Cheerio - Our Trip to the UK

We just got back from a wonderful trip to England.  Actually, it's been over a week, but hey, that's how it goes these days.  But at least our trip was wonderful, if not without incident. 

Our trip to the airport was a little more hectic than we would have liked as the Russians added two security checkpoints at the train station with only one line each, which caused us to miss the train to the airport.  Nonetheless, we got to our gate just as our flight started boarding, so no harm, no foul.  

The flight itself was uneventful, but when we got off, Aiden's stroller was missing.  We waited for close to half an hour before someone came and apologized and told us it would be at baggage claim instead of beside the gate. So we got started on our trip a little later than expected.  I was very nervous about driving on the left, and it was indeed strange, and I did find myself driving on the wrong side of the road from time to time, but again, no harm, no foul.   I think it actually helped that I drive so infrequently as it is. 

We had a good time trying to find our B&B in the small town of Burton-On-Water in the Cotswold's, but we managed in the end.  By then it was late and we were exhausted, and our host, a British great-grandmother, got us set up in our room without any fuss so we could get some sleep. 

The next morning we awoke to a fine English breakfast and the discovery that I left my camera on the plane. Shock. Horror.  I found out that the airport had a lost and found, but it was next to impossible to get anyone on the phone, so we would just have to wait.  Luckily, we found the British equivalent of a Wal-Mart and I was able to purchase the same camera I already had, but in a better model and for a lower price.  We also got some pants for Aiden because we forgot those too.  It really is true what they say about parenthood making you dumber. 

Newly equipped with pants and a camera, we headed to the town of Gloucester, where we enjoyed a lunch of fish n' chips (the first of many), and beer and cider (also the first of many).  After lunch we visited Gloucester Cathedral, which, aside from being beautiful and the resting place of King Edward II, it was also the filming location of some of the Harry Potter movies - so this was about as close to Hogwarts as I am likely to get. 

After the church, we walked around town a bit, taking in the sights, including a clock tower with 5 figures representing England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Father Time, before heading on to Cirencester. 

Cirencester is a quaint little town, built on the site of a Roman city of Corinium.  We enjoyed the town, but unfortunately, we got there after the Roman history museum closed.

Aiden was probably happier that way since it left us more time to explore the nice park behind the cathedral there...

Our last stop for the day was Bibury, not much more than a crossroads, but home to some very beautiful scenery.  It felt like we were stepping into the Shire in one of Tolkien's books.

We also visited famous Arlington Row, which is supposed to be the most photographed location in the UK, and easy to see why.

That evening we ate at an inn in town, where we enjoyed fresh sausages and local trout.  The next morning, we explored more of Burton-On-Water, which has to be one of the most underrated towns I've ever seen.  When I did my research, it barely got a mention.  I only decided to stay at the B&B there because it was a good deal and was pretty much equidistant from all the places we wanted to go.  But it's a beautiful town, with lots of little shops and places to eat along the river.

We followed a path that our host recommended, which took us through horse and sheep pastures on our way to Lower and Upper Slaughter - a bit of an unfortunate name given the cute little animals in abundance, but actually very nice towns.

In Lower Slaughter, there is an inn that dates back to the 17th century, and following the river eye, we got to visit an old water mill that's been restored to working order.

Aiden enjoyed baa-ing at the sheep on our way from Lower to Upper Slaughter and the weather was amazing.

In Upper Slaughter, there was a nice old church and some very beautiful houses.

We made it back to Burton-on-Water in time for lunch, Fish n' Chips! which we ate by the river.

After lunch we drove to Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare.  Aiden fell asleep in the car, so we had to wait awhile to get started.  He is fascinated by butterflies so, when he woke up we took him to a butterfly farm, and he had great fun chasing them around and shouting at them.

That didn't leave us much time, but we still got to see the historic part of town - much of which is preserved from Shakespeare's time, including the house where he was born.  One of the most amazing things about our trip was being able to walk among so much history.

The next day, we set out a bit further afield, passing numerous pheasants on the way to Sudeley Castle, which dates back to the 15th century and has hosted the likes of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Queen Elizabeth I.

The grounds were beautiful and gave great views of the countryside.  Aiden was fascinated by the peacock at the pheasantry and Stephanie enjoyed a plant sculpture garden.

From there we enjoyed a nice country drive through the Cotswold's on our way to Broadway Tower, which was built in the late 18th century and gives views as far away as Wales.

In the afternoon, we continued up to Chipping Campden, the "capitol" of the Cotswolds, where we enjoyed visiting the church, a lunch of fish n chips at a local pub, and walking around a neighborhood of thatched-roof cottages...

We enjoyed an afternoon tea in Chipping Campden before heading back to Burton-on-Water.  On our way back, we stopped in the village of Bledington to eat at an inn that used to be frequented by Prince William before he got married (according to our host).

The next day it was time to make our way to London, via Stonehenge.  The day started out quite rainy, but had cleared up nicely by the time we got to the stone circle.   It was a bit out of our way, but definitely worth seeing.

In London, we dropped of our car at the airport and took a cab to our friends' house where we were staying.  Actually, it was far from being that simple.  We got stuck in some traffic coming into London, then our directions were wrong and took us to the wrong terminal, so we had to pay for parking we didn't use and backtrack to the car-rental drop-off.  Once we got there, the taxi we requested was nowhere to be seen and no one was answering the phones.  So we had to call my friend and have him act as an interlocutor.  About an hour later, we were in the cab and on our way. That's the rest of the story.

Our friends live in a beautiful neighborhood a little bit north and west of the city center and they have a little boy who is Aiden's age, so it was fun to see them play together.  We had a great time catching up.  One of the great things about the Foreign Service is that you know someone almost everywhere, and friendships just pick up again whenever you cross paths.

The next day we did a walking tour of London from east to west.  We started at the Temple Church, the 12th century structure originally built for the Knight's Templar.  We made our way along the strand, we saw the Royal Courts of Justice, Somerset House with it's plaza full of fountains, Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, and more.

Finding a place for lunch was easier said than done, but we eventually succeeded near Harrod's Department store - and, you guessed it, Fish n Chips again!

We spent the evening with our friends and recuperating for a heavy day of sightseeing the next day.  Attractions in London are unbelievably expensive, with many historic buildings charging over $30 per person in entry fees.   Of course, many of those locations are a must-see, so we bought London Passes, which allow you to get in for about half price if you plan your day well and see some of the more expensive places.

I took that as a direct challenge, so we saw Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, and took a cruise down the Thames.  It was a very full day, but well worth it.

Westminster Abbey is incredible both for the decoration and the history.  Being able to walk next to the resting places of figures like Elizabeth I and Chaucer is incredible.  Even more so to know that the people who are buried there likely walked in the same places we were walking.  The church doesn't allow photography inside, so I had to pull some photos from other places for mementos.  One of the biggest tricks was keeping Aiden entertained.  Luckily we discovered that he was fascinated by the free audio guides, so we just requested an extra one for him to play with.

I have to say that St. Paul's was less impressive than we expected given the entry fee, but still beautiful.  The views from the dome also were not quite what I had hoped, but it still a neat place to visit.  Extra cool points for getting to see a place I remember from watching Mary Poppins as a kid.

The Tower of London was probable my favorite place of all, mostly because of the history there, but also because the exhibits were so informative.  We could have probably spent an entire day there, but since time was limited, we focused on the highlights, like the crown jewels.

Finishing the day on the Thames was perfect as we got to relax and take in some of the most famous sights of the city, including Shakespeare's Theater, the Millennium Wheel, and Parliament/Big Ben.  Aiden kept trying to hold hands with an older boy who was sitting near us, but he wasn't having any of it.  We definitely consider it his loss.

The trip was wonderful, and it was great to spend a week where everyone spoke our language  not to mention getting to catch up with our friends.  Best of all, someone turned in my camera.  I had to run all over the airport and pay 30 pounds to get it back, but as Stephanie says, now I have a back-up when I lose it again in the future.

We came back to spring in full swing in Moscow and some unseasonably hot weather, but more on that later. 

Spring Has Finally Sprung

I've been very remiss in keeping up with the blog, but with good reason.  For over a month, we've been extremely understaffed at work.  At the same time, I've taken over the position of Line Chief, which basically means taking care of all the problems that come up.  The long and short is that I've been working close to 12 hour days during this time and the blog is one of the things that got squeezed out.  So I will try to catch up on the last month in brief.

Stephanie planned an excellent birthday celebration for me at the end of March that lasted several days.  We also pretty much saw the last snowfall around that time, although it took another couple weeks for the snow to melt.  It was actually a fairly boring time because as the snow was melting, it really wasn't nice to go anywhere given the choice between dirty ice, dirty slush, or mud.  So we made the best of things and celebrated Easter by dyeing eggs etc...  We had some friends over as well and their little boy and Aiden hunted for plastic eggs in the living room.

During this time, the daylight hours have been changing rapidly.  We're gaining about 4 or 5 minutes of sunlight every day, so now it is already light when I get up at 6 and it doesn't get dark until after 9 pm.  We had a couple of very warm weeks in the middle of April, and then it cooled off a bit, but it's still been enough for flowers and leaves to come bursting out.  It's really amazing how it seems that the hard winter makes spring all the more dramatic here.

This past Saturday, Aiden had his second birthday.  It's hard to believe he's already 2 years old.  He had two parties, one with his playgroup, which consisted of about 17 children and their moms.  Then on his actual birthday, we had another party with some friends of ours.  I've been amazed to see how popular Aiden is.  Whenever we go outside, someone is yelling his name.  He still gets shy at times, but seems to be making a lot of friends.

The only reason I've had a chance to write this much is that we are on vacation.  Russia has some big holidays in May and as a result we have a 5 day weekend followed by a 4 day weekend and are taking the chance for a break.  I'm sure there will be more to say later, and hopefully when we get back, work will settle down enough that I can catch up on my pictures!

Winter Fun, But Still Winter...

Happy St. Patrick's Day from a Moscow freshly buried in snow!   It's been awhile since the last update, but as you'll see below, we've been busy. 

Let's see.  On President's Day weekend we went with another couple to the town of Sergiev Posad, one of the most famous of the Golden Ring city.  Our friends drove, but we enjoyed a nice relaxing train ride, which only took about an hour.  I had arranged for us to stay at a home stay where the owner organizes winter activities for her guests.  Our hostess  - Svetlana, met us at the train station and led us on an icy walk to her house near the Monastery.  On the way we passed some of the most amazing icicles I've ever seen on one of the wooden houses. 

Our friends, who also have a little boy Aiden's age, got there just after us and we were all treated to tea and blini (Russian pancakes served with sour cream, jam, and honey) while we waited for the other guests to arrive.  The house was very quaint and luckily Svetlana wasn't too concerned about Aiden's desire to play with everything in reach.

When the other guests arrived, we discovered that Svetlana runs a very strict schedule.  She told us that at 1pm, we would leave for our adventure in the forest. We would return at 3pm and have two hours to ourselves.  Dinner would be served at 5pm.  At 6pm we would all become good friends. at 7pm she would tell us the history of Sergiev Posad.  At 8pm, we would all go to the sauna, and at 10pm we would all go to bed.  I'm exaggerating a little - she didn't tell us we would become friends at 6pm, just that it would happen over dinner.

We quickly learned she meant what she was talking about.  The other guests arrived a bit late, and we figured we would have time while they ate their blini, so we took Aiden up to our room to play.  Shortly thereafter, Svetlana burst in and chided us for being late and told us everyone was waiting for us.  So we hustled on out and joined the rest for a drive out into the countryside.

Our drive took us on snowy roads to the edge of a forest where there were two colorful horse-drawn sleighs waiting for us.  Aiden had fallen asleep in the car and stayed asleep through the sleigh ride, but Stephanie and really enjoyed it.

The horses took us to a little clearing with a fire pit, where we all enjoyed snow-chilled champagne and vodka while roasting sausages over the fire.  Not too shabby, eh?

Aiden woke up shortly after we arrived and enjoyed wandering around in the snow and playing with a bear-skin rug.  There was also a nice sledding hill with great speed, which everyone enjoyed.  It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

After eating and sledding, we went on another sleigh ride through the forest.  This time Aiden was awake and really enjoyed it.  It was beautiful and quiet - a nice change from Moscow!

On our return, they had a samovar going for hot tea so that we could warm up.  I'd never seen one in action, but basically they take a burning piece of wood from the fire and drop it a tube in the middle, which heats the water around it.  Pretty nifty.

And I even got to play dress-up...

When the time came to head back to the car, we were a bit delayed, and eventually one of the guides told us that one of the sleighs was broken and told all eight adults to get in the sleigh together.  I couldn't bear doing that to the poor horse, so the men agreed to walk - it wasn't terribly far.  The guides didn't like that at all, but after much shouting, they agreed.  Sleighs don't really move all that quickly, so we were able to keep up on foot, which the women found very funny.

Back at casa de Svetlana, she was quite agitated that we were behind schedule.  It was already after 5pm, but she granted us until 5:30 to get ready for dinner.  I'm glad we didn't wait longer as it was an exceptional meal.  A generous course of starters, including more blini, followed by one of the best bowls of borscht I've ever had.  The main course was a rich pork stew in a clay pot and by the time the chocolate cake came out for dessert, we were pretty stuffed.

Svetlana started her overview of the history of Sergiev Posad, but she asked Aiden and his friend to leave shortly after starting because they were too loud. I stayed behind to relay the information to Stephanie. I won't get into the whole thing here but the history provided by Frommer's is pretty good if you're interested.  Not covered in Frommer's is the fact that the monastery was closed after the communist revolution and the monks were all sent off to labor camps.  For a time, people actually lived in the churches in little partitions, where their cooking and cleaning destroyed most of the original frescoes.  Today, the monastery is home to almost 1,000 people including monks and students, who must decide if they will be priests (in which case they must marry immediately upon graduation from the academy) or monks (in which case they will never marry).  Since most of the students choose the priesthood, there are apparently a large number of local young women who regularly attend church in the hopes of meeting a husband.

After dinner, I went out for a quick night view of the monastery but we were pretty tired and decided to pass on the sauna.

The next morning, after a prompt and delicious breakfast, we bid farewell to Svetlana.  Her adherence to a strict schedule was actually welcome compared to the usual experience in Russia, where things are haphazard at best.  She was an excellent hostess and took very good care of us.

Other friends of ours who have been to the monastery before have likened it to a fairy tale and we weren't disappointed.  It's one of the most impressive sights we've seen so far. No pictures were allowed in the churches themselves, but I found a good picture online to include for reference.

The sun came out as the morning went on, but it was quite cold, so we didn't stay too long.  We wanted to get some hot chocolate and snacks on our way out at the bakery on the premises but people were so rude, pushing and shoving, that we just grabbed the hot chocolate and left for the train station, taking one parting glance at the view on our way.

We barely caught our train because we were standing in line at one ticket window, and the cashier decided that she was taking a break after the person before us.  She literally just said "I'm on a break", and closed the window in our faces. (Not unusual, but still annoying). So with less than 10 minutes to departure, I had to dash into the train station, stand in line, get tickets, and then we had to walk down to the end of the platform to cross the tracks to get to our train.  We made it with about 2 minutes to spare and enjoyed our nice relaxing ride back to Moscow. 

 The next week we left for a whirlwind trip back to DC.  It was mostly to take care of Aiden's check-ups for his cleft palate, but that meant doctors appointments every day.   We barely got to see our immediate families while we were there and there were a lot of people we wish we had time to see. Aiden was a real trooper through it all, despite the long flights, jet lag, and constant poking and prodding from all of the doctors.  

We got very nervous about the "Snowquester" as it was forecast to snow over a foot at Dulles airport.  We watched as every domestic flight was cancelled, then most of the international flights.  Even though the storm did not turn out to be as bad as expected, we were checking with the airline up to the last minute to ensure the flight wasn't cancelled.  In the end, we left right on time - one of about 12 flights that actually left the airport that day.  It was good to get to see some of our family and nice to eat lots of good food, but overall we were relieved to get back to Moscow and take a break from our vacation.

Moscow welcomed us back with even more winter.  On Friday we had so much snow that we were sent home from work an hour early, which is completely unheard of.  More snow is in the forecast next week.  I think we're all getting tired of winter, but spring should only be a month away.  I think we've handled it pretty well so far. 

This week has been Maslenitsa - the Russian Orthodox version of Fat Tuesday, but spread over a week.  Blini are the star feature of the holiday, and we've been eating a lot, but we've had a hard time finding any of the folk festivals that we read so much about.  There are supposed to be folk dances, bonfires, and blini tastings, but it is actually pretty challenging to get solid information about local events as details are rarely provided.  

For example, I read that there would be a big festival at Red Square today but when we got there, there was nothing at all. Even Lenin's tomb  - which was my back-up plan if the festival was a bust - was closed for renovations   Maybe there will be something later in the day, but we don't have any way of knowing that.  Still, we made the most of our journey and enjoyed walking around the huge GUM shopping mall.  We even found a little blini shop to hold our own little celebration. 

Lucky for me, Stephanie knows how to make a great corned beef and cabbage, and Irish soda bread, so we can at least guarantee a good St. Patrick's Day celebration!

More Winter Fun

After coming back from Greece, we quickly adjusted to the cold weather.  It was pretty frigid at first, with highs in the single digits, but before long it warmed up to the upper 20s - and yes, when the temperature hits about 30, it actually feels warm.  Before that, though, we had a problem with the heat in my office building and for about a week, most of us were interviewing visa applicants in our coats.  Unfortunately, you can't type wearing gloves, so as far as our cold fingers were concerned, we had to just suck it up.

But eventually, they got the heat back on and shortly after that the temperatures warmed up for it to snow, and snow it did.  Apparently this is the most snow Moscow has gotten for over 100 years, and it's still only February.  I was kind of surprised to read that, but I guess it's just been more of a steady snow rather than a single huge storm, which makes the overall total less noticeable.

We've been making the most of the wintry weather.  Stephanie and I got a babysitter for Aiden and went ice skating in Gorky Park.

It took us awhile to get our balance again, but neither of us took a spill.  The park was really nice because rather than just a circular rink, there were a series of paths winding through the park for us to skate on.

There was even some wildlife on display.

As an added bonus, the park had set up a series of neat exhibits with optical illusions and such.  So when our ankles got tired, we were able to walk around and enjoy that for a bit.

Stephanie swears she doesn't see the optical illusion in this room, where she looks disproportionately sized depending on where she stands, but I do. Click on the picture to see the full comparison.

Stephanie scored a big win with a little plastic sled she picked up.  We found a nice little hill in a nearby park and took Aiden sledding.  He seemed somewhat nonplussed by the whole thing, which is a surprise given how much he likes his slide.  Oh well, Stephanie and I had a good time taking him down the hill anyway.

But despite all the fun we've been having, I'd probably say the best discovery has been the movie theater we discovered down the street, which plays English language movies with Russian subtitles.  So far we've seen Anna Karenina and Les Miserables, both of which we enjoyed immensely.  The theater itself is very nice, with smaller, more intimate theaters, an old fashioned decor, and big comfortable chairs with plenty of leg room.  They even have a cafe with excellent food, which makes it nice to get there early to buy tickets and then enjoy a bite to eat.

I have to say, with winter more than half over, it hasn't been half bad. I know that February can typically be the coldest month, but I think we can deal with it if it happens.