Another Rainy Day in London

Ann arranged to meet a friend in London today to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood and invited me to come along. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the museum and then we parted company; Ann and her friend to go out for lunch and me to wander around on my own. We agreed to meet up at Waterloo station at 5:00 to return to Hook.

The museum was interesting, but Ann and I discussed it on the train on the way home and came up with plenty of ways to make it more interesting. Our ideas would probably cost a fortune, but we thought they were good ideas! The museum just didn't seem as fun or interactive as it could have been, although it was a lot of fun to see all the old toys.

My favourite display was about a family with five children who had a collection of teddy bears. They named them, took photos of them, drew pictures of them, made a scrapbook about them, and took them on vacation with the family. I loved the variety of the bears, the sweet names they gave them, and the copious amount of love showered on the bears. Reminded me of my cousin, Christa, and "Teddy".

My favourite display at the museum.
(The photo hanging on the wall isn't connected to the family.)

There was a selection of dolls made out of wax. Creepiest things ever!

Doll with a wax face.

An original Mickey Mouse toy.

Action Man.

Lindsay, you're right - clowns are horrifyingly creepy.

I really wanted to play with this magnetic hair toy.

The white dress: 1812-1815
The blue dress: 1855

There were several dolls with shifty eyes.
Confused me and amused me.

There were quite a few doll's houses - amazing amount of detail.

More museum photos: Link Here

When I left the museum I caught the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral (probably most well-known back home as the location of Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding). I want to go back again later as you can pay to go inside and gain access to the tower to get an aerial view of London, but the tower is closed for renovations until March.

As an aside, I still hate riding buses (How am I supposed to know when to get off the bus if I've never been in that part of town before? Why can't each stop be posted on a screen like on the train? Is there some trick I don't know about?) but I love riding on the tube. The first description that comes to mind is that it's like being inside a video game. Must be something about the winding tunnels and the bright colours used to indicate the different lines.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

I walked from St. Paul's Cathedral down towards the river and followed the walkway along the River Thames toward Tower Bridge. I passed a large building with fabulous wind vanes with fish on top. As I was shooting a photo, a man who had just walked past called out, "That's the old fish market. It's now down on the other side of the river." I was surprised to get the quick history lesson and I really appreciated the information as it gave me an opportunity to look it up and find out more about the site when I got home. It's called Old Billingsgate Market.

Aha! Something just clicked!

From Kensington to Billingsgate
One hears the restless cries!
From ev'ry corner of the land:
'Womankind, arise!'
- from the song Sister Suffragette, in Mary Poppins

Old Billingsgate Market weather vane.

One of the things I really wanted to do while living here was view and photograph the iconic image of the Tower Bridge.

Me and Tower Bridge.
No, it's not called London Bridge (London Bridge is just a normal, boring, flat bridge).

Tower Bridge.

I love taking a minute to stop walking, look up, and check out the details.

A view from Tower Bridge of the Tower of London (it's that whole castle-looking area) near the north end of the bridge. A few hours are needed to visit the site so I'm saving it for another day, though I enjoyed walking in front of it along the Thames. Anybody know what the big bullet-shaped building is?

Tower of London.

Tower Bridge.
I really wanted to jump the fence and get a shot right from the middle of the street, but the bridge is too busy so I had to be content with just leaning over the railing.

As I was walking across the bridge the sun was setting, creating a beautiful pink sky reflecting on the glass buildings. I had one of those moments that hits me and makes me think, "I can't believe I'm really living here." I took a few minutes to lean on the railing and just be still and appreciate where I am in life. Not think ahead to where I want to be some day... just appreciate where God has put me now. I need to do that more often.


I arrived at the train station early so I decided to finally succumb to my ongoing temptation to hand over way too much cash and buy a Tazo Chai Latte at Starbucks.

A delicious Tazo Chai Latte with vanilla, cinnamon, and chocolate sprinkled on top.