Top Ten Things

We will be returning to the US in approximately a week and a half. This is a mixed bag for me. While I'm excited to be able to see my family and friends again, I am definitely not excited to be going from 62 degrees to 98 and I'm going to miss my new friends that I've made here. So, to sum up our experience, Sean thought we should do a Top Ten Things We Will Miss and Not Miss about England (We will not include friends since that is assumed). So, here's mine...

Top Ten Things I'll Miss About England:
1. Walking: Walking to get my groceries, to dinner, to get my hair cut, to the library, to the post office, to the bank, to buy some clothes, to the bookstore, to Coffee, and to Evan's school.
2. London: the theatre, the concerts, the city
3. The Trains: on-time, frequent, you can get almost everywhere
4. The Weather and Running in the rain: I am a pasty-white person. I like not having to put on sunscreen every time I go out.
5. The Airports: they are only an hour and a half away and will take you anywhere in the world (not just to LAX or SFO)
6. Being in a very old place where almost every building is beautifully detailed and Castles are a dime a dozen.
7. Fruit and Vegetables that taste like they should
8. BBC Radio (even though they talk too much and repeat music too often)
9. Location, Location, Location...You can DRIVE to France! It also exposes you to a lot more cultures and languages.
10. The English People: the accent, the politeness, the more formal dress (love that the school-kids have to wear ties/jackets/skirts).
Sorry, I have to add one more:
11. The NHS: Everyone should have access to health care and that's all there is to it. I've used it and it works, even if it's not perfect.

Top Ten Things I Won't Miss About England:
1. PARKING: We sometimes have to walk about a mile to get to our car and if you forget to fold in your side mirrors, you could lose the cover and it may get run over (this happened to us).
2. Almost Getting Run Over: Pedestrians just don't have right of way and there are not enough pedestrian crossings. I take my life in my hands every time I cross the street because people don't even slow down for you.
3. Harry: Our Nice but Noisy Neighbor
4. Breakfast Options: I like pancakes, and waffles, and french toast, and omelettes, and hash browns. You can't get most of these things here for breakfast.
5. Narrow Roads: Some roads just weren't made for two cars. I've actually been in a bus when I heard it hit the side mirror of the car traveling in the opposite direction and the bus never even slowed down.
6. Tiny Washers and Dryers: assuming you actually get a dryer, which is not assumed here.
7. The Weather: I know, it made the last list, but it would be nice to be able to plan for a sunny day. You never know when you will be able to play outside here.
8. The Bank: While I know and like my bank tellers here it really peeves me that I can't deposit money into the ATM machine, I have to go see a teller, and there are no weekend or evening hours. It also takes DAYS for transactions to show up into my account like deposited checks or transfers. Whereas my Bank of America account posts transactions within minutes and will credit my account.
9. Retail Hours: People like to shop Sundays and evenings and almost everything closes during those times.
10. Paying in Pounds: It's just a painful experience when you're earning in dollars.

A Rant about Music

One thing that took some getting used to over here is the way you listen to music. Radio stations are not separated so much over here by type of music or era. You could be listening to Madonna one minute and Neil Diamond the next and the stations aren't by city, they can be heard throughout the entirety of the country. So, while Radio 1 is directed at a more youthful audience it will play all kinds of music (except country, no one plays country, which I think is a blessing. Sorry country fans).

At first, I found this frustrating. I don't want to listen to Kid Rock followed by Rihanna. In a strange turn of events though, it's grown on me. And the most beautiful thing about the Radio over here is that the DJ's are allowed to talk about the music. If they think it's brilliant they'll say so and if they think it's rubbish they'll say that, too. They actually seem to love the music which I think is something that the US has lost in the corporate take-over of the airwaves.

Now it's time to pass on some of the great stuff I've been exposed to.
The Fratellis album "Costello Music" absolutely rocks and pretty much anything by the Kooks will make you feel good (thank you Shaun M for the introductions). These are available through Itunes.

Now the part that makes me REALLY angry....

There are some new songs out here that are really popular both here and on the continent but when I went to Itunes to see if they were available, I couldn't find them. Not until I pulled up the itunes UK store. Then, when I tried to log in, it immediately pushed me back to the US store where I couldn't get the music. Does this make any SENSE?!! I want to share music with my friends and they can't buy it!! No marketing, no concerts, no airplay and they could be making money and you can't buy it (if you wanted to)!!!!!! So, I had to set up a UK itunes account with my UK address and bankcard. So, I have the music and as soon as I can figure out how to share it, I will.

A Last Look at London

The last two weekends we've spent our Saturdays in London (check out Evan in front of the Paddington Bear statue at Paddington Station). The first time we went because it had been a good solid week of cold and rain and we just had to get out of the house so we checked out the London Science Museum. The London Science Museum is free and it's great! There are all kinds of cool exhibits about materials: the evolution of plastic was a great display (with thousands of the plastic strips you use to block the passage of contaminants/air between rooms), exhibits about space, cars, and best of all a place called Launchpad that is a hands-on activity area for kids where they can look through giant lenses, make giant bubbles, play with light, waves, pulleys, and build their own bridges out of foam blocks. It was a bit chaotic but lots of fun. Then we visited Covent Garden, a market area of London. It is also a place where the street performers congregate (sword swallowers, jugglers, etc..) so it was just an exciting place to be. We did a little shopping and headed home.

This last Saturday we drove to the London Zoo. It's on the outskirts of London so, while you can avoid the city congestion fee zone, you don't avoid the congestion. It was worth it, though. The zoo has a little bit of everything and it's laid out in a nice open plan so you feel a little closer to nature. There's a small aquarium there, the reptile house where they filmed a scene from Harry Potter (for you fans), there are animal shows where ferrets run around and parrots and hawks fly right over your head, and there's a playground, carousel, and butterfly house.

Disneyland Paris

Monday morning we arrived at our hotel at the Disneyland Resort Paris, Sequoia Lodge. Sean found it amusing that we booked a hotel that was built to mimic being in California.

It was a Redwood lodge type hotel with a rock pool and lots of pines trees but we didn't have time to check it out if we were going to make our early entrance into Disneyland.

We got to the park about 5 minutes before the general public was let in and hopped on the first ride we could find, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". It was a little tricky figuring out which rides were which since everything was in French and we were in a hurry so we didn't notice until after the ride the warning about it being scary for younger riders. While Evan didn't cry during the ride, he definitely was not smiling and was probably concerned about where exactly his parents had brought him for the day. (He also didn't cry during Pirates of the Caribbean which we felt we had to take him on as a rite of passage but he did hide under his hoodie for parts of it.)

Things improved after we took him on "Small World" and the "Casey Jr. Circus Train". Soon he was into it and was pointing to rides and getting excited.

Sean and I were also able to use the "baby switch" feature (for anyone going with small children). Baby switch allowed me to wait in line for Space Mountain 2 while Sean stayed with Evan and then when I got off the ride, I took Evan, and they let Sean get right on the next car. It was a beautiful thing (except for the part about me feeling really old while on the ride and wishing I had brought some advil). A really cool thing about staying in the park is that you can request purchases to be sent directly to your hotel so that you don't have to carry them around and you can have everything billed to your room. You can also get in two hours early, stay late, and have breakfast with the characters if you have time. That doesn't even account for the direct transport to your hotel, not having to pay for parking, and being able to fall directly into bed after your day of fun.

One little historical note about Disneyland Paris: In the beginning, Disneyland Paris was called EuroDisney and shunned by the French community. The French farmers picketed because it was built on formerly agricultural lands, French park-goers were turned off by the absence of wine at the park and the largely American-style food options, and Disney hemorrhaged money for years. While the park, now Disneyland Paris, is currently one of the most popular European vacation destinations and there was no shortage of French park-goers when we there, the signs of the early park struggles were evident. The park was fun, well-maintained, the food was very good, and we were still able to watch a very costly fireworks show from our hotel window on a Monday night. However, they don't have nearly as many rides as the other parks (Anaheim or Florida) and they have some areas that actually look like space fillers with walk through displays, etc.

Overall, it was a great time and actually the perfect starter park for Evan since we were able to do both Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios parks in one day but I'm glad to be able to plan my next Disney vacation at Anaheim.

More France

When we were at Mont-St-Michel, Evan had found some French kids in one of the grassy gardens who were playing hide-and-seek. He joined in immediately, despite the language barrier, and was soon bouncing with a small girl close to his age. Unfortunately, soon after we had arrived, the family had to leave and much crying followed. So, Sunday we decided to split our day between kid friendly and non-kid friendly activities. In the morning we went to a very cool War memorial, Musee de la Batterie de Crisbecq, where you could run around in one of the German's largest coastal artillery batteries with 1km of trenches and 21 linked blockhouses, renovated to show what they contained during wartime (checkout the picture of the bunker that received a direct hit). Evan seemed to enjoy it running up and down stairs and in and out of tunnels and into every random crevice and staircase he could find, even exploring the boxes and cabinets they had on display (which was allowed).

For lunch we went to the beach and played in the sand. After lunch we stopped by the Musee Memorial de la Bataille de Normandie, but Evan only got through about 15 minutes of the 25 minute informational movie and we had to leave, he was asking so many questions. Then he ran around looking at the trucks, jeeps, and tanks while Sean looked at some of the displays and I chased Evan. It was soon evident that not much was to be gained from the museum visit and we needed to move on to Paris anyway.

Sunday night we stayed at the Novotel Convention and Wellness Center at Charles de Gaulle airport and it was one of the best hotel experiences we had. The restaurant was excellent and child-friendly, the breakfast was wonderful (and included), and there was even a kid place in the hotel with a playstation and other activities. It was also great because we were able to completely avoid the Paris traffic and were only 30 minutes away from Disneyland.

Normandy

Our hotel was technically within Saint Malo, France. It was a wonderful place directly across the street from the beach and a stone path that ran all the way to the walled city of Calcane.

On our first night in France, after visiting Mont-Saint-Michel, we checked into our hotel and headed out for food. We found a pizza place about a block a way that seemed to be well-liked by the locals and kid-friendly. The best part was that one of our waiters was about 12 years old. He was a very nice boy who was very accommodating with my rusty French and special requests (2 spoons with dessert, more napkins, etc.). He always looked so proud when he brought something that I had asked for and had gotten it correct. It made for a great dining experience.

The next morning we walked to Calcane and took the path along the walls of the city where we found great views of the ocean and beautiful parks. About midday we checked out and headed for our next stop, Bayeux.

Bayeux was the first city in France freed by the Americans which is probably why it is still so beautiful today (rather than the pile of rubble that many of the other local cities became). It is also a great central location for check out the WW2 memorials and seeing the beaches where the allied forces landed.

The thing that was truly amazing about visiting this area today is that it is still a very rural place. I can't imagine that it looks much different than it did then which gives you a great feel for the experiences of both the soldiers and the French farmers who were there during that time. Another great thing about Bayeux is that it has a market on Saturdays. We were able to wander around town, eat some gelato, and that evening we headed to Pointe du Hoc, one of the WW2 memorials.

Pointe du Hoc is a cliff located between the Omaha and Utah beaches. An important target during WW2 since the Germans had an entrenched battalion and guns on the cliff to literally keep the Allied landing forces at bay.

(The following was shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia) The plan called for the three companies of Rangers to be landed by sea at the foot of the cliffs, scale them using ropes, ladders, and grapples under enemy fire, and engage the enemy at the top of the cliff. This was to be carried out before the main landings.

Despite initial setbacks because of weather and navigational problems, resulting in a 40-minute delay and loss of surprise, the cliffs were scaled and the strongpoint was assaulted successfully, with relatively light casualties.

The costliest part of the battle for the Rangers came after the cliff assault. Determined to hold the vital ground, yet isolated from other assault forces, they fended off several German counterattacks over the next two days, until reinforced from Omaha Beach. The original plans called for an additional, larger Ranger force of eight companies to follow the first attack, if successful. Flares from the clifftops were to signal this second wave to join the attack, but because of the delayed landing, the signal came too late, and the other Rangers, mostly of the U.S. 5th Ranger Battalion, landed on Omaha instead of Pointe du Hoc.

The added impetus these 500+ Rangers provided on the stalled Omaha Beach landing has been conjectured to have averted a disastrous failure there, since they carried the assault beyond the beach, into the overlooking bluffs and outflanked the German defenses. At the end of the 2-day action, the initial Ranger landing force of 225+ was reduced to about 90 men who could still fight.

The earth is still scarred with massive craters and collapsed bunkers from the battle.

Go, Go, Go...

Since we last posted we have been to Ireland, had an England family reunion, and gone to France. Evan got to meet his Irish cousins, and his English cousins and a fun time was had by all.

Then there was France. Ever since I can remember I have wanted to see Mont-Saint-Michel a rock island with a city built upon it. The coolest thing about it is that during certain times of the year the sandy areas around the island are submerged, so with the exception of the road. The city truly becomes an island again. The sign I took a picture of says, "Today, the sea does not cover this carpark."

The city has been there almost a thousand years. At the very top of the rock is an Abby where they housed prisoners during some periods. They would lock the prisoners in a room in the Abby (I would call it the dungeons but technically, the rooms are a few floors above ground). They would have some of the prisoners walk like hamsters in a giant wheel to load food from boats into the city. The prisoners would prefer this task since it meant they got a little more food themselves but many of them died there since there was no heat and they were next to a large open window area.

The city was fascinating. There were passageways that you would have to walk sideways to get through and there were doors in the passageways (escape routes?).

Unfortunately, it took us between 8 and 10 hours of driving to get there. We had originally scheduled to fly to Paris and drive but so many people told us France wasn't that far we decided to pack up the car and drive it instead. This meant we would have to take the Eurotunnel.


The Eurotunnel is an experience in and of itself. You drive on to the train cars (like in "The Italian Job") and you sit in silence while the train takes you under the English Channel in 36 minutes. The ride was so smooth that you don't even know you are going about 90mph. You get to France and just go (no one even checked our passports).

While we in the Mont-St-Michel region (Normandy) we also checked out some other fascinating sights: Calcane (a walled city) and The beaches at Normandy.