POSTCARDS FROM ENGLAND

Can you believe all the firealarms in our building all went off again this morning?!?!?  This is the 3rd time in 8 days.  And sadly our sweet neighbor with the long stick to turn them off was not home.  We had told our AirBnB host last time it happened, that if it happened a 3rd time we would be moving out and expect to be reimbursed!  When Gary notified her that the alarms were all sounding again, she said she had another apartment literally around the corner that was just vacated that we could have and she would wave all cleaning fees for both apartments.  This seemed easier and less expensive than finding a hotel so we took her up on her offer.  As frustrating as this alarm business has been, I will say our AirBnb host has been so responsive  and easy to reach - so no complaints there.  (And mercifully the alarm has only sounded while we have been awake - never in the middle of the night...but we don't want to press our luck on that front!) We ...

 Long before we left on this trip, neighbors told us we had picked the best week to visit London as it was the week of the famous Chelsea Flower Show.  It is held for 5 days in May and is attended by the Royal Family.  We checked into getting tickets but they were £97 each so we put it off our trip planning radar. (I mean, I'm not that  into gardening!) What we later learned is that yes, you need tickets to go to the flower show...but there is also something called "Chelsea in Bloom" which happens at the same time, but is free...no tickets required.  In the Chelsea neighborhood, more than 125 shops, restaurants, and pubs decorate profusely and create a floral dreamscape (which is later judged and prizes given). Each year there is a theme to Chelsea in Bloom...this year's theme is "Out of this World" so the floral installations are inspired by space travel and astrology.  There are also some large scale installations commissioned by a property developme...

Well, it seemed like a good day to go visit the Tower of London...it's been 26 years since we checked in on the Crown Jewels!  We wanted to make sure they are still taking good care of them!  We were feeling bit lazy this morning so opted for an UBER instead of the Tube.  London is so huge...it can really take a long time to get from one side to the other! The timing was perfect, as when we entered the Tower grounds, it was time for one of the free Beefeater (technically they are called "Yeoman Waraders") tours.  These guys give great tours (we enjoyed one 26 years ago!) and "our" guy Barry was fantastic on this day.  These Beefeaters are all very funny and personable and describe the history of the tower in such an engaging way.  Oh my gosh...so many gory beheading stories!  At one point when he was telling about how Henry VIII welcomed Anne Boleyn here (only to have her executed 3 years later!), he grabbed my hand and I was his Anne Boleyn as he tol...

  Today seemed like a good museum day, so off we headed to the Victoria & Albert Museum, more fondly referred to as the V&A.  This huge, sprawling museum has the biggest, most eclectic collection objects anywhere ...furniture, glassware, iron work, clothing, jewelry, carpets, photography, anything you want to see is here.    Seriously, the show stealer for me was the HUGE hand blown Dale Chihuly chandelier in the entry room!  It is gorgeous...and HUGE! It is STUNNING!! Look how it dwarfs step people on the second floor here...each glass "tentacle" is enormous!  Apparently when it was originally made and installed in 2001, Chihuly thought it looked too small, so he had them dis-assemble it and blew a bunch more glass tentacles and re-hung I!t My problem is that the V&A is almost too big (and I found it to be laid out in a very confusing way). But we did see some lovely things...sadly the fashion section and the theater section (with costumes from...