Peter - my brother

To my lovely, funny, humble brother who died yesterday. I will miss you more than you will ever know.
May you rest in peace.

John Rylands library

On my travels to the North of England this week I visited the John Rylands Library in Manchester. Although I was brought up in Manchester I never visited the library and it has been on my list of places to visit for some time.

It was built in the 1890s by the wife of John Rylands and is said to be one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. It was opened to the public in 1900 with 70,000 books and 100 manuscripts. Today it contains 250,000 printed volumes and well over 1million manuscripts and archival items.

John Rylands was Manchester's first multi-millionnaire. He made his fortune from the cotton industry to become one of the most successful Victorian business men.

Walking through the library there is an overwhelming sense of history and academic life. The library became part of Manchester University in 1972.

Durham Cathedral

This week I travelled North and went to stay with friends in Northumberland. They took me to visit the medieval town of Durham. The first thing you notice is its Cathedral towering over the city.

Durham Cathedral was built in 1093 and took 40 years to complete. It is the only cathedral in England to retain almost all of its Norman architecture. Its stunning stone vaulted ceiling must be one of the most spectacular architectural sites in England. The height is breathtaking.

In more recent times it has been used as a film set for the Harry Potter films. Many scenes having been filmed in and around the cloisters.

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               In the middle ages the cathedral provided a refuge for fugitives.Anyone who had committed a serious offence could claim sanctuary by knocking on the door. The fugitives were given 37 days to organise their affairs. They had to decide to either stand trial or to leave the country by the nearest port.

I climbed the 325 steps to the top of the tower and had a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside. I'm not sure which was worst the climbing of the steps or looking down from a great height!

St James's Park

This is a photo of The Mall looking towards Buckingham Palace. To the left of The Mall is St James's Park and to the right of The Mall is St James's Palace. This photo was taken early on a Sunday morning before the tourists arrived. Evenso people are beginning to gather to see the changing of the guard which happens everyday at 11am.



St James's Park originated as a  women's leper hospital in the 13th cent. Then in the 16th cent it was purchased by Henry VIII who wanted a royal deer park near St James's Palace for hunting. In the 17th cent King James1 drained and landscaped the park. Then Charles 11 created a long canal with avenues of trees and lawns on each side. The King used the canal for swimming during the summer and skating during the winter.



A gift of pelicans were given to King Charles in 1664 by a Russian Ambassador and this gifting continues today - hence you can see pelicans wandering around the park.

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The park was redesigned in the 19th cent with the canal becoming a lake and a bridge added in 1857 from where this photo was taken.
 London has so many wonderful parks providing a haven from the hustle and bustle of city life. 



The Savoy Hotel

Myself and a group of friends went to lunch at the Savoy in London. It is possible to get a great deal in these michelin star restaurants if you go for the set lunch where you have a choice of 3starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts. The cost of a set lunch here was £26 which was excellent value as the food was superb.

After the meal we were given a tour of the kitchens. Here are the 3 chefs responsible for the desserts.

This was a display of orchids in the hotel foyer. We couldn't resist touching them to see if they were real which needless to say they were!

The Hunt goes on

Well I have found another 65 eggs! I found them perched on rooftops; hanging from buildings; suspended from wires strung across roads; in shop windows; at the back of shops; in amongst lingerie displays and some just on the pavements. It was quite difficult to photograph all of them as they were either too high up or there was too much reflection from the shop windows.

Anyway here are some more for you to enjoy:



A penny for your thoughts




Eddie the egg







The social egg

With this one you could download your photo from Facebook onto it!

Egg letter box





London Egg Hunt

Here are a few more that I found at the weekend. The most difficult one to find was the Humpty Dumpty egg which was on top of the guards house outside St James's Palace.



Baaaa-bara



Crochetdermy

La Vie en Rose

Gregg

I am off to London tomorrow in search of more!