Lille and Ypres

For our last family European trip, we took the Eurostar to Lille, a city in northern France. We just spent one night, so only had time to walk some of the grand squares, do a little shopping and of course sample some French food.

My favorite part of Lille was visiting the chocolate and sweet shop Meert. First, isn't it lovely? And second, they have this local waffle speciality where they sandwich these very thin waffles with a sweet filling in the middle. We were surprised how good they were. They're called gaufre and well-worth trying.

Next we headed off to Ypres (or Ieper, or Leper, depending on the language in this tri-language country). It's a beautiful little town that had to be completely rebuilt after it was destroyed in World War I. Ypres was a strategic route for the Germans to march into France in October of 1914. They were stopped here by the Allies in the same year. The famous Christmas truce took place in the fields outside Ypres, then the fighting continued here until 1918 when the war ended. The last photo shows the town in 1919. Everything in the town was destroyed. The photo above it is of the same location now. They rebuilt the town as close as they could to how it looked originally, so it's still a charming little town. We enjoyed that it was a nice small size with plenty of shops and restaurants and central to so many of the places we wanted to see.

Goodbye Visitors

Although our touring and outings definitely slowed down after we returned from the Lake District, they did not slow down as much as my photos might indicate. Mike, who is generally the designated photographer, went back to work. Without him along, I'm afraid I barely took any pictures. 

One day we drove to the nearby town of Stamford, Lincolnshire. It's famous for all its stone buildings, and also for having the country home of Burghley.

We ended up wasting a little time trying to walk over to Burghley House from downtown Stamford. It was a longer walk than it looked, and we ended up turning back around before ever even making it to within viewing distance of the house. But we still had a little time for walking around the town, doing a little shopping and getting some fish and chips. I would definitely enjoy spending more time there another day.

Another day Mom, Dad and I went to London for the day. We toured Westminster Cathedral, which I hadn't done yet. There's really so much to look at in the way of memorials, that I'm not sure what my impression is of the cathedral as a whole. I suppose, though, what really makes it unique is the dense amount of history it holds.

We also did a little shopping at Harrods. Their shoe department is called "Shoe Heaven." It's a big name to live up to. I'd say if your price point for shoes starts at about $500 and comfortably goes up into the thousands, then Harrods probably is your shoe heaven. Every luxury shoe brand I've ever heard of has a beautifully presented space there.

After shopping, we spent a little time picnic-ing in Hyde Park, saw Buckingham Palace and Covent Garden, and then Mom and I went to see the show War Horse. If you've been at all tempted to see it and get the chance, go! The puppetry is amazing, the story is a nuanced view of war and is also very emotionally engaging.

And now my parents are back home. We loved having them here. I hope we were able to show them enough of what has made us fall in love with England.

July is for Shopping

When I lived in France 15 or so years ago it was a hard-fast rule that nothing could be on sale unless it was January or July. England is not quite as strict is that, but definitely not like America with the Two-Days Only Super Sales at least twice a month. Most of the sales are concentrated into January and July. So lately, I've been doing some shopping and looking to find if there's anything particularly English to see.

Are there big displays of electric kettles in America? I've known people in America with an electric kettle, but it's my impression that it is by no means a standard appliance. Here it definitely is.

I think there's more space allotted to textiles in department stores in the UK. 

The Tour de France is coming through Cambridge on Monday, so many, many stores have a bicycle decorating theme right now. 

High-waisted, 80s wash, skinny jeans will forever remind me of English teenage girls, even more than black tights and skirts. Are they popular in American right now too?

Festivals are a big summer tradition in England, so many stores and magazines have displays or articles about dressing in festival wear. 

Something else that will always remind me of Cambridge are vinyl records. I was surprised seeing how many stores and how much space was devoted to them when I first moved here.

I also think the English are a little freer with their "loves" and "darlings" and "kiss kisses" with strangers and everyday people that you meet. I kind of like being called "love" and "darlin'" when I'm out shopping. That's all for now. Kiss kiss.

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.

Ely Cathedral Christmas Craft Fair

Not only does my husband happily watch Pride and Prejudice with me, he takes me to Christmas craft fairs as well! AND he enjoyed it. I'm not sure if he would be willing to come along if I were attending a craft fair in an old gym in America, but place it in an old cathedral in England and he's happy to oblige. Mike took the day off work Friday so we could go while the girls were in school (crowds and shopping are not a good combo for them). We had a nice day browsing and getting lunch.

I do believe this is the first time I have actually seen a tea cozy! I've always imagined them as the most useless of objects, but look how cute.

 We decided to take advantage of the opportunity to poke around the rest of the cathedral.

I'm just a tiny bit worried that I've already spent a good portion of my own Christmas present budget (you know, for me). I need to pace myself, as Christmas fair/market season is just beginning. Someone asked me if the market was any good. As it's the first one in England I've been to, I'd say yes. I'll try to make it to a few more this season so I can compare.

Boden

You can't imagine how excited I was to get this little notice in the mail:

I was initially quite disappointed to find out there is no Boden store in Cambridge. Someday, hopefully soon, I plan on making a little pilgrimage to London sans children to check it out. In the meantime, this Boden clearance sale came to me.

I dropped off Anya at her school at 9 and went straight downtown, thinking I'd have plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely cup of cocoa. People were already lined up though, so I thought I'd better follow suit. By the time 10 o'clock came, the line was around the building. 

 I took a moment from the shopping frenzy to snap this picture. This first room you walk into has the children and teen clothes. I didn't realize at the time that this was the calm before the storm. The next room with all the adult clothes was so packed and intense that I forgot to take a picture. But you get the idea.

In the dressing room - another level of craziness - I kept looking around and wondering  how everyone else seemed to get so many cute items so quickly. Still, even feeling not up to par in the speed, competitive shopping arena, I managed to get two pairs of shoes and two sweaters for Anya, a skirt for me, and three sweaters for my ultra-picky Camille (which I will happily take if she rejects!). All for bargain prices! Still, I'm now even more curious what the London Boden shopping experience is like.

Window Shopping Cambridge

Back when we first moved here I started taking pictures of some of the store windows around Cambridge, both because I spend a lot of time window shopping and as a way of showing more of what Cambridge looks like. Now that the stores have all changed to their fall window displays, I thought I'd better post my pictures before they get even more out of date.

This is a cute little shop. I especially like their window display with the birds and the classic-looking dresses. It reminds me a little bit of the "Put a Bird on It" Portlandia sketch, but in a good way.

 Cath Kidston seems to continually have cute window displays, but I especially like this one.

This little fabric store is so cute it almost makes me wish I could sew and be crafty.

Occasionally, I see people of the University set walking around in their academic gowns, but generally they dress not too different from anyone else. However, there's a number of shops with this ultra-college-prep look, so they must be dressing like this sometimes. I took this picture because they have a tie sculpture in the window, but you can't really see it with the window glare.

 Real live bookshops are not dead in Cambridge. There's lots!

Around the birth of baby George, a number of store windows in town featured something to celebrate.

This cute little candy shop is right in the main section of Cambridge. Sherbet in England is sometimes hard candies, like lemon drops, and sometimes it's this sugary powder. I had to buy some to investigate. The girls say it's like Fun Dips, but more flavorful. I see the word "lollies" used to describe both suckers and popsicles.

"Bespoke" is my new vocabulary word. You see it on signs and such all over here. I don't remember seeing the word used in America. I think what they mean by it is "made to order."

This is Mike's and my favorite new shop: Cambridge Cheese Company. Besides all kinds of tempting things to eat inside, I think their store window is very cute. Note the "bespoke" picnics!

 I'm a little bit obsessed with these bags from Cambridge Satchel Company.

 I just love this look. I would dress Anya like this all the time if she would let me, and if she wasn't just a few years too old.

This business - well, former business - is outside the main part of town. It doesn't look like the blank tape business is thriving here in Cambridge. 

So that's my short tour of shopping in Cambridge. You'll have to come visit to get a closer look!