May 30th. Discovering Kingston

The numbers are aligned again. We had a wonderful week with kids off from school discovering more of the city and diving into its expanded culinary scene.

View of the cellar through the window

This little city has some more interesting secrets that we continue to discover. During one of his walks, Dan found the remains of the 800 year old bridge and cellar visible from the riverside basement window of John Lewis department store about a block away from our building. These were first dug up by the builders in 1900 while making renovations at the local pub. The next rediscovery was during subsequent construction in 1995 when the store was being built. Since it was built in 1182, for the next 500 years it remained the only bridge over Thames upstream of the London Bridge.

On Thursday we went to Kingston museum with kids. There we saw more pictures of the bridge. And some more cool exhibits. Like a human leg bone with some clear signs of work to remove the meat (early cannibals here??), interesting ancient coins from the time of Romans; and old pictures of the town market square that remarkably was still quite recognizable. I also know now why Turks Launches LTD boats that ferry passengers between Richmond and Hampton court are called this way. Pretty amazing story. The time spans are incredible.

I don't know if I already wrote about the old woman who comes to our Starbucks once a week. She is one of Kingston's characters. When she comes in the staff immediately sets out to make tea for her and bring it out to her. She does pay for it. Then she sits down at the table that already has someone sitting on the other side even if there are other tables available. She seems unfazed by that. The staff tries unsuccessfully to get her to move but she would not and states her intent very loudly. Some people feel uncomfortable and start to move. Then she asks what time it is... usually it is around 9am. When she is finished with her tea she leaves quietly. Often times she sits at the table right across from my laptop. When I raise my eyes, she is gone.

I've tried to strike a conversation with her and she told me to leave her alone. She speaks with a slur... Maybe she had a stroke. Maybe her family abandoned her. Though she seems well kept and has the money to pay for tea. Maybe she wants to be around people but does not want to speak. In any case, she is a mystery and a sad reminder of the lonely people who are surrounded by other people and yet seem completely alone.

The construction work in our modern market square is rapidly feverishly coming to the end. I think the builders realized that "To be completed in the spring of 2014" sign they had displayed all over means probably before June 1st. Mind you the work started right after Christmas in August.

They are now working Sundays and later hours and there is only the tip of the square left to replace the cobblestones on. The market square with its elegant white/gray cobblestones beautiful already. There are new wooden stalls for the old vendors and a bunch of new temporary kiosks featuring artisan cheeses, meats, & international food.

Town center 100 years ago

During the week we checked out the artisan portion & the Korean stall.. Unfortunately for our ongoing peace of mind the vendors totally hit the mark. On Friday we focused and worked very hard and covered Slavic, Indian, and Bacon Pretzel stalls for dinner. Fortunately they will not create the same mental turmoil when we pass them by every day.

The boardwalk eateries are finally all open as well. They are bursting on the weekends but have little traffic during the week. Will have to focus on these in our upcoming final weeks here.

May 12. Leeds Castle Picnic & London Zoo

Another busy week. Everyone was working hard including the kids with their homework. The year is coming to its close and we are trying to make sure that we will be aligned with US schools.

I was next in line to get Isabella's angina virus and Dan followed a few days later. Georgia was spared so far. Dan's mom came over this week. So the numbers have not changed. The kids were super-excited to see her.

They spend a lot of time in the kitchen - preparing their delicious favorites - cheese Danishes, cheese pancakes, and other things.

On Saturday everyone headed out to Leeds castle to show it to grandma. As I wrote before, the castle turned into the outdated home is not that interesting on the inside. Georgia was eager to hit the playground. Isabella was not scared of the underground grotto under the maze anymore. It was raining everywhere else in the UK but Dan picked a perfect time and place for a great picnic.

On Sunday, the long awaited trip to the zoo. It has a pretty interesting history. Not as dramatic as Bronx zoo, which housed a human exhibit. Georgia was impressed with the size of the butterfly. It was as big as her hand. It was a cold day so Camden Market was busy but passable.

Happy Mother's day all the mommies out there!! I think it is celebrated earlier in the UK. At least I got my cards some time ago.
 

May 5th. Titus Andronicus and other adventures

Highlights of the week. Isabella was kind of in a bad mood and so on Monday after school she went down with a fever. We are fortunate not to have explored what medical facilities have to offer here so far. Compared to the US where kids take antibiotics at least four times in the course of the year, not to count other instances, remarkably we were really lucky so far. Not sure what specific factor to attribute it to. However, it looks like we may be down on our luck.

We kept her at home on Tuesday and Wednesday and, fortunately, other than that bout of fever there were no other symptoms. We brought her back on Thursday energized and happy to re-join the other kids. Incidentally I am starting to get a clue to the endless cycle of toys thrown all around the apartment. Maybe it is because the setup in Isabella's school is multiple play/discovery stations that kids go through in the course of the day. In Montessori, they give kids a bit of autonomy in being able to pick their toys off the shelf and put them back prior to moving on to the next one.


On Wednesday Dan and I we supposed to meet with Thomas E. for dinner but he canceled. Since we were working in the city anyway, we walked 3 miles to "Georgia" Georgian restaurant kids and I passed by in September in Kensington. Unfortunately it is now a different restaurant. And subway is not running because of the strike. So we walked back. Not so bad in a great weather that's here now. Lilacs are about done and peonies are out.

Blackboard along the canal. Some
interesting entries

On Saturday, after Dan took care of his business we took a train over to the Little Venice over by Regents park. We got off at Edgware Rd stop and walked over to Maida Vale. The area starts out very gentrified looking as Mark would say a.k.a. no gentry. Appetizing multi-national restaurants line the way and beckon to take a break and try out their wares. Maida Vale is very pretty and.. we cracked and stopped over at Paul's to same of their culinary wonders.

There was a festival going on at the canals. It was very interesting to see all the different types and designs and decorations on the narrow boats that were parked along the canal. This is a way of life for many who convert them into floating homes and spend years floating around. I Googled floating barges in UK and came up with some US ones, owned by Google. Given all the secrecy around them, it does not look like they would only be there as the learning centers.

We walked along the canal through Regents park and onto Camden market passing through the London zoo. Boar and bird environments are visible from the canal and make the trip even more interesting.

There were even more people at Camden market so we took the train to South Kensington to recharge on the chocolate chip brioche and gather the strength for the final three mile walk to Vauxhall. That portion of the Kensington is up kept very well but walking past row upon row of immaculate white row houses gets boring after a while. Though they did have many entertaining Stop signs like the one below. Here are a few more fun ones.

Forgot to mention, as we were walking past V&A museum, one of the clerks standing outside the beauty parlor (haha - salon) pulled me over and thrust some cream sampler in my hand. Then he started to pull it away saying "I am so sorry, it is the wrong one, let me get you the right one. I really apologize." We were all relaxed and just strolling comfortably, so before Georgia and I realized what is going on we were inside that s... establishment and he was smearing some junk on my face. I started trying to get out and in a few moments could finally leave. Dan was walking with Isabella and missed the whole exchange and now he was worried sick running around looking for us. He was holding my phone too to navigate us... not like there is a good reception in the area but still. To be fair to that salesperson, he was doing his job. And I should have been more alert. But it's annoying.

We agreed on the course of action if one us adults gets lost - I wait on the street for 10 minutes and then go home. 10 minutes allows 5 minutes to notice that the group has fallen apart and 5 minutes to look around. It should always be the same person waiting since you don't know who was ahead and who was behind.

Finally, on Sunday, Georgia and I took our bikes into the Bushi Park. The weather was wonderful and there was a race going on as well as scores of picnickers, joggers, cyclers, & walkers around. We rode into Woodland garden and walked through beautiful meadows with multi-colored azaleas and fairy-worthy ponds.

In the evening Tanya came. Dan and I headed back to London to see Titus Andronicus at the Globe. As far as Shakespeare is concerned we have a big fat checkmark: to visit his birthplace and then to see his first play at his theater. I am not counting the Mid-summer's night dream over at Rose because we left after the first act. The posters say that Quentin Tarantino has nothing on Titus Andronicus. And while I would not say nothing, it certainly hits the mark on the amount of graphic violence. 5 people fainted in the audience the night we were there.

According to the usher wearing the green cross pin indicating that she is qualified to do first aid, on the record at the premiere was 62 people down. The show is extremely well done and the Globe is a perfect venue for it. The play takes place in Rome. The Globe is designed to have a large semicircular yard area in front of the stage surrounded by 4 stories of the actual seating. These are standing spots. Some of the bloody action takes place directly among the audience in the yard. Roman soldiers and Goths alike run through the crowds, unceremoniously pushing the people out of the way, stealing occasional beer, spraying them with wine, and doing some of the killings right there and then. We liked. We should go to the theater more often when we are back. Onto the new week ahead!!

April 27th. Seven Sisters

It would be more fitting to call them 27 sisters in honor of the day, but there were only 7 today. In effort to continue ditching the rain we headed South East today to see Seven Sister's white chalk cliffs. It is a part of the coast between Brighton and Hastings. It would be helpful if the online guide to the park would just say "Go to Birling gap cafe and park there" instead of what it says. We were wondering whether to park earlier given the write ups just walking or relying on the public transport. There are no sidewalks and road is pretty narrow.. and we did not see much public transport. So we just kept going until we arrived at a very large parking lot at the gap with all the other conveniences available.

Very very beautiful. We took some pictures at the gap and then did a short hike along the top of the cliffs. There was a staircase leading to beach at the gap but the gate was closed - high tide was on and no place to walk on the beach - the waves were crushing directly against the cliffs.

Some places on top of the cliff were marked with signs indicating that there is a cliff beyond, others were marked with some wreathes indicating what happens if you go up to there are no signs. And finally there were some unmarked areas of the grass that cheerfully ended nowhere. Interestingly grass appears to be trimmed equally well everywhere. Sheep? I hope..

Isabella said a funny thing that is untranslatable. I am going to still put it here because the chances are we will forget by tomorrow. As we were started to approach the lighthouse "Mayak" we asked her where we were going pointing at it. She said "laryok-maryok." Maybe she did want to say mayak and when she said just sounded right to her, and perhaps she was preparing for a food break. Anyhow, it was totally unexpected and funny.

It was a very pleasant walk and when the wind would die out the only sound in the air was that of the waves crashing against the coast. But the rain finally caught up with us and we ran for the cover. We drove East along the coast admiring the views and stopped at Eastborne for late lunch. 

Eastborne resembles a cross between Hastings and Brighton - a smaller version of the majestic pier and a pleasant boardwalk. There were several Polish delis and one Russian Gastronom, but dining options were minimal and we came out of Chinese-whose-name-escapes-me disappointed. By then it was half past three. We drove back home and stopped at the supermarket on the way to replenish our supplies. 

Good weekend to reconnect with our parents and siblings we have not spoken to in weeks.

April 26th. Shakespeare's hometown & more lard

Don't know enough 

Shakespeare to know what it
is

Left back to our own devices we sought out the town most likely not to receive any rain on Saturday morning and set out on our way. It was the candyland of timber houses - Stratford-upon-Avon.We were also very fortunate to have arrived on the day when Shakespeare's 450th birthday anniversary celebrations were held.

It was great. We wandered through town enjoying the scenery, watching the parade and various performances throughout. Some seemed to be completely impromptu - we watch a portion of Midsummer's night dream played by seemingly two random people on the street with extreme amount of passion. Interestingly, we were able to understand all of it - as opposed to the time we've seen it on Rose stage. Maybe these folks were not so random after all.

Prime real estate

After we passed the same rundown-looking timber house in the center a few time, it finally dawned that it is the birthplace. Apparently it just the outside facing part of a major museum complex. We decided to skip since one can read all about it on the Wikipedia and over the lat 450 years not a lot has remained in the house.

That's not lard. We ate it far 

too quickly to take the picture

So we headed back through Cotwolds stopping at our favorite Stow-on-the-Wold to pick up some lard cakes @ Huffkins. That's why there has not been any alien contact yet. They know they will give in to lard and humanity will cart off their little obese bodies over to research labs for some experiments. We relocated ours to Burford and went to another branch of Huffkins for a refill. I am embarrassed to write this is as it would make us seem a bit obsessive, but if you ever tried lard, you would understand.

From there we went on a 2 hour walk over to Swinbrook village and back. Can't find the original link. The walk along the footpath through the fields was very scenic. Kids fully leveraged their rubber boots. It is kind of interesting that most of the walks are actually footpaths through mud through someone's property.

Swinbook is an ancient village.We visited the church and saw some interesting gravestones going back 500 years.

Back home we booked an apartment in Vilnius for the couple of days we will be going in late June. Very very excited about it. Dima & Nika are coming to stay with us from June 12th and we will take the trip together. So many things to show them. Hope everything will be OK with Kibin Inn.

April 25. Back from the slammer

Priceless moment: telling your boss that you are going to be a few minutes late to a meeting because you are just getting out of prison. Dan and I visited the Clink prison @ HMP High Down, a few miles away from our home. They are running a charity program where inmates are taught cooking and service skills that they get to apply at a restaurant run inside the prison. Once they get out, they would have attained some useful skills and certifications and many are able to secure the jobs upon release. I've been trying to make a reservation since reading about this on the news. Several months ago was fortunate to have nailed it.

It was an interesting experience. We arrived and parked on visitor's parking. We had to leave cell phones and cash (and sharp objects :)) in the car. Then we spent some time looking for the visitor registration center.  Once we found it, we exchanged our passports for visitor passes and in a group of other patrons walked inside the prison. The place seems pretty hard to escape from - high fences, barbed wire, cameras, locked in compartments between the areas. Dan looked concerned.

The restaurant itself looks like any other nice restaurant except they only have plastic cutlery and no alcohol. Inmates are dressed like waiters. The one who was serving us was very nervous. We were nervous too. How do you keep a conversation: "What are you in for?" "How soon are you going to be out?" "Are you good at remembering people's faces for the future reference?" He had a long scar on his face and tattoos on his arms and did not look like a hard core criminal. The food was very nice. Desert, waaay better than nice. As far as eating out as concerned we highly recommend Clink prison. Keep in mind that only the inmates who work at the restaurant eat food there. Everyone else get's their food from the regular cafeteria.

Speaking of the slammer, I have 3 last weeks to catch up with. We are guest free (so boring and empty already!!) for the next few weeks and so I will fill in the gaps as we go. 2 months and 3 days until we return.

April 19th-24. Bill and family visiting

Eventually to write something.