Whitehall -- Top to Bottom and Bottom to Top

This morning Em, Madi, and I set off on the #94 bus to Lower Regent Street to pick up their London Passes. We were just a couple of blocks from the National Gallery so we started there. The place was quite empty at 10:00 A.M. and we had a nice highlights tour. We stepped out on the pedestrian zone above Trafalgar Square and Madi caught her first glimpse of Big Ben. It was akin to Katy's first sighting of the Eiffel Tower three years ago. Madi couldn't suppress a huge grin. Trafalgar Square is virtually pigeon-free these days because a nice old gent walks around with a live falcon and scares the little rats of the air away.

We next walked down Whitehall to the Horse Guards and arrived just in time for the changing. Emily chatted up the nice man in the souvenir stand who told us to stand in the opposite corner and wait until the place cleared (the tourists think it has ended) and the horses and guards all come back in and form up. So we had a great view of the whole thing. Em and Madi made a quick stop at Inigo Jones' Banqueting House (the only remaining part of Whitehall Palace) before heading to Westminster Abbey. From there we bussed back up Whitehall past Trafalgar Square to the Pret with lots of seating for lunch. It was excellent as always. We had a Bounty Bar (British version of an Almond Joy) as we headed toward the Embankment and the Hungerford Bridge. We crossed over and walked along the South Bank to the London Eye where we were to meet Kris who would take Madi on the Eye. A bit of miscommunication earlier that morning left us waiting over an hour for Kris at the Eye, and Kris waiting for us outside the Westminster Station for over an hour. Oh well, we'll try again later. We just finished dinner and Em and Madi went to the park to watch the faculty kids and students play football (soccer).

Emily and Madeline at the National Gallery

Madi can't squelch the grin at the first siting of
Big Ben at the bottom of Whitehall

We begin our descent of Whitehall --Trafalgar
Square and the National Gallery are in the background

Horses and Guards at Horse Guards no doubt

We had the final act of the Changing of the Guards to
ourselves thanks to the nice man in the souvenir booth in
the background -- he told us how it really works;
Emily captures it all on video

Inigo Jones' Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace,
which gives its name to the whole area

More adventures to come.

OXO

D.

Conference/Museum Sunday

Today I went to the Priesthood Session of conference with Jeff, Hansen, Gary, Mitch, and James, one of the students. We met all the ladies after conference and went to the Natural History Museum to eat our picnic lunch. After lunch everyone split up and our group went into the Natural History Museum and then to the Victoria and Albert Museum. We bussed home on the #70 bus and are going to have dinner and watch the Sunday morning session of conference on BYUTV.

The Hyde Park Chapel where we watched the delayed
broadcast of the Priesthood Session

The picnic-lunch bunch in front of the Natural History
Musem --that's Jennifer leaning forward
on the end of the row

The wonderful cathedral-like interior of the
Natural History Museum

Dale Chahouly sculpture in the V&A

The three-generation group
in the sculpture gallery of the V&A

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Keeping Them Awake

After they showered, we walked through the Park with Em and Madi. We had dinner at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, bought some M&S Indian food for dinner tomorrow, and came home to try and stay awake until 9:00. Ironically, Em and Madi are doing fine, but I sat down on the big white marshmallow sofa and dozed off.

The girlies at the Sunken Garden next to
Kensington Palace

The same crew in front of the Albert Memorial

Em and Madi try the water at the Diana Memorial
Fountain in Hyde Park

Madeline admires the rabbits on the Peter Pan statue in
Kensington Gardens

We didn't buy any, but we thought of Anna
and her recent comment on our blog

Grammy and Madeline in Kensington Gardens

The ladies on Queensway-- note Emily's
fashionable new scarf

Burgers at the GBK -- "Sorry, no more ice" --
boy I guess they had a real rush on iced drinks

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Here They Are

Emily and Magdalena have arrived in London. All seemed to go well except for the Circle Line of the Underground system which is always dicey at best. Today there are planned works on the line and it is closed for the day -- who knows, maybe even for the whole weekend. The Northern Line is sometime called the "misery line" because of the terrible service on the line, but really and truly, it is the Circle Line that is the misery line. Oh well. Sorry. This was to have been a lovely welcome to Emily and Madi, and it turned out to be a rant on the Circle Line.

We will report our adventures as they unwind.

OXO

D.

Wales and Church History Trip

Thursday morning, early, we hopped on the coach and drove to Wales. We crossed the Severn River and drove up the beautiful Wye Valley to Tinern Abbey. The weather was beautiful, the setting is spectacular and it was a very nice visit made even nicer by the discovery of Welsh Cakes for sale. Katy and Tom introduced them to us just before we left -- they are delicious.

Kris and the Ringers at Tintern Abbey,
just across the Wye River from England

From Tintern, we drove north and then west up on to the high, bare hills of Blaenafon to the Big Pit, a coal mine that stopped operation in the 80s and now is open for public tours. One straps on a miner's helmet with light and battery pack and descends about 300 feet into the old mine tunnels. Colorful Welsh miners leads an extremely interesting tour of the mine.

Me in mining gear preparing to enter the mine

Later that afternoon we arrived in Cardiff where we spent the night. This was our first time to actually stop in Cardiff; it is an interesting place. The area where we stayed near Roath Park, north of the city center, has long rows of houses with no variation from street to street and from house to house. I have rarely seen such consistency. The front entry of each house was decorated with great 19th-century tile work. The tile pattern changed about every 10 houses, and that was the only variation. We had Tom and Katy on our minds as we wandered the streets of Cardiff.

David and Kris out in search of something to eat for supper --
here they find themselves for sale on Mackintosh Place

Supper was found in a good little Japanese noodle house on Albany
Road --as you can see by Kris's glow and her blowing of the soup,
the udon was steaming hot

Friday morning, we were presented with another beautiful day. We left the hostel around 9:00 and drove north through Cardiff to Castell Coch, a very picturesque castle restored during the Victorian Era in the Neo-Gothic style by Lord Bute and his architect friend, William Burgess. The "mock castle" was built on the remains of a 13th-century castle. It is a charming place, SOOOO Victorian in its decoration, and we believe it is one of Zoe's favorite Welsh castles.

Romantic Castell Coch, just north of Cardiff

We headed back up into England to the area where Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestrshire meet. This is one of the spots where the Church took root during the 1840s mission of the Twelve. We took the students to see three important sites there.

Kris, Jeff, and Hansen at the Benbow Farm pond
whereWilford Woodruff baptized many of the
United Brethren and others

Me on top of the Herefordshire Beacon, one of the
Malvern Hills --you can see the rest of the Malverns
behind me

The Gadfield Elm Chapel, the first one owned by the church
anywhere --given to the church by the United Brethren when all
but three of their number were converted by Wilford Woodruff

Kris and David at Gadfield Elm

It was a great trip and now we are waiting for Emily to arrive.

OXO

D.

I'm Feeling Bettuh

I am feeling better today, which is good because we are off on a short extended trip to Wales tomorrow. The best part about staying in was that I finished Three Cups of Tea. As you can see I have started Bill Bryson and have already laughed myself into a coughing fit. I now have the stuffy-nose-drippy-sinus-chest-cough thing going on, but the feverish aches and shivers have passed. So we went out for a while on the buses: 52 to Victoria and 24 from Victoria to Charing Cross Road. We picked up some of our pre-ordered theatre tickets. Afterward we walked along Oxford Street (the unchic part between Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus with a very different demographic than King's Road) to Marks and Spencer's where Mom went in search of a birthday outfit. She had partial success with a skirt and sweater, but still needs a top to go with the new skirt. Of course, we also picked up some M&S Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Squares.

We will post again after we return from Wales, AND the very next day we will welcome Emily and Madi -- wahoo!

OXO

D.

A Day In

Yesterday I started to feel a little throat irritation and today I have kind of a chest cold -- a possible gift from Uncle. We had planned to go out for the afternoon with the Hank Taylors and the Ringers (Uncle and Ann have gone north to the Cotswolds), but we decided it would probably be better to stay in out of the rain and try to nip this thing in the bud.

So, we have been in this afternoon napping, watching our new-carpet fuzz ball grow, and sitting by the fire reading Three Cups of Tea and drinking three cups of tea. It isn't as exciting as going out, but it has been good and hopefully and salutary.

Our new (installed just before we arrived) carpet
has been extra generous with its fibers --
we have only been saving fuzz since Maren and Gavin left

Our cool (hot) electric fire is very convincing, n'est ce pas?

I like this book, but I never seem to make and end

There is nothing quite like blackcurrant tea

More exciting reports as the adventures happen.

OXO

D.