Oui Blog

Garden

2011-06-19T20:25:00.002+02:00

Trees

2011-06-19T20:25:00.001+02:00

Lawn

2011-06-19T20:25:00.000+02:00

Moment without rain

2011-06-19T20:24:00.001+02:00

Horse pasture

2011-06-19T20:24:00.000+02:00

Irish field

2011-06-19T20:23:00.001+02:00

Waterfall

2011-06-19T20:23:00.000+02:00

Green everywhere!

2011-06-19T20:22:00.000+02:00

Lush

2011-06-19T19:50:00.002+02:00

Tree-mendous

2011-06-19T19:50:00.001+02:00

Looking up

2011-06-19T19:50:00.000+02:00

Dinner at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant

2011-06-19T19:49:00.001+02:00

Irish countryside

2011-06-19T19:49:00.000+02:00

Band in Enniskerry, Ireland

2011-06-19T19:48:00.000+02:00

Remembrance statue

2011-06-19T19:47:00.000+02:00

Garden of Remembrance

2011-06-19T19:46:00.000+02:00

Lunar eclipse

2011-06-19T19:45:00.001+02:00

Trinity College

2011-06-19T19:45:00.000+02:00

Gorgeous building

2011-06-19T19:44:00.000+02:00

Stockade

2011-06-19T19:43:00.000+02:00

Helmut

2011-06-19T19:42:00.001+02:00

Christchurch

2011-06-19T19:42:00.000+02:00

Queen Elizabeth's horse

2011-06-16T09:26:00.001+02:00

Emma in Winston Churchill's WWII bunker

2011-06-16T09:26:00.000+02:00

Walking in Dublin

2011-06-16T08:28:00.002+02:00

Dublin!!

2011-06-16T08:28:00.001+02:00

St. James park...again

2011-06-16T08:28:00.000+02:00

St. James Park

2011-06-16T08:27:00.003+02:00

Our ride home

2011-06-16T08:27:00.002+02:00

THE wedding carriage

2011-06-16T08:27:00.001+02:00

Churchill's cabinet meeting room

2011-06-16T08:27:00.000+02:00

Evening in Dublin

2011-06-15T22:35:00.000+02:00

Propaganda poster from WWII

2011-06-15T22:30:00.000+02:00

Lousy photo, lovely lighthouse

2011-06-15T22:29:00.000+02:00

Bath and Showers

2011-06-14T10:29:00.000+02:00

We are in Bath. We had plans to see many things, but mostly we have seen rain. Tons and tons of rain. It is awesome! The doorman of our hotel finds us to be an endless source of amusement. I am not sure he has ever seen two people more enthusiastic about such miserable weather. In between splashing in puddles and singing in the rain, we have still managed to see some of the sights.

We have seen the Royal Crescent, Queen Square and The Circus. We went to the Jane Austen Centre and learned a great deal about the life of this wonderful author. We took a wet walk in search of the homes in which Jane lived while in Bath. We also enjoyed tea with Mr. Darcy while we attempted to dry off a little.

Today we went to the Roman Baths. They have really outdone themselves providing informative displays and audio information. If one were inclined, they could spend numerous hours there and still not have seen, read and heard everything. Emma and I loved it...hot water and Roman Goddesses...what is not to like?

We also went to The Fashion Museum. This quirky museum has clothing dating from 1600's all the way to present day. There were several interactive areas where you could try on period clothing or design your own. It is amazing how much you can learn about a time in history based on what they chose to wear.

...to this.

2011-06-14T10:10:00.000+02:00

Finished design

2011-06-14T10:09:00.001+02:00

From this...

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Designing

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Dress up 3

2011-06-14T10:07:00.002+02:00

Dress up 2

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Dress up!!

2011-06-14T10:06:00.002+02:00

Corset & crinoline

2011-06-14T10:06:00.001+02:00

Oldest dress

2011-06-14T10:05:00.001+02:00

Taking in Bath

2011-06-14T10:04:00.001+02:00

Bath drain

2011-06-14T10:04:00.000+02:00

Pig art

2011-06-14T10:03:00.000+02:00

Sunshine

2011-06-14T10:02:00.000+02:00

English Rose

2011-06-14T10:01:00.002+02:00

Emma & Tilly

2011-06-14T10:01:00.001+02:00

Emma & Toby

2011-06-14T10:01:00.000+02:00

Hotel gardens

2011-06-14T10:00:00.001+02:00

Awesome copper swing

2011-06-14T10:00:00.000+02:00

Full English Breakfast

2011-06-14T09:59:00.000+02:00

Emma & the author of "Emma"

2011-06-13T00:45:00.000+02:00

View of Bath

2011-06-12T18:48:00.000+02:00

Royal Crescent

2011-06-12T18:19:00.000+02:00

More London

2011-06-11T10:48:00.001+02:00

We continue to enjoy the fabulous city of London. Photos are a little scarce. This is due to lots of rain, museum policies that do not allow photos and the fact that we have been to so many West End theatrical productions, where all recording devices are considered evil. However, let us give you a few highlights of the week...

Harrods. This famous department store began it's life as a grocery store, but has grown into an amazing place where you can buy a Tiffany lamp, star fruit from Cambodia, or a first edition book of your favorite author. However, they also have designer clothes, a toy section that rivals any FAO Schwartz, a doggie spa and an entire section of "bullet proof clothing." If you get weary wandering through the vast building, you can always take a break at one of the 27 restaurants, cafes and bars. Emma enjoyed trying on dozens of designer dresses. Her personal shopper Ms. Ammi-Said, continually brought her clothes to try from Dior, Chanel and the likes. I just enjoyed sitting and sipping champagne. Actually, I tried on several formal designer gowns. One of them cost more than my house. Oh, and Vera Wang was there. Yes, THE Vera Wang, live and in person! Emma nearly fainted. We loved exploring the food area and found many items of which we had never heard. All in all, a lovely way to spend a wet, cold afternoon.

Another favorite was the Courtauld Institute. I had never heard of this little gallery before arriving in London, but we had walked by it so many times on our way home that we decided to stop in. We are so glad we did! This little gem ranks as one of our favorite museums in all of Europe. It is very small, but packs a wallop. We may even go back again for their upcoming show on Toulouse-Lautrec on the 16th.

This week also had us meeting up with friends for dinner. It was so nice to see some familiar faces (one from Albuquerque even!) We had a fabulous meal at a vegetarian Indian restaurant. Emma and I tried several things we had never eaten before. We got to catch up with magnificent people and even hear a little about things going on back home. Delicious!

London is so lovely, and it has been nice staying in one place for more than a week. We are savvy Underground riders now, we are beginning to recognize the people at the market and we can actually spend a whole day without having to pull out the map every few minutes. However, we are also eager to see Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Not to mention places closer to London, like Bath. So tomorrow, we are back on the rails again.

Dinner with familiar faces

2011-06-11T09:45:00.000+02:00

First blue sky all day!

2011-06-11T09:44:00.000+02:00

Harrod's

2011-06-11T09:41:00.001+02:00

Living Van Gogh

2011-06-11T09:37:00.002+02:00

Wind

2011-06-11T09:37:00.001+02:00

London eye

2011-06-11T09:36:00.000+02:00

Famous Balcony

2011-06-07T21:48:00.000+02:00

Royally Cute

2011-06-07T21:47:00.001+02:00

Emma in the Queen's Gallery

2011-06-07T21:47:00.000+02:00

London Eye & Big Ben Clock Tower (can you see them?)

2011-06-07T21:46:00.000+02:00

Westminster Abbey

2011-06-07T21:45:00.000+02:00

What time is it?

2011-06-07T21:43:00.000+02:00

My father's daughter

2011-06-07T11:18:00.000+02:00

Here are a few facts:

We have been overseas for 68 days.

We have been on 19 trains.

We have been to 26 cities.

We have been in 8 countries.

We still have a month before we return home.

London Delights

2011-06-07T11:06:00.000+02:00

London is fabulous. We have had to see much of it by peeking out from under an umbrella, but as fellow New Mexcians understand...rain is an attraction in and of itself. Thus far, we have visited the National Gallery and Tate Modern Museums. Both are free museums that only request donations. Both are exquisite. I would have thought that after seeing as many museums as we have in the last few months that we might grow weary of them, but alas, we have not! We still have plans to see several more while we are here! We not only adore seeing our old favorites, but we discover new artists all the time. Today we add artist Bridget Riley to our growing list of favorites.

Other London highlights have been the Clink Museum and The Tower. Both offer up delicious servings of gruesome history. In The Tower, we saw the famous Crown Jewels (actually we saw them twice because they were too amazing to see only once). We saw the infamous ravens, numerous torture devices, tons of armor, the locations where many famous people were imprisoned and/or executed (Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, poor Lady Jane Grey and Thomas Cromwell). At the Clink we were able to put our heads on the chopping block, try out life with a ball and chain, and hear about the horrors of being a prisoner there.

We have already seen so many things; Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, The Monument, Lloyd's of London, the Jubilee Walkway, Fleet Street, Victoria Station, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Leicester Sqaure, the Royal Opera House, Somerset House, Cleopatra's Needle, 221b Baker St. and for Harry Potter fan's...we have been to King's Cross Station.

However, most evenings we tear ourselves away from the glorious sights and go see a show. The West End theatre is astounding. We went to see Shrek, The Musical (very silly, but lots of fun) and Billy Elliot. Billy Elliot was amazing. I have seen numerous Broadway shows that feature children, but the young man we saw perform in this show put them all to shame. He gave a remarkable heartwarming performance, has a lovely singing voice and also managed to be an incredible dancer and acrobat. Wow!! This guy could do a perfect tours en l'air, but could also tap dance with fluidity reminiscent of Gregory Hines. Incredible! To top it all off, we learned dozens of curse words in local vernacular.

West End Fun

2011-06-07T10:03:00.000+02:00

West End Brilliance!

2011-06-07T10:02:00.002+02:00

Exploring the Tate Modern

2011-06-07T10:02:00.001+02:00

Admiring "The Kiss"

2011-06-07T09:59:00.000+02:00

Laundry day

2011-06-07T09:58:00.000+02:00

Perfect afternoon snack

2011-06-07T09:57:00.000+02:00

Millennium Bridge

2011-06-07T09:56:00.002+02:00

Guess which one we are attending

2011-06-07T09:56:00.001+02:00

Buying tickets at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

2011-06-07T09:55:00.001+02:00

Torture chair

2011-06-07T09:54:00.000+02:00

The Clink

2011-06-07T09:53:00.002+02:00

Falling down, falling down...

2011-06-07T09:53:00.001+02:00

Eating at Jamie Oliver's Italian

2011-06-07T09:52:00.000+02:00

Egyptian Obelisk

2011-06-07T09:51:00.000+02:00

Sphinx

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You are cordially invited...

2011-06-04T18:50:00.000+02:00

Dragon

2011-06-04T18:49:00.000+02:00

Tower & Bridge

2011-06-04T18:48:00.001+02:00

Crossbow practice

2011-06-04T18:48:00.000+02:00

He got me!

2011-06-04T18:47:00.000+02:00

Tower of London!!

2011-06-04T18:46:00.000+02:00

Photo of Westminster from the bus

2011-06-03T21:50:00.000+02:00

Emma's photo

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Parliament clock tower, with Big Ben inside

2011-06-03T21:48:00.000+02:00

London Eye

2011-06-03T21:45:00.000+02:00

Tower Bridge

2011-06-03T21:44:00.000+02:00

Playing in the fountains at Somerset House

2011-06-03T21:43:00.000+02:00

Queenly statue

2011-06-03T21:42:00.000+02:00