Northern England

 Our first stop in Northern England was Liverpool. I was sick with a really bad cold for the rest of the trip and did not take a lot of pictures. I still enjoyed as much as possible. This is from a German U Boat museum. It was full of things we had never seen before. This sign in the station waiting for the ferry back across the river made me laugh! And you know I was sick because I did not go get some cake!

This is the only picture I have of the docks in Liverpool. Cool jellyfish, but not historically important. I am so sad I did not take a picture of where my Great Grandfather Scottern Poole immigrated from! He left Liverpool for Canada, and then came to the US. He was from Nottingham. We drove through on the way back to London and it was neat to be there.

We next went to Manchester. They have a large and well done museum about the Industrial Revolution. 

 We drove to Ecclesfield on our way back to London. Jason has an ancestor who is from here and we thought he may be buried in this churchyard. We could not find any graves as old as his would have been that were still legible. Parts of the church are over 400 years old!  Going to the rest room across the street at a local pub was an experience. I don't think I have ever been stared at in exactly the same way.

This is the UK candy feast when we got back. There are so many yummy treats there!!!!

Wales

 Northwestern Wales was so much more wild then I imagined it could be. It felt like wilderness in certain parts - high mountain passes in driving rain, forests of huge ancient hardwoods. It really was all I hoped it would be. Driving was an adventure.  Jason did his best driving a manual transmission with the wrong hand on the wrong side of the road through tiny, NARROW village lanes. We only had one little run in with a curb. I said lots of prayers and Jason tried really hard to only swear in his head. Driving got a bit easier as the days went by but I'm glad Jason was driving. I really don't think I would have been able to. Our funnest adventure was trying to find out hotel the first afternoon. We ended up an hour and half north of where we needed to be up in a sheep field! Our rental had Apple maps which was useless in rural Wales, but we didn't know that at the time! Our hotel was an old manor house.



My favorite tree on the grounds of our hotel. It is a copper birch - the underside of the leaves are green, top is red! This old tree was amazing!

Dolwyddelan Castle

The first Welsh castle we visited was pretty much in ruins. Dolwyddelan was built by Llywelyn the Great in the early 13th century.  I have read so much about Llywelyn and his castles, it was soooo fun to go here. Plus it is a self tour, kind of just out in a sheep field. You can wander and explore and climb. It was amazing!

Criccieth Castle was our next stop. It was much more intact and we wandered for a long time. It was amazing.  The drive there was crazy.

 This was the Great Room. It looks out over the ocean. So fun to climb up to the battlements - I have always wanted to!

 

 We were in Snowdonia National Park most of the time in Wales. On this hike we saw 1 other person. It was amazing! It was fun to see wild foxglove everywhere.

 

 Caernarfon castle

Huge, well maintained, some parts restored. Medieval wall and village still surround the castle which was really cool.

London Adventures

Jason and first visited the Tower of London. You can't take pictures of the royal jewels, but it was really fun to see them. This is a pic of the Tower Castle and part of the original structure.

There have been ravens at the Tower of London for hundreds of years, some superstition about if they leave the Tower will fall to it's enemies. I can't exactly remember. They were HUGE though, the biggest ravens I had ever see. 

 Tower Bridge

 We had time to walk to Buckingham Palace. We hadn't planned on it, but it ended up being so interesting. There is this huge public park for acres around the palace. We walked through this peaceful, beautiful place in the middle of busy London. It was fun!

Steam Museum in London

We spent a super interesting afternoon at this small museum that is full of antique steam engines, most of which still work. It was amazing and interesting and off the beaten path so calm and not busy.

 
Sunday Roast & super funny old rules for the tavern

The British Museum has a huge, diverse collection. I was fascinated by the ancient Assyrian art. I have never seen any. It is contemporary with the Egyptian we all all familiar with, but so different! Full of detailed, curving lines and carving. I was amazed by it.

Assyrian Winged Lion - part of pair

I love this funky Goblet! It is from the 1550's, Northern European. The shell came from the South Pacific somewhere. So crazy!

UK trip: Jen in London

Jason had the brilliant (see how British I am speaking? ;) idea that I should go to London on my own for a few days while he was on business in Sweden. Mostly to go to art museums. It was amazing! I was able to get around just fine - helps that everywhere you turn in London there is a public worker to ask questions to. Closest to our hotel was the British Library - all sorts of cool stuff you can't take photos of: Magna Carta, super old bibles, Gutenberg Bible. I had to include this picture of some of the stacks of books. You had to apply to go into the actual library ie. with a reason, etc. So I didn't do that. The house in the next pic reminded me so much of Lockwood&Co that I had to take a pic and send it to the kids at home. Of course I quickly realized just how many homes in London have roadside stairs to the basement...

Kings Crossing Station 

I did not actually see any wizards or magic, but it was still super fun to be at Platform 9 3/4!

 First night walking back to my hotel after finding an amazing local book store, I love how quintessential London this is. Old church, newish building built right up to it, red phone boxes in front.

Highlights of my art adventures

The Virgin and Child with Saints, abt 1490, Ambrogio Bergognone

This painting really spoke to me. The focus really is on the women, Christ is there, but is not the focus of the painting. It started me thinking about the history of religion and art and I realized maybe the Catholics were trying to identify the feminine divine. Originally the church had truth about women and who they could become. Maybe when that was lost the saints and worship of Mary was a form of recognizing this? 

Rachel Ruysch, Flowers in a Vase, abt 1685

I have seen lots of Flemish still lives but on this trip I fell in love with the floral ones. Maybe because I had as much time as I wanted to spend absorbing the detail. It is amazing to me and I went back again and again. I have never seen a painting exhibited by a woman artist this old but more importantly this artist includes imperfection in her paintings. Insects eating leaves, weeds, imperfect blossoms. I love how reflective this painting is of life. I bought a copy but it is so dark, the copy does not do justice to the painting at all.   

Rachel Ruysch, Flowers in a Glass Vase, 1716

 Jan Davidz de Heem, Flowers in a Glass Bottle, abt 1670

Jan van Huysum, Hollyhocks and Other Flowers, 1702

The floor of the National Gallery. There were several mosaics depicting different time periods of art. They were incredible!

This is a John Singer Sargent that I fell in love with. 

Arthur Hacker, The Annunciation, 1892

I want a copy of this! I love how Mary is depicted

Thomas Cooper Gotch, Alleluia, 1896

This reminded me of my sisters! I love the modern(ish) take on Renaissance art. I think I may need a copy of this too!

221 B Baker Street!

 
Of course recreated - but still a lot of fun!