More Turrets And Dungeons

We went out to Warwick Castle ("Warik"), about an hour and a half outside of London. . .

J started to climb to the top of the highest tower, but chickened out.

Afternoon Tea

Day Two's tour de London ended with tea at the Orangery, in Kensington Palace, the home of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Here is the beautiful garden. . .

I have always been a huge fan of scones, clotted cream, jam, and of course, tea with sugar and milk. J now is, too.

Overall, the cuisine anglaise is much improved even from what I recall the last time I visited 10 years ago. They have tons of fresh fruit and vegetables now, and there are lots of great choices of foods. We ate Italian, Spanish, and Moroccan in addition to a couple of yummy pub lunches and dinners. At one place in the Cotswolds, I had a delicious lamb stew with dried apricots and curry. Viva Jamie Oliver!

Historical London

Day One was a blur 'cause of jet-lag. I marched my family to Harrod's Food Court for lunch and through Kensington Gardens. We met my mom's old friend, Tita P for dinner at Livebait, a delicious fish restaurant near Covent Market.

The next day we did Historical London, starting with the Tower of London. . .

This was J's favorite spot of the whole trip.

We then tried to see the Changing of the Guard. . .

. . . but it was very crowded.

Finally, we went to Westminster Abbey. . .

Passage To Hogwart's

Here's the facade of King's Cross Station or at least I think it is -- the place is a huge maze with all sorts of trains, buses, and subway lines. We had to go there first to see if we could get J off to Hogwarts (you know, Harry Potter's school).


Pleased to report that while we did find Platform 9 3/4 (look for the picture on our holiday card), J didn't make it through! We're both back home.

Distinctly British

Everyone is wearing flip flops and there's a Starbuck's on nearly every corner. Here however is a list of things encountered so far that are still very British:

Theater
Red Double Decker Buses
Pimm's
Paddington
Harry Potter
Shortbread
Samosas and Chutney
Civility Even On The Tube
Clotted Cream
Cricket
Harrod's
Liberty Prints
Gardens and Parks
Pubs
Virgin Megastore
Hobnobs
Fish and Chips
The Queen
Grenadiers and Other Guards
The Anglican Church
People of an Empire

We're going to Oxford today along with some other places. I'll see if I can come up with more for my list.

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Global Village

We're at Starbucks in London, right near the British Museum and Russell Square.

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Power-Sex Two-Fer

Last night, I had a brush with The Radcliffe Girl's Brad Pitt. . .

Oh please can I get your picture, Gavin? I have new shoes AND new underwear!

The people at my table and I were like bad paparazzi at this dinner where the Honorable Mayor Newsom of SF spoke, only getting pictures of his back.

Finally got him to turn to the side.

Then he was at the podium -- taller and thinner than I expected.

It was a tough crowd and Gavin spoke well expounding on four themes: first, SF is a city on a hill, a beacon of hope for the world, blah-blah-blah, etc.; second, his newly proposed health care plan is a brave attempt at fixing a tough problem; third, the Dems have to fight wedge-politics soundbites with better anticipated wedge-politics soundbites 'cause "strong and wrong will always win" (that seemed a little pathetic to me); and fourth, Gavin's stance on gay marriage didn't cost Kerry the election.

Let me expound a bit on why I can't handle Gavin's third point: I teach so that my students will be active participants in our democracy, able to think critically enough to reject divisive soundbites altogether. Please, please! Am I just an idealistic dreamer?

BTW, my extremely patient friend T was my date for the evening -- a real trooper! Brought the Mercedes out so we could enter and exit in fine style. Thanks, T! :-)

Snail Dance

J's annual dance recital is this weekend.

One of her numbers is a "snail dance" -- check out the cool costumes! Another highlight this year is that J got a trophy at dress rehearsal for completing five years of training. Starting next fall, she's supposed to take two classes per week -- we'll have to work through that one 'cause she is already so busy with soccer and piano.

Check Your Spam Filter, Please

My yahoo email address hasn't been sending from the BB like it used to (in other words, I need to pay extra for that service), so I'm starting to mostly use my sbcglobal.net address. Hope my mail is getting to you.

Belated Independence Day Greetings

J rode her new bike in a Fourth of July parade a couple of days ago. . .
Her annual Big Show is this weekend and we have been getting ready all this week.

I haven't been into blogging as much lately, as you might have noticed. There's been too much happening offline and I feel like I need to focus on the basics (like food, clothing, and shelter). I suppose we're all feeling it, 'cause at least one friend has quit the blogosphere, M.