Liverpool and York

I've been a bad blogger lately.

I'd forgotten how hard it is living out of a suitcase, especially with kids in tow. I've also had quite a bit of work to do while we've been in England, meaning late nights and early mornings of work, plus daytime exploration/hang out time with the family.

In other words, no time for blogging.

Despite my distaste for suitcase living, I am so glad we've had this time with our British family. Not only has it made for a smoother transition from dreamland in Norway back to reality in Canada, but the boys and I have also had the opportunity to see many new sights in the UK.

Over the past week, we've basically travelled from coast to coast here in northern UK. I've already blogged about our trip to Whitby on the eastern coast, and last Tuesday we made the drive to the opposite coast, with a visit to Liverpool.

An added bonus in Liverpool was the service of a personal tour guide in the form of my lovely sister-in-law, Katherine. She's living the young and single life with a funky flat smack in the middle of town, and was more than happy to give us the grand tour.

The highlight of our visit to the birthplace of the Beatles, at least for the boys, was the voyage on the Yellow Duckmarine, an amphibian vehicle that tours both the city streets and the docks of Liverpool.



Sure, I may have noticed more than one Liverpudlian shaking heads as we passed them by in our duckmarine, but what the heck - the kids loved it, and we did get to see more of Liverpool than we'd have managed on foot.

In keeping with what seems to be a recurring theme on our English tour, we managed to squeeze in not one but two Cathedral visits during our day in Liverpool, both new - as in 20th century creations - which presented a change from previous Cathedral visits.

We saw the following Catholic Cathedral created by an Anglican architect:



And then we stopped at the Anglican Cathedral designed by a Catholic architect:



These cathedrals are within a stone's throw of each other, and I found their starkly different appearances and the fact that they were conceived by architects of the other faith hilarious. Any subliminal messages here, I wonder?

Today was spent in beautiful York, which is not a new city for me, but one I love coming back to. To entice the boys, we stopped by the Jorvik exhibit, taking us back to the time when the Vikings ruled much of England. The boys were more than proud to reveal their Scandinavian heritage to anyone who'd listen, and were fascinated by the extensive display of weaponry, skulls and bones dug up from an excavation site in central York.

Before dinner, we found time for a walk along the wall that circles York city centre, stopping for tea in a garden cafe along the way, before making it over to the fantastically beautiful York Minster.



For the first time ever, I was able to see the front of the Minster without scaffolding, as they have completed the repairs on that part of the building. It never ceases to amaze me how it was possible to create such intricate buildings on this enormous scale so long ago. The details are just astonishing.



Tomorrow is the day before The Party. And by The Party, I mean the big do planned for Saturday to celebrate the trifecta of my in-laws' 65th and 60th birthdays this year, plus their 30th wedding anniversary.

The weekend will no doubt be fun but hectic. And before we know it, Monday will be here, which is the day before the day we return to Canada.

The countdown continues...

Coastin'

The last two nights were spent here:



In a traditional cottage in the tiny village of Cropton. The cottage is a funny contrast in mod-con and old-style housing. You have a brand spanking new kitchen and ditto bathroom, but you must remember to bend down to get from one room to another, lest you fancy close contact with a several foot wide plaster wall.

The local village pub provided two delicious dinners for us. And I don't mean fish wrapped in newspaper - apparently the Gordon Ramsey wave of fancy pub food has reached the upper north-east, as we had fantastic meals both nights. My only complaint was the North American size servings, which I felt compelled to finish.



Day one was spent looking for dinosaur fossils at Sandsend Beach:



And fish in the tidepools at Robin Hood's Bay:



Neither endeavour was crowned with success, though we did find several fossils of shellfish and a hermit crab for our troubles.

Lunch time was spent in and around the beautiful seaside town of Whitby, an old whaling town that is experiencing a big boost in tourism.



The town has a large and sandy beach, framed by small colourful shacks used by townspeople as their cottage on the water.



Day two was yet more exploration, much to the chagrin of the boys who seem to have a one-day-limit, before they need a day off to recuperate from sightseeing with their beloved DSes and perhaps a game or two of goof tennis.

Still, we persevered, visiting the white chalk cliffs by Flamborough Head, which are nesting grounds to millions of birds. This was quite a sight, even for cranky and hot kids, who were tired of walking.



Final stop on our way back to Ripon was Sutton Bank, which is the site of a massive white horse cut out of the chalky limestone cliff and visible from as far away as Thirsk in clear weather. Not realizing we could park directly underneath the horse, we parked some distance away, leaving ourselves a good hour long walk. The boys were not impressed, especially since as we finally got there, we couldn't really see the horse at all from our vantage point:



Fortunately, we had to walk past the grassy runway of a tiny cliff top airport, where glider planes were taking off, assisted by an equally tiny propeller plane. It was fun watching the gliders circle the hillsides in the beautiful weather, though the boys' excitement has me more than slightly worried about their future endeavours.



Today is the mandatory day of rest, as implemented by the kids, and tomorrow's plan is to pin Christopher down to get some of his shaggy do trimmed. This could be ugly - wish me luck!

Postcard from Yorkshire

We've climbed Harrogate trees...



...and Brimham rocks...



We've admired Ripon Cathedral in the sunshine...



...but decided we like the Fountain Abbey ruins better...



We've mini putted...

'

...and pitched the real thing...



Tomorrow we're off to the coast. Fingers crossed that the rain stays AWAY.

Lincoln

We arrived in Lincoln just before lunch to see Mike's brother, Alistair, and get a quick tour of his renovated house. He's done a great job with it, making me wonder how we can come up with a way to entice him to Canada. You see, there's a certain house in desperate need of some fixing up in Ontario somewhere...

We'd planned to visit Lincoln Cathedral, grab a quick lunch and then leave the boys with Alistair for a special sleepover, while Mike and I joined my in-laws at a concert near Leeds.

The boys could hardly contain themselves - Uncle Alistair is one of their all-time heroes - but they were not very interested in seeing yet another old church, wanting to hit the park instead. I guess they've reached their fill of sightseeing for a while.

I can't say I blame them, but I wish we'd shown them Lincoln Cathedral first, before they lost interest in all things antiquarian. It is truly a sight to behold.



Interestingly, the Cathedral was used instead of Westminster Abbey during the filming of 'The Da Vinci Code' a few years ago.

After saying goodbye to the boys, we set our sights on Ripon, a little under 2 hours north. We arrived with plenty of time before the evening's concert, so Mike and I took the opportunity to go for a walk.

We were only just returning to the house when I saw my mother-in-law running towards us. As she caught up with us she prefaced her news by "Let me just start by saying the boys are all right."

Not what you want to hear when you've left your children in a town two hours away.

It turns out that Alistair had injured his knee while playing soccer with the boys and was now at the emergency room, while the boys were being looked after by a couple of Alistair's friends. He didn't think he'd be able to take care of them overnight, seeing as he wasn't able to walk on his injured leg or drive a car.

There was really no other option but for Mike and his dad to get into the car and drive back to Lincoln. Getting results from the hospital took a while, so it was closer to midnight by the time they returned, with sleepy boys and - as it turned out - a hobbling Alistair.

Alistair's knee is not as bad as originally feared, though he is still in a lot of pain. He'll be seeing a specialist within the next few days and hopefully will be able to recover without surgery.



My mother-in-law and I were obviously concerned about the guys, but that didn't stop us from going to the concert as originally planned. We spent the evening seeing a performance of Elijah at the recently renovated Royal Hall in Harrogate. It was a great distraction from wondering what was going on in Lincoln.

Today is a lazy day around the house. We all need to chill out for a little bit, and that's exactly what we're planning to do.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Cambridge

My father-in-law is an Old Boy from Cambridge, meaning he is a graduate of Cambridge University (Trinity College to be specific). Today he took us on a tour of his old stomping grounds.

I tried to imagine myself studying in a place as beautiful as this:



And I'm honestly not sure I would have gotten a lot done, if I were surrounded by views such as these:



Or these:



But then again, if I started to feel guilty about putting all that tuition money to waste, I'd just send up a quick prayer to the powers-that-be, either here:



Or in this 'modest' student chapel attached to the college:



After admiring the old buildings of the various colleges, we finished our afternoon visit with an attempt at 'punting' on the river Cam (vaguely reminiscent of the gondolas in Venice, but really an art-form all of its own, as Mike quickly realized):





Having seen enormous abbeys, churches and chapels in both London and here in Cambridge, it is hard to believe there are bigger ones still to come, but that is just what we'll see as we hit the town of Lincoln this morning. The boys are stopping for a night there with their uncle, before they join us in Ripon tomorrow.

And so the adventure continues...

48 Hours In London

I was overly optimistic when I mentioned the sun peeking out yesterday morning. It did peek out - for about 2 minutes. Then it promptly disappeared, not to be seen again. It was also awfully cold - the bone-chilling cold that cuts through however many layers of clothing you've managed to put on.

Having said that, we still managed to have an excellent day of touring the city. We hopped on the double-decker, which was a stroke of genius in the cold and wet weather. Some of the buses have partially covered top decks, and much to their delight, the boys managed to secure front row seating.



We whizzed by the Parliament buildings, Big Ben looking awfully wet much to Little Ben's delight. We also saw Buckingham Palace (the Queen apparently in residence, but not available to wave to us), Westminster Abbey, Trafalger Square, Downing Street and Tower Bridge, before we stopped at Tower of London for a closer look.


(Yeah, it was cold!)

The Tower of London was a huge hit with the boys, for very different reasons. Christopher was enthralled with the collection of Crown Jewels, in particular the world's largest diamond. True to himself, he kept asking and speculating about how much money various crowns, ornamental swords, maces and staffs would be worth if sold. Here's a boy who likes his money! Sadly, the museum did not allow photography, but Christopher made sure to stack up on postcards before we left.

B boy, on the other hand, could not get enough of the Royal Armouries and its extensive weaponry displays. We spent a good hour just looking at swords, guns, cannons and armour, and by the end of it, he told me the museum was the best ever! Big words from a boy who wants nothing to do with museums of any kind.


(Rather anatomically correct body armour)

After a quick stop at the hotel, we made our way to the West End for a pizza dinner before hitting the theatre to see Joseph. The musical didn't disappoint. The stage production was fairly simple, but very funny, and we all loved it. The boys sang along to every song, and were thrilled to see Elvis perform twice. We even had a bit of drama when the production ran into technical problems part-way through the first half, but the issues were quickly resolved and the show continued without another hitch.

**********************************************************



Today, in contrast, has been much warmer and - dare I say it - sunny! We began our morning with a lovely walk along the river Thames, where street artists provided much amusement for the boys, especially B boy who couldn't decide which entertainer to support with his single coin.


(The chameleon was the lucky winner)

After a delicious lunch by the side of the river, we slowly made our way towards the London Eye, the massive ferris wheel assembled for the Millenium celebrations in London 8 years ago.



Despite Christopher's fear of heights, even he enjoyed the trip up in the capsule, with the most amazing views of the city of London.



Enticing the boys with promises of ice cream, we then proceeded to walk through St. James's Park towards Buckingham Palace. The tulips were out in full bloom and the floral displays everywhere lulled us into thinking that spring had finally arrived.



That is, until we were hit by a freak hail storm. Only in London will you find tourists sporting sunglasses AND umbrellas, all while taking refuge under trees because of massive and painful hail.



The hail storm only lasted about a minute, and shortly thereafter the sun was out in full force again. Odd, but I'm not complaining.

As I write this, we are getting ready to meet up with Mike's dad at Covent Garden for dinner. We have yet to have a bad meal in London, and I'm sure tonight won't disappoint, either. Not great for the diet, but oh-so-good for the soul.

Tomorrow we are off to Cambridge, before we slowly make our way up towards the Yorkshire dales. Keeping busy is the name of the game!

You Say Goodbye I Say Hello

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my post yesterday. I felt much better after reading them. You are all so right - this is just the start of a new adventure, not the end of anything. Norway will still be there.

Following a manic last-minute packing session, we flew off yesterday afternoon after a slightly teary, but all in all fairly stoic goodbye with my family.

The boys were quiet and more subdued than usual in the airport, though their moods were livened somewhat by being told they could buy 'whatever they wanted' from the duty-free candy store (with higher prices than the local supermarkets - gah!).

B boy had taken one of the anti-sickness pills he so hates, and promptly fell asleep as the flight taxied out to the runway. He didn't wake up again until we were taxiing into our gate at London's Heathrow airport. Now that's the way to travel.

We had left a gloriously sunny spring day in Norway and arrived in England to -- rain. Probably the perfect reflection of my somber mood, but still...

On the upside, we were out of the airport in record speed - fortunately we did not have to deal with the luggage mess in the new terminal 5 - and the taxicab driver was jolly and friendly, and made us all laugh with his comments on London weather. The drive into town seemed to go much faster than we'd feared.

The boys were in awe of the hotel Mike's family has booked, and I have to admit - it is pretty swanky. We are staying close to Kensington, in a business hotel with apartments. Our apartment must be one of the biggest ones there, with three large bedrooms and attached washrooms, a new and well equipped kitchen, LCD TVs everywhere. Everything very nice looking and with high-end furnishings. Christopher went around in awe for a few minutes, commenting on this and that, and finally said "This is a suite!" I think my boy will be disappointed next time we check into a Holiday Inn :)

The boys were pretty tired after an emotional couple of days, so we decided to order food in, after which they hit the sack.

Today we are doing what Jen suggested, hopping on the double-decker bus to sightsee without listening to 'tired legs' stories from short people. Then we are off to the Tower of London, before ending the day with the boys' favourite musical of all times - Joseph and the Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat.

And guess what - despite the forecast - I am actully seeing sunshine peeking through the clouds as I write this. Cross fingers!

Really, Really Old

B boy and I were walking behind the rest of the family on our recent visit to the beautiful city of York in England. We pretty much always make up the tail end of a group. Benjamin has little legs, so he walks slowly.

And he likes to talk.

I often wish he'd speak clearer, so I wouldn't have to stop and bend down to hear him, but mostly, I just enjoy his chattering. He'll make comments about people he sees, things that happened at school that day, and even events from years ago that he's suddenly remembered. Everything with infectious enthusiasm and usually with a slightly cheeky undercurrent.

We don't get anywhere quickly with B boy onboard, but the journey is almost always amusing.

And then there's times when his innocence just slays me. Like that day in York. As we crossed a busy street, I was pulling and tugging on him to hurry up. Those little legs were moving even slower than normal, and definitely not as quickly as the flow of traffic.

Because Benjamin had spotted the ruined remnants of an old stone building. Except to him it was simply a house with no roof, and he absolutely could not understand why there was a house with no roof in the middle of York.

"It's just an old, old house, B boy, I'm sure it's protected," I said.

"How old?" he asked.

"Hundreds and hundreds of years old," I answered absent-mindedly, still trying to get us across the road safely.

"I get it. As old as black-and-white TV, right?" said my genius boy.

I almost stopped in the middle of the street, but managed to get us across to the other side of the intersection before replying:

"No, even older than that. Many hundreds of years old."

"Oh, back from the dinosaur age, then," he declared with total insight.

Which is when I swore to myself never to tell B boy that our first black-and-white TV was bought after I was born. Never, ever!

And The Weather Forecast Calls For...

...rain on New Year's Eve in the UK. Yeah, I was shocked, too.

We are back in Norway again, but despite the rain we had a great time with the Wades in Yorkshire. How could we not, as we arrived on Sunday to warm-ish weather - for us anyway - and flowering roses!



The airline decided to send our luggage to Hamburg, Germany instead of Manchester, England, which did cause a fair amount of irritation on our part. They eventually managed to get the suitcase to Manchester, but the impending New Year holidays and the fact that we were staying in Ripon (a 90 minute+ drive from the airport) finally forced the courier company to admit we probably would not see our suitcase until we were ready to fly home again.

Argh!

My obvious distress is probably why my hero-of-the-day - aka my father-in-law - spent 7 hours that day driving to-and-from the airport, first to pick us up, then to pick up that pesky suitcase. Gah! Whatever happened to airline service?!?! I could write a long venting post about this, but I will not, as I do not want it to overshadow an otherwise fab visit to England.


(side shot of the York Minster)

On New Year's Eve we went to a super matinee pantomime in the beautiful city of York. The boys - and we - spent the better part of 4 hours vigorously exercising our stomach muscles laughing (much needed exercise, I might add, following the chocolate overdose during the holidays). If you have never been to a pantomime - well, you've been missing out!

Pantomimes are usually well-known fairy tales with a spin, and the actors often include a principal boy, most often played by a young pretty girl, the heroine, also played by a beautiful young girl (making the inevitable romance a tad unusual), and - most importantly - a dame, acted with much exaggeration and fancy wigs and costumes by a middle-aged man, as a lewd and rude middle-aged woman.

Although the story changes from year to year, there is no plot line to follow, and there's always a few standard scenes: The water and pie scene (in which the main characters get wet and caked), the neon light scene (with all lights turned off), and a pre-recorded video from around the city, most often featuring local politicians, mayors, police, etc. The entire show is peppered with political and pop culture jokes.


(A scene with "the spice girls")

If this all sounds crazy, it is, but in the UK, this is considered top family entertainment, and though not a native Brit, I've learned to love it, too. It's a great way to spend an afternoon/evening with the entire family.

New Year's Eve was spent in a quiet fashion at home, where we had a highly successful raclette dinner (Christopher has asked me if we can buy a raclette at least 10 times since), played a few games and at midnight went down to the town square to see the fireworks. Despite the rain, the display didn't disappoint, and the boys went to bed with big smiles on their faces.

Unfortunately, the skies really opened up on New Year's Day, when it poured the proverbial cats and dogs. I would have liked to have gone for a walk, but there really wasn't much hope of that. Cue more chocolate and licorice allsorts.

The plane ride home yesterday was uneventful, and we arrived - luggage and all - to a beautifully white snow-covered land, with more snow in the forecast for the next three days. We are going downhill skiing today, and hopefully cross country skiing tomorrow and on the weekend. There may even be time for some skating. Anything but eating chocolate, really!