Bath, Stonehenge and Salisbury -- Abridged

What we have here are two different accounts of the same day (Jan 19). Both Mom and Dad sent a narrative on their day trip (Mom's arriving a couple days after Dad's). Dad's version is in black and Mom's is in purple. I took some editorial license and cut out information that would be irrelevant to the general readership.

We took our second day trip yesterday. Out the door at 7:15 and off to Bath! I instituted a new feature on the coach (a feature I borrowed from the Chamber Orchestra tour Mom and I were on a few years ago) called BUS FUN. I previously asked two of the girls (Mary Katherine and Janna Adaniya) to put together some fun things to present over the bus microphone to the group. They gave some news from home including the weather in Provo, BYU and Jazz updates, and made up 3 songs, each spotlighting one of the girls in the group. Very bubbly presentation, lots of personality--they both relished having control of the microphone for a few minutes. I think we'll continue with BUS FUN.

I've included a picture of Tony our busdriver. He is very talkative, but we love him. He's been with us twice now. As we were driving to Bath he explained that in order for a village to be a village it has to have a church and a pub. Otherwise it's a hamlet. He pointed out that we were passing by Nimlet, the hamlet, and if you blinked you missed it. Tony also taught as a new word - "wonky". He was showing us wonky timber houses which means their floors were saggy and crooked. He also told us that there used to be a "window tax" way back when and that's why some of the really old houses had boarded up their windows.

We arrived in Bath at 9:45, just in time for the opening of the Roman Baths. I've visited this site 4 or 5 times now and each visit offers something new. This time the audio guide had different listening options for the same object or moment along the tour. I listened mostly to Bill Bryson hold forth with his witty take on things British. Mom and I typically go through museums at our own pace and meet up in the gift shop. We also do gift shops at our own pace. Mom needs more time--me less. She keeps buying stuff and storing it in the chest of drawers in our extra bedroom. I'm in denial on how she plans on transporting all her purchases in June.

Mom and I went window shopping along the Pulteney Bridge spanning the River Avon--the bridge has lots of touristy-type shops. We then walked some other streets and stopped in a few stores and paused to listen to a trio of brass players playing Mozart, Ravel, and other classics. They actually played pretty well and even had a CD to sell. I bummed a pound off of Mom and threw it in their case. We stroll by Sally Lunn's house--the oldest house in Bath, now a restaurant featuring her famous buns from an original recipe. I've tried them in previous visits. They're very average and nothing to write home about--so why am I doing exactly that? Dunno...

Bath was fun - again. When I took a picture of the big gorgon head, I suddenly realized it looked like Richard Harris. See what you think. Tony drove us up past the crescent and the circus and showed us where Nicholas Cage lives.

We reboarded the coach at 12:30 and headed to Stonehenge, arriving 1:45. Even though this world wonder now holds little mystery and awe for me (I've been...what? 5 times now?), I still get a bit of a charge every time I see it. We will be going AGAIN with our spring group. By then, it will be warmer--so we plan on leaving VERY early in the morning and arranging a private tour of the stones. On such visits, the English Heritage folks let us go under the ropes and right up to the rocks. Anyway, the girls seemed to have a good time; they took lots of pictures. For some reason many girls stick one leg out and stretch one or two arms outward while posing. The sun shined a bit, but the cold still had us shivering.

Stonehenge was absolutely gorgeous. I don't think the weather was much colder than when we were there in June and the wind wasn't blowing that much. I was very happy to have the sheep there as an alternative to taking lots of pictures of stone.

ASIDE: Even on a clear blue day (rare) we don't see much of the sun. Our northern latitude means the sun rises in the southeast and sets in the southwest. It just seems stuck in the south when it makes an appearance--which is only for 4 or 5 hours tops. 4:30 PM seems like 9:00 PM.

We journeyed to Salisbury and the great Cathedral there. We arrived 3:00 and Dr. Crisler and I went ahead of the group to arrange payment for the students. We got a great discount, but the Salisbury folks insisted we tour the Cathedral in groups of 11 with their guides. I took the first group and we met our guide with his green sash inside. He must have been about 112 years old. He leaned on his cane and nearly tipped over a few times. He spoke in muffled, soft tones, at a VERY slow pace. We didn't move for 20 minutes. I started calculating how long it was going to take to get us around the nave, transept, side chapels, etc. Ironically, this guy had no concept of time, and the Cathedral houses the world's oldest clock along the northside of the nave. Yikes. At the very end of the tour, one goes to the Chapter House that displays an original copy of the Magna Carta. Ebeneezer (not our guide's real name, but it seems appropriate) finally shifted into a slightly higher gear, and we made it to the Magna Carta after an hour.

Unlike Dad, my group had a very cute old man as our guide in Salisbury Cathedral. We dashed through there but as you know, Dad and I are going back tomorrow.

Today I teach my classes and I'm having Mom do a spiel on Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Verdi--composers featured in tonight's concert required of all students at Royal Festival Hall. She's got her powerpoint presentation prepared, and she went out and bought CD's (purchased with program funds) to play for the class.

The concert was Fantastic! The orchestra is so good and the guest conductor was an Italian guy that was really fun to watch. In some of the more playful, less dense places, he'd just conduct with a shoulder twitch here or there. The girls had a good time I think.

This weekend, Mom and I return to Salisbury to attend Mattins on Sunday for my English Hymn research project.

*Editor's note: All photographs are provided by Mom (or Dad, who knows), except for Salisbury Cathedral. I had to google image that one because there were no pictures provided.

**Question to Mom and Dad: you keep referring to "the girls"... has BYU gone "all girl" or what?

Cambridge

Mom and Dad went on their first "outing" last week. Here is some narrative from Mom:

On Wednesday we went to Cambridge. It was our first day out.

Our first stop was Verulaneum at St. Albans just outside the city. There is a museum and then kind of an archeological dig nearby. We walked about a mile in the fog to St. Albans cathedral. We had been neither of these places so it was great for us. The cathedral itself had so many wonderful aspects - ceilings, screens, Abbey the bear... We may go back there too.

After that we ate lunch on the coach and by the time we got to Cambridge, we'd come out of the fog. We went to a cemetery for WWII American soldiers on land that was donated by England. There was a huge wall with over 5000 names of soldiers whose bodies had not been found. Among them was the band leader Glenn Miller and Joseph Kennedy Jr., JFK's older brother - who his dad had figured would be the president some day - who volunteered for a dangerous mission and his plane was blown up over the English Channel.

When we got to Cambridge we went to the Fitzwilliam Art Museum - which they've expanded - and then we walked down to the colleges. We had a minute for a panini before we went to get in line for Evensong. It was pitch black by 5:00 PM. The college next to Kings had kind of a neat thing going on with light designs flashed on one of the buildings. We sat right in the choir for Evensong.

So, that was it. Next week we go to Stonehenge - brrrr - and Salisbury.

Introducing, "Ignacious"

Mom bought a little bear, that fits inside his own tiny little suitcase. His name is "Ignacious", otherwise known as Iggy. He is kind of like the little gnome that shows up everywhere in the world, and you get to see him doing cute things in special places. So Iggy, apparently got into the cupcakes that mom and dad brought back from Hummingbird Bakery and made an absolute mess of himself.







Keep your eye for Iggy in other places.

Evensong

I got an email from Dad last night. He said they attended Sacrament Meeting at the Hyde Park Chapel. As a musician he notices things a lot of people wouldn't, but from this story it sounds like a lot of people might have noticed this:

"Attending church in a foreign country provides Wasatch Front types like me with variety. For instance, the organist played in one tempo, the chorister conducted in a wholly different tempo, and Abdul (sitting behind me) sang in yet another tempo. Tempo polyphony--a new musical idea. As a composer, I can't help but think about the possibilities of such a concept. Somehow, the discombobulation worked out and we all ended together. The chorister didn't cut us off at the end, she just froze her flailing arm somewhere between beats 2 and 3, then just plopped her right arm down to her side."

Apparently each night at the London Centre, everyone meets for 15 minutes before dinner in the Salon (pictured) for a devotional. They share announcements, a thought, and a blessing. I kind of remember this from the summer of '95 when Lisa and I were there for the full 2 months.

This is what Dad had to say:

"Before the prayer, the girls sing my little composition called EVENSONG that I wrote (music & words) and dedicated to the students here at the Centre:

Now as we gather for supper and prayer,
Charmed with the cheer of the things we will share,
Bathe those who bask in thy beckoning light,
Cradle our souls while we slumber tonight.

We named these 15 minutes "Evensong" instead of "Devotional." It's more Anglican than Mormon--but hey! We're in England."

Hey Dad, if you read this, you should get one of your students to lend you a little digital recorder that someone is bound to have and record the nightly evensong. And then let me upload it to the blog.

Cheers.

Slideshow

Mom sent us a load of pictures. I took a selection of them and created a slideshow. One of them actually has Mom in it. I wasn't sure if we would get any of those since she's the one with the camera.

Thanks Mom! Keep them coming.

People, Places, and Cookies

Mom and Dad are busy everyday of the week it seems. With all the fun things to do in London, it isn't hard to keep yourself occupied. Here is a snippit..from their Saturday afternoon:

Dad and I went to Crypt and Trafalgar one day. Today (yesterday now) we went to the Natural History Museum and had hot chocolate at the Hummingbird Bakery which dad discovered when he came here in October. Of all the times I'd been to London I had never set foot in the Natural History museum and so this was fun. We shouldn't have come on a Saturday altho it was fun to see the thousands of kids swarming around. We'll come back again to see the actual Darwin exhibit on a weekday. We stopped at Kensington High Street and I bought a cookie at Ben's which made me think of Laura and Lis. We went into Whole Foods and dad bought some granola. It's kind of a Harrod's Food Court for yuppies. We came out and it was snowing and then when we came out at Nottinghill people were demonstrating.

Last time we were all in London together, mom took Laura and I to Ben's Cookies. It was super special then, because there wasn't one at the Gateway at the time. And for awhile, the one at Gateway was the only one in the US. So mom suggested we each choose a cookie, and then we'll all share them so we can taste a variety. So we ordered our separate cookies and mom held all three of them and asked us "Which one do you want to be your resident cookie?"

For some reason Laura and I found that very funny. You may, you may not. But it's a good memory.

As for the "demonstrating" mom referenced, there were quite a few Palestinian protesters in London and she took pictures. So stay tuned for those.

Getting Settled

This blog is for my parents who moved to London for the next six months. And for you. It's purpose is to keep family and friends informed of their whereabouts in Britain, how they're doing and what they're doing.

Tom and Becky are teaching a BYU semester abroad. I get a lot of questions about them, and although they would love to email everyone personal messages about how they are, it's just not possible, so I thought a blog could be somewhat of a solution. I will post whatever pictures I have permission to post and whatever stories they feel appropriate to share. Hopefully this can be an easy way for all of you to keep in touch with them as well, and send them little messages via the comment section.

It's only been a week since they've left, but they seem to be settled. The picture that accompanies the blog title is the street where they live. Here are some pictures of their flat at the BYU London Centre:


Mom said something about that fireplace and how the fake fire actually gives off a lot of heat. So that's nice.

Apparently Mom already made a few purchases:


Nice purchases, Mom. I think the kids will love playing with those. I especially like the wooden Loch Ness Monster -- I think that's what it is.

I actually don't have permission to make this public yet, so we'll see what Mom says.