Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree

Last night we went to Trafalgar Square. We saw the Christmas Tree sent by the people of Norway. I wrote about it here. But since I didn't take a picture last year, I thought I would do it this year. Here it is:



That is Big Ben in the background. Pretty nice, huh?

Sorry, We've been making rather Merry!!

That is what Bob Cratchit said to Mr. Scrooge after coming in late the day after Christmas. We, also, have been making rather merry since we got back from Vienna. I will blog about our trip later.

We came back from Vienna on Sunday, just barely. Our plan was to arrive in Heathrow about the same time as our nephew, Raoul was arriving from the States. That was our plan, anyway. Of course, it didn't actually happen like that. When we arrived at the airport in Vienna, we waited for our flight to be called when about 1/2 hour before it was scheduled to depart it disappeared from the departures screen. Never a good sign. We were told that it was canceled because of bad weather in Heathrow. We went to the service center and we very surprised to be rescheduled fairly easily considering it was 2 days before Christmas on another flight that afternoon. The problem was that the flight arrived some 4 hours after Raoul was to be there. We left a message on his cell phone but were concerned he wasn't getting the messages. He wasn't. As it turned out there was very, very, bad fog at Heathrow. I have never seen anything like it, we were landing and descending for what seemed like forever and then all of the sudden we were on the runway. You couldn't see it at all. It was an impressive bit of flying, considering the pilot couldn't see the runway. We met up with Raoul, who did the absolutely, right thing and stayed where he was. He had been watching all these flights get canceled or diverted. Imagine flying from South America, expecting to land in London and end up in Paris? They also diverted flights to Manchester, even worse. Over 200 flights (arriving and departed) were canceled over the weekend. So I think a four hour delay isn't bad considering we might not have gotten in at all. As you can imagine the airport was incredibly croweded with all the canceled flights, and people trying to figure out what to do. Eventually the aiport just gave up. They stopped letting people into the terminal and tried to kick everyone else out. They made announcements over the loud speaker telling people that no flights were going to be rebooked at the airport and people would just need to leave the terminal, and rebook by phone. Basically, sorry we canceled your flight, we aren't going to reschedule today, get out, Merry Christmas! I am still feeling very lucky we got in at all.

So Raoul came to London because he is on his way to Africa for a game drive. I had been saying safari but he very sweetly pointed out to me that a safari meant you would be shooting animals and he won't be doing any of that (thank goodness!). But what an experience for him!! I am very envious and I know he will have super time, I can't wait to see his photos.

We had a rather low key Christmas. The WTF family came down with colds in
Vienna so we have been a bit low energy. We managed to go on Christmas Eve to the Winter Wonderland they had set up in Hyde Park. There were rides and foods and a German Christmas market. It was fun. Raoul tried some goulasch soup which he liked quite a bit. After Vienna, the weather seemed rather mild but Raoul assured me it was cold and we outfitted him with gloves and additional sweaters. It is hard packing for London and Kenya in the same trip!!
Father Christmas was there, which I think he was cutting it rather close being there with his big night ahead. We wandered around a bit, bought some candy and made our way home on a double decker bus.

On Christmas it rained all day. Also no public transport runs so it gave us a good excuse to sit around, drink mimosas and do nothing. Like we need an excuse to sit around, drink mimosas and do nothing but still it is nice to have an excuse anyway. The kids worked on a puzzle all day long. Chizz and I helped out just enough to be able to take credit for some of it. Here is the finished product! It is a scene of London, if you can't tell.

It was a nice Christmas. We opened presents the next day and I am still recovering from that and I might have a word or two to blog about Father Christmas and his choices. I hope everyone else enjoyed their holidays as well. God Bless Us Every One! (Okay, everyone knows that one!!)

Hell

I went to Hell today, so now when people tell me to go there (you would be surprised, or not, how many times that comes up in a week) I can say I have already been there. In London, Hell takes the form of the Saville Row branch of Abercrombie and Fitch 5 days before Christmas. Kiki had her eye on a little sweater there and I went to see if I could find one today. What made it hellish? Well, it wasn't exactly the models from the catalog there today signing autographs wearing ski vests and no shirts. Nor was it the achingly beautiful salespeople who pounce on you if your eye rests on a t-shirt for more than 5 seconds, "Can I help you find a size or a different color". I also don't think it was the incredibly loud music that made the jeans vibrate off the shelves or the stench of the perfume being sprayed consistently. No what made it hell was that there was not one sweater in that place. Not a one. It is December. What did they have instead? Flip flops, shorts, camisole tops, bikinis. It was 35 degrees in London today. I do not need a groundhog to tell me we have more than 6 weeks of winter left in London. In fact I think without exaggeration we can double that. We have at least 12 weeks of winter yet, and all I can buy is a bikini at this store? I don't think so. Sorry Kiki.

Reason #10,587

There are many reasons why I love Chizz. There are the obvious ones, he is handsome, smart, makes me laugh, a good father, takes the dead things out of our backyard in California (not just the plants, the animals too!). The not so obvious ones - he can sleep anywhere, he is just about always in a good mood, when I broke the back window in our about 2 month old Explorer - the first thing he asked was "are you okay" not "are you crazy" (the answer to both questions - yes.)

Today another reason - a huge one. I was taking the garbage out from our flat this morning and locked myself out. The problem, I was having a group of women over - in about 1/2 hours time. I called him from a neighbor's phone, not one I had known before and I am not so sure I made a good impression this time, so I am thinking she will probably be avoiding me in the future. His response? "I will be right there." No hesitation, no "I have a really important meeting in 5 minutes", no heavy sigh, no problem. He just came. In about record time. His office is all the way on the other side of town, 2 tube transfers. He just came with the keys and just opened the door, and then left. That simple, like I asked him to take out the trash (which I think I will from now on because obviously I can't be trusted).

And that is reason 10,587 and there are 10,000 more. All of which I will be happy to tell you when we meet next!! What a great guy and I am a lucky girl.

Round Up the Usual Suspects

The computer issues continued for the better part of last week, but I think we finally have it under control. (That might be the most dangerous problem, thinking I have it under control.)

Chizz and I went to a football (soccer for you Americans) match yesterday between the Queens Park Rangers and the Wolves. Doesn't Queen Park Rangers sound like a made-up musical group, -- every time I hear the name I think Bay City Rollers. S-a-t-u-r-d-a-y night. Anyway, we went with one of Chizz's work colleagues and her partner/boyfriend, whatever you call him. He is very much like Chizz, never met a pub he didn't like and likes to try to find an interesting pub everywhere we go. So we met for a quick drink before going to the match. I found out that they do not serve alcohol at most soccer matches, which surprised me. After being at the game though, I can see where alcohol would add a whole new element which might not be on the positive side.

At matches here, they do side seating. So if you are a Queen's Park Rangers Fan, you have a certain section to sit in and if you are a Wolves fan you sit in another. There is no mixing of the fans. You won't find a rogue Wolves fan sitting in the midst of a QPR section. So you buy a ticket for either the home section or the away section. I asked what would happen if, for example, the side you wanted to sit in was sold out and you bought a ticket in the other section? "Why, why would you do that?" Bruce's work friend asked in a kind of panicked voice as if I had just suggested we drop kick a bunch of puppies. I just want to know. What would happen if you were an away team supporter and you got a ticket in the home section? After assuring me that this would never, ever happen and she was only indulging me in a hypothetical fashion because it would never, ever happen, she explained to me probably nothing, as long as you didn't cheer AT ALL for the other team, you didn't wear the opposing teams colors and you didn't let on in any way that you were an interloper. But at the same time, our hosts couldn't fathom why you would do that? Why would you sit in the opposing team's section? It wouldn't matter if you couldn't get a seat in your section, you just don't buy a ticket in the other section. If caught, you most likely would be ejected.

So we got to our seats right after kick off. Already the fans in our section (the away side) were jawing it up with the home team fans sitting closest to us. Insults were thrown back and forth. "Pretty soon you will be cheering for Chelsea" I really didn't understand why that was so bad but our friends thought it was a terrible burn. Each team also has team songs that they sing and that everyone seems to know but there is no formal song sheet or anything. So it went back and forth, it until I noticed the security staff of the stadium talking with the home fans. After a while the fans were escorted off! Why I wondered? We were told probably taken off for inciting the away fans. Really? Wow, that seems kind of harsh. It seemed that the back and forth was all in good fun. But I think they worry this kind of thing will get out of hand. The game ended in a nil-nil tie. There was all kind of police presence outside of the stadium as well. Dozens of police officers lined the streets outside, even the mounted horse patrol were in riot gear. It seemed excessive but it did the trick, people seemed to disperse without any difficulty or problems.

After the match, we went to a Moroccan restaurant in London called Momos. It was great. I have had bits and pieces of Moroccan food before but this was the first time I have had a whole meal and I can heartily endorse it. Apparently Madonna has eaten here before but most likely in the private VIP room downstairs. Chizz "accidentally" went in there when he was looking for the facilities. So after he reported on it, we all "accidentally" went in there as well on our way to the little boys or girls rooms. I don't know that it had quite the atmosphere of the more public dining room but there were lots of pillows and silk hangings - so it might have been a bit fancier. The people couldn't have been nicer.

The place was so good, I am looking into a Moroccan vacation for us before we leave. I always like to pick my vacation spots based on good restaurant meals. Who knows? This may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Be Back in a Few Minutes or Twelve Days

Sorry for the lengthy absence WTF fans. We had a technical glitch here at the old blog. Actually my wireless adapter thingy broke and although I tried to fix it myself for a few days ("fixing" consisted of me shaking it violently and whining "please work, please work"). Surprisingly, that didn't work. So I had to figure out exactly what I needed and where to go to get it where it didn't cost a zillion pounds or more than 40 pounds. So I am back, with some pent up blogging to do. Stay tuned. Remember - I am not promising quality ... only quantity. Hugs.

Breakfast with Sir Paul

After my guests left yesterday, I went to meet my friend for a quick cup of coffee and to catch up on her recent trip. Well, our usual Starbucks was just jammed packed so we headed off to the cafe next door which was a little less crowded and we might actually be able to hear ourselves speak.

We settled in, got our cappucino and tea and started chatting. About 30 minutes into our conversation, I noticed a man striding in and took his place at a table behind me. Yes, it was him -- Sir Paul McCartney. There by himself!! He is a regular at this particular establishment and the other times I have seen him, he has been near this spot. But it was my friend's first sighting and that was exciting for her. After a few minutes, he was joined by the new woman in his life and his son. The new girlfriend is an American as was his wife, Linda. Hmmmmmmm. Interesting pattern, huh? I hadn't remembered he had a son, his daughters usually are the ones in the news. But my friend thought it was his son and after some research on the Internet, I found she is right. (Stalker, much?) It was all very surreal because it was all very normal. I think one of the reasons he does live here is that he seems to be able to walk in this small neighborhood to the cafe, to the cleaners, to the bank almost like a normal person. Almost like a person who doesn't have a gazillion pounds or was part of a musical revolution that many artists today still cite as an influence in their own work. And he still is the cute one, at 60+ years old.

Now, I am not going to name the cafe - although I think it is pretty much common knowledge in the area. Because if the paparazzi and hangers-on start hanging out there, my friend and I might not be able to go there any more. Hey!! They could want the photos of two this-side-of-middle-age-wives of insurance and oil company executives. You don't know!!!

Ain't That The Truth!

Well, I just got back from Paddington Station to drop off our visitors to take the train to the airport. It has been a fun week; I already miss them. Since I last wrote, my guests managed to go to Hampton Court Palace, have several pub lunches, go to the British Museum to see the mummies and the Rosetta Stone, ride the tube about a billion times, have a proper English tea, shop on Carnaby Street, eat Indian food, visit St. Paul's, and ice skate at the Tower of London. Doesn't it make you tired just reading it?

One of the last things they did was something close to our home. The infamous Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles recorded much of their music, is very close to our flat. So what visit to London would be complete without your very own picture of your family recreating the infamous Abbey Road Beatle photo? So off they went to do that!
They also signed the stone wall in front of the studios. Every day tourists come to see the crosswalk and the studio. They write messages on the wall. Some of the messages are reminiscent in nature, remembering when they went to a concert or their favorite albums, some messages declare their favorite Beatle, some are more current "%&!#/* Heather!". Every few weeks or so, they paint the wall and it starts all over again. Of course, our guests needed to sign the wall. What to say, what to say?


I think this says it all.


P.S. Apparently, I have been misspelling Do's name all these years (8, almost 9). Who knew? Bad, bad Auntie. Sorry Do!

Its a Jolly Holiday with Bean & Dew

My sister, her husband and my 2 gorgeous nieces, Bean & Dew are here visiting us for Thanksgiving. Bean & Dew are 8 & 11 and it is interesting seeing London through their eyes, what they want to do and what they are interested in.

We went to see the play Mary Poppins. It was actually the kids' second night here and they were remarkably unjetlagged. I think that comes from flying in on a red-eye, they got a chance to sleep a bit on the plane. I can't say the same for their parents, Auntie L & Uncle S. I think they had a little bit of a harder time. The play was fun, I think the kids enjoyed it. There were a few new songs that weren't in the Julie Andrews movie and a few surprises. Also a surprise? The two people who took flash pictures DURING the play. One had their camera confiscated, the other person refused to hand over their camera and eventually had to be removed by security.

At the end of the play, Mary Poppins flies out over the audience. She got pretty high up. We were in the mezzanine and she came within about 25 feet or so from us.

Bean, Dew and their parents have also been to the Tower of London, Greenwhich, Changing of the Guard at Buckingham palace, Hamley's toy store, ridden a black cab, taken a tour of Kiki & Ryan's school, been on a doubledecker bus, seen the Christmas decorations on Oxford Street, and met with Father Christmas at Harrods. Whew! I get tired just typing it all. And they still have 4 more nights!

Their weather has been fairly good but a little cold. These are Southern California folk, they don't even own any wool!! But they are making good ground. We also got a Thanksgiving dinner in as well! It has been a whirlwind and I think everyone is having a good time. We are certainly enjoying having them here. Like Mary, it has been practically perfect - in a Bean & Dew way!

Venice

Okay,I think I have recovered enough from my near death experience, to finish my entry from our last trip. For weeks now, I have been meaning to sit down and write about our trip to Venice but I just couldn't seem to find the time. So now before our next visitors (my sister, bro-in-law and 2 adorable nieces) come tomorrow(yay!), I have vowed that I will memorialize our trip before the day is out.

The kids came back from their school trips in the first part of October and had a long 4 day weekend so we decided to take advantage and schedule a trip to Venice. It was another "high priority" visit place and I was definitely eager to go.

Our weather couldn't have been better. October can be tricky but we werelucky to have sunny days all 4 days we were there and I don't think a drop of rain the entire time. It was warm enough to enjoy outdoor cafes, and drinks at outdoor cafes - often, very often. Our first day, we wandered all over the streets of Venice, over bridges and canals. It is as picturesque as you would imagine. We took a wonderful gondola ride. Our guide took us through the back canals. We did go into the Grand Canal for a bit but the Grand Canal is a major thoroughfare and it would have been like taking a rickshaw through the 405 Freeway in Southern California. Could it be done? Sure but not nearly as enjoyable or as beautiful as going the less travelled route. Our gondolier explained to us that there are about 400 gondoliers worldwide and they have to go through rigorous testing before they become licensed. I am glad that we chose to have our tour in the day. The night would be very romantic but truthfully, not very illuminating. Venice does not seem to light many of its attractions so I am not sure how much we would have been able to see at night. I like romance as much as the next person, but if it is going to be dark outside I might as well be in my garage (if I had one). So practicality won out and I am glad it did.



We spent quite a bit of time in the St. Marks Square area, where there alwaysseems to be a hub of activity. First, there can be hundreds of pigeons there. Probably conditioned by years and years of tourists feeding them. I really hate pigeons, I think of them as rats with wings. I can't help it. But some people don't, and they fed the pigeons in hope that they would do something memorable. Can you imagine if these were rats? Yuck.

We went up in St. Mark's Campanile (Bell Tower) where you can get a fantastic view of the city and the square. The aerial view at the beginning of this entry is from the top of the Campanile. I know that you thought I had scaled the top of some hotel or church but actually I rode up in the elevator.


In St. Mark's Basilica I was somewhat surprised to find they don't charge admission. However,once you get inside there are charges for different areas to see some of the more important pieces in the Church's collection. No photography was allowed inside and I respect that request as I recognize flash photography can be destructive to some of these relics that have survived thousands of years and also photography is disruptive to those around you trying to get into the spiritual aspect of the church. Some of my fellow tourists don't feel the same, however, and I was dismayed to find several taking pictures after pointedly being told not to by actual people in addition to the signage posted just about everywhere. There are some beautiful pieces in St. Marks, the Pala d'Oro - a huge gold altar screen circ 1102 a.d., encrusted with all kinds of semi-precious stones and jewels. The mosaics in this church are probably some of the best I have ever seen. When you think that the picture on the ceiling is made of thousands upon thousands of pieces of glass and colored stone put up there between 1000 and 1400 AD, it is amazing indeed.

Inside the Basilica, there are several small chapels housing relics (for which there is a charge - good job Benedict). I don't mean to be a doubting Wendy, but I wonder about the authenticity of some of these pieces. I think these people believe these are the relics but I want to know how they know? For example, one display case had several very old, golden chalices. Scattered about around the chalices, laying on the display shelves were some stones. Plain gray stones, like the ones I have in my garden back home. Apparently according to the information provided, these were some of the stones thrown at St. Stephen when stoned to death. He was the first Christian martyr, stoned shortly after the crucifixion. I just find it hard to believe that people picked up these stones and held on to them for thousands of years. Also there is very little done as far atmospheric controls, so I find it hard to believe that some of these relics, like a thorn from Jesus' crown or a piece of wood from the true cross, or the leg bones and/or skull of St. Paul's, would survive thousands of years just being put in a glass case on a shelf. Especially in a church that can get flooded during certain months of the year. But I guess that is what faith is all about.

Also in St. Mark's square are a few shops, bars and restaurants. At nights several of the restaurants have orchestras playing outside, "dueling". When one orchestra finishes, the other one across the square starts right up. On nice evenings, crowds form to listen. We listened for quite some time one night and it was very beautiful. Something about standing in St. Mark's square on a beautiful October evening, in the shadow of the basilica. It was wonderful.

One of the most impressive buildings was the Doge's Palace. The Doge was the Chief Magistrate of Venice for almost 1000 years. It is a life time position and the Doge was chosen by the other aristocrats in Venice. Other than the cool
palace that came with the job, being a doge wasn't all what you thought it might be. As a Doge, you didn't get a large salary, you weren't allowed to leave Venice, you couldn't really go anywhere on your own. Doges couldn't own property in foreign lands and couldn't open their own mail from foreign dignitaries unless other officials were present. So you see other than the cool digs, the job just doesn't sound that good. But the palace is beautiful, just filled with beautiful artwork and architecture. It also operated as the court house. This is sort of the complaint box in a the palace. So if you wanted to let the powers to be know that someone was up to no good, you would put your complaint in writing and put into this mouth which was attached to a box on the other side. So let's say just as a random, example, the other tenants in your building take up more than their fair share of the recycling bins leaving you no room for you to put your beer bottles or diet coke cans- you could put that in writing and the authorities would decide if it was something that merited further investigation and a trial. After a trial, when they were found guilty (because they do take up more than their fair share of the recycling bins) they would be marched over to the prison, right next door!! In fact they had a covered pathway that led right over a canal from the court to the prison. It was through the windows in this bridge that often saw their last little bit of Venice before being thrown in the slammer and many of them would moan or complain as they walked from freedom to captivity on this pathway called . . . . The Bridge of Sighs. So as Paul Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story.

Bridge of Sighs


Other interesting tidbit learned on this trip? This type of Venetian Mask was very popular among doctors treating patients in the days of the plague around the mid 1300s. They would stuff a pot-pouri type of mixture in the long noise and hopefully it would mask some of the smell of death (rotting corpses) that permeated the city at the time. Another plague related tidbit(is it weird that I have several plague related tidbits?), on almost every street we walked on we came across a religious statue, plaque, cross or marking. Kiki just learned in history that during the plague many people were fearful to trek across the cities to go to their churches, so they put up these icons so they could go somewhere close to home and feel closer to God and at the same time be less likely to contract the black death. I am not sure how well it worked since it is estimated millions died in the epidemic.

There was just so much more. I think Venice was one of my favorite trips since we have been here. It is easy to walk around, get lost in the back streets, drink red wine, see some history, absorb the beauty but at the same time we didn't feel the frantic tourist pace to see it all- quickly, quickly, quickly. I took several hundred pictures , all of which I am going to show you right now. No, not really. But I will leave you with a few of the other things we saw on our trip. If I had been murdered earlier this week, I would have died happy because I had seen Venice. Sorry Charlie - better luck next time!!








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When it absolutely, postively has to be there!


Saints being propped up by the church?


Rialto Market


Venetian Traffic Jam





Murano Glass Balloons Kiki & I thought were cool.


The best for last. A copy of the receipt that shows my glass of wine cost less than the kids' cokes and Chizz's beer!! See another reason to have wine as your primary beverage. Like you needed another reason. Ciao!!

I Think 'Someone' Is Trying To Kill Me

Okay, I don't want to go all Mohamed Al-Fayed on you but I think I have serious reason to be concerned. Remember Mohamed? He is the owner of Harrods Department store and his son was killed in the same car crash as Princess Diana. The son is generally spoken of as an afterthought if at all in most articles or stories on the subject. Mr. Al-Fayed's grief has kept this car crash in the news for almost 10 years, his insistence that this was not an accident has finally culminated in an inquest that started last month in London. Mr. Al-Fayed's current theory is that Prince Phillip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, ordered Diana killed for any number of reasons. It is quite sad actually and I do feel sorry for him, but it is costing UK taxpayers (us!) loads. But like Mohamed, I suspect the Royal Family might be up to no good. Let me tell you my story.

I was meeting my friend today at the Underground station near my house, about a 3 city-block walk. I got to the intersection on Abbey Road and was waiting for the light to turn. Street crossing in London is an extreme sport, you need to keep your wits about you. So I was trying to concentrate on crossing the street, when I was just about to step into the crosswalk a police motorcycle comes screaming up to crosswalk - just barely missing me. He motions me back on the sidewalk, and starts directing traffic to go through the light and not stop even at the red. I was trying to figure out what was going on, when I saw the motorcade. Several motorcycle police officers, a truck and 3 sedans. In one of the sedans (it was either a Jaguar or a Bentley), Camilla and Prince Charles!! They drove so close and slow enough that I had a good view of his bald spot.

Now you may remember that last year when I went to Wellington Arch, Prince Charles' motorcade tried to run me over there as well. Coincidence? I think not. Somehow though I don't think there will be an official inquest. But if something happens to me, you all know where to look!!

Guy Fawkes Night

Monday was Guy Fawkes Day. It is a celebration in honor of foiling an attempt by Guy Fawkes and his cronies to blow up the Parliament building in 1605. They were hoping to kill James I and his Protestant buddies at the opening of Parliament that day. Guy and his friends were Catholics and they were concerned, apparently rightly so, that Catholics wouldn't get a fair shake in James' England. So they set about planning to blow up the Parliament building. One of the guys got a little worried that in addition to blowing up all the mean, spiteful Protestants, they might catch a Catholic or two. So he wrote an anonymous note warning one of the noblemen of the plot. They found Guy Fawkes in the basement of the Parliament building just in the nick of time - allegedly just as he was to light the fuse with his torch. After torturing him for a few days, Guy was hung then drawn & quartered. Ouch.

Over time the event has been celebrated with huge bonfires, burning Guy in effigy and all kinds of fireworks. There are fireworks displays in just about every big city or neighborhoods. Also, you can buy fireworks in the grocery or department store. Real fireworks, m-80s, roman candles, rockets etc. It is amazing the fire power of these fireworks you can buy right next to the milk. For the past few nights, our neighborhood has sounded something like a war zone. It would be the perfect time to shoot someone; it would be hard to distinguish the sound from the fireworks. Our neighbors, 2 doors down, put on quite the show. About 30 minutes of fireworks, just outside our back window. Look how close.





In a way, Guy Fawkes was one of the first terrorists. It may explain this country's deep seeded fear of Catholics. To this day, the heir to the British throne is forbidden by law to marry a Catholic. He can marry a Hindu, Buddhist or Jew but no Catholic. C'mon England, it was over 400 years ago! How long can you hold a grudge?

And It All Ended with Superman Holding an Icepack to His Head

We had a blast at the NFL game at Wembley Stadium. Although the actual football part of the game was not necessarily the best example of American football around, the NFL can surely call this game a success.


Along with most people, we took public transportation to the game. The underground line by our house goes right to Wembley stadium. We started to feel it the minute we got to the station. That "big game" feeling. Excitement
was in the air. We saw lots of people in the colors of both the Giants and the Dolphins. Lots. By the time we got to Wembley about 45 minutes to 1 hour before the game, the crowd was just pouring into the stadium. Everyone was in a party atmosphere, except the police. They were shouting into loudspeakers warning us not to buy tickets from the "tats" selling them outside the station. On the walk up to the stadium there were the usual cast of suspects selling t-shirts, "game-day" scarves (long woolen team scarves are very popular for football and rugby) with the giants colors on one side and the dolphins colors on the other (ewww), people yelling "Let's go Giants" and "DOLPHINS". A typical scene played out every Sunday afternoon in NFL cities around the US and it was the same in London. Of course there were some differences, no individual tailgates, although the NFL threw a tail-gate like party prior to the game, it was a typical rainy November day in London.

Other than the game itself, which was pretty standard, we noticed a bit British twist to the other usual components of the whole experience. Vendors walking around selling snack items? Sure but not peanuts or big foam fingers. Popcorn and jelly beans. Jelly Beans?? National Anthem. Yep - two of them. First, US national anthem. I sang and I could hear the crowd singing along with the singer. I thought "hmmm, this is pretty impressive, you can really hear the crowd sing". And then I thought that it must be great for the players to hear everyone sing the national anthem and feel connected to the crowd. Then they played the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen". PUT.US.TO.SHAME. They were LOUD. I think it comes from all those soccer
matches where they sing the whole game through. It was pretty amazing. And it just goes to show that the crowd wasn't only American, there were lots of locals there as well. Halftime entertainment. Yes but not scantily clad cheerleaders or gyrating "dancers" but these guys. A marching band. And they marched all over the field. And they were pretty good.

What else? Hot Dogs. Absolutely. However, when I purchased mine, I picked up the hotdog by the paper container, and brushed the bun with my hand. I noticed it was cold, actually it was frozen. Solid. I pointed this out to the young man handling the transaction. He took the hot dog to the back area, I heard loud yelling and the young man came back to tell me "that is how we make them". Maybe, but that it not how I pay for them, so I cancelled the order and moved on.

Ground crew? We had them, although on a somewhat smaller scale. This is a photo of the crew, putting the divots back in grass. I'm sure that worked.


The crowd got into it as well. It was close to Halloween so we saw a few guys in costume, like Superman and Captain America. It is important to note that apparently Captain America is a Dolphins fan while Superman favors the Giants. The English apparently really, really like the wave and they attempted to do it several times during the game. I think they had one session that went twice around the stadium. They love it! Well, most of them. One angry guy near us hated the wave and screamed every time they tried it. I think his anger had more to do with beer than than the actual wave.

I am fairly certain beer had something to do with the fan that ended up on the field at the start of the second half. The teams lined up for the kickoff to the
second half and all the sudden you see a "referee" run out onto the field. The players all looked confused and then the "ref" pulls off his uniform and is there in all his glory running around the field. Then he starts to show off and does a few pushups on the fifty yard line in the middle of the field. He runs around some more and finally is tackled. Ouch!!(although I am sure he wasn't feeling too much).

My only criticism of the day concerned the memorabilia. Of course, my complaint has to do with the shopping! We wanted to buy souvenirs and that is where things got a little cranky. Okay, I got a little cranky. The lines were sooooooooooo long for t-shirts, hats, and other memorabilia and it took so long to get anything. On our seat level in the stadium and by the time we reached the front of the line, they ran out of t-shirts in every size except small sizes and this was an hour before the game. Fans weren't allowed on any other level than the one they held a ticket for, so we couldn't get to the other levels to check out any other stands. It was pretty aggravating. One of the officials told me that they had not anticipated this kind of demand. What???? They had over 500,000 people indicate they would be interested in attending the event. Each time they had a lottery for tickets they sold out within hours. What more heads up did they need? They didn't anticipate people might want to spend money and buy a t-shirt or two. Yikes. Later Snake decided he was going to try and find one of his friends on another level and was determined to find a way. He did. And then he found 2 large t-shirts on that level and saved the day!! He got the last large t-shirts on that level at two different stands. Either that kid has shopping in his blood or a little civil disobedience, either way I am proud.

Oh yeah, one last thing that this game had that most games I have been to in the US have - a real alcohol induced brawl. Remember "angry that they are doing the wave because I have had a lot of beers" guy? Well apparently, he got very frustrated that some of the folks behind were cheering some misfortune of the Dolphins. So he turned around and started walloping on him, actually beer guy and his friend, younger beer guy started walloping on . . . . . . Superman. Apparently his supervision couldn't see that coming. And before you knew the emergency response team was there . . . responding. Well at the end of it all, the ruffians were ejected from the game and Superman was left nursing his wounds.

It was interesting going somewhere so reminiscent of home but different in its own way. I don't think we will see many jelly bean vendors at 49er games but it is nice to see streaking, the wave and fan brawling might be catching on here. We can be proud!

Are You Ready For Some Football!!!!!!!

We are. In an effort to promote the NFL in Europe, the NFL has agreed to play several regular season games in Europe over the next 3 years. The first of those games (NY Giants v. Miami Dolphins) is scheduled for this Sunday at 5:00 p.m. When they announced last year that the game was to be played in London at Wembley Stadium, you could register your interest to buy tickets online. I did but held out little hope that we would be able to get tickets. I knew that just about every American within a 50 kilometer radius would be interested and in fact that was true. They had 500,000 people register for tickets. They had 3 different lotteries over the span of about 6 weeks. We were notified that we were eligible for the last lottery and I was able to secure 4 tickets. So we are going, along with 86,000 of our closest friends.

Interestingly enough, we received emails that there were some extra tickets available for the game. Apparently the NFL confiscated tickets that showed up on Ebay. I didn't know this but the contract with the NFL for these tickets is non-transferable. Meaning you can't sell these tickets. So they voided all the sales to the people who were offering the tickets on Ebay and resold the tickets.

We are in the endzone, look for us. We will be the Americans.

Off With His Head (Not Really)

On the G-unit's agenda the other day, the Tower of London. Now I have been to the Tower once or twice or six times before, but I always enjoy it. I always learn or see something new when I am there. This time we went on a Yeomen Warder's tour. The Yeomen Warders are more commonly known as "Beef Eaters". Apparently, according to our tour guide, in the days when they were founded, the late 1400s, they were paid very well. Well enough to afford meat regularly which many in London could not afford. So the people would jeer at them, "there go the beef eaters". Now I am not so sure that I would be offended if someone yelled at me "There goes the Louis Vuitton purse holder". But maybe that is just me. Today there are quite stringent requirements in order to become a Yeomen Warder. You must have served at least 22 years as a senior NCO in the British Armed Services. You had to have been awarded the both the Good Conduct and Long Service medals. And finally, you have to have been honorably discharged. Interestingly enough, retirees of the Army, Air Force and Marines could become Yeomen Warders but retirees of the Navy are not eligible Because Navy men apparently take an oath to the Admiralty not the crown, as do the other services.

Anyway, our tour guide was a hoot. He asked about the different nationalities of the tour group. When he found out that there were quite a us from the US in the group, he asked if we were enjoying all of the history. When people answered in the affirmative, he advised "Well, it could be yours too - if you paid your taxes!"

He was very animated and took us on a very informative tour. He told stories of many of the famous prisoners in the tower and those we might not have heard of before. If you know about English history, you know the story of the Little Princes. The Little Princes were the 13 and 10 year old sons of Edward IV. When Edward IV died, one of the Princes became Edward V. The prince's uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester, had himself first appointed regent and then later declared the boys illegitimate and he became King himself. Richard III, of Shakespeare fame. Shortly after this time, the boys were never seen again. There has been speculation as to who killed them for years. In the late 1600s when they were doing some renovation, they found the skeletal remains of 2 young men around the Princes ages. The bones were taken and given a royal burial in Westminster Abbey where they are interred in an area called, Innocents Corner. There is alot of evidence that Richard III had the boys killed and I think that is the general viewpoint of most of the historians. However, karma is a bitch. In addition to being described pretty disgustingly by Shakespeare as a sort of hunchback character so ugly and deformed, that woman scorned him and he caused dogs to growl, he just wasn't very popular among his peeps. So he finds himself the night before a great battle, the Battle of Bosworth, he rides out to meet with his generals and men. He gets off his horse and down on the ground he draws out the battle plan, sitting on a low stone wall. The next morning he wakes to find out that a whole bunch of his generals had deserted along with quite a few of the men. He could cancel, but rescheduling a battle is tough so he goes forward. To disastrous results, although lucky for Shakespeare or else we would have never heard the line "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse". Shortly after that, Richard is killed rather brutally and his body is sort of strewn all over the battlefield. Apparently they had a tough time finding all the parts for a decent burial.

Soooooooo. Our tour guide claims that this was the origin for the nursery rhyme, Humpty, Dumpty sat on wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put humpty together again. Interesting.

One more quick story. We heard the story of a young Scotsman who was imprisoned as the result of a failed rebellion against the throne and he was sentenced to die. His wife came all the way from Scotland to beg for his life and if unsuccessful to see her husband one last time. Their cause was very popular at the time and she gathered quite a bit of support along the way. When she came to visit him, she brought with her some of her lady friends. They all crowed in the cell, some of the ladies left to fetch items, a few came back, a few more came out again, then some other ladies arrived at the cell. In and out, in and out. Finally the wife was left alone in the cell to say goodbye. She came out after quite a bit of time had expired, teary, red-eyed, distraught. She mentioned to the guards that her husband was extremely upset at their separation and that he should be left alone to sleep. When the guards, finally went in. . . . . you guessed it, no prisoner. Apparently the "ladies" had smuggled in extra clothes and in one of those trips in and out of the cell, managed to get him out dressed in women's clothing. It was extraordinary because the prisoner was over 6 foot 5 inches tall, and had a long ZZ Top red beard. The lady and her husband hightailed it to Rome where they lived in exile for more than 20 years. Our tour guide indicates that this is where the expression "he got off scot free" comes from.

We also saw the inside of the Chapel there, which I have never been in before. That is a good reason to go on the Yeomen tour because I don't think you can get in there unless you are on a tour. The tours are free. The Chapel is where Anne Boleyn, Katharine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, are buried.

Another little known fact, Rudolph Hess was imprisoned there for a few day. The last prisoners were the Kray twins, local hoodlums, for failing to report for National Service, in the 1950s.

G-father enjoyed it very much. His only disappointment, they don't let you try on the Crown jewels. Damn.

Pretty Nice For A School That Doesn't Have A REAL Football Team

Well, G-Father and I went to Cambridge the other day. I had never been. Chizz went in his bachelorhood days before the kids and I came over. So we hopped the train (as soon as we determined it was going in the right direction) and off we went. Cambridge is a cute little town with loads of charm once you get to the town centre. It seems primarily built out of that old gray church stone or brick. It is home to the famous Cambridge University, which I discovered is really a collective of different colleges within the Cambridge system. It is all too complicated to wrap my tiny brain around, and if you can completely understand it - perhaps you should apply there.

So you can walk into the different colleges(the biggest ones charge a fee, of course). The colleges are not always open to visitors and several we tried to visit were closed. The first college we went to was, Kings College. Kings College was
founded in 1441 by Henry VI. It was supposed to be mainly a college for boys who graduated from Eton (a very elite private school - both Prince Harry & Prince William went there). It stayed that way for over 400 years when it finally allowed its first non-Etonian (hey that is what they call 'em, I can't make up this stuff!). I think the highlight of Kings college was definitely the chapel.
It had the most impressive fan-vault ceiling. All of the stain glass windows, except one, had been installed in the 1500s. The one "newbie" window was put up in the late 1800s. Rookie. This wooden screen in the middle of the chapel was installed by Henry VIII. If you look very closely, you can see the initials of Henry & Anne Boleyn engraved. I tried to get a picture (Hey! They were allowed!) but it was too dark to focus properly. It is pretty amazing when something installed in 1500 something still looks pretty impressive, and new after all that time.

After being wowed by this chapel, we moved on to some of the other colleges. Trinity College was founded in 1546 by Henry VIII. There is a statute of Henry VIII over the Great Gate entrance to the college. If you look very closely you can see that the sceptre in his hand has actually been replaced by a table leg, the result of a college prank in the 1800s. Oh those crazy Victorian college boys!


We spent a bit of time in the Chapel here, but truthfully, while nice - it wasn't as spectacular as Kings College. Here is a look (remember photos allowed!!).


After the Chapel, we wanted to head over to the Christopher Wren library which we had understood was something to see. You had to walk through a building to get to the library building on the other side. I went inside and G-father was lagging behind, looking at a map. When I got inside, I was waiting for him and a girl came out of a room, somehow surmised I was a tourist (she was probably a soothsayer of some kind and the camera, map, and confused look I was carrying were no clue to her at all). She says to me, you should get a quick look in there and pointed to the door of the room she just came out of. So I did and I found out it was the dining hall. It was pretty interesting. To me it looks just like something out of Harry Potter or something. Notice the big picture of Henry VIII looking over the tables. Very appropriate. I took a quick photo and then G-father and I went to find the library. We found out that the library was closed for refurbishment (darn old things that need to be up kept at inconvenient times for me). So as we were wandering back through the building, I showed G-unit the dining hall. We looked at it for a minute and then we started walking back out the door. Right behind us came a porter or waiter from the dining hall and says in this very sarcastic voice, "well, I guess you got your photo after all" like I wasn't supposed to take pictures of the room. It wasn't marked that you couldn't take a photo and this was clearly a way that tourists, who paid 4 pounds each thank you very much, would be passing by. I merely glanced back at him and kept walking. Like I can take pictures in your chapel (which had signs saying specifically pictures were allowed) but for some reason I can't take pictures of the students eating tuna surprise. Really? Really???

The next college we went into was Magdalene College. Frankly not because we had heard of it before or had some burning desire to see something there, but because it was free! This was the last of the colleges to admit woman, in 1988! We learned that their most famous alum was Samuel Pepys. The library there was named for him and had some interesting historical documents.
Or so they say. Library closed at the time we were there. Some kind of conspiracy I am sure. Oh yeah, and here is a picture of their dining hall. Not because it is particularly noteworthy, although it is nice. But because after my experience at the Trinity Dining Hall, I decided if I came across any other dining halls, I would take photos. Just because I can. That's how I roll. (Sorry, Kiki.)



Behind all the colleges, it is pretty picturesque as well. You can walk
along this area called the backs, where the river runs by. People rent punts, which is a flat bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. (Thank you online dictionary.) The fall color was beautiful, the air crisp, and it really was a pleasant walk. You could almost imagine yourself back in college again (of course, without all the tests, alcohol binging, being poor, studying stuff).

By this time, we were interested in some food. The G-man had made friends with one of the guards at Kings Chapel, and received a recommendation for the Eagle Pub. Not necessarily for the food but for the atmosphere. The pub has been there since about 1525. 1525. The building is the type of old pub I like, low ceilings, mismatched furniture, rooms added on as sort of an afterthought, lots of nooks and crannies. The food is definitely not the calling card of this pub.
One of the interesting things about it, is that during WWII both the RAF and the American Air Force guys would hang out here. On the ceilings of several rooms they inscribed their names, their squadron names or other identifying marks with lipsticks, lighters, candlestick. It is really something to see. Also this pub is where the duo Watson/Crick announced they had discovered the molecular structure of DNA. It has been called the most important biological discovery of the 20th century for which they won the Nobel Prize in 1962. Infamously, Crick declared "We have discovered the secret of life". Apparently while doing their work at Cambridge in 1952/53, they ate dinner and/or drank at the Eagle about 6 nights a week. There is a plaque there declaring that they "discovered" DNA. When I mentioned that at dinner, Kiki (and Snake too) pointed out that they didn't discover (insert sneer-like tone here) DNA. "They discovered the double helix structure of DNA." Oh. Alright Mr. & Ms. Smartypants, perhaps you should go to college here and learn some respect!! (Not really!)