Belgium

Saturday, August 1st

Brussels is a quick train ride across the English Channel on the Eurostar. The amazing thing is that you can get to a whole different country in 2 hours on the train! We still cannot get over how cheap and quick it is to travel in Europe!

The train was fairly early, but with the time change we didn't arrive in Belgium until about 11:00. We immediately hopped onto an intercity train to Bruges, another of the major towns in Belgium. Bruges is probably more famous as a tourist destination, because the shops and sites are better compacted in one area, and the town is a little more quaint. We finally arrived a little after noon, dropped our luggage in a train station locker, and hit the city.

Everything sits close to the main square in the city. The square is surrounded by historic buildings, little restaurants and food vendors. We grabbed a quick lunch of the Belgian special - French Fries. Apparently fries were actually invented here, so there are vendors all over the place. They generally eat them with mayo, but we couldn't handle that and went with the classic ketchup. We hung around the square people watching and seeing the hundreds of people waiting in line for a carriage ride through the town. Even though we didn't take a carriage ride it was nice to sit in the sun and listen to the clip-clopping of the horses.

We left the square and went walking through the town. The town is nice because it is just lined with little food shops and other "cute" shops. We meandered out to the edge of town where they had a few windmills, which were originally used to grind (or "mill") grain into flour. On the way back we stopped in a few chocolate shops (one of Belgium's other claims to fame), got some great samples, and took a box home (which we are still enjoying, even tonight as I type!).

The highlight of the day ended up being an accidental walk by a small candy shop. There were two guys cooking giant blobs gelatin, and then they started forming it, molding it, and turning it into candy. It was mesmerizing. We literally sat in the shop for about 45 minutes and watched these guys form a few giant blobs into thousands of tiny pieces of candy. It was very interesting to be able to watch the entire process and then enjoy a piece of candy at the end.

After being lured in by this display, and feeling obligated to buy a jar of the candies, we headed back to the train station and went back into Brussels. We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed off to dinner, where Aaron enjoyed the 3rd Belgian specialty, Mussels, while non-fish Jenna went with a local chicken dish. The mussels were good, and yes, there were cliche references made to mussels in Brussels.

Sunday, August 2nd

Sadly, this was a rainy day in Brussels. There is a ton to see in the city, and while we did enjoy everything we did, I'm sure it would have been a hundred times better with the sun shining.

We started out in the main square - the Grand Place, which is lined with several huge historic looking buildings. Since it was raining and was fairly early, it was completely empty. It's a famous plaza, but I think the main draw is the people watching from the cafes that line it, which were all closed, so we headed off pretty quickly.

Our next stop was the Mannekin Pis - a small statue/fountain of a naked boy peeing. Not sure why this is such a huge draw - the statue is really very small, but even in the pouring rain at 10am, the corner where it sits was packed with tourists. We of course took the opportunity for a photo like everyone else.

At this point we were pretty well soaked through (I literally had to stop and ring out my socks at one point), so we thought it was time for an indoor activity. Brussels has several museums, and while we probably wouldn't have stopped into any on a sunny day, priorities change when your feet are squishing, and your pants are wet up to your knees.

Partially for proximity, partially for uniqueness, and partially for Steve Luthye, we decided to see the Museum of Musical Instruments. We ended up being really happy that we went. It was just so different than the museums we're used to seeing. There were basically 4 floors with all sorts of instruments from all different time periods and regions. They had everything from 1000 year old flutes to bagpipes to accordions to a full Chinese orchestra. What they didn't have was explanations in English.  However, they gave you a headset, which when you stepped in front of a display, it played the tune from the instrument. It probably sounds boring or cheesy, but it was actually a lot of fun.

Before leaving the museum, we grabbed lunch in their top-floor cafe, which had a good view of the city. From here we were able to see all the people on the street start putting away their umbrellas, as the clouds started to break a bit and the rain stopped. By the time we got outside, the sun was starting to peek through a bit, which was a welcome change.

With the sun on our backs (kind of), we set off for more of the outdoor sites. We saw the other two main historic buildings - the Royal Palace and the Palace of Justice, which were both pretty magnificent, but I guess about the same as the other similar buildings we've seen across Europe.

The big highlight of the afternoon was stopping for a waffle. Of course all Americans are familiar with the Belgian Waffle, but what we found interesting is that they don't eat them for breakfast. It is just one more of the many snack items that are at your disposal. The batter is extra sweet, almost like a dessert in it self, but then they smother it with more goodness. We had one with chocolate and powdered sugar, and another with strawberries and whipped cream. Both were delicious!

By now it was mid-afternoon, and we'd seen most of the main sites of Brussels but still had a few hours to kill before our train. We decided to just head off and wander through the streets around the Grand Place, which have lots of shops and people to watch. Since the sun was out and it was later in the day, the plaza was now completely packed with people. We stopped for a drink at one of the cafes and watched the tourists for a while (including the worst hacky-sack player of all time).

By the time we had finished, it was time to go back to the hotel, grab our bags, and head for the train station.

We ended up having a great time, and between the chocolate, candy shop, and waffles I don't think there was a single moment when we weren't running on a sugar-high, which I think is a great way to spend the weekend!

Mayfair Walk

Saturday, July 18th

So we had another free Saturday and we couldn't just sit at home. We decided to go to Books for Cooks in Notting Hill for lunch, which is one of my (Jenna) favorites! It is a cookbook shop and in the back they have a test kitchen where they make lunch using recipes from the cookbooks. If you get there early enough you can eat lunch there and it is always delicious!

What made it even better was on the way there we saw an American Store! This actually means we saw a convenience store that happens to sell a few things from the States, but they have a giant American flag sign :D. We picked up some Applesauce, Milk Duds, Cream Soda, Mountain Dew, Peanut Butter M&M's, and Orange Slices (for Aaron's Grandma's Famous Orange Slice Cookies). This was a huge treat! I especially am really missing food from home, mostly candy I guess! :)

From there we had planned on doing a guided walk. We bought a London Walks book a while ago with 30 different walks in it around London. Today we were going to walk around the Mayfair area, which is a high scale part of town with large homes. This was a short 3 mile walk where walked by the Marble Arch, Hyde Park, the U.S. Embassy, Rigby and Peller, where the Queen supposedly buys her undergarments and also 2 yachts stores.

After the walk we had some extra time before meeting some friends for dinner and it was a nice day so we sat in Green Park. I love to people watch and soak up some sun so this was the perfect opportunity! (It really wasn't that sunny, there just wasn't 5 layers of clouds between me and the sun, only one small layer!)

After lazing about in the park we went and met Eric and Anne and also Kia (another girl Aaron works with) for dinner at Taqueira. They had some delicious Mexican food there. It was nothing like Mexican in the States but one of the best places that we have found! We had a great day in London seeing some things that we hadn't before and enjoying the decent weather.

The Art Project

So Jenna has been a little bored lately.

She spends a portion of each day browsing around the Internet, reading random blogs and "window shopping" for clothes and decor. Luckily, we don't have any excess money, so it generally stops at window shopping.

One of our friends, Keri Mitchell, recently had a new baby, and one day Jenna was browsing through her registry at Pottery Barn. This led to her poking around the site for her own good. She stumbled upon a $400 piece of artwork that she loved, but knew we couldn't buy even if we had the ability to ship it somewhere. Then she got to thinking..."I can do that".

A few weeks later, we had this:

It is basically a bunch of small slats of wood that we painted and nailed to a bigger piece of wood. It is huge (4ft x 4ft) and quite heavy. We won't be able to hang it anywhere, so it will end up having to sit on top of things wherever we decide to put it (at the moment, in our bedroom).

Aaron did most of the labor - measuring and cutting the wood, nailing the boards, while Jenna came up with the layout, color scheme, and did all the painting. It took us a while to complete, and our house was littered with building materials for several weeks, but we had a lot of fun doing it, and were very pleased with the finished product, which ended up costing less than $50 in supplies (take that, Pottery Barn!!).

Brighton

Saturday July 25th

Since I've been working quite a bit lately (hence no posts for quite some time), we didn't have many trips booked, and hoped to take the occasional day trip within the UK. Jenna's been dying to see some ocean and the sun, so we got lucky with a sunny Saturday and headed south to Brighton.

Brighton is a beach town on the south coast, just a 45 minute train ride from our place. It is a hot-spot for Londoners due to its easy access from the city, but it is actually a not the best beach. When they say it is pebbly, they are certainly not joking. If anything, they are understating the fact that the beach is made up completely of enormous rocks. Add to that the fact that it is usually very windy and the water is frigid even in the summer, and you don't exactly get the best combination for a day at the beach.

We were able rent some cheap beach chairs, though, and the sun was shining bright, so that was really all that we needed to enjoy ourselves. We brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed the day lounging around and reading.

In the afternoon it started to get a little cloudy, and the wind (which was gale-force most of the day) got a little nip to it, so we decided to pack up and walk down the boardwalk. It was fun to see all the crazy people and shops. It felt very much like Santa Monica, except for the fact that it was pretty chilly and everyone was wearing clothes rather than swimsuits. We also had a stroll down the pier, which is full of arcades, candy shops, and even a small amusement park with carnival rides (bumper cars and small roller coasters). We've never been to Coney Island, but this is what I imagine it is like.

Anyway, not much else to say. After sitting on the beach for a while and seeing another side of England, we hopped on a train and were back at home in time for dinner. A short trip, but a great break away from the City.

Cotswolds and N. Wales

We had another free weekend in England (which conveniently happened to be 5 days before our 4th anniversary), so we booked a few B&Bs, rented a car, and headed north.

Friday, July 10th - Cotswolds

The Cotswolds is a loosely bordered area an hour or so from London where all the Londoners go for a weekend break. If you had to pick one word to describe it, it would be "quaint". When you think of English country villages, the picture that comes to mind was taken in the Cotswolds.

I left work early on Friday and we made our first stop at Blenheim Palace. This is a giant house and gardens built by the king for the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill. He earned his fortune and title by winning some key battles for England back around the 1700s. Since then, the home has passed down through the family, who have squandered what was once a ridiculous fortune, to where now the 11th Duke lives in the East Wing and rents the rest to tourists who want to have a look.

The palace was nice, especially the gardens. Not as nice as some that we've seen, and bit on the expensive side (especially knowing that at least some of the money went to fund the lavish lifestyle of the guy living down the hall). The most interesting part is the connection to Sir Winston Churchill. He was in the bloodline of the original Duke, though not a direct heir. He had a huge connection to the place - he was actually born there when his parents were at a Christmas party and she went into early labor. He got engaged and married there, spent several holidays visiting his cousin the Duke there, and is now buried on the grounds.

After leaving the palace, we headed to our B&B in Stow-on-the Wold. It was a nice little place called Tall Trees Stow that was a working farm, complete with chickens, horses, a rabbit, and a black lab. We walked through the little town, peeking into all the windows of the small shops that had closed earlier in the evening. The shops were heavy on the antiques and hand-made woolen attire, which added to the quaintness. There was even a candy shop with the window full of old-timey candy jars filled to the brim with delightful goodies (it was a good thing this one was closed).

After checking out the town, we had dinner in a local pub and headed back to the B&B to call it a night.

Saturday, July 11th - More Cotswolds

Saturday was mainly spent driving around the area. There are tons of little towns throughout the area, so we drove from town to town, walking around a few of the towns and stopping off at a few of the sites. It was really nice to see the country. It is a completely different side of England from what you see in big-city London. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Cotswold Farm Park - basically a petting zoo. They have dedicated themselves to protecting rare breeds, so they apparently have a lot of goats and sheep and chickens that are in danger of extinction. They pretty much all looked like goats and sheep and chickens all the same. It was very hands on, so we got to pet some piglets and rabbits and of course the goats. The best part was when Jenna was holding a baby chick, and her giant smile turned quickly to frown as the bird relieved itself in her palm!!

• Snowshill Lavender - An enormous field of lavender. Purple everywhere. I think the point is that you frolic through the fields. I wasn't much for frolicing, and Jenna was slightly afraid of the thousands of bees, so we probably didn't take full advantage.

• Stratford-Upon-Avon - Birthplace and sometimes home of William Shakespeare. We visited his birthplace (although there were lots of, "we thinks", so who knows). We walked around the town, which was nice aside from the thousands of other tourists. Probably good for the hard core fans of the poet, but if you're looking for a nice town to visit, the others in the Cotswolds are much better.

North Wales - Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12

I'm not sure how to describe Wales. It is sort of a country, except that its not. It is a separate territory within the UK, but they have no separate government or anything. Anyway, it is on the West coast of the country, in the central section.

We drove up on Saturday evening and got to the town of Ruthin in time to make our reservations for a medieval dinner. The town's castle was converted into a fancy hotel, and the restaurant puts on a dinner show a couple of times a week. The grub was similar to what you'd find at Medieval Times, but the venue is much smaller, like a small banquet hall would have been in the original castle. They then put on a somewhat silly "murder mystery" show. In all it was about what you'd expect - overpriced but a lot of fun.

Sunday morning we enjoyed a good breakfast at grandma's B&B. This B&B was outside of the town and we could tell that not many people drop by. The couple running it had grandkids just younger than us, and since we were the only ones there it really felt like we were visiting the grandparents for the weekend.

The rest of the day was spent driving around to a few of the main towns in North Wales, which has nice scenery and the greatest concentration of castles in the UK. Again, here's the highlights:

• Conwy town and Castle - We had a few problems getting our bearings here, and we got lost finding our way, but eventually we made it into the town. It was a small town with a castle built by the King of England to suppress uprisings in the newly conquered Wales (like most of the castles here). We enjoyed walking around and seeing the small shops. The castle was nice but mostly ruined. Our favorite place was the official smallest house in Great Britain. It was outrageously small, literally having enough room for a bed in the loft and a sink and bench seat in the entrance.

• Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - No, that is not a typo. Those 58 letters (including 4 "L's" in a row) make up the longest town name in Europe (in Welsh), and we've been there and taken a picture of the sign. The translation is actually about 23 words, and was given the name just so that it could get the title, but I guess it got us to visit. Interestingly - the longest named town in the world is 163 letters, and is in Thailand.

• Caernarfon Castle - This is the biggest castle in the area, and was built as a palace for the King of England when he visited. Apparently due to a lack of money, it was never completed, so there are stones jutting out from walls that were originally designed to be a full wall, that was just never finished. This place is famous for the place where the final agreement between the English and the Welsh took place, as the King agreed that if they'd quit fighting, he'd give them a prince that was born in Wales and spoke no English. The idea was that he would speak Welsh instead (which was important to them), but as the story goes, the King brought his wife there to give birth, held him up and said, "Here is my Welsh-born son, and as I promised, he speaks no English". He soon after took his family back to England to raise the prince. Anyway, the "deal" has stuck, and generally the heir is given the title "Prince of Wales" and is given his entitlement at this castle. There is also a round platform on the castle grounds where Prince Charles was crowned Prince of Wales.

We had a long drive back to London, so we flipped on the UK Top 40 (very Michael Jackson heavy at the time) and made our way home.

June - Theatre Month

The West End theatre district of London is arguably as famous as Broadway. We've seen a few shows off and on since we've been here, but we'd been saving a few of the main ones, and decided that the summer was the perfect time. We ended up going to 3 during the month of June, all of which were excellent.

June 3rd - Oliver!

I read Oliver Twist by the great Mr. Dickens (who is an English national hero, by the way), a little more than a year ago. They've been playing the musical version here for a while, but around Christmas the lead role (which in the play version is not Oliver) was taken over by Rowan Atkinson. Yes, that's Mr. Bean. Since I enjoyed the book and we thought it would be funny to see him. We had to go.

Jenna started reading the book about 3 days before the show. She was able to finish it during the intermission, and she really loved it.

Unfortunately, the show diverges significantly from the book. For one, they have to focus on the adult roles a little more because otherwise they'd have to put more pressure on the child actors, who by law have to rotate nightly, and talent is probably not as good. Worse, though, is that they changed the story line to be more about the redemption of the bad guys than about the triumph of young Oliver. That was kind of disappointing, but in all it was still a pretty enjoyable show, and we got a good laugh out of a few of the Bean-isms.

June 9th - Mama Mia!

You can guess who wanted to go see this one.

We went just a few days after seeing Oliver. The theatre was newer (or at least more recently renovated) so the seats had better leg room and were more comfortable. Also, our seats were a little better, so the experience in general was a little better from the beginning.

One good thing about seeing this musical is that the Brits love it. It was fun to see everyone, men, women and children singing along.

The music was very good. I knew a few songs, and since Jenna had seen the recent movie she pretty much knew them all, so that was nice. From what she tells me, the main guy was significantly better than Pierce Brosnan. Probably not something I'd go back to, although I think Jenna is hoping to go again either with friends here in town or with my Mom when she comes over.

June 28th - Romeo and Juliet

In case you didn't know, here is a history lesson: Shakespeare was a genius. He was smart enough to write plays that appealed to both the upper and lower classes, but then he also built a theatre that was the perfect to display them. The Globe Theatre was unique in its time, having a large standing room only section that ran straight up to the stage, and then theatre style seats along the outside.

(note: this photo was stolen from Eric and Anne. Our seats were down in the corner, and their pictures came out a lot better - although since I stole it offline, it is a little pixel-y)

The original Globe burned down in one of the many great fires that London has seen, but was rebuilt in the recent past. You can visit year round, but in the summer plays are put on by the Royal Shakespeare Academy (which is where a many famous Brit actors got their start, including Colin Firth, Daniel Day Lewis, Judi Dench, Jude Law, Ian McKellen, Ben Kingsley, Jeremy Irons, and Patrick Stewart).

We booked tickets to Romeo and Juliet because we figured we knew that story well, while with other plays we'd probably lose a lot in the translation. We got actual seats rather than the standing room section, which we were really glad about when it started pouring rain (like in Will's day, it is open air).

The play was very good. We were able to follow along perfectly, although since there were no microphones we did miss a few things, which made us glad we didn't pick a different show. A few interesting points - The female roles were played by women, not men like they would have originally been. Juliet, who in the play was 13, was perfectly cast, because all though she was an adult, she looked like she was about, well, 13. Lastly, the Montague parents were both white, but Romeo was black, so I thought daddy should have been asking a few questions.

We had a great time seeing all of these shows. Just one more reason to love this city! We plan to see a few more shows before we go (Wicked and Billy Elliot are definites on the list), but we were happy to take a month to see these few!!!