Going To See It All: 2020-04-26

Murals, Public Art, Sculptures..........Unnatural in Nature

I have always been in love with street art of all types. This stuff is many times really big, some bold, but there to be noticed. I love cities that support it and pay some big bucks for art that is shared with the entire world for free.

I'm putting this compilation together. Art from Mexico, Berlin, Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Florida, Boise, Idaho and all the places I've been to where I've been amazed by what I saw. Going through my photos I knew I had to include memorials. There are many war memorials, too many.

And included will be a few photos of one of my favorites, state capitols. They are public art, free, and they have workmanship like you will never see again. Such detail, beautiful materials used (old woods, marble, granite, carvings, handmade furniture). When you travel I highly recommend an hour or two to see any state capitol you are near. I've seen 46 or 47 and my goal is to see them all. You won't be disappointment if you love workmanship, quality and architecture.

Going through photos, I realized I have to include funny or unusual signs, and things that are corny that you can take your picture with. I can't pass up the put your head in the hole and be a dinosaur, or alligator. John always just groaned. I love this kind of stuff. Hope you do too.

I hope you enjoy this. I think it is rich, fun, and amazing. I don't know if I could live without art in the world.

California 2007

John, loved his family first, gold panning second

Northern Idaho 7/08

Canmore, Canada 7/08

Olympic Village, Calgary, Canada 7/08

Have to include corny things too.

Olympic Village, Calgary, Canada 7/08

Public yes, art ?

Calgary, Canada 7/08

Sculpture Garden, Punta Sur Cliff - Isla Mujeres, Mexico

9/08

Kukulcan Plaza, Cancun, Mexico

Quite a ceiling for a mall. 9/08

John got the biggest kick out of the zebra. Thought he

looked sneaky and we laughed every time we saw it.

This was at the Rainforest Cafe in Cancun, long gone 9/08

Hard Rock, Cancun 9/08

Cool sculpture, makes a nice chair.

Fun day of snorkeling at Yal-Ku, close to Akumal. One

of my favorite places in the world. 9/08

Wonderful sculptures at Yal-Ku 0/08

A beautiful sculpture. Yal-Ku 09/08

Icon for Idaho City, where Idaho was founded due to gold rush.

We always took a photo here when we had guests. 10/08

John, me and our Exchange student daughter, Cherry, from China.

Symbol of Boise, Table Top Rock with the Cross that

lights at night. You would not believe the controversy this cross

has brought. But it has stayed as it is on private land. It beams

above the city. Quite a hike up there......... 11/08

Raleigh, North Carolina 5/08

George Washington sculpture depicted as Roman General.

This was an especially beautiful capitol building. 5/08

Beautiful wood and wood work. Raleigh, NC State Capitol

5/08

2009

Isla Mujures, Mexico

Cancun

Austin, Texas Statehouse

This capitol building is number 1 out of the 46 I've seen.

An amazing work of art, don't miss it if you get to the area.

Terry's Texas Rangers Monument - 1907

Lackland AF Base, San Antonio, TX

Port Townsend, WA

Around Port Townsend, WA

Fun place, can write on and post a dollar bill on wall

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g58687-d1738760-r580489331-Fat_Smitty_s-Port_Townsend_Washington.html

Ghent, Belgium

Graffiti Street -- Ghent, Belgium

There's more, but this is a sampling.

London Week 3 & 4 - through Oct. 31, 2020

I was breaking this up weekly, but I got things together for wrong weeks/days, so it is all together now. I just can't bear going back and fixing it all.

This is such a walking city. I can't imagine owning a car, or even needing one here with the great transportation system. The climate protesters did have an impact on the subway and buses as they had to divert buses around some bridges, so that did make it a little more difficult for us. When you're on a bus and the driver makes a change announcement with a bad mic and a thick British accent one can't understand, that can be a little scary. But we have managed to get around famously.

Visiting in the Fall has been such a blessing......

We had a wonderful dinner that Julian cooked for us. Something that I'd been wanting to have for a long time -- Croque Monsieur. A lovely, rich French sandwich (knife & fork) with ham, cheeses, sauce and broiled. They were made with great care and were perfect. Thank you for the wonderful dinner. When we headed to France so did Julian the next day, back to work and reality.

So rich and delicious

Had an pretty quick trip over to Chantilly, France on October 15th. A very, very early morning to catch the train to Gare du Nord and then a train to get to Chantilly. Cheryl's friend, Vanessa, came to pick us up and drove us around showing us the area. Had a nice lunch and then we went to our rooms for the night. Next morning we walked around at a market in the rain and Vanessa came to pick us up to take us to the Chantilly Chateau and we spent several heavenly hours there. One of the most beautiful chateaus I have been to. For more details http://www.domainedechantilly.com/en/# If in Paris, highly recommend a day trip here, only about one hour away. Had lunch with Vanessa and she drove us back to the train. The short trip was worth the effort. So nice to meet Vanessa.

Saturday (Oct. 18th) we went to an photography exhibition, 50 photographers on display, in the Oxo Tower Enjoyed the photos, 4 floors filled, in this old warehouse type building. The weather was decent with partially clear sky so we decided this was a good time to try the London Eye. So we walked over and took a spin. Worth every penny. Great views and no long lines. The sky was great for photographs and we had a good time.

Visited Trafalgar Square (now empty of protesters) and enjoyed our early morning picture taking without huge crowds. We had some rain and wind and my umbrella flew into the fountain, it was sort of funny. Then we visited the National Gallery. A wondrous place one can get lost in, literally. Room after room broken down by years. Plentiful examples of each artists. A very special collection.

After the museum we made our way over for a visit to Chinatown. Some fun photo opportunities and we had lunch. A bit surprised there weren't really any fun stores, just more restaurants than you could imagine. We did enjoy looking around that entire area. Nothing special though. We actually were killing time because we were going to meet my friend I met in 2013 in Clearwater, she couch surfed at our house for 2 days. She was a Buddhist nun for 7 years and now travels around the world working with people on their meditation. She was called to do this. It was so great to see her and feel her positive spirit. We've tried to connect a time or two before, but just keep missing each other. A wonderful visit and Cheryl enjoyed her too.

Up early to get down to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. There were so many people. Luckily we found on spot left on the fence so we could get a peek in to watch and take pictures. We were on the wrong side, so missed some of it. So crowded though I'm not sure it was worth it to me. Crushing.......... but I guess if you come to London it needs to be seen. Walked through Hyde Park again and the trees are changing colors so it was very pretty.

Hyde Park

From the Palace, we walked to Harrods - the famous department store founded in 1849. Now owned by the state of Qatar. I had no idea about that, wow. The store occupies a 5-acre site and has 330 departments covering 1.1 million square feet of retail space. It is the largest department store in Europe and lays claim to having its own unique postcode, SW1X 7XL.

The store is beautiful and, of course, outrageously expensive with only the top brands. We stopped in the coffee and a croissant (with butter and jam) each and our bill was $40 U.S. So needless to say, we won't be back, but will head for Costa Coffee, or something similar. Fun to see though and we had a good time looking.

We made our trip to Liverpool on Thursday via train. I've done a separate blog for that fun day. The architecture was really stunning. Check it out if you want: http://goingtoseeitall.blogspot.com (See right hand side you can find all my other blogs - Liverpool).

The area we are staying in is called Bermondsey, which has gone through regentrification, as in the 70's and 80's it was a pretty bad area. Now it is hip and very chic. A fun place to walk around with so many great coffee shops, little cafes and art including a large scale glassblowing shop where you can watch them creating beautiful (and expensive) glass. I won't be taking any souvenirs home from there.

Bermondsey's earliest written appearance is in the Domesday Book of 1086. The area during the industrial boom of the 19th century was an extension of Bermondsey's manufacturing role in earlier eras. The area was known for processing and trading of leather and hides. You can still see warehouses called Tanner and evidence of the leather, tanning trade.

I was curious about this areas history seeing the names so had to look it up. The most interesting thing was one of the reasons they wanted the tanning business out of the City of London. Not pleasant, but I think very interesting. I can only imagine the odor

"The streets of Victorian London were surprisingly free of dog poo. The old 'muck = brass' equation found its most revolting solution in the leather trade. The process of tanning required copious amounts of excrement, colloquially known as 'pure', which leather workers would rub into the hides."
https://londonist.com › 2014/09 › a-brief-history-of-london-poo

http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/southwark/assets/histories/bermondsey

Such a busy week, with trips to Cardiff, Wales (10/22), and to Liverpool (10/24). We really got around this week. Our time is almost over and it has flown by. It has been so good. Cheryl and I have done just about perfect for spending more than a month together, a tiny blip here and there, but as great friendships are not defined by those silly things, we emerge from our trip bonded stronger than ever through all our memories. It has been great to have such a good travel partner. We have tons in common, agree on so much Thank you my dear friend for joining me on this wonderful journey.

Friday we had plans, but after a trip to Wales and one to Liverpool, both long day trips, we opted to have a stay at home, rest day. Did the wash, walked to the store, cooked some food. I think we needed a day of rest and felt better the next day for having rested.

The 26th we had a ball going to the London Oktoberfest. Live music, German food and beer. We made some friends, ate, drank and danced -- a really good time.

Our favorite, jagerschnitzel.

In the spirit, they were having a good time.

On Sunday, October 27th, we went to Hampton Court Palace. While it is still in London (at the end of it) we walked, took bus, took underground, took train and walked to get there. The Palace was not originally intended as a royal residence. It was built by Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey, minister of Henry VIII and appropriated by the King when the former failed to bring about the King's divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. King Henry VIII loved to hunt there and there are descendent deer still living on the property.

A huge palace and I think the grounds are more beautiful than the palace. This was a big place to tour and many kings spent time there. Glad we went to the effort to go see it. The day was clear with blue sky, but it was so cold. First time on the trip I had my mittens on. I should have bundled up a little more. I will tomorrow. It is starting to really cool off here and I'm not used to it.

Monday, we visited St. Paul's Cathedral. https://www.stpauls.co.uk/visits/visits A spectacular place and they have daily services. I took communion there and it was very special. Downstairs they have the crypts of many of Britain's national heroes are buried. Christopher Wren is entombed there, he was an amazing man who was the lead architect of St.. Paul's. He designed so many famous buildings and his life was so diverse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Wren.

After St. Paul's we took our boat cruise down the Thames River since it was a nice day. It was fun heading the down to a new area and seeing how they had saved and renovated the old docks. They have made wonderful condos while keeping the flavor of the olden days. We got to see the Cutty Sark sailing ship that was built in Scotland in 1863. Do you know what a "cutty sark" is? If not check it out, interesting. https://www.rmg.co.uk/cutty-sark/history/why-ships-name-cutty-Sark

On the 29th we walked through Hyde Park for our third and final time Fall was evident with the multi colored leaves and I had a sadness come over me knowing that I would be leaving London soon. While in the park we saw green parakeets that really surprised, almost shocked us. They seem to be quite common in London. There are thousands of them around the city. As I read, "you never forget your first parakeet moment."

We stopped by the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. A bit of a disappointment as the water was not fully running so the effect was not there. Nice they built this memorial, but it would have been better had they maintained it better.

Another surprise as we walked in Kensington Garden was the huge and beautiful monument that Queen Victoria had built, unveiled in 1872, in memory of her beloved Prince Albert, who died at the age of 42. He died of typhoid fever. They were married 21 years and she never got over his death. She dressed in black for the rest of her life.

Finally arriving at our destination Kensington Palace, I was happy to see where Victoria was born and lived. It was a wonderful visit, I just loved it there. I especially thought about Victoria and Albert living there with their nine children. Her life was so interesting and the PBS program I'm watching really brings her to life.

And of course, to cap our amazing day off, we had high tea reservations for Prince Albert Hall. Quite elegant and delicious. Glad we had the second high tea, both were very different and this gave us a new experience. How can I leave this place? Beautiful Hall, and walked around the round building there are many cool statutes, fountains, buildings. You can't go anywhere in London where you are not met with some surprise. It is just an amazing city.

Such a busy trip going to Bournemouth, Chantilly, France, Cardiff, Wales, Stonehenge and Bath, and Liverpool. We really got around. I'm so glad we had one central location though, highly recommended so we didn't have to lug our suitcases around, just took backpacks for short trips. The time has flown by. It has been so good. Cheryl and I have gotten along just about perfect for spending more than a month together, a tiny blip here and there, but as great friendships are not defined by those silly things, we emerge from our trip bonded stronger than ever through all our memories. It has been great to have such a good travel partner. We have tons in common, agree on so much Thank you my dear friend for joining me on this wonderful journey.

We made our trip to Liverpool on Thursday via train. I've done a separate blog for that fun day. The architecture was really stunning. Check it out if you want: http://goingtoseeitall.blogspot.com and look on the right side where all my blogs are listed.

Sort of a mish mash, but instead of perfectly breaking each item down I felt it best just to get this published. As usual, I am behind still, but London is now done.

I highly, highly recommend London. I could go on and on, but if you have any questions just let me know. I am so glad that I was fortunate enough to spend a month here and feel I have seen so much. I could come back again as there is still more to see. But I've got the whole world out there and as I said I'm "Going to See It All." (I wish.....time is ticking so I'm going while I can). Next trip in May will be Armenia -- now that will be different.