Sir Emery Walker's House

Today we toured the lovely Thames-side Hammersmith Terrace home of famed English typographer Emery Walker (1851 - 1933), who along with his close friend textile designer William Morris were pioneers in the British Arts & Crafts Movement which flourished between 1880 and 1920.  The cozy home was chock-a-block with the trappings of Arts & Crafts style...  furniture, tapestries, wallpaper, textiles & art, and there to explain it all to us during a most thorough and illuminating 2 hour tour were two charming lady guides, Marigold and Thalia.  Marigold was especially up on the intrigues of the Walker and Morris families, including rumored liaisons between artists' model Jane Morris (William's wife) and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and between May Morris (William & Jane's daughter) and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.  Emery Walker's daughter Dorothy and her companion Elizabeth preserved the Walker home as a museum for visitors to enjoy.  Photography was restricted to the garden.

Dahlias in the garden

The Emery Walker House is right beside the Thames

That's Thalia in the garden

Entrance today to the Sir Emery Walker House .
Originally the house entry was via the river.

Dating from the late 1800s the Black Lion Riverside Pub & Beer Garden

St. Peter's Church, Hammersmith, built 1829

Stopped here for a coffee

St. Peter's Hammersmith

Black vintage Citroën

The UK Parliament

Today we took a tour of the Houses of Parliament.  Parliament consists of three parts: the House of Commons (some 650 "MPs" elected by the people to represent them), the House of Lords (some 800 appointed-for-life "Members,") and the Monarch.  The balance of power between these three parts has changed over the centuries and today the role of the Monarch is mostly symbolic.  

Our self-guided tour took us about almost 90 minutes, and it was barely enough time to admire the building alone.  The tour began in Westminster Hall, the only part of the original Palace of Westminster which survives in its original form, dating to 1075.  The rest of the Parliament building looks medieval, but it dates to the mid 1800s, after the original Palace of Westminster was destroyed in a fire.

Alas, I could not take any photographs beyond Westminster Hall.   There was a lot to see and to learn. I especially liked the Tudor Room with its portraits depicting Henry the VIII and his six wives.  The highlight of the tour was exploring the House of Lords followed by the House of Commons. Fascinating!

Westminster Hall
In this hall King Charles I was tried and condemned to death by Oliver Cromwell

Details from "St. Stephen's Porch"
The public entrance to the Houses of Parliament

Doorway in "St. Stephen's Porch"

Westminster Hall

Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) under renovation

Victoria Tower, Houses of Parliament

Ruminations

Nous sommes le 21 juillet 2012. C'est l'anniversaire d'Eddie et le jour de la mort de mon père en 2003. Nous sommes à Londres depuis décembre 2019, et chaque jour les différences entre Londres et San Francisco continuent de me fasciner. Une grande différence est qu’il pleut presque tous les jours ici et souvent sans prévenir. Une autre différence est qu’on trouve rarement des panneaux d'arrêt et des feux de circulation. Traverser la rue est un sport dangereux pour un piéton. Mes restaurants mexicains et chinois préférés à San Francisco me manquent. Néanmoins, je suis content ici.  J'aime entendre des accents britanniques tous les jours, et il semble y en avoir plusieurs différents accents londoniens. Récemment, j'ai regardé la finale de l'Euro 2020 entre l'Italie et l'Angleterre, et les britanniques et européens sont très enthousiastes à propos de leurs équipes, plus que les Américains sont enthousiastes à propos de leurs équipes. 

Le 19 juillet 2021, nous avons observé le « Freedom Day » au Royaume-Uni, le jour où nous avons dit au revoir à la distanciation sociale et aux masques. Moi, je suis prudent, curieux de savoir ce qui va se passer. Beaucoup de gens continuent de porter des masques, même à l'extérieur.  Je ne serais pas surpris si nous retournions bientôt au “lockdown.”

Jaimerais voyager, bien sûr, en Angleterre, au Pays de Galles, en Ecosse et en Irlande et sur le continent; cependant, voyager me semble maintenant trop stressant et peut-être même impossible. De toute façon, j'apprécie nos promenades à Londres, les opportunités de visiter les marchés en plein air et de boire des cafés glacés dans les cafés-terrasses quand il ne pleut pas.  Chaque jour, j'étudie mon français. Eddie dit que quand je parle français, je parle avec un accent espagnol. Je suppose que c'est parce que j'ai étudié l'espagnol pendant de nombreuses années.

Je suis tellement heureux de cette opportunité de connaître cette île où je suis né, où mes parents se sont mariés. Londres a tellement de culture et de gens créatifs. Le monde est un endroit tellement fascinant, même si c'est fou en même temps.

Chiswick House

We finally were able to go inside Chiswick House, but, alas, I was told that no photography is permitted.  Chiswick House is one of the earliest examples of Classical design in England and, with its 65-acres of gardens, the birthplace of the English landscape movement. The house was built in 1726-1729, inspired by classical Italian design.  It's not a huge house but it does have an interesting history and some spectacular rooms including the Blue Velvet Room with its walls covered in very groovy handwoven velvet wallcoverings.

The Beatles are featured in a film (now on YouTube)
singing Paperback Writer in the Conservatory in 1966

A view of the Kitchen Garden

Ribston Pippin Apples

Potatoes

Looks like apricots to me

Rose Campion also known in the UK as Lychnis

Columbia Road Flower Market

We had a delicious lunch at this restaurant on Kingsland Road
in the Hoxton neighborhood near the Flower Market!