More Tower of London

On Tuesday, we took off for a tour of Lloyd's of London. This was set up by Phil who works for Goodville Mennonite Mutual and Lloyd's re insures Goodville. It's complicated but we got a free tour of their building. I wasn't able to go but the rest did and they said it was really fantastic. Much better than they thought it was going to be. You'll have to ask them about it.

After the tour they got a free lunch which over looked the Tower of London then I met them at the Tower and they gave us free tickets to the Tower of London. Here's the group after going through the main tour, seeing the crown jewels, and having gone through a couple of the other towers.
This is the group after seeing the torture tower!
Kevin, Nichole's bear got to see everything for free.
Dorothy and Kelly weren't close to London Bridge but decided to sing it anyway.
This is one of the beefeaters. They start the tours and give a lot of information about the tower.

Visits from some Shirks

Life at the LMC has been hectic recently. With summer comes tourists and other kinds of travelers such as pastors on sabbatical. This keeps the guest rooms (which are few) full. So it seems I am constantly cleaning a room, doing the laundry, making sure there is enough food for their breakfast, etc. The latest couple from the states were Dave and Mary Miller from State College, PA. They attended East Goshen Mennonite when we were there back in the late 70's, early 80's. We did some catching up and had a good time visiting with them. He is traveling and studying on a Lilly Grant and has been taking in all things anabaptist. He was able to get in on a quarterly Root and Branch meeting as well as the monthly Highgate Churches together meeting which also had Dr. Chris Hewer who was the Administrator of Interfaith Relations to the Bishop of Birmingham. He spoke on ISLAM: IF I CARE, I WILL TRY TO UNDERSTAND.
The other fun thing happening here is that two of Ed's sibs have come to visit with their families. Phil, his youngest brother from Lititz, PA and their kids Tyler and Nichole arrived on Thursday, then Dorothy, the youngest sister, came on Saturday with her two girls, Lynn and Kelly. We enjoyed a nice meal together which started with appetizers in the garden.....
then the main in the kitchen.
Topped off with some card playing before bedtime.

Camden, Camden Canal, & Regents Park

Last Sunday we took a walk which started in Camden Town. Camden is known for it's bizarre stores. The next few pictures are of some of the stores and their marques.
I'm not sure what they sell here.
After going through Camden Lock market, we descended to the canal and walked along the canal path to get to Regents Park.

This was a restaurant along the canal.
This is what is called a narrow boat as they are used to travel up and down the canals of England. Some people have their own but there are a lot of companies that rent them out by the day, week, or longer. They are fully furnished with beds, kitchens, etc.
After walking along the canal for awhile, we took a path up to Regents park. In the middle of the park is Queen Mary's Garden which has over 400 variety of roses along with many other flowers and plants.
Enjoying the scenery and smells of the roses.
Central London's Muslim Mosque is on the edge of Regents park.

We walked outside of the park and along the canal again and this is an example of the types of homes along the park. The American Ambassadors home, which was designed by Mrs. Cary Grant, is in this park.

Greenwich & an international Festival

On most of our outings we take the tube as it is quicker than the bus.
We got off at the Cutty Sark stop. The Cutty Sark is a tea clipper which used to zip back from Australia in less than 80 days. Last summer there was a big fire on the Cutty Sark and we couldn't see it as it is under cover for renovations. Outside of the Visitors centre is this statue of Sir Walter Raleigh.
We walked on to the Royal Maritime College where there is a room called The Painted Hall. I think this guy is trying to grab me from behind!
This is the painted hall. Every inch of the walls and ceilings are painted. The ceilings alone took 19 years to finish.
This is the chapel directly across from the painted hall.

Captain James Cook statue outside of the Royal Maritime College.
The view of the National Maritime Museum while we were on our way up to straddle zero longitude at the Prime Meridian.
Greenwich time.
This weekend there was an international festival at Greenwich and the Docklands. All the events going on were free. This is called "Bend It" A barnstorming collision between football (soccer) and South Asian dance. Dancers and musicians fight it out for Premiership glory, with intricate footwork, slow motion aerial replays and that heart stopping ultimate goal.

Barbican to Covent Garden walk

I have mentioned before that we have these self guided walks that were given to us by the Aldis' and we have done a number of them. However, we haven't done one in awhile so today we had a free day and it was mostly sunny and mild. Also today is called Queens Day. The Queens birthday is April 21 (Also Ed's bday) but she always has the celebration in June when the weather is suppose to be better. It started off with numerous different aircraft doing a flyover. We didn't have the camera out in time for the first ones which were the older planes as we didn't know what was going on when we heard the noise.
This is the famous Smithfield's Meat Market, once the scene of jousting, royal tournaments, and grisly executions. The modern-day market takes place in a network of restored Victorian buildings; most of the meat traders are gone by 9am and local pubs open at 6am!
I think you all know about William Wallace from the movie Brave Heart.
This is just one of the many church courtyards in the city. I think it's really great that the churches all have these wonderful relaxing places with lots of benches to sit and reflect.
I guess this is on the walk because the Old Bailey is near by which is England's Central Criminal Courts.

Sir John Soanes Museum

Sir John Soanes Museum remains exactly as architect Soanes left it in 1837. He was the architect of many of London's buildings such as Buckingham Palace. The museum is free and it looks quite small from the outside but there is a lot of stuff chucked into it.
The walk ended at Covent Garden and this is a small nook off of one of the main streets. It's called Neal's yard where there are mostly vegetarian cafes. This is looking up to the second and third floors of the World Food Cafe.

A few random pictures from the week

We haven't been out and about recently, partly due to having a lot of work at the Centre to do. So here are a few pictures from the garden and this car that is parked close by.
The roses in the garden are looking especially gorgeous with all the rain we have had.
This is one of Ed's favorite roses.
For our house meal which we have every Monday night, we had a cookout. Since we don't have a grill, Ed started a fire in the middle of the day to get these really nice coals by the time we were to grill.

Worship at Wood Green Mennonite Church

This is Reyhanna. She has been attending our church for about a year. She is originally from Evanston, near Chicago and has attended Goshen College before coming to London to University. Presently she works for The British Library in the music department where they digitalize music. She really likes her job. She has a beautiful voice and today in Church she gave the homily and lead us in several Spanish songs and a dance.....................
............at a Mennonite Church!!! And look! She even got Ed in on it.
Today was a gorgeous day in London. Lots of sunshine and warm weather. Our church eats at The London Mennonite Centre together once a month so we were able to eat outside in the garden and enjoy the flowers, greenery, trees, and birds. Because of all the trees and shrubbery, it is amazingly quiet in the back garden.

Feb, March, April & May showers bring flowers

Blue sky and sunshine......glorious sunshine! Finally a day of sunshine! Of course I had to be inside most of the day cooking for a Bridge Builders course. The course participants are so nice and complimentary of my cooking I can't begrudge them. We were able to sit outside at the table after I served them their tea & biscuits. We are now headed out to walk to Muswell Hill to get some more groceries to make more food for this course.
All those showers have brought on the most beautiful flowers and greenery.

Finally some sun!

It's Saturday, May 31st and we had a seminar here at the Centre which meant serving tea/coffee, lunch and more tea.
It turned out to be a fairly nice day. We've had so much rain, cool and cloudy weather that it is really nice to get a day with some sun. Ed took to the back garden while we were waiting to serve tea at the end of the seminar and he shot these pictures. This first one is of a Jay.
Here I am putting my feet up enjoying a cup of coffee and the beautiful garden blooms.
The rhododendrons are mostly done blooming except for the purple/pink ones.

These were so hard to grow in Kansas but here they grow like weeds!

Back in the swing of things

We are now both back in London. Ed came back a week before me as I wanted to go back to Harper and visit some more with my mother. I was able also to visit more with my sisters, Linda and Rosemary. Us three along with my cousins Martha Ediger, Delaine Moncado, and Rhonda Gonzales went to see "The church Basement Ladies" at the Crown Uptown in Wichita. Good food and good fellowship! Another good thing about being away is that when you go home for a visit you tend to be more intentional about visiting with family and friends knowing that you have only a limit amount of time to see people.

We had a great visit here in London from our friends Dennis and Leslie Roberts who live in Harper. We had fun seeing some sights, the play "Chicago", and some great eating! I meant to download some of their pictures to put on the blog but forgot! They just left this morning in a cold rain. There has been a lot of rain lately and it's very green but a little cooler than I'd like. It was really nice to have so much sunshine and blue skies while visiting in Kansas and Colorado.

We are looking forward to this summer when we will get visits from three of Ed's siblings and their families. I hope everyone knows they are welcome to come visit if you can swing it. Let us know in advance and we will try to save a guest room for you. Otherwise you can sleep in our living room.