Monday, September 28, 2009

London Day 3 - Afternoon

In the afternoon on Friday, we went to the Tower of London. We were tempted to take a nap beforehand, but one of our fellow travellers cautioned against it - we might never want to get up until very late! So we went ahead to do some more sightseeing, and were glad of it.

Kristin and I had read a book about The Tower prior to our journey, so had a frame of reference to draw on which made it much more interesting. Here are Scenes From The Tower:








Castle bedroom - how lovely!

Kristin by the guard



Tower raven - we got thisclose


Kristin tries her hand at archery




Kristin and me - goofing off in very heavy helmets!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

London Trip Day 3 - Our First Day In London - Morning

We arrived in London very early in the morning (their time). We had much difficulty trying to sleep on the plane. Kristin didn't even bother trying. We found out after we landed the the seats have these little drop-down thingys on the seat back so you can lean your head on them to sleep. Oh well. British Airways is a very accomodating airline. We loved their service.

We boarded our "coach" (don't you dare call it a bus!) with Nigel (Nigel - can you get a more English name?!). He was wonderful, a former policeman and now a totally fun guide. Here are some of the sights we saw:



The Classic Double-Decker Bus




Prince Albert Memorial


Buckingham Palace with Amy in the Foreground


Buckingham Fountain, with some of the others on our tour





Kristin took these shots of British phone booths. She found them charming, plus they reminded us both of the police box in the Doctor Who series (with David Tennant - we just love the episodes with him as the Doctor, but alas, did not run into him in London!):


Wednesday, September 23, 2009

London Trip Day One and Two - Stopover in New York

We arrived in New York on a Wednesday, having flown from O'Hare airport in Chicago that morning. We were travelling with Amy, who was to share a hotel room with us before we all travelled the next day to England.

We met up with Kelly and Sarah for a wonderful dinner at an Italian restaurant. Lots of talk of fashions, sewing and movies. It was so nice to get to know friends from the sewing forum, especially since Kelly was not going to London with us (She is a native New Yorker who acted as our hostess and guide in our stopover in New York). Then we walked around Times Square.

Kelly and me in Times Square


The next day we went fabric shopping at Mood Fabrics. On the way, we saw this interesting sculpture:

I felt positively Lilliputian! Like I was ready to sew buttons on Gulliver's vest!

After our shopping trip (Mood Fabrics has tons of black and white striped linen for those searching for fabric for a Titanic Boarding Suit. I would have bought some, but already have a stash of black and white stripe Boarding Suit fabrics in boxes in my basement, waiting in vain to be made up), we went to Central Park. How lovely, in all the noise and cacophony that is New York City, to find this oasis of beauty.


Kristin and me, standing on a bridge in Central Park


(Note: I have more photos, but am waiting for approval of the ladies pictured before posting them.)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

London!

Kristin and I have returned from our trip to London with the 2009 Sense & Sensibility Costume Tour. We are a bit jet-lagged and both of us are still on London time - going to bed very early, waking at the crack o' dawn. I will be posting our photos in chronological order during the next few days (can't do it all at once, too overwhelming!). So keep watching over the next few days to see the photos of our fabulous trip!