The Snow That Ate Seattle

So yeah, it doesn’t snow too often in the Seattle area.  We typically get a dusting once or twice a year that sticks on the road for a day or two and then the temps rise, the rain returns and the snow is gone in a flash.  This December, we’ve had 12 days of snow and ice and it’s causing this area major trouble.  We’ve had no UPS deliveries, no trash pick up (going on 2 weeks now).  Here are a few news headlines with links:

Snow begins to melt as state, county declare emergencies
Christmas outage affected 18,000 PSE customers on Eastside

No plows or sanding/de-icing trucks can even make it up and down the steep hill of our neighborhood.  Some  cars have been stuck in the middle of the street for a week.  The office closed down due to the bad unplowed roads on several days, so Brooke and I were able to go out and enjoy the winter a little bit while running errands.

I just wanted to show off a couple of photos I took to let those of you in hot places see my snowy winter wonderland. 

A powder-covered magical forest outside

Outside our living room windows shows a foot of snow on the deck railings

We had so much snow, our neighbors made a 6' tall snowman

I grew up in the LA area and it never snowed.  I never got to go sledding down icy slopes, make snowmen, have snowball fights behind an ice fort, or get out of going to school because it was a snow day (we did get out of school if there was an earthquake, does that count?).  In fact, I didn’t see snow fall from the sky until I was 21 years old.  It is always astounding for me to watch it snow and listen to how whisper quiet it makes everything outdoors. It’s a shame that it was hard on some and transportation was a bear, but this gal from sunny So. Cal had a great week.

Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben

On Tuesday we got up went out to lunch at a little middle eastern place down the block from our hotel.  I was OK, but nothing special.  Our two favorite Lebanese places are Zankou Chicken in the greater Los Angeles Area and Mediterranean Kitchen here in Belleuve, WA.  We had a side order of falafel and some lamb pitas with turnip pickles and tomatoes.  Then we headed out on the tube to Westminster station as this was the day we set aside to visit Westminster Abbey and walk around the Houses of Parliament and see the Big Ben clock tower.

We checked on the visitor’s hours at Westminster Abbey and when the evensong service was to begin, as I wanted to stay afterward for this highly recommended service of prayer and song.  We also wanted to visit the Abbey while the sun was still shining so we could appreciate the exquisite stained glass windows.  We had an hour or so to spend walking around before we went to the Abbey, so we decided that since the sunlight was really beautiful this time of day that we would walk around and take a few photos.

We started by walking around the side of the Abbey and through the Victoria Tower gardens park taking pictures and enjoying the day.  The sun had broken from the clouds and bathed Victoria Tower in golden sunlight. I have to admit it is an excellent photograph.

 

In the garden is a cast (1 of 12) of the original “Burghers of Calais” sculpture by Auguste Rodin. A marvelous piece, I wish I knew the story it depicted before viewing the statue.  I only found out its context after writing this page.  Yet another astonishing thing about being in London, this sculpture by Rodin is just sitting out of doors in the elements for anyone to see for free.  Wow.  In the US it would be considered so rare it would be inside a museum.  After walking through the park, we walked past the sovereigns entrance to Victoria tower, past some more great statues and finally to the end of the street where stands the Big Ben clock tower.

INSIDE WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Westminster Abbey is a grand gothic church owned by the royal family in England.  It is a working church with several services daily.  Within its walls the royal coronation takes place, state and important funerals are held here, and it serves as a final resting place for kings, queens, statesmen, soldiers, composers, poets, writers, and scientists (but to name a few).  We arrived and were greeted by an Abbey Verger who recommended we use their free audio tour (included with admission and narrated by Jeremy Irons).  Since the Abbey is a church with worshipers, public photography of the inside of the church is not allowed. The few pictures I will post are from an excellent book, “The Treasures of Westminster Abbey” or embedded from the church’s website.  Here is a map that shows the layout of the Abbey.

When you first walk in the visitors entrance, the light coming through the stained glass window in the South Transcept is the first thing to catch your attention.  It is so beautiful and colorful.  Make sure to see it during the day so the sun can backlight the glass.  Later in the evening it loses its luster and you can’t appreciate it.

You walk in through the visitors entrance and are inside the area called “The North Trancept”.  There are large statues and gravestones dedicated to statesmen and prime ministers throughout England’s history in this place.  You walk a little way into the church and come to the center of building in an area called The Crossing.  It is the intersection of the four wings and from above the layout looks like a cross.

At the center of the crossing, you enjoy a marvel of architecture and craftsmanship.  It is astounding and takes your breath away.

facing north (north Rose window above statesmen corner)

  east (Quire with Nave in the background)

west (the high altar and apse roof)

facing south (south rose window above poets corner)

We stood in that central court area for quite a while, taking it all in. The whole place was also very quiet.  Since we were not there in the height of tourist season, there were only a few dozen people in that area taking in the grandeur, being silent and respectful. I was very happy that we chose to include this in our visit to London.  We continued our tour by visiting the chapels and looking at the different tombs and monuments.  There is so much history, so many people.  It’s hard to describe and I can’t include everything we saw, but here are some links to a few notable places and people.

The ceiling of the Lady Chapel, commissioned by Henry VII in (who is buried there with his wife, Elizabeth or York) is a work of stonecutting art that I could never before imagined.  High above your head is a matrix of delicately carved pendants.  Also in the ladies’ chapel is the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) and her half-sister, Queen Mary Tudor, (1516-1558), daughter of Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon, is buried underneath her. On the base of the monument reads: "Partners in throne and grave, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters, in hope of the Resurrection."  You can read more about their shared tomb and inscriptions translated from latin here.

On the opposite side of the chapel is the resting place of Mary Queen of Scots.  Behind King Henry VII’s tomb is the fine chapel dedicated to the RAF fighters killed in the Battle of Britain in WWII.  This area of the chapel was bombed during WWII and this area had to be reconstructed they worked on a special dedication to “the few”.

The south transept is also known as Poet’s Corner, an area of the chapel where many famous artists, writers, poets and musicians are buried or a monument erected in their honor.  They have memorial tributes to William Shakespeare (pic), T.S Eliot, John Milton (pic), John Keats and many others.  Buried here are famous authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, the musician GF Handel (pic), and poet Alfred Tennyson (pic) are actually buried at the abbey and you can read their memorial above where they are buried.

 THE NAVE

The Nave has many important monuments and burial sites.  It is where the tomb of the unknown warrior from WWI is placed.  There is also a memorial to Winston Churchill (pic) located close to it.

In the Nave is also buried Sir Issac Newton (pic) – An excellent monument above his burial place bears the inscription:

Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colours thus produced. Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners…

Very close to Newton is buried Charles Darwin (pic).  Brooke was very happy to see a memorial to Michael Faraday.

EVENSONG SERVICE AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY

After the Abbey is closed to visitors at 6:00 p.m., a service is held.  You can stay and enjoy the choral service called “Evensong” several days per week (check their schedule before visiting).  Brooke and I were one of the first people in line and to our surprise, we were taken to seats in to the Quire and sat right next to the choir and members of the church and school.  They was a special part of this evenings service that included a swearing in of four gentlemen to posts within the institution. 

The music was beautiful and ethereal, you can listen to Evensong- The Responses this is part of the service we attended.  I hope you enjoy it.  I loved that the service was entirely in English, instead of Latin as you were able to appreciate the words and meanings not just the sound.

After our glorious day at Westminster Abbey we walked around and took a few photographs at night, including of Big Ben.  You can see all of the photos by going to my photo gallery (jump to slideshow).  But as a preview, here is the best photograph of the whole trip:

Westminster Abbey in the Moonlit Night

Royal Air Force (RAF) Museum

On Monday December 8th, we headed out on the Tube to the RAF Hendon Museum.  We were meeting up with some people who answered a post on a game forum that Brooke frequents.  After a 10 minute or so walk we reached the museum and called Gary and Linda.  They had arrived earlier and met up with another AH flier, Trevor.  It was a really cool treat to meet such awesome people who were willing take time out of their busy lives to show us around.  We started in a building that housed some of the aircraft from World War I.  I was surprised at how sophisticated some of these airplanes looked.  Other than materials, they looked very similar to a modern small airplane, which is astounding since the first Wright Brothers flight was in 1903.  Some of these planes were making flights from England to Australia only fifteen years later. 

Brooke, Trev, and Gary wandered around together and discussed in detail some of the planes available in their WWII air combat game.  There was much sharing of “war stories” from the battles they have flown, especially when they fly in large scale scenarios (sometimes over 200 participants recreating epic fights, like the Battle of Britain).  I had a lot of fun looking at the different planes, taking photographs and reading the history of some of the personal items located in the museum.  The Milestones of Flight building housed a great range of airplanes and was really cool.  They had very early planes like the Sopwith Camel (remember Snoopy versus the Red Baron?) to the modern jet planes used by the current British Air Force and Navy.  If you are interested to see more photos and learn about the RAF museum and it contents, I highly recommend you check out Brooke’s RAF Museum page.

We took a break after a few hours at the museum and went to a local pub for lunch, The Beaufort.  It was a very fancy place (a much better option than eating at the museum cafeteria, not only because they had a full bar) and had excellent atmosphere and food.  Gary and Linda insisted on treating us all to the lunch and we appreciated it very much.  Brooke ordered bangers and mash, I ordered steak and mushroom pie.  I was too embarrassed to be a total dork and take pictures of my meal, but honestly I can say that the food was really, really good.  The steak was of very high quality, the gravy sumptuous and the crust was marvelous.  Brooke and I switched half-way through the meal and then I finished the sausage and mash.  It was lip smacking good.  We found out that Trev hails from the land of Newcastle ale.  He says that he prefers the bottled version to that from a tap.  We were surprised by this, but will heed his advice.  Brooke and I shared a bottle of Bulmers Pear Cider, highly recommended by Gary and Linda. 

Oh…my…god
it
was
really
freaking
good

 

We found out about more about our hosts, where they live, their jobs, have they ever visited in the US and what state, etc. We offered to host them any time they are in the Seattle area.  I truly hope they take us up on it.  I’d be excited to introduce them to our own excellent local brew, Mac and Jack’s African Amber.

After our excellent lunch and afternoon beverage, we all went back to the museum to explore the Battle of Britain Hall.  This was my favorite part of the museum.  In addition to the historic WWII aircraft there was information and displays of anti-aircraft guns, defense barrage balloons, bomb squads, RADAR, and personal items from soliders (letters, uniforms, medals).  Every hour is a fabulous multimedia presentation called, “Their finest hour” which is a MUST see if you visit the museum.  I took some more pictures in the building, including a few of Brooke, Trev and Gary in front of their favorite airplanes.  We also checked out the bomber hall and the rest of the museum.  After we closed the place down, we went back to the pub for a drink, but this gal was so jet lagged that I kept falling asleep in my chair. and didn’t even finish half of my pint of bitter. :-(

Again, what I recommend more than my paltry descriptions is to check out Brooke’s After Action Report on the RAF Museum.  You can see my photos and comments on my RAF museum gallery.My collection are only a few extra items I found interesting, separate from and not mentioned on Brooke’s excellent page.

After visiting many museums this year that display technology advances throughout the 20th century, I am astounded at what and how much humans can achieve when they really put their minds and efforts to it.  For anyone who is interested in the history of aviation in Britain, the RAF Museum is a great place to visit.  Enjoy lunch at the pub and if you are lucky, meet up with some new friends.