London School Trip #4

I passed by this a few times when I lived in London (it´s near where I used to live) and I think the idea is hilarious and great at the same time! A place truly FOR kids!



I just like the concept....it almost empowers kids in a way (and keeps out ´loner´creepy pedophiles at the same time!) because it´s almost like (this is how I read it the first time I saw it - maybe I was being influenced because the Great Ormond, i.e. Peter Pan, hospital is just down the road) the kids are in charge - if you want in, you need the kids, not the other way around....anyway, great concept!







Here is the history. Click and read. The Foundling Hospital is especially important to what we´re going to see later on in this post...

A view of Coram´s Fields today....

This will be rude, but I can´t help myself! On the way to our destination there is a college....a college called GOODENOUGH COLLEGE!!

I don´t know if I would like to attend there....I can think of several smart-alec comments to make about the name, but I´ll leave it...

And here we are! We´ve arrived! Do you see it?

Look at the ´house´with the blue shield....can you read it? Oh ok ´failing eyes´, here you go!

That is right! This was Charles Dickens house when he lived in London with his family.

This was his and his wife´s bedroom. Now the house is a museum to Dickens and his works, his life and his times...

His family's early, moderate wealth provided the boy Dickens with some private education at William Giles's School, in Chatham. This time of prosperity came to an abrupt end, however, when his father spent beyond his means in entertaining and in retaining his social position, and was finally imprisoned at Marshalsea debtor's prison. Shortly afterwards, the rest of his family joined him in residence at Marshalsea except for Charles. Dickens had begun working ten-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse pasting labels on jars of shoe polish (this was a dark time for him). The family eventually got out of debtors´prison. (THIS IS ME NOW: All of this background makes so much sense about his work about children, child´s labor, the poor...Great Expectations (the wish of a kid probably in that situation) makes so much more sense now....)

Here is the back garden. Dickens went on to write and became VERY famous in his time and quite well off financially. He was ALWAYS working and writing. He married Catherine Hogarth in April 1836 and they had 10 children together. This is where I lose respect for him. He later left his wife for an actress that he knew...umm...yeah....UGH! After the separation (no divorce for them back then) he moved to area of his childhood where he grew up and left this house....

Here is a room decked out in Christmas decor...

This is the desk where he wrote ´A Tale of Two Cities´ (love that one!)

This was a porcelain monkey he kept on his desk (part of his ´desk furniture´), he loved it.... ?

There they are, Charles and Catherine as they would´ve looked in the beginning years in this house....

What makes people ´snap´and decide suddenly that they ´need´someone else other than their spouse in their lives? I recently found out a friend of mine did exactly this and I am just left with...´Why?! What?!´ Anyway...

You can read that this was the door-knocker on Dickens´boyhood home in London....

Can´t you just see it transforming into Jacob Marley per Á Christmas Carol´?!!

These were bars from the debtors´prison that Dickens´father and his family had to live in until the debts were paid off....(they were there because they lived outside of their means - trying to entertain and keep up with others....ugh!)

To end the day we´re heading to another famous person´s house, but along the way a bit of beautiful Christmas....

Ok, once again the middle house with the blue shield. Who use to live here?´

Do you want a hint?

´He shall be called Wonderful! Counselor! Almighty God! The Everlasting Father! The Prince of Peace!

Ok, so not the SUBJECT of that song, but the guy who wrote it!

This was cool because we were in Halle, Germany earlier this year (another blog) where he was born, lived, played the organ in the local cathedral and now we´re where he lived in London!

They have also turned Handel´s house into a museum where at night they hold concerts. My concert was a Baroque quartet called The English Concert. It was so interesting to sit there (just 24 of us) in Handel´s study-rehearsing room listening to these people play their violins and the harpsichord). This experience was probably VERY close to what a mini-concert would´ve been play back in Handel´s day. And then sitting there I was even more grateful realizing that I hadn´t really ever experienced music like this before. I always hear it on a CD, over the radio, in a BIG music hall with hundreds of others....this is how people used to hear music back in the day....just a few, in a room....it was quite interesting to listen to the violins so close....me likey....

And then would you EVER believe who lived right next door a few centuries after Handel?

You got it! LOL!

Oxford Street is to London as 5th Ave is to New York.....

Loverly Christmas lights!

Purdy.....

So the London trip came to an end...don´t worry, there is another workshop in February and there are still things to do on my ´to do in London´list.

´cuz I´m leaving on a jet plane...´ and now heading to the beautiful, sunny Spain that she is!

I LOVE YOU, SPAIN!

That is Malaga below from the air....beautiful!

Using info from past blog posts about Malaga you can make a game out of finding things in this pic. Do you see the Lighthouse-Farola? Do you see the One-Armed Cathedral? Where´s the Alcazaba?

I love beautiful views and I love Spain!

So the plane does this funny thing....it flies over and past Malaga and towards Africa....and for a moment you might wonder úmm...aren´t we supposed to land OVER THERE?!!´

Then the plane, as if sensing your thoughts, turns around....it´s a wonderful experiment in telekinesis :) (Remember, there is NO spoon!)

And there are me beautiful mountain majesties! And Torremolinos is in there! Click and try to find my building....

Allrighty folks. It has been grand that you came along. I hope you enjoyed London and the views from the air of Malaga - I know I did!

Ciao and remember you exist to be happy!