Saturday afternoon

We walked to Sussex Fish Bar and ate fish and chips for the last time. We said good-bye to the lovely young waitress we have grown attached to.  Last week Julia got engaged.  They are planning to be married in London, but I got the impression that her fiance is from Romania also.  She recently went back home for a vacation to visit her family.



Is it really 20 London Street?  We always thought the name of the street was Sussex Place. We cross at a traffic light and the sign on the fence proclaims that it is Sussex Place and less than a block away is the fish and chips shop.

Interior shot with Julia behind the cash register.

I love all of the signs of spring.  

Buck Hill Lodge in Kensington Gardens

Buck Hill Lodge in Kensington Gardens

This site has some great pictures of the gardens

Another view of the lodge.  It is just a short walk  away from the Italian Garden.

This link has some charming pictures of the lodge as well as a few interesting ones of buildings that were incorrectly identified as being Buck Hill Lodge.

Walking down a street we happened to see these riders leaving a mews.

If you look closely you can see the steps used to mount the horses.

I did not recognize this flowering bush but was delighted by the star shaped flowers

Magnolia blossoms all over London

Protests in front of the Russian government building. 

Family pressure has fuelled a sense of persecution felt by gay people in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia.

Dozens have fled and some have been granted asylum abroad, amid reports of kidnap and torture by Chechen security forces targeting gay or allegedly gay people. Chechen officials deny the reported abuses.

London security police on duty with the protesters. 

Sitting on the steps the other day, I noticed the carving on the posts for the first time. 

Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral

See photos

See outside

The Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Divine Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) 

Website

Directions

4.658 Google reviews

Greek orthodox church in London, England

Address: Moscow Rd, Bayswater, London W2 4LQ

Phone: 020 7229 7260

Style: Byzantine Revival

Architect(s): John Oldrid Scott

Heritage designation: Grade I

The BYU Centre is only about a block away from this beautiful structure.  Only when there is a service are the doors of the building unlocked.  Yesterday when we were walking past the church, a service had just ended and people were leaving.  We snuck a quick look inside the door but there were still so many people in the chapel that we did not try to go inside. 

Today Earl passed the church and another meeting was in progress.  Although there were no people outside, he could hear the mass in progress.  

When we were in Paris, we went to an Italian restaurant and learned from our waiter that the Orthodox Church celebrates Easter a week later than the Roman  Catholic church.  We were not surprised that these special services were being held this weekend. 

St Sophia’s Cathedral in Bayswater, London W2

by CityWest Residential

Bayswater is thought of as one of London’s most cosmopolitan, diverse, and elegant districts. Bringing together the hustle and bustle of Queensway with some of the capital’s most elegant Garden Squares, there is plenty to see and do in the area. 

Built by London’s well established Greek community in 1879, the iconic St Sophia's Cathedral is well known for its magnificent structure and elaborate decor. 

The church was consecrated on the 5th of February 1882 by Antonios, Archbishop of Corfu and was intended to act as a place of worship for the Greek community that had established itself around the Paddington, Bayswater, and Notting Hill areas of London. 

Designed by respected architect John Oldrid Scott, the church has an impressive Byzantine Revival design. Although it appears relatively simple and modest from the outside, on the breath taking interior is decorated with intricate polychromatic marble designs. 

As well as being a place of worship, St Sophia’s also plays an integral and active role within the local community. In addition to weekly Saturday and Sunday services, the church also hosts a number of classes and performance groups that celebrate Greek culture, including a polyphonic choir and lively Byzantine music and dancing lessons. 

The choir, whose extensive history can be traced as far back as 1848, is well known in the Bayswater area and beyond, having made a number of TV appearances as well as visits to notable Orthodox Churches around the UK and further afield in mainland Europe. 

The church is also home to Saint Sophia’s Greek School, which prides itself in its work within the UK’s sizeable Greek community. A wide range of subjects are taught at the school, including Modern Greek Language and Literature, Greek Music, and Greek/Cypriot History - enabling pupils to discover the history and language of Greece.  Lessons are taught between 9.30am and 1.15pm every Saturday during term time. 

All of the signs on the building are in Greek which means the Greek alphabet.  I was hoping to find some information about the activities at the cathedral in the past few days and was surprised that the only information in English was that the only mass in English on the first Saturday of each month. Photos are from the Wikipedia link above. 

St Francis d'Assisi/Stopped into a church I passed along the way

Number 17 rue de Mauzaia (Mosiah?)

Close to Place des Fetes metro and a Lidl grocery store

St Francis d'Assisi church on Mauzaia

Looking down rue de Mauzaia towards church tower. 

A door for my collection

I wish I knew when this church was built.  It has interesting benches/pews and very few

places to kneel.  Kneeling in church has been a tradition in the Catholic Church.

Regular benches

One third of the benches had cushions for kneeling.

While I was at the church, there was a man and a woman moving some tables from one room to another.  I am so grateful that they did not object to my photographs or to my sitting quietly for awhile. 

Interesting stone and brickwork across the street. 

We had the second floor flat.  Or in the French world the first floor.  One morning we came outside and the woman living below us had her window open and spoke to us.  She told us the children were nice and I apologized for them being noisy.  She was an attractive older woman with a halo of white hair.