Sunday Stroll: Remembrance Sunday

Remembrance Sunday honours the fallen in the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries. It's also an occasion to thank surviving veterans for their selfles and heroic service.



In the morning the Service of Remembrance took place at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, where the Queen laid a wreath.



Other members of the royal family laid wreaths--Prince Philip, Princes William and Harry, both in uniform of their respective regiments. Then representatives of all the Commonwealth nations and all brances of the service placed their wreaths.

When that was done, there were prayers and hymns, closing with God Save the Queen. Then there was a veterans parade, and very impressive it is. I watched a portion of it before leaving the hotel.

My plan for the day happened to take me to the heart of the action. Navigating London was a bit of a challenge, the Victoria Underground Line was closed, and services were unavailable on other lines. But I got myself where I needed to go, and arrived at Westminster Abbey. The bells were pealing.



The tolling continued for hours, and mingled with the organ inside the abbey, where a worship service was taking place. I couldn't visit the graves of my characters but I did have a nice wander through the cloisters.

Poppy wreaths laid at a military memeorial.



Personal messages of remembrance.



Oh, look, it's actress Anne Bracegirdle's gravestone. She appears in my novel, very briefly.



The lead pair in the boys' choir procession. They participated in the Cenotaph service.



This military gentleman was striding towards the same place I was.



The Field of Remembrance on the Abbey grounds, sponsored by the Royal British Legion.



The Poppy Appeal for this year is the most successful ever. I did my part.

Looking down the line at the memorial crosses. Each one represents an individual.



Part of the Army section.



Remembering.



Section for the U.S. fallen.



Many faiths are acknowledged. In this group are the Star of David and the Crescent as well as the Cross.



All generations were united in remembrance.



A hero in Parliament Square.



Winston Churchill overlooking Westminster Hall.



By the time I arrived at the Cenotaph, the final ceremony was in progress. A Salvation Army chaplain was making remarks and leading prayers. The band played hymns. In this video you'll hear the very last bars of God Save the Queen.



I continued along Whitehall to the Banqueting House, a setting for a few scenes in the book.



I can never resist photographing Horse Guards.



I crossed over to St. James's Park. The purple berry bush next to the bridge is doing its thing, right on schedule.



Buckingham Palace from the bridge.



I walked through Green Park to the Tube Station and got off in Oxford Street. The trains were jammed in late afternoon...I bought three skirts in a favourite store, then returned to the hotel.

This was a moving and emotional day, one I'll always remember. I've never made the effort to participate in Remembrance Sunday and I'm so thankful I did.

To continue strolling, please head over to Aisling's blog. And thanks for visiting mine.

Literary Leanings & Gleanings

I now seem to have acquired a London literary agent as well as a New York one. (Both with the same agency so it's all in-house.) Met her for coffee yesterday at the National Gallery, so I had to go into author-mode and talk about my writing and my books--past, present, future--so she could set strategies.

When we parted I went next door to the National Portrait Gallery, where I'm always sure to find paintings of the subjects of my novels--past, present, and future. I was delighted to see that a full colour reproduction of one of my character's is now available from the image archive, so I ordered one and they printed it up for me and it looks fantastic. (I have a b&w already.) This new one will get framed, I predict.

Returned to my hotel to pick up a bag of books I brought for an author friend I was seeing later. Went to Piccadilly, to the huge-mongous Waterstone's there and sniffed around but didn't buy anything. (Yet.) As my friend and I were having tea at the Connaught Hotel just off Grosvenor Square--Claridge's was totally booked--I walked all the way there, following a familiar route. Piccadilly to Bolton to Curzon to South Audley to Mount Street. I needed to work off my afternoon tea before I ate it! When my friend arrived we were led to to a window table. We both order the custom house blend tea. The first course of tea was the sandwiches (salmon, egg, cucumber and cress, a sort of bruschetta of sun-dried tomoato. The second course was sweets, and I can't begin to name them or even do justice to their loveliness...simply too pretty to eat. Although of course we did.

It was raining by the time we left and just a short walk to Thomas Goode's for a browse. I then carried on to Shepherd Market where my date was waiting. We chose a Lebanese restaurant, not the usual one but one he'd been to by I hadn't. I ate carrot sticks mostly, nibbled at a starter, and drank a glass of wine. My tea was my meal for the day.

No photos. Shocking, I know. Yesterday was a camera-free day.

This morning was absolutely gorgeous and would've been great for photography. However, I had 17th century primary source materials advance ordered over at the British Library. Plus I needed to renew my 3-year Reader's Pass. And this was the only day I could do it. So off I trotted, very reluctantly.

My reference items had useful information. One, it seemed, was lost in the system and they couldn't order it for delivery in the Rare Books and Music Reading Room. But, after lots of time lost trying to track it down, and being given a microfilm and told it was on there (it wasn't) I learned it was available in book form, Open Access up in the Manuscripts Reading Room. (Oh, how I hate microfilm.)

And after all that, the information I was seeking wasn't there. The fact that it wasn't there is meaningful, so not a loss. But I had hopes of solving a riddle that, I'm increasingly convinced, is quite insoluble. It happens sometimes.

Tonight we're dining at our beloved French restaurant, back in Shepherd Market.

Change of Location

Spent yesterday morning in Antwerp's art museum, a vast collection of Rubens, Van Dycks, other Dutch and Flemish masters, and more modern works.



Ate lunch there also, a stupendous pate, and a wonderful apricot tart.

Then a train from Antwerp to Brussels. Had a bit of a wait in the station, which gave me time to have the best hot chocolate in my entire life. Oh, was it good! Eurostar departed around 6, stopping briefly in Lille before thundering under the Channel to London.

This is a very familiar hotel. Our suite is enormous, I think it has five rooms/spaces, depending how you count. Maybe six. It's lovely and luxurious. However, back at the Lodge the jacuzzi is not visible from the sitting room. Nor is it part of the sitting room, as it is here. Nor is it large enough for 10 people. (That's no exaggeration, either.)



First stop today was the National Gallery. My travelling companion, rather than OD'ing on Dutch and Flemish masters, wanted to see more of them. And did. I was glad to see old favourites from the 17th and 18th centuries as well, and the Impressionist galleries.

From there we wandered up towards Monmouth Street, stopping at a theatre to enquire about tickets for a play, and at this amazing cupcake shop.



I was meeting a new friend, a musician, part-time Londoner, and former blogger (yes, it's possible to quit!) for lunch at the Covent Garden Hotel. It was an extremely enjoyable meal, both the conversation and the food, aided by a couple of glasses of sublime pink champagne. Look forward to repeating the experience when possible. I saw her flat as well, really conveniently located and quite a wonderful living and music-making space.

I'd intended to go from there up to Oxford Street for some shopping. For reasons I don't perfectly understand, I abruptly headed in a totally different direction in search of--yes, my characters. Not only the ones in this book, but some of them from earlier novels. I walked down Drury Lane to St. Clement's Dane, identified the approximate spot where (spoiler!) a murder takes place in my novel. Circled round the Aldwych, came up the back (the Thames side) of the current incarnation of Somerset House.



Passed through the rear portion and walked round the ice rink (now being set up) to the Courtauld Gallery. Hadn't been there in a few years. It's not on my "regular" museum list.

I seem to also be addicted to Dutch and Flemish masters now, because there I was gazing upon Rubens and the lot of them again. But the Monets and the Manets and the Renoirs were there as well, and many other items. Picked up some cards in the shop and then hopped on the Tube, which brought me back to the place where I began.

Weather is decent, no rain.

It's the Fifth of November, Guy Fawkes's Night. Tonight and tomorrow the air will smell of smoke (I've often been here on this day.)

What's it all about?

I'm off to a bonfire party of my own, so haven't time to explain. Here's a helpful verse:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd (or by God's mercy*)
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring. (Holla*)
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
And what should we do with him? Burn him!

The fireworks have started up all over the city. Lots of bangs and booms.

Paleis Het Loo

Another two-country day. We hired a car to drive from Antwerp, Belgium to Apeldoorn, Netherlands, so I could tour Paleis Het Loo and its gardens, created by King William and Queen Mary. A couple of scenes in my novel take place there.

It was a pleasant drive to the Gelderland and the forest areas where William enjoyed hunting--he purchased Het Loo for that very purpose, and and and Mary soon created the Versailles of Holland.

The front of the palace.



I started in the gardens.



My lizard Sparkle makes a friend.



Celestial globe. (Its mate, a terrestrial globe, was positioned on the opposite side of the garden.)



The ornate back door of the palace, which opens onto the gardens.



Queen Mary's Garden.



Queen Mary created a similar wych elm bower at Hampton Court Palace, but not quite as elaborate as the Het Loo one.



Inside the bower.



The figs are still coming in.



I love passion flowers. So did Queen Mary.



I was inside the palace for quite a long time doing the tour--King William's and Queen Mary's apartments, the chapel, as well as rooms reflecting later periods of the House of Orange right up to Queen Juliana's 20th century bedroom with furniture she chose herself, and the marks inside the door frame to chart her growth. Queen Beatrix and her family still use the palace, royal marriage cermonies and christenings take place in the chapel.

I saw it all!



Snacking in the car. Let it be known that I did not steal this royal fig myself. Someone who shall not be named nicked it for me, because I missed out having a proper lunch.



The drive back was less enjoyable, heavy rains and heavy traffic, especially in the ring roads outside Nijmegen and Eindhoven. But we made it back safely, in time for a late dinner--and for a second time this week we dined with jazz great Toots Thielemans! I had the Flemish Stew again (Toots's favourite) because its so very tasty.

Tomorrow will be a three-country day.

Antwerpen

We got very wet at The Hague yesterday, but today Antwerp was dry and bright.

This was a holiday (because All Saints fell on Sunday)--and on Mondays nearly all museums are closed in this part of the world. But I don't think the Diamond Museum ever closes, and that's where we began.



There were displays of historic diamonds and interesting stories connected with them, and information on the entire diamond trade, from the properties of diamonds to the mining of them and cutting and polishing and sorting and selling and marketing and jewellery-making. We watched a diamond polisher at work (the ones he was polishing were for industrial use, in oil drills.) I talked to him about old cuts and rose cuts. He said when he got into the trade there were 30-40,000 workers, now more like 300 or 400. Big, big multi-carat stones are in demand, 4 carats to 40. But 80% of all diamonds pass through Antwerp at some stage of their development.

From the museum we walked the main shopping street. In a department store I found the hand-mitt flannels/washcloths that I like so much and bought a couple to match our master bath towels.

Talk to the hand.



We're in Belgium, and that means Chocolate everywhere. We stopped in the Leonidas shop and each purchased something to lift our blood sugar levels. I chose some of the chocolate rolls below, with raspberry marzipan in the middle.



Chocolates and other sweets are works of art here. Here's a sampling from shop windows.

Chocolate marzipan hedgehog.



Autumn theme: leaves and nuts and Halloween ghosties.



Pink marzipan pigs (every shop had some variation of these.)



Fruit sweets.



This sweet dog was minding the flower shop.



A study in colours.



A study in black and white.



In the Grote Markt, sunshine on the facades.



Old-fashioned transport.



The tops of the buildings are ornate and wonderfully adorned.



St. George, after skewering the dragon.



More rooftops.



Decoration on the well across from the Cathedral.



A different view.



The cathedral dominates the skyline, and one hears the chimes regularly, they play every quarter hour. We spent hours in their vicinity so heard them ring all the changes. Several times.

Looking up.



It's difficult to fit the whole building into the frame but I did fairly well.



Some distance away from the Cathedral I found it reflected in this ballet poster.



Another view, this from the viewing bridge.



Statue on the bridge.



River Schelde.



The castle is a seafaring museum.



The building in the middle is the Vlees Huis (Meat House), which belonged to the butchers' guild. Its brickwork resembling streaky bacon.



This shop offers 260 types Belgian beer. I'm mostly interested in one type--framboise.



For dinner we ordered the traditional moules et frites (mussels and fries). One of us tried the local Antwerp few. The other had Belle Vue Framboise.

Sunday Stroll: Two Countries

On our first night in Antwerp we had dinner with a fabulous friend of ours, known to the world as bestselling novelist Tess Gerritsen. She's here to sign books and do press at the Antwerp Bookfair and in Amsterdam.

The two authors outside the Italian restaurant.



It seems crazy having a reunion on this side of the Atlantic, when we live a mere 3 hours apart. But when you're a globetrotter with globetrotting chums, your paths are bound to cross away from home sometimes.

I ordered the lobster ravioli. It tasted as delicious as it looks!



Also dining with us was a large, glossy, beautifully behaved black labrador. He and his people were seated at the table nearest us. I couldn't get a good shot of him, alas. I love that European dogs are allowed into the very best restaurants. He was better behaved than I was.

After dinner at the shop next to our hotel I picked up Belgium's version of Little Debbie snack cakes. I had my choice of any number of waffle-type goodies. This one is 2 mini-waffles pressed together with vanilla cream inside (exactly like the stuff inside Little Debbie cakes.)



This morning at the bus stop I renew my romance with Nutella spread. I broke my addition to it 2 years ago. So far I haven't fallen off the wagon....



No, not a cathedral. The Antwerp Centraal rail station.



Ditto.



We took the train to The Hague for an afternoon of research and sightseeing.

Here's the Mauritshuis (the primary art gallery) and the Binnenhof, seat of the Netherlands government.



We visited two other galleries, all within a short walk of one another, situated around the Hofvijver (the body of water pictured below.)



On the other side of the Hofvijver, we found a fish snack shop. At the walk-up counter you could order sandwiches--or filleted pickled herring.



Here's the filleting process.





I watched a man down one of these herring like a seal, he held onto the tail, and gulped it down in two bites. (The seal would've swallowed it whole, of course!)

These, I believe, are smoked dried herrings.



We decided to try the very tiny local shrimps, caught in the waters right by the city.





Within the courtyard of the Binnenhof. Sunday strollers getting wet.



Binnenhof arches. This reminds me of the many perspective paintings we saw in the three galleries we toured.



We saw all the Dutch and Flemish masters--Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, Mytens, and more. And the most famous Vermeer of all, Young Girl in a Turban, better known as Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Retraced our route back to Antwerp via rail and local bus, which conveniently let us off in front of our hotel, where we dined. I had a Flemish stew and washed it down with Kriek (cherry) beer. The barman was out of my favourite Framboise (raspberry) beer. But I'll have some tomorrow, I'm sure!

Legendary jazzman Toots Thielemans was dining at the same time we were. The restaurant bears his name...I'm wondering if his meal is comped?

It seemed odd not to be in church this All Saints Day, singing saintly hymns. But we did see lots of religious art!

Thanks for stopping by...to keep strolling, head over to Aisling's blog.

On the Move

La Belle Fog--I mean, France--from the Eurostar train on the way to Lille.



I even shot video as we zipped along.



We disembarked at Bruxelles-Midi railway station.

Eight years have passed since I was in Brussels, that station or the city. But shortly after we left the train the intervening years evaporated. I was enveloped by remembered smells as I inhaled the combined and very heady aromas of melted chocolate and pipe tobacco. The scent of Brussels. And suddenly I wished--for a moment--that we were staying, instead of hurrying on to Platform 20 to catch the Antwerp train.

I'm always conscious of the creativity and whimsy of the Belgians. The station was hung with paper pumpkin cut-outs, dangling from on high. And a baguette shop's Halloween window display featured not only pumpkin art, but this fierce fanged carrot. I love that the artist made use of that other orange vegetable!



Lovely sunset just before we entered the city, visible from the train windows. I fear it may be the last we see of the sun for a while...but that's all right. Unless I'm headed for the Caribbean, I don't travel for the weather!