Saturday, March 27, 2010

Week 7 - Hyde Park, Chipping Ongar, NHM, The Monument, Bank museum

What a cutie: The pterodactyl outside the Natural History Museum in South Ken that comes to life to kick off the brill kids' novel Stoneheart that we've almost finished





















Lara gets a hair extension courtesy of an antler in the hands-on part of the NHM









Staying with the hair theme, Medusa puts the xeno into phobia or maybe it's just a reax to the state of Ellie's hair (not a lot of brushing going on these mornings it has to be said).














The Princess Di Memorial Fountain, Hyde Park. Very cool, surprisingly.


The Gunner, the guy in Stoneheart who deals to the pterodactyl among other taints. Hangs out at the Wellington Monument, Hyde Park corner.



















Outside Chipping Ongar, in Essex just north of London, where we took a friend's caravan for a spin in a paddock in prep for going further afield. Rural joke. Might drag it up to Norfolk after Easter. Then again, it's 14 foot long and has a corner toilet inside - sardines've had more room. But this pic is of The Leper's Squint, which we're told is a holy water stoupe (yep, Russell, seems that's where the name comes from) in the 1200 year old wall of what is "probably the oldest wooden building in Europe" (some guidebook) and the only remaining Saxon church in the UK.








So, given the gravitas of the place and moment we felt the need for hymns and holy foot coverings akin to what Moses might've worn if he'd had the option. They do keep the carpet clean but rustle alot.












The Monument, another featured location in Stoneheart, would've made some brilliant pix up or down the 300+ stairs of the spiral tower, and the big golden flame on top which Ellie says "looks like an artichoke" (thanks grandma for introducing them to the vegetable), if we'd remembered to take the camera. Adjacent Pudding Lane where the Great Fire of 1666 actually started looks like a 1970s service alley, and The London Stone, round the corner opposite Cannon St Station, and key to Stoneheart (yep, bit fixated on that book) looks like a common garden rock, and may as well be since the placard says no one's sure what it's about. Good one. That was worth the walk, eh kids.
PS kids will have more to say next blog from Ireland

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