Thursday 28 April 2011

Thursday 1.


Busy day yesterday; as Ruth and her daughters were staying with Lizzie in London until Saturday, we motored down to Lizzie's in the morning, arriving at about eleven thirty. Lizzie, Danny, and the children were all out at work/ school. Above photo, of Freya, rose tree, and Tuva taken in Lizzie's Garden.




This one, also taken in Lizzie's garden, is of Bryan, Tuva, and Freya (Strawberry).


Ruth served up a quick lunch, then the five of us took a tube train across London to Tower Hill. The above photo is of Ruth in front of the London Wall, the lower courses of which (the first eight or nine feet) are second century Roman, i.e. circa 200 A.D. The rest is medieval repair and heightening.


 
We then walked  a couple of hundred yards, over a small drawbridge, into the Tower of London,  through an arch, and the White Tower was before us. It's only when you see it in full sunshine, that you realise how fitting and descriptive the name is. It's a grim, well proportioned old building, built by William the first (also known as William the Norman, William the Conqueror, and William the Bastard), and completed somewhere about the year 1080, I think. After I'd told the girls these interesting facts, Ruth told them that the Normans, although we think of them as French, were, in fact, Norse men (quite rightly). As residents of Scandinavia, this pleased all three of them; and anyway, it's always good to have the facts straight, and anyway, we don't want the French getting above themselves, do we?    Must get on with some work now. More bloggery later , perhaps. 

2 comments:

Lori Skoog said...

How nice that you have spent some time with Nea and the girls. Thanks for taking us along.

Crowbard said...

Rollo Rognvaldsson, also called Rolf or Rou, French Rollon, Old Norse Hrólfr (born c. 860—died c. 932), Scandinavian rover who founded the duchy of Normandy.

According to later Scandinavian sagas, Rollo, making himself independent of King Harald I of Norway, sailed off to raid Scotland, England, Flanders, and France on pirating expeditions. Early in the 10th century, Rollo’s Danish army attacked France, and he established himself in an area along the Seine River. Charles III the Simple of France held off his siege of Paris, defeated him near Chartres, and negotiated the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, giving him the part of Neustria that came to be called Normandy; Rollo in return agreed to end his brigandage. He gave his son, William I Longsword, governance of the dukedom (927) before his death. Rollo was baptized in 912 but is said to have died a pagan.
I think he may be one of our ancestors ...still doing the research.