Christmas Scenes: Hampstead Heath

Bill writes: As that old cooped-up-in-the city feeling has been stealing up on us again lately, we took the Underground this afternoon to Hampstead for a long walk round the heath.

First up is a bit of literary history we encountered on our approach to the heath. Here is the house responsible for the most evil character in Bond lore. I'll give you a hint: "Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die." Ian Fleming hated this house, its architecture, and the architect who designed it. The house is at Number 2 Willow Road, located just before the heath, and housed the modernist architect Erno Goldfinger. Fleming so despised the architect's work that he named his new villain Auric Goldfinger.



Inside the heath, there was still snow on the ground, but the sky was clear, and everyone was either out for a walk to the top of Parliament hill.



Or flying a kite (or three) once they'd reached the top.



And here is why there there will always be an England, and a quintessentially British wit. All along the path were benches, invariably memorialized with plenty of sentiment for departed family members. Then there was this one (which you may want to click to enlarge).

Christmas Scenes: Regent's Park

Bill writes: As it had snowed, we took a walk through Regent's Park this afternoon. The bandstand showed some powder.



The fountain was frozen over.


And the roses, well, I suppose they'll keep their secrets under the snow for now.

A White After-Christmas

Bill writes: We woke up to the first snow of London this year, with our communal garden showing a white dusting.

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukkah!

Merry Christmas and Happy Channukah from Bill and Aline.





And from Grommet, may all your holiday wishes come true.

Christmas Scenes: Piccadilly Circus & Leicester Square

Bill writes: We were out finishing up our shopping today on Piccadilly Street. To get there, we took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus.



Then we went walking along Piccadilly Street, where I noticed this handyman's truck. The strange thing is, if you look closely (click the picture to blow it up), you can just make out where the exhaust pipe was blowing bubbles. Just as strange is that the door of the truck says that he's "The Singing Handyman," so the driver had loudspeakers connected to some kind of a karaoke system and a headset, where he sang hits like "Hooked on a Feeling" as he drove down the street.



From there it was off through the theatre district and Leicester Square, where they've set up a little carnival.

It's a PoundLand Christmas, Carole

Bill writes: Thanks to Carole, the nice lady who helped us at PoundLand, we were able to buy all of our decorations for the Christmas tree and the flat for 8 quid. (I think the Scrooge in me must have been coming out during the holidays.)



And here was the resulting tree:



But all was not as it seemed, for hiding in a forgotten shadow of the tree was the Cat of Christmas Yet To Come.



Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?



No, Spirit! Oh no, no!

Cruising on the Rhine: Other Interesting Sights

Aline writes: You might think that Germany is all food and churches, and you would be right! No, just kidding. There were many other fascinating things, as you can see below. For our final installment on our Germany cruise, here is a miscellany of various sights.

Roman Ruins
Since we have seen so much evidence of the Romans in Britain, it was fun to look for them in Germany too. We found them in Cologne, in these remains of the original city wall,


and also in the small town of Boppard, where monastery walls were built on top of the roman city walls.







Eberbach Monastery
This monastery was home to the Cistercian monks in the 12th century, where they built an enormous church, made wine, etc. This first picture is the monk's dormitory - windows with no glass. Brrrr.









This is where the movie The Name of the Rose was filmed for you movie buffs.

Heidelberg Castle
Built between the 13th and 17th centuries, Heidelberg castle is now mostly in ruins due to the 30 Years’ War. We had fun tromping around on the ice - it was quite treacherous for us Californians.





The view of Heidelberg from the castle was very nice.



Statue of Wilhelm I
In Koblenz, this statue of Wilhelm I is at the junction of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. Thanks to Allied bombs, it was destroyed during WWII; in fact, there are pictures of it hanging upside down where it was left for almost a year (according to our guide, to make a point to the Germans). The statue mysteriously disappeared, and was replaced with a copy in 1993. The rumor was that the original statue was stolen by an enterprising German salvage yard.


In fact, the original head was found in a local salvage yard and put in the town museum.



Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Museum
This was a fabulous collection of mechanical instruments, including this instrument that actually plays violins as well as the other instruments needed for an orchestra. According to our guide, these were developed so that music hall owners wouldn’t have to pay an orchestra.


This was beautiful, especially when the figures move to the music.


This one was just creepy.

Cruising on the Rhine: Churches

Aline writes: The highlight of our Germany trip was, for me, the churches. Since we’ve been in England and have seen so many churches, I find myself drawn to the Norman ones, such as the Templar church in London. There is something about the wonderful roundness of the arches and the architecture. What I didn’t know is that there are lots of Romanesque churches in Germany, as well as many other lovely churches from other eras. I hope you enjoy the photos below

The Frankfurt Dom has some beautiful medieval memorials





Also a wonderful medieval sculpture of the last supper.



The cathedral in Mainz was a huge structure with a nice cloister.









The most interesting feature was underneath – in the last 50 years they discovered an underground chamber that is a homage to Christ’s resting place in Jerusalem. You can just catch a glimpse of this here.



And for something completely different, this baroque interiour of another Mainz church was really pretty



Our final city, Cologne, turned into a marathon church-visiting day for us. After a walking tour of the City in the morning we visited the Cologne Cathedral. It may be the most remarkable and awe-inspiring church I have ever visited. Pictures cannot do justice to the scale of it – it seems impossible that human hands built it. But here are a few anyway ☺







We spent the rest of our day in Cologne walking around the city visiting various churches. Only the cathedral was left standing after WWII; the rest of the churches we visited were rebuilt, some almost completely. One of our favorites was St Pantaleon, a former Benedictine Monastery. It has an amazing late-Gothic choir screen.





But my personal favorite was St. Gereon.

Considered by some to be the most unusual church in Germany. It has a small oval section that was built in the 4th century on the graves of martyrs, that was then enclosed with a four-story structure in the 13th century, as well as a long traditional nave.