Jupiter above the Juniper tree, outside my window in Leamington Spa. I decided to see if I could spot anything else in the sky from the park near by.
Phew it is a chilly 4 degrees outside. I left my gloves inside and the air numbed my fingers. Below is a transect of the sky approximately South to North. (I still find it weird that the sun is now South here...)
Jeremy and I travelled to London today, meeting Ed along the way too! This was also my first step above ground here, as when I arrived in London Heathrow I had made my way straight to Leamington Spa due to excess luggage and being very tired after travelling so long (so long). And my first impression was of a very fast city. Changing tube lines to weave our way to a particular station felt like moving in a strong current, squeezing and slowing and rushing. Reading the underground line map was a bit confusing at first but I was getting the hang of it at the end of the day.
Above ground the tide of people was strongest only in the most touristy parts of the city, like Piccadilly Circus (below), but it became more relaxed in the large and beautiful parks.
Our first destination was here at St. Pancras station, where all the eurostar trains terminate. It had these huge olympic rings which was pretty exciting.
I was reading that St. Pancras was one of the last great examples of Victorian architecture. I remember learning this year in architecture school how much of a revelation steel had been for the construction of these huge beautifully open spaces.
The exterior of St. Pancras. It reminds me of a gingerbread house.
We then made our way to the Portobello Market in Notting Hill, to try and see Hugh Grant, or at least some of the scenes from the film of the same name
I had this one in my mind as I was walking down the seemingly never ending tents and tables, full of people. (Thousands more than in the scene above)
Some enterprising cafe owners even used the typography of the film title as a handy marketing ploy.
We meet up with Ed and we caught the tube to Green Square (renamed green and yellow square by Ed), and wandered over to see if the Queen was in.
Cross cultural Ed
Buckingham Palace. The gold leaf was extraordinarily bright, it felt as if it were glowing.
The Queen, unfortunately, was out.
We also visited New Zealand House, and 'Kiwifruits' the New Zealand store (complete with New Zealand twanged shop assistant) to stock up on some essentials.
Following the Mall (as in Pal), we found Parliament, in gorgeously elaborate victorian gothic style
I also liked this building, it was like glass filled with smoke.
Finally, we took the tube from Westminster to head back home, entering this huge yet cramped futuristic subterranean cavern, adding to a picture of London as a great, old, dense and continually growing structure.
After rushing around London for the day, it was very peaceful to be able return to Leamington Spa and walk through the quiet countryside under a soft and starry sky.
I'm looking forward to returning later this week and checking out all the amazing galleries and museums... I think I will be spoilt for choice.
So I went to Bristol to visit Cherrie which was excellent, and also see some interesting city things...
Bristol is actually quite colourful
and not just because autumn is painting in soft pastels
but there are lots of these coordinated terraces which are very pretty too.
Terraces are actually a big thing here.
Also in Bath too, where I went for a day. Very sedate..
I love these ceilings. The above is Bath Abbey, while below is St. Marys on Redcliff.
Bristol also has a bit of a checkered past, being a historical hub of slavery, but it confronts this very thoughtfully in a great new museum called the 'M-shed' (not as masculine as it reads)
But Bristol is also pretty funky. This is a picture from the same museum above.
It's like it's in chaotic order.
There is also a significant underground culture, with Banksy celebrated as a famous Bristolian. I thought this was a cool piece of street-art I stumbled on.
I have no idea what the braille is saying (I've since tried to translate it) but either it's a more advanced grade of braille than the simple translation of the alphabet, or it's gibberish. I do hope it says something...
I liked these two. This whole street was just covered in street-art, it was kind of like a mecca.
So this is just a bit of a taste, as I wanted to put something up before I head to London for the day tomorrow! So I'll wish you all goodnight. Thanks Bristol! Goodnight!
On my first day in the United Kingdom, Fran Jeremy Ed and I drove to Cambridge, where we visited their friends living and studying there, while also scoping the place out
This also became my first encounter (of many) with British motorways. It was strange trying to imagine these same fields as they might once have been (such as those popularised in the fantastic Lark Rise to Candleford), without a four to six lane highway carved through the middle of them.
Once in Cambridge, the first thing I noticed was the diverse and complimentarily odd buildings, all squeezed together in uniformly different shapes. It was confusing trying to distinguish between the truly old buildings, and the recent imitations, as they all seemed so well preserved.
The town is also filled with a huge number of bicyclists, which snake through the tourists on the narrow streets and alleys.
But I think the most overwhelming atribute of Cambridge is its overflowing affluence, containing the second oldest and most wealthiest university in Europe, with an endowment of 4.1 billion pounds just in 2011 This wealth has found form in the beautiful architecture built over its long (long) history (it was amazing just thinking about who's footsteps I might have been walking in... perhaps Isaac Newton passed this way...)
King's College Chapel
Bridge of Sighs
Bridge of Sighs
We were lucky to be guided through the various colleges by David, Fran's friend studying at Cambridge, since most of the colleges are usually closed to the general public.
A view back in time
Finally Cambridge has a beautiful canal that is busy with people punting. We took a meander down stream, and I thought about Mr. Gumpy.
