Day 14

Having already trotted around Stratford, we decided a more focused event was need today. We did what all travellers to England need to do at least once: visit a castle. Warwick Castle was just 15 minutes by car (drat, by car!) so off we went. No life or limb was lost en route - a good start to the day. Warwick Castle is ancient, built by William the
Conqueror just after the Battle of Hastings and modified over the years. It's the quintessential castle with fortified walls, towers, a moat (minus water), dungeon (now that was really chilling), and a grand, elaborate manor home. Madame Tussaud's owns it apparently and there is a bit of a touristy feel to it but you can still roam about and have your own experience there. The electrical generator at the mill on the Avon along one side of the castle was especially interesting.

After lunch at Thomas Oken tea house built in the 1500s, we went back to Wilmcote for a nap and, before supper, a lovely walk trough the pastures around the village. I convince

d some horses to let me pet them and managed to dissuade one of the foals from eat

ing my sleeve.

At supper in the local pub, Paula recounted a cooking TV show in which she misunderstood the chef to say "balls" instead of "bowls", leading her and me to shriek with laughter till we cried - you had to be there.

Day 13

Another sumptuous breakfast in Bisley at Nation House. We set off on a touristy, travel day to see the nearby, larger town of Cirencester and to make our way north to Stratford-on-Avon. Of course, this involved driving. Actually, the roundabouts were making more sense and staying on the other side of the road, while not natural, was at least more frequent.

Cirencester is one of the oldest Roman towns in England and was one of the biggest and most prosperous. Today, townsfolk have built a lovely museum of p

re-Roman, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon history of the town and area. That made for an interesting hour (I especially liked the Roman tile work extracted from ancient local homes) and afterwards we dawdled in the little stores in town of which there are many. Rather than tolerating generic, multinational stores like the Gap, etc,. Cirencester nurtures little craft shops owned and operated locally, many selling objects made from local materials. I thought it had similarities to Granville Island. After a light lunch it was back on the road.

Feeling more confident that loss of life was diminishing as a risk, the trip to Stratford was pleasantly uneventful. The landscape became flatter and a little less quaint. After finding our B&B, Larkrise Cottage, in Wilmcote, we walked the 3 mile tow path along the Avon canal into town. Canal boats ply this canal carrying travellers on slow and relaxed vacations.

We met a couple who had to retrace their canal journey back to the Avon River as they found their boat was too wide for one of the locks. They got stuck and narrowly avoided an elaborate extraction of their 1 day old boat. Stratford itself is obsessed with Shakespeare, leading to painful shop names like Much Ado About Toys. We know now that we're not really thrilled about wandering around towns without an aim. Had supper at a very nice restaurant and discovered the joys of Pimm's. Long walk back home and to sleep. Overall, as Jayme said of Stratford, "it's not Bisley but it's very nice." The south Cotswolds have set a very high standard for us.

Day 12

Breakfasted on an immense meal of eggs, sausage, poached tomatoes and portobello mushrooms with cereal, yogurt, and the fixings. That stood us in good stead because we did a very big walk, about 8 hours. The public pathways are quite incredible: hidden valleys, dark woods, fields of horses, cows, or sheep; vistas of distant church spires and villages. Absolutely charming and completely "English". We walked west from Bisley, through the dew damp fields and drier woods to Slad, then north to Painswick for lunch in a courtyard at a pub. After that spent ages crisscrossing the same field to find our way to Sheepscombe. Funny thing about the English: they refuse to look at your map so you'll know where you are. Instead they point and say "just go down here a while, cross the stream, take the second path to woods, and, once the pasture gets a bit scruffy, go to the left and [on and on...]". Friendly but maddening.

We did make it to Sheepscombe and eventually back to Bisely. It was somewhat arduous but a real joy. One special moment was watching racehorses being exercised as a group by running up a steep hill across a small valley from us. Others: the sunshine, the yew trees in Painswick, almost bonking Jayme with a surprisingly well thrown crab apple, so many partridge in the brush that it sounded like the noise of rushing creeks on either side of us in the woods.

Home to supper at the Stirrup Cup pub and a deep sleep under soft quilts.

Day 11

Ever driven in England? Well, I hadn't until today. Mother of god, what an experience! We made it to the wee village of Bisley in the Cotswolds in spite of stalling a few times, various wrong turns, rubbing the curb are a good clip (a bit of cash there, I figure), turning onto roads into the wrong lane... whew, what a trip. Jayme was a stellar navigator. Paula and Jenna politely white knuckled in silence.

Bisley is lovely with its stone houses, narrow streets and friendly townsfolk. We're at a very comfortable, quaint, and cosy B&B called Nation House described as "three cottages were knocked together to create this wisteria-clad, listed village house, now a terrific B&B. Beams are exposed, walls are pale and hung with prints, floors are close-carpeted, the sitting room is formally cosy and quiet. Smart, comfortable bedrooms have patchwork quilts, low beams and padded seats at lattice windows." We tramped through open fields, small roads, and wooded paths in the hills and dales around the village in the afternoon, supper at The Bear Pub built in the 1600s. Tomorrow - a big, big walk!! Lovely weather and more sun for tomorrow.

Day 10

Left London by train (cheap! 10 GBP each) and passed by Erno Goldfinger's Trellick Tower. I missed a tour of it during Open House but, really, a glimpse via a speeding train is probably plenty... and safer - that harsh degree of Brutalism could hurt.

Landed in Oxford noonish. B&B was OK - nothing over the top but functional with kind proprietors. Walked into the town via a walkway in the Thames, passing house barges and rowing boats. Lunch at a Lebanese place on the river. A walk through Oxford was not especially thrilling and we were pretty aimless. Walking seemed more directed so we headed to the Thames again. After an hour of Karen misdirecting the troops, Paula et al headed back to the B&B. I continued for a while further. We suppered at a place I had scoped out along my walk, The Punter. Excellent, sophisticated menu with heavenly desserts (Eton mess). Jenna and I had great sleeps and nice showers. Paula and Jayme had a lumpy bed and an uncomfortable shower. That was Oxford.

Day 8

Cayleih left for Seattle today. Jayme brought her to the airport without a hitch. Paula and Jenna scoured Harrod's for something, anything, affordable and lunched in Kensington Gardens. At least until the pigeons became a bit much. They took it easy for the rest of the day: watched a current (!) BBC show of Merlin on the web and rested.

Today's the final day of the 2-day Open House event. I wanted to try a new neighbourhood so drew up a plan to explore events in Southwark. Ended up doing London City Hall, Pioneer Health Centre, Blue Fin Building and Tate Modern Phase 2.

London City Hall acts like a civic corporate headquarters. The view from the top and the spiral staircase were fun.

The Pioneer Health Centre (aka the Peckham Health Centre) was very exciting. In the 1930s, an innovative group of socially concerned architects and progressive health care providers promoted the idea that preventative medicine through good food, active lifestyles and fresh air could positively affect peoples lives, especially the inner city working poor. While overshadowed by Berthold Lubetkin's Finsbury Health Centre, the Pioneer Health centre is a lovely example of Modernist architecture. Called by Walter Gropius "an oasis of glass on a desert of brick" the building has a radically different appearance from neighboring yellow and cream colored row homes. Fine lines of black steel against swathes of white walls of dense concrete (requiring diamond drills for a late 20th century conversion to condos), floor to ceiling windows, an internal swimming pool under a glass roof, and a gently flexing face to the south elevation mark this building as a simplier sister to Gropius' Bauhaus building. Current condo residents suffer from the intense solar gain and heat loss through the huge single paned windows but declare this tolerable in the face of the rare opportunity of living in a classic, historically significant Modernist building.

After grabbing a train by accident and not the tube but making it back to The City anyway (via the monstrous, empty, and utterly forlorn Battersea Power Station), the Blue Fin Building was next. Basically, I was so hungry, I was thrilled to find out I was 24 hours and 10 minutes late for the architect's talk. I spent my time more wisely by going to the 11 floor and having a lovely salad lunch with a panoramic view of the Tate, St. Paul's the Thames, Canary Wharf and the rest of the city.

While I had thought I'd skip the Tate Modern based on the crowds we faced during a fast run through last Monday, I went anyway, refreshed from my respite. I started with listening outside to a lovely architect from Herzog and de Meuron describe the Phase 2 expansion of the TM. Inside, skipped along quickly to pause at a few works: several Miro paintings, Alexander Calder's T and Swallow sculpture, Magdalena Abakanowicz's fiber art, Francis Bacon's triptych of George Dyer, Boccioni's Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, etc. Hoped to see some Lucian Freud but none were on display.

Home again and Paula and Jayme kindly brought in supper of sandwiches, pizza and beer. We're all set for Oxford tomorrow by train. The Foot Smell Police left with Cayleih so Jayme's in the clear.

Day 7

First day of London's Open House event. I hadn't had the wherewithal to plan an agenda for these 2 days until last night although I had booked a tour of the London Library for mid-day. As the Library is at St. James' Square, I sketched out a route through The City to the south. Hit some real duds initially ("Roman Baths" which is a Tudor brick tub in a basement and an interminable tour of a boat with too many boat models and an enthusiastic guide). Paula et al. very sensibly headed on their own way to get Lion King tickets.

I actually saw a new school expansion earlier in the morning while Paula et al. had a leisurely breakfast at the apartment. The architectural firm drmm has made a bright, cheerful and child-friendly addition to the Clapham Manor Primary School. I had hoped to meet one of the architects at the firm, Michael Spooner, a friend of my most excellent former post-doctoral supervisor, David Severson, but Michael apparently was attending a different Open House event. Nevertheless, the school addition, short-listed for the RIBA Sterling Prize, was a treat as was the tour lead by the school's director and the architect from drmm.

The fun had just begun for me though - the London Library was the perfect nexus of two things I love: libraries and architecture. Truly exciting: a library that clearly takes pride in its excellent collection and service, and a superb building built in the 19th century and recently brought into the 21st. The architect was with us on the tour lead by Health O'Neill, Head of Reader Services, and I tried to ask as many questions of both will trying to avoid sounding like a library nerd or an architecture nob. Failed on both counts. This summary doesn't do the building justice but here goes: a 1890s library is renovated in a rich, sympathetic manner that brings the strong steel and woodwork and deep carpeting and high ceilings into a modern groove. Spaces are opened, steel stairs have exposed welds and bolts like the old framing and stacks, steel panels are given a patina to complement the old walls, and so on. No clash between old and new here; instead, it is an understated burnishing of the old into a sturdy yet refined new. The architect said he was clearly guided by the historical appearance of the place but influenced also but many buildings and people, including the Savoy Grand Hotel in New York and London's Royal Academies library for their dark opulence. The London Evening Standard gives a description of the renovation here. The pictures at this link are inadequate but they're all I could find: The London Library Development Project.

More cool things about the London Library: anyone can be a member of this independent, private library. Just pay the subscription or spend the day for £10, and sit in a seat earlier warmed by Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, George Elliot and many more.

Supper in a nearby pub and then off to join the 100s exploring the post-modern car wreck known as Lloyd's of London. It's London's answer to the Pompideau, and is sufficiently over the top to be fun to look at and wander around in. Nice view from 11th floor. Got a personalized lecture on brokers and underwriting from, David, a Lloyd's employee.


Home for a night in while the Mackay's hit The Strand for the Lion King. They reported that the it was a very good production - not the best they've seen but still very entertaining. Overall rating of the four plays on the Jenna Scale:

1. Wicked
2. Lion King
3. The War Horse
4. Billy Elliott

Day 6

On Friday, we avoided all things papal, jumped in a boat and headed down the Thames. Landed in Greenwich but not before passing a bunch of buildings described in my Contemporary Architecture of London book. Considering Canary Wharf, Millennium Dome, etc. are located in otherwise desolate environs, the water was the best way to see them. Quite liked the Quantum Cloud sculpture by Antony Gormley (design and analysis here) that, depending on you angle of view, displays a human figure. Waltzed around Greenwich and tried to track down mention of Jayme's relative who was involved in determining a method for longitude calculation at the Royal Observatory - no luck. On to the Thames Barrier and home for an early supper (deeply hypoglycemic since missed lunch) and we accidentally dug into a dish of chicken kidneys - not bad actually. Saw the play "The War Horse" that evening. We all had mixed feelings: strikingly effective and affecting life-sized horse (and goose) puppets but uneven acting and a storyline that, while eternally true (war is bad), isn't novel. Looks like the Guardian concurs.

Jayme didn't washed his feet before the play.
It doesn't seem to rain much in London.
British people are very friendly. One woman walked out of her office and down the street to point out the building I wanted.
Warm, flat beer tastes just like that.

Day 5

That little French restaurant is such a delightful way to start the day. We pull together 2 little tables, order on the large side from one of a series of French waitresses, and indulge in lovely eggs Benedict (not necessarily with a nod to the current big wig visitor) or granola and yogurt, or pancakes. They're getting familiar with us - feels nice. It also reminds me of France and reminds me of how much I love the French language and want to gain some sort of facility with it. In time...

THEN: an architectural smorgasbord of a day!
Walked through the K and H parks to John Soane's house in Bloomsbury. Fascinating to think of someone creating and then occupying such a place. Three Georgian houses merged together, a basement crammed with Greco-Roman fragments, a sarcophagus and Gothic bric-a-brac - a monk's cellar. Upstairs is increasingly lighter but still full of bits and pieces of buildings and art like a tectonic funhouse.

On to the British Museum to gawk at Norman Foster's elegant, airy, white, expansive and welcoming Great Court. Saw the spoils of the British imperial romp through the treasure troves of the Empire, e.g., Parthenon marbles. Saw my first in-the-flesh Charles Rennie McIntosh designs, e.g., a lovely clock and candlesticks in an early type of plastic.

Paula et al reasonably went back to Kensington for a nap and I skipped up the streets of Bloomsbury to see the University College Institute of Cancer Studies curtain of orange louvers, the marvelous and gigantic hanging sculpture by Thomas Heatherwick displayed in the most awkward spot so as to be practically unviewable, and then to Euston Road for the British Library and St. Pancreas Station.

The Library, like the McIntosh objects, made me feel breathless. The Library's paean to Alvar Aalto is commendable. A hair's breath "more" than the spareness of Aalto but still clean, balanced between curved and linear, white and wood. Very beautiful in an understated way - a successful library space in the way it welcomes with some grandeur while avoiding intimidation.

St. Pancreas' hotel is being rejuvenated! I had no idea. After languishing empty and pointless for decades and decades, it's coming back to a neo Neo-Gothic life as a hotel and apartments, with some of the rooms and much of the common space apparently to be carefully preserved. This is a happy thing.

Exellent Italian meal down the street in Kensington. Again, Jayme mercifully washed his feet beforehand.

Day 4

OK, am officially out of synch - this is Day 4 and I've forgotten Day 3. I'm sure it was a great time. Right... it involved the Victoria and Albert Museum and picking up theatre tickets. The architecture room at V&A was more educational than creative/artistic. Saw original plans and drawings by Palladin, Nash, Sloane, Lloyd Wright, Gilbert Scott, etc. Glass section was quite good but the impact of the Tacoma Museum of Glass is more thrilling.

By the way, saw Billy Elliot last night - pretty weak in general but talented namesake. Today, we tossed a red frisbee at the Jean Nouvel pavillion at the Serpentine Gallery. Wwalked again through the K, H, St. J Parks to Westminster Bridge and took the Millenium Eye for a 1/2 hour eye feast. Walked back home and all are napping in preparation for "Wicked" at Apollo Theatre. Lovely day: sun, clouds, breezy. [back from the play now - what a spectacle! Very entertaining]

Jayme had to wash his feet 'cause they smelled so bad at the dinner table.

Day 2

Brilliant brekkie at French cafe, Patisserie Valerie (http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk). Walked 15. 5 km to see the highlights as a way of convincing ourselves that we were really here: Kensington Gardens, Serpentine Gallry and Jean Nouvel's pavillion, Hyde Park, Buck House, Westminster Abby, Houses of Parliamen, Westminster Bridge, the Eye, Tate Modern, Globe, City Hall, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, and back home.

Day 1

Landed at noonish. Found apartment in Kensington near Kensington Palace and waited for Paula et al to arrive.

They made it 2 hours later, a bit frazz
led and tired. After naps, we walked in the parks and had supper of lovely fish and chips. Bed by 8 pm.

Strange street signs - what have we gotten into?