Visit with Father Christmas

We went to see Father Christmas.

People have asked about Christmas here.

We don't see as many houses decorated on the outside as in the US. There might be a strand of lights around the inside window. Occasionally you will see lights around a tree. It could be because electricity here is tricky to manage.

If there are candle light in the window, this is the only type I have seen



As with any holiday, food is a major part of it. I am not sure if there is one traditonal meal but turkey is definately a part of it. I imagine like anywhere, families have their traditions. Stuffing seems to be often done in small pieces like meatball size or small muffin tins. I am not sure how it is cooked. Mincemeat pies are big. I never cared for them till I had one here. They are done in small size about the size of cupcake. They are excellent. I think they also have liquer in them which gives an extra zip. Maybe that is why they are small. There is also a type of pudding which we would probably describe as more of a dense cake. Again the one I had was excellent and it had liquer in it plus it was suggested to pour small amount on top. That was excellent too.

Day after Christmas is Boxing Day which is equally as important. Places like the grocerys are closed. The tradition came from years ago, servants at the estate houses were given a box of food day after Christmas as a gift. I don't know if this is true but read it was often left overs of the family Christmas meal. They also might have been given some money.

The other thing people do on Christmas and Boxing day is a family walk. It will be in their neighborhood or go to a favorite park for a walk. I read someplace was even taking reservations for this walk.

I have several books with maps of local paths to take and sites you will see along the way. I am hoping we can explore some of these while Stan is off for the holidays. Today we are heading to park mainly to revisit Winnie the Poohs Hundred Acre Wood that Lauren loved so much. It also has a nice hour long hike through the woods that the girls and I did before.

We went to Paris over the weekend! The girls were out of school and Stan was having meeting so we took the train from London on Friday. We got 4 seats, with 2 on each side and table in the center. It takes just a couple of hours and is very reasonable when booked in advance. Since we had such a short time, we went decided to see the high points and focus on some things Anna and Lauren were studying in school. Forecast for Saturday was rain so we decided to save it for indoor sights. When we arrived Friday afternoon we went first to the Eiffel Tower which was short walk from the hotel.

It was cloudy this day but still wanted to go to the top.

This was the actual view from the top!

This is a short video clip. I say in it that we are at the top but actually we are at a lower level with a better view. One thing that is interesting in Paris is that all the buildings are pretty much the same color.

There are carousels all over central London. Lauren enjoyed riding one. I guess Anna has outgrown this.

The Eiffel Tower from our hotel room at night.

Saturday we visited the Louvre. This is the most beautiful building. It started out as a place in 12th century. In 1674 Louis the XIV chose the Palace of Versailles as his home and left the Louvre to display the Royal Collection. It opened as a museum in 1793. It was amazing to see art the art first hand.

We crossed the Seine to visit another museum which has impressionists artists like Monet. These are artists the girls are studying in school so thought it would be good to see.

We went on to see Notre-Dame. The size and detail on it are amazing. While we were there Lauren asked why the candles were burning. Stan explained it people had lit the candles in memory of someone. She asked if we could light one for Grammy so we did.

Sunday we did not have much time so we just walked around a bit. Stan was staying for his meeting and the girls and I were going back to London on the train by ourselves. It easy enough but I was used to Stan handling all the details so was nervous about the whole thing. We made it though and was good learning experience. The train is the way to go. We enjoyed Paris a lot and are looking forward to going again.

Anna Plays Hansel

Annas school put on the play Hansel and Gretel where she played the part of Hansel. This is a short clip from the play.

London Weekend

We went to London for the weekend staying at the Hilton Tower Bridge. We visited the Tower of London and saw the Royal Jewels. Also went to see the King Tutankhamun Exhibit. These pictures are from our walk over to the Tower of London.

These are pictures of City Hall. The Tower of London was built to put fear and submission into the unruly citizens of London in 1070. I am not sure what statement this building is making.

This is something new. It is set up as a tunnel that supposedly allows you to see people in New York City. It must be done with some sort of webcam but you can see people in NYC through it. People will make arrangement of set time and see friends and family through it. It was an hour wait so we did not actually look through it.

Some of the interesting streets in the area.

We stopped for lunch.

For some reason, Anna and Lauren are always a bit nervous getting to close to these guards to have their picture taken. I think he actually smiled listening to my trying to get the girls to stand a bit closer.

This is the castle which later became the prison.

Day in the Park

The girls have been off this week for midterm break. Stan worked from home on Friday so in the afternoon we went to the park. Weather was wonderful and we had a great time. Most of these are video's. If you see a black box, try clicking on it to get it started.

Anna and Lauren have learned to ride bikes. Lauren is wearing helmet because we have not found one for Anna yet.

Trip to Windsor

I am finally getting our pictures on of trip we took while back to Windsor. Anna and Lauren were out of school and Stan was traveling. With the aid of our wonderful navigator we took off to Windsor which is about 45 minutes from us.

It was great day with nice weather and hardly anyone there. I was surprised to see how close the town is to the castle. We had a great time strolling through the castle. We got headphones to guide us through. They had special ones for children. The girls loved it and were very interested in things they saw.

Below are some pictures of the interior. It is beautiful. It surprised me how comfortable it felt. I think it is because the guides are so warm and friendly and not at all tense about people especially the children.

For some reason, Anna and Lauren were nervous about the guards and would not stand close to them.

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Hi –

Some of you have been waiting to hear about this weekend because it was the weekend Stan wore a kilt. We were invited to a Burns Night which is a celebration of the life of Scottish poet Robert Burns.

Robert Burns wrote over 500 poems including Auld Lang Syne and Red Red Rose – Oh my Luve’s like a red, red rose. People will get together to remember with dinner, toasts, dance and song. It is often a very formal event, with traditional itinerary including order of toasts, foods served and dances. Often money is raised for particular charity.

In this case, family that works at Hilton, Mike Ashton, invited us. It was partly to raise funds for their daughters trip to Borneo where she will live for 21 days helping to build water system for a village. It was a bit formal so Stan rented a kilt. We spent the night at the Ashtons so the grandmother could watch the girls. The event was held at the village community center with people making traditional Burns night dishes. – haggis, turnips, potatoes and cockle soup. Haggis are made of beef liver, lamb kidneys and shoulder, beef suet, onions, oatmeal, stock and salt and pepper. When we told people we were going to a Burns night, they all mentioned the haggis wondering if we would like them. I guess not everybody does but we loved it. It is the main event of the meal because they were brought in on plates, held high to bagpipe music.

After dinner the speeches begin with people talking about why we celebrate Robert Burns, toasts to him, the laddies and the lassies. Then the dancing starts. These are folk dances a little bit like square dancing without the caller. We had attending a practice session but still had hard time with it. We did not feel too bad because there were others having just as much trouble but it was fun. At the end they sing Auld Lang Syne which also end up in sort of a dance.

You can read more about Robert Burns and Burns nights here
http://www.robertburns.org/

We spent the night at the Ashtons. This is pretty much an adult event so the Mrs. Ashtons mother was visiting and watched the girls. They had great fun with Nana as they called her.

It was a great weekend. It was fun to be included in this traditional Scottish event held in small English village.

Stan actually had a good time wearing the kilt. The only part that was uncomfortable was the belt. The piece you see in front is actually used to hold things since it has no pockets. You can't see it but it comes with a knife to be worn in the socks - plastic in this case.

This is Mike Ashton who Stan works with and a true Scotsman.

Lauren Takes on Skiing

I drove by this hill the other day and could not believe what I was seeing. Few days after that Lauren was invited to birthday party her to learn to ski.

They don't have snow but some sort of material that seems to be a pretty good substitute.

They lined the kids up on the bunny hill to start the lesson.


Lauren looks good here but she is skiing backwards!




She got it! She loved it!




Then they switched to toboggans. That was a pretty good size hill to go down.

This was a party for just Laurens class. I can see us going back and try it as a family.