We have had sporadic internet service over the past few days. As those of you who have teenagers know, bad internet service is tantamount to child abuse these days. So I called our internet provider to complain this morning. They apologized profusely for the intermittent service because in reality what they meant to do was cut off our service!! What?? Why? (And before you ask, thanks to direct billing - our account is paid promptly each month).
No they explained, the reason they cut off our service was because of the "inappropriate" use. Apparently one or more of our computers has been infiltrated by some kind of robot that sends out many, many junk emails. The technician I spoke with today told me thousands of spam emails have been traced back to our internet connection. Thousands of "not so nice" emails. Porn. The tech assured me that the company doesn't think it was us or else I most likely would have been speaking to the police. (See, I know I am going to leave this country with some kind of criminal record.) Our computers have a dark side apparently and have fallen in with the wrong kind. The smut sending kind. It is hard enough to keep track what your kids are doing, now I have to worry about my machines. (Although I never did like the look of that electric teapot.)
How do they fix this problem you ask? Well, "they" don't. I have to. I figure out how to back up everything that is important, clean out our hard drive and then reload. I am sure that is going to be fun. I am sure I will be able to do that in no time. So we will most likely be out of touch for a few hours, days maybe weeks. Who knows?
Meanwhile if you get any unsolicited racy emails, think of us. It is probably our computer running wild again. We tried grounding it but you can't control 'em these days!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Lavenham
Lavenham is a beautiful little medieval village. It puts the Q in quaint. Full of
the half-timbered type of houses. Some of the houses look like they are taking a rest, leaning back. You almost want to tip-toe by them, lest you knock them over by 
walking by too heavily. It sounds very cliche, but you seem to have walked into a town that time has forgotten. We walked by this house that had the milk on the stoop from the delivery by the milkman earlier that morning. Although milkman have pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur in the US, there are still many places in England where you can get milk delivered right to your doorstep the old fashioned way - London included. I don't think you would want that in some big cities in the States. I for one know that I wouldn't drink any milk left on my doorstep in New York. For sure.
Lavenham also has a beautiful church. I never pass up peeking in a church or
cathedral if I can help it and I have 
folks, pretty impressive huh? The inside is even more beautiful. I could look at that ceiling for hours, I almost did - my neck felt funny for the rest of the day. If you look closely at the seats, you will notice blue cushions on them. These were hand crocheted by various members of the congregation for an anniversary project. They are all scenes of local businesses,
homes, points of interest. When you think about the time and effort put into all of these cushions, I believe over 500 of them and I couldn't find a duplicate, it embodies to me what community is all about. Truly a labor of love. 
We stopped at the local pub (of course) for a snack and a quick game of darts. Chizz & Snake are still learning the game but they are getting better. This time only a few of the dart didn't make the board and hardly anyone was hurt! Good times.
One last claim to fame for Lavenham, a reference you are all surely to know. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star was based on a poem by a Lavenham woman. Did you know that song has 5 verses!! We can heartily recommend a trip to Lavenham, a real gem. . . sort of like a diamond . . . . in the sky!! Okay, Okay.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
C....O....T....S.... W....O....L....D....S (and other places) All Stretched Out
We went on a driving trip recently. We worked our way around to lots of cute little English towns we wanted to see. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision to go. We knew we wanted to do something that weekend, we weren't sure what and this is what we decided to do. When I looked at all the pictures and all the towns we stopped in, I realized, we saw quite a bit. And if I tell it all in one swoop, it will be the world's longest blog entry. People will nod off reading it, heck I might even nod off writing it. So I am going to break it down into little pieces, chunkettes that might be easier to digest. So it will stretch out over a few entries (oh, now you get the title).
Bury St. Edmunds
This is a town in Suffolk county and for some reason Chizz has been wanting to visit there for some time. A monastery was founded in the area in the 600s. In
the beginning of the 10th century, the remains of St. Edmund were interred at the monastery and later the abbey. Hence the name. The abbey was closed in 1539 by Henry VIII during the reformation and stripped of anything valuable or useful. It quickly fell into ruins. You can walk through the ruins now which are in a beautiful garden. We spent some time here. We have been to quite a few of these "ruined" abbeys and this is
one of the larger ones. You really get an idea for how big these properties really were. Strange, the abbey was ruined but their tennis courts remain in almost perfect condition. Hmmm. I took quite a few pictures of the abbey and the grounds so here you go!
This is the Norman Gate that is the entrance to the Abbey Gardens. It was originally built in the 12th century. It really is quite impressive.
Oops! We didn't mean to do that. We will rebuild it right away!!
Bury St. Edmunds is also the site where the barons of England got together and decided that they would force the Charter of Liberties (which later became known as the Magna Carta) down the throat of King John.
This is a picture of the Guildhall in town.I found it interesting to see the differences in the architecture in these towns farther out. There is much more of a Saxon or Norman influence. Instead of church spires like I see in London and the surrounding towns, out farther in the country you see Norman towers at the churches. You can see what I mean by the following picture of the cathedral in town.
Chizz was very excited to find out that Bury St. Edmunds is also in the Guinness Book of World Records. For? The world's smallest pub, The Nutshell. It was very cute but closed when we were there or else we would have had to stop for a drink.
We stayed a small hotel, very cute and old fashioned. I think except for the couple next door we were the only guests in the hotel. There was a very friendly waiter the next morning at breakfast, he loved Americans and absolutely loved American politics. Wanted to talk all about Hilary and Obama and what we thought that meant for the United States and the world as a whole. He also told us that our hotel had a ghost!!! She apparently was a woman that killed a prior (religious dude) way back in the days of yore. They hanged her and ever since then she has haunted the hotel which is built on the grounds of the old priory. I didn't hear her at all the night before, but we had spent a few hours at the pub across the street so I was "dead" too.
Stay tuned for more adventures. . . .
Bury St. Edmunds
This is a town in Suffolk county and for some reason Chizz has been wanting to visit there for some time. A monastery was founded in the area in the 600s. In
the beginning of the 10th century, the remains of St. Edmund were interred at the monastery and later the abbey. Hence the name. The abbey was closed in 1539 by Henry VIII during the reformation and stripped of anything valuable or useful. It quickly fell into ruins. You can walk through the ruins now which are in a beautiful garden. We spent some time here. We have been to quite a few of these "ruined" abbeys and this is
one of the larger ones. You really get an idea for how big these properties really were. Strange, the abbey was ruined but their tennis courts remain in almost perfect condition. Hmmm. I took quite a few pictures of the abbey and the grounds so here you go! 
This is the Norman Gate that is the entrance to the Abbey Gardens. It was originally built in the 12th century. It really is quite impressive.
Oops! We didn't mean to do that. We will rebuild it right away!!
Bury St. Edmunds is also the site where the barons of England got together and decided that they would force the Charter of Liberties (which later became known as the Magna Carta) down the throat of King John.
This is a picture of the Guildhall in town.I found it interesting to see the differences in the architecture in these towns farther out. There is much more of a Saxon or Norman influence. Instead of church spires like I see in London and the surrounding towns, out farther in the country you see Norman towers at the churches. You can see what I mean by the following picture of the cathedral in town.
Chizz was very excited to find out that Bury St. Edmunds is also in the Guinness Book of World Records. For? The world's smallest pub, The Nutshell. It was very cute but closed when we were there or else we would have had to stop for a drink.
We stayed a small hotel, very cute and old fashioned. I think except for the couple next door we were the only guests in the hotel. There was a very friendly waiter the next morning at breakfast, he loved Americans and absolutely loved American politics. Wanted to talk all about Hilary and Obama and what we thought that meant for the United States and the world as a whole. He also told us that our hotel had a ghost!!! She apparently was a woman that killed a prior (religious dude) way back in the days of yore. They hanged her and ever since then she has haunted the hotel which is built on the grounds of the old priory. I didn't hear her at all the night before, but we had spent a few hours at the pub across the street so I was "dead" too.
Stay tuned for more adventures. . . .
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
What The Heck is That Thing???
It was very windy here last night. Extremely windy. So windy I half expected to see a bike riding hag out my second story window. In the middle of the night, I woke because I think I hear a noise. I listen, I hear something downstairs. Maybe it is one of the kids getting a drink or something downstairs. I don't hear the noise again so I fall asleep. I wake again, the same noise. Now I am not the bravest soul in the world but I know that there is no one downstairs, I am confident our building is secure. But this is some serious interruption of my beauty sleep. I stomp downstairs to find out where the noise is coming from and I can still hear the noise. It is coming from the kitchen. It's this thing!
This thing is in our window and the wind is whistling through it. It is like a little fan and when the wind hits it, it moves and makes a squeaky little noise, similar to chalk on a chalkboard. I don't even know what this is or why we have it. I have seen it in other people's home here as well but they don't know what it is either. I suspect it has something to do with ventilation. What the heck is this thing?
I know what it is. It's the thing that kept me up half the night last night.
This thing is in our window and the wind is whistling through it. It is like a little fan and when the wind hits it, it moves and makes a squeaky little noise, similar to chalk on a chalkboard. I don't even know what this is or why we have it. I have seen it in other people's home here as well but they don't know what it is either. I suspect it has something to do with ventilation. What the heck is this thing?
I know what it is. It's the thing that kept me up half the night last night.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Vienna - More Than Just Sausages!
We had some time before Christmas and decided we wanted to visit somewhere Christmasy. So we thought Vienna. We could take in the Christmas markets 
and maybe it would snow a bit. Vienna is beautiful and colllllddddd! We weren't as prepared as we could have been the first time we went out but we are quick learners. We layered, and layered, and layered and layered. Even after that, we couldn't stay out too long in the cold - it just creeps into your bones. The wind didn't help at all. But we soldiered through and had a great time.
Vienna is a city that decorates for Christmas. Every street seems to have own lights. I also noted that there is no problem with displaying religious decorations as well. I saw many Nativity scenes all over the city. To see a city so nicely decorated really puts you in the Christmas spirit. Even with the freezing cold, people really get out and walk in Vienna. The streets were full of people window shopping, admiring the decorations and having a good time. It is easy to get caught up in it all.
We went to two palaces, Belvedere and Schonbrunn. Belvedere was a royal palace that was originally owned by a French prince-turned-Austrian-war general. The palace was built in the early 1700s and eventually sold to Maria Theresa, the reigning monarch of Austria for many years. Later it was the location of the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955. The treaty established Austria as a free and democratic state after being occupied by Allied Forces since the end of World War II.
The second palace we visited was Schonbrunn. This was one of the main palaces of Maria-Theresa and her husband Francis I. Although technically Maria-Theresa was really only Empress Consort, meaning it was actually her husband on the throne, she pretty much ran things and continued to run things after his death. They had 16 children (when did she have the TIME to run an empire!). The most famous of the children was their youngest daughter Marie Antoinette. It was really interesting going through the palace, which is furnished in the way it would have been when Maria Theresa and Francis lived there. You see all the portraits of their children an you learn a bit as to what happened to them. I think most of Maria Theresa's time was spent figuring out the best marriages for all of her children, with 16 it was probably a full time job. It was kind of sad in a way, it doesn't appear that they had any relationship with their children and the only value the kids had was what they could do for Austria by marrying well. Marie Antoinette was married to the boy who would
be King of France when she was 14 years old! It seemed to be a very opulent but a lonely life. Even after her marriage, Marie Antoinette's mother would constantly write her reminding her of her responsibility to Austria. Schonbrunn was also the site of the meeting between Kennedy and Kruschev. I don't really have a great picture of it because it had a Christmas Market set up in front but this will give you a good idea of what it looked like. Apparently the yellow color of this palace is famous world wide. Now you know.
One of our favorite spots was their Natural History Museum, one because it had quite a few interesting exhibits and the building itself was so interesting. The second reason was that it was indoors and did I mention how cold it was outside? It housed an aquarium where we have proof
positive that there is such a thing as a hog fish. Those of you that know us, know why that is important. Doubting WTF readers? Here you go - proof. The inside of the building was just beautiful and I found myself looking up at the ceiling, the mouldings, the paneling just as much as I was looking at the exhibits.
We also managed to sample some great Austrian cuisine while we were there at a cute
little restaurant. The kids loved the nutcracker that they had on the table, it was really fun to use. If they had been selling them, I would have come home with one for sure. Kiki is demonstrating it to the left. Put the nut in the little hole and then you twist the screw down onto the nut and it cracks it very satisfactorily. It was really fun, in a strange way. I was a little afraid to try the dish circled in red on the menu because in my experience food cooked by an animal is not usually as good. But if you are more adventurous, you might want to try it.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the Opera House as it wasn't open on the day we were there. We also missed out on the famous Lipizzaner Horses at the Spanish Riding School. During the off season, they only offer a certain number of tours per day and they were already sold out by the time we arrived. Darn!
Of course, something else Vienna is famous for is music. Mozart, Johan Strauss, Schubert, and Haydn - all famous Austrian composers. Mozart
performed his first concert at Schonbrunn Palace when he was 6 years old! You see quite a bit of memorabilia dedicated to music. We ran into this at the underground subway. Pay a few euros, do your business and enjoy a little opera at the same time. Snake was moved (not that way!) to buy a souvenir of Vienna of a musical sort. Here it is:
Mozart Pez. A Classic. Sure to be a treasured memento for many years to come.
and maybe it would snow a bit. Vienna is beautiful and colllllddddd! We weren't as prepared as we could have been the first time we went out but we are quick learners. We layered, and layered, and layered and layered. Even after that, we couldn't stay out too long in the cold - it just creeps into your bones. The wind didn't help at all. But we soldiered through and had a great time.Vienna is a city that decorates for Christmas. Every street seems to have own lights. I also noted that there is no problem with displaying religious decorations as well. I saw many Nativity scenes all over the city. To see a city so nicely decorated really puts you in the Christmas spirit. Even with the freezing cold, people really get out and walk in Vienna. The streets were full of people window shopping, admiring the decorations and having a good time. It is easy to get caught up in it all.
We went to two palaces, Belvedere and Schonbrunn. Belvedere was a royal palace that was originally owned by a French prince-turned-Austrian-war general. The palace was built in the early 1700s and eventually sold to Maria Theresa, the reigning monarch of Austria for many years. Later it was the location of the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955. The treaty established Austria as a free and democratic state after being occupied by Allied Forces since the end of World War II.
The second palace we visited was Schonbrunn. This was one of the main palaces of Maria-Theresa and her husband Francis I. Although technically Maria-Theresa was really only Empress Consort, meaning it was actually her husband on the throne, she pretty much ran things and continued to run things after his death. They had 16 children (when did she have the TIME to run an empire!). The most famous of the children was their youngest daughter Marie Antoinette. It was really interesting going through the palace, which is furnished in the way it would have been when Maria Theresa and Francis lived there. You see all the portraits of their children an you learn a bit as to what happened to them. I think most of Maria Theresa's time was spent figuring out the best marriages for all of her children, with 16 it was probably a full time job. It was kind of sad in a way, it doesn't appear that they had any relationship with their children and the only value the kids had was what they could do for Austria by marrying well. Marie Antoinette was married to the boy who would
be King of France when she was 14 years old! It seemed to be a very opulent but a lonely life. Even after her marriage, Marie Antoinette's mother would constantly write her reminding her of her responsibility to Austria. Schonbrunn was also the site of the meeting between Kennedy and Kruschev. I don't really have a great picture of it because it had a Christmas Market set up in front but this will give you a good idea of what it looked like. Apparently the yellow color of this palace is famous world wide. Now you know. One of our favorite spots was their Natural History Museum, one because it had quite a few interesting exhibits and the building itself was so interesting. The second reason was that it was indoors and did I mention how cold it was outside? It housed an aquarium where we have proof
positive that there is such a thing as a hog fish. Those of you that know us, know why that is important. Doubting WTF readers? Here you go - proof. The inside of the building was just beautiful and I found myself looking up at the ceiling, the mouldings, the paneling just as much as I was looking at the exhibits. 
We also managed to sample some great Austrian cuisine while we were there at a cute
little restaurant. The kids loved the nutcracker that they had on the table, it was really fun to use. If they had been selling them, I would have come home with one for sure. Kiki is demonstrating it to the left. Put the nut in the little hole and then you twist the screw down onto the nut and it cracks it very satisfactorily. It was really fun, in a strange way. I was a little afraid to try the dish circled in red on the menu because in my experience food cooked by an animal is not usually as good. But if you are more adventurous, you might want to try it.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the Opera House as it wasn't open on the day we were there. We also missed out on the famous Lipizzaner Horses at the Spanish Riding School. During the off season, they only offer a certain number of tours per day and they were already sold out by the time we arrived. Darn!
Of course, something else Vienna is famous for is music. Mozart, Johan Strauss, Schubert, and Haydn - all famous Austrian composers. Mozart
performed his first concert at Schonbrunn Palace when he was 6 years old! You see quite a bit of memorabilia dedicated to music. We ran into this at the underground subway. Pay a few euros, do your business and enjoy a little opera at the same time. Snake was moved (not that way!) to buy a souvenir of Vienna of a musical sort. Here it is: 
Mozart Pez. A Classic. Sure to be a treasured memento for many years to come.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
One or Two or Six Christmas Markets
Vienna has the market on,well - Christmas Markets. It seems like everytime we 
turned a corner, we happened upon a Christmas Market. For those of you that are uninitiated, a Christmas Market is sort of like a farmers' market with loads of stalls selling items, except the items are usually crafts, or food or have something to do with Christmas. As you can probably guess, I LOVE Christmas Markets. My family? Not so much. So I have to bribe them - sweet things for the children and alcoholic things for the husband.
At almost every important site in Vienna, the various palaces, the town hall,
the gothic church, there is a Christmas Market in front. Some of them are bigger than others, the biggest one we went to was in front of the town hall. These are pictures of the town hall. It was decorated like an advent calendar. Each window had a number on the front and each day they revealed a different picture 
behind the number. It was beautiful and my photos don't do it justice. And yes, that is snow in the photos! It is a nice way to spend an evening, you wander from stall to stall. We bought a few ornaments for what is fast becoming our very international Christmas tree. 
Here is one more picture of the City Hall in the day time that I think gives a better perspective on the market and the advent calendar windows.
This tree had the most amazing little lights in them, some Santa Clauses (?) some packages and I think some Christmas candy. The park in front of city hall was just filled with these lighted trees.
Of course we also had to stop numerous times to test out some of the treats available,
sausages, pretzels, potato things (we were not quite sure what they were other than they were fried and good!) I think Chizz's favorite thing (and who am I kidding mine too) was the different kinds of warm drinks you could buy. 
As I mentioned before, each major site in Vienna had its own Christmas market. Some of the markets were bigger,some sold slightly different merchandise or food but they all sold hot drinks. Hot chocolate, hot apple cider, hot mulled wine, hot apple alcholic punch, all kinds of hot alcholic punch or punsch as they say. Each Christmas market had its own colored mug. For a 2 euro deposit (about $3) you got a mug and you could go from booth to booth and buy different kinds of punch or wine. At the end of your visit, you could return the mug and get your 2 euros back. Or not. We loved the drinks and sometimes we returned the mugs and sometimes, we did not. How much did we love the warm drinks? You be the judge.
And these were just the mugs we kept!! Oh well, when in Vienna. . .
turned a corner, we happened upon a Christmas Market. For those of you that are uninitiated, a Christmas Market is sort of like a farmers' market with loads of stalls selling items, except the items are usually crafts, or food or have something to do with Christmas. As you can probably guess, I LOVE Christmas Markets. My family? Not so much. So I have to bribe them - sweet things for the children and alcoholic things for the husband. At almost every important site in Vienna, the various palaces, the town hall,
the gothic church, there is a Christmas Market in front. Some of them are bigger than others, the biggest one we went to was in front of the town hall. These are pictures of the town hall. It was decorated like an advent calendar. Each window had a number on the front and each day they revealed a different picture 
behind the number. It was beautiful and my photos don't do it justice. And yes, that is snow in the photos! It is a nice way to spend an evening, you wander from stall to stall. We bought a few ornaments for what is fast becoming our very international Christmas tree. 
Here is one more picture of the City Hall in the day time that I think gives a better perspective on the market and the advent calendar windows.
This tree had the most amazing little lights in them, some Santa Clauses (?) some packages and I think some Christmas candy. The park in front of city hall was just filled with these lighted trees.
Of course we also had to stop numerous times to test out some of the treats available,
sausages, pretzels, potato things (we were not quite sure what they were other than they were fried and good!) I think Chizz's favorite thing (and who am I kidding mine too) was the different kinds of warm drinks you could buy. 
As I mentioned before, each major site in Vienna had its own Christmas market. Some of the markets were bigger,some sold slightly different merchandise or food but they all sold hot drinks. Hot chocolate, hot apple cider, hot mulled wine, hot apple alcholic punch, all kinds of hot alcholic punch or punsch as they say. Each Christmas market had its own colored mug. For a 2 euro deposit (about $3) you got a mug and you could go from booth to booth and buy different kinds of punch or wine. At the end of your visit, you could return the mug and get your 2 euros back. Or not. We loved the drinks and sometimes we returned the mugs and sometimes, we did not. How much did we love the warm drinks? You be the judge.
And these were just the mugs we kept!! Oh well, when in Vienna. . .
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy London New Year! Take 2
We spent our second New Years in London the same way as the first. 
We went
up to Primrose Hill and watched the fireworks being set off in the city. Even though it was overcast and rainy, we still had a beautiful view. Thousands of people must go up to the same spot and watch the fireworks. It is pretty dark so it is hard to tell exactly how many folks are there but when the crowd is oohing and aahing over the fireworks, you can tell there are quite a few.
As with last year, the most fun (and slightly dangerous) part of the evening is after the "official" fireworks are over and people start to set off their own right in the park. As I have mentioned before, it is legal to buy fireworks here and you can buy the most amazing stuff in the supermarket or department store. So for a while after we watched the locals set off their stash and that was pretty amazing. This one was set off about 25 yards from us!
These people brought little sparklers and it was fun watching them. You can get an idea of the crowd behind them.
I like the way this one is right in the trees. (Photo credit: Snake)
There were a few that didn't actually make the sky. I am not sure if they were "duds" or if there was operator error. Mixing alcohol and explosives is always a good idea. Luckily no one was hurt on our watch. Well, I am looking forward to 2008 and all the interesting adventures ahead. Happy New Year!
We went up to Primrose Hill and watched the fireworks being set off in the city. Even though it was overcast and rainy, we still had a beautiful view. Thousands of people must go up to the same spot and watch the fireworks. It is pretty dark so it is hard to tell exactly how many folks are there but when the crowd is oohing and aahing over the fireworks, you can tell there are quite a few.
As with last year, the most fun (and slightly dangerous) part of the evening is after the "official" fireworks are over and people start to set off their own right in the park. As I have mentioned before, it is legal to buy fireworks here and you can buy the most amazing stuff in the supermarket or department store. So for a while after we watched the locals set off their stash and that was pretty amazing. This one was set off about 25 yards from us!
These people brought little sparklers and it was fun watching them. You can get an idea of the crowd behind them.
I like the way this one is right in the trees. (Photo credit: Snake)
There were a few that didn't actually make the sky. I am not sure if they were "duds" or if there was operator error. Mixing alcohol and explosives is always a good idea. Luckily no one was hurt on our watch. Well, I am looking forward to 2008 and all the interesting adventures ahead. Happy New Year!
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