London Bridge is Falling Down....Not Really!

I cannot believe I forgot to upload my favorite sites so I just had to add it. I usually put my descriptions above the pictures but it won't allow me on this top picture so they are below.

The Westminster Abbey, formally titled The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, is mainly Gothic, on the scale of a cathedral, is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English monarchs.

St. Stephen's Tower, although more commonly referred to as Big Ben is a clock tower. Big Ben is actually the massive bell inside the clock tower, which weighs more than 13 tons. The Houses of Parliament and the clock tower are among London's most iconic landmarks.

London Bridge is a bridge between the city of London and Southwark over the River Thames.

The Victorian Tower Bridge is now 100 years old. It was designed by Wolfe Berry and Horace Jones and completed in 1894. The middle of the bridge can be raised to permit large vessels to pass through. As you can see from the picture, it was rainng when we went there. The picture is actual and taken through a bus window and not enhanced.

Wow! This week really went fast, too fast! It's already Saturday? Oh well then, it's time to have fun. Let's show off our pretty pinks and let's go sightseeing.

Pink Saturday is brought to us by Beverly of http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/. Week after week after week, Beverly hosts this wonderful meme so join in on the fun and visit her. Take a look at all the pinks being displayed in Blogland.
We just arrived from London last Tuesday. I was so happy to see Whittard of Evelyn because I love their instant tea. In addition to that, they have many neat serving items. I spotted these pink egg cups set and they were on sale. Yipee! Aren't they cute? I love how the egg cup is on a pedestal. I borrowed my amber egg so you have an idea of how it looks with an egg. The spoon is also very cute. I bought 3, keeping 2 and I will include the 3rd one to my 200th post giveaway. It is fast approaching so watch out for it.
Well, of course it is also Sightseeing Saturday and since we just came from London, I will tell you about our trip while it is still very fresh in my mind. Thanks to Laurie of http://bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com/ for her mosaic tutorial. This post really benefited from it.
We stayed at Marriott's Grosvenor Hotel and the pictures below are its sorroundings. Using rewards accumulated from past travels allowed us to stay there for 5 days for free. The roof top topiary garden is what you see when you look out from our hotel room window. We were on the third floor. The church is Ukranian Catholic. We woke up so late on Sunday (jetlag) so we weren't able to attend mass at St. Paul's Cathedral. We passed by this church so we went in. The service is not the same as a Roman Catholic service so we did not stay long.


We walked around the hotel a lot. I just love all the beautiful red brick buildings with wrought iron balconies. I especially like the hanging flower boxes.
We took a "Hop Off, Hop On" bus tour for 2 days but did not really go down to any site cause we wanted to see all of them in 2 days

Do you see the guards all lined up at Buckingham Palace?
I labeled the pictures but I cannot remember what the building with arched entries is.Trafalgar Square is where you can find the tall monument of Lord Nelson. The area looks magnificent and none of these pictures do it any justice.

The ferris wheel is well known as London Eye. It is 443 ft tall and is the tallest ferris wheel in Europe.


The Marble Arch was built in 1828 as the chief entrance to Buckingham Palace, but when the Palace was extended in 1851, the Arch was moved to its current site as an entrance to Hyde Park. This was walking distance from the hotel and it is near the tour bus stop.



Next is the Tower of London. According to Wikipedia, the tower's primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison (particularly for high status and royal prisoners, such as the Princes in the Tower and the future Queen Elizabeth I). It has also served as a place of execution and torture, an armoury, a treasury, a zoo, the Royal Mint, a public records office, an observatory, and since 1303, the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.





And I believe it is home for ghosts too, LOL.

Aaah! This is my favorite part of the trip....Shopping! The hotel we stayed is only a block away from Oxford St., where all the neat shops are. It was nicely decorated for Christmas.

The primary reason we went to England was to attend John's co worker's wedding in Manchester. We took the train to go to Manchester. It took about 2 hours. The bride and groom are both of Nigerian descent. The wedding ceremony was Christian but the reception was traditionally Nigerian. It was very interesting and very enjoyable to watch. Do you see John dancing with the groom's dad? LOL! Both bride and groom and the groom's parents are doctors.
We had to hitch a ride to go to the reception. We did not know that there weren't any taxi where the church was located. The groom's sister was kind enough to ask another guest to give us a ride. The one sitting next to John was the one who gave it and she offered to take us to the train station after the party too. Isn't that so nice of her? The woman wearing purple and yellow is the groom's mom.

Another interesting thing about their tradition is the party favor, actually favors. We received so many gifts, not only did they come from the bride and groom but relatives were distributing them too. We received flip flops, candies, soap, towel, t shirts, platters, a charm, keychain, etc. I joked and said that we should have brought an extra bag. And would you know that the next item we would receive were bags? LOL!When we got back to the hotel, I left a comment on my classmate's friend's blog about her picture which was taken in London. Next morning, I got an email from her asking me to call her. I did not know she lived in London. All the while, I thought she was just visiting when the pictures were taken. We set up a time to meet at Piccadilly Circus.

According to Wikipedia, Piccadilly Circus is a famous road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly. In this context a circus, from the Latin word meaning a circle, is a circular open space at a street junction

The statue of Eros, a winged archer made out of aluminum is set in the middle of Piccadilly Circus. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of London. Originally known as the Shaftesbury Monument, it was unveiled in 1893 as a memorial to the Victorian philanthropist, Lord Shaftesbury. My new blogger friend took us to China town and we ate dimsum there. And then, she also took us to their condo. Meeting Cora was one of the highlights of our trip.

It was time to go back home last Tuesday and here I am relaxing while waiting to check in. I was excited because I was about to meet another blogger friend, Athella of http://athellag-ocdesigner.blogspot.com/ at New Orleans airport. You see, she has been visiting her stepmom in New Orleans and when she mentioned that she is flying back the same day we arrive, we made a plan to meet. And we did! She met me in the baggage claim area. We chatted and chatted and we were both so excited. Too bad she had to catch a flight so we only met very briefly but what a special moment!

You may link with Sightseeing Saturday by entering your permalink and name below. Please add the SS logo on your blog to spread the word.








Thank you all for coming and thanks to Beverly also for allowing us to participate in Pink Saturday. Have a nice weekend y'all!

A Tablescape In A Jiff

I opened my Blog dashboard and I saw Shelia's Tablescape Thursday post. I did not even realize it is already Thursday tomorrow until then. We just arrived from London late last night and I have been so busy unpacking, both luggage and boxes that came in the mail.

But hey, I missed TT last week since I was out of the country but there is no reason to miss this week's, right?

Come on, let's all visit Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ and Leigh at http://lbratina.blogspot.com/ to check out this week's creativity on the table and awesome great deal finds.

So I hurrried up and created this.
And what better way to create a mini tablescape than using our game table in the family room?
Do you see the pair of brass candlestick holders? I got them at a flea market in Vidalia during the balloon festival for $2.00 for the pair. They are solid and heavy. They are my contribution for Thrifty Thursday.

I just unpacked these dishes today. They came in while we were gone. They are vintage, Bavarian Tirschenreuth china in Rosedale pattern. I won them on Ebay. I was watching the auction and I was ready to place a bid at the last 30 seconds when my internet service went out. I was so mad and needless to say, I lost the bidding. It was a complete service for 8 including serving pieces in hardly used condition and it only went for $89 for the whole set.

The next day, I was notified by Ebay that the item was relisted so I went to it and this time it had a $150.00 "Buy It Now" option so I bought the set. I don't know what happened to the first winner but it looks like the deal did not go through. You see, Tirschenreuth had been out of business since the 30's so I know these dishes are old. And when we went to an estate auction a few days before we left London, the set of dishes of the same quality were going for over $800.00. I could not even bid cause I knew I would never pay that much.
I think they are pretty, don't you? Unfortunately, some pieces were broken during transport. I still have to collect from the insurance company but there are still enough left in the set which makes the set still worth what I paid for, I think.
Since I used the brass candlesticks holder, I also used brass plate chargers and flatware. The flatware also have mahogany in the handles and they are marked "Siam".

Unfortunately, the cover for the round vegetable server was one of the broken items and it makes me sick because I just checked the value on Replacements.com, the covered vegetable is worth $159.95. I wonder how much the value is without the cover.

I added a pair of salt cellars here.

I told you this is quick one. I forgot to put my goblets, lol. Sorry!

I hope you like my impromptu creation. Thanks for coming. I missed you all. And thanks to Susan and Leigh for these 2 fun events.

Pink Crown and Let's Go Just Closeby

OMG, I don't know what happened. I loaded some plates with pink crowns when I posted this but they're not showing. I am so sorry, Beverly, but I cannot reload them cause I am not home and I am traveling in London right now.

I have some pinks, my pink sweater for one, and some pink in my mom's dress, in my sightseeing post. Would those be ok for now?

I am getting ready for another trip so I thought we could just go somewhere closeby for Sightseeing Saturday. I hope you will join me by showing us some of your sightseeing pictures too. If you want to do that, please enter your info on Mr. Linky below. I hope it works because I might not be able to check since I won't be home this Saturday. I am posting this in advance.

We do not live too far from New Orleans so we go there a lot. This is the French Quarter. I love their iron balconies especially the ones with hanging flowers. Mmmmm, I am in the mood for Cafe du Monde coffee and beignets right now. Just look at the long line!
Isn't John cute in his scooter? LOL!
We rented the scooter just so we can ride around Bourbon St. and nearby streets. Parking is scarce so we usually just leave our vehicle in the hotel parking lot and just walk here. Someone offered to take our picture cause she said this is a "Kodak moment", lol.
We take my mom too when she is visiting. She is 91 years old now but can still walk around.
They say I look like my mom, do I? Anyway, behind me is St. Louis Cathedral, located next to Jackson Square on the French Quarter and facing the Mississippi River. It is the oldest continually operating Catholic Cathedral in US.
View from the hotel room window.


Old Ursuline Convent from the 1700's is the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley and the first girls' school in Louisiana. It was ran by the Ursuline nuns from France to relieve the poor and the sick and provide education for young girls.

This is the St Louis Cemetery established in 1854. I don't know why but I am fascinated by old cemeteries. I love the iron gate.

Pretty, huh!

Now, I will show you some homes that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Can you see the water mark? That's how high the water went up in this particular house.

Do you see the X on the door? Every house here had that marker. After several days when the water had gone down, each and every house was checked and the X mark would indicate what day they were there and they would write 0 if there were no bodies found or a number if there were any.

This is the new levee. Hopefully it does not collapse again. The other side of it is water.

These were the motor homes that became temporary residences for families who lost their homes and were displaced. I have to tell you that the last time we went there, 50% of the home owners have returned and rebuilt.

That was pretty depressing so let's go see the beautiful houses now on St. Charles area.

Below is Archie Manning's home.

The Memorial Katrina Fountain was erected on August 29, 2006 to serve as a beacon of hope for the rebirth of New Orleans.

The 3 Faces of Katrina: Hope, Faith & Charity

Lastly, I just want to show you this. We were browsing through the window of an antique shop and saw this buffet. Doesn't it look so much like what we have in our dining room?

I am so happy you came along with me on one of our trips. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have anything to share, please enter your name and permalink below. You might want to copy the Sightseeing Sat. logo unto your blog to spread the word about the meme and so that people will know you are participating.

A Pair of Tobacco Twist Pedestals With Griffins

I am happy to join Diane at http://diane1876.blogspot.com/ for 2nd Time Around Tuesday. You ought to visit her and her other participants and feast your eyes on many lovely second time around items.

Last Saturday, we attended an estate auction in Port Gibbons. I had my eyes on several antique furniture but everything went up so high and the only furniture we won are a pair of walnut pedestals. They have tobacco twist and griffins. I love that they look so unusual and I am loving the claw feet.
I thought they will look good with our lion throne chair.
and this is where they ended up.

We also won a few fine jewelry in addition to this pedestal pair but you probably wouldn't be interested in seeing them.

Thanks Diane for hosting this fun event and thank you all for visiting.