Back to the world of yarn...

I have been neglecting my crafting sorely as of late! Between travel and meetings at A's school and reading and keeping house, the needles and hooks have been too far distant from my fingers. I didn't even finish the third Ravenclaw hat in time for the visit to Platform 9 3/4 like I had planned to, months in advance! As it was, Kristin had to borrow Misha's for this photo:

(PHOTO TAKEN BY MISHA)

KRISTIN AT PLATFORM 9 3/4

You can tell that it doesn't fit her head as it should, seeing as how I knit different sizes for Kristin and Misha. The group picture of us was supposed to have all 3 of us wearing the hats, but alas, only two had been completed. So that was the number 1 priority on my Knit List upon returning from England. I am happy to say that as of last night (since I've done next to no crafting at all since getting back before yesterday!), it is complete!

THE COMPLETED HAT TRIO!

Next up is finishing this soaker/skirty that I've been commissioned to make that stalled out with the rest of the crafting freeze...

Also, while I am going to be out again this weekend (Belgium on Saturday and down at Ramstein on Sunday!), I still have a craft fair on base to prepare for! It's less than a week and a half away, and fast approaching!

Last full day...

Most places in Europe close down altogether on Sundays, so when we learned that the Tower of London was not one of them (which makes sense, as it is a massive tourist spot!), we saved that sight for then. By that point, we were becoming pretty good at navigating our way around the Underground (though it came at a price...previously we had to walk far more than we otherwise would have, had we paid a bit more attention!), and the hiccup of the main lines we would have otherwise used barely phased us.

MISHA AND ME ON THE UNDERGROUND

(THIS WAS ACTUALLY TAKEN ON FRIDAY)

 We made our altered route and connection without a hitch, and proceeded to go down The Queen's Walk along the River Thames approaching Tower Bridge.  

A PRETTY PATTERN ON A BENCH ALONG THE QUEEN'S WALK

VIEW OF TOWER BRIDGE FROM THE QUEEN'S WALK

We walked across Tower Bridge, taking photos pretty much the whole way. (The detail on that bridge is phenomenal!)

KRISTIN ON TOWER BRIDGE, IN FRONT OF THE TOWER OF LONDON

There was a little tour that they had set up that we'd walked past on the bridge,but between the facts that we were bottoming out from our already-busy weekend, stairs were involved, and poor Misha was practically hobbling by that point (her family dog knocked her off the stairs to the pool a matter of days before we left for London, causing it to swell and bruise horribly!), we passed that up and headed straight for the tower.

VIEW OF TOWER BRIDGE FROM IN FRONT OF THE TOWER OF LONDON

ONE OF THE CANNONS IN FRONT OF THE TOWER OF LONDON

PART OF THE PRESENT-DAY MOAT AND TRAITOR'S GATE

(L TO R:) KRISTIN, ME, AND MISHA IN FRONT OF THE TOWER OF LONDON

The Tower of London is quite massive! The title in and of itself is quite misleading...it's less of a single tower, and more of an entire keep!

 

SIGHT UPON FIRST COMING THROUGH THE MAIN ENTRANCE;

ON THE RIGHT IS THE MEDIEVAL PALACE, ON THE LEFT IS WAKEFIELD TOWER

I hadn't ever looked into it before we went, and I was quite surprised. It's all centered around The White Tower, which was the first part to be built (and incidentally the earliest stone keep in all of England), and the rest of the Tower was built up around it in the following years under different leadership to further fortify it.

ENGLAND'S OLDEST STONE KEEP: THE WHITE TOWER

We spent a fair amount of time in The White Tower alone, as there are many things inside to observe and admire...and even play with! (I love when museums are hands-on!) Most of what was on display was related to armor or weaponry, although there was also some things on the Royal Mint (which used to be located in the Tower of London, but was later moved outside of it).

ARMOR OF HENRY VIII, WHICH EVOKED SOME MILD EMBARRASSMENT 

AND A LOT OF SCHOOLGIRL-ISH GIGGLES

A JEWELLED PISTOL; MADE WITH BLUE ENAMEL PANELS, 

WHITE GOLD, AND 1,517 DIAMONDS

After making it through The White Tower (and down the never-ending spiral staircase to get back down! LOL), Misha and Kristin reeeeeeeeeeeally wanted to see The Crown Jewels, so we headed over to the Waterloo Barracks, where they're kept. The line appeared to be quite long, but it actually moved fairly quickly. No cameras are allowed inside (and the staff will actually make you delete what pictures you take if you try!), so there are no photos of that, but it was rather pretty...all sparkly like gems tend to be. lol

THE WATERLOO BARRACKS, WHERE THE CROWNED JEWELS ARE HOUSED

And nearby the Tower are a couple of other beautiful buildings that we only saw from afar. We literally spent most of the day in the Tower! If you ever go, make sure to allot the appropriate time for it!

ALL HALLOWS BY THE TOWER CHURCH

THE PORT OF LONDON AUTHORITY BUILDING AT TRINITY SQUARE GARDENS

The route we took back took us across London Bridge (which in my mind was always Tower Bridge, but they are actually different), and from the moment I saw the sign on the under side of London Bridge, the childhood ditty started to go through my head...thankfully, though, London Bridge did not fall down while we were crossing it!

THE SIGN FOR LONDON BRIDGE

That evening, we hit up the nearby grocery store for some crumpets to take home and ate dinner at Garfunkel's and turned in. Our flight the next day didn't leave out until around 3pm, though when we bought our round trip bus tickets to the airport, the guy set us to go on the 10 o'clock bus. We were originally going to try and fit some other things in on Monday morning, but by that point, we were all pretty wiped out and missing our respective husbands and kids. Not only did we not argue the 10 o'clock ride, but we actually ended up on the 9:30! LOL It ended up being a good thing, though, as the lines at the check-in desk were loooooooooooong (we had to get special stamps on our boarding passes, as we were non-EU residents traveling within the EU) and we still had to go through security and what have you. 

Overall, I think that it was an AMAZING experience, getting to see London kid-free and with two people that I care about so much. Maybe next time I can catch Phantom of the Opera at the West End and get around to Kensington Palace, not to mention all the rest of the Potter sights!

A Wicked good time!!!!

Back at the hotel, we freshened up from our jaunt along Portobello Road and met up with Kristin's and my yarn-y friends, Ann and Marie, and the 6 of us headed to the theater for Wicked together.

THE APOLLO VICTORIA THEATER!

PRESS RELEASE OF "WICKED" WITH THE NEW CAST

There were no cameras allowed, but as everyone else was pulling them out to get a shot of the stage, I used my phone and got one of my own!

THE STAGE FOR THE BROADWAY MUSICAL "WICKED"; 

UP TOP IS THE DRAGON OF THE OZIAN TIC-TOC CLOCK, AND IN THE BACK IS A MAP OF OZ

The show was....if I could fit it into one word, it would be "AMAZING"! I've seen it once before, in Denver about 6 years ago or so, but I fell instantly in love with it and am all about enabling others to get hooked on the show as well! I have listened to the soundtrack sooooooooo many times that...well, let's just say that if we were still in the era of cassette tapes instead of CD's and MP3s, my tape would have been worn out many times over. But nothing, and I mean nothing compares to actually seeing the show. I get teary-eyed every time I hear the song "For Good," but at the show that night, I know I full out cried at least half a dozen times. Probably more, since every time Elphaba opened her mouth to sing, I'd get chills and choked up. It was definitely different to hear it all with British accents when I'd listened so long to Idina Menzel as Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth as Galinda, but the Elphaba we saw, Rachel Tucker, blew it out of the park. I was so impressed with her, and I believe she gained more than just one follower that night! (After we got back to the hotel, we youtubed her, and the three of us are all anxiously awaiting the release of an album of her own at some time in the future...)

RACHEL TUCKER AND LOUISE DEARMAN IN "DEFYING GRAVITY"

(NOTE: WE SAW RACHEL TUCKER AND CHLOE TAYLOR) 

Obviously, someone was breaking rules in recording the above video, but I can't keep something like Wicked or Rachel Tucker a secret. lol The Galinda in the video is not the one that we saw, either. We saw Chloe Taylor. But how anyone could not have been blown away, I'll never know...

THE ELPHABA, GALINDA AND FIYERO WE SAW 

(SORRY FOR THE POOR VIDEO! GOTTA LOVE YOUTUBE...)

AUDIO OF RACHEL TUCKER AS ELPHABA AND MARK EVANS AS FIYERO

After the show, we waited around for a little bit to see if any of the cast would come out, and we were lucky enough to get to see Mark Evans (who played Fiyero) and get photos with him and his autograph. :D Unfortunately, he said that as there was a second show that night, the others that had more makeup on (most specifically Elphaba! LOL) would not come out between shows, so he was the only one we got.

KRISTIN WITH MARK EVANS/FIYERO

 

After the show, we all went together to eat at an Italian restaurant (which seemed pretty authentic to me...much closer, at least, than the American-Italian food!) before seeing Heather off at the Underground station and heading back to the hotel for the night. 

(Here is Misha's recounting of seeing Wicked for the first time.)

TO BE CONTINUED....

Portobello Road, Portobello Road

First off...I can't believe I forgot to put this photo in the previous post...(Oh wait, yes I can...there were so many I did put in!) This was at the Tate Modern, and yes, ladies and gentlemen that are art buffs...this is Monet's Water Lilies painting!

(PHOTO TAKEN BY MISHA)

WATER LILIES

After all the walking that we did on Friday, I'm pretty sure we all slept quite soundly! Saturday started off with heading out to King's Cross Station and meeting Misha's friend, Heather. And yes, folks, that means I got to go and see....

PLATFORM 9 3/4 AT KING'S CROSS STATION, LONDON

As you've no doubt noticed from the reflection on the wall, this was a panel with the printing of a stone wall, as it was laid over the white that was covering the actual pillar (and it was between platforms 8 and 9, not 9 and 10! FAIL!) due to some construction or restoration or something.  But that didn't stop me from having fun!!! (Note: The Striped hats worn in the following pictures were hand made by me, and for the sole purpose of having Ravenclaw hats at Platform 9 3/4! Because that's how nerdy I am. ;) )

(PHOTO TAKEN BY MISHA OAKES)

ME HAVING FUN AT KING'S CROSS, PLATFORM 9 3/4

(PHOTO TAKEN BY MISHA)

KRISTIN AT PLATFORM 9 3/4 

(PHOTO TAKEN BY MISHA)

ME GETTING CAUGHT GOING THROUGH THE BARRIER TO PLATFORM 9 3/4

 (L TO R) ME, KRISTIN AND MISHA AT PLATFORM 9 3/4

I think we spent something like an hour (at the least!) there, goofing around and taking pictures. It was actually a fairly popular spot! We'd do a couple of poses, let other people in to do their thing, take some more pictures, step back and give someone else a turn...I had a blast, and I'm sure that Misha got a lot of amusement in seeing Kristin and myself behave like little kids (and take photographic evidence of such behavior)! 

After we met up with Heather (which was delayed by about 30 minutes, since the train she usually takes to King's Cross wasn't operating, so she had to take a bus to a different train station to take a different line...you get the idea. lol), we went back on the Underground and headed over to none other than the market at Portobello Road!

 RANDOM WALL MURAL THAT CAUGHT MY EYE ON OUR WALK TO PORTOBELLO ROAD

 PORTOBELLO ROAD STREET SIGN

Misha and Kristin were both, I think, on the same mission of finding the perfect hat (they both found fascinators, each to their own liking), and I browsed the hats, but as none of them jumped out at me and screamed "I'M THE ONE YOU WANT! BUY ME!" I settled with getting this gorgeous watch on a chain to be worn around my neck. (And the length of the chain is perfect!)

MY PORTOBELLO ROAD STREET MARKET FIND

We weren't able to go the whole length of the road, as we had to turn back and get ready for Wicked, but what we did see (which was cram-packed with people!), we found no bookstores or yarn/wool shops. There were a lot of vintage, accessory and dish shops, though! Sadly, the teapots were out of my price range (which was disappointing, as I really wanted a genuine British tea set), but in one of the accessory shops, I got some ideas for my own etsy store! And then, it was time for the entire purpose of our trip.....

TO BE CONTINUED....

First full day!

Prior to our trip, the three of us came up with a list of things we wanted to see. At first, we were pretty laid back about we wanted to see. There was a tourist-y thing here, a famous landmark there, and for me, Harry Potter-related sights. Our list filled up fast, and soon was quite long! The Instigator told us we wouldn't get to everything that we wanted, but I'd say we did a pretty dang good job! Friday alone was a productive (and long!) day, full of walking and taking pictures. First off, we walked to Buckingham Palace (which wasn't too far, since Misha found us a hotel with an amazing location!!!) before grabbing some breakfast.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE (WITH THE FLAG RAISED, MEANING THE QUEEN WAS IN RESIDENCE!)

THE VICTORIA MONUMENT FOUNTAIN (THE SIDE FACING THE PALACE)

THE VICTORIA MONUMENT FOUNTAIN (THE SIDE FACING AWAY FROM THE PALACE)

MY YUMMY BREAKFAST! AN APPLE TART

By the way, the breakfast tarts in England...DELICIOUS!!!! It was not full of processed and sugary flavors like the American versions I've tried. This was sweet, but with more natural flavors. After breakfast, we headed back to the Palace to see the changing of the guard.

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD CEREMONY (WITH THE BAND ON THE RIGHT)

PART OF THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD CEREMONY

After watching part of the changing of the guard ceremony (it was too long to watch the whole thing and still see everything we wanted to!), we found this:

THE DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES MEMORIAL WALK

From there, we went on to walk towards Westminster Abbey (making a stop at the public toilets...which had a map out front showing where the public loos were across London!).

MAP OF THE PUBLIC WATER CLOSETS IN LONDON

WESTMINSTER ABBEY

BIG BEN PEERING AT ME THROUGH THE TREES AS WE WAITED TO ENTER WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Unfortunately (though not surprisingly), no cameras were allowed in Westminster Abbey, so I have no photos of the interior for you, but I got the most amazing surprise once inside...you'd think I'd have already known this, but I was unaware of the "Poet's Corner" in the Abbey. It. Was. Amazing. Breathtaking. I got to see the grave of Charles Dickens. I cried. (Go figure that in the place there are kings and queens of England buried, I get teary-eyed over my favorite author...lol)

After Westminster, we moved on to Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. We didn't take the time to go inside Parliament (and Big Ben is closed to the public), but that didn't stop us shutterbugs from taking pictures of the beautifully structured buildings! (I must admit, though, I thought that Ben would be taller...maybe Hollywood makes it taller in their movies?)

PEERING AT BIG BEN THROUGH THE GATES

BIG BEN, IN ALL HIS GLORY

A VIEW OF BIG BEN AND THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT FROM WESTMINSTER BRIDGE

Then we walked on to the London Eye.

THE LONDON EYE ALONGSIDE COUNTY HALL AND THE AQUARIUM

 Maybe it's because I had so many people so highly recommend it, or maybe it's because I expected so much more from it. I don't know. All I know is that the three of us were seriously underwhelmed with it. Sure, it gave us a pretty cool view of the city, but it really wasn't worth 18GBP. The capsules (which hold about 25 people and has an oval bench in the middle to sit on...which we did...) don't stop to let people on and off, so you have to move quickly to board and alight. On top of that, I felt something that may have been akin to either a slight case of motion sickness or vertigo. (As being a person that's never had either before, I couldn't tell you which or confirm that it was so...I just know I wasn't comfortable.)

 After that, we walked (yep, still walking!) down Fleet Street (though that was an unplanned happenstance), passed by and stopped in a sweet shop, and came to St. Paul's Church!

 SWEENY TODD, ANYONE?

LOOK AT THE WALLS OF SWEETS! SADLY, THEY DIDN'T HAVE MY FAVORITE: BLACK CURRANT/LICORICE...

THE FACADE OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH

 

One of my favorite things about walking about in large European cities is that you find you will randomly come across such beautiful and breathtaking cathedrals. (It happened in Metz, too!)

And the stop at St. Paul's (where Misha got a lot of photos that I can't wait to see!) was en route to the Millennium Bridge.

KRISTIN AND MYSELF ON THE MILLENNIUM BRIDGE (WE'RE THE TWO PEOPLE STANDING TOGETHER)

What's so special that we had to see this bridge, you ask? I'm sure that you notice that the London Eye and this are the only modern things we really saw up to this point. The reason behind it is quite simple: I am a Harry Potter nut, and this is the bridge that the Death Eaters destroyed in the movie of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And on the other end of the bridge was the Globe Theater!!!  I didn't call ahead to find out the hours of operation, so we didn't go inside at all (although it would be ah. ma. zing. to see a Shakespeare play there!!!), but I was plenty satisfied with just getting some photos of the famous exterior. :)

THE GLOBE THEATER

Once I'd gotten my snapshots of the theater, we headed nearby to the Tate Modern Museum so that Misha and Kristin could look at some art. :) It was....interesting. lol I'm not so much a fan of modern art, I've discovered. 

And if, by this point, you're wondering if there's an end to our walking on Friday (which I would imagine was crossing all our minds then, too!), there is. That is it for the first full day. We then proceeded to go to the Underground/Tube/Subway (yes, they are all the same, lol), though we had to walk a piece before we found an operating station, and purchased Oyster cards (if you go to London and you are going to be there for more than a couple of days, I highly recommend it!) and rode the rails "home." It was nice to sit and ride and get off of our feet after all that walking!!! According to Google maps (I made a little recreation of our walk), we walked roughly 5 miles. It's a little inaccurate, though, as we didn't always walk the most direct route, plus we doubled back a couple of times; once for breakfast and once for lunch. On top of that, we were still on our feet pretty much the whole time we were stopped and seeing things. It was definitely a full day!!!

TO BE CONTINUED....