Okay, the whole purpose of this blog is to chronicle our adventures in Europe while we are here. Kiki left today on a school sponsored trip to Mexico. She will come home to California the first week of July. Tomorrow, Snake and I leave to go back home for 7 weeks. I am defiantly leaving behind my black coat that I have worn almost every day since I came to this island. I am a rebel that way. Unless something extraordinary (to me) happens on the way home, I don't anticipate blogging much while we are home. I do plan on relaxing in the backyard, bbqing, hanging out at swim team etc. So until we come back, I leave you with this video. It was taken at what is supposed to be one of the longest continual escalators in Europe (I don't validate that claim, I am just repeating it). It is at a tube (underground)station in London, the Angel Station. I have been there. Things I love about this video? (1) You can hear the guy breathing really heavy on the 'helmet cam'. His adrenaline must have been pumping. (2) I have been there (3) The guy at the end that says "I can't believe they didn't get you". (4) I have been there (5) The station agent at the beginning? "hey, Hey, HEEEEYYYYYY!!!" (6) I have been there. Okay I didn't ski there but just the same.
Enjoy and see you sometime in August.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
To Market, To Market to Buy a Stolen Bicycle
So yesterday, Chizz & I went to the Columbia Road Flower Market. Every 
Sunday, they close up this road and vendors set up shop. Sort of a farmers market for plants and flowers. You can buy bedding plants, houseplants, trees, cut flowers. All for pretty good prices. We had to buy some plants for our flower boxes up front. It is all very hectic, hundreds of people pushing through the street, vendors screaming about their bargain plants "3 for a 5er" etc. I thought it was great.
After that we went for a walk around the area. Bruce took me to one of his favorite bagel shops. Really good bagels are something we miss here. I know that the kids have Noah's on their "hit" list for the summer.
Hmmmmmm. I think I figured out why they aren't that popular here. Actually this is the yiddish word for bagel. See? Wind the Frog is educational as well as mildly interesting. This shop is in an area called Brick Lane. Brick Lane has always been sort of the immigrant neighborhood in London. It is where people first arriving in London seem to end up. Way back, it was pretty much a Jewish neighborhood now it has morphed into a huge Bangladeshi(?) neighborhood. I have never seen so many restaraunts specializing in food from Bangladesh..jpg)
Amazing. The streets signs even reflect the ethnicity of the neighborhood. I think that is 'Brick Lane' in Bengali. Brick Lane also has a market on the weekends. There are some food stall and fresh veg and food stands, very farmers' market like. But further up, it is sort of flea market like. I thought it was kind of sad because it wasn't like a flea market I am used to where the vendors usually sell collections of sort - like the guy who sells all the old records or the person who sells vintage clothes or old furniture. This seemed more like people selling their possessions. Like they looked around the kitchen and said "hmmm, wonder what this sugar bowl or wooden spoon would sell for?" Maybe there are other parts that were better but I just found it kind of sad and creepy. Speakin
g of creepy, there were stalls and stalls of stuff that looked like they had just fallen off the truck if you get my drift. Generators, power tools, dvds, and bikes. Some people had actual areas of loads of "used" bikes for sales. But the strangest thing were the guy standing on a corner with a single bike for sale. Selling £400 (according to them) bikes for £20. I wouldn't have been surprised to see the broken lock attached to the bike. If I had a bike stolen in London, this is where I would go look for it the very next weekend.
We went to lunch at an "American" bbq place in Spitafield's Market. It was pretty good but not as good as home. Also on the list, BBQ. Afterward,
we walked by the Ten Bells Pub (I know! You are surprised we didn't go in but Chizz had to stop in the office and put some finishing touches on a presentation. And when he goes to a pub there isn't just 1 beer, there is usually at least 2. And that would put a whole new spin on that presentation!) Anywhoo. . . The 10 Bells pub is notorious because it was supposedly frequented by many of the victims of Jack the Ripper. He focused mainly on prostitutes and apparently these women hung out here. Inside it is supposed to be pretty close to the way it was in those days. Something tells me that we will be back. Or at least Chizz will. Soon.
Sunday, they close up this road and vendors set up shop. Sort of a farmers market for plants and flowers. You can buy bedding plants, houseplants, trees, cut flowers. All for pretty good prices. We had to buy some plants for our flower boxes up front. It is all very hectic, hundreds of people pushing through the street, vendors screaming about their bargain plants "3 for a 5er" etc. I thought it was great.
After that we went for a walk around the area. Bruce took me to one of his favorite bagel shops. Really good bagels are something we miss here. I know that the kids have Noah's on their "hit" list for the summer.
Hmmmmmm. I think I figured out why they aren't that popular here. Actually this is the yiddish word for bagel. See? Wind the Frog is educational as well as mildly interesting. This shop is in an area called Brick Lane. Brick Lane has always been sort of the immigrant neighborhood in London. It is where people first arriving in London seem to end up. Way back, it was pretty much a Jewish neighborhood now it has morphed into a huge Bangladeshi(?) neighborhood. I have never seen so many restaraunts specializing in food from Bangladesh.
.jpg)
Amazing. The streets signs even reflect the ethnicity of the neighborhood. I think that is 'Brick Lane' in Bengali. Brick Lane also has a market on the weekends. There are some food stall and fresh veg and food stands, very farmers' market like. But further up, it is sort of flea market like. I thought it was kind of sad because it wasn't like a flea market I am used to where the vendors usually sell collections of sort - like the guy who sells all the old records or the person who sells vintage clothes or old furniture. This seemed more like people selling their possessions. Like they looked around the kitchen and said "hmmm, wonder what this sugar bowl or wooden spoon would sell for?" Maybe there are other parts that were better but I just found it kind of sad and creepy. Speakin
g of creepy, there were stalls and stalls of stuff that looked like they had just fallen off the truck if you get my drift. Generators, power tools, dvds, and bikes. Some people had actual areas of loads of "used" bikes for sales. But the strangest thing were the guy standing on a corner with a single bike for sale. Selling £400 (according to them) bikes for £20. I wouldn't have been surprised to see the broken lock attached to the bike. If I had a bike stolen in London, this is where I would go look for it the very next weekend.We went to lunch at an "American" bbq place in Spitafield's Market. It was pretty good but not as good as home. Also on the list, BBQ. Afterward,
we walked by the Ten Bells Pub (I know! You are surprised we didn't go in but Chizz had to stop in the office and put some finishing touches on a presentation. And when he goes to a pub there isn't just 1 beer, there is usually at least 2. And that would put a whole new spin on that presentation!) Anywhoo. . . The 10 Bells pub is notorious because it was supposedly frequented by many of the victims of Jack the Ripper. He focused mainly on prostitutes and apparently these women hung out here. Inside it is supposed to be pretty close to the way it was in those days. Something tells me that we will be back. Or at least Chizz will. Soon.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Amsterdam
Well, in addition to the some of the previously mentioned illicit 
sights, Amstersdam is also a sophisticated city that seems to never sleep. We arrived late at night, and according to Chizz, our hotel wasthisclose to the train station. So we walked from the station to the hotel at about 12:30 a.m. We actually flew in and took the train from the airport to the city center (aren't we seasoned travellers?). It didn't feel like it was early, early, early, a.m. because there were all kinds of people walking around. It seemed like rush hour in San Francisco. So we walked for about 1/2 hour or so and got to our hotel. However, it is a wonder we made it in one piece. I have just about mastered crossing the street in London without getting hit, now I get to Amsterdam and it is a whole different ball game. First they drive on the other side of the road, like the US. Secondly, every other vehicle there is a bike. Bikes, everywhere. They seem to come out of nowhere. Most sidewalks have a large portion 30% or more dedicated to a bike path, that walkers need to stay clear of lest the bike riders plow you over. After some close misses, I didn't know where to walk.
It really is easy to walk through all of Amsterdam in few short hours. We proved that by doing most of the items on our list in 2 short days. We spent sometime in the Rijksmuseum. It houses many famous Dutch masterpieces. Right now it is being refurbished, so they have taken their most famous and important pieces and put them together in an exhibit. Sort of museum-lite, which truthfully we liked. All the good stuff condensed in several rooms as opposed to walking through halls and halls of less interesting stuff to get to the stuff you really want to see. We saw quite a few famous pieces:
The Milk Maid
The Night Watch by Rembrandt
The Dutch Masters. That's right, the guys on the cigar box!!!!
We saw them! We also spent some time
at the Van Gogh museum. I never knew much about Van Gogh, except the obvious - ear problems, crazy etc. But I learned quite a bit. He was only about 37 years old when he killed himself. Also he came to painting later in life and painted most of his works in a 10 year stretch. At one point, after being in and out of an asylum, he was creating more than 1 piece a day. Almost a frantic pace. We saw most of his famous works, his sunflowers, the self-portrait, etc.
I think one of the most moving experiences for us (well, at least me) was going to the Anne Frank house. It was very sombering but fascinating as well. The house is remarkably well preserved. At first, I thought they had modernized the building because it looked so 70's apartment building style but I saw some pictures inside of what it looked like at the time and except for some changes to the ground floor it is exactly as it was during the time Anne and her family were hiding. We walked up the staircase hidden by the bookshelves in the office. The walls still have the original movie magazine pages that Anne put up in her room to decorate. There are still the markings on the wall to chronicle the growth of the children. Mr. Frank's map to track the movements of troops in Europe still pinned to the wall. It is very surreal. One thing that struck me is that the entire time we were in the house itself, no one spoke a word. This was a crowded day too. All the visitors go through the house in complete silence, no whispers, no comments or anything. I have been on tours of churches where people spoke and pointed things out to each other. Not here. It was as if people were respecting the space and not saying anything to disrupt it. Once you got to the museum part, people spoke a bit more. We saw the actual diaries that Anne wrote, her handwriting, drawings etc. They also show a short film featuring her father and what he did afterward to try and find his daughters and how he finally came to the realization they had not survived the camps. Her family was discovered after the Nazis received a tip. No one knows who tipped them off. Several of the people that were hiding the family were arrested and put in camps themselves. One of the woman instrumental in hiding the family, but was not arrested, had discovered the diaries after the family was taken away and kept them until she was certain Anne was not coming back. That woman is still alive and will celebrate her 100th birthday in 2009. Somehow it doesn't quite seem like "history" when some of the participants are still alive, it seems more real and current. And I think that is why I found it so moving. This wasn't that long ago, several of the participants are still alive. Anne herself would be in her late 70s had she lived.
So as you can see, we did engage in some cultural pursuits while we were in Amsterdam. Considering that we were there for less than 48 hours, I am surprised at all the things we did do. Not that the "seedy" side didn't try to creep back in when we were trying to do more wholesome things. We took a walk to the flower area, where there were stalls and stalls of bulbs that you could take home and plant in your garden. Authentic dutch tulips and the like. Although I am not sure I could take some home to California with me. During the spring I understand these stalls are filled to the brim with flowers and it is a beautiful rainbow of magnificent color. What did we see? This!
No, we didn't buy any! Remember, bar low - NOT resting on ground.
sights, Amstersdam is also a sophisticated city that seems to never sleep. We arrived late at night, and according to Chizz, our hotel wasthisclose to the train station. So we walked from the station to the hotel at about 12:30 a.m. We actually flew in and took the train from the airport to the city center (aren't we seasoned travellers?). It didn't feel like it was early, early, early, a.m. because there were all kinds of people walking around. It seemed like rush hour in San Francisco. So we walked for about 1/2 hour or so and got to our hotel. However, it is a wonder we made it in one piece. I have just about mastered crossing the street in London without getting hit, now I get to Amsterdam and it is a whole different ball game. First they drive on the other side of the road, like the US. Secondly, every other vehicle there is a bike. Bikes, everywhere. They seem to come out of nowhere. Most sidewalks have a large portion 30% or more dedicated to a bike path, that walkers need to stay clear of lest the bike riders plow you over. After some close misses, I didn't know where to walk.
It really is easy to walk through all of Amsterdam in few short hours. We proved that by doing most of the items on our list in 2 short days. We spent sometime in the Rijksmuseum. It houses many famous Dutch masterpieces. Right now it is being refurbished, so they have taken their most famous and important pieces and put them together in an exhibit. Sort of museum-lite, which truthfully we liked. All the good stuff condensed in several rooms as opposed to walking through halls and halls of less interesting stuff to get to the stuff you really want to see. We saw quite a few famous pieces:
The Milk MaidThe Night Watch by Rembrandt
The Dutch Masters. That's right, the guys on the cigar box!!!!
We saw them! We also spent some time
at the Van Gogh museum. I never knew much about Van Gogh, except the obvious - ear problems, crazy etc. But I learned quite a bit. He was only about 37 years old when he killed himself. Also he came to painting later in life and painted most of his works in a 10 year stretch. At one point, after being in and out of an asylum, he was creating more than 1 piece a day. Almost a frantic pace. We saw most of his famous works, his sunflowers, the self-portrait, etc.I think one of the most moving experiences for us (well, at least me) was going to the Anne Frank house. It was very sombering but fascinating as well. The house is remarkably well preserved. At first, I thought they had modernized the building because it looked so 70's apartment building style but I saw some pictures inside of what it looked like at the time and except for some changes to the ground floor it is exactly as it was during the time Anne and her family were hiding. We walked up the staircase hidden by the bookshelves in the office. The walls still have the original movie magazine pages that Anne put up in her room to decorate. There are still the markings on the wall to chronicle the growth of the children. Mr. Frank's map to track the movements of troops in Europe still pinned to the wall. It is very surreal. One thing that struck me is that the entire time we were in the house itself, no one spoke a word. This was a crowded day too. All the visitors go through the house in complete silence, no whispers, no comments or anything. I have been on tours of churches where people spoke and pointed things out to each other. Not here. It was as if people were respecting the space and not saying anything to disrupt it. Once you got to the museum part, people spoke a bit more. We saw the actual diaries that Anne wrote, her handwriting, drawings etc. They also show a short film featuring her father and what he did afterward to try and find his daughters and how he finally came to the realization they had not survived the camps. Her family was discovered after the Nazis received a tip. No one knows who tipped them off. Several of the people that were hiding the family were arrested and put in camps themselves. One of the woman instrumental in hiding the family, but was not arrested, had discovered the diaries after the family was taken away and kept them until she was certain Anne was not coming back. That woman is still alive and will celebrate her 100th birthday in 2009. Somehow it doesn't quite seem like "history" when some of the participants are still alive, it seems more real and current. And I think that is why I found it so moving. This wasn't that long ago, several of the participants are still alive. Anne herself would be in her late 70s had she lived.
So as you can see, we did engage in some cultural pursuits while we were in Amsterdam. Considering that we were there for less than 48 hours, I am surprised at all the things we did do. Not that the "seedy" side didn't try to creep back in when we were trying to do more wholesome things. We took a walk to the flower area, where there were stalls and stalls of bulbs that you could take home and plant in your garden. Authentic dutch tulips and the like. Although I am not sure I could take some home to California with me. During the spring I understand these stalls are filled to the brim with flowers and it is a beautiful rainbow of magnificent color. What did we see? This!
No, we didn't buy any! Remember, bar low - NOT resting on ground.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Free at last!
Last day of school today. As Snake says this is the "filler" week, no real school gets done but they need sometime between finals and the last day of school to get grades in, yearbooks signed etc. We went to 2 lovely ceremonies at the school today. The first was the high school award ceremony. Kiki received an award for excellent work in chemistry. She was surprised and so were we. We had been told she was getting an award, but they don't tell you which one so it is a bit of a surprise. I suspected it might be for foreign language but nope - chemistry. So congrats Kiki! Very proud of you.
The second ceremony was the 8th grade promotion assembly. They don't call it graduation here. In a way, I am glad. I am hoping that the height of my children's academic progression won't be 8th grade. I am hoping I have 2 or 3 more graduations to attend for both of them. But it was a very nice ceremony just the same, about 110 8th graders moving on to 9th grade. Each homeroom class gets called up individually and the teacher introduces each child and the child receives a certificate of achievment. Snake was the last person introduced. He is hoping that no one comes with a name past his in the alphabet and maybe he can repeat this distinction in 12th grade as well. It is nice to have goals. Of course moving on to high school here doesn't really mean a new school, it just means a new section of school and you can go up a different color stairwell. Tonight the 8th grade class celebrates the new staircase with a boat party on the Thames.
This time of year is always crazy and I find myself wanting school to be over as much as the kids. I am looking forward to a nice relaxing summer, bbqing, swim team and wedding stuff. All in 6 weeks. So much for relaxing. See you Californians in about 8 days!!
The second ceremony was the 8th grade promotion assembly. They don't call it graduation here. In a way, I am glad. I am hoping that the height of my children's academic progression won't be 8th grade. I am hoping I have 2 or 3 more graduations to attend for both of them. But it was a very nice ceremony just the same, about 110 8th graders moving on to 9th grade. Each homeroom class gets called up individually and the teacher introduces each child and the child receives a certificate of achievment. Snake was the last person introduced. He is hoping that no one comes with a name past his in the alphabet and maybe he can repeat this distinction in 12th grade as well. It is nice to have goals. Of course moving on to high school here doesn't really mean a new school, it just means a new section of school and you can go up a different color stairwell. Tonight the 8th grade class celebrates the new staircase with a boat party on the Thames.
This time of year is always crazy and I find myself wanting school to be over as much as the kids. I am looking forward to a nice relaxing summer, bbqing, swim team and wedding stuff. All in 6 weeks. So much for relaxing. See you Californians in about 8 days!!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
New Lows in Parenting
We just got back from a great weekend trip to Amsterdam. I will blog later about the beautiful weather, the wonderful museums, picturesque canals, good restaurants. But now I am going to write about a new twist in our family vacations. As I mentioned before, Amsterdam has many cultural pursuits in which to pass a Saturday afternoon. It also has some more, shall I say, tawdry activities.
Amsterdam is home of the original Heineken Brewery. It was like the mothership calling Chizz home. After checking that there didn't seem
to be a problem with minors taking the tour, we went on over. There was a line but it moved fairly quickly and there was entertainment. No, not in the conventional way - no dancing green bottles. But there were several bachelor parties. Amsterdam is very popular for bachelor and bachelorette (or 'Hen' as they say in the UK)parties. There was a good size group of young men all dressed in silk pajamas and being loud and generally obnoxious. It was amusing. When we finally reach the register, we learn that the admission price includes tokens for 3 beers. FOR EVERYONE!!!! Chizz & I received tokens and Kiki & Snake received tokens. I am not really surprised about Kiki because it is generally assumed in Europe that most 15 - 16 year olds drink. When we go out to dinner, she is always given a wine glass and at bars she seems to have no difficulty ordering. (Sigh) But this trip I found out that in the right circumstances even Snake can get served. When we flew into Amsterdam, the flight attendant misheard Snake and gave him a beer. He had said coke (and I heard him) but Chizz ordered a beer and so she gave them both one. (KLM, Snake & Chizz's favorite airline by the way. Snake for the reason I just said and Chizz because
they don't charge you for alcohol!)We went through the tour, which was educational for most of us, for some of us it was just something to do in between times to turn in your beer tokens. They had a fun little display where you find out what it is like to be a bottle in the bottling plant. You watch videos of commercials, learn about hops, yeast etc. But mostly it was about drinking the beer. Truthfully, and thankfully, Snake doesn't really like beer - yet. Kiki drank all of one glass and the slack was picked up by Chizz. Couldn't let "free" beer go to waste.
So after an afternoon of drinking with our children, what could we do to top that? I know! Let's take them to the red light district. Of course, we did. Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands. Prostitutes have unions, pay taxes, have health benefits etc. While I will stop short of saying it is an honorable profession, it is a legal one here and there are plenty in abundance. We decided that this was part of Amsterdam and at their age it wasn't something we needed to hide. So off we went. We made sure we went fairly early in the evening because later in the evening as the alcohol level gets much higher there can be trouble. This is definitely a tourist attraction and there were several
tours, the ever-present Japanese tour group, a group of older women, quite a few families such as ours. Although legal, it is still seedy. We walked by a few sex clubs with their hawkers outside, one of which offered us a "family discount" - ewwwwwwww! Most of the women sit or stand in windows to be gawked at, dressed in variety of short skirts, bathing suits, shorts; all of them heavily made up and not as young as you would think. Kiki was kind of "sketched out" by it all; Snake I think felt a mixture of revulsion and fascination.
Yep, I am pretty sure we don't need to make room on our mantle for that Parenting of the Year Award. Of course, we didn't take them to any of the "Coffee" shops (specializing in everything but coffee) in Amsterdam. That would have been wrong, just wrong. The bar may be low but it isn't on the ground!!
Amsterdam is home of the original Heineken Brewery. It was like the mothership calling Chizz home. After checking that there didn't seem
to be a problem with minors taking the tour, we went on over. There was a line but it moved fairly quickly and there was entertainment. No, not in the conventional way - no dancing green bottles. But there were several bachelor parties. Amsterdam is very popular for bachelor and bachelorette (or 'Hen' as they say in the UK)parties. There was a good size group of young men all dressed in silk pajamas and being loud and generally obnoxious. It was amusing. When we finally reach the register, we learn that the admission price includes tokens for 3 beers. FOR EVERYONE!!!! Chizz & I received tokens and Kiki & Snake received tokens. I am not really surprised about Kiki because it is generally assumed in Europe that most 15 - 16 year olds drink. When we go out to dinner, she is always given a wine glass and at bars she seems to have no difficulty ordering. (Sigh) But this trip I found out that in the right circumstances even Snake can get served. When we flew into Amsterdam, the flight attendant misheard Snake and gave him a beer. He had said coke (and I heard him) but Chizz ordered a beer and so she gave them both one. (KLM, Snake & Chizz's favorite airline by the way. Snake for the reason I just said and Chizz because
they don't charge you for alcohol!)We went through the tour, which was educational for most of us, for some of us it was just something to do in between times to turn in your beer tokens. They had a fun little display where you find out what it is like to be a bottle in the bottling plant. You watch videos of commercials, learn about hops, yeast etc. But mostly it was about drinking the beer. Truthfully, and thankfully, Snake doesn't really like beer - yet. Kiki drank all of one glass and the slack was picked up by Chizz. Couldn't let "free" beer go to waste.
So after an afternoon of drinking with our children, what could we do to top that? I know! Let's take them to the red light district. Of course, we did. Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands. Prostitutes have unions, pay taxes, have health benefits etc. While I will stop short of saying it is an honorable profession, it is a legal one here and there are plenty in abundance. We decided that this was part of Amsterdam and at their age it wasn't something we needed to hide. So off we went. We made sure we went fairly early in the evening because later in the evening as the alcohol level gets much higher there can be trouble. This is definitely a tourist attraction and there were several
tours, the ever-present Japanese tour group, a group of older women, quite a few families such as ours. Although legal, it is still seedy. We walked by a few sex clubs with their hawkers outside, one of which offered us a "family discount" - ewwwwwwww! Most of the women sit or stand in windows to be gawked at, dressed in variety of short skirts, bathing suits, shorts; all of them heavily made up and not as young as you would think. Kiki was kind of "sketched out" by it all; Snake I think felt a mixture of revulsion and fascination.
Yep, I am pretty sure we don't need to make room on our mantle for that Parenting of the Year Award. Of course, we didn't take them to any of the "Coffee" shops (specializing in everything but coffee) in Amsterdam. That would have been wrong, just wrong. The bar may be low but it isn't on the ground!!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Amuse Yourselves
I am under the weather. It never fails - have a suitcase full of things to do, husband out of town, 8th grade graduation coming up, choir concert - and I get sick. Cold/virus thing - my head and throat hurt, I am deaf in my right ear and my chest feels like an anvil is resting on it. I was laying in bed feeling sorry for myself so I decided I needed to hear some upbeat music so I searched for show tunes on YouTube. I was listening to some Kristin Chenowith to cheer myself up (I am nice to myself that way) and this clip came up. I love it, I love it, I loooooovvvve it. I decided to share it with you and when I am feeling better I will blog about some of the things I have done lately.
P.S. This is not about "my" latte boy, his name is Aleksy and he very often does not get my order right.
P.S. This is not about "my" latte boy, his name is Aleksy and he very often does not get my order right.
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