Time to Say Goodbye

Samuel Johnson, the Londoner who compiled A Dictionary of the English Language once said, ‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.’

Over the past four years, David and I have strived to enjoy all that London offers.  I'm proud of what we've been able to accomplish and be part of, not only in London, but England and elsewhere.

We have taken advantage of every opportunity we've received to travel around Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.  We have created massive to-do lists and spent evenings and weekends ticking things off by eating out at the hottest new restaurants or booking tickets to sold-out shows.

About a year ago, we bought a guide book called Tired of London, Tired of Life:  One Thing a Day to Do in London.  Since then, I've been maniacal about getting off the beaten path and making an effort to do all 365 things listed in the book.  We've managed to do a lot (but not all 365!), including:

Visiting the HMS Belfast moored in the Thames across from the Tower of London.  The Royal Navy Cruiser is now a museum that gives visitors insight into a sailor’s life onboard the ship during its Arctic journeys and on D-Day as it supported Allied troop landings.

Attending The Sound of Music production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre during the height of summer.

Silently walking through Denis Sever’s House in Spitalfields near Christmas-time to get a better understanding of how people lived and celebrated the holidays in the 18th century.  

Singing Christmas carols along with hundreds of other Londoners during St. Martin-in-the-Fields’ Carols by Candlelight concert in December. 

Enjoying a midnight snack of reuben sandwiches in the American Bar at the Stafford Hotel.  

The hotel, in St. James, was the base for American servicemen stationed in London during WWII.  

The wine cellars below the hotel have a history dating back 360 years, and were used by the men as shelter during the Blitz. 

The Junior League of London held a wine-tasting fundraiser last fall in the cellars with Master Sommelier Gino Nardella.  After drinking lots of wine and exploring the hidden passageways full of vintage bottles and WWII memorabilia, we went above-ground to the American Bar.  

The bar is full of unusual items donated by American visitors.  The first is said to have been a small carving of an eagle.  Now the room is covered in flags, model airplanes, signed photos of celebs, baseball caps, etc. etc.

Viewing the 25,591st performance of Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap at St Martin’s Theatre near Covent Garden.  Mousetrap is the longest-running play in the world, and yet, audiences have managed to keep ‘whodoneit’ a secret.  I was shocked to learn the killer’s identity!

Drinking a pint of French cider at the French House in Soho, the bar where Charles de Gaulle wrote his famous speech, A tous les Francais.  Today, the pub has no TVs and music, and allows no cell phones, making it an ideal place for a good pint and good conversation.

Checking out travel guides at Daunt Books in Marylebone or browsing the selection at Hatchards on Piccadilly, the oldest bookshop in London.

And finally, catching the last tube home after a night out on the town.  Transport for London is finally agreeing to run a 24-hour service on the weekends, but this is not going into effect until 2015.  Of course, the minute we leave London, they open a Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Westfield and start to run the tube full-time during the weekends!

David and I also did a lot of things that were not part of the book or any to-do list.  These were things that we just happened to stumble upon while wandering through the city, reading Timeout articles, or talking to friends.

We discovered Electric Cinema in Notting Hill one night after grabbing Jamaican food at Boom Burgers on Portobello Road.  We had been to the historic Coronet theatre before, pretending to be Julie Roberts and Hugh Grant in Notting Hill, but Electric Cinema is much better!  The theatre offers its guests plush couches or snug armchairs, cashmere blankets, top-shelf drinks, and food from the Electric Diner next door.  We loved it so much that we went two nights in a row!

A few months ago, I met the women of my book club for afternoon tea at Sketch, a restaurant near Oxford Circus.  The restaurant is not famous for its food or tea, but for its bathrooms.  They are continuously voted one of the must-see, strangest bathrooms in the world.  So after many, many cups of tea, I needed a potty break and made my way upstairs… 

There, I found about a dozen egg-shaped white pods beneath a technicolor ceiling.  Half of the room was doused in pink light and the other half blue, to delineate the men’s side of the room from the women’s.  Within each egg/pod, there was a toilet and some kind of alien music with a man in the background talking gibberish.  It was odd.  Very odd.

For some reason, the British Library is not mentioned in Tired of London, Tired of Life.  As much as I love books, it took me more than three years to finally visit the library.  And it is so much more than a library.  Besides housing thousands of books and various reading rooms, the library contains numerous other treasures like Beethoven’s tuning fork and the original sheet music to Symphony Nine.  The first-ever print of Alice in Wonderland is surrounded by other first editions.  There are Beatles lyrics scrawled on the backs of birthday cards.  As its highlight, the library houses the Magna Carta. 

Though David and I never made time to see a play at Shakespeare’s Globe, we were given the opportunity to visit in April as part of the Junior League’s Spring Masquerade Ball.  We dressed in our finest, donned our masks, and headed to the Globe for the ball. 

It was also David’s birthday that evening (along with a few other guys we knew), so our friend had this themed masquerade cake made for the birthday boys.

We danced all night, but I thought the coolest thing about the party was the fact that it was under the Globe in a museum full of costumes and props. 

After so many amazing experiences, we are sad to leave London.  We will miss the ease of travel out of Heathrow to exotic destinations around the world.  We will miss the diversity and history of London – like walking down the street with a huge new skyscraper on our left and a 700-year-old church on our right.  We will miss not having to worry about driving and getting stuck in traffic.  We will miss the seasons (yes, even the colder, wetter months in the winter when we can curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and digestives and watch terrible reality TV).  And most of all, we will miss our family and the friends we've made.

Beautiful Summer day crossing the blue Bridge near Buckingham Palace

Walking Kirby around our neighborhood, admiring the Spring cherry blossoms

It is mixed emotions, however, as we’re really looking forward to moving back to Texas, too.  There, we will be first-time home-owners and we cannot wait to make our house a home.  We can’t help but look forward to all of the conveniences of America – from driving ourselves around instead of being delayed due to train signal failures or tube strikes, to having a dryer to dry our clothes, rather than line-drying everything.  And a dishwasher!  We went three years hand-washing dishes and I can tell you, that is no fun.  No fun at all.  And because everything is bigger in Texas, we cannot wait to have more space!  Instead of using our third ‘spare bedroom’ as a closet, we will have real closets and real spare bedrooms for guests!  We will have a yard for Kirby and a pool to keep cool in.  And most importantly, we will have our friends and family close.

So on that note, it’s time to say goodbye to London, the city we've grown to love and call home.  We are looking forward to the future and all it has to offer, back in America.

Malta in the Movies

David and I were a bit late to the party, but we finally started watching Game of Thrones this Spring.  After spending years successfully avoiding the spoilers involving insane plot twists and gruesome murders, we binge-watched all three and a half seasons within just a few short weeks.  Now we are finally caught up to real-time episodes, and all I can say is Oh.My.Gosh. 

I knew from the start that GOT was going to be beyond crazy, so from the first episode, I told myself not to get attached to any characters.  Chances were that they were going to die a horrible death.  But there were still some episodes that had me cringing or close to tears…

So for our second to last May bank holiday ever, David and I decided to visit Malta, one of the filming locations for our new favorite TV show.  Karen’s also a huge GOT fan and came along with us!  

Malta is a small country in the center of the Mediterranean Sea consisting of three islands (Malta, Comino, and Gozo), and is home to not only the real-life Westeros, but also the Rome sets for Gladiator and Count of Monte Cristo, as well as the filming locations for other hit movies like Munich, Troy, The Da Vinci Code, and World War Z, to name just a few. 

We flew into Malta late Friday night, arriving at Luqa International Airport around midnight.  This airport was used as the Jerusalem airport that Brad Pitt flies in and out of in World War Z.  So from the start of our trip, we felt like we were on a movie tour of the islands.

On Saturday, the three of us spent the entire day lounging in the sun at our hotel, the Corinthia St George’s Bay.  Unfortunately the water in the sea and the hotel’s pools was too cold to swim in, so we stayed warm and dry.  We also strolled through the hotel’s gardens, whose highlight is an ancient tower that used to guard the coastline.

Later that evening, we had dinner in St Julian’s at Vedell Bistro, overlooking Spinola Bay.

One of Malta’s specialties is rabbit, so for our starter, we ordered rabbit cooked with red and white wines, and garlic and herbs.  It was actually really delicious, like a tender, well-seasoned pot roast.  (I just tried not to imagine a cute bunny rabbit as I ate.)

Being on an island, we knew we were in for a lot of seafood.  Karen and David split the rockfish with potatoes and root veggies, but I think I was still seafooded-out from our last vacation, so I had the manzo e funghi pasta – fettucine with beef and mushrooms covered in a garlic herb tomato sauce, with a touch of cream and Maltese honey.  The honey was a sweet addition to the savory sauce.  Malta is just a short distance by ferry to Sicily, so there are a lot of Italian influences in their cuisine.

David's and Karen's freshly caught rockfish

And of course, we couldn’t skip dessert.  Karen and I had read about Malta’s obsession with ricotta, and their annual festival celebrating the cheese was starting the next weekend, so I tried the ricotta custard for my last course, while David had a chocolate pot nicknamed the ‘Snickers’ and Karen had chocolate fondant cake.  Yum! 

On Sunday, we booked the boat trip from hell.

At the time, we didn’t know we had booked the boat trip from hell.  We thought that we had booked a boat to take us to Gozo Island to see the home of the Dothraki from Game of Thrones.  Fans will remember the beautiful backdrop of the Azure Window at the wedding reception of the Khaleesi and Khal Drogo in one of the first episodes.  Also, the boat would be making a stop at the island of Comino, where much of The Count of Monte Cristo was filmed.

Early Sunday morning, a driver picked us up from the hotel and then began passing us off to tour operator after tour operator.  By the time we arrived at the harbor across from Valletta, Malta’s capital, we had talked to five different people!  The tour guides at the harbor pointed to a large boat for us to board, as it would be leaving for Comino soon.

We were told by the concierge that our trip to Comino would be about an hour by boat, and then we would head to Gozo to tour that island before catching the ferry back to Malta.  So we dressed in summer clothes, but luckily packed our jackets in case the boat ride was a bit chilly.  The seas were so rough on Sunday, and the temperature in the morning was cold. 

Forty-five minutes into the trip, the crew began passing out drinks and traditional Maltese bread.  We didn’t remember the concierge mentioning anything about food and drinks, but the crew assured us it was part of the package and we accepted.

An hour later, when we were still on the boat, we knew something was wrong.  What was taking so long to get to Comino?  David and I found a couple of crew members, showed them our excursion details, and they confirmed that we were on the wrong boat!

Let me just say, first of all, at least we weren’t on the ferry to Sicily.  That would’ve been really bad.  Second of all, I realize that there are worse things than spending a day on a boat trip around the islands of Malta, in the beautiful Mediterranean.  But we were disappointed to learn that we wouldn’t be visiting Gozo.  Instead, our boat would only stop at Comino and then return back to Malta.  But even then, we didn’t stop at Comino.  When we arrived, the seas were so rough that we couldn’t anchor or even tie up the boat at the dock for us to disembark for lunch.

Poor Karen was suffering.  Not only was it cold, but the swells were so high that we were being knocked around on the boat, and I could tell that she wasn’t feeling well.  But she held it together, unlike the rest of the tourists we were with…

Those choppy seas were too much for some.  People all around us began throwing up their breakfasts.  The crew was scrambling back and forth across the deck, passing out puke bags.  The three of us couldn’t believe that people had paid money (and nearly twice as much as us, as our tickets were half the price as the tour we were actually on) to make themselves sick.  There were plenty of people that were violently ill, who eventually just laid down in the cabin and went to sleep.  I don’t think I’ve seen that many people puking and passing out since a college frat party!

After lunch, things improved greatly!  Although we couldn’t stop at Comino, we were still able to see the crystal clear waters of the Blue Lagoon.  The tower at the top of the island overlooking the lagoon is best known as the Chateau D’If from The Count of Monte Cristo.

The Count of Monte Cristo holds a special place in our hearts.  On our first date, David and I went to dinner and then watched the movie.  We’ve loved it ever since, and it was so fun to see all of the gorgeous landscapes from the film.  We passed the elephant rock and caves, which led the Count to his treasure.  And on the way back to Valletta, we saw the old harbor of Vittoriosa, which stood in for Marseilles in the movie, as it hasn’t changed much in the past 450 years.

That rock really does look like an elephant taking a drink of water

I was a bit sad that I wouldn’t get to see the Azure Window, but then I realized that I’ve seen more GOT film locations than I thought.  Before we even started watching the show, David and I were lucky enough to visit Croatia, where many King’s Landing scenes are shot, and Iceland, which acts as the barren, freezing landscape ‘beyond the wall.’

Eventually the sun came out and all of the sickly tourists emerged from the cabin.  We all enjoyed the sun and sea as the captain pointed out the island where St. Paul was shipwrecked in AD 60, the movie studios home to the mini-Coliseum built for Gladiator, and the beaches of Troy.

Statue of St. Paul commemorating where he was shipwrecked nearly 2,000 years ago

Cloudy and cold when we left Valletta...

but the sun and warmth made for some happy (and sunburned!) passengers by the end of the boat trip

After eight hours at sea, we reached dry land and we were hungry!  Karen, David, and I had dinner at Rampila, on the ramparts of Valletta.  Valletta was built in the mid-16th by the Knights of the Order of Saint John as a fortification against the Turks.  It is full of Roman Catholic churches, hidden alleyways, and steep, narrow streets.

View of Rampila restaurant from the bridge across the ramparts

The restaurant was built directly into the bastion walls and serves authentic Maltese food.  I had the homemade ravioli stuffed with local cheese and covered in a pistachio cream sauce.  David and Karen had had enough of the sea and fish, so they had the leg of lamb and steak topped with goat cheese.

On our final day in Malta, we visited Mdina and the Marsaxlokk fishing village.  The fishing village is in a beautiful azure bay dotted with colorful fishing boats.  We made a quick stop to walk along the shore and browse the market stalls. 

Mdina, also known as the Silent City, is the ancient capital of Malta.  Home of the nobility then and now, it is also the setting for King’s Landing in Season 1 of Game of Thrones.  As we began approaching the medieval town, the red-dome of St. Paul’s baroque cathedral (aka the Red Keep) peeked up over the walls and I announced, ‘It’s King’s Landing!’  (Maltese cabbies must be so sick of tourists like me.)

We passed through the Red Keep Gate, and then explored the city on foot.  We wandered through the myriad of streets, shopped for handmade blown glass, and had lunch in the courtyard of Ciappetti.   

We relaxed with a bottle of wine, a Maltese platter, caprese salad, and rabbit pasta before heading home.

And as our flight took off from the Malta airport, we were glad that there were no rabid zombies chasing us down the runway!

Escape to the Cape

Continuing our journey across Cape Town, on early Sunday morning, David and I boarded a boat for our Big 5 Marine Safari.  

After driving for three hours from Cape Town to Gansbaai, we met our captain and were given a short safety briefing.  This included what to do if the boat capsized, because apparently that happens sometimes.  What?!  I was more worried about falling into shark-infested waters than actually drowning!

The Big 5 of the Sea in SA are the dolphin, whale, African penguin, seal, and Great White shark.  Unfortunately we didn’t see any dolphins or whales, as the waters were too choppy and it wasn’t really whale season, but we spotted the other three.

And lots and lots of birds!

First up were the African penguins on Dyer Island.  The African penguin is also called the Jackass penguin because of the donkey-like braying sound it makes.  The penguin population here has greatly decreased in the last 100 years due to increased fishing and the removal of guano to use as fertilizer.  The penguins used to nest in the guano, but now they are completely exposed to the elements and predators.

To help out the little guys, David and I purchased some real estate on Dyer Island – a cozy little abode for a penguin and its family.  

These dog-house looking structures are used by the penguins to keep comfortable while nesting, and shield their young from birds while the parents hunt for food.

In South Africa, seeing a Great White shark is practically guaranteed.  The waters between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock are known as Shark Alley because the Great Whites patrol the channel in the hope of catching one of the 60,000 seals that inhabit the area.

So many seals!  

Some were playful, watching our boat and swimming around us.  Others were sleepy and stayed on Geyser Island, sunbathing on the rocks or this plank of wood from an old shipwreck.

The sharks weren't hungry on Easter morning, and did not go on the hunt for seals while we were out, but we were able to catch up with a cage-diving boat, and the sharks were all over that area!  We saw a few circling the boats beneath the waves, and they were just as huge and terrifying as we imagined they would be!  The largest one we saw was about 10 feet long and could've easily swallowed me whole!

After the marine safari, we drove back along the coast to Cape Town.  As we briefly stopped in Hermanus, I felt like I was in California again, but this time at a sunny beachside town.  Hermanus was beautiful – full of quaint rental cottages, outdoor cafes, and scenic views of the sea.  In the summer months, whale watchers flock to this area of the coast.  The animals often come so close to shore during mating season that boats aren't necessary to do any whale-watching. 

We continued our tour of wild Africa on Monday with a drive around the Cape.  We started off at Cheetah Outreach in Somerset West. 

The cheetah population in South Africa is under threat.  Farmers are setting traps and killing cheetahs and other wild animals to protect their livestock.  In order to educate the farmers and prevent unnecessary deaths, the outreach facility breeds Turkish Anatolian Shepherds to place on farms.  Cheetahs do not like confrontation, so the dogs will scare them away.  Hand-raised cheetah cubs are also raised at the center, and travel all over the world to act as ambassadors.

David and I arrived hours before the complex opened to walk two of the cheetah cubs.  This was a really special opportunity, and we were treated with a behind-the-scenes look at how the animals are cared for. 

You are probably asking yourself, ‘How do you walk a cheetah?’  We found that it’s like walking Kirby, but even trickier.  They are huge, even the cubs, and incredibly powerful and fast.  They do pull on the leashes, and because they are so fast, carers are stationed around them with bowls of raw meat and toys to distract them, or tempt them back if they try to run away.  Luckily, there were no incidents while we were there.  It turned out to be a fun walk with a couple of rambunctious nine-month-olds.

This one kept staring down David.  We think it was confused by the Go-Pro.

During the walk, the cheetahs would often just plop down on the ground for a rest (they are lazy cats, after all).  At this time, David and I were invited to get up close and personal, and even pet them. 

After walking two of the cubs, we met Uncle Joe, a twelve year old cheetah.  We were able to compare the difference in the bodies and fur of the adults versus the cubs.  The adults were much leaner, and their hair was softer.  And their claws were huge!  The cubs had coarser fur because of their baby scruff and less oils, and of course their nails were not nearly as long.

We were also able to meet a few other small predators living at Cheetah Outreach, including a couple of jackals, some meerkats, a serval cat, a caracal cat, and a family of bat-eared fox.

I didn't think I'd ever seen a caracal cat before.  Its ears looked like horns from further away.

From there, we drove along the sea, past a township that stretched for miles, and then through various coastal towns to Boulder Beach to watch the African penguins waddle out of the ocean and rest in the sand.

They were so adorable!  I wanted to take one home with us!

Then it was off to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.  Here, we were greeted by a few friendly baboons before taking the funicular called the Flying Dutchman to the top of Cape Point.  We took in the views, snapped some photos of the lighthouse, and then drove back through the reserve.

On our way back to Cape Town, Riaz from GoCabz took us on a fantastic tour of the cape and its beautiful beach towns.  We did the Chapman’s Peak Drive, which is considered one of the most scenic roads in the world.

After a long day, we entered Cape Town from Camps Bay and Clifton Beach, as the sun was setting over the 12 Apostles.

On our final day in Cape Town, we wandered through the city.  We walked from the waterfront up Long Street, which reminded us of New Orleans with its eclectic mix of hotels, restaurants, and shops.  We strolled through the Company Gardens past a number of museums, and then circled back down Government Avenue to the Castle of Good Hope, built in the late 1600s by the Dutch East India Company as a military stronghold.

After making our way back to the Westin, we quickly changed into nicer clothes for our afternoon tea booking at the Mount Nelson Hotel, otherwise known as the Pink Palace.  We felt like early explorers in the historic hotel, enjoying our tea in the gardens in the shadow of Table Mountain.  It may seem silly to go to afternoon tea in South Africa, coming from London, but the Mount Nelson afternoon tea was recently voted best in the world. 

We drank the Mount Nelson blend, and were free to help ourselves to the savory and sweet goodies laid out on a huge banquet table in the tea room.  The table was full of our usual favorites – tea sandwiches like rare roast beef with rocket, cream cheese and cucumber, and scones with clotted cream and jam.  But there were also some new goodies to try like samosas stuffed with savory mushrooms, quiche, Sacher torte, angel food cake, and the local delicacy, milk tart. 

It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip.  Cape Town is an amazing city, so it was easy to see why the New York Times named it the #1 travel destination for 2014.  Our only regret was that we didn’t have more time to spend there.