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.

When in Rome, act like a Roman

To celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we decided to visit Rome Italy over the four day weekend. We stayed in a pensione near the Spanish Steps. While there, we found out that a pensione is one step above a hostel. The place was nice enough with clean, comfortable beds and our own bathroom. Biggest drawback was the lack of television (I know!) but they did have wireless internet.

With less than four days to visit and two young sons to drag around, we carefully selected what we wanted to see, leaving the rest for a later visit. Our first full day, we went to the Vatican, visiting St Pietre's Basilica and the Vatican Museum. St Peter's Basilica and the square were amazing. Even chasing Jacob around the confessionals in St Peter's, I felt a sense of tranquilty and peace that I rarely feel in everyday life.

Next up, we visited the Vatican Museum, the only way to see the Sistine Chapel. Searching for the Sistine Chapel felt a little like searching for Venus di Milo in the Louvre. We kept looking, walking, following the signs, but it was always just a little bit further. Christian and Jacob's tolerance for museums is low and we basically ran down the corridors trying to find the chapel. And when we did find it, I was a little disappointed--crowded with no open seats to sit and look at that beautiful masterpiece. After some rest back at the pensione, we went to the Pantheon. Christian was enthralled with the mice outside the Pantheon. After dinner, he wanted to go back and see what they were doing.

For our second day in Rome, we visited the Coliseum, the Palantine and Roman Forum. The Palantine and Roman Forum make up this large area of Roman ruins. The area is massive and full of history. It was completely worth the effort to see a lot of it even if after a few hours we just wanted to find the exit.

From a language perspective, most people in Rome spoke English and knowing Italian was of little use. Regardless, if you made the effort to speak some Italian, the people seemed just a bit friendlier, even if they just corrected your Italian. Of the places we've been in Europe, it did feel like we were back in the US with the large amount of Americans that were there.

Public transportation was easy, even though the train system looked like it hadn't been renovated since Mussolini was in power. We walked a lot and as you might have heard, the roads are cobblestones without any sidewalks and we had to dodge quite a few cars. Food was so-so though we did not venture outside of the more touristy places. Breakfast was always a cafe and pastry with absolutely no chance of having some eggs and bacon to go with the pastry.

Overall, we had a lovely time in Rome. Our time there was very short but we are looking forward to our next visit.

album 10\04\09, by Jamie Lewis

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Want some cheese with that wine?

Our latest adventure had us taking an hour-and-a-half flight from London to Geneva Switzerland where we took a forty minute train to our destination of Lausanne Switzerland. Lausanne is known for being part of the Switzerland Riviera where the steeply sloping land down to Lake Geneva is covered in terraces of grape vines. For us, we were in Lausanne for Bryan to run his sixteenth (? I've lost track) marathon. In the midst of all our sightseeing, Bryan ran a 3:07 marathon, a minute off from his PR but still an excellent time.

One thing we learned from our trip is that the Swiss produce wine. It's not well know since they consume nearly all of it, unlike the nearby French who sell their wine. We tasted a few of the local wines and found they were all really good, much like the better known wines from France's Cote Du Rhone region.

Another thing we learned was how easy and extensive the train system is in Switzerland. We even took a narrow gauge engine up to Rochers De Naye. Our biggest issue was accidentally sitting in first-class and having to upgrade. It wasn't extremely expensive to upgrade. The problem was that Switzerland's first-class is not nearly as nice as first-class on a train in the UK! On a positive note for the train system, the last train we took back to the Geneva airport even had a small playground to keep the kids happy. Merci beaucoup to the young man at the train station who pointed out this wonderful feature.

The other interesting thing about Switzerland is that they allow the members of their army to keep their weapons at home. No big deal, you think until you're on a train with fifty of them and they're all carrying around their machine guns. One even had it in the overhead luggage rack, sticking out so that you could hang a coat on it. A little unnerving!

The other thing that I found interesting was the language. The part of Switzerland that we visited is in the French speaking part. Now, when we visited Paris, we found quite a few people who spoke English and spoke it well. We never had a problem communicating. It was quite different in Switzerland with very few people who spoke English, at least willingly. When you walk in a store and you don't know the language, you feel like you're underwater and can't breath. I had to remember French from my high school French classes and I think I did my teacher proud. By the end of the weekend, I was remembering some words and phrases that fifteen years should have erased. I now know what phrases and words you should know prior to visiting somewhere a foreign language is spoken.

After visiting for five days, we've now made our way back to London. We certainly enjoyed our time in Switzerland but are happy to be home. Less than a month till we head out on the next adventure--Rome! I need to get our copy of Italian for Dummies!

A Visit to Greenwich

The highlight of the past month was our visit to Greenwich. We took a short tube ride to Greenwich in southeast London for Bryan to run the Run to the Beat Half Marathon. After Bryan ran his personal best of 1:25:51, we walked around Greenwich Park and the town. In the middle of the park is the Prime Meridian, the point that divides the eastern and western hemispheres. I insisted on getting my picture taken with one foot in each hemisphere. Makes the four corners seem insignificant!

The boys are growing quickly, changing everyday. Jacob has now learned how to say truck and milk. He loves to play with trains and cars. Christian is making lots of friends at his new school. He has swimming lessons on Wednesdays and football on Sundays.

Another new development is the weather--fall has arrived! It has been ten years since we have experienced real fall weather. It's the one thing I've always missed from Missouri. We are wearing long sleeve shirts already. In Louisiana, we'd still be in flip flops!

Ou est le Tour d'Eiffel?

So I haven't been very good at keeping this blog updated so here's my second post in the same day. Right after our trip to Scotland, we went to Paris for the weekend with Bryan's parents. We rode the Eurostar from London's St Pancras to Gare Nord in Paris and stayed in a hotel about four blocks from the Louvre. I used my limited French vocabulary "Ou est la wc?" and saw some of Paris's famous landmarks. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower despite my fear of heights and visited Notre Dame and the Louvre.
I have always wanted to go in the Louvre and was not disappointed. We wandered around one wing of the Louvre looking for the Mona Lisa and then the Venus de Milo statue. We only found the statue after we stopped looking for it and started looking for the exit.
The last day in Paris we took a short train ride out to see the palace at Versailles. We toured only the house but I'd love to go back for the gardens. The thing I liked the most about Paris is that its truly the way people portray it, with lots of sidewalk cafes, beautiful architecture and a wonderful vibe to it. For the kids, there are some parks for them to play in and lots of carousels for a quick ride. Touring the Louvre and Versailles did get boring for them but there was lots of wide open spaces for them to burn off steam after the tours were done.