Holding steady

I guess there was an earthquake here, but you probably already know that. In fact, you probably knew that before we did. I wish we could give you a play by play that would be of interest, but we slept right through it. I did wake up around 3 am and heard our downstairs bathroom facet on, which is quite odd. I first learned of the earthquake this morning (from concerned emails from friends in the states, I had opted to watch the debate this morning (yes, I love slingbox) instead of the local news). Maybe it "shook" the facet on? I think maybe yes, but I am sure Pat would say no. Regardless, we are fine and other than the facet, so is our flat & everything in it!

our weekend

We had a very relaxed weekend. Just stayed in Friday night and watched the movie Michael Clayton. Saturday we set out to do a walk from our “30 Walks Around London” book. We stopped at a little café for lunch and decided to sit outside since it was not that cold. Wrong idea. We had a great lunch, but by the end we were frozen and decided that we would go to a museum instead due to the cold & iffy weather (it looked like rain, but it almost always looks like rain). On our way to the Victoria & Albert museum, we passed the Natural History Museum and decided to check it out (we really wanted to get inside!). It is a beautiful building!! Check it out (those are the London Fashion tents in the corner. I had to pull Pat into the museum to divert his attention from the fall & winter 2008 fashions).



We were immediately surrounded by millions of rug rats and figured that this was not our kind of museum, but wandered around a bit to warm up. They had a section about evolution and pre-historic man. It was kind of interesting. This wailing kid was “following” us, which I found amusing. Anyway, we wandered a bit more, then back to the flat.

Saturday night was supposed to be our big night out for Mexican. I have been craving it since we arrived and researched the options diligently. There is only one place, Crazy Homies in Notting Hill, that has the possibility of living up to our expectations. I called ahead to book us in, but they don’t take bookings (American: reservations). A table for two should not be difficult. Yay!! Except that when we show up at 10 o’clock they tell us they will not be able to seat us bc they close at 10:30 and they still have a couple people on the list. I was sad (to say the least) and almost grabbed a basket of chips as a consolation prize. Nothing sounded like a good alternative after my week long dream of nachos and margaritas. We wandered around Notting Hill (new territory for us) and ended up at a Persian restaurant. At least they had good naan. Pat’s lamb was very good (he said). It was a nice night, warmer than the afternoon, and the pubs were closing (great people watching) so we ended walking around. We just kept walking and before I knew it, we were more than halfway home. How did that happen? We ended up walking the rest of the way (3.5 miles total to be exact). And no, we were not in trainers (American: running shoes) . . . it was actually the debut of my new London shoes:



I am still not sure how I made it without a problem in those bad boys. The platform helps. A lot.

Sunday we set out to do another walk and were sidetracked a g a i n. See a trend here? I am beginning to feel like we will never get one of those cool walks under our belt! It was raining most of the afternoon, so not the best day for a walk anyway. We found our way to a little tapas restaurant we had heard great things about and thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon inside reading. The food was fantastic and our spot by the window made it even better. We will definitely be back!

Technical Difficulties & Lisboa

Hello! Sorry for delay in an update. We have been experiencing technical difficulties, but seem to be back (back on my computer at least! the hot water heater and dishwasher are another story entirely, but much too boring to write about).

We took our first weekend jaunt to the continent this past weekend - Lisbon! (Lisboa in Portuguese). It was a quick 2 day trip and we had a great time. We expected the weather to be a bit warmer than here, but it was not quite as warm as predicted. Still, it was nice (mid-50s).

We arrived at the hotel around 10:30 pm on friday and the concierge was able to secure a dinner reservation for us (at a restaurant he suggested. It was not one I had crossed in my research, so I was intrigued to try it), Lisboa Noite. Our journey to get to the restaurant was almost as exciting as the food itself! For those of you who have not been to Lisbon, near the Atlantic Coast of the Iberian Peninsula, it is a very hilly city. It is actually not on the ocean, even though most comprehensive European maps make it appear as thought it is on the coast. If you catch a more detail look at Portugal, you see that the capital city is located a bit east of the ocean on the river Tagus, which flows into the Atlantic.

The restaurant was in the Bairro Alto district, they told us it would be about a 5 minute ride from our hotel. What they did not tell us, was that it would be an off-roading experience! The Bairro Alto neighborhood is a 16th century maze of narrow, hilly, cobblestoned streets. It also houses Lisbon's highest concentration of bars. And at 10:45 pm on a Friday, everyone was drinking and hanging out in the streets, I guess that is what they do. So we literally had to drive through them! Sometimes the taxi driver just plowed through and they scattered, a couple other times he paused and waited for people to move. We felt like we were in a movie! We did make it to the restaurant in one piece. And it was exactly what we were looking for. We were greeted by our future dinner on display (it is common practice in Lisbon for restaurants to have their "wares" on out for people to examine for freshness).
Check it out:



Here's a really funny looking Portuguese lobster (and no, not the one smiling):



The striped guys in the lower corners in the first picture are tiger prawns! They were huge and very yummy - Pat had them, Camarão tigre flambeado c/whisky e limão. It was a great dinner and we opted for the restaurant to call us a cab instead of trying to navigate the streets and fight the crowds. We headed back to the hotel for a quick nightcap and then to bed. Saturday we woke up fairly early to get a start on the day as we had lots of ground to cover. We found a cute cafe near the hotel for a quick pastry, juice & coffee then followed the Avenida Liberdade (the main street in Lisbon) through the city, all the way to the square (Praca do Comercio) where we would pick up the tram to Belem. It was about a 20 minute walk and although it was a bit cooler then we expected (even cooler then it at been at 11 pm the night before) it was a lovely walk. The street was very very wide with cars driving in the middle, then a wide sidewalk (maybe wider than where the cars were driving) on each side lined with flowers, palms trees, statues, benches and a beautiful black and white tiled pattern. Why didn't I take a picture? I guess we were just really enjoying the moment! Sorry!

We found a little flea market (more like a craft market) while waiting for the tram and bought a cool little black & white 3-canvas painting of skyline of the city. Then on to the Torre de Belem, a tower built in 1515-20 to defend the city. It is the quintessential example of Manueline architecture, combining elements Moorish, Renaissance, and Gothic styles. In addition to its defensive purposes, it was also used as a lighthouse and a politcal prison. We climbed all the way to the top. Here are pictures of us at the very top, with the river behind Pat and the city behind me:





Next we visited the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. There is so much to say about this place, I am not even sure where to start. It is one of the most visited sites in Lisbon, which is not surprising considering its history and the fact that it is gorgeous, inside and out. See look!

From the square across the street:



And in the cloister:



After the monastery we were ready for lunch . . . a little too ready. Belem was a cute little area and we succumbed to the first decent place we found. Bad choice. We should have left when we saw the menu, but we were so hungry and ready to sit for awhile. The coca-cola light (definitely not diet coke!) might have been the highlight. ok, the bread was fine. The menu was only one page, but the book was huge bc the first page was Portuguese, and the following pages were literal translations in about 15 languages. We both were too scared to order the fish there (dumb Americans) and opted for the meat section. Pat decided on the park chops, and I could not decide. Nothing really sounded great, but something had caught my interest – the grilled fatless lard. I am not kidding, that is what it said! Grilled Fatless Lard. Ha! What is that?? The sausage and egg sounded good too (I was picturing a bratwurst type sausage). At the last minute I ordered both. I just had to find out what the grilled fatless lard was! Our waiter was confused that we were ordering 3 entrees, but did not speak English so didn’t really think twice about it. Pat made a rule: no more ordering something just to find out what it is. I might appeal. So the food comes . . . [drumroll please!] . . . and the GFL is a thin piece of grilled meat with bone sticking out of it, and just by looking at it we could tell it was not “fatless”. The pork chops were thin and fatty. The “sausage” was a fried ball of pulled pork. Good thing all 3 came with fries, bc that is basically all we ate! Pat said the pork chops were good, but there just wasn’t much to it, so he dove into the GFL! The meat looked similar to pork, so maybe it was some sort of rib? Who knows. He said it wasn’t bad. The sausage was gross (Pat agreed). We were annoyed that we settled on that place, but oh well.

Next we visited the national art museum, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. It was ok. I was not really impressed. Actually, I was pretty annoyed due to the lack of organization and information. I had read that it was a huge and you should prioritize your visit upon arrival. Unfortunately, we were given a single piece of paper with a map showing the numbered rooms. That was it. Oh yeah, and the top 10 items to see (tiny pictures with the room numbers, but in a completely random order). There were some cool items (a gorgeous turquoise, navy & green tiled archway that I wanted to bring home, but Pat said no) and some really old beautiful paintings, but no explanation about where they came from, who commissioned them, the last owners - anything! I mean, I can only see "Origin: Flemish, 16th century" so many times, before losing interest. I like art, but I guess I like history more. But that is not shocking, right? I took a class in college in which we visited all the museums in South Bend & the area (yes, all of them! there are more than you think!) and we critiqued the exhibits - the layout, the flow, the lighting, the info, the items, everything. I guess I will never just "go" to a museum again. I digress; back to Lisboa. We left the museum to check out the shops. Nothing to exciting to report. There was a ceramics store I had read about but couldn't find. Bummer. Lisbon is known for their ceramics and many buildings are covered in beautiful tiles. So then we began the hike home for a siesta before dinner. Wow, how did we not notice this HUGE hill this morning??

Again we went to the concierge for a dinner recommendation instead of the book (me) or web sites (guess who?). We trusted him after his great pick the previous night. They decided to sent us "to the docks" for dinner. And seemed quite excited about it. Then we got there and I realized they saw something in us that we rarely see in ourselves these days . . . our crazy college selves! The area called "the docks" is Lisbon's equivalent of any vacation place's strip - restaurant, after bar, after club, more restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. We found our destination, Dolce Peixe, 3/4 of the way down. They had a huge display of fish (good sign) on ice right in front and the manager went through each one for me, explaining what it was, how best to prepare it, etc. We sat down at a great window table. We were really in the mood for some lobster (after seeing those funny coral spotted lobster everywhere, we wanted to try one!) but sadly, the lobsters at our restaurant were from Canada, so we opted for one of the fresh sea bream cooked in a traditional Portuguese style. It was good, but not great. The wine was good! And so were the starters. It was a lovely restaurant and we enjoyed it. Our walk toward the cab line was literally like walking through a field of land mines, through all the bars & clubs totally bumping at 12am. But we were tired tourists, who still had lots to see in Lisbon before we left 17 hours later. I am sure it was a disappointment to our concierge, but we headed straight back to the hotel and to our room, even skipping the nightcap! Here is a picture of us with the docks behind us:



Good thing we went straight home! Sunday started out in a bad way. I woke up early, not feeling too hot. We tried to go to the Castelo de Sao Jorge and Se Cathedral as planned, but it was cold (apparently the coldest day all winter) and raining and the castle was mostly outside. We went in, saw the potential great views of the cities (supposedly the best) and then left. Ugh. I needed to get back to the hotel and try to feel better before our trip to visit Fatima that afternoon. I am sad that we didn't get a better look at the castle & the Se, but c'est la vie.

The day definitely picked up after that. Our tour guide for Fatima was unbelievably awesome! I wish we could take him everywhere with us! First us, he spoke perfect English (having attended high school in Hartford, CT in the 1970's) and secondly, he was a wealth of knowledge about everything Fatima and Lisbon and Portugal. The ride to Fatima was about 1.5 hours and he talked the whole time - history of Lisbon, bullfights in Lisbon, differences with Spanish bullfights, and the ENTIRE story of Fatima. For those of you who are not familiar with the significance of this little place, here it is a short version of the story he shared with us.

In 1917, 3 shepherd children (a 10 year girl Lucia and her cousins, 9 year old Francisco and 9 year old Jacinta) claimed that the Virgin Mary appeared to them. It started on May 13 and happened every month, on the 13th, for 6 months. The children asked her to do something to prove to everyone else that she was really appearing to them (they had been getting scolded, beaten and even jailed for what their parents and the church authorities saw as heresy). She told them that she could not, but that God would. So on Oct. 13, 50,000 people gathered at the site, in the rain. This was a tiny village in the poorest region in Portugal (coldest weather and full of rocks, instead of rich soil) so people came from all over to investigate the claims. Apparently it was a slow point in the war, so lots of reporters (including reporters from the NYT) hopped on the train to see what all the fuss was about. I won't go in to full detail, but apparently in the blink of an eye, the sun came out and everyone was instantly dry (after having been soaked to the bone for over an hour). Only the children could see Mary and hear her, but everyone else saw the sun "dance around" for close to 17 minutes (I think). And then, all of the sudden it was over, just as soon as it began.

Basically, everyone present believed after that. They built a small, small chapel that only fits 3 people on the exact location where she appeared (the Virgin Mary said she did not want a big church to be built. She wanted the money to be spent on the poor.). Of course, this became a deeply sacred place and pilgrimage site and more facilities were needed to accommodate all the visitors. Eventually they built an altar in front of the small chapel, with pews all around it and a roof with 2 walls. That opens up into a HUGE area, big enough for a million people. On either side of that big area is a church - the older one is very ornate. That is where the 3 children are buried. The other one is less than a year old and is quite austere, due to the Virgin's instance not to build anything there. It was quite an experience to say the least. It was a rainy, cold sunday and you could not find a parking spot! There were people, of all backgrounds, ethnicities, and faiths. Besides viewing the site, which was amazing, our tour guide took us to the house of Francisco and Jacinta (they both died only a couple years after the apparitions) which has been preserved exactly from when they lived in it. An elderly man who is their nephew, now runs the house/mini museum. He was there and we got to meet him. All we could say was "obrigado" (thank you), but still, it was really special.

Phew! This is finally the end! Here are a couple other pictures from Lisbon.

In the Rossio square:



The Praca do Comercio:

coming soon!

I have been working on my next post for 2 day and I just thought that I lost everything. Thankfully, I did not, but now it all needs to be reformatted and the pictures have to be re-uploaded. grrrr. This stupid blogger thing is not very user-friendly, just in case you were wondering. I am headed to bed, but promise that it will be up tomorrow!

happy almost friday!

Waitangi What!??!?!

We had a lovely weekend here! Sorry to tell you, but it was fairly warm (in the mid 50's) and sunny. Saturday we decided to do a walk around a new neighborhood we had not yet explored.

We headed toward our tube stop (it is about a 15 minute walk) and as we started approaching we were bombarded with hoards of people celebrating . . . something. We figured maybe a rugby game just ended? But then we realized they weren’t going anywhere; they were just hanging out in the street getting bombed. Everyone was drinking and going crazy (think St. Patrick ’s Day in college). I kept noticing the New Zealand flag and also t-shirts emblazoned with “I am not a Kiwi”. Ha! (Leanne, I tried to find one of those for you!)

We finally asked one of the officers monitoring the scene. After a little back and forth (darn that cockney accent! Sometimes we are not speaking the same language at all) we discovered that it was a New Zealand national holiday – Waitangi Day. Ah-ha! Check out these pictures of the debauchery:







As much as our inner college spirit wanted to join the party, culture called! Off to St. Paul’s Cathedral! Getting on the tube was not easy, but we did it. And thankfully we were going on a different line then the revelers (oh my we are old).

Both of our mothers gave us the same fabulous book - Walking London: 30 Original Walks In and Around London. It is a great guide for leisurely city walks and points out all the historical details that could otherwise be missed. We set out to do the Fleet Street and St Paul’s (The City West) tour. On our walk from the tube stop to the beginning of the tour, we passed a “50% off all suits” sign and it was all over. We ended up in there for awhile, but I have to admit Pat will now be quite a dapper bloke! It was getting late and we really only had time for one stop before heading home to catch the ND/Marquette game (what is the saying? you can bring a horse to water . . . ). We decided to hit Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese – one of the oldest pubs in England. There has been a pub on this site since 1538! And it was rebuilt after the great fire 1666. Here is a picture of us by the sign at the front door:



As we were hurrying towards the tube, we witnessed beautiful scenes of the sun just beginning to set over St. Paul’s. It was gorgeous and I promise mums, we will be back to do the whole tour!

Super (stumpers, Bowl, Tuesday, etc.)

And his answers are . . . .

1) Which is the only state in America to have a royal family (those Brits love their royals)? Hawaii

2) How many states are there in America? 46 - the other 4 are commonwealths, not states and therefore have nothing to do with the federal government. !?!?

Upon research I have found our National Rail friend to be only partially correct. Here are the official (wikipedia) answers:

The Kingdom of Hawai'i existed from 1810 until 1893 when the monarchy was overthrown.

Four of the constituent states of the United States officially designate themselves Commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. This designation, which has no constitutional impact, emphasizes that they have a "government based on the common consent of the people" as opposed to one legitimized through their earlier Royal Colony status that was derived from the King of Great Britain. The word commonwealth is of English derivation and refers to the common "wealth" or welfare of the public. In common parlance, people do not make the distinction between state or commonwealth.

When we tried to turn the tables on him & asked who was playing in the Super Bowl the next day, he huffed that he doesn't pay attention to that stuff. I guess he doesn't stray far from the script.

Speaking of the Super Bowl . . . we did watch it! Pat didn't have a meeting until 11 am Monday, so we set about to find a fun place to go. Unfortunately, we could not find a pub (apparently they were all ticket only and sold out 3 weeks prior!) so we had a Super Bowl party at our flat! We invited about 10 people and told them we would probably only watch the first half.

The game was so good, of course we watched the whole thing! We lost most people by the fourth quarter and ended up with only 1 other couple at the end. It was fun and interesting being that he grew up in CT and was a Giants fan and she grew up in Tel Aviv and had never watched an American football game before! I raided the American aisle at the grocery store, so we had goldfish, french onion dip, oreos, nutter butters and nachos. Not quite typical SB food, but close enough. After seeing our spread, a German girl asked if I take a suitcase of American food with me with I travel. I am not sure if she believed me that I only bought all that stuff bc Super Bowl Sunday is an American holiday (did you know that 6% of American call in sick the day after the Super Bowl?). Here is our Super Bowl party celebrating the Giants win:



Super Duper Tuesday! In case you are wondering, we have been following the primaries very closely. I do not have a specific candidate that I am pulling for, I just love the process and love that this is such a close race! I do not love that it is wrecking havoc with my sleeping patterns.

Hope all of you in the snowy midwest are hanging in there!

Day trip to Dover

On Saturday we took a day trip to Dover - a two hour train ride southeast of London. The town sits atop the White Cliffs, facing the Continent from high above the English Channel. It has been a strategic military stronghold forever - literally. The oldest structure is a Roman pharos (lighthouse) built over 2,000 years ago. Both King Henry II and King Henry VIII fortified the castle and used it to its full advantage as the most fortified castle in Europe. For you Philippa Gregory fans, this is where Henry went in 1539 after his excommunication from the Church for his divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

The area has more recent military significance as well. The secret underground tunnels were first used in the late 18th century during the Napoleonic wars. Then they were expanded during WWII and used as the command center for Operation Dynamo (the evacuation of French & British troops from France as the German army took control of France). Several years later they were used as the command center for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Obviously, Dover has a fascinating history.

We enjoyed gorgeously perfect weather for early February and were able to see France across the Channel! Here is a view from Admiralty Look-Out:



Here we are in front of the castle:



This is from the roof of the castle:



While we were waiting for the train back to London, an interesting bloke (national rail employee) was chatting us up and testing our knowledge of America. He was very excited to try to stump us with these two questions: 1.) Which is the only state in America to have a royal family (those Brits love their royals)? 2) How many states are there in America? I will post his answers tomorrow. He then continued to quiz us on the capitals of states. He was a trip! Dover is also the biggest port in England and cruise ships regularly dock there, so I think this guy does this for a living.

We went to a late dinner back in London and got home in time to catch the second half of the ND/DePaul basketball game. Here is Pat celebrating the victory with Mike Brey:

Look Right

Well, Pat had to go to work on Wednesday. The fantasy is officially over! He still is not staffed on a project yet, so we don't know where he will be for the next couple months (I am hoping for somewhere really interesting!).

You might be wondering how we are dealing with adjusting to the British way of doing things . . . like the fact that they drive on the other side of the road? Well, mostly we just look both ways before crossing the street. At some intersections (bigger ones in more touristy areas) they actually write on the street which way you should look! It is still hard to break habits.



I have to preface this with the fact that I am not a huge flower person and pretty much have a brown thumb. Nonetheless, I do love having a vase or two of my favorite flowers around the apartment/flat. And one of my favorite things here so far are the flower vendors on every other corner. They have beautiful, fresh flowers that are actually not that expensive. It makes it so easy to keep fresh flowers at home . . . . and almost inexcusable not to! Check out the awesome bunch of ranunculus I got for only 6 quid (Brit slang for pounds; like saying "bucks" instead of "dollars"). It should be noted that ranunculus are very difficult to find in Chicago outside of March & April and here I am finding them in January! Not every vendor has them, but no big deal, there will be another one in a couple blocks.



We aren't sure what we are doing yet this weekend . . . we might do a day trip tomorrow or just something touristy here in London. Stay tuned for the details! As for the Super Bowl, again we are not sure yet what we are going to do. There are several pubs hosting specials for the event, so we may check out one of those. Unfortunately with the time difference, kick-off is at 11:30 pm our time. I have to admit, I will be sad to miss all the great super bowl parties, especially the food! I am not sure we will find it, even if we do go to a Super Bowl party here. More on the food here in a future blog. Have a great weekend everyone!