Dandelion & burdock soda. A new favorite!
Jetlagged at the B&B down the road from Storm's.
Here's to burdocky soda!
B&B TV plus soda plus tea. I like the Albridge Hotel a lot.
Row of new townhouses along Friars Terrace by Tesco.
Side yard of townhouses.
Safety officer walking up the sidewalk past the townhouses.
About 1/3 of my pics are “planning” pictures that possible Caleb can use. Like this one, showing parking.
Friars Terrace again. The dwelling opposite the new townhouses are much more pleasing.
These aren't built of cinder block but may as well be.
Downtown Stafford.
Downtown Stafford near The Swan. This was early morning, which is why it's relatively quiet.
One of Stafford's several downtown bakeries. I got a nice corned beef pasty here a few days after I took this.
The main drag of downtown is a big pedestrian / market zone. Again, early in the day still.
You can take care of so many errands just walking through here, plus sit on benches eating or gossiping.
Um......? I swear, real sign at W.H. Smith.
The Ancient High House, supposedly the largest timber-frame townhouse in England.
Looking down I think Church Lane, towards the Ancient High House.
Candy! I went in this place and got Italian and English licorice. (And no, I don't know what “boiled sweets” are.)
Looking across Church Lane by St. Mary's Church.
St. Mary's Church, just off the market street. It's got a nice park.
It's rather forboding.
This was a pleasant place to sit.
Church Lane. Note the gravestones, lying flat, along the edge of the churchyard.
St. Mary's. Rather blackened.
Look at the cool gargoyles! (Also, note that somebody needs to weed the steeple!)
Another timber-frame house.
Old Mill equipment, set up at site of one mill or another for 1000 years.
The River Sow. Through downtown and Victoria Park, it's more a canal than a river.
Development along the River Sow. The entrance to Victoria Park is just around the corner.
More River Sow.
Approaching Victoria Park.
Looking toward downtown. The River Sow is a major duck haven.
Old bldg. marked as “The Moat House.” Maybe there once was a moat, but not anymore.
Victoria Park. This is really lovely large park on the norwest side of downtown.
I discovered a big outdoor aviary in the park.
Pheasant? Chicken? Whatever it is, very beautiful!
In one cage all these canaries were jumping around in the grass, I guess eating bugs and grass. They were SO cute!
Victoria Park was originally called the Victoria Pleasure Gardens.
The part of the park along the river is beautiful, a really great place to walk or sit.
Another view up the Sow.
A swan family!
I followed the family as they zoomed up the river.
I caught them in a nice grouping. (The duck is like “Eeek! Killer swans!”)
View of the old mill at the end of the main park, across from the Sainsbury's at the end of downtown.
I looked up at house abutting the park and saw this big fat white dove perching.
Coo, coo!
1920s type school bldg. and playground.
How idyllic is this?!
Happy Wendy!
St. Chad's looks average on the outside, but the insides are startling!
I'd never gone in there before but with a booksale, I decided to check it out.
All the pews were filled with books, which I thought rather odd.
However, I was so into the bldg. I did not look at ONE book.
You can't see it quite yet, but the carvings in this church are unusual.
Almost out of an English TV show -- former priest going around with dust poll while old church women tell him where to poke.
The carvings inside are Norman and date to about 1100. Never seen anything like them before.
It's weird how they look kind of Norse, kind of Aztec, kind of... well, not what you'd expect.
I see: birds, frogs, monkeys, walruses, old men?
One another alley in downtown Stafford.
I think this is a county gov't building.
Older part of the county building.
Passing through past several nice old pubs.
Ha!
I loved this house. It reminds me of Bauhaus, except it predates it by a few decades I think.
I propose that “Dutch Circus” just sounds like a euphamism for some type of illegal sex act, like maybe an orgy with pommes frites and hedgehogs.
The Market Square.
I love the cafe right on the edge of the churchyard. As it should be!
As usual, New Look is so caught in the 80s.
Nice fruits, vegies & plants shop.
“Look, mom, flowers! I want flowers! Mommy!”
Taken for Caleb, sign showing road work.
The street running up to the pedestrian zone is being torn up for new gas mains and redone.
I can't get enough of English doorways. This is right on Wolverhampton Rd.
These are incredibly average type English rowhouses but I like them. They're about 100 yrs old.
Looking out my window at the B&B - bus stop and liquor shop.
This is my B&B from the outside.
Little street in the neighborhood off Wolverhampton, north of the railroad bridge.
More townhouses.
Pic for Caleb showing back side of townhouses.
Allotments along the railroad. People keep little garden plots here.
Thriving little gardens.
Rowley Grove, where Storm & Jim live.
My breakfast table BEFORE the main course.
And LO! the Lord provided English breakfast.
Caleb says this is revolting but my tastebuds beg to differ.
Sunday morning I took a walk through the neighborhood north of Storm's and then on through the fields.
The Virgin train that zooms through Stafford seemingly every 15 min.
First of many, many pics I took of fields.
Thistles were everywhere.
Miraculously, I didn't get stuck in any of these thistles.
Wheat.
Path through the wheat.
Tidy flower garden.
Me and Storm & Jim's lovely cat Tara.
Traditional books-in-guestroom-looming-over-me shot.
Tara is too sweet.
Tara dear.
“Hey, why'd you stop petting me?”
Sunday afternoon I went for walk from Storm's over to Stafford Castle. Walked through a lovely set of streets on the way.
Tudor style, yay.
I think this is digitalis.
I love the freakish trees you find in English parks.
This tree is like a sentinal.
Field beside the road leading into Stafford Castle grounds.
I'd found a pamphlet on the nature trail around Stafford Castle, so I tried it out. Lovely, except for the roar of the nearby M6 motorway!
Stafford Castle is ringed by a bit of forest, which in turn is ringed by fields which are ringed by highways!
The fields were really beautiful to me.
Lots of wild wheat.
More lovely wheat.
This is rather timeless, I think.
I discovered an overgrown garden. The insect in top right isn't a bee, I'm told, but a fly disguised as one.
Another view from the edge of the forest out towards Staffordshire.
I came across a rabbit (hare?) in a clearing by the edge of the old bailey walls.
I snuck up on the rabbit.
Getting closer!
Ah, now he's in color!
Rabbit is still chillin'.
Right before rabbit ran off, tired of human intrusion.
Looking down from section of old fortifications. The site dates to pre-Norman times certainly.
Coming to the top of the fortifictions. The castle structur at top is just a 19th century gothic-style “folly,” not anything really historical. Great view though!
Look at the VIEW!
Obviously some local rock climbers bothered the castle at some point.
View into Staffordshire.
Happily on top of the hill, hair all a mess from the wind.
A few decades back, the 19th century structure was wrecked by a fire. Making it look even MORE gothic!
The road leading up to the castle had these beautiful moss-covered stones.
Near the castle visitor center / shop, I found a reproduction Medieval herb garden.
Spider webs aren't easy to photograph.
Next door to Stafford Castle is Castle Church, which features a very intresting cemetery and this INSANELY HUGE TREE!
Yes, this is the tree your mother warned you about.
Picture taken from the edge of the cemetery.
There are a whole bunch of beautiful Celtic style crosses.
This angel sculpture reminds me very much of similar ones in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.
Back to the huge tree. It would take 5-6 people holding hands to circle it, I bet. Maybe more!
My “Blair Witch Project” face.
This also reminded me of some of Oakland's graves.
Yes, cemeteries compell the use of black and white.
Everything was lovely and green.
I particularly liked these two Celtic style crosses.
Close-up of what I later learned was the grave of one of Stafford's richest/most influential businessmen back in the 1800s.
Here we are again. I just find the whorls so mysterious.
Towards the back of th church, the graves were being overtaken by undergrowth, weeds and vines.
Mankind's reign is fleeting.
Another striking cross.
It's really on the black and white making the church look forboding. It actually is nice warm brown color.
Bus stop pic, taken for street design purposes.
Example of mock-Tudor townhouses.
Example of classic English roundabout.
The private park in the Rowley Park area has some formidable cedars.
The local “neighborhood watch” logo looks a LOT like the Einstein Bagel Bros. logo, doesn't it?
Perfect pic of life at Storm's: Storm at the computer, three cats (Yuriel, Tara and Pashti) lying around.
Yuri (Yriel) and Tara (or it might be Shu?).
I took a shine to Tabitha here, because she looks and acts a lot like Luckie, except she's quite aged.
Little bitty Tabitha the tabby cat.
This is the only cat whose name I couldn't remember. I know it's a boy!
Handsome boy!
Storm shopping in ASDA. Yes, even goths go to ASDA.
I went back to the fields between Storm's neighborhood and the railroad again.
I think I could use this to make a mock 1980s Depeche Mode album cover.
Whoosh! The Virigin train goes by.
The fields at twilight. It's like 9 o'clock at night.
More wheat!
Sepia wheat.
Freight train going under the pedestrian overpass.
Wendy in the fields.
If I lived in this area for real, I hope I'd visit these fields every day.
Wendy introduces the fields!
Walking through a field.
Thistles.
More thistles.
“Wow, imagine, more fields!”
The pedestrian bridge is very... decorative.
Not only did this make me laugh (and wonder) but it sent Rob into a major giggle fit when I showed him later.
Doesn't get more typical than this, huh?
Tidy little street.
Better shot of the B&B where I stayed the first 2 nights of the trip.
Back at the Victoria Park aviary, I took a peek at some chickens.
Nearby I heard people arguing over whether chickens can fly. (Um, how'd they get up on this perch then?)
Now this is a fluffy chicken!
They are quite weird looking if you keep staring at them.
This parrot, some type of large conure, started talking to me. We had a whole conversation going, about 20 minutes.
Parrot kept saying Hello, Hi, and whistling like you whistle at a pretty girl. Sweetheart!
Back on the riverwalk by the River Sow in Victoria Park.
My friend Tara.
Yuriel and Tara playing with a stuffed fish.
Fluffy Tara.
Storm looking at LOLCats. (I kid you not!)
I went back to Victoria Park again, this time on my way to explore the Doxey Marshes.
Here some folks use the bowling green. How Victorian!
Discovered a number of greenhouses in the park.
It's true, I started looking realllly English.
An actual nice picture of me!
Looking out from the park through an ironwork gate.
It's easy to get from nearyb neighborhoods into the park.
Old mill and end of park, near the Sainbury's.
I ran into the swan family again, this time by the trashy bit of trail near Sainbury's.
Surprisingly, the adult swans didn't attack me for coming so close.
The babies look like they won't be babies much longer.
Official “entrance” to the Doxey Marshes. They're part of th Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.
Bit of a pond in the marsh.
Path through the marsh.
The man who donated the marshland is memorialized by a granite pyramid.
Thistle number... ?
Thistles are blurry but you get the idea.
Thistle make you whistle!
I turned out of the marshes into a big cemetery.
The cemetery has a lovely view and is pretty much a park.
More gothic-ness.
Different style from Castle Church cemetery.
Another one of those giant cedars you find all over.
I could have spent a long time poking around this place but I was tiring.
Another imposing tree.
Off Wolverhampton Road there's this teeny little “give-way” street.
This building was rather shabby but I liked the steps.
Chubby Tara.
The first whole day I was in London, I got bit lost on Clerkenwell Road and wound up by this building, near the viaduct.
Oh, Great Lion, where am I? I was kind of lost.
The underside of the viaduct was all done up with dragons and knights in ironwork or some other metalwork.
I wasn't too lost to appreciate the sculpture.
Near New Oxford Street I spotted this new developent under development.
Trafalgar Square. Notice the near complete absence of pigeons? I did!
Snuck a shot of the pose done by billions...
The square wasn't as crowded as it sometimes is.
Wendy in London.
Nelson atop his column.
George IV, National Portrait Gallery in the background.
For several weeks the “empty plinth” was open to “plinthers” who could speak, act, do art, or just hold signs. This lady was pimpking a library. Zzzzz.
Waiting for Rob, before we went to lunch and then the V&A museum.
Taken while Rob and I were eating lunch at Embankment park.
The “hall of fakes” (as I call the plaster cast galleries) had some amazing real metal doors from Germany.
Which Muppet character is this?
There's an exact copy of Trajan's Collumn, done in plaster. It's in 2 pieces. Supposedly in better shape than original in Rome.
These Medieval grave tops were pretty eerie.
I -love- the courtyard of the V&A.
This building is so fine, in an over-the-top Victorian way.
This hall was closed for renovations etc. but we could see the (plaster) David supervising.
Top of Trajan's column..
Dear Rob!
Rob and I explored the South Asian and Iranian galleries, which were terrific. This is a screen.
The entranc rotunda is decorated with a huge glass sculpture by the same guy whose work is at Atlanta Botanical Garden.
Showing off my “bling.” I got two giant rings at the V&A gift shop.
After the museum we took a stroll through Hyde Park.
This is the huge market near Rob & Marta's. Talk about Victorian!
This castle-like structure is now a boutiqu hotel, Rob told me.
Near Rob & Marta's flat is this really wacky playground. It's like Teletubbies meets Klingons or something.
Note the little bat wings at the top of this, hmm, Klingon fortress?
Drunk and enjoying my throne!
Here you get the full effect. Look at those spikes!
Rob got me so hammered that Friday night.
Oh, dear, I seem to have finished my glass.
Rob, fill my glass!
Marta (ever cute!) and Rob (pointing) leading us south to the Borough Market.
Tube stop by the market.
Very nice Deco entrance to the Borough Market.
Marta and Rob buying some Polish pickles.
Rob buying some meatpies. Mmm, meatpiiiies.
Rob buying some bread.
Walking around somewhere in Spitalfields.
I had no idea fried eel would be sooooooooooo good!
Long long story, but on the trip home, got stranded in Charlotte. Here is my dingy hotel room.
Yuck! This sucks!
The window was cracked but had (helpfully?!) been fixed with appicatio of some tape.
This was my view for like 3 hrs. at we all waited to see what BA was going to do to get us back to Atlanta.
Ths one old lady was very persistant about bugging the staff.
I was NOT amused.
These are a couple of the buses (yes, buses) that got us home to Atlanta. We stopped at the GA Welcome Center.
I somehow managed to look happy here. Maybe it's the fact I located a cold Diet Coke.
