A Day in London

Saturdays are fun days around here. There is so much to do and we squeeze in as much as we can. The girls loved their first train ride into London. We luckily have a bus station right behind our neighborhood. Getting around London is simple and convenient.






This is the London Eye--a 443-ft.-tall Ferris-like wheel. It goes on a 30-minute 'flight' to give you a great view of the city. It's right off the River Thames.
Em and Ray with Big Ben and Houses of Parliament behind them.
Big Ben and Houses of Parliament--both pictures taken from our boat tour on the River Thames.
After our boat tour and London Eye ride we went over to Trafalgar Square where there was a South Asian festival going on. We made our way through the huge crowd of people celebrating their heritage and went into the wonderful National Gallery. It's a huge (and free) art museum. We didn't stay long, but we did enjoy some Seurat, Renoir, Monet and VanGogh before going out to eat. We finally found a pretty authentic American restaurant in England! It's called the Texas Embassy and it serves real salsa, real tortilla chips (not 'crisps'), tacos, hamburgers, French fries (not 'chips'), and a real chicken salad. And our servers spoke American!
I love roaming around London, hopping on and off the trains, going to the sites and just taking it all in. The best part is at the end of a long day I take a short train ride back to my house, knowing that next Saturday I'll be back for more.

Visiting Windsor

Visiting Windsor Castle and The Crooked Tea House

Afterward Rachel's comments were:

"All we did was walk and walk and I just wanted to go!" I don't have the heart to tell her how many more castles we want to see!
Windsor Castle is a beautiful castle to visit. It just sits right there in the middle of the city. The city of Windsor was recently voted the No. 2 Crap (Worst) Town in the UK. Here's why: "The big thing about Windsor is that its townsfolk believe that by living near the castle they are more-or-less royalty themselves. Indeed, once Winsor women pass the age of 60, they seem to lose the plot altogether and convice themselves that they acutally are the Queen. You can often spot these old dears in the town centre, sporting the Queen's hair-do's and spectacles and waddling as regally as they can, with their handbags draped daintily over their wrists."

The Crooked Tea House (crooked-house.com) is a very crooked building that is by Windsor Castle. It's crooked because unseasoned wood was used to build it. It used to have some secret passageway to the castle for romantic meetings for some King and his mistress.

July 29 Getting Around

Our village is very quaint and lovely to walk around--to me it's the epitome of an English town. I use walking trips to the village as entertainment for me and the girls--visit the toy store, stop into the bakery, go to the library, go to the post office, grab some food for a picnic at the corner grocery store (no fast-food around here). My 'real' shopping is done at the big American-like stores (one store and get it all done!) that other cities have thankfully welcomed: a Walmart-owned store called Asda, Costco (with real Oreos!) and Tesco (I opt for this one because it has the most beautiful drive) and IKEA (tears came to my eyes when I walked in!).

We go everywhere with our GPS named Jane. She has become one of the family members and we all talk to her. The girls question if she knows where she's going if I don't like the directions she's giving. They also imitate her and will come back to the States with great English accents when they need to say things like: "At the end of the road turn right," "Take the exit," "Go around the round about," and "You have reached your destination."

July 21 Continuing to Adjust

Em and Ray dancing on their kitchen stage

Our things left on a ship shortly after we did and we finally have our things as of a few days ago! It was like Christmas morning around here opening up boxes--being reunited with long lost and very missed material items. I missed my bed the most and all my pillows. The weather has pretty much stayed in the 60s so it was very nice to have warmer clothes and jackets. The girls' playroom was quickly filled to capacity with toys and crafts. We were happy to have our food storage arrive as well--we celebrated by having PBJs, mac 'n cheese and Cheez Its.

It's funny how little things have become very exciting, like when we find things we took for granted in America. Shopping trips are taking less time because I am learning the new names of things and recognizing the different packaging. It took several trips to find cream cheese (soft cheese), Parmesan cheese (Italian cheese), hot dogs (Frankfurters located in some secret section in the store), whipping cream (many varieties with various functions), bleach (I miss Clorox), Ben and Jerry's (we have 6 in our freezer that is soooooooo small, but I feel I filled it with the important stuff) and other very simple items that make life good.

July 7 Wimbledon

The whole time I was at Wimbledon I was thinking, "Wow, I can't believe I'm here!" And then I waited for someone to ask me to leave because I was not a true tennis fan. Jon kept looking up tennis rules on his Blackberry so that we could better appreciate the game. The game was relatively quiet except for a few crowd outburts which would result in a few chuckles, a pause from the officiator, then she would flatly say, "Thank you." Then the crowd would go about whispering during plays and politely clapping with match wins. When Venus won the game I didn't even realize the game was over until people were coming onto the court to present her award. The awards ceremony was very simple and quiet--no fireworks, no bands, no crowd fanfare--just some famous British people presenting a huge gold plate. We enoyed a catered meal in a dining room with Jon's co-workers before the game and then some English desserts afterwards. It all felt traditionally British.

July 3 Back from Rome

Our first European adventure was a trip to Rome. Jon had a 3-day conference there, so the girls and I tagged along.

The downsides of Rome?

• it was HOT
  


• air conditioning was minimal
  


• the city is dirty and not kid friendly
  


• bathrooms are hard to find and far apart (very important for little girls and pregnant moms)
  


• Did I mention it was HOT?

The great things about Rome?

• Our hotel had a swimming pool.



• the Colosseum (the girls loved to hear the stories of the gladiator and animals fights that went on inside)



• the Vatican Museum had cool mummies



• the Sistine Chapel (I laid my camera down on the ground and in my excitement of telling the girls about Michelangelo I left it there—luckily, someone turned it in!)



• St. Peter's Basilica (which houses the Pieta)



• cheap taxis



• great pizza and lots of gelato



• the Pantheon



• the zoo (we needed a break from looking at buildings)



• night time entertainers in Piazza Navona