Visit to Highgate Cemetry

Here is the real reason to visit Highgate Cemetry. Comrade Karl Heinrich (it means boar killer, apparently) Marx is a resident here after an illustrious career in labor organizing. Oh and I believe that he published a book, something to do with capital.

The words on this tombstone appealed to us.

Lyse taking a stroll in Highgate cemetry. Yes we do let our children play among the dead!

Doug Adams. I didn't even know he was dead.

More Tower of London #1

Traitors Gate, was created by one of the Edwards to allow quick and safe access to money and prisoners at high tide.

One of the towers in the Tower of London

Actors

The Chapel. Dirk Hollebeek said that the sole purpose of Gothic Architecture was to make people feel small. After experiencing this at St. Johns Chapel - I am not sure if that is a bad thing for us in the modern day and age.

The gardeobe aka indoor potty. A recent innovation in the early 1500s and, like now, the more the potties the higher ones status in society. Some things never change.

How did the poor man move to defend himself or attack is beyond me. He seems to be bogged down by a very impressive suit of armour.

The one on the right is called Beer and I have forgotten what the one on the left is called.

No visit to the Tower of London is complete without one of these.

Tower of London

Yesterday we awoke at noon local time, which is 5:00 am Gallup time.

We rode a double decker bus to London Bridge. We rode on the upper deck and Lyse talked to everybody. She would say, "Whats your name?"

Again and again!

After walking on the bridge we then went to the Tower of London which is a complex of military, residential and administrative buildings. We saw an armoury, several garderobes which were apparently the big thing in the 15th century, especially when they were indoors.

I was asked erase pictures of the crown jewels by a Beefeater who claimed there are nine places stating photography is prohibited. I was trying to take a picture of the IHS prominently embossed in the middle of the gold crockery in the communion dishware section of the crown jewels to send to friends who have worked for the Indian Health Service.

We had a snack that included clotted milk and scones.

After all the walking we went to Camden Town for some asian food which was not very good. The best part was the chowmein. We were not sure if the restaraunt was Chinese or Japanese.

The children were only awake for an hour in the middle of the night which wasn't as bad as the previous night.

London

We arrived in one piece, as did the girls, in London. We went through the European Union line and took a train from Heathrow to Leicester Square and then to Highgate. We arrived at the Mennonite Center at about 10:30 am local time. After a quick lunch in front of the Highgate station we took a nap. The sound of snoring pervaded.

This is the view from our window of the garden in the back.

The beauty of travelling, particularly the first leg, is that you discover what works and what doesn't. Benadryl works and the camera is refusing to download pictures to the laptop. Something to do with Vista and the unavailability of drivers.

Here are some pictures of the Mennonite Center http://www.menno.org.uk/images/50thAnniversary/Archive/50s-60s/index.htm

one of the babies is me.

Last night we had dinner at Toffs on Muswell Road. I had fish and chips and Kris had pie and chips. Daya and Lyse had chicken nuggets, chips and mushy green peas.

Today and tomorrow we have the best of British weather - rain. Something we don't often experience in Gallup.

Mennonite Center

Here's the kitchen of the Mennonite Center. The doors on the cupboard look like they have existed here forever.

The garden. Rajiv got washed here.

View from the garden of the Mennonite Center.

Street view of the Mennonite Center.

Daya's Preparation for the Trip

Daya is obssessed with her camera that she is sharing with her mother. Please note the classy color of the camera and the placement of the finger on the lens.

Uncle Phil and Aunt Marilyn

Uncle Phil and Aunt Marilyn visited us for dinner. We would have liked for them to stay with us. The girls fell in love with both of them and wouldn't leave them alone.

Here we have an example of performance toothbrushing in action. Lyse scored a 8.9 losing points for spitting on her shirt.

Lyse after a hike

Lyse in the back of the truck after a quick hike. It is very hard to get to stay this still.

Six Days and Not Counting

We leave on Friday, October the 3rd for India via London. The culprits involved in this journey are Kris and Sanjay who serve as parents with Daya and Elysia serving as children. Daya is 5 1/2 and Elysia is almost 2 1/2. We have ample supplies of Benadryl and we look forward to this trip with some trepidation.

We will be staying at the Mennonite Center - I mean - Anabaptist Peace Center in London, where Sanjay was born (http://www.menno.org.uk/node/1). Some of you receiving this will have stayed there back in the 60's.

Anyway some of our itinerary includes the Tower of London for the jewels, Trafalgar Square for the pigeon poop, Westminster Abbey for the hot air, Big Ben for the noise, and St. Paul's Cathedral for a breather.

We are also looking forward to visiting Comrade Karl Marx's grave site in Highgate. After this we will engage in some capitalist retail therapy by going to some place like a used book store.