Results matching “Christmas”

When I was in Belfast earlier this summer, I popped in to have a look at Belfast's Cathedral, St. Anne's. The cathedral is in the heart of the famous "Cathedral Quarter" (naturally...), opposite Writer's Square. It is a centre of artists and writers, and that is where it gets its name. The area was bombed extensively in the second World War, so many of the older buildings no longer exist and the cathedral took damage. Near the square was the headquarters of a newspaper that intercepted the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 and published it before England's king had word or sight of it. 

Exterior of St. Anne's in Belfast with its large Celtic Cross, completed 1981

St. Anne's cathedral started to be built in 1899, so it is a relatively new cathedral. After the first World War, a new part of the cathedral was added in memory of the Ulster men and women who served. In addition, there are many plaques around the interior of the church to commemorate those and also to commemorate the victims of other wars. New architectural additions to the cathedral have been made throughout the 1900s and are as recent as 2007.

Interior of St. Anne's

The Baptistery, located near the entrance to the cathedral, has a beautiful ceiling decoration and beautiful stained glass windows. 

Baptistery

The most recent edition to the cathedral was made in 2007 with its modern steel spire; the spire is 40 metres in length. It is known as "The Spire of Hope" and is illuminated at night. Visitors inside the cathedral can look up from the nave and see it. There's a photograph of it from the nave in the photograph below, and you can see part of the metal spire in the first photograph in this entry. 

On the left-hand side as you enter the cathedral is the "Chapel of the Holy Spirit". It is dedicated to St. Patrick. In the photograph below, Saint Patrick is the middle figure, and the boat below is his with the Mourne Mountains in the distance on his way to bring Christianity to the people of Ireland. 

"Spire of Hope" and "Chapel of Holy Spirit"

Stained glass windows

The cathedral also has a reputation of charity at Christmas. This started many years ago when the Dean of Belfast started a "sit out" on the stairs of the cathedral in the week leading up to Christmas to collect donations for local charities. He was nicknamed "Black Santa" because of the outfit he wore to keep warm. The tradition is still held every year before Christmas, the those who collect the charity are still called "Black Santa".

Facade of the cathedral from Writer's Square

I hope you enjoyed photographs of St. Anne's in Belfast.

I first visited Windsor Castle in the spring of 1998 with a group of fellow university students and instructors from Ohio University where I was taking courses to get my Bachelor of Science in Visual Communications. Earlier this summer, my parents had come from the states to visit so we decided to make a visit to the castle as they had never been there. I remembered some of the rooms in my last visit all of those years ago, but I don't remember some of other areas and exhibits.

There was a little bit of a wait to get into the castle, and we had rain. We waited patiently under umbrellas as the queue slowly moved. (Yes, tickets can be booked in advance but I did not want to make a booking as I was not sure that we would visit as we also had the boat tour booked: A Boat Trip and Wanderings Around Windsor.)

Front of castle from the street

When we finally were able to get inside, there were views of the castle towers and gardens in the outer area. It was raining off and on, but it did not spoil our visit.

Windsor castle flowers

There are good views of the castle tower.

Tower

Around the tower were beautiful gardens with some nice views. We also visited a couple of other exhbitions, such as Queen Mary's doll house. The items are beautiful, and some of them are custom made and very expensive. The doll's house was built in the 1920s. Photographs are not allowed here, the same as in all of the other interior parts of the castle.

Gardens at Windsor Castle

Gardens

We visited the cathedral within the castle walls, and this is where some of the royal family are buried. We could not take any photographs inside this area, though, or inside the castle. However, we saw views and saw the areas closed to the public where the royal family live, such as the the building below.

Royal family rooms

After the visit to the castle, we walked around the corner to 'The Long Walk' and snapped a few photographs of the front of the castle.

Windsor Castle from 'The Long Walk'

At the end of the day, we decided to have a drink and a snack. We opted for tea on the high street in "The Crooked House" as it was toward the end of the afternoon. We sat by the window and watched the reactions of many tourists who happened to just chance upon the leaning timber-framed house and then reached in their pockets or handbags their camera or mobile phone out to take a photograph of it. I had a hot chocolate and a Victoria Sponge Cake.

Hot chocolate

Victoria sponge cake

We had a fun day out, despite the poor weather, and we managed to see a lot in the castle and in the town. Windsor and Eton (Eton is simply across the river) is a pleasant place to visit. I last visited in mid-December of 2012 when I went to see the Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime and explored the Christmas market and city/town of Windsor in snow (covered here: Wintery Windsor).

To start of 2014, we visited The Cider Pantry Tearooms. (This post is a little late in coming!) There were a lot of floods at the start of the year, and we managed to make it through the floodwaters to Burley in the New Forest (England). The Cider Pantry Tearooms serve roast lunch, dinner, breakfast, and afternoon tea. We had the full English breakfast, and I'd love to go back again to try the pancake breakfast and afternoon tea.

I like Burley. I went to university just down the road in Bournemouth, and I did some freelance website work for someone in Burley. It's a nice New Forest village with some touristy shops, and it's right in the middle of the forest with plenty of pleasant walks and cycle ways. There's usually a group of New Forest ponies nearby, but in the floodwaters and rain, I think they had all gone into the forest to keep dry.

We both had English breakfasts: bacon, egg, sausage, toast, mushrooms, and tomatoes. It was good. The bacon had a smoked flavour. The eggs could be cooked any way that you wanted. This was accompanied by a pot of tea.

I liked the green grass-like placemats and the table numbers made out the half of a slice of tree. Because it was just after Christmas, they were selling iced Christmas sugar cookies. I bought a couple of these.

Street artist Best Ever painted one of the large walls on Hanbury Street off of Brick Lane. The image depicts a saint-like figure (with a halo), two greyhounds, and a homeless person dreaming of a home. Text on the top of the mural reads "I grew up all twisted.  I ended up running away. It's rough living in the streets. I've been attacked a few times."

Best Ever

I am not sure, but the following images may be by the artist, but they are more sketches and not detailed. They feature saint-like figures or angels with halos, and one includes a flying white dove. (The pigeon painted on the ground looks like a different artist.) I added a couple of photographs of similar street art here: New Street Art: Christmas, New Year and more.

Best Ever

For more information about the artist, view his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wearebestever 

Jim McElvaney

Jim McElvaney has recently painted murals on the sides of buildings off of Brick Lane. The artist's work often features sketchy portraits by troubled people (homeless) with their thoughts writen as a part of the mural. The following mural is located off of Brick Lane.

"Dad died. They tried to put me in car. That was never going to happen. We slept everywhere."

Jim McElvaney

The following mural, which is painted on Bacon Street, shows a crude portrait with the following text:

"At the weekends I made myself scarace, mates sofas and one time under the railway bridge"

Portrait by Jim McElvaney

Last summer, the artist collaborated with street artist Ben Slow (Street Art: Ben Slow) on a large mural near Old Street. 

Ben Slow and Jim McElvaney

For more information, view the artist's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jimmcelvaney 

At the beginning of December, my parents and I visited Henry Ford's Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum, (Days Out: Henry Ford Museum). We did not get to see and do everything that we wanted to do in Greenfield Village because there's so much to do. We had to split our day between this and the museum. Greenfield Village was the highlight for me as I am a big fan of living history and history in general. Old times have always captivated me, and if I had a time machine, I would always go back in time to a world that has now been lost.

Henry Ford bought and moved all of the buildings that make up Greenfield Village because he knew that his assembly-line method of production would change the world, and history was important to him. He bought homes and buildings that meant something to him, such as his school. He bought the homes of others (Thomas Edison, Wright Brothers, Firestone, Heinz, George Washington Carver, etc.) that meant something to him, and all of these were moved together to create Greenfield Village. He also bought machinery and locomotives.

Steam engine

There's so much to interact with at Greenfield Village, and this was their final opening day before closing for the Christmas season, so there were not many people about. Christmas trees were up in some of the houses and buildings, and the air was chilly, so it did feel like Christmas. 

Cider mill and sawmill

We arrived and got some photographs of some farm machinery in one of the buildings, and then we checked out this steam engine below. Instead of heading toward the "town" area, we walked to a farmhouse (the Firestone family of the tire/tyre fame) first. We got some nice photographs of the buildings and fields on the way.

Corn shocks

Actually, this method for drying corn was still used in the 1950s/1960s and my father remembers having to make these when he was younger, and they didn't do such a great job because several had fallen to the ground. The Amish (Travels to Ohio's Amish Country and A Trip to the Amish Country) still farm this way. 

Hens

When we came to the Firestone Farm, we saw a lot of beautiful chickens. They were hanging around the farm and in the bar area.

The employees who work at Greenfield Village actually do use all of the items produced. We went into the farmhouse and had a chat with the farmer's wife, who was preparing the meal. We explored the house and the cellar area.

Corn-sheller in the barn

The barn is one of those beautiful multi-level barns that is built into a bank, and we had a look around at the different machinery. The wooden machine with a handle is a corn-sheller. You put an ear of corn inside the hole, and you turn the crank, and the kernels funnel out.

Firestone Farm

The chickens especially liked the barn above, with the old wagons. The slat area on the left is where ears of corn are dried out.

Sawmill

We had a look inside the pottery shop and saw pottery being created and painted, and we had a look at the sawmill, but it was not operating. We also had a quick stop at the tin shop and were told about the importance of tin, the glass shop, and the printing shop where we printed a paper using the printing press. There's also a water mill and weaving shop. I wanted to create a glass flower, but we did not have enough time.

Woolen mill and glass shop

Sawmill

Our next stop was at the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Roundhouse. A Roundhouse is where trains were worked on. Inside the Roundhouse were several huge locomotives, and these are in working order. A water tower is near the railway line. Not far away is the station, which we explored. In those days, the station contained rooms for the staion master to live in, a waiting room for passengers, and telegraph room. 

Water tower

Nearby is the Herschell-Spillman carousel, and this is in working order and guests can ride on it for a fee. We did not becuase of the lack of time. There is also a pub near here, and this would have also been a nice option for lunch, but we wanted to see more of the village. We did stop into the general store, and we were told about the history of the building and other facts about general stores.

General store

Chapel, schoolhouse, and courthouse were additional stops. We made our way into the actual "town" area of Greenfield Village, and we started to see more people about on horses or driving classic vehicles. Visitors could ride on some of the vehicles for a fee.

Horses in Greenfield Village

We went into a few homes that belonged to famous people, such as George Washington Carver's log cabin, and Ford's childhood home and the Wight Brothers' home. We were in a little bit of a hurry, so we did not get to do much.

Bus in Greenfield Village

We went to the Ford dealership, and we got a ride in a ModelT Ford. This was a "must" for me, as I've always loved the old ModelT Ford. I used to draw these. I think the ModelT that I got to ride in was a 1923 model. My parents rode in a different model. This was a quick blast around some of the streets, and we were taken to an area that we had not seen yet as we didn't have time.

ModelT rides

After our ride, we walked by a post office and stopped in as I wanted to see if I could send postcards. We were in luck! I have an obsession for postcards, and I always like to buy them and write a travel journal onto them of the places that I have been. The post office actually sold vintage-style postcards, and they had Christmas ones. I bought a couple to post, using modern stamps and prices, of course.

Horse-drawn wagon

We had to make our way back to explore the museum. The building in the photograph below was moved from England, or at least the decorative elements were. It was a watch and jewellery shop in London. In Greenfield Village, it is a sweet shop. The clock figures move.

At some point, I need to visit Greenfield Village again and see the bits that we were rushed through and spend more time on some of the other areas. For an interactive map of all of the buildings and a description of the buildings, visit: http://www.thehenryford.org/village/map.aspx

For more information about the Henry Ford Museum, read my entry Days Out: Henry Ford Museum, which we went to visit after Greenfield Village.

At the beginning of December, I visited the Henry Ford Museum. The museum contains a history of popular cars throughout history, locomotives, agriculture machinery, planes, American-made products, a collection of dollhouses, an exhibit on civil rights and other exhibitions. There is also an IMAX cinema on site. The museum has the car that JFK was shot in and the chair that Abraham Lincoln was shot in. I've included some photographs of the museum (and in the museum) below.

I have been to a few automotive museums previously, such as the Volvo Museum in Gotenburg, Sweden. Whereas the Volvo Museum was filled with all types of Volvo, the Ford Museum was a lot different and was not exclusively Ford cars.

The exterior of the Henry Ford museum

The exterior of the museum has a clock tower. We arrived early in the morning, just before the opening time, and the grounds in front of the museum were filled with geese. There were rows of Christmas trees for sale in front of the museum, and they made the area smell of refreshing pine. A statue of Henry Ford was also in front of the museum.

Statue of Henry Ford

Henry Ford Museum

There was a selection of classic cars in the museum along with classic road-side signage, such as this McDonalds restraurant. There was also signage for gasoline and motels.

A classic car and classic McDonalds sign

There were more than cars in the museum, but I mainly took photographs of the cars, which are shown below. Do not forget to see the locomotives, agriculture machinery, Rosa Park's bus, and the chair Abraham Lincoln was shot in. Also, some ex-presidential cars were amongst the car collection.

Classic cars by era

Have you visited the museum before? What did you think?

When I visited the Ohio Amish Christmas Cookie Tour of Inns last December, some of the hotels and inns had gingerbread houses on display. The visitors could vote for their favourite gingerbread house at the end of their tour. I am not sure who won and the winner has not been announced anywhere online.

The following photos show some of the gingerbread houses on display, including one made of dried fruit, a barn one, and one inspired by the animated film 'Up'. I felt that all of them were creative in their own way, but I voted for the Christmasy green, white, and red one 'N & D Faculty Inn'.

Two of the gingerbread houses were completed by professionals over several months, and I liked this mock-Tudor timber-framed house with chocolate poptart roof tiles. In the above photograph, the last picture shows the second professional gingerbread house, and part of it is constructed from candycane sticks and hard boiled sweets.

Hannah's House had a small selection of gingerbread houses on display, but these were not a part of the competition. 

Every year, the courthouse in Newark, Ohio (Licking County Courthouse) is decorated with lights for Christmas. The courthouse has been lit for Christmas with since 1949. This past Christmas, I visited downtown Newark and got some photographs of the lights. I had pizza (Christy's Pizza) and frozen wine slushies from Buckeye Winery, which are both located downtown. In fact, the glow of the courthouse lights can be seen from the winery. 

Last December was extremely cold, and there was snow on the ground. This did not deter me from getting photographs. In fact, others were doing the same.

Some of the lights twinkled, such as the large snowflake decorations on the facade of the building.

Christmas trees, a Santa and snowman, and other light decorations filled the ground around the courthouse.

More photographs can be found on their official website and Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/courthouselighting
http://www.courthouselighting.com/Licking_County_Courthouse_Lighting/Welcome.html
http://www.downtownnewarkoh.com

New street art appeared in the last couple of months with Christmas and New Year's themes. At the end of this entry, I have also added a few pieces that I photographed last year. Some of these no longer exist as street art is always changing, but I thought that I would include them. Artists Nemo, Nando Mambo, David Walker and others are featured.

The New Year's Eve piece is by street artist Zabou, who creates many stencil pieces in east London. The piece says "2014 has started. Let's get wasted!"

Zabou

Another piece to appear had appeared before Christmas and was located in the same place as Grafitti Life's Bart Simpson artwork. This piece, by Grafitti Life, features Bart and Homer Simpson and a Christmas tree. I am not sure what caused Homer to strangle Bart, but it may have related to the spray can under the tree and the words 'merry xmas' scrawled onto the wall.

Grafitti Life

One of the earliest Christmas pieces to appear was a whole building on Great Eastern Street painted with Christmas themes and words, including peppermint cane hearts, birds, holly, mistletoe, bells, crackers, Christmas pudding, and more.

Christmas building

With the theme of giving animals as Christmas gifts, artist Teddy Baden painted this warm-looking pug dog with the words "A dog is for life not just for Christmas" on a door in Shoreditch.

Teddy Baden

Another piece, a wintery one, included a skiier. 

Marino

Just off of Brick Lane, new Christmas pieces by Fan Horror Crew featuring balloon or sweets creatures appeared. These include a humbug-balloon reindeer or sheep and a licqourish snowman and balloon Santas and reindeer.

Fan Horror Crew

Fan Horror Crew

Fan Horror Crew

Additional work by a group of collaborative street artists also popped off just off of Brick Land and also off of Great Eastern Street. The following is by Lost Souls and SPZero. The other one is a contribution and appears off Great Eastern Street. These artists always collaborate on their work, and I saw this one and many others in progress. In particular, they have been busier in the past couple of months.

Lost Souls, SPZero

Captain Kris, Squirl, SPZero, Lost Souls

A Christmas tree and message appeared on a road in Hackney.

Truff-1

In addition to the Christmas and New Year's pieces, I've included some other artwork by other street artists below.

Nemo and Dias often create work featuring carrots or chillis. These can be seen over east London.

Nemo and Dias

Nando Mambo's work features realistic portraits of superheroes. Batman, Wolverwine, and the Incredible Hulk have all featured in Nando Mambo's work. The Incredible Hulk is the most recent piece, and I never got a photograph of the finished piece before I went on holiday.

Nando Mambo

David Walker uses spray paint to build up his artwork. A common subject is portraits, such as the two below that I photographed a little while ago now. More about David Walker can be found at http://www.artofdavidwalker.com/.

David Walker

Ozmo

Vinz


Rone with Nemo and Stik

Clet Abraham

Paola Delfin

Stika

Zadock

Just after Christmas, I visited the Illuminated Kew Gardens. This is their 'Christmas at Kew' event, which also contained a small Christmas market with a few shops for crafts and food. Before Christmas, it included a Santa for the children. A small trail throughout a part of the gardens was illuminated, and they had a couple of small talks and interactive displays for children. One included throwing small stones into a lake and hearing the noise projected. Another included hitting buttons to change the colour of the light projected onto a large tree. 

Dusk at Kew

King Williams' Temple

The trails included various types of lights or lanterns or illuminated designs onto pavement. I enjoyed the paper lanterns, photographed below, because they were different colours.

Paper lanterns

Seeing the trees illuminated in different colours around the lake with their reflections in the water was pretty to see. 

Illuminated trees and their reflections in Kew Gardens' lake

One of the interactive areas for children was listening to noise that seemed to come from this island of trees in the middle of the lake when stones were thrown into the water.

Reflections

Another interactive display was changing the colour of the light on three tall trees by pressing a button. When the colours matched on the trees, then something special would happen, but there were too many children pressing the buttons that we never did get to see what happened.

Illuminated trees

Further along the path, we came across a small fire garden where the lights were arranged in a spiral design.

Fire garden

One of the prettiest attractions was the illuminated (fake) lotus flower and the reflection of it inside a pool of water in one of the greenhouses. This was really beautiful and looked magical.

Lotus flower

Upon leaving the lotus flower greenhouse, we walked past the Victorian glass greenhouse to be treated to a small lgith display projected onto the greenhouse. Some of the lights were projected from inside, creating shadows of the tall plants. The light display was only short, so we stayed to watch it twice.

Lighthouse illuminated

While the trail was pretty, I was expecting it to be a little more Christmas-oriented with Christmas lights. There were not too many illuminations, and it was a slight disappointment. Despite trying to add a few things for children, I felt that they were a little bored and some seemed to be more interested in the planes flying overhead every three minutes. The Victorian lighthouse illuminated was nice to see, but I would have expected the light display to be continuous. The illuminated lotus was pretty, but the gardens were also very busy and this took away the magic.