Leeds Castle

We had heard that rains of biblical proportions were heading our way this weekend. So when we woke up on Saturday and found a beautiful blue sky we knew we had to take advantage. We decided to go to Leeds Castle, which strangely enough is not in Leeds but in Maidstone. Off we went to the train station to catch the train. A few weeks earlier we bought a family discount card which gives us a pretty good discount. As luck would have it, we just missed a train so we got sandwiches and caught the 12:18. By the time we got to our station near the Castle, it was about 1:30. Just in time to catch the 2:00 bus to the castle. If it came. Which it doesn’t - after November 1. We still have so much to learn. A local told us the castle was about 5 miles away. We knew that we would not be able to walk to the castle, tour it and then walk back without a major teenage rebellion. So we decided to walk through the little town, get some exercise, have an early dinner and then head back. Leeds Castle would have to wait for another day. As we were walking downtown, a bus passed us by and stopped on the road. The driver asked us if we were wanting to go to Leeds Castle. When we told him we did, he explained that he took people that had an all-in-one ticket (roundtrip train ticket + castle admission), which we did not but he agreed to sell us a bus ticket and take us there. Yay! Day saved. Although how would we get back. The driver showed us a road right by the castle that would take us to another train station. That station was only about 1 ½ miles from the Castle. We thought we could do that. We knew we could do it when the driver told Chizz there was a good pub down that road!

So we made it to the castle. It is pretty impressive. It actually looks like a castle, where some we have seen don't really look like what you expect a castle to look like. The grounds are very impressive. They have a duckery (every castle should have one) which included ducks, swans, geese, a beautiful pond area. The grounds also include a maze, an aviary, vineyard etc.

We toured inside the castle which is privately owned now. Its last owner was a woman whose uncle was one of the Whitney family of New York and she was a Standard Oil heiress. She married an englishman and bought Leeds castle in the 1920s. She restored quite a bit of it but also used it as her home. It was decorated for Christmas but I think I would have rather not seen it decorated. I didn't care much for the decorations, apparently money doesn't always buy taste. When she died in 1974, the castle was made part of a foundation and is still owned by the foundation today. It is used as a conference center and meeting place. It also sometimes hosts small weddings. Auntie S - want me to check availability?

After we are done touring the castle, we decide to tour the grounds a bit.
Problem -remember those biblical rains - now they come!! We brought our umbrellas but there were also gale force winds but we soldier on. We decide to forego the maze, that will have to wait for a better weather day but we do take in the aviary. Quite a few parrots, macaws that type of bird. We also went through the strangest museum I have ever seen. The Dog Collar Museum. Okay. We went in, they claim to have 400 collars. I am not sure I saw all of them or needed to see all of them. I am not sure if it had anything to do with the rain or the theme of the museum but it did smell alot like wet dog in there. We spent like 2 minutes, and I think Chizz would say it was a minute and a half too long.

By this time, it is raining pretty hard and that walk back to the train station is looking pretty bleak. But we have to get there eventually so we might as well start back when it was still a bit light out So off we go, back through the grounds heading toward the road. We did see a black swam on our way back. We have seen several black swans since we have been here and they are pretty interesting.

We slogged through the mud and pretty hard rain, struggling with our umbrellas. At about a mile or so into the trip, we came across a pub - The Windmill. We sloshed inside. Wet through and through. The waitress couldn't have been nicer. They had a big table by a huge fireplace, I am sure Kiki & Snake could have stood up in it. She took our coats and hung them up so they would dry and basically fussed over us for a few minutes. Our clothes were soaked and I didn't look, but I am sure we left puddles under that table. We ate dinner and by the second beer, we were feeling pretty good. The rain had let up by the time and we were starting to warm up quite a bit. The food was great and the atmosphere perfect. It had all the things we like in a pub, beer, big fireplace, beer, good food, beer, low beamed ceilings, beer. Well fortified,and the rain having subsided greatly, we walked the next half mile to the train station. We were in luck, we only had to wait a few minutes until the next train.

By the time we got back to London, the rain had started again - this time harder even still. We practically swam back to the flat from the tube station. There was one gust of wind that almost blew Chizz out into the street and managed to mangle 2 of our 3 umbrellas. Another day "enjoying" nature in the country. Come visit us!!

Love Brussels, the City Not Necessarily the Sprouts

We had a few days before Christmas and decided to take a quick train trip to Brussels. It takes about 2 hours on the Eurostar. You barely have time to finish a beer or two, barely. It was beautiful.
Belgium is known for quite a few things - waffles, beer and chocolate to name a few, a very important few. I swear the minute you step off the train you can smell the chocolate. I am fairly convinced that they pipe the smell into the station. We went to the Christmas market right off the Grand Place (the huge town square). They had many booths with decorations, food, crafts and other items. Kiki & Snake got waffles with whipped cream and chocolate syrup from a street vendor. Chizz & I chose more "adult" fare, gluhwein - which I think is German for warm wine. I say it is German for good!! Right up my fair loving alley. The Grand Place had a nativity scene with live animals in the manger. Also, there were projected lighted images on the buildings set to music. Reindeer, snowflakes, bubbles. It was pretty cool to see these images projected on the dark buildings. The buildings were beautiful. The Grand Place is also where the Chocolate Museum is located. It has several floors dedicated to the history of chocolate. I am not sure I would call it fascinating but they did give out free samples. There aren't too many museums where they do that or you WANT them to give out free samples. "Here you go, here is a free sample of a carbon dated rock".

Several blocks away there is another plaza where all the major chocolatiers (is that a word, should be) have stores. We tasted chocolate at Wittamer, Godiva, Neuhaus, Pierre Marcolini, Galler. The kids and Chizz went from shop to shop to shop. I can only eat so much chocolate but it was fun watching.


One of the strangest stops on our trip was to see the statue called Manneken Pis. It is a figurine of a little boy, well, relieving himself.
The statue sits upon a fountain and is believed to be around 400 years old. The statute is very often dressed in some kind of costume. Since our trip was in December, he was dressed appropriately. He is reported to have 600 different costumes including an Elvis costume, a condom he wore for World Aids day and a samurai costume. The costumes are on display at a local museum and there is a society in charge of changing the costume of the statue, usually monthly.

We also took a quick train trip to Brugge, a town not far from Brussels. They also have a Christmas market and a fair. It seems like the entire town is lit up with little sparkling lights. One interesting thing about this town is everyone rides bicycles. Everywhere you look there are bikes parked here or there. This is picture of just some of the bikes parted at the train station, there were three other bike pavilions just like this one Unbelievable.

All in all a great get away. One more interesting item. One thing that we have discovered about teenagers, particularly teenage boys, is that there is some regression as they get older. Just like infants, teenage boys have to eat every 2-3 hours. So we have taken to carrying a few provisions in our backpack for when Snake gets hungry so we don't have to stop at a restaurant or snack bar as soon as we get somewhere. Usually cookies, crackers, fruit or something. This time, I brought a few apples from home. When we were coming back on the train, you have to go through security, customs, immigration just like we did when we left London. Kiki, Snake and I sailed through these checkpoints rather quickly. Unfortunately for Chizz, he was pulled aside when they searched his backpack at the Brussels train station on our return. They found the knife that I had put in the apple bag a few days earlier. No big deal we thought, they will just confiscate the knife. It was just a cheap little knife. Nope. The security officer told Chizz,"Just put the knife in the bottom of your bag." Right. Like Snake said, they would probably tell a terrorist, "Its okay to bring your bomb onboard, just put it at the bottom of your bag". That certainly would be a deterrent. "I would take my bomb out now, but it is at the bottom of my bag and its just not worth the trouble getting it out". It would be easy to mock the Belgian security (which I just did) but the people in London didn't find the knife either. Don't you feel secure? Me too.

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight (and that is what I mean)!

One thing that I love and hate about London at the same time, is its ability to not get caught up in all the politically correct mumbo jumbo that seems to permeate our society right now. Sometimes I am appalled at some of the op-ed pieces I read in the newspapers that I feel are obtuse and hateful. But other times, it is refreshing to hear someone speak exactly what they mean. It is especially notable at the holiday season. No one here is afraid to say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Christmas”. The shopkeepers, pub workers, policemen, will all greet you with a “Merry Christmas”. I haven’t heard Happy Holidays once!

In the United States we have all gotten so afraid of offending the other person that it has reached the ridiculous when it comes to the Holidays. Christian politicians cannot say Merry Christmas or send a greeting card with the nativity scene on it without being told they are “offending” their constituents that aren’t Christians. The Seattle Airport took down all of its Christmas trees display when a rabbi complained. They were afraid to be involved in a lengthy, costly lawsuit. For what? First of all, I don’t think a Christmas tree has a particularly religious connotation any more than Santa Claus does. I don’t recall hearing that either one of them was at the manger. Secondly, so what? Let’s stop keeping score. Two Christmas trees? Need two menorahs!! Or Two Kinaras? Put up a few menorahs if you want or don’t. Apparently when we say Merry Christmas we are really saying “Merry-Christmas-my-religion-and-beliefs-are-more-important-than-yours-you-should-feel-belittled-and-less-of-person-I-am-better-than-you”. I couldn't find a card that expressed that sentiment here (but remember I had trouble finding any kind of appropriate holiday card here). Why can’t people just send a card that expresses their personal joy at this holiday season and have the recipient not feel slighted, offended or a little piqued? Can I get a Happy Hanukkah card from one of my Jewish friends without having to feel that there is some hidden meaning in the card? Why must we use the bland “Happy Holidays” one size fits all greeting this time of year? I wouldn't feel offended if I went somewhere and someone answered my Merry Christmas with a “and a Happy Hanukkah” or a “Happy Kwanza” to you. I think that is the beauty of living in this time, we are exposed to so many different cultures, religions and ideas. Don’t we have enough to worry about right now without worrying what someone is saying when they wish you a “Merry Christmas”? Can't it just mean “Merry Christmas”?

So here, Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you have a great time whatever holiday you celebrate. I personally celebrate Christmas, so that is why I use that greeting. Happy Christmas, Happy Christmas, Happy Christmas!!

Christmas Card Confessions

Bless me friends and family, it has been one year since my last Christmas card to you and it will another year before you see my next card. I had these grand plans of sending you all a photo card of Kiki & Snake in some fun European destination. The photo wasn’t the problem, I had cutes ones of them in Paris, skating in front of the Tower of London, at the Cathedral in Canterbury and messing around at the Dickens Fair. The problem, you ask? I am glad you asked (or I asked for you). Apparently photo cards are not that popular here. I looked all over for the kind of card where you either insert the card into a sleeve in the front or you stick the card on the front with some double sided tape. There were none to be found. Then I thought I might make the kind of cards like you can get at Costco, where I have gotten mine for the last few years, where they print the photo and have a large margin for the greeting. Last year our picture was from Mexico and our greeting – Feliz Navidad. Get it? But I couldn’t find those either. I didn’t think it would be so tough. Even at this late date in Northern California, I could either get them printed at Costco or buy some photo cards at a stationary store. They might not have the design I want but I could find something I could live with. So I thought to myself, “Self, maybe you could find a cute Christmas card with some easily recognized London landmark, say like Big Ben or the Parliament or Buckingham Palace, and insert said cute photo of kids in the envelope.” But I couldn’t find one, cute or otherwise. I let myself down! So I give up. But I promise next year to have a card. I guarantee it! How can I be so sure? Because when I get home this summer, I am going to order them online in the US and take them back with me. That’s how.

So what kinds of Christmas cards are popular here? Well, most of the cards I see are what they call “charity” cards. Meaning that if you buy these cards, a certain percentage of the price goes to that particular charity. You can find them for churches, the cancer society, etc. Very noble. Apparently though, most of the people that buy these charity cards like pictures of little birds in the snow or children pulling sleds up hills or ducks flying over a pond. Nothing says Christmas like a duck flying over a pond. (???)

So forgive me friends and family, we will have no card this year. It doesn’t mean we don’t love or miss you. In fact I think it shows how much we care when we care enough not to send ugly cards. It is our Christmas gift to you that keeps on giving. Happy Christmas (that’s what we say in England) and Best Wishes for a Wonderful New Year.



UPDATE***** After I finished this post, I found some photo cards at a department store. I am still not buying them because it cost 5.95 pounds for 5 cards. Plus there is extra postage. So my rough calculations are that it would cost me about $375-$400 to send photo cards. So I am not. What the heck, we haven’t been gone that long – you remember what Kiki & Snake look like, just add a few inches to their height and you will have the mental picture. Happy Holidays!

O'Little Town of Bethlehem, or whatever

Last Sunday night we finished off our weekend at a “Carol Service”. Apparently this is a British tradition. You go to church and hear nine different readings from the bible leading up to the birth of Christ, interspersed with a hymn and a Christmas Carol. They have these services the Sunday immediately before Christmas (unless Christmas falls on a Sunday or Monday). It was pretty interesting. We were invited to attend by a work colleague of Chizz. His wife is the priest in charge at this particular church. It was a lovely service. For a good portion of the night, all of the parishioners held lit candles. It was beautiful and we managed not to light anything or anyone on fire. The parishioners really got into the service and sang the carols with gusto. There are a lot of Christmas Carols that I had never heard of – “Out of Your Sleep” , “What Sweeter Music” and “Sussex Carol” to name a few. I was getting discouraged perusing the program. I hardly knew any of the songs. Wait, here was one I knew and I liked it “O, Little Town of Bethlehem”. I was excited and I started to sing, when I realized the tune was completely different. The words the same but the music was strange. Another thing I noticed, when I did know the song there were verses I had never seen before. Maybe in the US we get the abridged version of carols so we don’t lose interest, like we have Christmas Carol ADD. I didn’t know any carols had more than 4 verses. According to the program last night, “O Come All Ye Faithful” has 7 verses, 4 of which I am sure I have never heard before. We in the U.S. have been subjected to Carols lite. Rise up!!

After the service, we went back to the vicarage where the priest and her husband, Chizz’s work colleague live. About 15 people were invited back for a bite to eat. We had a great dinner and some even better mulled wine. Kiki & Snake were the only young people there and they represented well. They managed small talk and helped the host clear the dinner plates and serve coffee. We are hoping to hire them out during the holiday season for some extra cash.

It was the first time we were invited to a completely British function. We were the only Americans there. I think we did pretty well, we managed not to put our foots in our mouths or cause any international incidents. Although I did point out that they had the tune to O’Little Town of Bethlehem wrong. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

London Weekend

It has been a beautiful weekend. The weather a bracing 40 degrees, not so cold that you couldn’t walk around but cold enough to wear gloves and your scarf and be grateful for them. Chizz and I decided we wanted to go see the huge Christmas tree in Trafalgar square and we nominated Snake to accompany us. Kiki had already set off shopping with a friend. We wanted to go when it was close to dark so we would be able to enjoy the lights so we left at 3:00 p.m.! We took the bus downtown. The bus route travels through Oxford Street, the main shopping area in London. The sidewalks were just jammed full of Christmas shoppers. As much as I love shopping, I don’t think I would have enjoyed having to elbow my way through that crowd. Down Regent Street, less crowed but still pretty full and we got off the bus at Trafalgar Square. The tree is right in the middle of the square in front of the National Gallery. A little bit of trivia about the tree. It has been a gift every year from the Norwegian people to the English people as a thank you for saving their bacon, so to speak, in World War II. Each year someone from the royal family in Norway comes and lights the tree. The tree is about 25 meters tall which approximately 80 feet. However, it is nice to know that the City of London has the same problems as we do with our Christmas tree. I read a few days ago in the paper a story about when the tree arrived at the square. They had set up the crane and were lowering the tree into the stand when they found out the trunk was too big for the stand!
So they had to shave down the trunk – twice – so it would fit. We lucked out because they had a small band and choral group singing Christmas carols in front of the tree. It was lovely, all the people standing on the stairs of the National Gallery singing Christmas carols. Just Snake’s cup of tea. Right.

The next morning we decided to head over to Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. Speaker’s Corner is a section of Hyde Park where on Sunday morning anyone that cares to can spout off about any topic they want for as long as they want. Sometimes they will draw a crowd and the audience will participate by yelling out comments to the speaker or contrary points of view. The speaker will generally engage back. Usually the speaker brings a step stool or ladder so they can see above the crowd. We went 3 ½ years ago when we were first here with the kids. That was right in the height of the Iraq war and the speakers were very political and very, very, anti-american. I can still remember how surprised the kids were to hear someone speak so vehemently against the U.S. I prepared the kids that they might hear a lot of the same again. Not really. Most of the speakers today were religious fanatics in one way or another. It’s true. Some of them hold up signs while they are talking. One sign we saw today, “To follow Jesus, you must reject God”. Then there was the man who proclaimed in his sign he was a “Christian atheist”. It wasn’t really as much fun as it has been in the past but I think that is the beauty of Speaker’s Corner – on any given Sunday, there can be any different mix of speakers. Sometimes it is fascinating, sometimes not.

But there was something else pretty interesting at Speaker’s Corner. Actually someone. Chizz sidles over to me and says “look at that tall guy over there, he looks familiar”. “Isn’t that Rick Steves?” For those of you that don’t know him, Rick Steves is a travel guy who has travel shows on public television and the Travel Channel. He also has a very successful line of guidebooks. When we were planning our move here, we watched his program every week to get in the mood! I wasn’t so sure, so we followed him from speaker to speaker to get a better look. I prefer the word ‘follow’; Kiki used the word ‘stalk’. Yes, that was him alright. He was very interested in the speakers and went from group to group listening and even took a few pictures with his digital camera. He laughed quite a bit at some of the give and take between the speakers and the crowd. I don’t think anyone else recognized him or if they did, you couldn’t tell. When we got home, I checked his website for a picture and I am definitely sure that was him. Especially since I saw on the website, he is leading a tour of London starting this afternoon. That’s what I love about the internet, it makes it easier to stal- I mean follow people. Based on the tour itinerary posted on the website we might just “run into” Rick again, say on Saturday at the British Museum. Stalk, follow, stalk, follow, who’s to say?

THE Reason My Mom Could Never Live Here

Those of you who know my mom know that one of her many talents is the ability to scope out a bargain or two. In fact she is so renowned in this area, that nothing pleases my sisters and me more than to get a better bargain than her. We are known to crow about it for years (mostly because it doesn’t happen that often and we lead very empty lives). Another one of her fortes is to always have the right gift box for any gift. That is mainly because my mother has never thrown away a gift box. I am pretty sure never in her entire life. We have gift boxes in our house that date back to the Nixon administration (the first one). They don’t get thrown out, they disintegrate. My mother considers it a mortal sin to buy an item (regardless of whether it is a gift or not) at a department store or any store for that matter, and not ask for a complimentary gift box. It doesn’t matter whether you need the box now, you will need it later. She has been with me in a store when I have neglected to ask for a box and the intake of breath was so sharp I thought she was having an asthma attack and couldn’t breathe. And don’t even get her started about paying for gift boxes. She believes those who pay for gift boxes deserve to be gouged because they didn’t plan ahead. Although we had better not pay for a gift box in her presence.

The reason I got on this subject is that I am in full Christmas shopping swing. I have been for a few weeks, it just takes longer when you have to bring it home on the bus (I know I talk about that a lot but it is a pain!). A few weeks ago, I bought a clothing item in the John Lewis department store, which is London’s Macys. I asked for a gift box. The woman looked at me very strangely, “What is it you are wanting, a gift box?” “Yes”, I said very slowly “In . . . order . . . to. . . wrap. . . the . . .clothing”. I wasn’t sure if we had a language issue or I spoke too fast or what. I pointed out it was a Christmas gift and she said “Oh, well we wouldn’t have those yet – its not Christmas”. It was November 27. She assured me that they would have them within a few weeks. I have been back to that store three times, they don’t have gift boxes and they won’t be getting them. They don’t give away complimentary gift boxes!! What?!!? And before you get on John Lewis, I have been to other stores in London and they don’t give them out either. It is worthy to note though that even the concept of a complimentary gift box is foreign here. A few times when I have asked I have been treated to such odd looks that I have wondered whether “gift box” is some drug euphemism I don’t know about. “C’mon baby, just give me a small ‘gift box’ to get me through the night” or “Jeez, did you see Jake he got some bad ‘gift box’ yesterday”.

So Mother, I just had to let you know about the gift box problem in this country. I am thinking of starting some kind of gift box awareness campaign. I will let you know how it goes. But in the meantime, I may have to buy gift boxes this year. I know, I know, it serves me right. I didn’t plan ahead by moving my gift boxes trans-atlantically. Forgive me?

O' Tannenbaum!

Never having lived in city before (okay, okay, I lived in SF before, but I didn't buy a tree there), we weren't quite sure how to go about getting a tree. Usually we drove to a Christmas tree lot or two, found the perfect tree and loaded it on our car. Since we don't have a car, we couldn't do two of those three things. So I did some research and found a lot close to our home. The kids, actually having social lives, abdicated their roles in choosing the tree to Chizz and I. So off we went in search of our first international tree. It was a crystal clear morning and a brisk 39 degrees but it was a nice walk. We walked through a neighborhood that we have never been through before and that is always interesting.

We arrived at the lot and surveyed the trees. The lot is really just a corner sidewalk with a few trees scattered here and there. At most 20 trees opened up but there were some trees still in their netting waiting to be opened and displayed. We were happy to discover that trees cost pretty much the same as in our old neighborhood in California. I didn't like any of the trees that were currently being displayed. One was too tall, this one too bare, the next one too bushy, another too short. My name is Wendy, and I am a Christmas-tree-aholic. I have to look at every tree and make the tree lot staff open up more trees. After looking and rejecting several trees, the lot guy finally asked me to tell him what was wrong with the trees I had been rejecting so he might be able to help us find the perfect tree. So I told him, it couldn’t be too tall, too small, too bushy, too sparse; it had to have the right shape and the right kind of top branch for the star. For some reason, he didn’t find those words helpful. Finally after three more trees lost their white plastic coats, we found our tree. It is not perfect but it is good. All three of us, Chizz, me and the tree lot guy heaved big sighs of relief.

After paying for the tree and the new stand, I told Chizz this place would deliver, which my friend the tree guy confirmed they could deliver later that night between 7 - 10 p.m. For £14.95 (about $30.00). I was already to sign up but Chizz heard £14.95 and the next thing I know, he is picking up our tree and walking down the block. Mind you it is probably 15 city blocks to our home, with an 8 ft Christmas tree on his shoulder. We had a few rest breaks, an 8 ft tree is not heavy as it is awkward. Finally the cavalry came in the form of a lean 13-year-old boy, Snake. With one at the top of the tree and the other carrying the trunk, we made it home.

It has been decorated and here it is- our first International Tree. OOOOOh! AAAAAh!

Quick! Get Me My Ruby Slippers!

Yesterday, we woke up to pounding rain. Not unusual in London. In fact most days lately include some rain. We are learning not to go anywhere, even to the corner to buy a newspaper, without our umbrellas in hand. Even if you wake up to blue sky, it is wise to tuck a small one in your purse, backpack or pocket. Included in yesterday’s rain was a pretty powerful wind, which really renders umbrellas quite useless.

I have a new friend here in London and we have made it our goal in the first year to go to all the big shopping areas. We are methodically checking them off our list, one by one. So yesterday was Sloane Square. That is the neighborhood where Princess Diana lived before she was married and before she was a Princess. So while we were in the sports store buying Snake some swim goggles, it just started raining like crazy. A bit of hail came down and because of the wind, it just pelted the windows. It sounded like someone throwing dozens of pebbles at the windows continuously. The shop workers were freaked and urged us to stay in the store until the hail was over. We were glad to oblige. When we walked to the next store, it was only raining but we really couldn’t use our umbrellas. So we just stayed in the stores a bit longer than we usually would and amused ourselves. You can guess how.

When I get home, I hear that a tornado had touched down in London. Holy Wicked Witch of the West, Batman!! It happened right around the time of the hail. Not in the neighborhood we were in but very close to where we live. It damaged 100 homes, 24 are completely destroyed. Pretty amazing. I guess it is not that surprising so much damage was done given the density of housing in London. I would think it would be the same amount of damage if a tornado had touched down in San Francisco. The neighborhood this happened in is just 2 neighborhoods over, a 20-minute bus ride – which isn’t that far. Apparently the winds were clocked at 130 mph.

Now weird coincidence. Kiki is going to see the play Wicked tonight in London with some of her friends (her third time). For those of you just coming out of your 4 year old coma, Wicked is a play about the good witch and bad witch in the Wizard of Oz and how they met many years prior to Dorothy, Toto, The Scarecrow, et. al. I shudder to think what might have happened to London if she was going to see Dirty Dancing instead!

A Tale of Two Cities

You may recall I mentioned traveling through Rochester on our way to Canterbury when our friends from Boston were visiting. At the time I saw an advertisement for a “Dickensian Christmas Fair” this past weekend and I must admit, I was intrigued. Dickens apparently spent much of his childhood in Rochester area and it is the background for some of his works, such as the Pickwick Papers and the Mystery of Edwin Drood. It also has a cathedral and the ruins of a castle, so I knew Chizz would go. As for the children, we did what any normal parents would – we forced them. So we left London for the day in Rochester.

We are getting good at going places by train, but we are learning the trains are less frequent on Sundays. Nevertheless, we arrived at Rochester and we prepared for a cute, small town festival. It was extremely quaint and although the town is small, the festival is not. It pretty much takes over the entire town. I think just about the entire town dresses up as some character from one of Dickens’ stories. We saw Scrooge, Mr. Pickwick and his gentlemen friends, Miss Havisham, the ghost of Christmas past. The main street has adorable little shops. At several points on the main street, they had “snow” machines, which blew fake snow all over the place. This festival took up the whole town. There were street performers, carnival rides, mulled wine booths, craft fairs. It was great.

All of this lost on Chizz of course. We did do a tour of the castle ruins at Rochester. They are pretty interesting. The castle was built sometime before 1086 A.D by the Normans. The castle isn’t completely ruined; it is really more of a shell. In the main part of the building, there are no floors but you can see where the floor joists were and it is not hard to imagine people living there. You can walk up the steep side staircases to certain parts of the castle that are still intact. It must have been very, very cold and dark there a majority of the time. Apparently it was here that King Henry VIII met Anne of Cleves, his 4th wife. You may recall that Anne is the wife that Henry VIII felt deceived about. Because he was very shallow, he was concerned only about her looks and sent people to spy on her prior to the marriage to make sure she was attractive. These spies were worried about how they should represent her so essentially they lied to him, telling him the 16th century equivalent of “she has a good personality”. I think this is the reason they brought her to Rochester Castle to meet him for the first time, it is so dark there after 3:30 in the afternoon, that you can’t really see very well. The darkness along with the flickering candlelight probably prevented him from getting a good look at her there. By the time the wedding wine wore off, he was stuck.

At dark, there was a parade led by an all bagpipe band. Then all the characters marched through carrying candle lanterns, and a few military bands dressed in period costumes. By the time the parade was over, the cathedral was closed. We will save that for another time.

All in all a good day. Although I have decided that I will no longer take Chizz to any event that has the words fair or festival in them, he just doesn’t enjoy them. Unless, of course, the word “beer” precedes the words fair or festival.