Fandango’s One Word Challenge – Pencil

Posted on December 8, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks to Fandango for the One Word Challenge

The lowly pencil is often overlooked as a writing and/or art tool. On my recent trip to London I noticed numerous artists sketching the marble statues in the V&A gallery so I decided to try my hand at it. I frequently sketch directly with ink, pen or marker but I decided to use pencil instead.

When I first posted my sketch on the family What’s App page my son who is a curator at the museum immediately told me that I had the statue’s foot pointing in the wrong direction. I’m glad that I took a photo of the actual statue because when I went back to check, sure enough I had drawn the foot facing inward instead of outward. Not sure if it was the angle at which I was sitting but I was grateful that I used pencil. Out came the eraser and I fixed it as best I could.

London – Day 6 – Westminster Cathedral vs Westminster Abbey

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..I had no idea that they were two different churches

The main difference is that the cathedral is Roman Catholic and the Abbey is part of the Church of England. Also the cathedral is much newer. It was built in 1903 and is the largest Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. One of the things that struck us as odd about the interior of the cathedral is how dark the ceiling in the main part of the church is. According to the guide at the entrance, the ceiling is almost black because the main lighting source when it was first built consisted of candles and the soot from the them has darkened the interior. I thought that was odd, considering how wealthy the Catholic Church is but according to history churches built in the early 1900s had to be debt free before they could be consecrated. The interior of the cathedral was never completed but it was consecrated none the less in 1910.

The cathedral is built in the Byzantine style.

The Abbey on the other hand is much older. It was first constructed in 1245 and was originally Catholic. Henry VIII changed that when the Catholic Church wouldn’t grant him a divorce and he formed the Church of England. In 1560 Queen Elizabeth I re-established Westminster as a “Royal Peculiar” – a church of the Church of England responsible directly to the Sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop.

We didn’t get in line to see the inside of the Abbey but my cousin in Germany has convinced me that when we go back we need to take the tour. It sounds fascinating and worth the money. It is certainly rich in history.

In the next post I will continue with day 6 and describe our walk along the Thames River.

London Day 5 – Just the Two of Us

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….after 4 days with Mom and Papa we decided to give the girls a break

Today Kevin and I ventured out on our own while Andrea and Josie did their own thing. We got on the Tube and made our way to the Bloomsbury District of London. The Tube by the way is the name of London’s subway system because it is shaped like a tube.

The Underground is divided into nine zones: central London is covered by zone 1.
There are 11 Tube lines.
The Tube fare depends on how far you travel, time of day, and how you pay.

The Underground platforms lie anywhere from 41m to 58m below street level. The longest escalator at the Angel station is 60 m or 200 ft. long. All day long the PA system sends out PSAs warning people about the dangers on the escalators and advising commuters to keep to the right side.

The first stop we made on this day was at the British Museum. We were there in the middle of the week and so were hundreds of school children. This museum was built in 1753 and is a public institution dedicated to human history, art and culture.

Some of the objects that we saw included Japanese art forms from Manga cartoons to wood cut prints and sculptures made from clay, bronze and glass.

We also visited the Iraq display where we saw the Cyrus Cylinder.

We passed on seeing the Rosetta Stone because there was a class of children in the line ahead of us and my husband just wanted to leave at that point. We made our way across the street and decided to grab some lunch at a pub.

One of our biggest disappointments in London was the lack of independent pubs. Many of the pubs belong to a chain called Greene King and when you walk into one it is pretty obvious that it is part of the chain. It seems they all have the same menu and alcohol selection. The first one we ate in was situated across the street from the museum. The food was good but later during our trip we found it difficult to find a pub with a different menu.

Around the block from the pub we discovered this wonderful art gallery called the Contemporary Ceramic Centre. We were immediately drawn to the window by the display of Sophie Favre’s figurative sculptures. At the front and back of the gallery dozens of her animated sculptures greeted us with their human-like qualities.

These creatures certainly brought a smile to my face.

New Flower (November 30, 2018) – Orange Roses

Posted on November 30, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….the last of the roses from Queen Mary’s Garden

Thursday Doors – More From London

Posted on November 29, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….thanks to Norm for hosting Thursday Doors

All these doors are in the South Kensington area of London. The Queens Gate Lodge was owned by the Museum of Natural History and was built in 1883 to accommodate an engineer and messenger who worked at the museum. This tiny 2-bedroom house sits in Hyde Park just inside the Queen’s Gate and can be yours for a mere 6 706 000 pounds. When I first saw the sign at the gate to the house I actually thought that it belonged to the Queen. It wasn’t till I returned home and started to research the place that I discovered that the place was named after the famous gate that leads into the park and has nothing to do with Her Majesty.