of the many altars in the Dom.

I FINALLY found a Dunkin Donuts in Europe.  I have never been so happy to have my hazelnut coffee!  A pound came home to London with me.

I visited Craig in Cologne this weekend, and it was a great time.  Seeing Craig is always an easy time because we pick up right where we left off--as good friends do.  Cologne itself is a beautiful city, though the 1960s-70s buildings were not very interesting architecturally.  But I guess that is what happens when you rebuild a city that was all but decimated in the war.  Fortunately, the Dom Cathedral survived, and what a piece of work that was.  I compare it to the Cathedral or Learning or Heinz Chapel on steroids.  Standing in front of the cathedral was a lesson in feeling small and plain.  Inside was no less spectacular, including the golden shrine that supposedly contains the remains of the three wise men (hence the three crowns that are the city's official logo).  I am not sure how you prove that, but I left my scientist hat in London for the weekend.

Herr Griffin would have been disappointed in my memory for German, but not in my appreciation for good German ale.  Tasty pastries were everywhere, as they are throughout Europe; it remains a wonder that I have lost weight while here!

It is difficult to believe that I will return to Pittsburgh in just a few weeks.  I have had a great time and a once-in-a-lifetime experience; however, I also feel it is time.  I am ready to have my life back, and many of the students are having similar feelings.  There are many things that I have to do in the short time remaining, so hopefully my blog will be better updated in the coming weeks.  ;)

The outside of the Dom.  

Repeat and Twist

It has been a while since my last update.  One should not conclude that I have been secluded in my flat for these two weeks, however.  I have been busy showing Paul around London and the ruins at Bath Spa, so I haven't had much new to report.  Let's just call it the grazing tour of London's markets, especially Borough Market that I have mentioned before.  We found an amazing grilled cheese sandwich (worth every bit of the 5 pounds we paid), and the vendor is originally from Michigan.  So we chatted about all things American in London while she grilled a tasty treat from God.  Our tour continued through Irish steaks, chorizo sausages, mulled cider, etc.  I knew Paul would love this market!

We took in several museums, including the British Museum and Library.  It was amazing to see an early Gutenberg Bible, da Vinci's notebook, original works of Shakespeare, writings of Freud and Darwin in their own hand, 1 of 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta, and original scores penned by Handel and Beethoven.  What was truly amazing was to fathom that many of these works were created long before my country was even formed.  THAT is impressive.

We also managed to catch a few shows ("Cirkus Cirkor," which I would describe as a Freudian dream after an acid hit, and "Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical").  Our friend Craig visited from Germany also, and so it was fun to be back in the heyday of our time together in Pittsburgh.  We wrapped up his visit with a whirlwind tour of the Thames, the London Eye, Buckingham, Westminster Abbey, and a concert at St. Paul's Cathedral.

After two months of being in London, I have just had my first moment of wanting to be home.  It came on Saturday, and I had a real sense of longing to be back in my "normal" life.  That will come in six weeks.  In the mean time, I will have more friends visiting, and I will be heading to Germany to visit Craig and to Brussels for the Christmas markets (no one's getting presents this year, FYI!).  ;)

A Scotty Lad

My time in London has been quite the set of experiences thus far.  I have enjoyed my time tremendously.  For all I expected it to be, it has been much better.  The city has been filled with many opportunities to see history, make new friends, and live a life that is otherwise foreign to me.  In this weekend's adventures, I went on a tour to Scotland.  My train left King's Cross at 6:15am. A mere five hours later, we arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital.  Along the way, the changes in scenery were dramatic.  From the bustle of London life to the quieter, more pastoral countryside, to the Scottish hills overlooking firths, lochs, and oceans, Great Britain is more diverse than I had imagined.

We were met at the train by a local tour guide, Robin, in traditional kilt.  We took a coach for a two-hour tour of the city.  All I really wanted to do was eat, not listen to overly-long stories of Scottish heroes and despots.  But Robin was truly passionate about Scottish history, and he took great pride in his heritage.  Though his stories were unnecessarily long, he was a fantastic storyteller.  When he took us to the Palace at Holyrood House, he even played his bagpipes as we walked from and to the coach.  It was both cool and corny, but I could expect nothing less in Scotland.

The afternoon found me walking around Edinburgh with a new mate, Andrew, from New Zealand.  We went to Edinburgh Castle where the views across the city and the Firth of Forth were beautiful.  A quick walk down the Royal Mile (the mile-long stretch that connects the Palace and the Castle) found us in a few pubs enjoying ciders with the locals.  Several hours later, a pub crawl with the larger tour group began in earnest.  Eventually, Andrew and I ended at the Walkabout, an Australian-themed pub.  By night's end, I was reminded of key differences between a 35-year old attached male and a 25-year old bachelor.

Early Saturday, we left our B&B for a coach ride into the Highlands.  The Highlands felt familiar to me.  In some ways, the vegetation and mountains reminded me of my NC home, as can be seen by the two pictures above.  It is easy to see why my Scottish ancestors would have found WNC appealing.  (I need to check Aunt Noma Lee's McMinn family history to see how we got the Irish 'Mc' instead of the Scottish 'Mac'.)  Some of the mountains were absolutely massive, and they reminded me of parts of Zion National Park.  The Highlands are sparsely populated, and the majority of the land is owned by fewer than 100 very wealthy families.  We spent a good part of the day driving through lands owned by the Fleming family, most notable for Ian, who is considered the original James Bond here.  Mutt, you will appreciate this story.  For a mere 1000 pounds (about 1660 USD), you can buy a license to fish or hunt on the Fleming lands for one week.  This is not a bad deal according to Fred, our coach driver.  Another land owner charges 33,000 pounds to fish one of her three salmon streams for a week, and you can only keep three.  Given the two-year waiting list to fish on her property, she is not hurting for money (99,000 pounds a week total just to own property that others want to fish).

The Highlands are dotted with sheep and Highland cattle, and the sheep seem perilously perched on the sides of jagged crags.  Many of the mountains were covered in heather; much of it had lost its purple hue to signal the start of fall.  The roads traced the serpentine perimeter of the many lochs, some of which flow to the North Sea or the Atlantic Ocean.  Of course, no tour of the Highlands would be complete without a stop at the most famous loch, Loch Ness.  There was no sighting of Nessie, but the 22-mile long loch and the remains of Equhart Castle that sit above it were beautiful.  It amazes me for all the wind coming off the loch and the generally frigid waters, the inhabitants of the castle didn't freeze to death.

It is easy to see why Dianne would have felt connected to the Highlands.  I very much felt a sense of being at home.  No worries, Mom--I am not moving to Scotland.  But I did think it would be nice to come back to the Highlands and spend a week hiking.

Sunday was another early day.  After a not-so-great breakfast at the not-so-friendly B&B, I headed to find a camera battery (a nearly impossible feat) and to explore Edinburgh before my afternoon train.  I headed to the Leith River and walked along its footpath at Gareth's recommendation.  I then headed to Arthur's Seat.  Rising 823 feet above sea level (the North Sea is not that far to the east), Arthur's Seat sits above Edinburgh.  It is a volcanic formation that was later shaped by glaciers, just as the rock is where Edinburgh Castle sits.  I was content to sit at the lower plateau; my acrophobia prodded me to go no further.  Even at this lower height, the wind was fierce.  It was a conscious effort to steady my hand long enough to snap a photo.  However, I pushed myself to keep climbing, knowing that my would-be regret of no scaling to the top was stronger than my fear of heights.  What a great decision!  The views from Arthur's Seat were spectacular--360 degrees for miles and miles.  Any care in the world doesn't exist when you are sitting above flying birds, and I can see why the Scots believe this point is where a king would perch.  The experience was so exhilarating that I practically skipped down the formation and back to the city.

I finished my time in Edinburgh with a little shopping.  The Royal Mile feels a bit like Gatlinburg (GASP!) with all its souvenir shops.  No NASCAR or airbrushed t-shirts, but there were kilts, cashmere, wool, and bagpipes in every store.  Before dashing to the train, I made a quick stop to see the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby.  We should all have a companion so loyal.

Five days until utter happiness!!!!  ;)

Shamus, a Highland bull.  He slobbered a lot, but was a beautiful animal.

Standing at the top of Arthur's Seat.  It was very windy, and the views spectacular.  Surprisingly, though, the peak is only 823 feet above sea level.

Walking up Arthur's Seat, looking down on The Palace of Holyrood House (Holy Cross), the Queen's official residence in Scotland.  She spends a week here each year before traveling to Balmoral.

Edinburgh's Castle high above the city.

St. Giles Cathedral on Edinburgh's Royal Mile.

Bobby is a legend in Edinburgh.  As the story goes, Bobby loved his master dearly.   When he died, Bobby would not leave his master's grave, except to eat at the pub where his master ate each day at 1:00.  Every night he returned to the grave to sleep.  Years and years later when Bobby died, he was buried with his master.

The view from atop Arthur's Seat, looking across the Firth of Forth.  The firth eventually empties into the North Sea.

Some of the leaves were beginning to turn colors at Loch Ness in the Highlands.

The remains of Urquhart Castle, overlooking the 22-mile long Loch Ness.

Not as high as Arthur's Seat, but still an impressive view from Edinburgh Castle.

This rainbow (actually there are two--a faint one on the right) appeared outside the train window as we left Scotland and headed to London.