A Full-time Life

Category: London

  • A COUPLE OF KINDS OF ANNIVERSARIES

     

     We are making our way across the country — In East Texas this morning.  No pictures downloaded yet —  but there will be current travel posts soon!  Today, however,  is still reminiscing about a decade ago, when we were loving our stay London — and starting our first Blog.  

     

    Ten years ago in June we were in London,  the second month of a three-month stay.   It was the year of our Golden Wedding Anniversary — and the London adventure was our celebration gift for each other.  (Our actual anniversary is in the Fall, but summer was better for this trip.)

     

    Desktop

    Memories from ten years ago

    These are pictures (rearranged) from a couple of our first-ever blog posts at the beginning of June, 2007.   So, in addition to making it to another momentous wedding anniversary year, we're also celebrating our tenth year of blogging.   

    It still makes me laugh when I think about the way this hobby started — we'd barely heard the word 'blog' before that trip … but we did take a laptop with us.    I mentioned in an e-mail  that we were trying hard to keep everybody updated (as well as making sure we kept our memories alive) — and presto (I'm sure it wasn't that easy for him quite) our youngest son wrote and told me he had set up a Blog for us.      So on those evenings when we got back to our tiny London flat early enough (and with Geoff's e-mailed advice) we taught ourselves how to blog.   It would have been smarter to think about how to do it before we got there — but it worked.    

    Back then, I never once imagined we would still have a blog in ten years… and I am so glad to be here!    (Our first blog post is here .  Skills have improved slightly over the decade.)   

     

    Observatory tower1-001

    Greenwich observatory 2007

    Well, of course we have our laptops with us on this current 'voyage'  as well — but blogging  (and visiting) may be sporadic.  Much depends on Wi-Fi connections and personal level of energy.  (The latter does not seem to have improved over the past ten years.)   I will catch up as soon as I can! 

     

    LINKING these memories to:  OUR WORLD on Tuesday; SCENIC WEEKENDS; MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; WEDNESDAY WATERS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and THROUGH MY LENS.   Thank you to all of the hosts.  

     

  • LOOKING FORWARD and LOOKING BACK

      

     

    MAP FOR PAGE

    Somewhere around 3500 miles from Florida to Oregon via Colorado 

    We are on the road again this week…  Excited to be traveling back across the country…  can't wait to see family in Colorado and in the Pacific Northwest.   And we're  also looking forward to our adventure getting there.     Sometimes we fly back and forth,  but this trip we are driving our camper van back home to Oregon… not hurrying too fast along the way.    We have a long history of RV travel  (see here) and, though we don't spend as much time on the road as we once did, we still enjoy traveling that way.   So,  while looking forward to our destination, we plan to enjoy the voyage getting there!  

     

      Roadtrek at FRS

     

     

    Ten years ago this week, we were even further from our Oregon home, in wonderful London, beginning the second month of three that we stayed there.

     

     

      

    Bridge2

    June 2007, London

     

    I couldn't help but think of the dates on reading this morning's news.     Travel brings joy …  but when bad things happen in places you know and love, it hits home quickly.

     

    RIP to the victims of terrorism in London and in Manchester,

    to the victims of the domestic terrorist closer to our Oregon home in Portland,

    And to every other place on this globe. 

     

      

    Blogging (and visiting) will no doubt be a bit sporadic as we travel, but I will catch up whenever I can.    

      

     

     LINKING TO:  OUR WORLD on Tuesday and ALL SEASONS.  Thank you to the hosts.

     

  • SMILE

     

    A gentle reminder never hurts! 

     

    004regents pk

    Regents Park, London

     

    Taken way too long ago!

     

    Linked to SIGNS SIGNS hosted by Lesley.  Thanks.

     


  • RAINVILLE ROAD

    THIS edited re-run (with re-done pictures) is linked to SIGNS SIGNS. We were lucky to spend Spring in London five years ago.  

    While we were there, our son Geoff wrote that he had come across a reference to a Rainville Road in London.  The rest of this post is what I wrote in our original blog, while we were there.

      Rainville road dorset wharf

     
     As he said, what are the odds?  Our last name's unusual enough that we were intrigued.  (Maybe if it was Smith or Jones, we wouldn't have immediately planned to go there.)   It turned out that Rainville Road is located in a very pretty part of West London in the borough of Hammersmith/Fulham.  We had another place we wanted to visit in the area of King's Cross, which was the nearest tube stop, so it made a great daytrip.

      Rainville road

    And, wow!  "Our" street runs parallel to, and just a building's width away from, The River Thames —  it's east, across the river, from the new Chelsea Stadium.  It's a mixed use street, starting with some stores, a couple of good restaurants and a pub, and a nicely located architectural office.  There's a block of flats — Rainville Court — that have views of the river on the back side.   We walked through a little alley pointing to Dorset Wharf to get to the River Side of the street.   

    Sure wish we had more information on the  history of the road's name — we haven't yet been able to find out anything more about it.  Maybe if we have time, we'll go back to the Borough and see what we can learn.

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    Added note, 2012:  We never did have time look up any further information while we were there….  And when we got back from England we started this blog and did more traveling and ………. but someday maybe …… 

    *********************************** *******************************************************************

    Here are comments from two of our sons on the original post:

    Right after I suggested going there I started getting worried it was in a really bad part of London. So huge sigh of relief. If you go back, knick the sign for me.Posted by: Geoff | July 08, 2007 at 09:31 PM 

     

    I bet Rainville Road comes from the time of William the Conqueror.It would make sense, we are from Normandy. As a matter of fact the largest Cemetery from D-Day, mainly Canadian and British Dead is called the Cemenar-de-Rainville.(Or however you spell it in French).Posted by: Pete | July 25, 2007 at 12:39 AM
     

     

     

     


  • SIGNS OF EATING

     SHARED WITH LESLEY'S SIGNS SIGNS MEME.  Sign up (click on the links or add your own).

    Borough restaurant 

    Borough market scene2-1 Seasonal activities are over here at our Winter home in Florida.  I'm using some of the extra time to work on my never-ending photo sorting project. 

    I found these memories in our London file and thought they'd work well for Signs Signs - the pictures are from 2007 — too many years ago now!    

    We shop at Farmer's Markets everywhere we go and London was no exception. 

    Borough fish market The Borough Market was Paradise for food lovers — and for sign lovers.  We bought fresh fish, fruit and vegetables. 

     And, occasionally, we tried some foods we'd never heard of:

    (Black pudding wasn't bad actually.)

    Black pudding Borough fish sign-1

  • LONDON SIGNS

     

    THIS POST IS LINKED TO LESLEY'S THURSDAY MEME:  SIGNS SIGNS.  Go click on the links.  You'll laugh or learn something — or maybe both. 

    This sign is from our trip to London, but it pretty much tells you what kind of week we've had here at Upriver RV Resort in Florida.

        London signs 

    It's been a busy week with a lot of activities, but none of them have been photo oppotunities. (Because I can't even walk and chew gum at the same time, I'd rather do the activity than photograph it!) 

    Most London signs were much nicer than the sign above, which was in an alley near London Bridge.  We were far more likely to see one like this:

    Polite notice 

    And here is the iconic London sign:

    Mind the gap , lb 

    We still love looking at pictures from our 2007 trip and I'm glad I remembered these signs. 

  • KEEP SMILIN’

     
    THIS POST IS LINKED TO MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY, a meme hosted every week by Drowsy Monkey.

    006regents pk 

    I've been working a little bit to clean up our photo files.  And so from the archives here are a couple from Regent's Park in London.

    004regents pk 

    I think this is the name of the rosebush.  In any case, it's easy advice to follow, whether busy with activities here in Florida or looking at pictures from past adventures. 

  • PLYMOUTH ROCK

    Welcome sign plymouth-1

    This one is a two-for-the-price-of-one Thursday Flashback. 

    Near the end of September, we stopped for a few hours at the town of Plymouth Massachusetts on our way out of that State.

    We wanted to see the landing place of the Pilgrims.

    The place is a little bit busier now, as you can see behind the sign.

    Plymouth rock itself

    The  rock may or may not be part of the actual rock that marked the landing spot.  There seems to be some controversy.  The actual rock would, of course, have been much taller, so that it showed up from out at sea.  The stone has been moved several times and each time, the rock crumbles a bit.  (So if it is the actual piece of rock, it is only a small portion of what the pilgrims saw.)  Still Plymouth is the place where our British ancestors first set foot in the "New World" and so it is certainly worthy of a visit. 

    Mayflower replica 
     
    This replica of the Mayflower is docked at the Plymouth Harbor.   

    Oddly, we had actually already seen the place where the Mayflower's Journey began.  (This is the second part of the two-for-one.) 

    Mayflower street closeup In 2007, we visited the Mayflower Tavern.   It's in Southwark, one of the London boroughs   The tavern is built on the site where it set sail.  (Click to read the signs.)

    Mayflower bar sign

    _______________Mayflower tavern sign_______________________________________________

    I never get tired of having an excuse to post pictures from our London trip, which we took to celebrate our Golden Anniversary. 

    When we visited this spot, we talked about how odd it seemed that we were here when we'd never seen the place in our own country where the Mayflower landed.

    We're glad we had the chance to see both ends of the trip!

  • HAMPTON COURT AND KEW PALACE

    For RUBY TUESDAY here are a couple more pictures from the archives.  We went to London to celebrate our Golden Wedding Anniversary, so that kind of fits into the Valentine's Day Theme that most people will probably share this week.  (Awww!) 

    We planned to see as many historic palaces as we could while we were staying there, but it was a wonderful surprise to find so many beautiful gardens everywhere we went.  We loved them.

    This is Hampton Court Palace and part of the formal gardens there. 

    WHAT WE SAID ABOUT IT THEN  (Click here to read our blog post about Hampton Court.)

    Hamptoncastle and garden 
    Below:  KEW PALACE, LONDON.  This is the smallest one of the Royal Palaces and was once the home of King George III.  It is on the Thames up from London.  Both palaces are part of trusts now and are open to the public. 

    Kew palace2-1 

    CLICK ON THE BLUE LINK IN THE FIRST LINE TO SEE MORE RUBY TUESDAY POSTS at Work of the Poet.  Or to add your own. 

  • ON DUTY

    Guard , good-1 
    This gentleman is  a royal guard at Windsor Castle.  His bright uniform jacket stands out against the lovely old stone building.   We were lucky to get this picture without crowds of other tourists around.  We were somehow surprised at how young all of the royal guards were.

      

    (Both of these pictures are from our 2008 trip.)

    Doubledecker bus Here is a less-subtle red icon from London. We lived without a car for the three months we were in London, so we used these double-deckers often.  Our favorite seat was the top front one. 

     

    CLICK HERE FOR RUBY TUESDAY.  Click on where it says "Mr Linky" and then on any of the links there to see more red pictures from all over.  Thanks to Mary at Work of the Poet for sponsoring this meme.