Suttons Go To London

http://www.suttonsbayarea.com/

Who knows, with only 589 people living there, it shouldn’t be too hard to take it over…

We were inspired to do a little in-country travel today, so we took the train out to Windsor to visit Windosr Castle. The Castle is the largest (484000 sq ft) inhabited castle in the world, and the oldest in continuous occupation (over 900 years).

Windsor itself was very picturesque - it is a quaint little town with tons of little old houses and pubs. The great thing about Windsor is that usually when we visit an historic site it involves a long trek up a mountainside, but this time the train dropped us off at the doorstep of the castle.

Since we got a bit of a late start, we got inside 5 minutes before they closed St. George’s Chapel at 1pm. I am really glad we did because it was the highlight of the visit, The chapel is the home of the Royal Order of the Garter, which is an order of chivalry (knighthood). If you really want to know all about the order, I’m sure you can look it up on Wikipedia. The chapel itself was Gothic in style - it reminded me a little of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona because of the soaring beams inside that were designed to look like they were growing from the ground to the roof. The floor of the building is scattered with the tombs of the royal family, dating back to the 1400s. Unfortunately, no photos allowed in the chapel, so you will just have to use your imagination.

After the Chapel we visited Queen Mary’s Dollhouse. The house was built in 1924 as a birthday gift from the Princess to the Queen. The whole thing is an amazing 12:1 replication of a working manor house. Everything within the house is not only miniature, but it is all “real,” meaning it has electricity, running water, the little books in the library are all real books, the grandfather clock actually chimes on the hour, and the paintings are original miniatures painted by the original artists just for this purpose. The even had little chamber pots under the beds!Check out this website if you want to see photos from inside the dollhouse.

http://www.victorianstation.com/interior.html

Then it was on the state apartments, which have about 18 dining rooms. Seriously… these people must do a lot of entertaining. I think the best part of the day was when we were viewing an enormous collection of the royal porcelain, which included all these different sets of dishes, and Michael proclaimed that he has seen stuff just like this at the Dollar Store in Phoenix, and he couldn’t tell the difference.

Ok… maybe I go a TINY bit overboard with the planning somtimes, but I have a really good excuse. You see, last February, I was put in charge of planning the itinerary for our Spain trip. And I might have messed a few very small parts up (such as any directions to anything whatsoever). After getting lost 18 times, Michael became very mildly annoyed one evening after we trekked through Sevilla for 90 minutes trying to find a hotel that ended up being 50 meters from our start point. No one can accuse me of not learning my lesson, however, I may be overcompensating just a bit now. For example, I had a clear plastic “pocket” for each day of our trip. The pocket contained such things as detailed directions, hotel and ferry reservations, area restaurants, etc. The average pocket had about 20 pages in it.

Everything was going along just fine until the day I proudly presented Michael with our 11 page itinerary for the day (which included a 5 1/2 hour self guided walking tour). I captured his response below:

(tip of the cap to Melanie)

Jen and I and the Pope. That’s right. We took on the country of 900 people and so much artwork that they put it on the ceiling…

First, I’d like to say that the Sistine Chapel was all that it was cracked up to be. Anybody who would paint standing up, looking up 18 hours a day for 4 years gets major props, but then to see it was pretty spectacular. There were no pictures allowed in the Chapel (although it didn’t stop some ding dongs) because Nippon has exclusive rights to all photos of it (they paid 5m+ for restoration) so I can’t show you anything I took of it. Instead I will use this guy’s…

As you can see, this photo is a collage/panorama of photos that show not only the ceiling but the front wall which is also done by Michelangelo and called “The Final Judgment” (the bottom of the photo with the blue background). I could write a paper on all the cool things, but I will leave it at this, who ever thinks old art is boring, should read up. A few nuggets:

Vatican City is defended by the Swiss Guard. They are pretty much show as they are armed with swords only and dressed like the Trix Bunny got hold of them. Either way, everyone seems to feel the need to photograph them, and, when in Rome…

Something stunning about the Vatican was that while it has so much art work in it that if you spent 15 seconds looking at every piece you would be there for 12 years, as you near the end (and the entrance of the Sistine Chapel) there is a collection of exceptional modern art. We didn’t have the luxury of time to look at all of it, but there were some fantastic pieces there. Even the stained glass pieces had a bit of edge to them. This piece signals the start of the real modern work.

As we’ve traveled through Europe, we’ve entered many a church and basilica. Some of them have been quite ornate or sizable or expansive, but they all paled to St. Peter’s Basilica. I think Jen summed it up best, “Good Lord!” The place is huge and it has some amazing statues in it.

My sweet sister in law made me an essay about how much she misses me.
I am posting it, and my response to it here:

Oh, How I Long For My Sister     By:  Kafaleen

I appreciate Jennifer's sassy charm and quick wit.  She makes me laugh all the time,
and I miss laughing all the time.  Ryan does a pretty good job of keeping the
laughter rolling, but there's a certain piece missing....and that piece is my
sister.  I appreciate Jennifer's fabulous cooking and baking skills!  Her apple
crisp, sugar cookies, and breakfasts are the best.  I wonder how Mother's day brunch
will turn out in May.  If there is no Jennifer, perhaps we will have to celebrate at
Butterfields.  When it comes to food, I realize how much I miss Jennifer's cooking,
and how I should never take it for granted.  Yoga seems boring and unfun.  I have
tried to go and make the best of it, but its no fun looking over to my neighbor and
seeing someone other than Jennifer.  I have lost my passion for yoga and it is all
because my sister has left me.  I appreciated her getting me involved in yoga...and
I have even lost my taste for bagels.  I appreciate Jennifer giving me beauty and
health tips.  For without her, I might be blind right now.   I guess I never
realized how much Jennifer means to me, and I hope through this short essay, she
realizes how down in the dumps life is without her and she would just pack up her
exotic London life and get back home!!

The Five Senses of A Sister     by JeniSpacePod

When I close my eyes, I see Kathleen on the couch next to me, Wii steering wheel
gripped tightly in her hand, speeding through MarioWorld. I see her grimace with
determination, then resignation, as I race by her to victory. 

When I open my mouth to talk, I am filled with the memory of a mouth full of
apple cinnamon bagel with (discontinued maple) cream cheese, which always
tasted best when it was Kathleen's turn to pay. And then I think about the
way she samples the same 18 flavors of gelato each time, just so she can get
an extra helping for free.

When I hear the garbage truck rumble down the street, my ears remember the sound
of Kathleen's crazy laugh, and it makes me smile. I also remember her "Rarrrrrrrr!"
and I tremble in fear.

When I go to sleep at night and feel the cozy blankets around me, I remember
buying Kathleen a nap set for Christmas, and how even though she says she only
uses it every other day, she probably uses it every single day. 

And when I smell flowers in the fancy / exotic gardens of London, I think
about how Kathleen always puts flowers on her holiday table. And then I
miss her some more.


Since my hard drive broke, I don't have a picture of Kathleen and
me so these geese will have to do.

Okay, so my clothes came today. I can’t believe my life fits in two boxes. Well, those and the 2 bags I brought with me on the plane.

On to sunnier news. First, it has been sunny (and chilly, but sunny!) here 5 of the last 6 days. Second, thanks Mom! We received our first care package from Minnesota and it was nice to get something in the mail although some people *cough, cough JEN* got more than others *ahhhh-chooooMEoooooo*. Oh excuse me, head cold.

Anyway Jen got some fashionable neck wear, but I’m pretty sure this one was meant for me. We also received a card box with 50 walks to do in London. Interesting, no? Those would be what I am holding in the photo. Jen is eating (of course) the Halloween candy. Also please make a note of Jen’s new teapot, Witchy Woman.

After only getting very slightly lost, we found our way to John and Joanne’s hotel. By the way, it wasn’t our fault we got very slightly lost, as apparently in Spain, you can make a complete 90 degree turn and still be going “straight” on the same road. Luckily Michael was there to figure it out because I would probably still be puzzing on the corner!

It was really good to see John and Joanne, and of course, Joanne wanted to go to Starbucks to catch up!!! Oh Joanne and her Starbucks!

We spent about an hour chatting and then headed down la Rambla; the main street in Barcelona. We saw the Cathedral, which was cool, and then headed back to do the one thing I had been dying to do… see La Boqueria, and I got my wish.  It is this incredible market with tons of fruit, veg, eggs, meats and fish, etc. But the best part was the drinks!!! They had ever kind of fruit juice you can imagine… coconut, blackberry, coconut mixed with strawberry, watermelon, orange… EVERY KIND!!! It was a pretty good deal for 2 Euros apiece… you got a lot of juice for your dollar!

It started to rain pretty heavily while we were in the market, so we ducked into a restaurant for eating and more chatting. The rain never really let up, so we tried to go to the Picasso museum, but after a harrowing cross town adventure, which involved dodging mud people and purchasing umbrellas, we discovered it was closed every Monday.

John’s face when he learned the museum was closed.

We closed out the afternoon with another 2 hour cafe session, and then headed back to our respective hotels for a little nap. Michael and I spent the evening wandering around the neighborhoods of Barcelona.

Okay so obviously, Michael has been kicking my butt in the excellent postings category (as well as putting all the photos of Barcelona on Flickr), so I will complete the boring old itinerary of the trip posting. Sigh…

Sunday morning we got up early (at least vacation early) and had the second B in B&B.  Then we headed out to see the city. It was a perfect day and we took the subway to the National Art Museum of Catalonia, which is situated on the Montijuic hill. There was a MASS of people outside the subway station and we eventually figured out that they were just finishing a marathon.It was sweaty and smelly, so we made our way through as quickly as possible!

Michael at the bottom of the staircase waterfall in front of the museum getting electrocuted.

The Museum was nice, but if I have to see one more piece of Baroque / Renaissance / etc art I am going to punch someone. I definitely appreciate that style of art, but it just doesn’t do it for me. We’ve seen a half dozen museums dedicated to 500 year old portraits of somebody’s cousin and the Glorious Madonna, and I think I’ve seen enough. Having said this, there are always one or two surprises at each museum, where despite the fact that they too are 500 year old portraits of somebody’s cousin and the Glorious Madonna, they are somehow different and exciting, so we’ll probably keep going to them!

After the museum, we headed over to the ‘92 Olympic Stadium. Michael going for the gold in lounging around:

We had a nice walk around the park and ended up at the Miro Museum. Miro is one of my favorite artists. THIS was a museum I can get behind!!! They had tons of Miro (obviously) but also quite a few Calder sculptures, including an amazing fountain that used mercury instead of water. You can see pictures of it here. They also had an exhibit put on by other artists who wanted to pay homage to Miro using art as their medium. It was really cool.

Michael was more interested in the Lego that the art.

After this we continued on to the Parc Guell. Meh… for all the hype around it, it wasn’t that great. I feel like we must have missed something because everyone says it is just the greatest… Gaudi actually designed the park, and for all his cool architecture, the park was peaceful and pretty but nothing spectacular.

After the park, Michael started staggering around saying how tired he was. Since he hadn’t slept in about 36 hours, I decided to let him have a little siesta back at the B&B. I MIGHT have had a small siesta myself… can’t really remember. When he/we got up we headed back over to Montjuic park to see the Magic Fountain, which is a spectacular display of colour, light, motion, music and water acrobatics. It took only 1 year (and 3000 workers) to build this project for the 1929 Great Universal Exhibition. Definitely worth watching.

After the water show, we were starving. I had very carefully written down directions from our hotel to a vegetarian restaurant we wanted to try. I even double checked how to get there because of my infamy with getting lost. We still go lost. But it wasn’t my fault!!! I think they changed the streets around… Michael saved the day and found a city map by the metro station and we had a lovely dinner.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday installments still to come!!!

Someone (Kristin(Jenni’s sister)), pointed out that Jennifer likes to eat a lot as witnessed by many photos that seem to be taken with her happy or smiling while eating. In lieu of that knowledge, I decided to follow her around for a few hours and photograph what she consumed. Below is what I came up with.

Jenni likes tree berries.

Jenni likes bark.

Jenni likes bush berries.

Jenni likes paper.

Jenni likes burritos.

So we set out today to go see The Cans Festival in The Tunnel on Leake Street. Basically it is a free zone for graffiti artists where they were had artists from all over the UK and Europe and even an Aussie and an American come in and do pieces in the tunnel. It was pretty cool to see some of the art and even some of the artists in action.

Whoever says Graffiti isn’t art needs to rethink that…

Then it was around the river banks and into the parks walking around. The weather here today was absolutely perfect: sunny and warm. We made sure to enjoy as much of it as we could because we keep hearing how the sun will soon be leaving us for months.

So after Jen raved and raved about the Whole Foods on Kennsington High Street we had to go check it out. Let me say this. It was as advertised. Not only did it have a huge marketplace upstairs with all sorts of food, but it had two additional floors full of groceries and a selection that could be described as spectacular and/or wow. It is the largest Whole Foods in the world. I can’t run through every last thing about it that was awesome, but I will say for example, that I really like a certain brand of fruit spread. St. Dalfour which is pretty easy to find, but most stores have a selection of 8 or so standard flavors. Well Whole Foods for the win with all 18 flavors. There were flavors I didn’t even know they made. Yes I know, but it is the simple things in life…