Lavenham, Suffolk

Mike and I were lucky enough to have the use of a friend's car today, so took advantage to check out the medieval town of Lavenham. It was a prosperous wool town in the 13th and 14th centuries, and is still full of half-timbered buildings and old world charm.

This building was used as the Potter home in Godric's Hollow in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm not sure how easy it would be to identify in the movie, as they said it was altered for the movies with CGI. Some other buildings in Lavenham were also used as part of Godric's Hollow, but I'm not sure which ones.

 "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile.
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house."
I had this rhyme stuck in my head today, and lo and behold, when I got home and looked it up on Wikipedia, it says it was said to be inspired by the town of Lavenham!

We have this sort of running joke in our house about the auberge du Cheval Blanc, or White Horse Inn, because Mike claims the only thing he learned in high school French was how to ask, "Where is the White Horse Inn?". As we finally found it, we had to take this picture.

There are many, many opportunities to take picture of crooked houses.

I love the look of the winter vines on English buildings. The bare branches look even more fairy tale-like to me than when they're full and green.

Yes, we took a picture through a window of one of the houses. Before you judge us too creepy, know that it was empty and for sale. 

I'm a little bit disappointed that hedgehogs are apparently difficult to spot in the wild. For now, I'm settling for spotting the Hedgehog Cottage. 

And lastly, I like the leaded windows.

There's a lovely 3.5 mile country walk around the town of Lavenham. We didn't have time to do the whole thing, but the part we did walk was so pretty.

Mike and I are already fretting about giving up our English country walks. So pretty, and so plentiful.

Christmasy in Cambridge

Every year in our house we have a little conflict: I think Christmas celebrations should be full of festive outings, while my kids think celebrating Christmas means staying home in your pajamas and eating cookies. In spite of there being all kinds of tempting options around the country every single weekend, I've severely cut back my ambitions to suit their tastes. We've mostly been staying close to home. Luckily, it's quite Christmasy here in Cambridge.

Mill Road here in town had a winter festival a couple of weekends ago. We ended up missing the parade due to my mistaken belief that all parades start at least 15 minutes behind schedule.

The shops in town are all decorated for the holidays.

It's time to hang the mistletoe.

The buskers have all switched over to Christmas carols.

It's always a good idea to stop for a mid-morning or mid-afternoon hot chocolate and scone.

I've been a little suspicious of England's traditional Christmas treat of mince pies. So it goes without saying that I'm REALLY suspicious of McDonald's version. Camille likes the store versions though, and Mike enjoyed a homemade one he tried at work. (I was so relieved to find out no actual meat is in a mincemeat pie, because I'd been seeing them boxed up on the warm, grocery store shelves for weeks. I'd been confused because hamburger meat is called mince).

Anya is getting into the silliness at the Christmas panto.

One English holiday tradition I had to try was going to a panto. Every December playhouses across the country put on an adapted fairy tale for the holidays, with modern songs (ours included "Don't Stop Me Now" and "What Makes You Beautiful"[sung by the Evil Queen as "What Makes Me Beautiful"]), Christmas carols, audience participation (you boo the bad guys and shout warnings to the heros), a hero played by a young woman and a lead played by a guy in drag. The whole thing is full of silliness. We saw a version of Snow White and had a grand time!

Tonight Mike and I are off to see The Messiah sung in a candlelit cathedral. It seems like a nice way to top off the Christmas celebrations. Christmas is almost here! Are you ready?

The Pluses and Minuses

We've been here in England six months now, so it's time to be reflective.

Here's some things we miss about America, in no particular order.

1. Large capacity washer and dryer
I swore to myself I would not be one of those people like on International House Hunters who are so excited to experience another culture, but then proceed to complain about everything that's not the same  as back home. In general, I don't think I am. It does not stop me though from missing some of the conveniences I used to have, like a large capacity washer and dryer.  In reality, I feel pretty lucky our rental even has a washer and dryer. A lot of the places we looked at only had a washer. So I'm grateful to not be hanging wet laundry all over the house. I still miss being able to wash about everything in my house in less than a day. I miss the feeling of being caught up on laundry, which is pretty much impossible with the size we have now.

2. Consistently being served salad with salad dressing
I found it bizarre to be served a dry bunch of lettuce with no dressing once. But then it happened more than once, and at more than one restaurant. It completely baffles me. Is eating vegetables considered a punishment, not to be enjoyed, or do some people actually like lettuce that way? To be fair, I should clarify that I have also been served perfectly good salads here also.

3. Relatively smoke-free existence
Smoking rates are higher in Europe. I came from the state with the second lowest smoking rate in the country (behind Utah of course), so the difference especially stands out to me. Besides that more people smoke, the whole culture of smoking is different. It seems to be perfectly acceptable to quite a few people to light up in a line, in a crowd, holding a baby, right outside the doorway of a building or restaurant, and of course at all outside seating areas. People in America have pretty much been shamed into indulging their smoking habit away from most of society. It can be an annoyance here, but it also makes me sad seeing all these young people starting this possibly life-long addiction.

4. Pandora, Playlist, Redbox, etc.
We have so many more conveniences now than when we lived in Europe before, 15 years or so ago. I remember huddling around our little radio, so happy to be listening to the BBC. Now, if we want to, we can watch US television, listen to US radio, connect with people online. It's much easier to live abroad. We still find various media we can't get though, and as much media as we have, we still miss what we can't get.

5. American-size closets
I spent weeks before I moved here going through my house, throwing things away, giving things away, and storing about two-thirds of what was left. I feel like we brought a very modest amount of stuff, yet without closets to put it in, my house always seems a bit cluttered.  We have a wardrobe in our room, a very small closet in our spare room, and an even smaller closet in Camille's room. That's it. No hall closets, no master room closet. I had a walk-in closet in America that was so small it barely qualified as a walk-in. But I feel like everything we have here would be stored away so nicely in there. I wonder if designers of newly-built homes here have discovered the wonder of closets? [Mike says the newer places he looked at did have closets, so it's my own fault that I'm living without closets for wanting a traditional home.]

When I ask my kids what they miss, it's mostly things that are available here, we (and by "we," I mean Mike and I) just chose to do without. Cars, television, Wii. And Anya, my most Californian of California girls, misses the weather back home. She is NOT a fan of clouds, wind storms, rain, short amounts of daylight or cold. Mike really isn't either.

Now, just to be fair, there are a number of things we'll miss when we go back to America.

1. Scones and clotted cream

2. Beautiful countryside full of public walking paths
It is a country designed for walking.

3. Towel warmers
Now I'm sure some people in America have these, but I can't think of anyone I know that did. They're such a wonderful invention. Not only are the towels always dry, they are just the perfect amount of toasty.

4. Train travel
The country is so connected. It seems so much more convenient and economical to use trains here.

5. No yard noise
In California we had the most perfect weather for sitting out in the yard. The trouble is, just about any time of the day someone in the neighborhood is running a leaf blower or a lawn mower. So here we have the inconvenience of a push mower, but with the huge payout of backyard QUIET.

6. Sense of humor
I think it is really true that you find a high proportion of funny people here. And it's just what Mike and I most like too: dry, understated (except when they're in drag doing children's pantos, but that's another story),  with just a touch of sarcasm.

Of course what we miss most of all is our friends and family. But our time is flying by, and we'll be home again before we know it.

[Mike reminds me that I left off old buildings and towns with character and being a short flight or train ride from so many European vacation destinations. But this is by no means a comprehensive list on either side - just a few things from the top of my head.]

Child-free in London: Boden, Notting Hill, Somerset House & More

Practically since we moved here I've been saying that some day I would spend a day in London by myself. Finally, last week I made that happen. Ah what a different experience London is with no one complaining about walking, noise, crowds, taking the subway, etc., etc. I have to also say that I've been lucky enough to have been to London a couple of other times before where I saw some of the more traditional tourist destinations, in case this seems like an especially frivolous way to spend one day in London.

My first excursion was a trip out to the store Boden which I've always wanted to see. Boy am I glad my family wasn't along for that trip. It was a very long subway trip, I think outside the borders of London proper, and located conveniently to the highway, but not in an area I'd describe as charming. I'd always pictured it on Oxford Street or Knightsbridge or someplace like that.

Even though my family would not have been at all interested in making the time investment to go, I enjoyed seeing how the store was arranged. As you can maybe tell from the picture, some of it has a slightly industrial feel to it with the concrete floors, exposed ceilings and metal hanging racks.

More parts of the store. Actually this trip saved me some money, because I was able to try on a number of things I've had my eye on and not one thing looked good on me.

After making my way back to the city I headed for Notting Hill. First though, I needed a little food to keep me going. I noticed a Jamie Oliver shop and decided to give it a try. It has cooking supplies on the first floor - kind of Sur La Table ish - and the second floor has a cafe with a cooking school in the middle of the restaurant.

 I had a pork belly and applesauce sandwich with hot chocolate. Highly recommend!

For some time I've wanted to go to Notting Hill but knew that wandering around shops and looking at cute houses was not going to be something my kids would enjoy. 

 This picture is part of cute Portobello road.

I encountered some chain shops, but mostly it's filled with quirky independent shops such as this one. 

I'm crazy about mews houses. They were previously a row or courtyard of stables that have been converted into homes. Notting Hill has quite a few.

If I were to buy a ridiculously-out-of-my-price-range home in London and I didn't buy a mews house, I would be tempted by one of these cute little places in Notting Hill. 

It's looking very Christmasy in London. Sadly, I have not mastered nighttime smart phone photography, so I only have a few pictures to share. This is Covent Garden.

 Covent Garden's Christmas tree.

 Leicester Square is lit up and has a fun fair set up.

I wanted to check out the ice skating at Somerset House. My blurry picture doesn't quite capture how pretty it is. Luckily I did not have my heart set on skating since all the sessions were sold out. It was fun to watch though.

I thought that some of my Coach-loving family would enjoy seeing that they decorated the Somerset House ice skating rink tree.

I might have been able to fit in a little more in my day, except I had an errand to do for Camille that ended up taking up quite a bit of time. While I was waiting around for her shop to open I decided to check out London's Whole Foods. It has the look of an American Whole Foods, but selections are definitely mostly local. I was excited to find these cute little yogurts from La Fermier in France. They say "Joyeuses fetes" and come in these super cute red terra cotta pots. I bought four, and now I wish I bought more since I haven't seen them here in Cambridge.  I haven't quite decided what to use them for though. They're a little bit too small for hot chocolate, unless maybe I learned how to make that Italian style of hot chocolate that slightly resembles a melted, creamy chocolate bar in a cup.

On the Brightside

We're currently getting our payback for all those long summer days. Now it's less than 8 hours of daylight. Anya and I have to turn on our bike lights riding home from school. In the late afternoon I think it's time to get in my jammies and curl up with a book, but it will still be hours from bedtime. But on the bright side, I can sleep in past 7:30 and still see this beautiful sunrise in the morning.