London here I come…..

By the third day of our trip, I had finished the photography that I needed to do so it was time to take a day trip to LONDON!!!

Joe had organized my train ticket and dropped me off at the station early on Thursday morning.

I was met with this sign (sorry for the blurry photo)…..

Yes, that blurry word is CANCELLED and London Euston was where I was headed!! Apparently there was an “engineering” emergency that was causing the cancelling of a bunch of lines!! The next train due in the station also stopped in Euston so I decided to take it instead.

So…..we are all standing at platform 5, waiting for the train to Watford. It is about 4 minutes before arrival. A station worker walks down the stairs and says something and immediately everybody starts running. What was I to do but follow!!!

We ran up the stairs, over the bridge and back down to the other side, arriving at Platform 2 just as the train pulled in!!

Okay….that excitement was over!!! I am comfortably seated on my train and looking forward to the 35 minute ride into London.

People watching is one of my favorite hobbies when I am on a train and this trip provided several fun observations.

First of all, a woman boarded the train, sat right across from me and pulled out her cross-stitch.

(I know that it isn’t a great photo, but when you are trying to be surreptitious, you can’t pick your poses!!)

She worked diligently as we swayed along and stitched a 2-inch section during the trip. What a good way to use your time!!

Another woman on the “tube” used her phone as a mirror and proceeded to put her makeup on…..

I meant to take a photo at the end but forgot about it!!

As you can imagine, with so many lines closed down, the train became VERY crowded. There were people standing all along the aisle and the entryway beside the doors was jammed….

There was a service announcement saying that “If you are feeling the effects of being crammed in, please alight and take the next service”. While that is a great idea, I can’t imagine that the next train would be any better!

It was interesting to watch as we pulled into a station and waiting passengers would see that there was no way to board. They would immediately pull out their phone, presumably to either call someone and tell them that they were running late or to find another train!!

We arrived at Euston station. I disembarked and started looking for the Underground (“Tube”) Station. Fortunately, it was next door to the National Railway station and I arrived quickly. Then I spent 8-10 minutes standing in a line for the escalator! I never knew why it was closed but was very happy when it opened up again.

I purchased my Tube Day Pass and headed into the station maze. As I was standing at one of the boards, desperately trying to figure out which train I needed, an older gentleman in a turban approached and asked me for help. As soon as I opened my mouth he knew that he had picked the WRONG white woman to help him!!

My destination was the Victoria and Albert Museum and it didn’t take long to arrive.

My plan was to start the tour of the V&A in this post, but it is already too long, so I will save that for tomorrow.

But before I close out for the day, two other things that I found interesting….

As Joe was driving me to the station, he asked if I needed any cash and I replied that I had 40+ pounds that were left over from a previous trip. He asked if they were bills and I replied that yes, I had two 20 pound notes. He then told me that they had changed all of the money several years ago and that my pounds were no longer valid!!! I possibly could have gone to a bank to change them but didn’t want to spend the time!! As it ended up, I didn’t spend any cash on the trip. Everything was done via credit, but it is sad to think that my cash is useless!

The other item was an announcement that played numerous times while I was in transit. It would remind people that they should report anything unusual or troubling that they saw on the journey. Their slogan was “See it, Say it, Sort it”. You see it and tell them about it and they will sort it out!! Very catchy!!

OKAY….we are at the V&A. Come back tomorrow!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Manor living…..

While in Tring, UK, we lived in a manor….no really!!

Joe suggested that we stay at the Pendley Manor……

A gorgeous home built in 1872….after the original burned down in 1835. It was owned by many famous people over the years and turned into a hotel in 1991.

The interior is gorgeous…..

….with tons of quirky decorations….

…..and touches of stained glass everywhere…..

The attention to detail was impressive, down to the carvings on the stair newels……

One of the funniest things in the manor was this area above the stairs with a door to the aviary….

I was all excited to explore that area when Joe mentioned that he thought it was just a painting….. an amazing and realistic example of a Trumploi!!

As sweet as the inside of the manor was, the outside sealed the deal for me.

The grounds were immaculately manicured…..

And again, there were sweet touches everywhere….even on these concrete pillars….

And then there were the PEACOCKS….

If you know me at all, you know that Peacocks are my downfall, and these guys KNEW how to work the camera.

This lady stood and posed for me for a good 4 minutes…..

She was beautiful…..

And this guy kept coming too close for me to photograph…..

I know that their feathers are the prettiest part of them, but I can’t resist a good profile shot…..

Sadly I never saw any of them display but it was sure fun to have them around. Sometimes you would be sitting in the bar area and FEEL them behind you…..

And, I loved seeing them in their roosts at night. One night they were in this gorgeous tree out front….

…and the next night I watched them “climb” into a huge tree…..

In the end there were at least 6 peacocks hidden in this one tree, including one WAY up at the top. You would think that they would be easy to spot but that was NOT the case. The only time you could see them was when they were moving from place to place. Once they were established in their “spot” you couldn’t see them at all.

And of course, there has to be a quilt pattern, even one that would require a lot of partial seams….

….and look….there is even an FMQ design to go with it!!!

This was the perfect spot to relax after long days in the countryside or in London and we will always remember our time at Pendley Manor.

I got to spend two days in London…. be on the lookout for those posts….they are coming soon!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

A walk in the English Countryside….

Michael and I spent this past week in England. Michael was doing some of his conservation research and I was there as the photographer!!

Michael found a great deal with purchasing airline tickets and we ended up flying First class for less than our normal tickets!! It was great to be able to sit in the Sky-Lounge and get some work done….

We were met at Heathrow by our guide, Joe and he immediately drove us to our “MANOR” in the small village of Tring…..more about that tomorrow!

Seeing this view out the window reminded me that we were in for a fun (although wet) week……

After checking into our “Manor” and doing a quick change of clothes, we headed into the countryside. We were first in search of a Muntjac Deer.

Photo from Online

They were native to China, introduced in the UK in the 1800’s and are now considered to be an invasive species. The problem is that they can reproduce year round (most deer only have babies during certain seasons) and they have quickly multiplied. Mix that with the fact that they are very destructive and you know why gardeners and other property managers don’t like them.

The other species he was looking for was a “Chinese Water Deer”……

Photo from online

And yes….he has fangs!! Their round ears, face shape and fangs have given them the nickname of “Vampire Teddy Bear”. Both of these deer “bark” and it was fun to hear them as we walked the fields. This deer was also introduced in the 1800’s and has proven to be adaptable to the English countryside…..ie there are thousands of them!!

As we hit the fields I noticed one thing…..

IT WAS WET……

…..REALLY WET……

I was pleased that my boots were waterproof…..

….although after slogging through fields, the mud added weight to ever single step…..

But, all that wetness meant that it was also green…..

….including some gorgeous fungi…..

….in all different colors…..

Although it was cold, it was fun to see bushes starting to bud out….

I spent much of my time watching these two do their thing…..

….continually “glassing” to look for animals to study.

While waiting, I busied myself taking photos of the area…..

I loved playing with the “panorama” function on my cell phone, holding it sideways and scanning upward….

I particularly loved these “Snow Drops”……

As the days unfolded, we walked along MILES of hedgerows……

and fields of old corn (called Maize)….

I kept stopping to take photos……

…meaning that I had to hurry, hurry, hurry to catch up again!!

We were not alone in the fields. There were houses along the way…..

And typical to the UK, there were public walking trails all across the private land….

You can see one woman walking her dog…..

I spent two days out with Michael and Joe and fully enjoyed my walk in the English Countryside….

Tomorrow we visit the Manor…… be sure to come back for more!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

A Final Walk in Malmo….

On our last day in Sweden, Michael spent the day out in the boonies again and I decided to explore another area of the city, heading to the Malmo Castle first.

It was an eclectic place with a moat……

…..a fashion gallery…..

…..an architectural gallery….

….a natural history museum……

….an aquarium……

….and an art gallery that sported a Warhol…..

“Mao Zedong” by Andy Warhol

The paintings in the gallery were not really my style, but I did enjoy this one…..

“Surprised” by Ferdinand Fagerlin

To truly appreciate it, you have to see the look on the older woman’s face…..

I think that is priceless!!

I moved down the street to a Science exhibit and enjoyed seeing quotes from famous Nobel laureates, especially enjoying this one…..

I moved further down the street and entered a huge park, including a wonderful community flower garden…..

This was an area broken into individual plots and each plot was tended by one person. The diversity of flowers was astounding.

I stopped for gelato….

….. and enjoyed it while watching the boats glide down the canal.

I began my walk back to the hotel, first following this path through the park…..

…and then walking along one of the residential streets. I enjoyed photographing the interesting things that I saw, including this fun apartment window…..

And finally, here is a tour of our hotel. It was built from 3 different buildings and was truly a rabbit warren inside. This is how we got to our room……

It was a sweet place to stay and helped to make our trip so enjoyable!!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

The Modern Museum of Malmo

I suddenly realized that I never finished my posts about our recent trip to Sweden. IQF sort of got in the way!!

On one of my forays into the city of Malmo, I ended up at the

….a modern art museum!!

It was fairly small and had two exhibits currently running. One exhibit was not really my taste….

…but the other was wonderful!! It featured the paintings of Lotte Laserstein (1898 – 1993). She was German born, but in 1933 she was declared a “three-quarter Jew” and her art was banned from the public. In 1937 she had an exhibition in Stockholm and that provided the opportunity to leave Germany. She lived the rest of her life in Sweden.

I love the calmness in this painting….