Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts

Friday, September 12, 2008

The Sun DOES Revolve Around Me

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek


This PSF is more about the story than the photo.

Not an overly striking photo, is it?

The Hubby and I were in London, on a very limited time schedule (5 kids, imagine that).

We were tube hopping to all the places he missed on the last limited time trip into the city.
At the Tower of London exit, we ran out of the tube station, up the stairway and he spots something I've passed several times but never noticed. A sundial.
"Wow, how cool, a sundial!" he exclaims. He was right, what a great photo op.

There was a guy posing by it (the nerve of some people, shouldn't everyone step aside when my camera comes into the area?). Since I didn't really want the guy in my photo, I waited.

and waited.

and waited.

The guy was striking every pose imaginable. It was like America's Next Top Model was being shot in this very location, only the photographer and the model look like very average tourists.

As Joe Average started walking away from the sundial, I moved up to get a good angle, only he wasn't leaving--he moved to another side and they begin another modeling moment.
Considering the time, I knew I was running out of opportunities to take a shot.

Narcissus kept on posing.

Finally, I decided that any picture I got of this thing would only remind me of the aggravating moment at hand. I realized that now I had to get a shot WITH them in it. Right as I lifted my camera and began framing the shot...
yes, you guessed it,
they finished up.

They basically flushed TWO Kodak moments for me in one go.
The nerve of some people.

I wonder how many tourists have pictures of my backside while I photographed this?

Monday, January 21, 2008

The Love Affair Continues...

I don't know how many women would actually take the Hubby to meet their new love, but believe it or not, I did (shoot me now).
With my first extra-marital diversion, I should've learned when he wouldn't let me name baby #3 Liam. For some reason he didn't want me naming our child after Liam Neeson (oh, and you should've seen the joy on his and J1's faces when they came back from Star Wars Episode I--"Mom, your sweet heart dies!").
I should've taken the hint in Venice (my distraction #2) when I was forced to hold my video camera above my head, video-ing the shops (filled with glistening Murano glass) we were whizzing by as I desperately tried to keep a view of Hubby's back in the pressing crowds. "But you said you wanted to see the Rialto Bridge..." "Yes, and maybe a few things in between there the train station!" (We sometimes don't have the same opinion of how to travel).
But, I don't learn. I am afraid I am heading down the path of my Grandmother, who currently remembers very little of her life after she had children except in rare instances. She is living in her blissful years of girlhood with dear friends who have long since passed away. I keep scrap books because I know there will come a day when I will need them. I have an amazing memory for birthdays, your favorite chocolate or what you like to drink by the pool, but my memory is very selective about everything else.

Memory (or lack of it) is NOT what I am blogging about. Well, not really anyway.

I took my Hubby and entire pack of wild animals to London, you know, my new love interest.
When my husband suggested we go see this fantastic place I keep blubbering about, somewhere back in the recesses of my shriveling mind a little red light seemed to be flashing....
It may have been the memories of the great holiday I planned for the last school break the boys would have before J1 moved back to the States: a stay in a Bed and Breakfast (that was an actual working farm) and hikes through the Peak District--surrounded by breathtaking scenery...
Those photos are filed on my desktop under "Trip From Hell".
Or it could have been the reminder of the family camping trip in Carlsbad Caverns in NM, hiking under a bright blue sky (what's that?!) and wading in crystal clear streams--the highlight for everybody was coming home early via McDonalds.
But I didn't understand the warning I was receiving from a previous me. I couldn't imagine why I wouldn't want to go into a city (with a population of NINE MILLION people that sprawls over 600 square miles) with 3 very active boys and a 14-month Destructonator.
"London! I love London! You'll love it too! It's gorgeous! The kids will have a great time, sure honey, let's go!"

It's still gorgeous, it's still exciting and breathtaking and fantastic, but I took my husband (who's idea of a great time is figuring out why the Camino won't 'Force Quit' and perusing the latest issue of Mac Format) and my circus act-- children that have to juggle, kick, dribble everything they come in contact with.
Now,
I really have to be honest, even if it does take the fun out of the post-- the kids were actually very good and amazingly well-behaved--and my husband, other than being driven to arrive there quicker than any other human being had ever entered the city, was well-behaved as well. But I wasn't.
I was a neurotic mess about getting separated from them and therefore snapping at them like a she-dog after her puppies. So sad.
The Hubby's first Tube ride, first view of beautiful London will be forever tainted by the nagging of the schizophrenic love-of-his-life (and unfortunately, I do mean forever--his mind is as sharp as my tongue).

Anyway, I saw Piccadilly Circus (with all of the Theatres!) this time and the British Museum was great :-}


See me and three of the four wild beasts? We're on the steps. The Hubby took this one. This photo shows you the complexity of the Greek and Roman Civilizations. They had psychic artists! This mosaic is of me--far into the artist's future-- taking her family to London. Beautiful Museum-- to the right,
to the left,
in the middle
...well, you get the idea.
Right now there's The Terra Cotta Warrior Exhibit from China, but the only tickets available are late in the evening and we have to rely on the Tube schedule and then another 3 hours' drive home.
But we did see the Rosetta Stone!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Harry Potter and My new Love


Here's the rest of the
photos I promised. I took 305, be glad that I am not putting them all on!

I love a parade.... This was so exciting (well, it was to me). We had taken the Tube from the Tower of London to The Clock Tower. I have to admit, between all of our anti-terror training we get as a military family and July 7 being etched into my brain, climbing out of the underground to the acrid smell we were greeted by made my heart flip. The exit was blocked by Bobbies who herded us like cattle to another exit. Outside, there was NO traffic on the street, but lots of people heading to my left.

Then I heard it:
Beautiful bells chiming and a parade commentator. I was off like a flash! Never mind that we were in downtown London with thousands of other people and J1 had no cell phone on him-- I had to see it!

Years of food service paid off as I wove in and out of people never losing sight of the area I had
the best chance of a good view. I climbed up onto a wrought-iron fence, held on with one hand and started snapping away. I did stop taking pictures long enough to call my husband to tell him to look for me on TV ("I'm on the fence!") (do you see the humor in this?). Anyway, Son #1 did manage to keep up with me but was NOT happy that we were watching a parade. "You can see a parade any time". (?!)
Funny thing is, he was wanting to get on with seeing Big Ben, and the tower was fenced inside the wrought-iron fortress I was holding on to.


Need I say more? And yes, I did pose for a shot pushing the trolley through the wall. (NERD ALERT!)


Wednesday, January 2, 2008

London on New Year's Day

"I think that I may go so far as to say, Watson, that I have not lived wholly in vain," he remarked. "If my record were closed to-night I could still survey it with equanimity. The air of London is the sweeter for my presence." --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Ok, maybe the truth is, my presence is sweeter because of London's air. I adore cities. As I was trying to convey to Son #1 over a British Big Mac, I love being out in the country (having sheep for neighbors) but the city is my soul. I love the vibrancy. I inhale the electricity like the sweet smoke from a fine cigar. If I could live two lives, I'd live the one I have now and one of a painter in a room over a shop in a crowded, bustling city. Up until yesterday, that city would've been NYC. No offense New Yorkers, but I've fallen for another.
Pictures of London DON'T do it justice. Like those pictures you've always admired of Big Ben (which, by the way, is the bell inside the tall tower with a clock face on it, not the building itself), that's a big building right? No, actually it's HUGE (and for those of you trying to pick up a Norfolk accent, say "HOOge"). Absolutely massive.

I can't imagine keeping this post under the size of a novella and still share the awesome Mom and Son#1 day-trip experience (he's on his way back to the States today), so I will just put some pictures on for now.
I'm sure the Queen would've loved to have us in for a cuppa, but it was Mom & Son 'quality time'.
Harrods at night.
Please check back for pictures of Platform 9 3/4 (Harry Potter), Tower Bridge, and more :-)
Happy New Year!

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