vagabonds – Ex-pats in Mexico

Bienvenido a nuestra hogar!

*Although daytime rain is rare during rainy season, we often see interesting cloud formations, like this one right over the lake. Sometimes the clouds make Mount Garcia look like a volcano. It’s not.*

The title of today’s post uses the Spanish word hogar (home) rather than casa (house) because Leslie and I are gradually trying to turn this house in México into our home. We spent three weeks in San Diego recently, and it felt great to come back to familiar surroundings instead of moving on to another new city or country. We did that for a little over two years as “vagabonds.” Now we’re settling in. And we like it.

We’re fairly confident the leaks in the roof have been fixed — for now, at least. We haven’t had a torrential downpour like those that brought this problem to light in the first place, but one is coming! There are still a number of “issues” with this place but now we have Eddie, the best handyman in México, on our side. Eddie spent many years in the U.S. and is fully bilingual. In addition to fixing a toilet and other repairs, he hung up most of our art work for us. Builders don’t use lumber and drywall here, they put up brick walls and cover the brick with concrete — for interior as well as exterior walls. Bricks and concrete cost less than lumber and drywall here, and no wood in the house means fewer termite problems.

Hanging artwork here is not as simple as nailing a hook in the wall. We marked spots where we wanted to hang something, and Eddie drilled a hole in that spot. Then he inserted an anchor into the hole and put a screw into the anchor, left it sticking out a bit, and hung the picture on the screw. Having our art on the walls makes the place seem more comfortable — more familiar. Eddie admired some of them, as did Salvador, our bottled-water delivery guy.

And here’s a surprise. We have roommates! Sort of. A pair of barn swallows has built a nest on the wall of the house, just outside the master bedroom. We’ve seen at least three baby birds in the nest, but there may be four. There are lots of swallows in this area right now. Leslie and I enjoy watching them dart and dive around as we have a meal on our patio. Lots of hummingbirds here, too, but they tend to be camera-shy.

As promised, here are some photos of how the house is turning out, all full-size so you can see better:

LR-0515 — *The living room, with our furniture from the Westmont house and the treasured rug from Pakistan’s tribal areas.*

LR-DR-0521 — *Living/dining area, and you can see the English antique hall tree in the back.*

DR-0519 — *The dining room, familiar to some of you. We eat outside a lot, though.*

BR-0531 — *Master bedroom. We have a spot for you, too, when you visit!*

kitchen-0534 — *Big kitchen. Really needs an island. Sorry about the light coming in the south-facing window!*

*The back yard was pretty barren when we moved in. Blah!*

With advice from our neighbor Margaret, we’ve started on a new garden. This shot is from June 1, and the lawn has improved dramatically since then. But leaf-cutter ants damaged most of the new plants while we were in the U.S. last month. They are bouncing back now, all except the five rose bushes, which are just gone. I’ll post another photo when it’s more colorful.

Finally, in the last post I left out something important. With the rainy season comes higher humidities and lower temperatures. You may recall that when we moved into this house three months ago, temperatures were high (90° F.-plus) but low humidity and a nice breeze off the lake made it more comfortable. In rainy season it still gets into the low 80s during the day, low 60s at night. But now the humidity can be as high as 70 percent. We still think this is a nearly perfect climate. After all, it has never snowed here!

That’s it for now.

Hasta luego!

swallow chair-0499 — *While one swallow sits on the eggs in the nest, the other stands guard from his perch on our “zero-gravity” chairs.*

Living overseas, Mexico, Retirement, Travel

So many challenges!

*Our house at* *Andalusia 3 in Riviera Alta.*

Leslie and I have arrived in our new Ajijic home and we’ve had multiple challenges. But after a day of dealing with one problem after another, we can have a glass of wine on our patio and watch an amazing sunset. And since we moved in, we’ve eaten nearly every meal outside. Every day is a good day in Ajijic!

Our furniture and household goods arrived safely – a little late, but without any serious issues. Just a few scratches and scrapes here and there. We haven’t unwrapped all the artwork yet but it appears everything is intact. No broken frames or broken glass that we know of. We have a little less storage space than expected, and in the unpacking process we have (several times) said, “why did we bring this?”

But here’s the main thing: Since we began this vagabond journey at the beginning of October 2016, Leslie and I have slept in nearly 50 different beds — some good, some not so good. (Leslie says she gets credit for one extra bed because she was in the hospital in San Diego!) Now we have our king-sized memory foam mattress, the one from our home in Westmont, and we’re both very happy.

Every box we open reveals some item we haven’t seen in three years. It’s like Christmas in May! I’ll share inside photos next post. If you were ever in our Westmont home, things will look familiar!

*The rear of the house with our Mexican style dining set, which is right in front of a sliding glass door into the living-dining area. The glass door to the left is the master bedroom.*

There are frustrating things about the house, some of which are typical of Mexican building practices and some of which are simply due to the owner’s builder cutting corners and going with the cheapest stuff possible. We’ve been promised some upgrades over the next few months. Stay tuned for updates. Then there are other issues, like going a full week without wifi! That’s a long story, but it has a happy ending because we finally got a much better wifi than I originally thought was available.

Our home is in Ajijic’s Riviera Alta development. It’s a three-bedroom, three-bath home but relatively small and a bit more open than most traditional Mexican casas. We are at roughly 5,000 feet elevation. From the patio we have a view of Lake Chapala and the mountains on its southern shore. The house faces north, with a great view of the San Juan Cosalá Mountains. But this is fire season in the Lake Chapala area, and our views this week have been impaired by smoke. One day the smoke was so bad we could not see the other side of the lake.

*Smoke rises from a fire on the southern side of Lake Chapala. The white rectangles you see are berry farms.*

This time of year, local farmers traditionally prepare for new planting by burning off last year’s crops from the fields. It hasn’t rained here since the end of January, and that was less than one-half inch. So it’s very dry, and sometimes the fire gets away from the farmer so we see smoke billowing up from just on the other side of the mountain, or on the other side of the lake. We’ve also heard that people camp up in the mountains and burn their trash rather than packing it out. That’s a problem too. Driving home one night, I saw flames on our side of the mountain — very high up. Apparently that’s the first time it’s happened in decades.

*We watched this helicopter make multiple runs to gather lake water for use on the fires.*

For several days we saw a helicopter with a huge bucket hanging about 30 or 40 feet below the skids. The chopper flies from the north over our house to Lake Chapala, dips down (too low for us to see), then comes back up with a bucket full of water and heads back north, which is where most of the fires are.

The fires began April 27. As of May 12, most are either out or controlled. Rainy season begins roughly in mid-June, and the mountains will become a gorgeous green. Right now, Leslie and I are learning that May is the hottest month in this area. Most gringos go back to Canada or the U.S. for several weeks to escape the heat. We may do some European travel next year, if only to avoid smoke from the fires.

Actually, the heat is not that bad. It gets into the upper 80s to near-90° F. during the day, but the humidity is low — sometimes as low as 10 to 20 percent. And there’s usually a nice breeze off the lake. At night, that breeze sometimes intensifies and the temperature drops to the upper 50s F. Right now, at 7 p.m. on a Sunday evening, it’s 83° F. with 17 percent humidity. Perfect for dining alfresco and watching the hummingbirds and swallows.

Next time, a wrap-up on the move and more photos!

Hasta luego!

sunset-0351 — *Tonight’s sunset was just okay. Really great ones coming soon!*

Living overseas, Mexico, Retirement, Travel

Spring is here!

You may have noticed we have a new title for the blog: “Ex-pats in México.” Since Leslie and I are no longer vagabonds, I thought it was time for a change. The URL is the same, though, and if you signed up for notifications, you’ll still get an email to let you know a new post is up.

*The jacaranda — harbinger of spring in Mexico.*

Meanwhile, it’s definitely springtime in our little corner of México. There are several flowering trees — most notably the purple jacaranda (hah-kah-RAHN-dah) — that make the landscape colorful. Climate is a big reason we’re here, and we’re not disappointed. At night we leave the windows open in our bedroom and have the ceiling fan on. I no longer need a sweatshirt for my daily jogs along Ajijic’s malecón as it’s in the low- to mid-60s F. at sunrise. During the day it’s been reaching the upper 80s F., but with low humidity it feels great. Of course, our Canadian friends — and there are a lot of them here — often complain about the heat!

The snowbirds have already started leaving, most of them going back to Canada. The next influx is the sunbirds, mostly people from places like Arizona and New Mexico who come here to get away from the heat! They should start arriving soon.

*Alon Sariel (left) and Michael Tsalka wowed the Viva La Musica! crowd at Haus der Musik.*

Another benefit of living Lakeside (as the Lake Chapala area is known) is culture. During March, Leslie and attended the final concert in this year’s ¡Viva La Musica! series. We enjoyed a mandolin soloist and piano/harpsichord accompanist, both Israeli musicians and exceptional talents. We also saw a performance of “Sweet Charity” at the Lakeside Little Theater. This is a community theater group, but many of the cast and crew are seasoned theater professionals who have retired to México. They did a great job.

We also benefit from membership in the Lake Chapala Society. Leslie and I attended a class on death in México. Things are different here, and gringos need to be prepared. It’s most important to have a local doctor, and Leslie has already found a great doctora (woman physician) that she likes. I attended a class recently on how to watch U.S. TV shows here in Ajijic. And I got help with an e-mail problem from the LCS tech guys. Free.

*The main course at the Garden Party was a frosted sandwich loaf, decorated with edible flowers.*

The Social & Hospitality Committee — better known as “S&H” — at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church ushered in Spring with its annual Garden Party. It has traditionally been a fun event for ladies to gather in spring dresses and fancy hats, but this year the luncheon was also open to The Company of Gentlemen (that’s the St. Andrew’s men’s group). Leslie helped make the lunch and hosted a table, while I tended bar.

Finally, our neighbors Gail and John invited us to join them on a boat ride last week. We got a chance to see our adopted home from the water. Our little boat motored west from the Ajijic pier down to San Juan Cosalá, a small town just west of Ajijic. It was a fun morning.

*Ajijic from a boat on Lake Chapala. You can see several jacaranda trees. The mountains in the background are brown right now, but they will be greener than green when the rainy season arrives in June.*

Every so often we just have to take a “down day” because there’s so much going on!

Hasta luego!

*Leslie had fun wearing her hat and hosting a table at the Garden Party, which was actually IN the garden at St. Andrew’s.*

*My hat is in sad shape, so my buddy Miles got all the hat compliments as we kept the champagne flowing. The ladies asked us to wear bow ties, which instantly afforded us a modicum of class.*

Living overseas, Mexico, Retirement, Travel

Vagabonds no more — for now, at least!

Ajijic sign-0267 — *The Ajijic sign on the* *malecon, overlooking Lake Chapala. The “C” has a musical motif, and there’s a lot of music to be heard here, especially in February.*

Leslie and I are officially no longer vagabonds. We recently signed a one-year lease on a new home in the Riviera Alta neighborhood of Ajijic. We’re in the process of moving all our furniture and household goods from a storage locker in Lisle, Ill., for a May 1 move-in. And we bought a car! A 2013 Honda CR-V, black with beige leather interior. Photos next post.

February has been a busy month, as you can see. But we’ve also been busy having lots of fun. We attended four concerts in the Northern Lights series, also known as Festival de Febrero. Most of the concerts in the two-week series are classical, but there is some jazz also. Proceeds from ticket sales go primarily to support aspiring young Mexican musicians. Here’s a brief video of pianist David Fung performing with the festival chamber orchestra:

Fung has performed with a variety of outstanding orchestras in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including the Cleveland Orchestra. He’s on the faculty at the University of Georgia. There were several other soloists, most of whom have been appearing annually at the festival and are crowd favorites.

*This string quartet did a nice job kicking off the Northern Lights festival.*

One concert, called “Rising Stars,” featured a string quartet of young Mexican musicians, some of whom were part of the inaugural Festival del Lago Academy of Music in August 2018. We learned that the two-week academy was a big success, with 37 international students learning from 10 faculty members. Twelve of the students were from right here in the state of Jalisco, while another dozen were from other parts of Mexico. Thirteen came from places like South Korea, Iceland and Holland. Faculty members were from Canada and the U.S., as well as European nations.

We also attended (on my birthday) Show Stoppers, a twice-yearly effort by Los Cantantes del Lago, a choral group led by Tim Welch, who we know as the excellent choir director at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church. Performers entertained a sold-out crowd with tunes from “Cabaret,” “Hello Dolly” and “Call Me Madam,” as well as other pop songs. This was the 18th edition of this popular event.

Here’s a brief video of Wanda White, Jacqueline Collin and Donna Houghton singing “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” which some of you may remember as a hit by the Everly Brothers. Wanda (left) sings in the St. Andrew’s choir:

*Alfredo teaches us the different ways to say “hot” in Spanish.*

And there was non-musical fun and learning. Leslie and I attended a class at The Lake Chapala Society on “Mexican Manners.” It was taught by Leslie’s Spanish teacher, Alfredo, who is director of education at LCS. He explained how to greet our Mexican neighbors at different times of the day, what to do in a variety of situations interacting with them, and some tips on using the right words in Spanish.

We plan on taking more classes at The Lake Chapala Society. There‘s one coming up on local fermented beverages. We just might try that one!

More to come soon, as we get the ball rolling for the move to Andalusia 3 in Riviera Alta.

Hasta Luego!

*One of the acts at Show Stoppers was this trio of mariachi-style musicians. They did several beautiful songs in Spanish. Tim Welch, director of Los Cantantes del Lago, is seated at the piano.*

Living overseas, Mexico, Retirement, Travel

It’s official!

visas-2618 — *These visas are the first stage in a two-step process to gain permanent resident status in Mexico.*

Earlier today (Wednesday, Aug. 29), Leslie and I picked up our visas from the Mexican consulate here in Chicago. The folks there were very helpful and easy to work with. Thanks, Jorge, for all your assistance! Oh, sorry — I mean, gracias por todos, Jorge! Now we can purchase plane tickets for our flight to Guadalajara, probably on Oct. 31.

Once we arrive, we’ll have 30 days to appear at the immigration office in Chapala and complete the two-step process for our permanent resident cards. Those cards identify us as legal permanent residents of Mexico. We can come and go as we choose, and there’s no need to renew.

Last week, we sent in a deposit and signed a six-month lease on a casita in Ajijic. It’s new construction on Privada Independencia with three casitas. We got #1, which is closest to the street. We’re excited about moving into this place. There are two bedrooms, two baths, a nicely equipped kitchen, water filtration system, washer and dryer, and a mirador shared with the other casitas (remember, that’s an outdoor space on the roof, usually covered and with a view).

We’re looking forward to reconnecting with St. Andrew’s Anglican Church and the people we met there a year ago. Hope they still have our name tags! This is a vital church that does a lot of good work in the community, and we hope to find ways in which we can contribute.

Finally, Leslie had cataract surgery yesterday (Tuesday, Aug. 28) on her left eye and is really excited at how well she can see just a day after surgery. Her doctor is very pleased with her progress. Final step is a visit with an optometrist in about a month to see if she will need glasses for reading or driving. Hopefully not!

We’ll keep you posted as the time approaches for us to leave for our new home. The vagabond days are almost over!

I took this about an hour post-surgery. Looks weird to have only one eye dilated.

Living overseas, San Diego, Travel

UPDATE

In the last post I said Leslie was tentatively scheduled for surgery on Saturday, Feb. 3. Didn’t happen. Her surgeon, Dr. Bench, didn’t like her test results, He preferred to wait until she recovered more fully from acute pancreatitis, which is what landed her in the hospital. And by the way, Dr. Bench was busy saving someone’s life in the ER for most of Saturday morning.

So Leslie was released from Sharp Memorial Hospital on Sunday, Feb. 4. We’re bunking with our daughter Stephanie temporarily. Leslie’s gall bladder removal is now set for Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 13. If there’s no further delay, we should be able to resume our travels in early March.

Another update post-surgery…

*With Leslie out of the hospital, we were able to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary Feb. 6 at Bluewater Boathouse Grill on Coronado Island. She looks great, doesn’t she?*

Europe, history, Living overseas, Retirement, Spain, Travel

Alicante is the best place in the world!

That’s actually the city’s official motto, as we learned today from guide Maria. She led our little group on a walking tour from the waterfront through the old town and up to Central Mercado, pointing out landmarks and giving us quite a history lesson.

Alicante has a troubled past. Lots of death and destruction in the War of the Spanish Succession and later the Spanish Civil War. This city was on the losing side in both conflicts. But since the mid-20th century — and especially since the 1980s — things have gotten progressively better. Tourism has created many jobs, helping the population grow to more than 300,000. Now when you look northwest from the heights of the Castle Santa Barbara, you see a thriving city that feels good about itself. Hence, the motto.

While a few historic structures remain, most of the city’s buildings are 20th and 21st century. Alicante was bombed repeatedly by the fascists in the Spanish Civil War, and it became the last Republican city opposing Franco’s forces. Many of those who opposed Franco escaped Spain from the port of Alicante, which you can see in this photo, also taken from Castle Santa Barbara. The old city is prominent also. Just right of center, you may be able to see the blue domes of Co-cathedral of St.Nicolas. Stunning from the inside. It dates to the 1600s, but has been renovated several times, once following a fire.

In an earlier post, I wrote that I didn’t know the age of the apartment building we’re in. Update: Only about 60 years old, according to its owner, but the foundations are over 200 years old. That’s why the streets are so narrow. Some buildings in the area are older, such as the Alicante City Hall and Basilica Santa Maria, both of which survived bombardments from sea and air.

Central Mercado also survived an aerial bombardment on 25 May 1938. But 300 civilians were killed when bombs fell on the plaza just north of the market. A plaque in the plaza floor commemorates that tragic event.

On a cheerier note, Maria explained that tourism started taking off here when Scandinavians discovered Alicante’s beaches. At the time, though, highly restrictive dress codes for women prohibited bikinis. Even into the 1960s! So a delegation traveled to Madrid and petitioned the Franco government for relief. The Scandinavians won’t come if the women can’t wear bikinis on the beach! And did we mention how much money tourists bring into the city? So the government eased off, and the tourists are still coming today. Here’s part of the main beach on Friday, Nov. 11, from Castle Santa Barbara.

So the people here think this is the best place in the world. Is it the best place for us to retire? Hey, this is our first stop. And we’ve only been here three weeks. Let us check out some other places.

But it’s definitely on the short list.

Europe, food, Living overseas, Retirement, Spain, Travel, wine

The good life in sunny Spain

Today, Leslie enjoyed getting a pedicure at a nail salon here in Alicante. We found this place online, then stopped by yesterday afternoon and made the appointment. You should understand that she really liked getting her toes done at Karma in our former hometown of Westmont, Ill. So going to someone else, especially someone who does not speak English, was a big question mark. I think Leslie has a new favorite nail tech! They managed to communicate just fine, and the pedicure was slightly less than at Karma, just 25 euros.

We’re trying to be like locals, so Leslie is cooking our main meal at midday, which for Spain is around 2 p.m. We have a big dinner, what we would call “lunch,” between 2 and 3 p.m., with a glass of red wine. Then we enjoy siesta until 5 or 6 p.m. Sometimes that’s an actual nap, sometimes it’s reading a book, or taking a walk or working on a blog. Many shops close between 2 or 3 p.m. and 5 or 6 p.m., then reopen until 8 or 9 p.m. Siesta is very civilized. Here’s one of those midday meals, a favorite of mine and one of Leslie’s amazing creations: Spanish steak baroness, along with a 2012 crianza from Protos winery in the Ribera del Duero region of Spain.

OK, the selfie’s not that great, but the meal was incredible!

Most Spaniards have their evening meal as late as 9 or 10 p.m. Something light like tapas. I’ve been making dinner salads for us almost every evening, usually about 7: 30 or 8 p.m. That was our lunch back in the States. Having a light meal before bedtime is, we think, healthier.

We usually dine at home, but some evenings we go out for tapas and a glass of sangria. And a few times we’ve had the midday meal at a restaurant, taking advantage of the menu del dia. For a fixed price, often less than 10 euros per person, you get an appetizer or soup, entree, wine and dessert.

We’re buying food at a couple of different places, but the most interesting is Central Mercado on Avenida Alfonso X El Sabio. Built in 1911-12, it’s a cavernous old building with modernist architecture and tilework. Seems like hundreds of vendors on two floors, selling fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, cheese, etc. Like the Downers Grove farmers’ market on steroids, but indoors and all year ’round. Prices are even better than the farmers’ market, too. And if we don’t know the Spanish name of something we just point to the item and ask, “Como se dice esta en Espanol?” This morning, Leslie pointed to the broccoli and asked that question. “Broccoli,” the vendor smiled. Sometimes it’s easy.

Another great thing about this part of the world: We’ve been here a little over two weeks now and have not used heat or air conditioning in the apartment. Most days, the windows are open. It’s been a little cool the past few evenings, but most it’s usually at least 22 degrees in the afternoon, and the coolest overnight so far has been 10 degrees. Remember, they use the Celsius scale in Europe so that would be a high of 70-plus and a low of 50. And very little rain.

One more month here in Spain, then we move on to the island nation of Malta for another month. We’ve heard lots of good things about Malta, and can’t wait to check it out. The original plan was to go to France or Italy next. But even southern France is a bit chilly this time of year. And our preferred location in Italy, the Amalfi Coast, was a logistical nightmare. So we opted for Malta and we’re still hopeful our daughter Stephanie will be able to join us for Christmas.

On Jan. 15, we must leave the Schengen Zone. Options include hanging out for three months in the UK, Ireland or Croatia, or something more exotic such as Cyprus or Israel, then back to Europe proper. The current Plan A, though, is to come back to the New World, probably to Montevideo,Uruguay, where it is now summer!

That could change, though.We’ll keep you posted.

Living overseas, Retirement, Travel, wine

A great day at Raventos i Blanc: Vineyards, mules, sparkling wine and our friend Pepe

Two years ago at the Hinsdale Wine Shop, we tasted some fantastic Spanish wines and met the winemaker, Pepe Raventos of Raventos i Blanc. We told Pepe back then that we hoped to relocate to Spain in about two years, when I retired. He signed one of the bottles we bought that night, “See you in two years!”

It took a little more than two years, but today we saw Pepe again when we spent a few hours touring his family’s estate, about a 40-minute train ride west of Barcelona in Sant Sadurni d’Anoia. Pepe is the 22nd generation of his family to run this winery. His ancestors started out in 1497. That’s not a typo. Over 500 years in the same family. Here we are with Pepe. The bust behind us is of Pepe’s grandfather.

We saw some vines that are about 70 years old, as well as some new plantings, and we met the two mules that help out on the property. Our guide was Anna, a young English woman on Pepe’s staff who is highly knowledgeable about wines. She’s off next week to Hungary to promote Raventos wines in that country.

Anna treated us to some sparking wine as we looked over the vineyards with Montserrat in the background, but nearly shrouded in clouds. It was a bit chilly for this time of year.

Pepe is moving his family’s business into a more organic style called biodynamic. It’s almost as if he’s guiding his family’s business into the future by going back to techniques from its storied past. Please take a look at their website, http://www.raventos.com, to learn about biodynamics and their fabulous sparkling wine, or cava in Spain. I think you will be impressed with the materials on the website, especially the video. Definitely watch the video.

We know Pepe thanks to Sean Chaudry at Hinsdale Wine Shop. If you want to purchase some of their very fine wines, head for Hinsdale and tell Sean you’re friends of Mike and Leslie Rogers. I’m sure he’ll sell you some of Pepe’s good stuff.

Two more days in Barcelona, then the vacation is over and we head for Alicante. There, we begin six weeks living in an apartment just off the central plaza (in Castilian Spanish, that’s pronounced, “plah-tha”) and only two blocks from the beach. We’ll be going to the markets like locals, walking around the plaza like locals, and visiting other places along the Costa Brava that could become our new home.

The vagabonding begins in earnest on Oct. 24!

Europe, Living overseas, Travel

Worshipping With Wesley

We decided to go to church Sunday. Surely there’s a Methodist church somewhere in London, right? So we rode the Tube to 49 City Road and attended the 11 a.m. service at Wesley’s Chapel. Yes. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, built this church and preached here until his death. Here we are, shortly after the service ended. Our good friends at Grace UMC in Naperville will appreciate this the most. Today, we walked in the steps of John and Charles Wesley.

This is an amazing place. Roughly half the congregation is African, many of the rest would fit right into the Forum Class at Grace! Being here was awesome. The Rev. Jennifer Potter gave an excellent sermon (not as good as Pastor Cindy, though!) from the high pulpit. In Wesley’s day, the pulpit was three times higher than what you see behind us here. That was so Wesley could see everybody, including those in the balcony, and be heard by all.

Following the service, we had coffee with some of the congregants. Wouldn’t be a Methodist church without coffee, would it? Then we went on a tour with other visitors, including a group from Idaho. A volunteer showed us the church, the Methodist Museum, Wesley’s original Foundry Chapel (next door to the current church), Wesley’s home and his tomb. I won’t take up space here with details. If you want to know more, go to www.wesleyschapel.org.uk. The church was closed for a number of years and has been changed significantly from what Wesley built in the 1700s. For example, there were no stained glass windows then. I’ll just add that it was pretty cool when I was able to stand in the same pulpit that John Wesley preached from. Wow!

Here’s that pulpit from the Foundry Chapel, now in the Methodist Museum. What’s still in the original chapel is the organ Charles Wesley used to write many of the hymns we still sing today.

In Wesley’s house, we saw the parlor and study, along with Wesley’s bedroom. All the rooms are very, very small. Much like the hotel room we’re in right now!

Here’s his study, complete with the chair he used, a replica of his preaching robe and the grandfather clock originally owned by Wesley’s parents. Notice that the chair is designed to be used as a normal chair, but Wesley also sat backwards on it so he could place a book on the small shelf, making study easier. The tour guide pointed out the size of the robe. Really short. Wesley was quite short, even for people in the the 18th Century.

Finally, here’s a shot of the church.