Movie Buffs

In case you didn’t know, David and I are huge movie buffs! Remember the groom’s cake at our wedding?

At the first UT London alumni event we went to, David and I met another young couple, Brad and Audra, who had also recently moved to London from Texas. They’re really into movies also, so last fall Audra and I did a girl’s night out at the Eat, Pray, Love premier in Leicester Square.

I have to admit I was a total nerd and brought along my copy of the book, hoping to get it signed by Julia Roberts. Well unfortunately Julia didn’t show up until about 15 minutes before the movie started, so she barely had enough time to sign a few autographs between posing for the paparazzi and doing a couple of interviews. While I was watching her walk the red carpet, I just kept thinking how weird it would be to be a movie star. For security reasons, they are escorted EVERYWHERE. When Julia stepped out of the car, there were hundreds of people in the crowded square screaming her name. An old man literally ran me over trying to get closer to the barriers for a better view. And her picture on the movie posters was also EVERYWHERE. How strange would it be to walk from your car to a movie theatre with hundreds of people screaming your name and photos of yourself staring back at you? It must be really hard to not get a big head in that business. By far the most bizarre part that I’d never thought about before actually going to a premier, is that at every premier, the movie is actually shown. Tickets were about £200/person for Eat, Pray, Love.  So needless to say, Audra and I did not actually see the movie. Most people that are lucky enough to score tickets get them for free from friends and family that work in the industry. But for the stars, wouldn’t it get boring to sit there and watch your movie over and over and over at each premier? They must take naps or something…

But I digress.

Instead of getting Julia Robert’s autograph in my book, I got the author’s – Elizabeth Gilbert! Liz showed up over an hour before the movie started, which gave her plenty of time to meet her fans, sign a ton of autographs, and even hand out free books! I got a picture with her (which is really bad and will never be posted anywhere) and she signed my book!

Elizabeth Gilbert greeting her fans

SPOILER ALERT!

I have to admit, I didn’t really like the book that much mainly because of Elizabeth Gilbert’s character, which is kind of terrible to say since it’s an autobiography. But I felt like she was really self-centered and whiny. Plus I didn't think she learned a whole lot about herself because in the end, she just ended up with another guy anyway! But then I later found out she married the Brazilian and that made me like her a bit more, because it wasn't just another relationship she had jumped into. And then when I met her at the premier, she was sooo nice. So I totally forgave her for leaving and kind of cheating on her husband. And I eventually saw the movie on one of my many cross-Atlantic flights and thought it was pretty good!

Our latest claim to fame came in April when one of David’s high school friends, Camilla, landed the part of Princess Kate in the Lifetime movie about the royal couple. I met Camilla a few years ago during one of our visits to London for Christmas. It was surreal seeing someone we knew acting on TV, being featured in celebrity magazines and interviewed on late-night talk shows. We heard she’s going to be a regular on this season of Californicaction, but I don’t know if we’ll watch since it’s rumored she has some nude scenes! That might be too weird…

During the summer, somehow between all of our vacations and my work travel schedule, David and I managed to be in London for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 premier! The premier promised to be epic. The red carpet was rolled out in Trafalgar Square, with the road from Trafalgar to Leicester Square transformed into Diagon Alley. The alley was completely sealed off to the public so the actors could use it as their route from the red carpet to the theatre.

Thousands of Harry Potter fans camped

out in front of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

I had read in the paper about a week before the premier that because the event was expected to be so huge, wristbands would be handed out the day before, first-come/first-serve, to fans to watch the event from prime viewing locations in Trafalgar Square. What the paper didn’t mention was that the rest of the square would be totally blocked off by an eight foot wall. Apparently a lot of parents did not get this message. There were so many children dressed up in their Hogwarts costumes excited to see Harry, Hermione and Ron... but they couldn’t see over the barriers. Some even broke down crying in the street. It was really sad. I think they should have put up the small fences like they usually do, but not a wall!

This sweet girl in her Hogwarts uniform was waiting patiently for her turn

on her dad's shoulders to catch a glimpse of Harry

Luckily I had David’s shoulders to sit on. He was nice enough to lift me up so I could see the action. I couldn’t see much, but it was still fun to be out with thousands of other people celebrating the movie’s release. The crowd was enormous and there was a real sense of community with all of our fellow Harry Potter-loving Londoners. It was a great way to close out the final chapter of the series (minus the crying children).

Last week before I headed back to Texas for work, David and I went to Leicester Square to see Hugh Jackman. Even though his new movie, Real Steel, looks like rock ‘em sock ‘em robots for the big screen (aka – not good), we still thought it’d be fun to see Hugh. Plus we had a craving for Chinese food and Chinatown is just around the corner from Leicester Square.

Hugh Jackman being interviewed on the stage in front of us

When we got there, Hugh was walking right towards us but I didn’t even recognize him. I had always imagined him as Wolverine – jacked! But he was a lot smaller in real life. I'm sure under his suit, he was still really buff but I couldn't help noticing his skinny arms and legs. I'd always heard what a nice guy he is, and he really did seem genuinely friendly. He arrived super-early (unlike most actors... Julia!) and said hello to everyone, signed autographs, and even took pictures of himself with his fans.

Then whatdayaknow, the next day I was reading People online and I swear I saw myself in the background of Hugh’s pic!

So now that I’ve made People magazine, I won’t be needing to attend any more movie premiers… just kidding! They’re one of the great things about living in London! It’s a fun night out and one day, we will actually get tickets to see a film with the stars. I’ve already asked David for Breaking Dawn Part II tickets as next year’s birthday and Christmas present!

Kid Commuters

Last week, kids across the UK went back to school. And that meant more traffic on the roads and on the tube.

Every morning on our way into our offices, David and I can’t help noticing the kid commuters. Compared to most kids growing up in America like we did, the commute to school is a totally different experience for the Brits. Most American kids are lucky enough to grow up down the street from their schools, close enough to walk or just a short car ride away. And David and I were both spoiled with stay-at-home moms that drove us to school and picked us up, especially in bad weather when we didn’t want to walk. In the states, where you go to school mostly depends on where you live, based on your district. But the school system is totally different in the UK. Most of the schools specialize in different studies and even for state-run schools, children have to apply to get in. So where they go to school doesn’t really depend on where they live… hence the commuting.

Kids in England start commuting from the time they’re in grade school. And most of them commute by themselves, or with friends and siblings. They’ve grown up with this schedule and know no different, so it’s no big deal when they become adults and have to commute hours and hours and hours each week to work. But for a spoiled American like me, used to an 11-minute comfortable car ride to the office, saying I’ve had a difficult time adjusting is an understatement. And to my defence, 4 hours a day is excessive, even for Londoners. But at least I’m working from home almost full-time now, which means I only get to marvel at the kid commuters two days a week, three max.

I’ve been fascinated by the whole thing since we moved here and first noticed these kids last Fall. Not only because they’re pretty tough to wake up so early, commute for who knows how long each morning, go to school all day, and then commute home at night (often in the rain or snow), but also because most of the kids sit there quietly and read the newspaper on to the way into school. They’re like miniature adults. No wonder they all seem so smart!

Just another day into the office... no wait, seventh grade!

And the uniforms definitely reinforce the idea that they’re all a bunch of smarty-pants. Suits with ties and jackets for the boys and skirts with knee-highs for the girls. Some of the smaller boys even wear matching pageboy caps!

Yes, I realize it's totally creepy to be taking random pics of kids, especially little boys, but I wanted you all to see what I see! 

And I was very sneaky about it... using my phone's camera

while pretending to be doing something else.

So it’s no wonder that when they all grow up, they dress up for work every day. David and I are also both lucky to work for American computer/software companies that definitely take the dotcom approach to casual work wear. I still wear jeans quite often to work, and since David runs his office, he wears jeans every day that he’s not meeting partners or customers. Dressing up is just so much work, and it hurts wearing heels around the city!

One last point to make – I don’t understand how the English are brave enough to send their children into the scary world all alone at such young ages. Some of the kids I see can’t be older than 9 or 10. When does a parent decide, ‘Okay, my child has taken this route long enough to:

1) Not get lost between all the different stops and lines

2) Not stand too close to the edge of the platform and get run over by a train and

3) Not get kidnapped in the throng of millions of other commuters each morning?’

I watch way too many shows like Law & Order: SVU and Criminal Minds to imagine sending my precious child out into the world all alone every morning.

If I had to go to school here, I would've travelled in a pack too, and 

caught up on my latest gossip like these girls,

instead of reading the paper!

Overall, though, I think it’s a good routine for kids to have that really instils independence and a great work ethic... Plus they entertain foreigners, like me, on our commutes!

Let's Get Madored!

In July, David and I flew to Portland, Maine for Amy’s wedding to Ross.

Continental really disappointed us during this trip. We usually love flying Continental, especially since that’s our frequent flyer program. When we got to Newark, though, our flight to Portland was delayed for almost three hours because of storms up in Canada, which was delaying our plane getting into New Jersey. Since this was a tiny puddle-jumper, it couldn’t fly up into the clouds and bypass the storms like larger planes. On the way home, the same thing happened with our flight back to Newark because of storms in New Jersey. So we left Portland two hours later than scheduled, landed at exactly 10 PM and sprinted across 50 gates to get to our 10:10 flight to London. Thankfully, they were holding the flight for us and we didn’t have heart attacks after that mad dash across the airport. But even though we made it on the flight, our bags did not. And for some reason, they didn’t get on the next flight out. So I had to leave for Bratislava the next day missing half my toiletries, my nice suitcase, and some much-needed clothes. I did receive an apology email from Continental so we’ll see if there are any vouchers coming our way…

The theme of the weekend (besides a beautiful wedding of course!) was the high temperature in New England. A record-setting heat wave swept through the Northeast the weekend we were there. Most buildings in Maine don’t have A/C (much like London) because it just doesn’t get that hot. In fact, this was my third trip to Maine and all the other times I’ve visited, the temperature has never gotten above 70 degrees. That was NOT the case the wedding weekend. When we got to Newark, the airport did have central A/C but it was not working well enough to offset the heat coming from all of the open causeway doors. And the fans just blew around hot air instead of cooling down the terminal. It was a miserable delay, to say the least.

But we eventually got there! After we landed, David headed straight to the bachelor party. Amy drove me back to the house Karen had rented for the family for the long weekend. She warned me in the car that the house didn’t have A/C either. I toughed it out on Thursday night by sleeping spread-eagle in shorts and a T-shirt on top of the bed with the window and door both open and a fan blowing right on me. Karen ended up curling up on the living room floor and Jeff slept in the creepy basement to escape the heat!

The next morning it was nearly impossible to put on makeup and blow dry our hair because of the humidity level. That was not going to do, since all of the bridesmaids were scheduled to get ready at the house the next day before the wedding. So the landlord stopped by on Friday afternoon and installed a window A/C unit in the master bedroom. That made all the difference in the world! The rest of the weekend, the entire family had slumber parties in this one bedroom to get a good night’s sleep. Amy came in late after the rehearsal dinner on Friday night to find David and me on a double mattress on the floor with Jeff on a single mattress (all of them moved in from the other bedrooms in the house), Laura in the bed, and Karen in a cot next to the bed. We did the same thing after the wedding on Saturday night.

Slumber Party!

On Friday, Karen hosted a bridesmaid brunch at a delicious diner in downtown Portland. I had some real American bacon (not English back-bacon, yuck) with country potatoes and dark chocolate strawberry waffles.

We also walked to Willard Beach just down the street from the house. It was way too cold for me to get in. It had to be about 60 degrees. My feet actually ached after being dipped in. I’m a baby, I know! Karen and Laura did go swimming though. Then we took a trip to the local grocery store and stocked up on American food. David and I had brought a completely empty suitcase just for food. :) The woman at the checkout looked at us like we were nuts as she scanned 20 boxes of Kraft mac and cheese, about 10 packets of taco seasoning, 5 Pop-Tart boxes, and 3 different Betty Crocker cake mixes.

Then we stopped by Wendy’s for lunch where I had my favorite – a junior bacon cheeseburger. David got the #1 and Jeff had the BLT Cobb salad. Karen and Laura also ordered some Frostys. I LOVE Wendy’s. In high school, we had off-campus lunch and I was given an allowance of $15/week for food. So Wendy’s was perfect because it’s delicious and I could get two Jr. bacon cheeseburgers and a small fry for only $3. As we were pulling through the drive-thru, the guy at the window told Karen the total was $16. Karen couldn’t believe the value and asked to be read back our order. When she still didn’t believe how cheap all that food was, another person came around to read back the order. Finally she exclaimed, “Wow! What a deal!” I guess us Londoners are just used to really, really expensive burgers back in Europe. We tease her about it all the time now…

That evening we had the rehearsal for the wedding, which took place at a gazebo in a beautiful park overlooking the Portland harbor. There are so many islands off the coast of Maine, a couple of Civil War forts, and a ton of sailboats. And obviously it was sunny, so the location was stunning.

Ross’s parents hosted the rehearsal dinner, a lobster bake, at their home. I love lobster… I just don’t like actually preparing it. Laura and David were so sweet and offered to take care of me, so they did all the dirty work while I just got to eat! The Madores also cooked up some seafood chowder, clams, barbequed chicken, and baked potatoes.

Then before we knew it – the big day had arrived!!

All of the ladies were able to get ready at Karen’s house because the landlord came back and installed a second A/C unit downstairs in the living room. We did our makeup ourselves, but I cannot be trusted to style my own hair for anything important, so Amy gifted us all with hair stylists.

Huge rollers that my hair had to set in for hours!

Then the wedding party met up at the park, where I got to walk down the “aisle” with my hubby. Right before the march started, we all put our hands together and shouted, “Let’s get Madored!” This lightened up the moment and made Amy much less nervous. Actually, once she got her gown on, she turned calm and collected and ready to go!

Waiting for Amy to arrive

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was awesome.

Post-wedding pics in the park

Brothers and Sisters

The reception was held down the street (literally, we all walked from the park) at this spot called the Portland Company, an old warehouse in the shipyard. Ross and Amy visited Paris when they were in London a couple of months ago for Jeff’s graduation and absolutely loved it. So they converted the warehouse space to look like a Paris metro station. There were lights strung from the poles and the tables were named after different metro stops. Ross and his Dad even whittled a Metropolitain sign that displayed the seating chart. In lieu of traditional flower arrangements, the bride and groom opted for herbed potted plants, which doubled as favors for the guests so the room was really fragrant. And on top of all that, they brewed their own beer and then made up names like "Wedding Saison" for each of the different types. The entire event was really unique. They did a great job in a short amount of time - from their engagement in December to their July wedding, it came together perfectly! 

We danced the night away to a great band, tried lots of different cake (the bride and groom chose six smaller cakes in lieu of one big one) and drank a lot… of water! There were fans all over, but even when the sun went down, it was still really hot inside the Portland Company. But that didn’t stop everyone from dancing and having a great time!

The bride and groom making their grand entrance

After the reception, David went out with some of his old TASIS friends that he hadn’t seen in a long time, but I was exhausted so I headed home with the rest of the House clan.

The next morning, we were woken up by Mrs. Robinson, Eric’s mom. Eric is one of David’s best friends from high school and was a groomsman in our wedding. His family lives in Maine and we were lucky enough to visit a couple of years ago during Memorial Day weekend. Well after the wedding, Eric started feeling a lot of pain, so he was rushed to the hospital. Turns out he had somehow bruised his spleen – probably performing all those crazy dance moves! ;)

Mrs. Robinson promised to keep us updated, but in the meantime we had to get to the post-wedding brunch back at the Madore house. We ate some yummy Quizno’s subs (sometimes I just miss the simplicity of a turkey sandwich). Then we hung out with the Bales cousins, watching funny YouTube videos and reminiscing about old times (which I have now convinced myself I was a part of, after hearing these hilarious stories so many times)!

The weekend went by way too fast and before we knew it, we had to pack up our bags and head to the airport. We couldn’t fly out without checking on Eric though! The poor guy was sound asleep in his room after spending all night in the ER, waiting to get his test results back and for the doctors to figure out what was wrong with him. But David was told to wake him up, so we did! Eric is the funniest guy, so if this had to happen to anyone, at least it’s someone who stays in such good spirits. We cracked a lot of jokes and wished him well before heading to the airport.

Oh boy...

We waited out our flight delay at a restaurant in the airport, where I had a traditional lobster roll and David ordered hot wings… which he deeply, deeply regretted after racing through Newark airport a couple of hours later!

Maine is such a beautiful place and we’re really lucky to have been able to visit so many times. One day, I hope our kids can join the thousands of other youngsters at Maine’s famous summer camps. I’m sure Amy and Ross are sad to have left New England, but I know Texas has welcomed them with open arms as they start their new life together in Austin! Congratulations – we love you both and are so happy for you!

Road Trip

Last weekend was another Bank Holiday, so David and I decided to rent a car and take our first road trip in the UK.

David has been driving a little bit using the local Streetcar (a short-term car rental service for people that live in the city without vehicles). Mostly, we’ve used the service to drive to and from baseball games outside the city and to B&Q (also known as Home Depot in the states) for gardening/lawn supplies. But we’ve never driven through the city or as far as we did this weekend… and it was TERRIFYING!

David is very focused driving on the opposite side of the road.

We decided to drive to England’s Southeast coast for our mini-vacation. Only problem is, we live in West London. So to avoid driving through the city to get East, David printed MapQuest directions that took us around the outskirts of the city, instead of the “faster” route straight through. Well… after about 10 minutes of driving, we realized we took a wrong turn and were headed straight into the city!

Crap!

I quickly pulled out my handy dandy iPhone GPS and rerouted us. And then before we knew it, we were driving past Hyde Park and Harrod’s and the Wellington Arch! Once we got to Victoria, the traffic and rain and darkness finally got to us and we took another wrong turn. David maneuvered us into a double-decker bus only lane (luckily there were no buses around) to get us back on track. Finally we crossed the Thames into East London and things slowed down a bit. Traffic was terrible in this part of the city, though, and it ended up taking us 45 minutes to drive 3 miles. Never again!

Our first stop was Canterbury. Canterbury is mostly known for its massive cathedral, a pilgrimage site since the late 1100s. David and I had booked a hotel room on the grounds of the cathedral, but since we arrived so late, all of the cathedral gates were closed. So our final hurdle on Leg 1 of our road trip was actually getting to the hotel once in the city. We drove around the block a couple of times before finally pulling over and asking someone. When we finally found the gate, we did feel a little stupid since it is obviously a huge, historic marker…

Cathedral Gate - It does look really obvious in the daylight!

On Saturday morning, we enjoyed the breakfast part of our bed and breakfast and then walked the few steps to the cathedral. We took a self-guided tour through the nave, the beautiful quire, and finally the crypt. The focal point was the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered by King Henry II’s knights. He became an instant martyr, inspiring pilgrims from all over the world to visit the cathedral. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer tells the stories of the pilgrims’ voyages.

The Quire

I asked David to take a picture of this plaque for me. 

How sweet that they loved their auditor that much!

David loved this stained glass window... 

It reminded him of our beloved Disney characters.

After the tour of the cathedral, we walked a couple of blocks to the main city center, where the Saturday markets were taking place. We couldn’t resist the kettle corn, so we grabbed a bag while we window-shopped. Then we went to the Roman museum.

Much like last year’s trip to Bath, we discovered that Canterbury was a Roman town about 2,000 years ago. No one knew this because the town was deserted and the Roman buildings were buried under new structures. It wasn’t until WWII when Canterbury was shelled by German bombers that some ruins were found in the craters. David and I paid for our museum tickets and then took the steps to get underground. We came out into a colorful room with mannequins of archaeologists and Romans. It turns out the Roman museum is a children’s museum! Haha! We made the best of it, though, and still learned a lot! David even got into the arts and crafts section, putting together a mosaic much like the mosaic floors of the Roman houses and baths discovered!

After the museum, we walked to the Norman Castle, which has been reduced to a four-walled open-air stone structure with a partially flooded staircase.

We had lunch at a gastro pub recommended to us by TripAdvisor called Deesons. The fresh-baked bread was so good and all the ciders and ales were local. David had the best steak sandwich ever. I don’t even like horseradish, but even I couldn’t get enough of this sandwich! For dessert we split the deconstructed strawberry shortcake.

Then we hopped back in the car and got ready to drive 30 minutes to Dover. We took a quick detour as we got outside the city center to Martyr’s Field, where Bloody Mary ordered 41 heretics to be burned at the stake. When we got to the address though, it was all houses! We were in the middle of suburbia and there was no field left!

A little disappointed, we got back on the road headed to the coast.

We stayed at another bed and breakfast on the beach in Dover. Once we checked in, we decided to head to Dover Castle. I whipped out my trusty GPS again and saw that it would take about 19 minutes to walk up the hill to the castle and the last admission was in 11 minutes. We didn’t want to rush the castle or wind ourselves running up the hill for no reason, so we decided to just hike up to the famous white chalk cliffs instead. We enjoyed some local blackberries and saw lots of horses grazing in the fields. Once the weather cleared up a bit, we could even see France across the channel. I couldn’t believe how close it was!

A ferry headed to France - they have white cliffs too!

We didn’t do the full four mile cliff hike to the lighthouse and back but we were still hungry and tired once we hiked back down after a couple of miles. We walked to The Allotment, supposedly the best bistro in Dover. The reviews were right – it was really, really good. For starters we had the prawns with garlic chili sauce and goat cheese crostini. David had fish with buerre blanc as his main and I had the beef tips with potatoes dauphinoise. For dessert, we split the blueberry cheesecake. Everyone at the restaurant was so nice, and even though we didn’t have a reservation, they seated us anyway. It was an open layout, so we could watch our food being made in the kitchen across from us.

The cutest little church we found on our way to the restaurant.

Saturday morning we woke up early to take the ferry to Calais. Dover is the world’s busiest ferry port. Both ships we took (there and back) were packed full of tour buses and motorists. And the ferries were like mini-cruise ships! There was a duty free shop, restaurant and cafeteria, a bar, a coffee shop, outdoor decks, and a casino. All of that for an hour and a half journey across the channel!

The view of the Dover Cliffs from the ferry to France

Being an important strategic location along the French coast with such close proximity to England, Calais is no stranger to conflict. Hundreds of years ago the English and French battled it out to gain possession of the tiny port town. At first, the English won, but eventually the French took it back! During WWII, the Germans occupied the city and over 70% of it was destroyed. Eventually, it had to be evacuated, until it was finally liberated by the Canadians.

Because so much of the historic city was destroyed in the war, there is not that much to do in Calais. So we had a long, leisurely, French lunch that ended up lasting almost 3 hours. Thanks again to TripAdvisor, we discovered Aux Moulettes, a seafood restaurant near the beach. We both got a little fish amuse bouche to begin and David was so proud of me when I actually ate it (I don’t like regular fish, only shellfish).

For my main, I had the prawn beignets with some crusty French bread and David had garlic scallops and fried steak. The dessert was the best part! David got a sampler with his meal that included chocolate mousse cake, profiteroles, and a strawberry custard tart.

To work off our delectable yet heavy French lunch, next we climbed almost 300 stairs to the top of the Calais lighthouse. Then we walked down the street to Notre Dame church where Charles de Gaulle, WWI and II veteran and French president, was married. On our way to the Hotel de Ville, or City Hall, we passed a 13th century watch tower and lighthouse (or what was left of it). Unfortunately, City Hall was under construction, but it was still a really pretty area.

Calais Lighthouse

Notre Dame Church

Hotel de Ville

In front of the Hotel de Ville is the famous ‘Six Burghers of Calais’ statue by Rodin, honoring six brave men who were willing to give up their lives for their fellow citizens. In the 1340s, the town was under siege by Edward III of England. The locals held up within the city walls but after about 10 months, they were running out of food and water. The story goes that 500 children and elderly were finally let out of the citadel, but the English wouldn’t aid them and they ended up starving to death. Finally, everyone was ready to surrender. But when a town has held out for that long, the king usually kills everyone anyway. So six brave men came forward and offered their lives in exchange for the remaining citizens. Edward’s wife was so moved by the sacrifice, that she convinced Edward to spare everyone. Nice, but where was she when the 500 children and elderly were dying in front of her??

Across from City Hall is the St. Pierre Park. Inside this beautiful park is a hideous concrete bunker that houses the WWII museum. We had some time to kill before our ferry, so we decided to go inside. It was a great museum and we learned a ton! There were old plane parts and guns and other things found in the channel from the Battle of Britain. Nazi flags and old war posters were hung on the walls behind glass cases, and there were recreations of war control rooms. One of the best parts of the museum is all of the old newspapers along the walls. One front-page story from a British paper had a picture of the King and Queen after the famous ‘King’s Speech.’ The entire speech was re-printed on the front page… just like in the movie. It really put you in the mindset of someone living during that time, from both the French point of view (defeated but still holding out hope) and English (doing whatever it took to keep the Germans out).

We had also heard about La Coupole and Blockhaus at Eperlecques, massive underground bunkers built by the Nazis to launch the V2 rockets (first missiles to reach the stratosphere). The rockets would have destroyed London but thankfully the bunkers were bombed by the Allies before they could ever be launched. We really wanted to visit La Coupole because it is supposed to be a really moving, educational site but it was also about 30 minutes outside the city and we hadn’t driven our rental car onto the ferry.

So after the park, we headed to a café for David to watch his Man U football match. Then it was time to head back to England.

On Sunday morning, we enjoyed another full English breakfast on the terrace of our hotel overlooking the sailboats and crazy-ass swimmers in the channel. That water must be so cold and they weren’t even in wetsuits! I was too much of a baby even to stick my toes in! The swimming clubs in the area are hugely popular though and every morning we noticed groups of swimmers and divers.

The Start/Finish line for Channel swimmers

After checking out of the hotel and loading up the car, we drove to Dover Castle.

The castle is enormous! It not only has a medieval history, but the castle was also used as recently as the 1960s when the UK government planned to have their headquarters there in case of a nuclear attack. We went from exploring the medieval tunnel system around the moat to taking a tour of the tunnel system used during WWII. Operation Dynamo, code name of the evacuation of 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, was planned within the tunnels of Dover Castle. The line to see these war rooms was an hour long, so David and I opted for the much shorter tour of the underground hospital instead.

The tour was fascinating. Visitors follow the story of a pilot shot down over the channel, arriving with shrapnel wounds to his leg. You follow the team through reception to the operating room, with lights flickering in and out and air raid sirens going off. After the operation, you tour the rest of the facilities – from the bathroom to the kitchen to the tiny living quarters. During raids, over 600 people camped out in the tunnels. Winston Churchill visited on many occasions to meet with the soldiers and watch air battles over the channel.

Because it was a holiday, the castle also put on a lot of shows for the local kids. They had pirate reenactments and at one point, King Henry II even held court!

King Henry II's Court

We also saw one of the only remaining Roman structures, a pharos, or lighthouse, outside the castle walls, and a Saxon church. The church was used by servicemen stationed at Dover and King Richard the Lionhearted even stayed there before he and his knights sailed off for the Crusades. Graffiti from the knights can still be seen carved into the wall next to the pulpit.

The Saxon church and Roman lighthouse

After about four hours at the castle, we decided to head back to London. This time, the drive only took a couple of hours and we went Southwest instead of driving directly through the city! Much better!

This holiday weekend was the last now until Christmas. It’s going to be a LONG Fall….

The Kurzweg's European Adventure - Part IV

On Tuesday morning, we said goodbye to David at the Rome airport. He had to get back to the office, while the rest of us had to get to the Amalfi Coast!

Ten years ago during our big Europe trip, my family was planning on staying in Naples until our travel agent horrified us with one too many mafia stories. So we changed our itinerary and decided to stay in Sorrento, a beautiful coastal town in Naples Bay, instead. This was the best decision of the trip! We loved it there and we were all looking forward to heading back!

Elizabeth and Carrie were sleepy from the early morning flight to Naples, but we made them stay awake for the coastal drive.

And once we arrived in Sorrento, we immediately changed into our uniforms for the rest of the week – swimsuits and flip flops!

After we got into the water, Elizabeth exclaimed that this was her favorite part of the trip so far! After all that history, all those amazing sites, all the food – swimming in the Mediterranean was her favorite thing!

Elizabeth does look pretty happy in this picture!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach, which in Sorrento is more like a private deck. There aren’t very many sandy beaches around, so we paid a few Euros for access to the water from the deck and some chairs. Umbrellas were extra!

The towns along the Amalfi Coast are built on top of sheer cliffs that overlook the Mediterranean. So the city centers are always at the top of the cliffs and the beaches are below. They’ve built these really cool pathways through the cliff rock for people to walk down to the beaches and ferries. They’re like mini-caves. Last time we were in Sorrento, we stayed in the city center. This time around we wanted to be on the water, so we stayed in the fishing-village area of town. This felt like a different town altogether, away from all of the other tourists. Every night, a group of older men would get together to watch the sunset on a bench next to the fishing boats and kids would play in the street while their moms and grandmothers watched them from their apartment balconies.

The little restaurants in this area were all family-owned, with the owners greeting and serving you. And all of the seafood was obviously very fresh, coming straight off the boats docked next door to the restaurants. One night Dad ordered the fried seafood platter, not realizing the seafood was literally fished out of the ocean, dropped in a deep fryer, and then put on his plate. He had to pick it apart, bones, eyeballs, everything before eating it.

After a long day of flying and driving and swimming, we hiked up the many, many steps to the city center and grabbed dinner and gelato. The gelato was well worth the hike!

On Wednesday morning, we took the ferry across the bay to the Island of Capri. You can see the island from Sorrento and we had wanted to visit last time but never got around to it, so this time we made a point to just get on the ferry and go! There was no pre-planning done on anyone’s part, so once we were on the ferry, we signed up for a tour of the island with 15 other tourists.

Once we docked, our tour guide led everyone to a teeny-tiny bus and crammed us all inside. It was one of the scariest bus rides of my life. With all the stairs and now the terrifying bus ride, this area of Italy was reminding me more and more of Greece. Carrie, who’s afraid of heights, kept it together really well as we rode along. The woman across from her was not as brave and could barely hold back her tears.

We drove around the island from the Marina Grande to the Blue Grotto, a cave bathed in iridescent blue light. We walked down steps along the water to a little landing, where boats would pull up and pick us up to row us into the cave. At the height of tourist season, it was madness trying to vie for a spot inside the cave.

At one point, another boat cut us off and we were rocked dangerously close to the rocks. But we trusted our rower and he got us in and out safely. All 5 of us did have to fit into one itty-bitty rowboat, though. It was Dad and the girls in the back, all kind of piled on top of each other with Mom lying on top of me in the front. I managed to take a video, but the entire time Mom was yelling at me to lie down so I wouldn’t get decapitated going into the cave. No worries – I made it!

After our cave adventure, we drove to Anacapri, the second town on the island (yes – there are only two), for lunch. We ended the day in Capri, the main (or first) town. We walked through the town and tried the local lemonade made from the biggest lemons I’ve ever seen in my life! They were about as big as our heads – no joke!

We then walked through Augustus’s Garden. Emperor Augustus had his summer home on the island, and his heir, Tiberius, also built a palace there where he ruled in his later years. From the garden, there was a great view of the sea and the rock formation I Faraglioni.

After taking the funicular back down to the beach, we swam around for a couple of hours and then took the ferry back to Sorrento. It was my parent’s wedding anniversary, so that night they had a private dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant and I was in charge of the girls.

I took them to another family-owned restaurant in the fishing village. The waiter must have liked us, because he brought us free bruschetta to start, and then free Limoncello for our after-dinner drinks. All week, the girls had been trying different red and white wines in France and Italy. They hated all of them. So this was their chance to try the local lemon drink. First, they said it smelled like Carrie’s lemon-scented nail polish remover and refused to drink it. When I insisted that I couldn’t finish all three drinks, Carrie tried it and Elizabeth followed. I have no worries that Elizabeth will be peer-pressured into drinking after that experience. She could barely swallow the small sip she took and afterwards said it tasted even worse than the wine, which was also disgusting. So I did end up drinking all three glasses... I didn’t want to offend the waiter!

On Thursday morning we hiked up the steps to the train station to get to Pompeii. Mom, Dad, and I showed Elizabeth and Carrie all the places we’d seen a decade ago (I feel really old when I say a decade ago). And it was just as hot as we remembered ten years ago too! That place just bakes in the heat. There are no trees or shelter anywhere… just an exposed archaeological site. The site is so well preserved because of all the ash that fell on it after Mt. Vesuvius erupted. In the House of Mysteries, a huge farmhouse outside the main city, most of the paintings are still visible on the bedroom walls. When the city was excavated a little over 250 years ago, even the bodies of the victims were found preserved. Casts were made and are randomly found in parts of the city today.

The Temple of Isis

Interior of the House of Mysteries

Forum with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

After spending hours walking around in the heat, it was time to get back to the beach! Dad and Mom had had enough of walking up and down the cliff stairs, so once we walked down from the train station, Dad declared that he would be enjoying the beach next to the hotel and eating at a local restaurant famous for once hosting Sophia Loren. At which point, Elizabeth asked, “Who’s Sophia Loren??”

Elizabeth, Carrie, and I didn’t mind the stairs, though, and we had wanted to try out a different beach with blue floats tied to the deck. We thought we could by-pass walking UP to get back DOWN by either swimming to the other beach (which we soon realized was way too far away) or using a paddle-boat. Earlier in the week we had seen a bunch of kids renting a paddleboat with a waterslide. But when we went to the beach to rent the boat, we were told it had been broken earlier in the day. Stupid kids!

So we walked up to the city, and then back down to the other beach. While we were tanning on the floats, Elizabeth and Carrie noticed another paddle-boat with a slide. But it was already being used, so I went back up to read on the deck and about fifteen minutes later, the girls came running up to me laughing hysterically.

They had swum around the paddleboat for a while waiting for the kids using it to get bored, or trying to work up the courage to ask them if they could try out the slide. The girls never got the courage to ask, but finally the kids did get bored and tied up the boat to a buoy before swimming back to shore. Elizabeth and Carrie decided this was their chance to “borrow” the boat! So they untied it and hopped on, ready to paddle away when a little Italian boy saw them and started yelling. All they could make out was “No! No!” Then the whole gang of kids jumped back into the water and started swimming toward them! Elizabeth and Carrie panicked, jumped off the boat, and swam back to the deck. It’s a good thing the deck was one of those “private beaches” so those little Italian kids couldn’t follow them!

After their botched boat-jacking, Elizabeth and Carrie got bored and hungry and headed back to the hotel. I closed down the beach, staying until dusk when they literally had to kick me out. I met the family for dinner at the Sophia Loren place, where Dad had his really, really fresh seafood meal.

The next morning we caught our flight back to London. The flight home included an 8-hour layover in Milan, so once we got off the flight from Naples, we bought train tickets into the city center. First stop was lunch! We had heard the focaccia in Milan is the best, so Mom and I both ordered a plate. It was ENORMOUS! The plates were the size of large pizza plates and the focaccia still spilled over the side of them! There were a couple of Americans sitting at the table next to us about to order the same thing and when they saw how huge our meals were, they decided to split! Mom was nice enough not to say, “I told you so!”

After lunch, we walked to the Duomo, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in the world. Everyone except Mom and Dad was dressed in inappropriate summer clothes, so they took a tour inside while we were banished to the square outside.

After they came out, we walked through the Galleria, a beautiful shopping center designed with mosaic floors and a huge metal and glass dome.

We then walked back towards the train station to the Castello Sforzesco, a Renaissance palace that now contains multiple museums. We walked through the courtyards to the Sempione Park. Here we took a break and hung out in the park eating ice cream and playing Phase 10, a great card game introduced to us by Grandma Cocchiarella.

Before we knew it, it was time to get back to the airport to catch our flight home. We loved Italy, and like I said before, especially spending the time together and seeing the sites through the girl’s eyes for the first time.

After a relaxing weekend back in London, it was time for the family vacation to come to an end. On Monday morning, the Texans packed up and headed back to the heat. We were sad to see them go, but this adventure was amazing and something that we will remember and cherish forever!