Jan. 6th, 2014. To the US and back

Happy New Year! Here is what happened since I left of in the middle of last December... There was a mad-dash of the final week at schools, where both schools were having the final parties, get-togethers and celebrations.

The high point was on Thursday the 18th at Georgia's school. Kids got busy peeling potatoes the moment they arrived.. then at 10am, parents came over to pick up the dirty intermediate product to replace it with the final roast potatoes at noon. I naively assumed that potatoes take 20 minutes to roast regardless of their size and quantity. And so for the remaining of time before noon both Dan and I resembled the residents of Hell's Kitchen: trying to alternately nuke and broil the damn stubborn bunch before wrapping the half burned and half raw final product into towels and driving to school. Miraculously no one was hurt, we were on time, and potatoes somehow finished cooking themselves by the time we got there.

In the 20th we took a flight home to US. We had an extensive social and business program planned to catch up with multiple friends, relatives, co-workers and associates all while celebrating Christmas, New Years, birthdays, and more.. We were able accomplish most of those things while dealing with fantastical quantity of mishaps: from both of our cars no-starting on day one, to 75% flu hit ratio, to our New Year's getaway retreat upstate becoming unavailable, to airline losing 1/4 of our luggage upon arrival back to the UK. The best thing is that we got to see everyone, including my sister who we have not seen in over a year.

It was endearing to go back to our temperamental boiler. At least there is something consistent in this world. Yesterday it sprouted a brown leak but I think it was happy to see us. Speaking of the leaks, there were storms and surges in England for some time we were out.

We arrived to find numerous portions of the roads around closed. Thames water levels are higher than we have ever seen. A portion of the mooring walk downstairs is flooded. The swans had given up trying to navigate the streaming muddy river in a dignified manner and now just whirl in all directions. Debris watching provides for hours quiet reflection.

Yesterday morning we unpacked and slept most of the day... And then went to our favorite gourmet burger place for dinner. They are the nicest people in town... They have taken upon themselves a personal challenge to find the food that Isabella would eat. So yesterday they had tried again with a banana milkshake. But to no avail. There are still items left on the menu so we will continue helping them with their quest :)

Having left the US when the thermometer was barely breaking the double digits in Fahrenheit, we are basking in the 53 degree sun here... Our calendar is empty through mid-Feb because no one wanted to risk toughing it out here in winter.. it is not so bad. Come visit!!

Need to retrieve the photos from the camera... Soon...

Jan 1. Back home for the holidays

Dec. 15th. The Mists of Kingston

The days are very busy but the time still seems to have slowed down to a crawl. Some of the highlights during the week were a couple of days when the fog had descended upon the river and it felt like we were inside the milky white bath. By noon the ground had warmed up enough for the cloud to start lifting just a bit but shortly after it went back down. It brought to mind the Mists of Avalon. As if, when the clouds would come back up again, the world outside would be completely different. The kids had some fun with it too.

On Tuesday we got together for drinks with Thomas E @ Bishop. What a great evening! He shared amazing stories of traveling the world, and working with 5 kids. Made us feel like woosies. The question is whether to get more kids or travel to more exotic destinations (although some of his would be hard to beat), or both of the above.

We discussed the subject of the customer service here and Tom agreed that much is left to be desired. Coincidentally on Wednesday, I was watching the news and heard the tidbit that explained everything.


Lots of color-oriented stores

On Thursday, we went to see the animated nativity play at Isabella's school. She was Mary. Isabella looked very cute in the white dress and head scarf. The teachers did an amazing job with kids - they were cute and adorable and clearly had fun with their lines. Still, one does marvel at an interesting global tradition of training kids to perform for parents and parents going all "aww" over it. Where this this tradition come from? I do think that Addams family had set the gold standard.

On Saturday we went to London. We decided to go see the Tower of London. We are about half through our term here so it is time to increase our coverage of historical sites. As we walked along the Southbank we noticed large crowds coming out onto the boardwalk from around the London Bridge station. We decided to check it out and accidentally stumbled into the Green Market.

A marvelous accumulation of mouth watering sights, sounds and smells. Should have taken all our visitors to see this. Please come back!

After sampling the breads and cheeses at various stalls, we got in two separate lines and after a 20 minute wait became the proud owners of Grilled Cheese (notice the capitals) sandwich and still bubbling raclette potatoes. Mind you that by that point in time we were far from hungry. Oh, the joys of food!

Following the moment of unbridled gluttony Queen's jewels did not seem to promise that much excitement. We decided to look for some grand views instead and walked a huge circle trying to find the entrance to the Shard skyscraper. At 29 pounds each for adults, and 23 each for children or $166 we decided to stay on the ground. And so went on to the Tower of London.

Tower of London is an interesting site. On one hand it is one of the few places of earth that holds this much history. On the other, the way that this history is dressed into the easily digestible factoids and "legends" almost makes it all look fake like a Disneyland. Read the fact bites on the site, they are interesting.

So the Royal Jewels... This is how it is designed. There is a separate building where the royal crowns and other symbols of royal authority are housed. When you come in, you get a bit of a warm up as you walk through large rooms where you can see the coronation video of Elizabeth II. Then you get on the moving belt and it whisks you past the crowns. You scurry to read the signs: "Ruby this," "Diamond that," and the belt drags you by. And then it's over.

There were just two other places where Dan and I had a similar experience. In Milan, we waited for several hours in the rain to see the Last Supper. Once we finally got inside, we were instructed to look at the reproduction on the wall while listening to the audio guide "to get in the mood." When the audio was over and we turned around to look at the real thing, we were immediately directed outside because our time was up.

The other time was at the Louvre. We squeezed our way past the crowd of revelers to finally get a look at Mona Lisa and got our own dumbfounded looking reflections from the glass the painting is covered with. It was also much smaller than we imagined. We were so surprised that did not put up any resistance as the crowd pushed us out again.

At the Edinburgh castle they also have one set of the crown, scepter and a few other items. But there, the warm up is much longer and you get to look at those things at your own pace and that makes all the difference.

We continued our tour and covered all of the required sites. The mint exhibition is very nice. Kids liked the interactive displays. Wall walk with the stops at various towers was good too. But by the time we got to the White Tower with its collection of armor an a mixture of other things sensory overload had started to kick in.

But the day was not over yet. We got back home and after a quick re-charge took a bus to Kew Gardens to see the illuminated Christmas Trail. What a shameless rip off! There is a large amount of booths outside of the trail selling everything including the winter coats. The actual trail is just a few of lit up trees and portions of the trail.

There are also some a few weird gramophones saying non-nonsensical things for kids amusement.  And of course more concession stands along the way. Oh, well. In a couple of weeks we will be back in US and kids will visit the illuminated trail at the Bronx Zoo with grandparents and see how it is really done.

We relaxed on Sunday. Started to pack for Friday. Wrapped presents for teachers. Went to our favorite burger place GBK near the theater. Finished watching the Children of Captain Grant mini-series.

Dec. 8th. Shoreditch, Greenwich, Brighton

Another whirlwind week went by. It seems that our story here is evolving along 4 parallel lines. First, is that we are on a tropical island. I have 2 more pieces of evidence: cherry tree is blooming by the school and Georgia had found a coconut on a beach in Brighton, UK today. That being said, the island had shrank a bit in the last few days though it may be unrelated. On another unrelated note, the boiler is broken again, which really should be OK since it is a tropical island after all.

Next.. Christmas. The seriousness level had come up a few notches. I lost track of emails from both schools urging to bring something, anything to donate for school fairs. They will take used soft toys, books, clothing, food.

While it is nice that all these things will not go to waste and someone will be able to benefit, it is a bit discomforting that the time between dropping things off and fairs is small. I don't think the things dropped off will go through any sorting or cleaning. By the magnitude of the effort ("if you bring donation on Friday, you don't have to wear your uniform"), it would seem that at least Georgia's school fair, since her school is much larger, would have mounds of stuff. Unfortunately we missed both fairs so I could not attest to how that actually looked.

Train ads urge to send texts to various charities to donate and help end everything: (not to make the light of any of those things, but literally, there is no other place to direct your eyes): domestic abuse, homelessness, cancer, child abuse, animal abuse, and so on. Along with the holiday themes, billboards and news discuss the importance of stopping downward spiral of alcoholism and drunk driving. I am sure we do all of these things in US as well. I guess, since we don't live in the urban area we might not have been exposed to them as much. A sad thought that comes to mind is come Dec 25 all these ads will go down and drunkards will continue to abuse their wifes and children until the next holiday season rolls around.

Kids were having various celebrations in school almost every day. Next week we will visit Isabella's school. Like many other schools around they are doing the animated nativity scene. Isabella will be Mary and will sing a song about baby Jesus. We will record.

Work. Much excitement in that area this week on account of the visit from the boss. Went to the office and saw the old traditional Christmas tree in the break room: it is upside down. The idea is that more gifts fit this way but we did not see any. We also were not invited to the holiday party but at least we are still on the mailing list for NJ :)

Finally, the last theme, travel. This week I visited Shoreditch to meet with Paul S. and his gang. It is an area in London between financial district and the end of Brick lane - the little Bangladesh. It is a hot area for new growth and development. A bit like meatpacker's district in NYC before it got renovated. While it is clear that restoration works are underway, Shoreditch felt like it still has ways to go. But there is something about this place. I am drawn to come back for another look.

Guess which one is the queen

On Saturday we all went back to London to visit the British museum.

Kids were primed on the awesome books from the Gilgamesh trilogy and we went straight for the Mesopotamian section. We had a blast. The book was clearly inspired by the same images so kids were recognizing the artifacts from the book and were pointing things like cunieforms on the carvings out to me. Seeing those things at a museum was making Isabella think that the story was real. The kids lasted long enough for us to cover the mummies, medieval chess, a small Japanese section, a part of the permanent exhibit.

We were completely inspired as we left the museum. Finding a Korean restaurant Bibimbop right in front of museum was exactly what we needed for some physical sustenance. Perfection achieved! Well,.. it was completely achieved some time later, after a short stop at a French bakery Pain de Miel that lives up to its name because of the pain one feels to have to exercise restraint in consuming their wondrous creations.

Next we decided to take the London cable car from Royal Victoria station to North Greenwich. There is actually such a thing in London! It was built by United Arab Emirates last year. We took an underground followed by light rail, both of which took about an hour for a 10 minute cable car ride across the river. The views were worth it!! Speaking of other modes of transportation, there is a also funicular near St. Pauls. Will have to try that one out as well.

After we arrived, we walked over to Greenwich and just wandered around enjoying festive crowds and the sights. At dusk, we caught a boat ferry ride back to Embankment, right across the river from London Eye. Watching the sunset view along the river was a great experience. We also got a fun soundtrack. There was an English family next to us. The dad must have worked for a construction company. He told his kids interesting anecdotes about some of the major buildings and bridges around, including the one about the stupid Americans who wanted to buy the Tower Bridge but confused the names and offered to buy the London Bridge instead. I kept a neutral expression and was rewarded with more stories.


On Sunday we went to Brighton. It is a beautiful city on the South coast. It was originally built as a royal retreat. It features one of the unusual buildings we've ever seen - the Royal Pavilion. It is a fun mish-mash of Middleastern, Indian, and even Russian styles and is a proper answer to Pena Palace in Sintra. When we arrived, we took a ride on the Ferris wheel and saw the beautiful coastline. It seemed to resemble Brighton, US somewhat.

Then we walked for two hours to the white cliffs and marina and then back to town for lunch at a non-recommended Corner Café. Did a stroll around the Royal Pavilion. It now features the skating rink.

Kids wanted to go but we were not sure we could handle it with all the walking we did. It looks like they are stronger than us now :)

So instead, we continued wandering around the narrow streets in the center, and then to the beach along the artists quarter. They have shops featuring some typical seaside type of art underneath the boardwalk. There are also a couple of food kiosks.

Georgia, Dan and I had some oysters. They were 90 pence each. Based on the latest verification Dan is still not a fan. Georgia was trying hers for the first time in her life and really liked it. I have not tried that many but these were the best ones yet.

We finished our walk at the Brighton Pier. They have a small amusement park and several gambling arcades.

It is a much larger and more developed town than Hastings, and seems to be in a better shape economically. But Hastings, with its houses perched on the slopes of the hills and their roofs covered in moss is more charming. Parking in Brighton was the most expensive we've seen so far. The best and cheapest place to park is along the beach through the entry point near the Ferris wheel or by the marina.

Back home, after a quick fridge raid, everyone went to their rooms to go to sleep.

Pretty intense weekend!! Looking forward to going home soon!!

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.

Add caption

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.