Dec 2nd. 5 Months Tomorrow

On one hand I can't believe it was this long since we arrived to the tropical paradise here. On the other hand, with so many activities going on it feels even longer. Here is what happened last week.

Our guests did the usual rounds of seeing London sites. We got out on Tuesday night for a short bar stroll. Hit our old favorites.

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We joined Kostik, Alenka, and Sasha on Thursday to watch changing of the guard in front of the Buckingham palace. It was one of the most boring such activities ever. Guards dressed in slightly different fashions were coming in from different directions and going through some motions behind the gate in front of the palace.

There were so many things happening at once, and so many people that you found yourself running from the fence to the road and back, trying to squeeze in to be rewarded with a view of someone's hat. The official link above is pretty informative and fills the gaps on what we missed. Not as entertaining as the one in Greece though. Admire the lovely footwork.

Goddess of fertility. Note the

body of a pregnant hippo &

face of a lion. Ancient people

were not stupid.

I did enjoy looking at people from all around the world gathered there. So many different faces, expressions, clothing styles. Another entertaining moment was watching the crowd when soldiers were passing by: virtually everyone had their hand up holding up a recording device... like in some kind of strange salute.

Next we walked over to the British museum to take a look at some Sumerian artifacts, Rosetta stone and the mummies again. It is a great collection. While it is arguable as to whether it was all acquired by the rightful means, it is the safest here in the UK and has the greatest chances for being properly cared for at the moment. We will have to come back again and again to digest it all.

There is Christmas fair going on near the Waterloo station. Elena was taken by the hot mulled wine stall. We tried to reproduce the experience at home with some fairly good results.

On Friday we went to Cambridge. This time we had a bit more time. In addition to walking through amazing King's chapel we took a boat ride along the river. The guide told us fun stories about colleges we were passing. He mentioned everyone gets their own room as it is more conducive to studying. Maybe that's why we barely saw any students out. While we were on the river, a family of swans followed us sticking their heads into the boat and hoping to steal some food. Kids had a blast.

We walked around a bit. At one point we sneaked onto the territory of one of the colleges past the guards and took a more interesting stroll around. Once you are in, it is easier to get around to other colleges as well.

We went to Chop restaurant for dinner. It is supposed to be one of the nice ones. And it was. We even got a private room where kids could unwind from a long day of walking.

Saturday was the last day our guests were with us :( Kids and I went to Teddington lock to pick some apples. Georgia rode her bike. Isabella's still needs to be repaired.

We saw a bunch of large green parrots sitting on the apple trees and feasting on our apples. Now if anyone claims this is not a tropical island, I will spit them in the eye. Well, maybe not spit, just invite them to visit us here and see for themselves. It really is (and I know, I am probably jinxing it right now) fairly moderate here. Some of the trees are still covered in leaves and some bushes are starting to bloom with yellow flowers.

On Sunday we went to Hastings for a hike along the South's coast line. Hastings is a beautiful town perched up on several cliffs. The roofs covered in moss looked very scenic. We walked along the beach gathering pebbles and shells - no one was there to compete for our loot. Kids also enjoyed the beachside trampoline and a playground. And we had our fish and chips right on the beach. The hike was nice but not as scenic as the one we did along the white cliffs overlooking France. There was a highlight when we got off the track and climbed over the fence to follow a stream along the muddy dirt path to the edge of the cliff. A flock of seagulls flew up disturbed by our visit. Alas, there was no easy way  to get down to the private beach. There was a rope hanging but with our coats and hats and gloves, even if we  managed to get down the 30 foot drop, the chances are we would have to swim back. 

We finished the day at one of many local coffee shops. This one had bookshelves running ceiling to the floor filled with books on all the possible topics. Burrowed deep into the cushions of the comfy red coaches, we sipped had our drinks and ate our desserts while Georgia and Dan took turns asking trivia questions and telling us an English fairytales respectively.

I've been meaning to write this sometime in the last few days. We are really grateful that Kostik & Alenka & Sasha joined us and we were with the family this Thanksgiving. And we are grateful to our work for making it possible for us to be here. And to parents and friends choosing to come here to visit us and for taking care of our dog, and house and mail and lots of other things while we are away.