London 4

This was our last day in London, but we did not have a flight until later in the afternoon. I was on my own for the morning so I decided to spend that morning in the National Gallery.

I got there before the museum opened though, and so I strolled around Trafalgar square for a bit taking in the sites. (I'll admit to it raining a little this morning.)

St Martins-in-the-Field

There are four plinths in Trafalgar Square, the statue that was to go on the fourth plinth was never finished, so now the plinth is used to display different artistic pieces. Hence the blue rooster.

Art on the fourth plinth 

You can't tell from this picture but this is one of four Lion's at the base of Nelson's column, these lions are massive. Sitting at one of the lion's feet was a young woman putting on ballerina shoes while a friend took a picture. It was enchanting and I wish I knew the back story or had the courage to take a photo myself.

One of the lion at the base of Nelson's column

My first trip to London (and really the only time I had spent any time in the city) was when I was 13 years old. I really did not remember much about that trip, including the fact that I had already been to the National Gallery before. The memories came flooding back to me as I entered the galleries that hold the impressionistic paintings. There I remember my mom (who majored in art) showing me the works of Monet, Van Gogh, Pissaro, Degas etc. and showing me how to first look at the painting up close and then cross the room to look again to see the magic of the painting coming together. This is the museum  that sparked my love for impressionism. A beautiful memory.

Fountain and National Gallery

All to soon it was lunch time and I made my Picadilly Circus to meet my husband and a friend of his for lunch.

Unbelievably, we had some excellent Mexican food. It was wonderful to catch up with Javi's friend, and all too soon it was time for him to go back to work. So we made our way back to the hotel room, snapping photos and looking through book stores on the way.

The theater district and China Town touch, or are melded (never did find out which). There was a wonderful mix of pubs, theater signs and beautiful buildings.

I know that I could live here. I loved every minute of my time in London.

London 3 - Embrace the chaos

This was the day when my DH was in a conference to well into the night, so I explored on my own. Exploring a foreign city on your own should be something that everyone does at least once. At least when I do it, it is a time of great self-reflection and self-discovery. 

It can be very scary to be surrounded by the unknown and unfamiliar (which is why you look both ways 5 or six times and then RUN when you are crossing the street in England). It is very confidence building to know you transverse foreign cities in stride (or at least pretend to).

This day, will be a day I long remember. It was one of those days where you discover the truths right in front of your face, when you learn where you need to make the changes in your attitude. A day, where I learned that you have to "Embrace the Chaos" - but more on that later

The first thing I did was something I did not do when I first went to London (when I was 13 years old), and that is to visit Buckingham Palace and St James Park. 

Canada gates

At around 10am the sky cleared in it was a magnificent day.

Canada gates

 Basically I did not have a plan. There are so many thing to see in London that I decided that any one of would be splendid and walked around the palace and the parks surrounding it.

Old Buck house

The royal gates, unicorn and all

Duck pond St James park

I sat in front of the duck pond on a bench in the sunlight and knitted for a while while checking my email. It was very relaxing, travel is more relaxing if ever so often you take the time to breathe. But soon it was time to meet my lunch date in Convent Garden, so I started walking back to the underground. On the way, I past this building and did the touristy thing and snapped a photo because the Royal guards were in front. (You can't do that at the Palace, they are way behind the gate at the Palace.)

St James palace - clock tower house

A marvelous building

One of advantages/disadvantages of being an expat is that your fellow expat friends are always moving. It is am obvious disadvantage if they move away, but sometimes while you travel you can reconnect with them. A friend of mine, who I wish I knew better, just recently moved to London and she was able to meet up with me for lunch and a spot of bead shopping. We met in Covent Garden which is a beautiful neighborhood (although not very garden-y) but I was too busy chatting to get photos. The bead store was fabulous and huge so I will post this image taken from their site and link to their website. 

Then we meandered our way into China town for lunch. Lunch was just what I needed. The food was good but the conversation was priceless. The thing is, that most of the expats I know in Madrid are either younger than me (more energy and optimism) or are busy with their children. Being able to talk to a like-minded fellow expat my age was...amazing. She has been reflecting on the expat life a lot recently and at that lunch she gave me my new mantra: "Embrace the Chaos". She had been thinking on it, and good part of culture - is expectations about how things should be, and they should be done. What is unthinkable in one culture, can be acceptable in another culture. Even little cultural differences can make it hard to adjust to the new culture. 

Culture structures your life within your society, without that structure life can seem very chaotic and not make much sense, hence "Embrace the Chaos" being a good mantra. We all have no real idea how our lives are going to be in 5 years. Truth is, life changing events happen all the time. The trick is to figure out how to embrace the change and let it take-you-where-it-will rather than fighting it. It is the fighting for what you think is right, even though in the grand scope of thing it is not really a big deal, that uses up all your energy, that makes you feel like an outcast. Being a happy expat it a lot about letting your expectations of how things should be go, and trying the new.

After I left Adele I stopped in a John Lewis (it is a department store and they have yarn, although I did not buy any), and then made my way back to the underground and to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

I went to the V&A because it is known for housing some of the best textile and design collections in the world. Luckily, I marched right up to the information desk and asked where to find them (it is a huge museum), because...bad news...those collections are not there anymore. The good news for everyone else is that apparently there is going to be a new museum just for Textile and Design, but it is not open yet. I probably should have gone across the street to the Science museum then, but the helpful information people told me where to find that medieval textiles and I wandered up to look at tapestries, pillows, rooms of gold and clothing. What I saw was not bad, I had just been excited to see actual knitting (and a knitting lab) in a classy museum like the V&A.

London 2

The next day Javi had the morning free so we went down to the Thames' water front so see some of London's most iconic views. The Parliament building and Big Ben is that fantastic building across the river and on this side you can just see the London eye.

It was a cold brisk morning, after all it was February 18th in London in a year of great floods in the UK, but Javi was with me so I knew the weather would turn for the better. Whenever my husband goes to the UK the weather always takes a turn for the better. There is always little-to-no rain, sun, and it is always warmer. In fact if you were to go back and look at the weather reports for London the 17-20th of February you would see that it was "warm" for the first time that year during those days and the weather was horrible before and after.

We just wandered around in awe of the famous buildings and their beauty.

Here is the best shot we go of Westminster Abby, which was too big to get all in one picture from street level.

Another picture of a tower of Parliament with the union Jack flying high. You see? the sun is already coming out.

After walking around some of the more famous buildings we hunted through the streets until we found I Knit, one of London's most famous yarn shops. (Sorry to this date I have only taken one photo of a yarn shop from the front, I just never remember too.) Instead here is a lovely photo from this lovely blogger.

This was a lovely shop with some truly lovely yarn/selection, and the books! There were so many books! To get books in English in Spain is understandably difficult, and specific books, even more so. I got Knitting from the Top, a book I have always been meaning to get, and Knit Swirl. I also picked up a smattering of yarn including this truly souvenir yarn from I Knit's own hand dyed line "I Knit or Dye" (a great name or what?). As you can see I have already started knitting it up into a Gail (a small triangular lace shawl). The yarn is tonal rust with gold angelina spun into it, and it is so, very soft! The person working at the shop so so very nice and helpful, and I recommend the shop to all.

We than went to miracle that is Waitrose (just a super market chain store). The wonder of the super market is that we saw a lot of brands that I knew from the US and things which you can only get in the UK. (Please keep in mind that I have not been back to the US for basically 3 years.) Below we have: 

an oatmeal rain cookie (those exist in Spain only if you make them or find a speciality bakery). Burt's Bees lip balm (made in Durham NC were I lived last). Sourdough (oh! Sourdough you are so hard to find in Spain I never realized how I missed you so) pretzels. Finally Abbot Ale, one of the best beers I have ever had, only to be found in a small radius around Cambridge. I had lunch in the hotel room while watching the Olympics and then set out for Islington's high street (which was walking distance from the hotel).  It was a very nice walk.

As you can see the skies were clear and blue.

What is on Islington's high street, you ask? Why, Loop is!

Photo taken from their website

Having a hobby like knitting lends itself well to traveling. Yarn shops are rarely in the touristy areas and to get them you have to go into the residential areas and really see the city. Going to there shops allows you to interact more with the locals, allows you to strike up all sorts of conversations, the shopping is fun too. For those of you wondering, Loop also had very friendly and help staff and a nice selection of yarn and needles.

The walk back was magical with the way that they sun slants pink here in Europe.

London

So for a while there life got really slow and full of colds, bad weather and a general "blah" feeling. Then life was very busy with two trips, one to London, and one to Barcelona. This year seems to be shaping up to be a year of traveling in Europe! My husband has a lot of business trips this year and I am tagging along for as many as I can. Soon we will travel to Montpellier France, and in next months I will possibly be accompanying him to Bern and Prague. 

Since these trips are for business for my spouse I am finding myself wandering through these cities alone, and let me tell you, it is amazing what you can learn about yourself and others by wandering a foreign country by yourself! My last two trips were in countries where I am fairly comfortable with the language. I wonder what insights my up and coming trip to France will bring. I know only a very little of French. I am trying to fit an hour a day of French into my schedule and I am hoping that will help smooth the travel. 

I hope that all of this travel can lead to this finally being the year where we find a permanent home. Fingers crossed? 

Anyway let's go back in time... to February 17th and I will show you some sights from our first day of a four day trip to Europe's largest city.

Day one we both had most of the day together. We made our way slowly to the British Museum walking through the streets, gleefully taking pictures and try not to pass people on the wrong side. 

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a bit of an Anglophile. In Spain when when you ask people who have traveled to the US "What was it like?" they usually answer with "it was just like the movies!" I feel the same way about England. The streets, the houses, the pubs, the chimneys really do look like your favorite movie or series.  

This park:

Had this sign. Which of course made me immediately want to go in, even though the park was not terribly exciting.

We arrived at one of the best Museums in the world (and it is free) and made our way into it's hallowed halls.

It is easy to get overwhelmed there. There are so many people and so many things to see from so many different civilizations.  We went immediately up to the Egyptian section, and the crowds were unreal. So we retreated back to the first floor, saw some middle eastern art. Then we left for some lunch and a rest and came back to see the statues. Here is when we finally had the courage to take out the camera. Does any one else still feel badly about taking photos in a museum (without flash)? Or does this date me?

The Babylonian section was awe inducing and also very gory, especially if you are a lion.

Next: pieces from the Parthenon 

 I want to say these were Turkish? But I was getting over whelmed by the sheer size, beauty, information of the museum at this point...

...As you can tell by this picture of me goofing off. 

(Posting this is going to end up being a mistake and will be the only image google will show of me when people look for Kaystir.)

 The real Rosetta stone was hard to see for the crowds, but there is a replica in their "Enlightenment room" - which you can even touch!

We came out around dusk and wandered down to China town for a bite to eat.