Laughs and Lego....

And we are off...another weekend with Belinda and the boys.  George had been really ill this whole week so Saturday he just laid low. Rudi and I did some exploring in the garden and some serious swinging on the back yard swing.  I got a yoga session in and Belinda did some studying for her Royal Ballet courses while the kids rested.  Saturday evening one of Belinda's dearest friends from her days dancing in the Royal Ballet came over for dinner and a movie. She is a very lovely and elegant woman with one of the best laughs I have ever heard!  We had a girls night and watched Bridesmaids.  It was such a great and comfortable night.  I still can't believe how easily I have slipped into just living life with everyone here.
It's a good thing we rested up Saturday because sunday was a big day!  The family had been given Merlin Passes...yes they really are magic.  These passes get you into all sorts of theme parks in the area all year long.  Since George needs a bit of extra help he is allowed a carer pass so I am able to get in on the magic pass too...so cool!  We picked up the passes at one of the parks and decided to go in.

Handsome George

Some of you might be familiar with it.....Legoland!  I have never been to the one in Carlsbad which cracked me up...apparently I have to go thousands of miles away to go to something that is also in my backyard.
We all had a great time though.  There was a lot of car and boat driving which made Rudi's day.  George loved the water stuff.  We attempted a small hot air balloon ride which none of us were keen on.  Also the carousel was not a hit....Rudi and George were both a bit unsure and Belinda and I realized that we just can't do the around and around business anymore without wanting to puke.  Lesson learned....we aren't in our 20's anymore.  Weird how that stuff changes.

Rudi taking me for a drive.

The day ended perfectly with a drive in a car and an ice cream cone.

I heart Ice Cream!

It was such a lovely day!!!  These 2 little boys have definitely stolen my heart!

Partly Cloudy Sara...

So I believe today I hit a wall....a solid brick one.  I woke up in a funk and figured I just needed some coffee...negative, it didn't help.  Even my lovely hours in the morning with Rudi (which normally is my favorite part of the day) could not lift the dark cloud that was hovering above my head.  I kept trying to rally for the day but just couldn't.  I showered, got dressed, walked out of my room and ran almost smack into Lauren and George.  I must have had an awful frown on my face because Lauren laughed and said " George look at that face...that's the grumpiest tourist I have ever seen!"  George glanced up at me, flashed me a cheeky grin and turned away....I felt like he had just told me with out words " Nice pity party...enjoy it alone you silly girl"  Man I love that kid...calling me out with just one look!
I did finally get out of the house with some gentle pushing from  Lauren and Belinda only to be met with a dramatic weather change.  Leaving the house it was bright and sunny....by the time I reached the tube station there was thunder, lightning and hail.

 Seriously....I should not have gotten out of bed today.  I should have stayed there being....as Rudi says..."Cozy Warm"
As you can probably guess my "grump" demeanor continues.  Everyone around me is irritating and I am pretty sure I have perma-frown.   I force myself through the museum I am at since I went through hail (not a typo...I actually walked through pelting hail) to get there.
I make it home in the evening and Belinda and Lauren ask "How was your day?"  and all I can say is "I am the biggest grump right now!"  They just laugh and we start talking through my funk.
After talking with them I realize that I started putting too much pressure on myself to not miss anything and I really need a break.  I want to be able to see and do it all but that is not physically possible.  With my time here getting so close to being over I had a momentary thought of what if I miss something important?  What if I miss making a connection I should have made?  What if? What if? What if?....
These lovely ladies who have become my great friends and support system here gave me a gentle reminder that I still need to rest and take some time just to be in London.  That was what I wanted from the beginning out of this trip and the thought of leaving made me loose sight of that.
This trip has been orchestrated perfectly since it's crazy beginning 8 days before I left the states without me controlling it at all so I need to continue to allow that to happen.  I have loved every minute I have been here so far and need to continue on the same way....doing whatever I want not living like a tourist who has to see everything because they have limited time.  I have already made amazing life changing friends here who I will be able to come visit whenever I want so leaving here in a few days won't be good bye it will just be see you later.
The dark cloud has lifted...Sunny Sara is back!

Royal Pavilion and other bits...

This week has just flown by and been packed with so much.  I finally got may day in Brighton to explore a bit.  George had an appointment there so we all piled in the Volvo station wagon family style including Lauren squished between 2 car seats in the back seat (I got the car seat squish on the ride home) and headed to Brighton.  The car ride was filled with the musical stylings of Rudi singing "Squash and a Squeeze" from the Gruffalo soundtrack.  For those of you who are wondering about the Gruffalo it is a really great kids book however the soundtrack is a bit rubbish and even worse when repeated over and over and over because it is so hard to say no to sweet Rudi's " Again Please...Squash Squeeze"
Upon arrival in Brighton the lovely rainy English weather sets in and kind of screws up my plans for walking the famous pier with all the original bandstands and exploring the cute eclectic shops....change plans to the huge crazy pavilion and hope the rain ends.

Royal Pavillion

This Pavilion is beyond words.  When it comes into view in this adorable victorian town the first thought I have is the song from Sesame Street "One of these things is not like the others "
It is a massive Indian inspired Palace on the outside then Asian inspired on the inside.  Complete with chandeliers with fire breathing dragons and everything!  To me it was a hot mess made by an extremely extravagant, eccentric (slightly mad) rich prince spending all of daddies money.  I wasn't allowed to take photos inside so you will have to look it up but it is the really the tackiest place I have ever seen.  It really was very well done but super tacky.  I did think the outside entrance arches were nice but still the whole thing was a bit over the top.

Entrance Arches

   Once I left the Pavilion it was still raining so I found shelter in the Brighton Museum.  I learned all about it's history...apparently it is where people would go to have a "dirty" weekend since it was a more open and free thinking town...so there is Brighton for you...cute and high society during the day, dark and scandalous by night.
  The rest of the week was filled with rubbish weather and a revisit to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  Such a great museum if you are ever in London you must go.  I did also take a night out to go to a 70's inspired bar in Soho called "The Player".   Lauren and I both were quite unimpressed ... there was a cover charge on a weeknight and the ambiance was mediocre.  The one thing they did have going for them was the cocktails.....really great!  Might be a different scene on a weekend night.  It's always great to get out and try something new and Lauren and I always find a way to make whatever we are doing fun.
This week has been non-stop though.....gotta catch my breath.

Final Palace...Hampton Palace

This is by far my favorite palace.  It is clearly quite elaborate but the way it's laid out feels comfortable and like a home you could live in....a really big home...but a home none the less.  It is designed and built in the Tudor style of architecture which I find very elegant and under stated with really nice details.  Not gaudy like so many others seem to be.  Really it's the top shape of all the doors and windows that get me.  Also unlike many of the other styles it wasn't about lots of bright flashy gold it was more about tall the beautiful intricate woodwork, whimsical gardens and fruit trees that had to be specially maintained since they weren't indigenous to the area and showed wealth.

Hampton Palace Court

This palace was also home to a lot of intriguing scandal from the playboys of this era Charles II and all his mistresses.  He had sultry paintings done of them and had them hung in his private dining rooms.  I think we should take a moment and feel for his poor wife that had to eat dinner with the seductive eyes of his mistresses staring at her from the walls.  Also King Henry VIII who really needs no other explanation.  This definitely would have been the palace I would have wanted to live in...no not as a part of a scandal or as a mistress and shame on all of you who thought that!  It's because it's the first one that had a royal tennis court that people still can use and it has a true "Maze" or Labyrinth.  As I was running through the maze trying to get out I was also secretly hoping to find David Bowie around each corner but he was no where to be found.  If you don't know what I am talking about right now I am very disappointed in you and you need to rent and watch the movie Labyrinth immediately.

The Maze....David where are you?

 Another claim to fame of this palace is the Great Vine....it's the longest live and still growing vine in the world.  It's even in the Guinness book of World Records.  Gonna be honest here...least impressive thing for me but apparently a big deal.  Maybe I'm unimpressed because I have been in the book of records too.  Anyway, the vine was really long...I told you about it...and now I'm moving on.

Lovely whimsical garden

Really this place is so lovely!  It is right on the river which is beautiful and the gardens truly are the most inviting I have seen.  Some many of them were so huge you would never have been able to see or enjoy all of them.  I would love to just bring a book and sit under one of these cute trees and enjoy the spring time sun.  I am thinking about moving in...if I don't come back you know where to come look for me...Hampton Palace.

View of the river outside the palace

  

Weekend off...

Where to even begin with this one....I had planned to have a fun "local" style weekend with Lauren and it exceeded my expectations.  I guess we will start at her apartment.  She lives in St. Margarets which isn't too far from where I am living.  Friday night after work we headed over to her place to drop of my stuff.  Her place is the top level of a really cool victorian home.  Such a neat little place with a shared kitchen on the bottom floor, Central staircase then little rooms that are directly off the landing of each level of stairs so not really any hallways.  Very vintage place. Once we have changed into clothing that doesn't have the remnants of a day spent with children on it the weekend begins.
First stop is an old pub in St Margarets where we sat outside under and umbrella in the rain and had a pint of ale...I love that rain doesn't scare people here and you can still sit outside and no one thinks your crazy.  We next shared a great dinner and had a lovely conversation at a little pizza place.

Lauren and I at "The Fox"

 Next and final stop of the night was a local pub in Twickenham (don't you just love the name of places here) she had taken me to once before called The Fox.  We met up with her boyfriend Toby and enjoyed the evening there listening to live music and having a great pint  (or 2) of ale.  Side note this place had a pretty good taxidermied fox in it in a glass case displayed proudly.  You know I love a good taxidermy piece in a bar!
Saturday was a lot of relaxing after having an amazing breakfast at a local cafe.  Seriously the muffins were to die for....even better then then my favorite muffin place in Coronado.  Once evening rolled around we headed into Soho to check out some historic pubs and newer cocktail bars.  Soho is such an interesting mix.  From one street to the next it changes from old school london to super posh,with Hilcrest (best reference I could think of)  stuck in the middle.  There was also a really random Casino along the way too.  We really were just wandering with no real plan which was great. The first pub where we had dinner was a beautiful old victorian pub with amazing raised paneling on the ceiling and walls.  the best part about it was these really cool little glassed in booths that are unique to this time period and have rarely been saved through remodels.  Lauren told me she had walked by this place but never stopped in...sometimes you just need a tourist to show you something cool in your own town.  I plan to try and keep my tourist eyes open when I return to San Diego.  I'm sure there is so much I have missed there!  Next stop was an Oyster bar.  We didn't get to eat because they were closing but ended up chatting with the waiters and Kitchen staff for a bit and hopefully will get back for dinner since we both Love oysters!  One of the waiters led us to our  next stop which was a bit more posh and had good cocktails.  England's dark and stormy isn't the same as the one in the states but it's still good.  We also ran into a Stag Party (Bachelor party in the states) at this bar and they were hilarious.  Best part about it was everyone in the party was from all over Germany, Ireland, Norway and England.  Accent overload!  So funny!  Mr Germany was the best with his purple pants...he was like a quirky character out of a Tim Burtan movie.  They all thought my accent (yes I am the one with the accent over here) was pretty good.  They even had to ask me to repeat things because the couldn't understand because of my accent...never had that happen before.  I also made my first american statement that doesn't mean the same thing in England...it was pretty bad.  Sorry kids, it's not being revealed in this post.
My local weekend here was so much fun.  The scene is quite a bit different then I am used to but still great.  I love the diversity everywhere you go here.  Almost everyplace I have gone I have met someone from another country.
I suppose from now on wherever I am at I will try and live a bit more like a tourist...even in my one town...to get the most out of it.  

 

Lost and Found....

Leaving the house this morning I thought I had it all planned out....tube transfers and stops mapped out and streets noted.  Everything was going along fine until I stepped out into the street after getting out of the underground.  All my pre-mapped out streets were no where to be found and of course I still don't have a map...remember they are for sissy's.
Let the wondering begin....
I make my best guess at the right direction and head off.  This area is not very touristy so there aren't any of those lovely signs with the arrows pointing me to where I need to go.  I go to a few blocks and realize  I am headed in the the wrong direction and am lost.

British Army anyone?

Just as I am about to turn around this crazy castle, not an old castle but a castle type building none the less, shows up in the middle of this financial district. This intrigues me a bit so I cross the street to take a closer look.  Turns out this "castle" is the british army building. Good news guys...if you ever are looking to join I can tell you where to go!  Just to  the right of it I notice there is an old iron garden style fence surrounding what looks like a cemetery.  I walk through the iron gates and feel like I have been transported back in time.  There are hundreds of cement headstones and crypts.  Turns out I have stumbled upon a cemetery that was started pre 1600's and doesn't have any plots later then the 1800's.

Bunhill Cemetery

Turns out that the man who wrote Robinson Crusoe was buried there.  As I walked through I was really taking in the uniqueness of this place I had stumbled upon and I was pretty focused then I walked around a corner and took in the bigger picture. Amongst  the headstones there were park benches and tons of men in suits, who I am assuming work in the the financial district, sitting having lunch.  Kind of funny to think that something that was so unique for me was a part of these guys everyday lunch break.
Since I still had not found the museum I was looking for I moved on and wandered another way...once again the spot I was looking for was no where to be found but I did wander into a design mecca.

Amazing treasures inside!

It was a really hip, urban area with art gallery coffee shops, tons of design firms and studios and some cool "architectural salvage" type shops, but add a few hundred  years to how old the stuff is that is being sold.  I absolutely loved just weaving up and down the little streets and ally ways and checking out the different spots.
At this point I had used up all my time the I had allotted for the museum wandering around looking for it so I headed back to the underground station again to head to my next stop for the day.  For a moment on the steps down to the station I felt a bit disappointed that I got lost and never found what I was looking for but then realized by getting lost I found some other really great stuff that I never would have known about except by stumbling across it.
Next stop...Banqueting House which is another one of the palaces.  Got off at westminster and had perfect directions...no way to screw this one up...don't underestimate me!  Clearly I have a gift of avoiding correct locations (no matter how specific my directions are) on this day.  I walk to where it should be and of course.....Nothing.  So back to the corner signs with arrows that point me right back to where I just was...seriously, lost again!  I must have walked up and down the street 4 or 5 times. Thankfully it was packed with tourists so I didn't look like a complete idiot since I think a few people that I passed each time I walked back and forth were doing the same thing since they started to look suspiciously familiar.  If they didn't have the tourist issued messenger style passport holder and fold out map in hand I would have thought I was being stocked.
Finally I spotted a door with a etched royal crown on it and knew I had found it....Success at last!!!

Banqueting House

  The best word I can use to describe this place is grand.  I walked in and the first words that came out of my mouth were "Holy Crap".  I know, not very refined or cultured but it's what I said.  The entire ceiling, which seems to stretch for miles, is covered in 9 exquisitely painted panels.  It has been used as a a place for elaborate masque balls, the execution site of Charles II who commissioned the building and the paintings, a church, and is still used by parliament for huge parties. I would love to go to one of those.   The photo doesn't express the true grander and beauty of it....you will just have to use your imagination a bit.
Today as I finished this day of wandering my realization was this...no matter how lost you get you always end up found,  just by something different then you expected.  

Historic Royal Palaces...the Dark Side

The District line to Tower Hill takes me to my favorite historical spot in London...The Tower of London.  The tube stop opens directly out to a view of the Tower.  The grander of this place overtakes me.  Even though I've been before it still amazes me.  It's not just one little tower with a winding stair case and a cell at the top.  It's massive with a moat, royal housing, multiple towers and huge thick brick walls.  Luckily I had a bit of sunshine for my tour unlike last time where we were dodging rain drops the whole time. I went on the"beef eater" (look it up it's not what you think) tour to get my history fix since they give you all sorts of tid bits about events that have taken place and all the prisoners that have been held there.

One corner of the tower from the outside

   I think this is why I love this spot so much.  So many history altering events have taken place here in the 900 plus years it has been in existence.  From the building of the original White Tower that sits in the center of the whole site, the national mint being between the inner and outer walls, numerous private Royal executions that happened within the walls and all the crown jewels....sorry ladies our little hands can't handle some of these major jewels.  These are only a few of the events....there are so many I could go on for ages.

The Rack

  

 The tower has a special display right now that the slightly dark side of me loved...the torture devices.  They had a real "Rack" that was pretty cool to see and a bunch of other ones that I will spare you the gory details about. 

Lady Jane's view

As I wondered around the cobblestone roads of the tower (which are a bloody nightmare on your ankles) I just kept envisioning the events that had taken place along these streets and in the places I was passing...

I sat in the window where Lady Jane Grey sat and watched her husband being taken to be executed then also watched her own scaffolding being built for her own execution.

I stood in the place where King Henry lovingly welcomed his new wife to be, Anne Boleyn, into the tower to prepare for her coronation through the royal entrance then walked a few feet away to the traitors gate where just 3 short years later she was brought on orders by the same man (King Henry) to be executed.

The tower also has it's mysteries like the murder of the  two young princes whose bones were found within the tower walls....I won't elaborate, homework...look it up and read the story.

Coming back to these places I am definitely seeing it with new eyes.  My fun "Ah Ha" moment of the tower came in the hall of armor.  

Fashion, function or both?

    I suppose I have never taken the time to appreciate battle armor and all it's intricacies.  It's kind of the perfect pairing of fashion and function.  As I walked through the exhibit I was surprised by all the bits that stood out. There were leather straps that attached the armor together but also were beautifully shaped with symbols that secured the ends on.  The way all the metal was layered at the knees and elbows for movement was functionally perfect and edged with some sort of contrasting metal or elegant engraving.  I was completely inspired by the the soft beauty found within this hard structure.  They took something that could have been very boring and made it a piece of artwork.  There were even specific metal workers who were sought after to make these suits.  I would call these guys some of the original fashion designers.  I foresee a few new designs for me being based on this experience today.  Get ready for some armor wear (don't worry I won't use all metal).

Bar full of suits

  The only downside from the day was all the tourists.  Yes, I know technically I am am one too but let me explain.  I am talking  people with back packs the size of my suitcase that take out small children and the elderly every time they turn, and huge groups of middle school age students who are only on the thrip because either their parents needed a week alone or there is a cute  (boy or girl) in their class who is also on the trip who they want to hook up with and feel that their chances are higher if they act super cool (or obnoxious depending on how you look at it) on the trip.  Now there is only one thing that can make is even worse...give them an umbrella.  It really turns into more of a weapon.  Tons of metal points strategically placed at my eye level being waved around by people who already have very little awareness that anyone but themselves exist.  

As the rubbish weather begins and the umbrellas start to pop up I sought shelter is a bar cleverly called The Hung Drawn and Quartered.  Once inside and out of harms way I looked up and realized I was surround but a sea of men in suits (really great fitting suits I might add)....Unfortunately it was a private party so I had to leave.  Disappointed to leave since it was a really cool bar,  I headed to the tube station dodging raindrops and umbrellas.

Such a great day of history and inspiration. Each day here has a new surprise I am not expecting....That's what it's all about right?...