...to London, and Beyond!

Okay, time to play catch-up.

I've been here for three weeks now and have yet to post anything about what I've been up to here, and I can assure you that I've been very busy! In the interests of efficiency (that Germanness still clinging to me, perhaps), and because I still have a lot of planning to do for upcoming trips around the UK I'd like to take, I'm afraid this will be a photo-heavy post. But hopefully that won't be too much of a hardship.

So, to go back in time, on July 4th my parents and I flew out of Berlin destined for London. We took a grueling ride on the underground from Heathrow across town to where my dad's cousins live in East London, but we were met at the station by my lovely cousin, Sue, who bundled us and our many suitcases (p.s. that cab I had ordered in Berlin to take us the airport arrived on time and was even big enough to accommodate all our suitcases--win!) into their camper van and drove us to their lovely home in London's Forest Gate neighbourhood. East London is changing rapidly, and their neighbourhood is an evolving mix of immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. But it's still small enough and established enough that my cousins, Tony and Sue, seem to know most of their neighbours quite well--talking to neighbours over backyard fences and inviting them in for an impromptu cuppa is something that actually happens here.

Some photos of Tony and Sue's street, backyard and the neighbouring flats--a huge field left miraculously undeveloped:

Palm trees! Reminded me of Vancouver.

Artichoke growing in Tony and Sue's backyard. We ate it a week or so later.

Raspberries, every morning.

The flats. This is still in London, folks!

Baby swans!

Mamma swan.

Canada Geese! Everywhere. Feels like home.

Seriously.

Sue, a retired teacher, is busy with her hobby of collecting old Ladybird books and buttons and other vintage finds and selling them at markets in the city. Every Saturday she's up bright and early to set up her stall at the hip and happening Broadway Market in Hackney, so my parents and I went along to see for ourselves!

Broadway Market.

Sue's stall!

Lost a button?

Not her stall. But these radishes reminded me of Peter Rabbit and somehow just felt so very English to me.

Flowers.

Amazeballs food at the market.

And desserts!

The next morning, we were off bright and early to Brighton, a picturesque seaside town about an hour and a half south of London. Tony and Sure are about my parents' age and have three grown-up children of their own--their youngest son, Peter, lives in Brighton, so we went partly to see him. I was last in England about thirteen years ago, and even then I don't know if I met Peter or my other cousins, Hannah and Michael. If I did, I can't recall. I've had the chance over the last few weeks to get to meet them all, and they're all super lovely, just like their parents, my wonderful hosts.

We spent the day in Brighton wandering along the pebbly beach, weaving through pedestrian-only lanes of shopping, shopping, shopping, and eating wonderful food. Here're some photos!

Brighton beach.

Remnants of an old Victorian pier that burned down a few years ago. Ironically, because it's heritage listed, they can't do anything with it.

I kind of love this out-of-focus shot of the seagulls (real seagulls, nearly as big as Vancouver's!) and the burnt pier in the background.

Watch out for those groynes, people.

Brighton streets.

The Indian-inspired Royal Pavilion.

Me and the cute Brighton houses.

The end of our glorious day by the seaside.

I should also say a word here about the weather here. It's been HOT in England since the day I arrived. Not quite as hot as it gets at home, but for England it's been a long and unprecedented heatwave. Not what I signed up for. I happily left for northern Europe thinking that I would dodge Toronto's gross, sticky summers. At least it's not quite so humid here, but still. I'm stupidly sensitive to heat and sun, so the weather has proven to be something of an impediment to my explorations. Anyway. I have still done plenty, as all of these photos will hopefully demonstrate.

The day after our Brighton day trip, we headed out once more, this time for Cambridge to meet one of Tony and Sue's other children, Hannah, along with her lovely family. (Also, I just realised I don't have any photos of my cousins. I suck, and need to try to remedy that, because they're all wonderfully kind and lovely people, and I'm enjoying getting to know them a great deal.)

Cambridge was stunning, and very inspiring. I think I gave false hope to my parents when I stupidly made an off-hand remark about being able to see myself studying there. Sorry, but I don't see a PhD in my future at the moment. Even in Cambridge...but I won't lie that it's not a bit tempting. Look at how freakin' pretty that town is!

(I went to Cambridge on two occasions so far and am looping together here some of the many photos I took from both trips.)

Cambridge!

King's College.

Cambridge lanes.

Requisite shot.

We ate lunch at the pub where Watson and Crick talked about DNA--no grand discoveries made during our lunch, however.

Beautiful Pembroke College.

Ooh, look, three of my cousins!

Grass that you're actually allowed to sit on--a rarity in Cambridge. They're weird about their grass.

This sign was at Corpus Christi College. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they don't want anyone walking on the grass.

See? And even here, you can only sit on the edge of the grass.

This is more typical (at Trinity College). Only Fellows may walk on the grass, damn hierarchical society.

Just an everyday occurrence at Cambridge, I suppose.

Isaac Newton studied at Trinity College. That apple tree is supposedly a descendant of an apple tree from his family's estate.

More Trinity College.

UBC, despite its charms, cannot claim giant medieval wooden doors like this. And this one was a side entrance.

Trinity Lane (I think).

Gonville and Caius College.

And again.

St. John's College, the namesake of UBC's not nearly so old or storied graduate college. (I shall endeavour to visit Oxford's Green College, as well!)

More St. John's.

The famous Bridge of Sighs at St. John's. Also, rush hour on the River Cam.

New Court at St. John's...new only in Cambridge standards, of course. Built in 1831.

Doorway detail.

The remaining days of my parents' visit with me in London was spent visiting more cousins and doing a (teensy) bit of exploring in the West End. We spent one afternoon wandering through the shops at Covent Garden and walking along the north bank of the Thames to catch sight of Westminster.

Covent Garden.

Covent Garden lanes.

You'll just have to trust me that this shop was called Tea Palace, and that inside that big royal purple bag is a lovely tea pot--a must-have souvenir for myself!

On The Strand.

Somerset House.

Close-up of Westminster Palace.

BIG BEN.

Detail of some government building on Whitehall.

This telephone booth was confused.

Looking down Whitehall towards Westminster.

I was shocked to discover that this Egyptian obelisk is the real deal, and it's just sitting right out in the open next to the Thames!

The London Eye. I have hopes to go on it one day soon.

So, I am now caught up to about two and a half weeks ago. Jeez. Still have lots to write about, and I'll try my best to catch up. For now, I'll leave you with a new tally that I'm starting here, now that I have been forced to sadly leave behind German pretzels...

In Cambridge. My first cream tea!

Also in Cambridge, the second time I visited, and at a different tea shop. An improved scone from the previous cream tea, but inferior cream--whipped instead of clotted. The nerve!

CREAM TEA COUNT: 2

(For those of you uneducated plebeians, cream tea is a pot of tea served with one or two scones, jam and fresh clotted cream. It's basically like going for afternoon tea but cutting straight to the best part, and it costs a third or fourth of the price.)