London

            O, To be in England                
            Now that April 's there,   
            And whoever wakes in England   
            Sees, some morning, unaware,   
            That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf            
            Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,   
            While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough   
            In England—now!

The opening of Robert Browning’s Home Thoughts from Abroad was our experience last week in London. It was rather cold and damp, but spring was definitely locked in wherever we turned. Browning was having a pretty good time living in Italy when he penned these poignant words, but his nostalgia for the homeland is truly understandable!
                               
Larry and I are traveling with my cousins Sharon and Michelle Stoffel on a rather whirlwind journey to London, Stockholm, Luleå, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Oslo, Vangsnes, Ålesund, Bergen, Manchester and back to London. Phew! 9 plane rides, three car rentals, two train trips and a boat - a lot more moving around than we usually do when we travel. But we’re doing a lot of family places. Sharon and I are cousins by virtue of our fathers being brothers. Her maternal grandparents came from the area around Luleå n Sweden, and mine came from Vik i Sogn and Ålesund (my grandmother) and Bualandet (my grandfather) in Norway. Sharon and I are almost exactly one year apart in age and the same grade in school - even went to the same Junior High in Seattle - Marcus Whitman. Our families were small and we got together a lot all through the year, so we knew each other’s maternal grandparents as well as our fathers’ families. Our Winder ancestors are English, and we’ll be visiting that area in Lancashire as well.

We started out in London (always the best start!) and a convenient beginning. Michelle owns an  internet fabric business (www.stylemakerfabrics.com) so they’re looking for fabric stores everywhere. Michelle identified certain places she wanted to see along the way. So in London we headed right off to Liberty of London and also to other smaller shops. It’s interesting to have a theme like this when you travel as it often puts you in neighborhoods you wouldn’t normally see.

Easter Saturday began at the the Borough Market - a big favorite of mine. Larry hadn’t been there before either. Larry and Michelle had a great time with their cameras, and we stopped on Monmouth Coffee, one of the roaster on Michelle's list. Along with her fabric business she works for Seattle Coffee Gear - - www.seattlecoffeegear.com - and was looking for highly rated local roasters to bring some treats back to her colleagues.

 On Saturday afternoon we headed for two fabric shops: Sew Over It in Islington and the amazing Shaukat fabrics in South Kensington. Going to Sew Over It also allowed me to go to my favorite London knitting shop, Loop. Here are a couple shots from the fabric shops:

Just one room among many at Shaukat Fabrics!

This was the Easter weekend, which is a big holiday not only in the UK but all through Europe. Friday and Monday were Bank Holidays, and pretty much everything was closed on Sunday as well. We had our Easter feast on Saturday by going to tea at Fortnum and Mason, which was lots of fun and really good. Then we made our way to Westminster Abbey for the Easter Vigil there. Right next to Westminster Abbey is St. Margaret’s Church. Way back there in the 11th century. The Benedictine monks of the Abbey were annoyed (really!) that so many people were coming to the services at the Abbey. So they built St. Margaret’s right next door for the “regular” folk. Our 6th  great-grandparents were married there in the 17th century, so here’s a picture of Sharon and me in front.

We waited in line in quite cold wind to get into the Abbey for the service, and had a nice time visiting with people from around the world. The vigil was was beautifully done, with baptisms of two the Abbey choristers,  and we enjoyed welcoming Easter with about 500 other people in that glorious building.

On Easter Sunday we took the Tube to Kew, to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was a moderately nice day, and it is clearly an Easter favorite for the London area. There were lots of families there enjoying the rather cold and windy day. The children had a scavenger hunt featuring the Finnish character Moomin, and it was fun watching them all run around looking for the botanical features for the next step of the hunt.

There is an incredible current installation at Kew called The Hive. It actually connects digitally with a real hive so. The lights on the installation turn on and off when the bees move and you can hear their hum inside. Here's a picture of this amazing construction:

We made our way back to London in the later afternoon. Easter night’s dinner was an excellent pub meal at The Victoria near our Paddington Hotel.