Week Three consisted of much tiredness. I have kept us going at a breakneck pace with small gaps of down time. Monday started with the trip to Neasden to the BAPS Shri Swaminaryan Mandir Temple. This is the largest Hindu temple in Europe. When I was here last it was the largest outside of India, but a larger one in the US has been built in the past 6 years. We had a tour-- learned a little about Hinduism and sat through a candle lighting and incense ceremony. The workmanship is beyond amazing. There are no nails, screws or any kind of metal hardware that holds this spectacular place together. All hand-fitted marble from India and Italy as well as limestone for the outside from England. All assembly done by volunteers.
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| Amazing wood carving |
There is no photography allowed inside but the workmanship is amazing, so check out the details with photos from their site here: Mandir architecture and detail
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| We walk right by an IKEA to get to the temple, so of course... |
On Wednesday we took a boat trip to Greenwich to check out the sights and enjoy some down time.
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| The Cutty Sark from the Thames |
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| Royal Naval Hospital then School after it was a royal palace and designed by Wren |
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| With our tour guide Gill |
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| The white parts are all original |
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| small berths--no tall people! |
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| The head...but not for the crew |
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| Beautiful set up for the Cutty Sark |
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| This colonnade used to be a street through town--and through the palace |
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| Anyone recognize this church? Four Weddings and a Funeral anyone? |
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| Queen's house in the background |
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| Maritime Museum |
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| Why, yes, that IS blue sky! First we'd seen in 3 weeks! |
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| Financial District in the distance |
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| Beautiful tulip staircase |
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| cantilevered |
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| lovely tile work for the floor |
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| All the work here was about measurement of longitude and trying to find a clock that would keep accurate time on shipboard. This is the clock that started it all. |
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| Add caption |
1:00 every day. Still happening.
Straddling the Prime Meridian
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| Amazing view from the top of the Observatory |
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| Largest ship in a bottle anyone? |
That was the end of Wednesday. We were tired and then just tired and finally went home tired. All of us were about done in with tours and such.
Thursday's blog's getting it's own separate entry--too cool to write up now. So, that leads us to the:
Last Day of the Official Trip: High Tea or Afternoon Tea
The students were torn for our last trip: Windsor Castle or a "High tea" They chose tea. I looked at probably 30 places in my original research and found this interesting afternoon tea at the St. Martin's Hotel--very modern place for a very traditional event.
All the art in the hotel and the tea room, lovingly called, The Den is a bit off. Ironic. Funny and interesting. Definitely not stuffy!
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| off with 'er 'ead |
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| The most normal painting in the place...except... |
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| Really hard to get a picture of a freed bird at the top of the wall |
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| hee hee--I love this one |
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| Just a bit quirky---the ship is straight now |
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| Cricket balls have a way... |
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| First day of Scott's vacation |
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| Tea in apothecary jars--make for pretty |
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| uh, yeah-- a hand door knob |
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| Stools that look like gold teeth? |
Thus endeth our last week. I will have at least one more blog that collects up the odds and ends of our trip.
A very tired,
Toni
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