Goodbye to the City of A Thousand Spires

Old Jewish Cemetery. For hundreds of years Jews in Prague were only allowed a small plot of land to bury their dead, so people were buried in layers and headstones were placed like dominoes, one in front of the other.


Art Nouveau Building In The Jewish Quarter.

We're back home again. Had a great time in the city of a thousand spires but it will sure be good to sleep in our own bed again tonight. We got home too late to pick Ginger up from the cattery, so we will bring him back home tomorrow morning. I'm really tired so I'll just outline the day and maybe fill in the details later.

Yesterday, our last full day in Prague, was a full one. We spent the morning visiting the Jewish Quarter, a very intense and moving experience. Jews have lived in Prague since the 10th century and for hundreds of years they were bound by law to live in a small walled section of the city -- a ghetto. It wasn't until the 18th century that the walls of the ghetto came down and they were allowed to live elsewhere in the city. We visited several synagogues and the old Jewish cemetery.

Had the best coffee of our trip at an Italian Cafe in Josefov.

Brad bought me a beautiful garnet necklace.

I dropped and broke my camera in the garnet store. I am so distressed about it. It happened just as the clouds lifted and we began to get sunshine and blue skies in Prague. So many photo opportunities lost.... I will see if I can get it repaired.

We visited the Mucha museum. Mucha was an influential art nouveau artist at the turn of the last century. I had previously only been aware of his Paris poster works. Saw many more works including a few paintings and a sketch he made as an eight-year-old boy. Fantastic exhibit.

Went shopping at Kotva, formerly a Russian dept. store.

Had the best dinner of the trip at a pub just a few blocks from our hotel. It was called U Vejvodova. I had a traditional Czech meal: roast pork, cabbage and potato dumplings. Brad had a mixed grill platter. Everything was scrumptious. I think we both will need to eat salads for the rest of the week.

Took one last walk on Charles Bridge.

Our plane didn't leave Prague today until 3:40 p.m. so we had most of the morning for our final farewell to Prague. It was a beautiful cold crisp morning. We walked down to the Old Town Square and went to the top of the Astronomical Clock tower for a magnificent view of Prague and its thousand spires. We saw them setting up the Christmas market in the square. We were the only ones in the tower. Amazing, considering the masses of tourists that jostled their way through the city over the weekend.

We went back to the little Italian cafe for another good cup of coffee and one last taste of honey cake, a slavic specialty we stumble across.

We wandered the crooked lanes of the old town, window shopping and people watching.

We hope to return one day to Prague. There are still many sights to see and things to do in what now counts as one of our favorite cities of the world.

Daytrip from Prague

Karlstejn Castle Looms Over The Town


Nativity Museum In Karlstejn

This morning we caught a train out of Prague to visit Karlstejn Castle. Getting to the train station was a breeze on the Metro and buying our train tickets was easy too. I just reverted to my German and asked for two tickets "hin und zuruck" to Karlstejn. German is used frequently here in Prague. The train was a basic local commuter and we passed through some little towns and villages on the way to Karlstejn. One of them happens to be the home town of Martina Navratilova. It only took 40 minutes to reach Karlstejn, then we began the climb up to the castle. One approaches the castle by a road that goes through the village of Karlstejn. It would have been a cute village if it hadn§t been for all the Bohemian Crystal and souvenir shops lining the main drag. Karlstejn is also home to the Nativity Museum, which strangely seemed to be the only establishment open. Walking through the town we got some spectacular views of the castle. This is a real castle. The kind you see in fairy tale books. Once we got to the top of the hill we realized why the town was so deserted == a sign posted on the door said the castle is closed until Christmas Day.

Oh well, it was fun to see some of the environs of Prague and the morning climb certainlz didn§t do us any harm. We caught the next train back into town and made our way to the Staropramen brewery. We were going to see if we could book a tour but they were all booked up till Thursday. They have a pub on the premises so we decided to have lunch there. The food was very good and the portions enormous.

From there we headed back into town, did a little bit of shopping and then went back to the room to rest up. For dinner tonight we went to Cafe Slavia, another of the art deco cafes in town. The cafe was beautiful but the food was just okay. For dessert I tried one of the Prague specialties. It§s called a palacinky in Czech, is often translated as a pancake, but is more like a French crepe. I thought I had ordered one of the plainer pancakes with strawberries and cream but was astounded at what arrived at the table. The pancake was filled to overflowing with a sweet cheese filling similar to a cannoli filling. There must have enough sweet cheese to fill about a dozen cannoli. There was only about one skimpy strawberry, but there was also a scoop of strawberry ice cream and some whipped cream to top it all off. (Wow, I just learned how to get an English keyboard on this computer -- just hit alt + shift. Now I have no more excuse for typos.) Anyhow, after that sumptuous dessert we took a long walk to a part of town we haven't been to yet, saw a modern building called the Dancing Building because it is supposed to look like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing, walked through the largest square in Prague and ended up back here at the Internet cafe. Tomorrow is our last full day here. We plan to visit the Jewish quarter in the morning and the Mucha museum later in the day.

Prague Castle and a Great Beer Hall

View of Prague From The Castle District


The Lennon Wall

We decided to start the day off with a visit to Prague Castle. It is situated atop a hill across the river from Old Town. We caught tram 22 and took a scenic ride up the hill to a stop near a monastery that sits even higher on the hill than the castle. The top attraction of the monastery is their library where they have an impressive collection of theological and philosophical texts. We saw some beautiful illuminated manuscripts from the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The monastery was a center of learning and also had a natural history collection with a specimen of a baby dodo bird. The bird was rather bizarre looking, all black and shriveled with a grimace on its face and looking as if it were being garrotted by a wire attached to the specimen board. How grotesque. We saw two library halls, one panelled in dark wood with floor to ceiling shelves of books, the other was decorated in baroque style with frescoes on the walls and the ceiling. Outside the monastery are a couple of lookout points that afford spectacular views of the city == that is, of course, if the weather is on your side and it wasn§t for us today. It began to rain lightly as we left the monastery and came down steadily as we made our way through the castle complex. Despite the wretched weather and being so late in the tourist season, the place was mobbed with tourists. It really made it difficult to enjoy our visit to be jostled by the mobs of tourists. Prague Castle is not what zou think of when zou imagine a castle. There is no large building that serves as a fortress. Rather it is a complex of buildings all surrounded bz a wall. The largest building is St. Vitus Cathedral. We also visited the Old Rozal Palace, The Basilica of St. George adn the Golden Lane == a row of small medieval shops and residences now turned into overpriced gift shops. They say that Franz Kafka lived at number 22 for a time.

After the castle we went for lunch at a little cafe in the Lesser Quarter. We popped into St. Nicholas church == verz ornate Baroque church. Then we spent some time trzing to find Lennon Wall. No, that is not a typo. There is a memorial to John Lennon. A wall full of peace=minded graffiti. We finallz found it but it was rather sad looking. So totallz filled wth grafitti one could not read anz of the messages and the original portrait of Lennon is no longer there.

We then went back to the Old Town did some browsing in shops, rested up at the hotel and then went out for dinner. We went to this great beer hall called U Medvidku. Had delicious wurst and goulash and dumplings for a decent price. Oh, yes, great beer too. Budvar,the original budweiser, bearing little resemblance to the American version.

Walkabout in Prague

The Municipal Building


More Art Nouveau opulence at the cafe inside the Municipal Building


I!m at the internet cafe again and just lost the last 20 minutes of tyzping in my blog session. I!ll give it another try.

We got up early this morning to meet a guide for an introductory walking tour of Prague. Turns out we had nearly two hours to kill before the walk began,so we took a stroll over to Charles Bridge. The Bridge spans the river Vltava, known as the Moldau in German. The bridge is lined with statues of saints and is one of the ost picturesque spots in Prague. I snapped a few photos then we decided we§d better find out where the metro station was and figure out how to buy a ticket.

We followed directional signs to Metro line A and found it without much of a problem. Buying tickets, similarly, was easy. We only had to go two stops to the the top of Wenceslas Square in New Town. Wenceslas Square is not a square so much as a boulevard and New Town is not all that new, having been founded sometime in the 13th Century. And Wenceslas was not a king, but a Duke of Bohemia. He was a good man, murdered by his brother.

We saw some rather striking Art Nouveau architecture along Wenceslas Square and the new Marks and Sparks building, from which in the 1980s the Velvet Revolution was launched. The Velvet Revolution is so called because Communist rule was overthrown in Czechoslovakia without violence or bloodshed. From New Town we walked to Old Town and the Jewish Quarter. We walked down Pariska Street, designed to resemble a Parisian boulevard and they!ve got the upscale boutiques to go with it. We saw some beautiful gothic churches and Franz Kafka!s birthplace. We were amazed to learn that the Czech people did not know of Kafka or his works until after the Velvet Revolution. The tour ended at Charles Bridge and by this time the bridge was crowded with tourists, street artists and buskers. We were so glad we had visited earlier withut the crowds and the clutter.

It is bitter cold today. By the end of our two=hour tour my toes were nearly frozen, so we stopped off for a quick bite to eat. In the afternoon we browsed in the shopping area. We went to one of the Christmas markets, but it was rather small and did not have many interesting stalls. We went shopping in Kotva, a five=story Dept. store. We were told it was a Russian Dept. store by someone who had visited here about seven or eight years ago, but we think all the Russian stuff must be gone by now. What we saw was either imported from elsewhere in Europe or made in the Czech Republic.

We went to a chamber orchestra performance in one of the baroque chapels in the Old Town. We heard some popular classical pieces by composers such as Mozart, Vivaldi, Chopin and Dvorak. The music was lovely and the acoustics spectacular.

We had dinner at Pelikan Restaurant, said to be a Russian restaurant, but I!m beginning to think all traces of the Russians are gone from Prague, cuz there wasn!t one Russian item on the menu that I could tell. The food was good but not spectacular.

During the course of the day, we also stopped a wonderful cafe in the Municpal House. The decor was Art Nouveau straight out of the 1920s.

We both really like Prague. The architecture is fantastic. There are so many interesting cultural events. The streets are very clean. The people are friendly. And the food has been pretty good. Though menus are heavy with meat dishes I!ve had really lovely fresh salads with delicious tomatoes. Better tomatoes than I!ve ever gotten in the U.K.

Arrival in Prague

View of Prague Castle from Charles Bridge


The Castle At Night photo by Brad

We flew out of Leeds Bradford International airport around 11:45 a.m. this morning and arrived in Prague a few minutes ahead of schedule at 2:40 p.m. We were met bz a driver from the hotel who drove us into town to our digs for the next five dazs: Betlem Club Hotel. What a strange first impression Prague had on me. On the outskirts of town I was reminded of Frankfurt, Germanz, but a rather grim and desolate part of town full of graz functional buildings spraz painted with graffiti. Closer to the center of town I began to think of Heidelberg and Vienna, with the grand architecture, cobblestoned streets and streetcars. Our hotel is smack in the middle of the old town, just a few blocks from the Old Town Square and the Charles Bridge. After checking in we hit the streets in search of a quick bite to eat to tide us over until dinner. Prague is a fascinating citz, the architecture is so impressive, a grand mixture of baroque, gothic, romanesque and art nouveau. There are imposing statues here and there, large playas with market stalls selling crafts and seasonal foods. We made our waz to the Old Town Square and watched as the Astronomical Clock rang in the hour with its moving figures. Tonight the moon is almost full and the buildings and towers of the old town looked splendid in the bright moonlight. We walked partwaz across Charles Bridge and could not believe the expanse of the Prague castle looming atop a hill on the other side of the bridge. Bz this time our feet were cold, we were a bit tired so we went back to the room to warm up and rest up before heading out to dinner. It is quite cold out, but a nice crisp refreshing cold. Not like the damp windz cold of Northern England. Dinner was at Klub Arkitecturu, across the playa from our hotel and recommended bz a friend and our guide book. The restaurant is in a basement in an atmospheric room with a barrel vaulted ceiling. The menu is international and includes some Cyech specialities. Mz starter was a potato pancake with baked cheese and herb dressing. Delicious but the pancake was dense and a bit saltz. I had turkez schnityel for dinner with potato dumplings. I tried to order traditional Cyech dumplings but the waiter said thez just would not go with turkez schnityel. The schnityel was tender and tastz, but the dumplings were dense and nearlz flavourless. Brad had creamz garlic soup which was tastz but rich. He asked the waiter to recommend the best pork dish as pork is said to be traditional Cyech fare. He ended up with an Asian=stzle pork stir frz. It was tastz, but not at all what he expected to get. We were too full for dessert. And now we are in this coyz little internet cafe just a few blocks from our hotel but we took a rather circuitous route getting here. The old town streets are narrow and winding. There are about half a doyen computers here and I!m the onlz one using one. The kezboard is a bit strange. If zou haven!t figured it out bz now, the "y"s and "z"s are transposed. I have not corrected them. And the punctuation is all screwed up. And zou have to use upper case to tzpe a numeral. All this reflects the biyarre nature of the Cyech language. We think we know how to saz "thank zou" in Cyech, hopefullz we will learn some other words and phrases before we leave.

On The Mend And Ready To Go

Ginger is feeling much better these days. He has stopped throwing up and his diarrhea has...well, let's just say it has improved. Brad is also feeling much better, but still has a lingering cough. I'm still a bit congested, but otherwise just fine.

I drop Ginger off at the Cosy Cattery this afternoon. I spoke to the woman who runs the Cattery to explain Ginger's condition. She was very understanding and I'm sure he will get plenty of TLC while he is there. What a relief.

Tomorrow morning we take off for Prague. I'm really looking forward to this trip, even though the weather promises to be really cold with a possibility of snow. If I can find an internet cafe in Prague, I'll update my blog while we are on the road. It's much more manageable that way.

Under the Weather

We got back from London last Tuesday and I've been meaning to update my blog ever since. But we've all been sick lately. Brad was hit with a nasty flu bug and is still not feeling 100%. Ginger was sick before we left for London. He seemed to be responding well to the antibiotics prescribed by the vet, but as soon as he finished his meds he became poorly again. He's been throwing up and having really stinky diarrhea. The Vet thinks it might be inflammatory bowel disease. Anyways, we are trying new food and meds and hope Ginger will be on the mend soon. Hope so, as we head for Prague on Thursday. As for me, I came down with your average cold a few days ago. Am feeling much better today, so thought I might tackle my blog. Postdating will allow me to add details about and photos from our trip to London in chronological order.

Departure from London

Leaves in London


King's Cross Station

Today we departed from London, but our train didn't leave till 2:30 p.m. so we still had time to squeeze in some more activities. We started off with a visit to the antique and collector's fair at St. James church. It was scheduled to open at 10 a.m. but when we arrived a few minutes after ten most of the vendors had still not opened their stalls. We killed time by browsing in some nearby shops and sipping coffee at Cafe Nero. Once we made it back to the fair we were underwhelmed by the offerings. There simply was not much on offer and what did interest us was hopelessly overpriced. We both long for the shrine sales of Tokyo.

By this time we were museumed-out, so we spent the rest of the morning browsing in stores. We visited Hamley's toy store and Liberty department store where we bought a couple of Christmas ornaments. Soon time ran out and we made our way back to King's Cross Station and caught the train home.

I can't pick Ginger up till tomorrow morning 'cause the cattery was closed by the time we arrived in Harrogate. The house seems so quiet and empty without him.

A Stellar Day in London

After breakfast we headed once again for the half-price ticket booth at Leicester Square. Still no offerings that we were interested in, unless we wanted to go see Bat Boy again (and I was tempted). We both were hankering to see The Producers, newly opened at Royal Drury Theatre, starring Nathan Lane and Lee Evans, so we headed to the Drury's Box Office and managed to get tickets for that evening. They weren't the greatest seats, but at least we had a show to see.

Next stop was the British Library where we browsed through one of my very favorite museum collections. We saw original copies of so many important documents: The Gutenberg Bible, the Magna Carta, musical scores by Mozart, Shakespeare's First Folio, the lyrics to In My Life scribbled down by John Lennon and countless others from all over the world. I could have spent the whole day there but decided to move on so we could have some lunch.

Based on a tip from Rick Steves we went to Y Ming in Chinatown. Rick's recommendation was right on. It was some of the most delicious Chinese food I've ever had.

Appetites sufficiently and deliciously sated, we made our way to the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank to see an exhibit called Eyes, Lies and Illusions. It was all about optical illusions and images created using shadows and light. We saw magic lanterns, shadow puppets, visual puzzles and countless more devices that distort images and perception. There were a lot of hands-on devices and, thankfully, it was not too crowded, so we had plenty of time to play with the exhibits.

By this time we were pretty tired so we headed back to the room to rest up a bit before going to see The Producers. Once we finally headed out we were only just a little peckish so rather than dinner we stopped into Valerie Patisserie for coffee (to keep me awake) and pastry (said to be some of the best on offer in London). Mmmmm.... it hit the spot! The Producers was great fun. Nathan Lane put on a great performance. This is the role he performed in New York where the show opened. Lane was pulled in after Richard Dreyfuss was fired days before the show opened for the West End run. Lee Evans also did a great job in a role that seemed created for him. After the show, on an impulse, we hung around a bit by the stage door. There was only a small crowd gathered, so our chances of catching sight of the actors as they left the theatre was pretty good. I did manage to meet Lee Evans and get his autograph. He is a nice, amiable chap, very appreciative of the attention of the fans. He rode home on a bike. Nathan Lane eluded us and the rest of the well wishers.

A Drive Through the Cotswolds

Burford


After Lunch in Moreton-in-the-Marsh

After a hearty breakfast of porridge, fruit, toast and cheese, Graham and Heather took us for a drive through the Cotswolds. The threatening gray clouds soon gave way to sunshine and blue skies, perfect weather for a Sunday drive. H&G had intended us to first go through the town of Burford but the way was blocked. It was nearly 11 a.m. so we figured the town was getting ready to put on a parade or service for Remembrance Sunday. So we took a detour on some small country roads until we reached the picture-perfect village of Stow-on-the-Wold. We hopped out of the car and browsed through the village, peeking in on an antique fair (too rich for my purse). Back in the car we meandered our way to Moreton-in-the-Marsh (Don't you just love the village names!?) where we had lunch in an historic inn with an alarmingly modernized dining room. On the way back towards Compton and the train station we stopped off in Burford. Definitely worth the wait! Full of picturesque buildings and wonderful shops. Amazingly we bumped into one of Brad's co-workers on the street. He was there with his wife and parents (who live in Linthicum!).

Heather and Graham dropped us off at the train station around 5:30 p.m. and we were able to hop right onto a train bound for London. An hour later we were making our way back to our room at The Lime Tree Hotel, but not before stopping off for a meal of tapas at Goya restaurant. (The tapas were fair to good, the portions generous.)

An Intimate Tour of Oxford

Magdalen Tower. Those round clumps in the trees are mistletoe.


Alice and the Oxford Dodo appear on the stained glass windows of Christ Church College Chapel


The View from Bethany's Window

This morning we caught the train to Oxford. It's about an hour outside of London Paddington. That is, of course, if you don't catch the local, as we did, which took about an hour and a half. We were still on time to meet our friends Heather and Graham who live about a half hour west of Oxford in Compton. We were neighbors with H&G when we lived in Tokyo, so it was great to see them and two of their daughters.

First stop was The Grand Cafe, site of the oldest coffee house in England. They served up some delicious coffee and sweets in elegant surroundings. After this tasty interlude we went to meet H&G's daughter, Bethany, at the Porter's Lodge of Magdalen College. She is in her second year at Magdalen and she gave us a tour of the grounds and some of the buildings. A real treat as we were allowed to go to places that are not open to the general public. The grounds were really lovely with a stream for punting and a deer park. The buildings were charmingly gothic, including Bethany's room which had a window with a great view of Magdalen Tower. After our tour of Magdalen, Heather gave us a walking tour of Oxford, pointing some of the prominent architecture. (Graham had to leave to pick up their other daughter Rosie from school and drop her off at home.) We stopped in for a self-guided tour of Christ Church College. This was an impressive campus, but we all agreed we preferred the warmth and intimacy of Magadalen College over Christ Church's somewhat stuffy classical setting. Christ Church has strong connections with Alice in Wonderland. Alice's father Henry Liddell was the dean of Christ Church College while Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) was a student there. In Christ Church Chapel we viewed some stained glass windows with illustrations from Alice in Wonderland.

After our tour of Christ Church College Graham rejoined us and we had lunch at the dubiously named Nose Bag, a rustic tavern that appears to be a student favorite.

The highlight of the day came after lunch when we went to the Oxford Museum of Natural History. The museum building itself was as much an attraction as any of the exhibits on display. Built in the 1850s, the museum is a glorious example of Victorian architecture with cast iron pillars, a cast iron roof and roof shingles made of glass and with every detail dedicated to the theme of natural history. A wonderful fltered light gave a warm glow to the main hall which was dominated by dinosaur skeletons and filled with all manner of displays on natural history. It was a true delight to wander through this grand old building and it ranks up there as one of my all-time favorite museums.

We popped into Queen's Cafe, Bethany's favorite cafe in Oxford, another student haunt, before attending the Evensong service at Magdalen Chapel. I was deeply moved when the boys' choir began to sing. Their voices were hauntingly beautiful and the acoustics were superb. I had thought they would only sing hymns interspersed throughout the service, but they actually sang the words of the service. It was quaint and lovely.

After Evensong we retired to H&G's house in Compton and a very nice cozy house it was. We had a chance to chat with Rosie as Heather served up soup and an amazing array of cheeses and bread and crackers. It was just what we needed after having snacked our way through Oxford all day.

Heavenly Raphael, Delightful Transportation

The London Coliseum


Westminster Cathedral, not to be confused with Westminster Abbey

We left the hotel bright and early on Friday morning to make sure we got to the National Gallery before it opened. I wanted to see the Raphael exhibit.

We were surprised to see that the entrances to the Underground at Victoria Station were closed. This was around 9 a.m. Clumps of people stood at the closed-off entranceways, patiently waiting. Every now and then someone would exit, but no one was allowed to enter. We were perplexed, yet no one else seemed at all perturbed or surprised. Rather than wait with the Underground commuters we decided to hop on a bus. I'm glad we did. We got to the National Gallery in plenty of time and enjoyed the view from the top of the double decker.

We arrived ten minutes before the museum was due to open, yet entered late because we were waiting outside the wrong building. The Raphaels were exhibited in the the newer Sainsbury Wing next door to the main building. No worries; we waited patiently and politely in the queue with the other patrons and managed our way through the crowded gallery. We saw some exquisite works by Raphael and also appreciated seeing other works on display by artists who had inspired Raphael. After the Raphael exhibit we viewed an intriguing exhibit on Degas. The exhibit featured x-radiographs of several of Degas' works, showing earlier versions hidden under the paint.

We had lunch at the Cafe in the Crypt at St. Martin in the Fields, a great little lunch spot. Then we made our way to Leicester Square to see if we could pick up any half price tickets for a show. There were lots of half price tickets on offer, but none for anything we were hankering to see.

On the way to Covent Garden we passed a fantastic map/book store and popped into Muji, a store we remembered from Japan. We were shocked to see that an item priced at 350 yen in Japan was now priced at 3 pounds 50 pence. They were effectively doubling the price of everything in the store.

In the afternoon we hit the London Transport Museum, another sheer delight of an exhibit. A very manageable museum filled with vintage buses, subway cars, train cars, taxis and every kind of paraphernalia you can think of that pertains to public transport. The museum was filled with goofy looking mannequins standing in as bus drivers, ticket takers, etc. We were both startled when one of them began to speak to us in the exhibit about the construction of the Underground. It was a real person dressed as an Underground labourer. He was there mainly for the kiddies, I suppose, but I was fascinated and appalled as he recounted the conditions suffered by the workers who gave us the world's oldest subway system. It was from this fellow that we learned why the Underground entranceways had been closed in the morning: there are just too many passengers for the ageing subway system to cope with. Hah! They oughta send some white-gloved attendants from the Tokyo subway system. They'll pack 'em in.

We finished off the day browsing the trendy shops of Oxford Street then took the bus back to the hotel. On the way to our hotel we passed by Jenny Lo's Teahouse. Brad had read a good review, so we popped in for dinner. Delicious food selected from a pan-Asian menu.

Arrival in London

The View from the London Eye. That's the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral on the left; the newly erected Gherkin Building appears on the right.


Getting an Eyeful

We caught the train from Harrogate yesterday and arrived in London right on time at 11:20. Checked into our hotel and then hit the streets. We decided to do the most touristy thing we could think of -- get on the London Eye. Well it was a beautiful day with sunshine and blue skies, though cold enough for me to have to pull out my gloves. We were both a little underwhelmed by the London Eye. The views were just not that spectacular. Let's face it, London is not a very picturesque city. We did get a good view of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Gherkin building. I snapped a bunch of photos. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament were also in view but impossible to photograph due to the low position of the winter sun. After the London Eye we headed over to Fortnum and Mason for some Afternoon Tea. We got there at 2 p.m. and they don't start serving the Afternoon Tea till 3 p.m. so we browsed all the trendy shops in the neighborhood. We came across a few Japanese specialty shops including a confectionary that was filled with delectable goodies we remember seeing in Tokyo and several others we don't ever remember seeing at all. Probably from a different region of Japan. At Afternoon Tea we were again in for a bit of disappointment. The bread on the skimply sandwiches was dry, as if they had been prepared ahead of time and left to sit out. The tea was good but very strong and soon got a bitter taste to it. We both think afternoon tea in Yorkshire wins hands down over snooty tea in London. After Tea we did a lot of window shopping, breezed by Leiceister Square finally ending up at Wagamama for dinner. Again disappointment. Everything was TOO SALTY. So salty that I ended up dreaming about telling someone how salty the food was.

Right now I'm at the easyInternet cafe, where there are hundreds of computers available and the connection cost is cheap. Brad is sipping coffee in a cafe nearby. Guess I'll go join him now.

Cheerio!

Ginger Update

I dropped Ginger off at his farmhouse B&B late this afternoon. The house seems so empty without him. He is staying at a different cattery this time. The cattery where he stayed before was all booked up. This time he is staying at Padside Green Cattery. It is a purpose-built cattery on a farm and is run by a veterinary nurse. Each cat has his own private quarters with no exposure to other guests. He has a loft, a cushy cat bed, one of those carpet-covered cat condos and plenty of toys to play with. There is a cat flap leading to an enclosed run outside where he can watch the chickens on the farm. When I dropped him off a rooster crowed in the background. Ginger's face and ears perked up with intense curiosity. I think he will enjoy his stay.

Ginger Inspects the World Outside

No, he didn't go outside. He's too much of a scaredy-cat. But, given time, he probably would have ventured onto our patio, slinking back in at the slightest sound. Yes, our cat Ginger is a big girl's blouse, but we love him so. We will be departing for London early tomorrow and I wanted to post Ginger's picture so I can look at it while we are on the road.

Chasing Rainbows

This morning, as I was taking my aerobic walk, a rainbow appeared over the Stray. I was delighted to see it and thought about going back to the house to grab my camera and take a few shots. But moments later the rainbow faded away and I continued on my usual walk. A few minutes later I looked over my shoulder to see another rainbow. As I continued my walk the rainbows faded and reappeared several times. It was enchanting. Once home, I did go grab my camera and run back out to take some photos, but it seems the magical rainbow conditions were dying out. I managed to catch this shot just before the rainbow was absorbed into a lead blue sky. Soon the skies became gray with thick cloud cover. Later a cold misty rain chilled the air.

Dear Abbey

This is one of our favorite spots to take visitors. It seems each time I go I can't resist the temptation to take photos of this lovely ruin.

Bonfire Night

Remember, Remember, the fifth of November. This is the day, or rather night, that Great Britain commemorates the Gunpowder Plot. Or, rather, the foiling of that plot and the capture of its main conspirator, Guy Fawkes. It was celebrated in Harrogate tonight, as in many cities and towns, by fireworks and a huge bonfire. I was quite impressed by the fireworks display we saw tonight. And I have absolutely never ever in my life seen any bonfire quite as big as the one we saw tonight. It was mesmerizing. Brad helped me take photos of the fireworks and the bonfire. As I looked at the photos of the fire on my computer monitor I was amazed at the images I could see in the flames. Can you spot the grinning professor with the cap and gown in the photo above?

The Whole World Is Watching

At least it appears that way regarding the U.S. election. There's been a fair amount of coverage in the UK press and media on the election (but, thankfully, not the barrage of coverage I'd be subjected to if I was living in the U.S. now). And on BBC Radio I heard about theworldvotes.org, a website that is collecting votes for the U.S. presidential candidates from people all over the world. Interesting concept, but not well received by many Americans who have logged onto the site. Of course, the creators of the website don't really believe citizens worldwide should be able to cast their vote in this election. But it is quite interesting to see the results, however unscientific.

Everybody else wants Kerry to win...why can't America just do it!!!?