September 16th. To Warsaw and back

On Saturday we carried still sleeping kids at 4am downstairs and started out for the weekend trip to Warsaw. The ride to Stansted airport via M25 at that time was miraculously traffic free. It looks like construction workers had closed off huge sections of the highway but the actual work is being performed on small segments here and there.
Ryanair operates similarly to Wizz: people are herded into large lines and are made wait for 30-45 minutes  and then everyone is loaded on buses and then everyone runs to grab a better seat - seats are not assigned. Only one piece of hand luggage weighing up to 10kg is allowed. Checking in luggage adds extra $120 per bag. Everything is about efficiency. There are no pockets on the seats so that people would not put trash into them.


Ryanair also has a cute gimmick, when the plane lands they sound a kind of fanfare and announce that they had yet another "on-time flight." The cute part is that they don't count when they actually arrive but rather the time in the air. So if your departure is delayed and you arrive late, as far they are concerned, they still got to there in 2 hours.


Dan mentioned that good
programmers are not only found in
the offices

Taxi dropped Dan off to attend to his affairs while kids and I stayed on to go to the zoo.  Here is the link of us going there in 2009 when Georgia was three. It is a very nice zoo. Not as enormous as the Bronx Zoo but with a very nice selection of animals, most held in decent enclosures. There are also plenty of areas to take a break for kids to relax and grab a bite.

We all had a great time running from one enclosure to another. There was a funny moment The king of the jungle sat on the hill rather impassively and then suddenly sprang up to life and roared a few words over to hippos swimming in their pool nearby. And they had responded!!

After that we sat down in a coffee shop and Dan joined us and we finished our tour together. Back in the old town, most of the old town square and other surrounding areas are closed off for repairs. Mermaid is not accessible anymore.

There was a general strike and huge crowds of people were walking down Krakowskie Przedmieście, the main street along the historical center. Most were wearing overshirts that said "Solidarnost'."

We saw some from workers Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus. In whole we could not make out what it was about but it was extremely loud. And at one point when they exploded a few home-made noise rockets right next to where we were walking so it not that safe either. It did not wake up Isabella though. She fell asleep peacefully on Dan's shoulder. We sought refuge with the Internet and found one at the Little Bistro along the way. From there we watched the much muted demonstration while enjoying our beers and fried cheese.

At night we walked to our MDM hotel and on the way discovered a beautiful pedestrian street on the way that was filled with the coffee shops and people. Maybe it was there before and we missed it because it was not in such a good condition. But now it was lovely. And we even spotted the king of ice-cream Dan was searching for for years since trying Soprano ice-cream for the first time in Dansk. It was closed already though. We passed the Palace of Culture, the ugly Soviet landmark that is a sore sight to many Poles. But at night, it was lit up as some kind of Vegas palace and actually looked very nice.

MGM is a bit far off but for a large and comfortable family room with included breakfast at 60 pounds per night it was a pretty good deal. In the morning we enjoyed downtown views while feasting on the breakfast that seemed to try to cater to specific breakfast customs all across Europe.


Saska Kepa neighborhood was highly recommended in the guides as a kind of a new "Greenwich village." It resembles a mix between Antakalnis and Zhverinas: quiet, a bit up-market bourgeois area with some new diverse restaurants giving it a bit of color.

A great highlight at the Skaryszewsky park next door were flame-red squirrels. I have never seen them in this color. We took many pictures but the little creatures are so fast that pictures really don't do them any justice.

Forgot to mention, on the way to non-Greenwich village we passed Fat Katy, a cool city landmark and functional installation. Check it out.

We had some very excellent Soprano ice-cream. The search is over. Note to travelers, do not go for the cheap imitations that look like Soprano ice-cream.

Georgia and I stopped by to look inside one of the gallery shops while Dan and Isabella waited outside. Isabella walked away from Dan a few steps to take a look at flowers. There was a guy walking toward her. He looked around and did not see Dan and attempted to pet Isabella. It may have been a perfectly friendly gesture other than that furtive look around. Dan shouted "Hey" and the sick jerk speeded away. People, keep an eye on your kids! We may have had before but now we don't live in the world where it is OK to pet strange children on the street. Those who pretend to not know this rule and try anyway, are sick jerks.

Back in the old town, all sorts of events were going on at the same time: a band of bikers who had just completed their tour to Katyn, people who had chained themselves to doghouses to protest the same practice done to dogs, first aid services fund raiser. A bit overwhelmed we escaped again to a little pierogi shop on Bednarska.

Surek, pierogi with meat, cabbage, meat and cabbage, meat, cabbage and mushrooms, and other combinations, and everything else were great! That, in contrast to the Zapiecek, the McD of pierogi, where we had the misfortune of eating (and sharing the single bathroom with 1/2 mln protesters) yesterday. Zapiecek callously ruins the splendorous national food. The Zapiecek chain is like a plague - almost every city block has one.

We thought of going to visit some Holocaust cites but did not want to upset kids. They are too little to understand this but they would definitely see the effect those places will have on us. During the demonstrations yesterday, looking at the faces of people passing by I was thinking that we really have not progressed as a human race for hundreds of years. It still takes relatively few triggers to get us wound up to revert to .. past the animal state. Past, because animals as a group do not typically engage child killings, ethnic cleansings and more. Those who retain their humanity when in distress are still an exception.


Georgia said that adult playgrounds

are those that don't have anything

but the view

Returning back home was the same in reverse - herded back on the plane, long drive home, and carry sleeping kids up to bed. They were awesome the entire time. We should do it again!!

 

September 13th. Green Thames

Yesterday Thames river turned green. Some green algae must have grown or was brought up by the river. It also looks like the flow of the river has slowed down somewhat. Swans had been feasting on the greenery the whole day.

We had uneventful last couple of days. It has been raining every day pretty much most of the day. But it is not cold, so it is not so bad. It is just we cannot ride our bikes and it is kind of quiet when we get out in the evenings for a walk. Next week we will have to plan more interesting evening activities. We got Georgia taken care of somewhat in terms of extra-curricular activities for one afternoon during the week - she will be taking Judo for an hour after school. If nothing else, we will probably do a lot of reading this fall.


The sail had reached our window

This Wednesday we went to see Snail and Whale play at the Rose Theater. Beautiful production just like Aliens love Underpants last time. It is remarkable how they were able to extend and interpret a pretty small children's book. The show lasted an hour. We noticed that in the surrounding towns there are other theaters, with some even specializing in children's shows. Tickets are around 9-12 pounds. We could see a different children's play each week. Of course we would have to drive to see the other ones.


Tomorrow we are going to Warsaw for a weekend. We got 50 pound round trip tickets about a month ago. We are planning for more trips like this one if we can find similar fare and can manage a trip to the airport some 100 miles away :)

Getting more acquainted with schools here. As I may have written before, Georgia has "numeracy," "literacy," "worship," and lots of PE. I attended parent-teacher conference and got the feeling that school will not be particularly straining. For math, they are looking to work on addition/subtraction and will start looking at the multiplication tables. On the reading front, the kids are starting chapter books and expecting 1/2 page read per day. Maybe they are starting the kids out slowly. Means more fun stuff at home.


The baby is all grown up

In Isabella's school, they talked about Humpy-Dumpty for two days and followed up with omelet cooking demonstration. This is nice. They did comment on her broken English twice. It is pretty natural for her to lose some of that over the summer. The kid had no exposure for several months. You don't hear English even at playgrounds here. But her teacher's feedback sounds all to familiar to the stuff we heard in US daycares and schools about Georgia in the past. Just to be sure that they don't think she is developmentally challenged, I relay every morning to her teachers what she shared about the prior day.

On the eating front, because we are going to be away for a few days, we've started to work through our stock of dumplings from the Korean supermarket.  I'd say they are right in the middle between the koldunai from Papa Karlo and khinkali. If they were bigger, they would be khinkali!! I have to look for some Georgia's restaurants around :)

And since I've started with the colors, cannot resist sharing this one, sent to me by Yana. Sheer brilliance. Sorry about proximity with food!

September 9th. Leeds and Dover Castles

On Saturday we went to Hampton Court park with parents. They did not expect the massive hordes of deer we had encountered there. It looked pretty cool. There are some perfectly lined up alleys of immaculately manicured trees, each within its little box, and then there are fields and fields of tall grass. With the heads of deer sticking out from the grass, those fields look how I imagine African bush does.

After that we had a decent lunch at Brown's downstairs. It is not thrilling but for convenience sake, it is an OK place to go to.
And then we saw parents off to France and just relaxed for the rest of the day. We even watched the Fifth Element with kids.

We are too old and have to get used to the HDTV. It makes everything so hyper-realistic that movies and news look like cheap theater production in your living room. Still, nothing can touch this movie, it is super green! It was the first "grown-up" movie that kids had seen and we are being bombarded with questions about the plot. Isabella is certain that all the aliens are real.

On Sunday we started our exploration of the Southeast and went to the Leeds Castle in the Southeast. The admission fee for the three of us not counting Isabella was incredible 50 pounds. Seriously there are not that many amusement parks in US that charge 75$+. A small consolation is the fact that we would be able to use the same entrance tickets for the rest of the year.

Check out the last item on the menu

The grounds are extensive and well kept. It is possible to spend a good amount of time walking through lovely ponds and wooded areas. They have a different kind of swan, a regular white one called Cygnus cygnus in Latin. It is mostly found in Scandinavian countries. It has a small yellow nose and black beak as opposed to the mute white ones we had been seeing. Those have orange beak and large black nose. Yellow nosed swans somehow look like large geese. There are also pretty black swans around the castle. They are small with red noses and eyes.

Leeds castle used to belong to a number of queens over its long history. They converted what used to be a strategic fortress into more of a beautiful castle. The most recent owner, rich socialite lady Baillie, with a great eye for husbands, used it during the war to house wounded soldiers for a period of time, and more recently (until early 70s) to entertain famous visitors and even for some of the King David accord negotiations. We really liked how the castle looked from the outside.

But inside, was an interesting effect of what happens when you try to adjust the ancient structure to the modern times. Due to the small windows it is pretty dark inside. The owner tried to correct it by white-washing the walls and removing some of the ancient castle look in the process. Add to it furniture and bathroom fittings that used to be chic in the 70s and you get a large, depressing, and dated apartment.

We continued our exploration outside and came upon a large maze. It was really fun. Kids started getting worried when we continued walking in circles for some time. Ultimately we reached the middle of the maze whether they had a raised enclosed platform to watch and direct the other mice :) Apparently the maze was much larger than we thought.

Below the platform was an underground grotto with "scary" figures made from seashells. An audio was reading something from the Flying Dutchman. Isabella would have none of this so Dan carried her out while Georgia and I enjoyed our leisurely walk. Kids spent some time at a playground designed like an obstacle course through a castle and we headed over to our next point: Dover castle.

Dover castle atop the white cliffs facing France has been built and used for military purposes until very recently. The hills are covered in tunnels. During the WWII that was one of the key operating centers, and a hospital, and it even housed nuclear bunkers briefly.

We watched falconry presentation before visiting the castle. It was very interesting and informative.

A couple of falconers showed their birds and talked about working with them for hunting. They are even starting to work with owls. Contrary to the popular opinion, owls are not purely nocturnal. It is just their sense of hearing is so much better than their sight that they can pinpoint their prey with extreme accuracy based on that alone. And it is safer to do it at night while other predators are not active. Working with owls is more challenging because they get easily distracted by sounds, but if you are able to train one, you get all the benefits of the "regular" hunting bird plus extreme sound sensitivity.

In the end they showed us their star, a peregrine falcon. The bird put up an amazing show. It is able to dive and come of the drop in split second. There was a guy in the audience with the largest camera lense I've ever seen - probably half my height and very wide too. The falconer challenged him to capture the moves the bird was making.


We liked Dover castle more than Leeds. It is a giant stone box filled with rambling passages, galleries, and chapel. We wandered around peeking in the narrow passageways and finding large banquet rooms. They had a giant kitchen with huge plastic pork carcasses hanging down, large cloth bags filled with glued rice and beans, all sorts of cleavers also glued securely to the tables, and other decorative elements entertaining for kids and adults. Décor was very simple and "castle" like and it fit just right.


We did a quick tour of the underground war-time hospital in one of the tunnels. They did a great job re-creating the environment of that time, complete with the furnishings and things, and with the audio of the air-raids and failing lights, and even with the smells of food and operating room. Georgia really disliked the smell and Isabella hated the sounds. So it was so so on the amusement scale. But at least they did drew the line on the smell of smoke, undoubtedly the primary smell at that time.
Afterwards we spent several hours walking around the White Cliffs next to the castle. The views of the cliffs, the sea, and light green grass in the setting sun were incredible.

Sept 6th. Georgia's First Day of School

As I mentioned before, we were very nervous. We all showed up and waited at the back of the school: parents, us, and Tanya, our new babysitter. The other kids and parents were rolling in as if it was an ordinary day. Girls were dressed in checkered blue dresses and navy cardigans and boys in gray shorts and blue shirts. Some came in with their scooters or on bikes. It looked like an ordinary day and everyone looked like they knew what they were doing. We were directed to wait outside the third grade area. We spoke with Georgia's two teachers and were re-assured that everything will be OK.

At the end of the day Georgia looked very relaxed. She liked the school a lot. They played "ice-breaker" games for the larger part of the day. She got a buddy to play with - a new girl to school and her class. That little girl is from a British military family. This is her 7th school. Teachers were pleased with her as well. There were a few things we forgot - like PE uniform as they start having gym on day one. Art apron. Kids are also asked to bring colored pencils and no-mess sharpener. I think it would be less mess to have one of those large industrial ones like in US. And kids have two healthy snacks such as fruits and veggies with their lunch. I liked the last part the most.

About Isabella. For a few weeks I kept asking in school about when her nursery start date and was getting vague answers like "teachers will follow up with you." On the first day of school I went back to the school office to check on the start date again and got the same answer. I also asked if it will be possible to move Isabella up once she turns 4 next month. After all, she knows colors, shapes, can count to 10, and read small words in Russian. But they told me that it is age specific and no can do. So we are back to Educare. I signed her up this morning. She will start next week. I feel we are doing things right for her.

Forgot to write about our Jewish New Year's celebration. We went back to New Malden for Korean. But we came too late in the day that we did not want to walk to a new place identified as promising by Yelp and instead ended up in the same old Yami. It is yummy all right :) I've had Korean steak tartar and raw egg and at this point I think we have exhausted their menu :) Need to find new places around here.

Sept 4th. Swans Can Fly

I feel slightly guilty about not checking in but then again I want it to be a matter of substance. So today I'll comment about swans: gorgeous giant creatures fed bread by the adoring public around the clock. White swans had been historically the property of and under protection of the Queen. Presumably only she could eat them. Other than the ugly recent incident (warning, very graphic!!), I could not imagine anyone doing anything bad to those undoubtedly saturated fat saturated darlings.

One of our enjoyable pastimes this summer was watching them "fly" over the water. It looked very dramatic with the powerful thrashing of wings and the sound of a torpedo as swans made a mad dash and were unable to break the bond with the water. We were sure that after decades of wonder bread and whatever preceded that they were unable to fly any more and just went through the motions for the photographic effect. Well, we were wrong.

As of September 1st apparently they can fly. We've seen them do it with much less sound volume and over 30-50 meter stretches. Which brings up a horrifying question - do they fly away in winter?

Another, less horrifying question, is what is the thrashing was an attempt to make some kind of a communication?

Which brings me back to the horrifying concept: Georgia is starting school tomorrow. We are very nervous about how she will be: will she like the new school and kids, will they like her.  Having been through this as children a number of times brings all sorts of possibilities to mind and we probably worry way more than her. Will send out an update tomorrow.

P.S. Found a new Polish food store .5 mile from our home. It is called Samy Smak :) Dan's mom will find a few tasty things in it. They do not have the right bread, white cheese, and beer and salami though. Had to go to Papa Karlo for a refill.

P.P.S. Parents are taking London by storm. They are approaching it very thoroughly: after our walk on Sunday, they took a bus tour to cover the entire list of highlights available on all the routes, and now they are systematically visiting each location and providing feedback. I wish I had their stamina far as food exploration is concerned.  

September 1st. The Round in London

We went to London with parents and did our introductory of round of arriving to the Waterloo station, having lunch at the outdoor market by the river, walking to the Tower bridge, ice-cream stop, across the river, fish and chips to replenish our energy levels, and back via the Cannon street & St. Paul's.

We stopped along the way to check out various interesting places we did not go to before. Even scaled a 300+ stair Monument to commemorate a fire in 16 hundreds. They did a good job :)

Interestingly there were very few people around on Sunday afternoon. We could have easily gone inside the Tower Museum without any lines but did not want to drag kids to yet another museum in 3 days.

We even caught the Festival in Kingston when we came back. They had a live band in the market square and lots of Caribbean snacks.

We have a new house guest: a crow that comes to drink rain water from the bowl on the balcony. Last time it braved a few jumps towards the window to get a better look. Next time we will take a new pictures.

August 31st. My parents are here!!

Today was a very exciting day. We had breakfast early and headed out to Heathrow to pick up my parents. It is great that they decided to come! They had a good flight and were ready for adventures so we headed out to Oxford.

Oxford is a wonderful place to visit. It is a very large university town that consists of 39 colleges comprising 2 universities and other smaller learning institutions. It is the oldest university town in the country. Most of the buildings are yellowish-rose, a color that looks really great in the sun.

We sort of did a mad dash through town trying to filmed at/based upon,  Merton College, Virgin Mary Church, Bodleian library. We did not get to go inside the library because guided tour is required and for whatever insane reason children younger than 11 are not allowed. I just want to know why??

Lunch eating options were remarkably scant in the center of town. Parents were starting to wilt so we went home. Will definitely come back to Oxford for the overnight trip to do some more exploring and to watch the students go to their dining halls in the evening wearing hats and gowns. For real, they do it every night for dinner according to the guy in the boiler hat giving a tour of room that was the inspiration for Harry Potter's dining hall. If boys could dress in tux in Eton on a regular day, I am thinking that it is reasonable to expect that they pull off a gown in the evening.

At home, kids were lost in the Magformers set that parents brought with them. I took parents out for a walk around the neighborhood. The market on High Street was busier on account of the weekend and we got some Spanish honey, and strawberries.

For dinner we went back to Yami. We extended the selection of dishes to try some new things and were very pleased with those as well. As if that was not enough, we did a quick run to Papa Karlo and emerged with Lithuanian bread, white cheese, salami, herring, and beer. Somewhat embarrassing. Goodies this good had to be consumed upon arrival. Parents are exhausted and happy. We let them sleep.

A few quick updates. Went to London on Friday after work to see Albert and Victoria museum. It is open until 10pm on Fridays which is very convenient. We were very impressed. It looked like the place where all the things that could not fit into the British museum are stored. The quantity and diversity of exhibits is staggering. For example there is a giant hall filled with medieval sarcophagi of exquisite beauty and detail. No wonder there is like 1.5 of those left in Ireland. Dan noted that it would be a good idea if UK shared some of this historical wealth with the world - not everyone can travel here and keeping a treasure this great in one spot in our turbulent world is not the safest approach anymore. On the way to the museum we spent some time in the Carnaby area, a little Mecca for fashion lovers who might be visiting us some day.

Unusual Things About the UK

I've been meaning to write this for a while as we encounter strange and unusual things that may be a way of life here and even could be in place in US but having encountered them in a different context does make them stand out. Maybe there is an explanation for some of these things.

So, first, a "Family Butcher." The sign is prominently displayed on, yes, butcher shops. I'the ve tried to find out why these two words, and if there are varieties like "Adult butcher," "Child butcher." And did not find anything. Edited on Oct 1, '13 Mom said that perhaps family means this is a family business? Maybe?

TV License. One of our friends grumbled about the same thing. If you get a TV and/or TV service you are responsible for 150/50 pound annual license fee for color/bw respectively. You just don't expect that kind of fee coming. If you are a senior citizen you get a discount. But the lucky break of 50% off comes if you are blind or visually impaired. So imagine the choice the blind person has to make - color or no color?

No Fishing! There is a long (500 meters or so) pond near the Hampton Palace. Towards one end, there is a sign on one side that says "No Fishing to the Right of This Sign." Correspondingly, there is a sign "No Fishing to the Left of This Sign" on the other side. The sign effectively removes about of 5 meters of the pond from the fishing operations. What is so special about these last 5 meters of the pond?

Separate cold and hot water faucets. One produces scalding hot water, the other, the opposite of that. Washing ones hands and face becomes a special experience designed to try to break the sound barrier in the 8by8 inch space. This design seems to be predominant at homes and in restaurants. Dan's parents explained that this may go back to the times when hot water was really expensive and you really wanted to make sure you only use it at special moments. And you generally filled up the sink with some warm water to wash your face, brush your teeth, wash your hands, socks, underwear, feet, children, dishes. Given that we are in the 20th century and this building was built 10 years ago, it must have been left here to keep the beautiful tradition going.

No complaints! Sometimes I go on and on about how the state of customer service is comparatively awful. Our TV still does not work.. and the engineer had failed for show up to 3 appointments already. It is an act of god to get a service person to visit. And trying to return anything to the store in an exercise in unthinkable. There is apparently very simple explanation for this. Calling the company to make a complaint costs money. Sometimes the prices start at 80 pence ($1.30) per minute. And mind you they do keep you entertained while you are waiting on the line. So that may be why no one calls to complain... and service just does not get better. I was watching the news this week (Dec 11-12) and heard the announcer say that thanks for the government action for some industries the price will be reduced to 10 cents per minute. We are spoiled rotten in US. Calling the customer service in the UK is ungrateful and expensive proposition, much like trying to flash the toilet.

Will add more as we remember some old ones or find new ones