Travelling Day – April 30, 2022

….waiting for our Uber driver

I can’t believe that our 24 day vacation has come to an end. I think the worst part of a trip is the packing. Packing for the trip and then packing again to come home.

Many people end up with more bags coming home but some how we have one bag less. I was cursing my carry on bag when we moved from Tours to Paris to London. Even with the new clothes and gifts for family and friends I managed to reorganize my packing and get everything into two bags instead of three. I’ve left my carry on bag with our son here in London.

It’s impossible to say which parts of the trip were my favourites but spending these last three and a half weeks with family has been priceless.

Now that we have one trip under our belts we are ready for more adventures. New Brunswick here we come …….not too soon……I have a marathon of painting to do before my show in July.

Ciao!

Last Minute Shopping in London

….today was our last full day in London

Tomorrow morning an Uber driver will pick us up at 8:00 am and take us to the Heathrow Airport. All week I wanted to return to Liberty so that I could browse through this amazing but expensive department store.

Today we took the Victoria South train and headed towards Oxford Circus. When we got there I wasn’t disappointed. When you first arrive you are greeted by the most wonderful flower shop attached to the Liberty store.

As you enter the store your senses are accosted by the smell of perfume and the bright colours of the fashion display that is currently featured.

I was hoping to find a nice Liberty scarf for a friend’s birthday but the sticker shock may have sent the feint of heart back onto the street. I proceeded to the elevators and headed for the floor where the Liberty fabrics were on display. I knew that on this floor I would find something that fit into my budget. I wasn’t disappointed.

Kevin was walking around the floor while I went through a bin of fabric ends. When I selected a couple of pieces he assured me there was nothing else to see. When I peaked into the next room I found plenty of things that caught my eye. At the far end of the room there were some cosy chairs so Kevin settled in while I browsed some more. He quickly engaged in conversation with a couple of middle aged American women and I could hear them laughing half way through the store.

After making a few more purchases I picked Kevin up and we made our way to the basement where the men’s wear resides.

One of the things that Kevin has wanted for many years is a Barbour coat. Sure enough they had them there but unfortunately or perhaps fortunately they didn’t have one in his size. I say fortunately because we walked over to Carnaby Street and there was a store devoted to only Barbour clothing for men.

Not only did they have Kevin’s size they also had it in the blue colour that he really wanted, The best part, however, was that it was £90 cheaper than the same coat at Liberty.

We continued to walk through Carnaby Street and throughly enjoyed being tourists.

It was a great way to end our trip. After returning to our flat we started to pack up a few things and brought some of our leftovers over to our daughter-in-law, Azadeh, and we had a couple of new picture books for Sevin. Azadeh made us a wonderful farewell dinner. Unfortunately our son, Brendan had to work late tonight. He will drop by early tomorrow morning before our Uber arrives to take us to the airport.

Good-bye London. We had a great time and hopefully we’ll be back soon.

Thursday Doors in Highbury

….close to our flat in London

Across from Highbury Fields stands a row of beautiful flats with colourful doors, some ornately trimmed and many of them have some kind of knocker on them. Some of them have the traditional lion and the more modern doors are adorned with shiny and sleek designs. The ones that I found most interesting were the dolphin door knockers.

Thanks to Dan for hosting Thursday doors over at No Facilities. https://nofacilities.com/2022/04/28/cheney-brothers-silk-mill-1/´

Thursday Trios From My Travels – April 28, 2022

A trio of flags at the V &A
A trio of church steeples in Blois

A trio of sculptures by Yin Xiuzhen at the Tate Modern in London

If you have any trios you’d like to share just copy the link from this post, copy it into your post and when I get your ping back I will be sure to comment.