Month: July 2015

After travels with too many restaurant meals, I’m needing to get out and walk for some exercise. Here are images from along the way.

The first is digitalis, commonly known as foxglove. and the latter is a yellow version of what we have in Tanzania called lion’s paw with orange blossoms.

The end of my walk was at the hill above our house.

I now know how to use the panorama function on my iPhone, so this is a glimpse of the 180+ degree view.

There was more preparation for Tanzania, but we also needed some good light hiking shoes for Anya for time in Tanzania. So, after a late lunch, we took off by bus to the largest sporting goods store in the area called XXL. We found a pair that she liked. Fortunately, they will be 19% discounted after a tax rebate. I also think it prudent to buy a dressier pair of shoes for Pastor Nangole’s retirement celebration on July 19, as I only brought more casual skirts for travel. I still need to figure out a skirt that is more dressy than my indestructible polyester khaki skirt from my favorite Value Village thrift store, so I’ll visit the Salvation Army thrift store in Sandnes on Monday.

On the way out of the mall, we realized that there were no buses from the mall area after 3:20 PM! So, we ended up walking about 2 km or 1.5 miles to a road where the #2 bus stops. After 15 minutes, the bus arrived, but it was the Smeiaheia #2 bus, which doesn’t go close to our house! Why does the #2 route have two different routes which aren’t identified on the chart or on the app!?! This is why Smeiaheia is our word of frustration. Yet, we did take it and change to the number 3 bus at another mall, but it meant waiting another 25 minutes. I thought that we might have walked home just as fast, though Anya would not have enjoyed it at all.

After homemade pizza for dinner, we watched the first half of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and then Anya went for a short conditioning run.

There’s much to to still in preparations, and I realized I should do a complete back up of my computer and photos and send my external harddrive back with Scott on Monday for safekeeping.

Onward!

With blessings,

Beth

Most of the day was spent organizing and packing to leave Norway on the 17th. I do best with plenty of time to prepare and methodically work through all the stuff.

However, the twist is that we go home via Tanzania. Unfortunately, we have all our winter coats, boots, and sweaters that will be lugged along as this is the most affordable way that I can think of to get things home to Bellevue.

Scott lives in Bellevue, and I figure I would have been able to send a couple rolling duffel bags with him paying for extra bags–EXCEPT for the lifting of the 50 pound bags in the customs area of Seattle. Scott had back surgery recently and can’t lift more than about 30 pounds without risk of injuring his back. I could get the duffel bags on the bag conveyor and arrange for friends to meet him at the airport to get them off the luggage carousel, but there is the customs area where there are no porters to help the bags. The bags have to be removed from the carousel, wheeled through customs, and then put back on the conveyor to be picked up at the international arrival luggage carousel. I even emailed customer service at Sea-Tac airport, but they did not have a solution for me. Anyone out there know of an option?

Anya went for a run this morning to condition for fall soccer. She’s missing all the summer conditioning, so I’m glad she’s working on it. I did take a packing break to pull a few weeds and mow the small lawn.

She also did some sorting for packing and some algebra 2. She Skyped this evening with her friend, Sami, who has been a positive influence since kindergarten.

Later after dinner, we were making no-bake cookies together (yum), and we realized that we were out of oatmeal. So, I walked to the grocery store with one of my favorite routes to gaze upon the beauty of the fjord. I’ll miss this walk. There were some beautiful flowers along the way. Here’s one for you.

Mom eye surgery went well, but there remains some irritation. Prayers for comfort and healing continue.

With blessings,

Beth

We only have 9 days left in Norway! That caught Anya by surprise! I’m working on closure and transition, while Anya is working on completing her algebra 2 coursework before school starts. Rather than killing her love of math by taking an online course with the frustrating interface like she had for her required online English course, we were able to secure permission for her to work on her own to prepare for pre-calc this fall.

In the mid-afternoon, Scott and I went to Stavanger for Scott to buy a couple things that he wanted to get before he left Norway. Here are a couple images from Stavanger this afternoon.

Then we visited his cousin in Stavanger. Scott will be with him until Sunday afternoon. That will give me some good time to work on wrapping things up and transitioning back to the USA.

I’m also praying for my mom who is having eye surgery today to repair a previous cataract surgery, including stitches! So, please join me in praying for my mom and her recovery from surgery.

With blessings,

Beth

We felt it Providential that we were able to get out of London on the day before the Tube (subway) strike started. This system carries 4 million travelers each day! What chaos! Here’s the BBC news on it: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33438700

So, we are home! Even though we are a bit tired, we are amazed how well things went. For being newbies to London, I think we did amazingly well. There are things that we hope to go back someday to see in more depth or things that we didn’t get to, but that doesn’t tarnish the stellar experiences we had. Anya is planning on living in London someday, so if this comes to pass, then I’ll have the opportunity to spend way more time at the British Museum!

With blessings,

Beth

We slept in a bit, but wanted to get to the Tower of London and see the Crown Jewels. This is another UNESCO World Heritage Site! I love to see as many as I can when I travel.

We headed right away to the Crown Jewels. The line was relatively short, especially when compared to when we came out! The line had grown probably 8 times longer (or more) than when we got into the line!

Pictures aren’t allowed in the Crown Jewels, so you can see some highlights here and also here.

After lunch, we headed over to the Westminster Abbey.

Pictures aren’t allowed in the Abbey, so here is one they have posted on their website.

Before I was thinking about the no photo policy, I took a picture of one of my heroes, William Wilberforce, the abolitionist featured in the film Amazing Grace.

After our tour of all the dead dignitaries’ graves and memorials (See the 3,300 names from Queen Elizabeth to Lewis Carol), we waited for the Evensong worship. Because we were near the front of the line, we got to sit in the front row of the Quire (choir loft), so amazingly close to the boy choir!

The Abbey is across from the Parliament Building and Big Ben, which stimulated conversation about the power struggle between church and state in European history since Constantine.

We took the Tube “home.” Anya is our Tube specialist. We just tell her where we are going next, and she figures out what Tube line to take to which station in order to switch to whatever other Tube line we need, and then to get off at the right station. It really is great!

We had dinner at the Westfield mall close to our “home.” Anya had some time to browse before we headed home to close our day.

We have been so blessed with good weather, special opportunities (like sitting in the Quire today), good health, and that we get along quite well, even after all these days. While we just scratched the surface of London, we saw quite a bit at a manageable pace, with enough time to pause and enjoy the moment, sometimes with a cup of tea.

We’ve been enriched by architectural beauty, important history, majestic worship, and theatrical thrills. But now, I’m tired. Good night!

With blessings,

Beth

We began with a beautiful service with the liturgical music from Missa in C (KV 317) the “Coronation Mass” by Mozart. The City of London Sinfonia with choir (including the Cathedral Boy Choir), and an exceptional organist wowed Scott, who has a professionally discerning ear. I appreciated it. The music isn’t Anya’s cup of tea, but all the comments helped her understand what a superb gift of music facilitated a moving worship. While I’m not a high church person, I was moved to tears several times by the beauty, message, and the congregation of people from around the world gathered in worship together.

Pictures aren’t allowed inside, but the tourism website has a wonderful picture.

The afternoon included a bit of shopping, but Anya got out of Selfridge’s with less than $10 of purchases. She actually found something for only 1 pound ($1.50)–a sheet of stickers with the London Tube (subway) stop names–at one of the most high end department stores in the world. (I’m actually a bit disturbed by the decadence.)

After a diet Coke at a coffee shop to rest our feet, we walked over to Hyde Park and caught a glimpse of the Speaker’s Corner, where free speech is practiced, but it isn’t so beautiful. The yell-ers I saw were all men, and all sounded fundamentalist Christian with messages like “Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” It made me reflect on my theology of mission course where I was impacted by my professor’s comment, “Faith comes before repentance.” Most people respond better to love and listening rather than condemnation and yelling.

We got back on the Tube and returned to the St. Paul’s area to walk over the Millennium Bridge to get to the Globe Theatre. We previously purchased tickets for Shakespeare’s play, Measure for Measure. We had Gentlemen’s Box seats, because they were the ones left, but they came with cushions and art on our walls.

Scott teaches at the UW School of Drama, so he is a professional in theatre arts. So, we were blessed with his insights to Shakespearean plays, the history of the theatre, and his detailed appreciation of the actors. How cool!

Our walk back to the Tube had some beautiful pictures as the sun was going down.

A blessed day! Thanks for your prayers and/or thoughts about our journey today.

With blessings,

Beth

We “celebrated” the 4th of July (shhh, our Independence Day from Great Britain) here in London. The special moments were:

Seeing Benjamin Franklin’s house. It had red, white, and blue balloons for the day.

Seeing George Washington’s statue (a bit unceremonious for the day) in front of the National Gallery.

And eating at our beloved and dearly missed Chipotle restaurant!

Here’s a summary of our day…

We had a great day filled with walking and getting our bearings. We took the Tube to the city center (only 20 minutes) with a walkabout starting at St. Paul’s Cathedral,

tourist info office, the Millennial Bridge,

Thames river walk (north bank), Egyptian obelisk, the Benjamin Franklin house (above), Trafalgar Square,

St. Martins in the Fields, Edith Cavell memorial (You need to check out her story at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Cavell)

theater street, Chipotle, I bought an 1806 map of Africa at Storey’s LTD.,

M & M World,

Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Cath Kidston designer store, coffee at Cafe’ Nero, The Green Park, Buckingham Palace (the standing of the guard!),

the Canada Memorial back in The Green Park, and the Tube back to Shepherd’s Bush. After a rest, we headed the three blocks over to Westfield Mall by the Tube stop for dinner and browsing. Wow! This is an upscale mall!

We started the day at St. Pauls and ended our ventures at s’AINT Westfield Mall of Commerce. Scott and I closed the day reflecting on the impacts of this mall on society, a community, the economy, and the soul. Will we “sell” ourselves out?

It was a day of history, beauty, and great reflections (thoughtful AND ancient building facades on new buildings).

With blessings,

Beth

Anya has now visited 10 countries! We only count countries if we get out of the airport, so there would be 1 more if we counted airports. And Anya is so excited to check out London.

We made it on the train to Paddington Station, despite a lack of information and signage.

Then, Anya deciphered the Tube (subway) map and heroically got us to our destination. I had a map on my phone that got us to our Air B & B house rental. We are in a nice neighborhood which is out of the beaten path, so not so noisy, but close enough to the Tube stop and a mall.

We went out for dinner after the demands of travel. I saw an interesting booth.

Fortunately, our host had an offer for us. He could provide us with a SIM card with unlimited data, 3000 texts, and more phone calls than what would be needed for 30 days all for only 15 pounds. (So why is this so expensive in the USA?)

After dinner, Scott and I walked to get some groceries, which made us curious over several items that were new to us.

I’m tired, but Anya is too excited about being here in London. She told me she isn’t going to leave–ever.

We’ll, Anya, good luck with that.

With blessings,

Beth

Scott was off to visit his second cousins and other extended family today. He was able to visit the home that was in his family for 300 years and see a road sign that identifies his family name. Pretty cool!

Anya and I were off to see friends who came into the harbor on a HUGE Disney cruise ship this morning. They were able to enjoy a Lysefjord cruise on a small ship on a beautiful, but windy day.

Anya was in elementary school and middle school with these friends. Their mom was her wonderful rec league soccer coach, and we have become dear friends. We were able to be together for close to an hour showing them around and catching up.

The rest of the day was preparations for Tanzania and London. I need to crash, so I won’t be able to get to the Norway travels yet! Hang in there!

With blessings,

Beth