October 13th. To Paris and back..

Just came back from a very nice weekend in Paris. Just Dan and I. Kids were at home with Dan's parents. Party time :)

This was probably our fourth visit. We were always immune to the charms of the city every other Russian seems to fall for. There is an expression "To see Paris and die" that somewhat expresses the religious fervor of our former compatriots. Having done our tourist round years ago, our more recent trips were just re-visiting the top sites and not particularly memorable.

This time around we did not have much of the plan either but just walked miles and miles around the city. It is still not die-worthy but it is a great city with countless places to discover. Would be nice to spend three summer months here. We found "Highland park" near our hotel, and walked the  lovely streets of the island behind the Notre Dame, passed the Eiffel tower, saw little China, and visited the Pantheon. Pantheon was always closed for whatever reason and we always wanted to see what's inside. Well, unless you speak French and/or know all the famous dead French people by heart, it is probably not that interesting of a place.

On a more interesting side, we got to see a girl fight and subsequent arrest. And then when we were eating Kurde sandwiches at a tiny place within the ancient wall, a crowd of young people came in. One of them offered to show a trick in exchange of a free meal. He showed a trick with a disappearing cigarette. Everyone laughed and he was rewarded with a meal for a euro.

En masse, men and women seem to be slimmer and more interesting and diverse looking, while their London counterparts win out by the "smartness" of their attire but lose out on the scale category.

Speaking of the scale, during our first visit when we were backpacking Europe our most memorable meal was having baguette sandwich by Seine river. We got all the ingredients at the local stores: cheese, salami, bread. It was amazing. Since then, we have not had a decent meal during our visits. My parents who were here a few weeks earlier did not have any luck either. So we decided to relive the old experience and subsisted on sandwiches, baguettes, croissants, and tartlets. Not complaining :)

At one moment we decided to hop into Moroccan restaurant. The waiter saw us, made a dour face, waited for a few moments for us go away and then grudgingly started to seat us down. We covered under his disapproving stare and decided that he's suffered enough and went back to our street fare.

On Friday evening we wandered up to Sacred Heart church. In addition to the views, there was a food and wine festival. It was really really cool. We went there on Saturday night as well hoping to catch a bit more excitement. But so had just about every Parisian. And so we just kept walking.

We contemplated Lido but then thought better and saw Machete Kills instead on Champs-Ulysses. The casting choices were superb and screenplay did not disappoint. What a perfect way to end a weekend! 

October 10. Reality sets in

It is really not that bad... Last weekend started very nice. I came back to US to spend several days in Florida with girlfriends. Those next few days were a heavenly yet lighting fast blur of relaxing on the beach, having some champagne while analyzing a ladies magazine, and walking around Miami dressed to kill and succeeding. Dan's desperate Skype: "Homework is down the sh9tter, kids stuffing themselves with junk food and watching cartoons, please come back home" sent me back to earth and the UK :).


Things were really not that bad at home: kids were doing their homework and were actually doing a pretty good job with it as well. The weather was starting to cool down but as it were we are having it obnoxiously good with barely a few rains in the last three months. Our landlord has restored the hot water. And the work was inspirational as usual.

 I guess it just came down to a few yak instances with service people and services. As I mentioned a few months ago our TV freezes every couple of minutes. After a long series of phone calls with the support we finally established that it is hopeless and we need a technician to come over. Technician never showed up. Today I decided to try calling customer support line again. The lady on the other end screamed at me for not warning them sooner that technician did not show up. Seriously. I've tried to explain that I did send them the text about it when it happened. And this is somewhat their problem that their people do not show up to work and there is no follow up. Eventually we agreed to try to send another technician over. I've spent the next hour waiting on the phone. She was mostly silent. Every now and then I would ask what she was working on. And she would reply that she is trying to schedule an appointment. And so I kept on waiting. It may be just me but that phone call had a slightly S&M character to it. And I did not like the M part so much.

To celebrate the upcoming restoration of TV I went out for a run during lunch. Polar watch showed dying battery. I replaced it just a few weeks ago with the key-watch repair guy at the market shop. I've been to that place a number of times to make spare keys, get shoe wax, and most recently to replace the batteries. So I went there and  asked him what happened. He said he's never seen me before in his life. When I reminded him that he told me about his 3 year old kid and a few other things his face showed recognition but he kept denying ever seeing me. He was very rude and kept ignoring me and talking with other customers. Eventually after everyone left, he opened up the watch and said that they don't even stock my brand of batteries. After he closed it up it was solid dead. Very sad. The business in question is Thimpson. I still need to hop in and get the name of the fine specimen of humanity. In case anyone else wants him to replace their dead Polar batteries.

There were a few other minor incidents like Starbucks barista trying to convince Dan than half and half diluted with water is how they make skim milk. Or ATM locking up yet another time and charging our card in the meanwhile. These things are not particular to the UK. And they will always happen. The important thing is that as long as there are friends to spend great time with those things are really not a big deal.

October 1. London, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Richmond, and more

Time to catch up. Dan's parents came mid last week. The kids had attached to them and have not let go ever since.

On Friday we worked from London. We went there with Dan's parents and then they took a very long walk around visiting the British museum and Westminster Abbey along the way. We based ourselves initially near St. James theater and after lunch North West of St. James park. It is a very luxurious area with lots of posh hotels around. Less competition for Wi Fi @ the local Starbucks. Lunch at Sakura was refreshing.

We miss Japanese food. There is only a handful of restaurants in Kingston and prices are not where they should be. We took a long walk too after work stopping at Viet Cong for dinner and spotting the marvelous Amorino across the street. After dinner we stopped by there to confirm whether it was as good as the one in Lisbon. And yes, it was. To close off the topic of food on that day, on the way back to the Waterloo station there was a large outdoor market of different food stalls. If only we have not eaten already!!


On Saturday we did the shortened version of the Southwest route. The first stop was Cobb Farm. We were expecting to find some apples but instead found black and red currants, raspberries and baby corn. The berries looked exactly how they did two months ago. Black currants completely covered the bushes. Some had started to dry up or ferment. If you eat a handful you get a mix of flavors. Incredible. We could not understand why no one is picking the berries. The parking lot was full but everyone was in the store. People were buying same fruit that was growing outside. We also tried raw corn cobs. Very interesting taste.

The next stop was the Stonehedge. I think this is now the fourth time we are going. I really like this place. Traffic is a lot smaller now too. They are continuing to built a new visitor center and one day it will be even a better place to visit.

The final stop was Salisbury. We stopped by at Weatherspoon hotel for lunch. Good place. At the Cathedral we saw that apparently you can take a tour of the tower. But you have to sign up in advance. Only 12 people allowed every 15 minutes. Will do it the next time.

On Sunday we walked to Richmond stopping on the way to check out the harvest of apples. Very very nice. Pears are about ready too. Richmond café was disappointing. This Thai place had such high ratings. We were ravenous after our long walk and not only did we have to wait about 45 minutes for our meal, but the waitress had missed 3 out of  our 6 dishes and brought wrong ones at that. How can you do it? Not to worry, we have a fridge full of Lithuanian nibbles to keep us going :)

At night Dan and I had a special date over at Hampton court Palace. They have an evening tour called "Salacious gossip." They started us up with some champagne and then a lovely lady in red dress and corset took us around the dimly lit rooms sharing some juicy secrets of the place along the way. Slightly gasping, in dramatic whispers she told us the dark tales of adultery, incest, and other activities. Apparently the place has seen some more dark activities recently in the likes of Johnny Depp in Libertine. The tour was very entertaining.

Finally, on Monday we went to the office. Every time we go we wonder how people can be excited about working in the dark rooms, walking through a maze of staircases, and where honeybees who work in the offices on the second floor never mix with the soldier ants below. I have not seen enough offices to comment on whether it is typical to the UK or business world in general. We've appropriated the empty meeting room on the ground floor for our trips to the office. It has a window, more importantly, it is next to the break room :)

Georgia is reading Molly Moon, the contemporary take on Charles Dickens immortal stories of orphans and a female character competition to Harry Potter. I read it too so we could discuss it. Very mixed feelings about the book. The prevailing one is that of a dirty mop cloth with a characteristic smell they've made Soviet kids use to take turns  their classroom. I guess I'll have her finish. It is considered a very popular book and kids should be exposed to different kinds of literature. Very tempted to move on to Alice in Wonderland. Incidentally English Roses series that we read in Russian were fairly uninspiring. Preachy and gray. I expected more from a lady who can express herself.


More on the subject of books. I am trying to keep Georgia on par with US school program and so we got Greek Myths written by Heather Alexander. It comes with a poster with the family tree of Greek Gods. Georgia wanted to know where Jesus was. Although we explained to her that it is from a different mythology book, she elected Zeus to serve as a Greek representative of Jesus.

A note about Isabella. She is very funny. The other day I was laughing at something and she said "Keep quiet - the guy downstairs is trying to fish." We live on the third floor if you don't count the ground floor.

September 22nd. Kew Gardens

As the title says we spent the day there. It was the third trip to Kew Botanic Gardens for the kids. To make it truly memorable I bought an annual membership. We only need to go 3.5 times as a family to break even. Should have done it the first time around. As with all the memberships/friendships it is not applicable anywhere else.


I really liked it. Georgia walked me to the places she liked. It is remarkable how much the kids had covered. I was pretty tired towards the end. It is pretty large.

They have a number of interesting pavilions promising good place to spend 3-4 hours even if the weather does not comply. I was also impressed with Kew Palace. It seemed to be a relaxing place to walk through and they've put up interesting video projections on the walls that kind of made it seem like the place was still inhabited by friendly ghosts. All gold china and silverware loaned by the Queen made this somewhat casual palace seem like a place of the royals. Having read more about its history, it is not all that cheerful. But today, it was a beautiful place to walk through.

Kids spent some time at the playground. It seemed smaller than on the pictures. We got very overpriced lunch at one of the many coffee shops there. They have IncrEdibles event going on where they have a number of installations of edible plants throughout. One of them, a tea table like in Alice in Wonderland was particularly impressive. They have planted edible plants in hand-painted teapots and cups and plates.

By the end of the way we walked back to Richmond and caught a bus back. It was a very nice day but we all really miss Dan!!


 

September 21. In London with Kids

As promised we went to London today to see Escher's staircase in front of Tate Museum. Exit off the highest staircase ends in glass - some people commented on the drop. Given that it is now a "possible" object it is reminiscent of the famous original but not as interesting. We walked up and down with the crowds and that was it.

What are they sinking about?

Next we spent some time at the modern African gallery at the Tate. I don't remember the name of the artist, Gabe? Basically most of it is his reflections on coming to Europe after living in Africa. Much of it deals with the familiar immigrant themes and, in particular, touches on the subject of money and capitalism. I did not find it too artistic in a way of generating much of emotional response. Kids enjoyed playing with giant wooden Legos and shuffle puzzles. It was not innovative. It felt a bit like a lip service to the concept of having "African Modern Art" exhibited.

What we really liked was our walk down the Southwark. We passed Malaysian festival on the way and spent some time looking at their souvenirs and watching the performances. During the dance by 9-10 year old dancers, one of the performers dropped her crown. She and her partner kept going as if nothing happened. In the end, the gallant gentleman picked up the crown and dropped on his knee to hand it to her. It looked so beautiful and graceful. Lady singer in impossible heels was singing the song about someone who "walked off without a word." It did not sound like a very sad song. She moved suggestively and actively engaged the public.

Today was also the day of gorilla run, a 7km run to benefit gorillas. We stood cheering the runners dressed in gorilla suits. It is not a long run but is it not easy to do in hairy outfits. Some also wore "clothing" on top of suits and carried props like bananas.

We had lunch at Yo! Sushi. This time around Isabella did not try to take things off the conveyor to check them out so it was relaxing :) We need to do it with the whole family together.

After lunch and carousel we took the underground to Hyde park to check out the largest and nicest playground I ever saw - Princess Diana's Memorial Playground. Filled with interesting areas and closed off with a guy at the gate to track the escapees.

We finished the day at the same brioche place I was at on Thursday. It is called Aux Merveilleux de Fred. We were the only ones who did not speak French there. Georgia and Isabella got meringues and I, my old friend. I am glad they don't have a local branch :)

September 20th. Tonight I went clubbing with two transvestites in London..

Wait, that's a line from my brother's blog :) No, I did not go clubbing. In fact, with Dan back in US for the conference I've stayed at home for most of the week. Although on Thursday I did out to work from London.

The plan was to work out of South Kensington and then drop into Victoria and Albert museum for lunch. I settled in at Starbucks near the station and had a couple of very productive hours. The area is a Little France of London. Around me people were having conversations in French. I regretted not bringing my camera because there were a few young students with picture-worthy hairdos. One had her pink hair in up lovely rollers.

For lunch I had dutifully walked over to the museum stopping at the bakery to admire the layout. In the moment of doubt I've asked the sales girl: "Is this a scone?" "No," she replied indignantly, "It's a brioche." In a few moments I could see why she wanted that clear.

The museum is overwhelming. You can easily stay in one room for an hour. It is remarkable that Irina ran though all five floors with kids. In one hour I barely covered 2 meters of the interpretive photo gallery (so so), jewelry (OK), and a small portion of Cast Court filled with cast copies (or not) of various tombstones, carvings, and more. That's where they took all the pretty Celtic crosses and tombstones. And that's the one that needs a lot more than an hour.

After work I walked over to Harrods to see the important English landmark and one of the largest department stores in Europe. It is five stories tall. Six if you count the ground floor. Maybe more if you count the basement. And it is terrifying. It is an old building - or possibly multiple buildings joined together. It looks like a maze of stores and sections with low ceilings. Escalator shaft done in antique Egypt style resembles derelict Vegas casino. It felt pretty claustrophobic. If there is ever a fire at this place, I cannot see how they would be able to get the people out in time. I wandered through the Fashion Lab featuring Victoria Beckham and others and no indication of having a sale as a possibility. And then walked outside to get some fresh air. Too bad brioches were left far away.

So tonight, sorry no transvestites!.. Kids and I went to Tosca, the Tapas place along the river. I'd give it 3-4 stars for the food. But the lovely location with river views, good music and very nice staff more than make up for the food. We read two Gilgamesh books and relaxed watching the setting sun. At bedtime Georgia read Gruffalo's Child to Isabella in Russian. How cool is that!!!

Forgot to say, Georgia had lost another tooth - one of those to the left of the front ones. She initially said she does not believe in tooth fairies. But once we confirmed that no bounty comes to the non-believers, she changed her mind. And fairy had paid a visit with a small token in local currency.

Isabella is telling me amazing stories about the fish that visits her in her sleep. She used to be terrified of it but now she says that she just closes her eyes and fish "goes to another world." We tried to make a composite image.

Off to London tomorrow to check out the Endless Staircase.

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!!