Travels to Veneto

So we are waiting in the airport, waiting for our plane back to
London. Per our usual, Bryan and I are exhausted. Not from seeing
every single square foot of Venice. No--it is because we have chased
two young boys over what felt like every single square foot.
We stayed in Venice for four days and three nights. When we arrived
in Venice we took the reasonably priced Allilaguna line from the
airport to San Marco. Its a 'bus' boat that traverses the lagoon to
the island of Venice and a few nearby places like Murano. After an
hour and a half ride, we disembarked at San Marco and then navigated
the tiny alleyways to get to our hotel.
For this trip we stayed in a one bedroom apartment near San Marco,
Corte Grimani. It was an excellent place to stay with a family sine we
prefer a fridge and a kettle and not a concierge or hotel restaurant.
Its front door was right next to a canal where you could watch the
gondoliers float by.
As far as sightseeing, we had absolutely no agenda. Our approach for
this trip as well as our other trips is to treat each trip as a chance
to see a place and scope it out for future travels. For Venice, we
spent most of the time wandering. Venice really is what you see in
pictures with labyrinth like alleyways, bridges over canals and
occasional campos or squares usually next to a church. Speaking of
churches, there seems to be more churches than Venetians. When we
weren't hunting for a mask shop or Venetian glass shop, we were
peaking in to see many of the cathedrals.
I also ran all three of the mornings we were in Venice. My routes had
to stick to mostly along the lagoon and I had to run over quite a few
steps. That kind of makes Venice like New Orleans since both are flat
and you have to consider overpasses for hillwork! The Accademia
Bridge across the Grand Canal will now be considered as part of my
London training.
As far as Venice being kid-friendly, I would have to say the people
are kid friendly but the locale is not. The stairs make a stroller
difficult (we brought the baby backpack) and the sights are not meant
for kids (though I bet going up in the various bell towers would be
fun). Kid friendly activities would be taking a vaporetto ride up the
Grand Canal, going up in the different bell towers, and eating gelato
or pizza in the neighborhood campos. All Christian could think of wad
riding in a gondola or getting a Ferrari. Jake just wanted out of the
backpack so he could stare at the window displays of Murano glass.
As far as being an American visiting Venice, I was overwhelmed by the
amount of history. Venice was established in 600-700 AD and was a
veritable marine super power. San Marco basilica had its start in the
11th century and San Giorgio in the 16th century. My goodness, my
ancestors were still back in Scotland or England at that time.
Language wise, I tried to speak Italian but most know English very
well. I felt the usual guilt of not knowing their language and tried
to make up for it by saying grazie and bonjourno. Venetians are very
patient with American tourists!
After four days of visiting Venice, its time to go home to London.
From the back of our €130 water taxi, we watched Venice disappear
into the watery horizon. It truly is a beautiful and magical place
with lots of history and charm to discover.

You had to expect one of my blog entries to be about the Tube,
officially known as the London Underground. It is pretty reliable but
provides lots of comic material.

First background on the tube. Its part of metropolitan London's
transportation, a lot like New York's subway or Chicago's L. I take
it every day to and from work. To travel roughly four miles, it takes
20 minutes. I have an iphone that I listen to every day during my
commute while either reading Kindle books or playing solitaire. I have
tried other games but I tend to do better at those when I can sit down.

Second, the rules. They are pretty simple but still some people refuse
to comply. First, when you are ready to board the train, let the
people getting off get off. When boarding "mind the gap". When you
finally make it on, there are a few more rules. Most importantly, you
must avoid eye contact. Second, to look like a true Londoner, you need
to bring along reading material. Only tourists actually look around
the car. The last rule is the most important--you should NEVER ever
talk to someone else. Unless you have kids and then its okay. The
strictness of the rules does vary depending upon day and time with
rush hour on weekdays being the strictest.

Finally the stories. Today I got on the Bakerloo line as normal.
However as we approached Oxford Circus where I switch to the Central
line, the driver announced that the Central line was shut down. Keep
in mind in the past ten months I have had to deal with similar things.
So thinking on my feet, i decided to go to Baker Street and switch to
the Circle line and head home. Problems arised when I hopped on the
wrong train at Baker Street and got on the Hammersmith and City line.
I did not realize my mistake until I heard the announcement as the
doors were closing. No problem, I thought I'd just switch at the next
station which looked possible from the map. I got off at Paddington
and learned that while I could switch, I had to walk about a half mile
across Paddington Train Station.

Thinking about it, most of my stories have to do with getting on and
off the train. One time I missed my stop (had to hop off at the next
stop and catch a train back the other way). Thankfully nobody
noticed. Another time I got off at the wrong stop completely engrossed
in my game of solitaire. Fortunately I realized it and got back on the
same train. Unfortunately somebody else noticed. He broke rule #3
above and laughed at me. One time I was coming down the stairs as a
train was getting ready to leave. I decided to hop on even though the
doors were closing. Ouch those doors hurt!

I do have to say that nine out of ten trips are completely uneventful.
I can even laugh after riding in one of those cars that people are
riding like sardines and we can all smell each others' deodorant. I
just try and remember that I will not be riding the tube to work
forever and will look back on my memories with fondness. And I will
always remember "Mind the Gap".

The Cutest Saint at Superbowl XLIV 2010 Drew Brees Son

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfrJh7h-27U&feature=youtube_gdata

It is 1 AM and I am sitting in my recliner, watching the Super Bowl
half time show. My heart is pounding and even though its far too late,
I can't sleep because of my excitement for the Saints. While I don't
get to see the commercials, the BBC is airing CBS commentary. Thank
goodness!

Watching the game makes me realize how football season passed by this
year with barely a thought. We had perfect football weather but with a
five hour time difference from the East Coast, we barely saw any games
this year. I paid more attention to the X-Factor competition than
what teams were in what bowls.

Telly didn't mention it, all sports talk was about football (the one
with the round ball). It seems odd to be insulated from the US. Other
than Obama and the stars trekking from London to LA, generally we
don't hear much news from the US. It's like a huge layer of
insulation across the Atlantic.

Well, one piece of news I won't miss is how the Saints bounced back in
the 2nd quarter and how they played in the second half of Super Bowl
XLIV. Half time is over and I need to get my season's fill of football.

Who dat!

The Good and Bad of London Living

We returned a week ago from visiting the US for Christmas. Because it was our first trip back after living here for awhile, I saw the US from a new perspective and started thinking about the good and bad things about living here. In no particular order, below is a quick rundown of the best and worst of London.

The top ten things about London so far:
1. Public transportation - okay, so you do have to plan more since you don't have a car you can just hop into. That said, we don't pay a note, insurance, or fuel for a car. And the whole Tube experience can be humorous.
2. Chocolate - not just from England but from the EU. Its where it was invented and probably because of #8 on this list, its just better.
3. Espresso - Who drinks yucky drip coffee anymore? Go buy yourself a nice espresso machine, splurge on some Italian espresso coffee and get ready for the smoothest cup of coffee you'll ever have. I promise, an espresso addiction does not equate to sending your entire life savings to Starbucks.
4. Coca-Cola - No corn syrup here, just plain old sugar. Remember that stuff.
5. The parks - You might say, well I have my nice fenced in back yard. But, you can only afford so much and what you can afford, you have to take care of. The parks are great places to run, play on the playgrounds (the equipment isn't falling apart!), and just enjoy the sun on a nice day. Plus, you wouldn't get to watch the Royal Family's helicopter land in your backyard.
6. Top Gear --Top Gear is a BBC program but three men acting like teenage boys in cars is pretty darn funny. Plus, these guys are pretty funny without the cars. Picture playing football (soccer) with a giant ball and hatchbacks for the players.
7. Being able to buy an inexpensive bottle of good French wine
8. Dairy products - Over here, the mass production folks haven't started adding hormones and all that junk to their cows. Plus, as gross as it sounds, clotted cream is wonderful.
9. Getting your groceries delivered!
10. I love the electrical sockets here. Much safer than in the US, with each having its own switch and codes not allowing light switches and only shaver plugs in the bathroom.
10. Heating with radiators - not as drying as forced air.
10. My gas stove - okay, so I could have that in the US but don't. Its much better for cooking.
10. Free museums - A number of London's museums are free. I know that's it paid for with tax dollars but at least you get something for your tax dollars here.
10. No potholes - again, something for your tax dollars.
10. Last but not least...you can spend a couple hours on a train and be in Paris, Brussels, Scotland.

So I cheated a little on the top ten...here's my least favorite thing about London.

1. Diet Coke - the reverse of number 4 above. The sweetener they use just doesn't taste the same.
2. Dining out - There is a reason why a normal tip is 10%. The service is so-so and you can expect to take at least an hour to an hour and a half for a meal.
3. Having to make homemade macaroni and cheese - No Kraft mac and cheese here. We either have it sent to us or I make it from scratch. Really, I miss a number of foods from the US that you can't purchase here or you have to buy from an expensive American store.
4. BBC programming (excluding Top Gear) - There is nothing to watch. Period.
5. Finding a place for a good hair cut that doesn't cost as much as a car payment
6. The dubbing of characters'voices on American cartoons with a British speaker- Imagine Little Einsteins characters with British accents. Thankfully, Mickey still sounds like Mickey.
7. The super short days - When we first moved here, the days were extremely long, with sunrise at 5:30 am and sunset not until 10 pm, much different than anywhere in the continental US. The long days were fine but now that its winter, it is pitch black outside until 8 am and sun is long gone by 4 pm. I can now understand why people actually have sun lamps for light therapy. I need some sun.
8. Having no credit history - When we moved here, our credit history from the US means nothing. The only way we were able to open up a current account is through my employer. Even getting a new mobile phone usually requires a deposit equal to six months' of payments.
9. Nope nothing else.
10. Better stop, I keep thinking of more things for the top 10 list.