Welcome to The Mad Logophile. Here, we explore words; their origins, evolution, usage. Words are alive; they are born, they change and, sometimes, they die. They are our principal tool for communicating with one another. There are one million words in the English language yet only an estimated 171,476 words are in common current use. As a logophile, I enjoy discovering new words, using them and learning about their origins.
I'm going to go all mavericky on ya this week. I'm going to tell you about my a wonderful trip! I will even talk about words a few times. So, if you will follow me below the fold, the tour will begin... **Warning** This is very graphic-heavy. I mean LOTS of pictures!
The time zone thing is a problem when traveling Eastward. To whit; we left our house at 8:30 AM on Monday, July 13th. We arrived in London at noon on Tuesday, July 14th. There was a lay-over in Toronto and the flight is rather long, but the 8-hour time difference really did the trick. We were quite tired when we arrived, even with a short nap on the plane (I can never really sleep on planes as every little bump will wake me). But we knew if we took a nap, it would very likely make things even worse. So we took a double-decker bus tour of the city. I really like these because they acquaint you with the place and let you get your bearings. You can see which places you want to visit later. The ones you can hop on or off as you like are the best. So we saw the sights of London first from the top of the bus:
Trafalgar Square:
There is an interesting thing going on here. The plinth in the corner by the National Gallery is the place where Anthony Gormley's One & Other performance art project is happening. The green building here is the "green room" and the cherry picker is how the people get onto the plinth. We saw three different people up there. The last (on the day before we left) was our favorite:
This woman held up words (see, I told you I'd mention words) that people had sent to her. They ranged from Love to Integrity to Empathy. She was very passionate and we applauded her often.
The Houses Of Parliament
St. Paul's Cathedral
Tower Bridge
When we went over this, it really sunk in that I was in freaking LONDON!!!!
Westminster Abbey
When we finished the tour, we stumbled into the Pub that was right next to our stop (Paddington Station). It was called Dicken's Tavern and we saw locals so we knew it would be okay. Hubby had his first Guinness of the trip (on tap everywhere, of course) and we had a nice meal of Pub grub. Then we went back to our room - in a Victorian terrace house. Nothing fancy, just a room with three beds, air conditioning and a (teeny!!) bathroom. We also had Wi-Fi which pleased the teen highly. But the first night none of us used it. We all passed right out and slept like logs.
The next day we had set aside for the British Museum. Just the British Museum. We knew how big it was and how much we wanted to see. We did manage to squeeze in the Natural History Museum in the late afternoon, though. A few highlights:
The freaking Rosetta Stone!
The Temple of the Nereids
A piece of the Elgin Marbles
Statue of Aphrodite
A couple of Egyptian sarcophagi
The Sutton Hoo helm
Vishnu and Parvati
The Crystal Skull
Note it doesn't look cheesy like the one in the IJ film :D
After a brief stop for refueling, we took the Tube to the Natural History Museum. BTW, I highly recommend using the Tube when in London. It's a snap once you get into it; just grab a day-pass and go anywhere! My daughter took to it like a duck to water. So, the NHM is housed in a building built especially for it in the later 19th century. Boy, is it impressive!!
Inside are so many animals, plants, mineral, insects... it's huge and loaded with cool stuff. The dinosaurs were, of course, the first stop. They had a few audio-animatronic ones that were fun including a "teenage" T-Rex:
I enjoyed the minerals, especially this stalactite
I also have a fondness for this little guy, a kakapo
Another dinner, another Pub. This one was across from the Dickens... there were at least 5 Pubs in our vicinity. The next day we jumped on one of the buses (somehow, our ticket from the first day never got taken so we used it again.. cheating? maybe a bit, but it's not like we were freeloading there :D) and went to the Tower of London. This is a place I've wanted to see all my life. It did not disappoint.
The White Tower, which had a great display of Henry VIII's armour.
A raven that lives at the Tower. The legend goes that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, England will fall. One of their wings are clipped, just in case ;)
The Memorial on Tower Green
We did see the Crown Jewels but photography is not allowed in the room for security reasons. Let me just say that photos cannot do them justice, in any case. They are gorgeous!
After touring the Tower, we took a boat ride and saw things from the Thames. Amongst them were Tower Bridge
The Globe Theatre
and Cleopatra's Needle
Friday and Saturday were taken up with a trip to Platform 9 3/4, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Windsor Castle and our Genesis Tour of Surrey with a friend from the Genesis MB. Unfortunately, our pictures and video for these days are missing. Hopefully, they are hiding and we will find them on the drive eventually. The only stuff we have at present is this brief clip of Genesis' recording studio, The Farm, in Surrey. And a few seconds of Windsor Castle. Let me tell you, Windsor Castle is awesome, quite literally. We took the tour and then went into the church where the Queen Mum is buried next to George VI. I loved that lady and it was nice to be able to pay my respects. We also caught some Morris Dancers at the train station. Thankfully, these bits were uploaded that night.
The following day (Sunday) was our last day in London (until the day before we left on the 3rd of August). In the morning, we went to a Sci-Fi convention at Earl's Court. Yeah, yeah... a convention while you're on vacation? I hear you ask. Well, we'd seen the advert in the paper on Friday and my daughter noted that a friend of hers would be appearing. She really wanted to surprise him and since the admission was only 5 pounds, we assented. Also appearing that day were the actors who portray the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter films. So we queued up to meet them and get an autographed photo. They were very polite and quite interested in our trip. Also had no problem with being videotaped. Or taking a picture with my daughter and myself
.
Oh, and that friend my daughter wanted to surprise? She did and he was!
On Monday we said farewell to London and hopped the train to Salisbury. There, we rented the first of 2 cars and Hubby had his first experience with left-hand driving. The hardest part was shifting with his left hand. He didn't have a problem with turning into the wrong lane because every time he turned, my daughter and I would say "left." We drove a few miles to our B&B in Amesbury, dropped off our bags (we all packed very light; one 20" carry on and a bag/backpack) and took off for Stourhead. My daughter and I had seen a show about this and decided we wanted to go there. Very worth it as can be evidenced by these:
When Henry Hoare II built the gardens in the 1740's, he enveloped a small village. All the buildings are still there, including this ancient church:
The inside is lovely:
If you find yourself in Wiltshire, do yourself a favor and pay Stourhead a visit. You won't regret it.
So far, the weather had been very nice, save one thunderstorm (which waited until we'd finished for the day to get rolling). But the next day was dreary and cold. Naturally, this was the day we went to Stonehenge and Avebury. First, Stonehenge. It is, as one might expect, quite impressive. The stones are as large as one might imagine but the area itself is smaller. You can only get within 20 feet or so of the stones which is, in the long run, a good thing. We found out too late about the nightly tour amongst the stones available - next time. So, here it is:
Avebury is much more accessible, if somewhat more remote. An hour or so on small, country roads brought us to the village and circle. Some of the stones have been removed over the years for use in building; a few of the structures in town incorporate stones in their walls. The old Pub is the only one accessible by the public.
Yes, that is a thatched roof. There are still many buildings with such roofs in England. They are covered with chicken wire to hold the thatch in place. There are still people who know how to thatch and care for thatch as all old buildings must retain the original features.
Right across the road from our B&B was The George Hotel, a very old Pub and Freehouse. It was built in the 1500s. Several famous people stayed here including Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Kings George V and Edward VII.
And these kinds of places are all over. It's really quite awe-inspiring and humbling.
On to Liverpool. Some people were curious as to why we chose to visit this city as it's not on most tourist lists. But we're Beatle fans and it just sounded cool. It was. We really enjoyed it. We traveled by train again (we bought a rail pass which was SO worth it) and arrived in Liverpool in the afternoon. We immediately jumped on a double-decker bus for the city tour.
This interesting bit of artwork is called Turning The Place Over
There's a statue of John Lennon at the old Cavern Club on Matthew St. Just ignore those people blocking your view of it...
The Anglican Cathedral is the most massive in Britain
The Chinese Gate was a gift from the city of Shanghai. Liverpool has England's oldest Chinese community
And another word reference....
This is British for "raised pedestrian crossing." :D
The next day was a travel day. We didn't consider a travel day to be lost time. Watching the countryside from the train, interacting with the other riders, even changing trains and waiting on the platform was fine. This old steam engine with its old dining cars rolled through while we were so occupied;
We arrived at Holyhead, Wales in the late afternoon. We had reservations at the Travelodge... we thought. But the date had got mixed up so we found ourselves tossed out into the street by a haughty and rude clerk who refused to help us find another room or even to call us a cab. It was our first bad experience (yes, Travelodge did get an email). Thanks to the local Pub owners, we ended up in a small Pub, in a lovely old room:
The food was good, too.
The next morning we took the ferry across the Irish Sea to Dublin. There, we rented our second car. Would that we had not. The Budget office there was less than helpful. They just gave us the keys and sent us off (the fellow in Salisbury had explained where controls were, etc.)... into the Dublin afternoon traffic. Once we got on the M-road, we were to learn that the POS we'd been given was misaligned, had a bum clutch and the vent system was kaput. Hubby managed to get it to Galway, where we met up with another friend from the Genesis MB.
Galway Bay
He took us to his home, where we met his lovely wife, the one who had insisted we stay with them. They live right on Galway Bay and we spent a quiet night there, decompressing. Hubby did make the mistake of drinking whisky with Frank who, it turned out, was a Scot who'd fallen for an Irish lass and relocated to be with her. Needless to say, the Scot won. The next day we took the POS into the Budget office in Galway and told them we would not drive it back to Dublin as it was unsafe. I'm still working on getting a refund. Anyway, we took the train to Dublin and then on to Belfast. In Belfast, we met up with a friend from the Stephen King board. She had arranged for us to take a Black Taxi tour of the city. If you don't know much about "the Troubles" but are interested, this is a fantastic thing to do. The cabbie was so knowledgeable and friendly and we learned so much. If you want to watch, I will direct you to part One on YouTube (there are 16 parts because the camera software cuts each pause into one "video"). A major part of the tours are the murals.
The memorial garden is quite moving
I found myself holding back tears many times during the tour. The wall still divides parts of the city and gates close for the night in an attempt to keep the peace. There is even a wall in the cemetery, 9 feet deep! So sad. Part of the wall is used as a "message center" and the guide gave us a pen to add our messages. I wrote Yes, you can but one person who got there before us related a message we were sympathetic to:
The next day, our Belfast hosts took us to the ruins of Dundrum castle. Now THAT is what I'm talking about!
The next day we said goodbye to Belfast and thanked our friends for the good craic. We were on our way to Edinburgh... but the ferry arrived late on Scottish shores and our train had already left. We were thrown on a coach, drove along twisting, tiny road at breakneck speed and finally arrived at the next stop on the train line in time to barely get on board. I was not happy. I chose the train so I wouldn't have to deal with twisty, teeny roads. Yes, Stena line has received an email (I'm very vocal about poor service). But we did get to Edinburgh and the owner of the self-catering flat (British for "small apartment with a kitchen") kindly met us at the train station and showed us to our flat. It was one block off the Royal Mile... location, location, location! It was quite reasonable, too. We spent two days in Edinburgh and there is a lot to share about it.
Of course, we purchased our city tour bus tickets which included admission to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia. On our way to Edinburgh Castle from the bus stop, we were waylaid by The Whisky Experience. Now, Hubby is quite a whisky aficionado so this was a must. At the end of the tour, we got to taste. I only had a sip since I'm not a big whisky drinker but Hubby enjoyed his very much. We even got to keep the souvenir glasses!
Next up, Edinburgh Castle. Quite a forbidding place on its crag. The oldest building here is the Chapel of St. Margaret, built in the 11th century:
The 15th century Royal apartments. The Scottish "crown jewels" are kept here. Again, no photos allowed. Seeing the Stone of Scone was pretty darn cool, too.
The 17th century Great Hall
The dungeons. Many prisoners were kept here, including a few from our own Revolution
Back down the hill and onto the bus...
St. Giles cathedral
The Burns Memorial
The back of the Scottish Parliament building. These are "thinking pods", and each MOSP has one they can retreat to and, hopefully, think about issues. We could use some of these in Washington!
Arthur's Seat is a bluff above the city, next to the Salisbury Crags. You can walk up here but I'll pass, thanks.
On the Royal Mile, we found an interesting structure...
Nobody answered the knocking so either he wasn't in or it wasn't the thing we thought it was ;)
That night, we took a tour down into Mary King's Close. Photos were not allowed here, unfortunately. It is rumored to be haunted and I admit, I definitely felt a few presences.
The next day we immersed ourselves in Royalty. First, we visited Holyrood Palace, a Royal residence dating back to the 12th century. We just missed the Queen; she'd been there the first week in July for the annual Garden Party. It's okay, I didn't have anything nice enough to wear anyway. ;)
Mary, Queen of Scots lived here and her rooms are a highlight of the tour. This is another "no pictures" area, at least inside. But outside, there was the old monastery which was the original building on this site. It is beautiful:
From there, we went to the harbour and visited the Britannia. What a wonderful ship. I understand why the Queen was so upset at giving it up, but she knew it was necessary. It is just gorgeous and in perfect shape... ship-shape, you might say.
The Grand Salon
The State Dining Room
The Queen's bedroom
The Sun Room
Boy, sailing around on that ship would be a wonderful experience. It was enough, though, to wander around her decks and daydream. :)
That evening, we met up with our tour guide and headed off to Greyfriar's Kirkyard, where we were to meet the MacKenzie Poltergeist. The tour was appropriately creepy and funny in equal parts. Our guide, Fred, was terrific and a wonderful storyteller. He was cute as could be, too. He reminded my daughter and me of David Tenant a bit. Ask for him if you want to take this tour. He also does the Cities of the Underworld Tour.
The next day we headed to Yorkshire. Our B&B was in a small town called Pickering, which is the western terminus of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. It's a heritage railway, with steam engines and old, classic cars.
We even got to sit in a compartment
Part of the route it runs is shown in the Harry Potter films as the route to Hogwarts. One station along the route stands in for Hogsmeade:
The actual destination is a small seaside town called Whitby. Those of you who have read Dracula may recognize the name; it's where the ship bearing the Count made landfall in England. It's quite picturesque:
Of course, we guess that this is actually Hogwarts on the hilltop but there is an enchantment on it that prevents Muggles from seeing it as it really is ;)
Our next destination was Norwich, where we met up with more friends from the Genesis MB and our daughter had an online friend who was turning 18 on the day we arrived. She went with her friend and we went with ours. We both had a lovely evening. We stayed at a beautiful old Georgian mansion with a Victorian Garden. Our view from the bed looked like this:
The Gardens are small but impressive. They reminded me of a small version of Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C.
St. John the Baptist Cathedral next door had some amazing stained glass:
Well, the trip was almost at an end but we had one more day in London. We hit a few places we'd missed the first week;
Covent Garden
Trafalgar Square on foot
Camden Town (a great place to shop!)
On Tuesday, we left for home. I was sad to leave as I'd grown quite enamoured of the whole place and of London in particular. But I was happy to get back to my own bed. I can't wait to go back and see things we missed this time.
One word about language. Okay, a few words... we heard native speakers of Welsh and Irish Gaelic. Welsh is quite a soft language, very "tongue-y". Of course, the speakers were all drunk at the time which may have influenced how it sounded. The Irish is very musical. In both Wales and Ireland, the signs are in the native language and in English. Like these in Wales:
and in Ireland:
I didn't take these pictures but they illustrate it quite well. Even the train announcements were in Irish and they came before the English. As is right in Ireland, I suppose. ;)
So that's my trip. Thank you for indulging me and letting me share with you. next week, back to business. I believe that words about words had won the poll. So send me some if you feel so inclined.