Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

The Last Night

@brittarnhild

It is my last day in London/England. The last three nights I´ve had my dinner at ASK Italian in Spring Street, near Paddington. At the next table a group of more than 20 teenagers is celebrating a birthday party. Loudly. Playfully. One of the young waiters have become almost a friend over the part days. I also came here twice with Terje, and the waiter remembered us already the second time. Today I got part of his life story and my motherly instincts are awake. Over the past few years ASK Italian in Spring Street has become a favorite restaurant. They have the very best food, they have wonderful people serving you, and......they have internet. So here I am. I have eaten a pizza marguerita, and I plan to have some icecream in a while. But first I want to blog..........

and then I realize the last days have been so filled with impressions, Before blogging about them I need to digest them. I need to write about them in my diary. I need to dream about them.

 

Tomorrow, some time in the afternoon, I´ll fly back to Norway. Which means tomorrow will be a no blogging day. But to quote a blog reader who took me to a few wonderful places down in Sussex today: "Now you will have something to blog about all through October!". She is right. I will.

So the tales will comtinue to flow and I hope you are ready to come along.

 

 

A Sea of Poppies

@brittarnhild

If you visit Tower of London these autumn you will find a sea of glass poppies flowing out from the tower, filling the lawn. Making it look like blood.

Blood from 888.246 men, many of them pure boys only, who died during WWI.

WWI started in November 1914, and the poppies are Tower of London´s way to remember.

Volunteers are putting up the glass poppies, the last one will be up on November 11th, 100 years after the bloody war started.

I had seen photos both on facebook and on instagram showing these poppies before coming to London. Still I was unprepared of my own reaction. Suddenly I found myself crying. Crying for all the lost lives. For all the bloody wars.

 

 

You can read more about Tower of London´s Poppie Project here.

 

Looks like Amsterdam, is named Little Venice…...

@brittarnhild

Did you know that London has its own Little Venice? To me it looks more like Amsterdam, with the houseboats with people living in them along this tiny canal. It is named Little Venice though.

While Terje was still here we went up to Little Venice to take the boat to Camden. Morning birds as both of us are, we came too early for the boats, so we ended up taking a black London cab to Camden  and then the boat back to Little Venice again in the afternoon.

Have you ever been to Camden, to the Markets there, to Camden Lock? If you want to really breath in the unique atmosphere it is best to visit during the weekend. We came on a Monday, and still hade a wonderful time.

Shopping is one thing, yes, I did shop, some........
Walking around, looking, taking photos......is even better.

And what about sitting down for a cup of coffee?

 

It was Terje´s last day. He couldn´t miss his plane back home, so too soon we had to go searching for the boat to take us down again to Little Venice.

 

 

One day I would like to walk alon the canal between Little Venice and Camden.

Day #something……..Turvey Abbey

@brittarnhild

I am back in London, after three days in lovely, peaceful Turvey Abbey. Yes, I am back in London, though in my mind I am still walking the secret pathways in the park which is surrounding the abbey.

 

Last time I spent time at Turvey Abbey it was May, and the woods where coloured completely blue by the bluebells. This time I found quite another colour palette.

Though still just as beautiful.

 I walked in the park from early morning until the light faded, and though the pathway is only a short one, it never felt the same.

 

And if it started to feel the samen, I just turned around and walked the other way back.

 

Day #3 We try to do everything and we succeed

@brittarnhild

Terje is leaving back home today, and since we lost the first day in London because of the cancelled flight, we spent yesterday doing everything. And we succeeded :-)

I will probably have more time for blogging after he has left.........

 

Day #2, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

@brittarnhild

We made it. To London, to our hotel, to dinner with our sister in law and to the theatre!
Oscar Wilde´s The Importance of Being Earnest.

A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

The photos is just for fun of course, I can tell you we had a terrible hard time trying to look serious long enough for my sister in law to take it.

The days serendipity:
We had agreed to meet Stina, my brother Børge´s wife, somewhere near Picadilly Circus around six o´clock. As our travel had gone so smoothly we were there already one hour early and had planned to sit down for a coffee. Coming up from the tube station we found ourselves in  a crowd with a million other people. You know, right in the heart of London on a Saturday afternoon. We walked may be a hundred years, threading our way in and out between people. Then Terje bumped into a woman and they both stopped dead!

Guess who the woman was :-)

Day #1 had expired

@britarnhild

Day#1
Came out to the airport only to learn that our flight had been cancelled.
Many hours and a lot of stress later, we are back home in the House in the Woods, crossing our fingers that tomorrow will be a better day.

 

A Week on Leftovers

@brittarnhild

The coming week, or actually the coming 10 days, I plan to live on leftovers.

Not leftover foods........

.....but a leftover week of vacation :-)

And yes, I do plan to take you with me.
At least some of the days.

Can you see where I am going?

 

 

Blåklokkeveien

@brittarnhild

It is hard to maintain several blogs. I have kind of reopened my Norwegian blog Blåklokkeveien, and try to blog there every day just now. Which unfortunately means that there is less time to be here.....

 

The Flower Market

@brittarnhild

If I have time, I always visit the outdoor flower market when I am in Oslo. We used to have one in Trondheim as well, though over the years it grew smaller and smaller, until it completely disappeared a few years ago. I think this is what I miss most in Trondheim. The outdoor flower market.

 

Now I am in Oslo for a couple of days, and as soon as today´s meeting was finished, before tonight´s dinner with two best friends, I set out for a few of Oslo´s less known book stores, the no chain ones. But before that........

....yes, you guessed it. The flower market.

 

Well may be it is a good thing we don´t have one in Trondheim any more. If we had I would probably have used all my money on flowers.