An American Monster Geek in London

London Natural History Museum

2012-02-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

It was a cold day, so Tony and I sought out something to do to avoid cabin fever. We decided that going to the London Natural History Museum was the perfect thing to do.

Apparently, so did everyone else, as the line to get in was enormous. Thankfully, it wasn't raining.

The building is a spectacular Victorian triumph. It is built out of millions of Terracotta tiles, and there are animals worked into the architecture all over the place making it a fun museum to look at.

Inside, the main hall is enormous and features a large dinosaur skeleton as its centerpiece.

And seated on a throne overlooking the center hall is a statue of that royal member of the Natural Selection world, non other than Mr. Charles Darwin himself.

The museum houses a respectable Dinosaur exhibit, but I was expecting more than what I got to see. I thought London had one of the largest collections of Dinosaur bones, but it made me appreciate the rather sizable collection in Los Angeles.

Most of the bones are part of an exhibit with some fun suspended walkways that filter you through the different displays in a controlled manner.

The exhibit is mostly aimed at families with children rather than some sort of hard-core dinosaur junkie like me that would love to get up close to a case filled with dinosaur bones sans fancy mood lighting.

There are a couple great Dino skulls on display. It is hard however to tell whether you are getting the real deal, or a casting. It seems nowadays, that most of the dinosaurs skeletons on display are recreations or duplicates.

Speaking or recreations, there are some fun (for the kids) Jurassic Park animatronic raptors that pop up throughout the exhibit. Kind of fun.

The dramatic climax for the display is an animatronic T-rex. It moves and roars in a fairly impressive manner. Nicely done, and scary enough to make some of the younger kids cry.

I'm not sure what the T-rex is doing with the double decker bus, but you know you are in London, when that is what is used to convey the size of a T-rex.

After the dinosaurs, we went up to the mineral display. It is mostly cases filled with every kind of granite, quartzite and every other kind of "ite" that you can imagine.

They even had Kryptonite. Just kidding.

But some of the rocks looked like they could have been.

They even had a large iron meteorite. Now, that was cool.

Most of it wasn't that interesting, but what could top a giant moving, roaring T-rex. The best pieces are at the far end of the room in the vault. The highlight to me being the rock from Mars, which looked a lot like a rock from earth. It wasn't even red. . . (perhaps I should have brought some spray paint)

There are also some great examples of Gold Ore, Emeralds and a unique watermelon colored crystal.

After finishing the museum, we made our way across the street to what I think was the highlight of the trip for Tony - A full on Cheese Cave shop. We had a wonderful grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of French Bordeaux. That's the way to detox after dealing with a museum full of children.

The Cold Snap

2012-02-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

We didn't get a White Christmas this year in London. In fact it was an unseasonably warm December.

However, in January and February, we finally got our winter. It snowed a good 4 inches over one night, and an additional 2 inches on another evening.

I love seeing the snow here. Having grown up in a part of the US that never really got snow, it is quite the urban novelty to have it.

The only time I'm not wild about it is when I have to bike to work and the roads are icy. So far it hasn't been an issue this winter. Knock on wood. . .

It is wonderful to get up in the morning, take the dogs to the little park down the street, and be treated to a pristine dusting of powder.

The trees will have snow clinging precariously to their branches, and the little birdbath will be frozen over.

Tony made the dogs these cute color coordinated coats last year, and finally they are getting the chance to use them.

Very stylish in deed.

2011 Visits from Friends

2012-01-07T23:22:00.001-08:00

We had some fun visits in 2011 from friends back home. From old college friends to new friends from foreign cities to an intern I dragged around London introducing him to the local food customs such as Fish and Chips, it is always a pleasure to see old friends, so let me know if you will be in London.

London Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

It has been much milder weather-wise this Christmas.

No snow, and it has not been very cold.

Instead of snow and ice, we've only had a fine mist and occasionally rain.

One learns to accept the weather here as unpredictable, and I've come to enjoy the suspense of the uncertainty a bit.

We went ice skating at the Tower of London, where they set up an ice rink in the moat. It is the coolest location I've seen in London to go skating and I enjoyed it much more than at the Somerset House where we went last year.

Both of us are mediocre skaters, but we are happy in our mediocrity.

We went with our friend, Fiona, who, though from Scotland, never learned how to skate very well.

It was a fun afternoon in an amazing location.

Even our little Frozen Yoghurt shop was in the holiday spirit with Festive flavors such as Cinnamon and Mulled Wine.

Starbucks won the coveted award for the 2nd best Mini Mince Pies. It lost only to Harrod's. Being a bit of a Mince Pie connoiseur, I thought they were okay, but the pies from Walkers featuring 12 year old Glenfiddich Whiskey are my favorites.

Buying a Christmas tree in London is very easy, and we walked 5 minutes from our place up to the High Street and bought a tree and carried it home again.

We decorated the tree with the ornaments we've collected over the years. They always bring back fun memories.

This year we added an egg ornament we bought in Salzburg.

We also put out our new Nutcracker that we bought in Nuremberg. We love buying something Christmasy on our travels, as we get to remember the fun we had on the trip each year when we put out the decorations.

Gluhwein from Nuremberg also played an important part in our Christmas festivities this year. Unfortunately, Tony doesn't like it - that just made all the more for me.

Even Pepper got into the festive mood.

We tried our hands at cooking an Italian themed Christmas this year with a Pork Roast stuffed with pine nuts and raisins.

And a Strufolli, which is made of a bunch of small fritters and hazelnuts with a honey orange caramel syrup drizzled over the top. It is shaped in the form of a wreath.

Christmas pudding was a running theme in gifts given to me. Tony isn't a fan of it, so I got some ribbing about how I like it. I got Christmas Pudding flavored smoothies, cakes, and mints.

All in all, it's been a lovely quiet Christmas this year after a year of so much fun and exciting travel.

Zurich - A space odyssey

2011-12-30T01:26:00.000-08:00

For our journey home, the nice girl at our hotel in Nuremberg packed us a travel snack kit filled with stohlen and mini lebkuchen cookies. She was a really sweet person, and we had a great time talking with her each morning at breakfast.

For our return trip, we got to experience what almost felt like a trip to Star Trek land.

We got to Nuremberg airport, and rode this amazing glass elevator with curved doors. It almost looked like some sort of vacuum chamber.

But the high point came when we had to pass through Zurich airport. We accidentally ended up on their subway to the wrong terminal. However, the accident proved worthwhile, it was the coolest airport subway I've ever ridden.

Bamberg

2011-12-29T09:53:00.000-08:00

For our last day in Germany, we made a train trip to a nearby town of Bamberg. We'd seen it on a travel program called "The Thirsty Traveler", where they went to visit this brewery where they made, Rauchbier (Smoked Beer). They smoke the barley, and then make beer from it.

We got up had a good breakfast, then walked over to the train station to catch the train for the easy 40 minute journey.

We arrived at the station, which is about a 15 minute walk from the center of town. To our surprise, they also were having a very nice lowkey Christmas market.

Tony was much happier here as it felt more craftsy, and was not nearly as crowded as the market in Nuremberg.

The weather was sunny and warmer, and it was a beautiful December day.

Bamberg is built up around a navigable river, and I'm assuming was an important point of trade.

Perched on the highest point in town, Bamberg Cathedral built around 1010 was a favorite church of Pope Clement II, who was the local bishop before becoming Pope.

After his death, his body was returned to Bamberg, and is the only Pope buried outside of Italy and France.

Henry II and his wife Empress Cunigunde, who founded the church are buried in the cathedral in an elaborate sarcophagus which took 15 years to sculpt.

There is a famous statue in Bamberg Cathedral. It is called the "Bamberger Reiter" (Bamberg Rider). It is unknown who the rider is supposed to be, but this image was taken by the Nazis and used as a propaganda symbol representing German perfection looking for new lands to conquer.

Another important art piece in the Cathedral is a wood nativity scene carved by the famous artist Viet Stoss. He carved it when he was 80 years old during the 1500's.

We walked the square by the cathedral which also houses the City Hall and some other buildings also dating back 1000 years.

The town is a real charmer. I can't imagine anyone not liking this place.

Eventually, we made our way to a brewpub called Aecht Schlenkerla, which is famous for making the Rauchbier.

Notice what appears to be a Jewish star on their sign. This symbol actually is the "Brewer's Star". A symbol bringing together the triangular symbols for fire and water, which are used in the process of brewing beer.

It was a darker beer. Not as thick as a stout, but medium bodied and full flavored. It tasted a lot of smoke. Tony felt it tasted a bit like he was drinking a campfire.

Of course I bought a bottle to bring home.

We also saw a couple different versions of Gluhwein called "Feuerzangenbowle" (flaming fire tongs punch). One where they pour burning schnapps into a large cauldron of gluhwein. . .

And one where they pour schnapps over a sugar cube and set it on fire.

Tony passed on the flaming gluhwein and instead got a glass of some delicious Hot Apple Cider.

We wandered around the town for the afternoon, just enjoying the Christmas market and all the people out taking in the sunshine.

We stopped at a bakery and bought a loaf of "Stohlen", a traditional German Christmas bread.

I learned that Stohlen is baked symbolically in the shape of the baby Jesus wrapped in cloth. So when you are eating Stohlen, you are symbolically eating. . . hmm. . .

Before long, it was starting to get dark, and it was time to head back to Nuremberg. That evening I finally got to have Sauerbraten, a pot roast made with vinegar, which I'd been craving the whole trip. Delicious, but a bit of an acquired taste.

And of course a piece of Apfel Strudel. What trip to Germany would be complete without it.

Nuremberg - Coming to Terms with its Past

2011-12-29T01:16:00.000-08:00

There is more to Nuremberg than its glorious Christmas Market.

Nuremberg has a long and interesting history. It was the seat for the Holy Roman Emporer in Germany, and it was also the seat of power for the Nazi Party.

This is no coincidence, as Hitler had ambitions to tie the Nazi party to the country's regal and proud history.

There are quite a few remnants of Nurembergs distant as well as recent past spread thoughout this fascinating and beautiful city.

Though much was destroyed in WWII, much has been rebuilt as it appeared before the war. Where a building was less than 60% destroyed, it was rebuilt as it was. Where it was destroyed more than that, it was built new. However then new construction seems to fit as it uses mostly traditional materials and styles.

The city was originally contained within a moated wall. Thankfully, the city decided not to tear it down, and today, they still have 90% of the original wall. It makes for a unique and beautiful feature in this town.

Our hotel was conveniently located near the train station which is on the west end of the town. From there, we could visit one of the drawbridges.

From there it was a nice walk down Konigstrasse (the main street) past one of the original massive grain houses. Here, grain was stored for the winter months. Today, there is a fun microbrewery in the basement. A testament to its history.

Further down, one comes to San Lorenzo Church, which was damaged during WWII, but has been restored.

It is a beautiful gothic church, with an amazing entrance door flanked by Adam and Eve, with a Virgin Mary in the center.

Inside, it is massive as it's high ceiling and arches reach heavenward. A small choir and orchestra were rehearsing for a service that evening. It was beautiful.

Directly across from the church is an old palace from some nobleman who felt the need to have a more fortified home. There is even a sun dial on the outside of it.

As you walk further, you cross a bridge with a view of the old town hospital. I'm not sure why it was built over the water, but the river wasn't navigable, but served mainly as the city's sewer system. Perhaps that is a reason.

If you follow the river downstream, you will come to the executioner's home. It is right on the edge of town, and is also built over the river.

This seems to be a running theme with some of the structures in Germany.

Nuremberg Cathedral overlooks the main square where the main Christmas Market is held. It was built by the Holy Roman Emporer Charles IV, and is another fantastic example of gothic architecture.

It is from the balcony of this church that the angel officially opens the Christmas Market.

Just across the square is the Schonen Brunen (pretty fountain). It was the source of clean drinking water in Nuremburg.

There is this little ring on the fountain, that if you spin it, you are supposed to have good luck. At the very least, you are guaranteed a good photo op.

Tony and I walked further up the hill past the city hall. It features prominently as a backdrop in the Nazi propaganda film "Triumph of the Will".

The crests over the doors show a blending of the Austro-Hungarian and Holy Roman Empire crests.

As we walked up the hill further, we came to San Sebaldus Church, which had been severely damaged in the war. Even now, it is still undergoing repair and restoration. Inside there is a fascinating computer display showing the evolution of this church's exterior starting in 1230 to the present.

At the top of the hill is Nuremberg Castle. It isn't large and lavish compared to many of the castles we've seen on our travels, but this was the German seat of the Holy Roman Emporer and goes back to around the 1100's.

It was built as a fort with its own water supply. It was heavily damaged during WWII, and had to be rebuilt and restored after the war.

Just a couple blocks from the castle is the home and studio of artist Albrecht Durer. Tony and I walked over to the beautiful square where it stands.

We both really liked it here as it felt like a quintessential German town square.

There is this really strange sculpture of a rotting rabbit in the square. The guidebook says that it was inspired by a Durer painting. Either way, it is creepy to look at.

This also represented the other end of the original walled town. There is a massive tunnel burrowed through the hillside that leads to another drawbridge.

With that, we ended our tour of the old Nuremberg, and decided to come forward a few centuries to look at Nuremberg during the period when it was the headquarters for the Nazi Party.

The original Zeppelin Fields parade grounds still stand as well as the main walls of what was to be a grand Congress Hall. This was all to be part of a huge Nazi Rally Grounds; and the grand plans Hitler and his Architect of choice Albert Speer had were massive.

Today, Zeppelin Fields is mostly used as a parking lot for the nearby Football Pitch, though it has also served as a location for a Rock Concert as well as part of a Motor Speedway.

In a strange way, it still impresses the visitor. Now it serves as a hollow reminder of a time when delusional fascists ran crazy in Europe living out their fantasies on the backs of the people.

The Nazi Convention Hall was never completed beyond its exterior walls. It was here that the Nazi party would have held it annual meetings with Hitler standing at its center.

It would have been a massive building with a huge freestanding dome roof.

One can see battle damage from the war marring its granite surface.

A visit is still impressive when you imagine the scope of the vision they had for this site.

Housed inside the north wing of the Congress Hall is the "Documentation Center", or what might otherwise be called the "Rise and Fall of the Nazi Party".

It documents the formation, expansion and ultimate collapse of one of the most powerful organizations on the planet, which orchestrated a World War and the deaths of millions of people.

The museum does a good job riding the fine line between horror and nostalgia. It isn't hard to understand why so many people followed this dictator into his madness.

The museum tour ends with a grim illustration of the human cost of the Nazi insanity. The tracks symbolize the rails by which so many people were taken to the Extermination Camps. The small chips each represent 100 people killed in them. They say that if the chips had each contained a name of an individual killed in the camps, it would fill the room to overflowing.

The structures in the site are all Class 2 historic buildings, which means that they can not be torn down and must be maintained. Perhaps they serve as a reminder to us of a period not so long ago where the human race went insane. I think Nuremberg, and in deed all mankind is still coming to grips with the meaning of this time in our recent history and I can only hope we have learned from it.

Nuremberg - The Christkindlesmarkt

2011-12-27T08:27:00.000-08:00

Tony and I had been hearing about these amazing Christmas Markets in Germany ever since we'd come to London. In fact there are many "German" Christmas Markets held in England celebrating the fact that the Germans know how to throw a Christmas Market.

One of the largest markets is in Nuremberg, this December, we made plans to visit Nuremberg and see an authentic one for ourselves.

Nuremberg is a beautiful city, and the Christmas markets in it (and there are several) are huge. There is the main, Chriskindlesmarkt, also the Kindersmarkt, and an International City Partners Market. We wandered around seeing all of them.

Little wooden stands open their doors and look like little jewelry boxes full of gold and glass.

One fun quirky Christmas Decoration that we saw on sale everywhere were these little "Prune People". They are people made out of dried fruit. And they come in all different shapes and occupations. Okay, then. . .

Everywhere were wonderful Christmasy things to temp your wallet. We managed to keep our spending to one Nutcracker.

Though crowded, I found it a delight to walk around taking in the Christmas ambiance. Weekdays are quieter than weekends, and some of the vendors aren't open during the week.

Mornings are a good time to avoid crowds too, but it comes to life at night when all the lights come on.

We wandered around looking at it several times during our stay enjoying it at varying times during the day.

Carolers and Christmas bands provide the perfect musical accompaniment to put you in the mood.

One can find traditional German Lebkuchen (gingerbread) Cookies everywhere. They are celebrated in all shapes and sizes from square cookies with nuts to round cookies dipped in chocolate. Some are shaped like men or horses.

Some are decorated much like the traditional Oktoberfest cookies with writing on them and hung on strings so you can wear them around your neck.

We tried some from the stands, but found them to be a bit dry and tasteless. We ultimately went to a recommended bakery called "Lebkuchen Schmidt" where we found some really excellent tasty Lebkuchens. Tip: Avoid the ones in the tourist booths, and go to a bakery if you want a really good cookie.

I also tried some of the fruit cake. Unfortunately, I didn't really care for it. Costco US still makes the best from my experience. Then my Dad using my Grandmother's recipe.

They also made these interesting sweets called Schneeball (snowball). They were slightly crunchy, and had marzipan in them as well as different nut type fillings and coatings.

In addition to some wonderful Macaroon cookies, we also tried these marshmallow sweets that were covered with chocolate. Many were flavored as well.

Freshly grilled Bratwurst can be smelled cooking everywhere. How could we resist?

We tried the traditional Nuremberg Bratwurst, which are these delicious small sausages served with mustard and kraut.

We just had a lovely time walking around eating and drinking the market in. The weather was coldish, but not ridiculously cold, and it was mostly dry. Tony wasn't wild about the crowds, but I just took it as part of the whole experience.

We enjoyed the Gluhwein which is everywhere. Tony isn't too fond of mulled wine, but eventually found a mulled cider that was to his liking.

We also liked the Eierpunsch, which is similar to Eggnog.

very rich and tasty.

I tried a really good mulled wine called Heidelbeer Gluhwein, which is made from blueberries. They serve the wein in fun souvenir cups that you place a deposit on. If you don't want to keep it, just return it to the counter, and they give you back your deposit.

You can occasionally find both here in the UK. I think I've even seen it back in the states. I'll have to look for the heidelwein in stores here next year.

The Nuremberg Christmas Angel is the predominant symbol of the market. You will find her everywhere.

A woman dressed as the angel officially opens the market from a balcony overlooking the square, on the last weekend of November.

Lest one forgets the Christian reason for the season, you will also find many beautiful manger scenes.

The Germans really know how to do Christmas right. I guess this is why their Weihnachtsmarkt are emulated throughout the world.

London Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-27T07:50:00.000-08:00

After a disappointing Thanksgiving last year, I planned a return to trip on Thanksgiving Day to "The Diner", as though their dinner 2 years ago was mediocre, it had never promised to be a great Thanksgiving Dinner the way I'd been led to expect from BoDean's BBQ.

Being hit with a bit of homesickness that afternoon at work (it isn't a holiday here in London), I found a website broadcasting the Macy's Day Parade online. I'd forgotten how big that parade appears with all those balloons floating through Times Square.

After work, I pedaled home and Tony and I walked up to "The Diner". Sadly, they were not offering even their mediocre Thanksgiving Dinner this year. However they did have a Turkey Burger with Sweet Potato Fries. "Two Burgers, please!". To their credit, it was a great burger and the fries were yummy. The best part of the evening was the wait staff wearing feathers and warpaint on their faces. I guess this is Indian revenge for the English settlers who would ultimately lead to their near genocide.

The Diner had a pumpkin shake for dessert, but that sounded a little dodgy. We hoped that the yogurt shop down the street still had their "Pumpkin Pie" yoghurt. Sadly, when we got there, they explained that they only had it in honor of Halloween. I didn't want to explain to them that though pumpkin pie is occasionally served at Halloween, it primary purpose is to be the dessert at Thanksgiving.

Despite a disappointing Thanksgiving Day, Tony, Mark, and I had planned to do a full-on Thanksgiving Dinner that Saturday. I broke out my last can of Trader Joe's Pumpkin, and made a pie.

I also was in charge of making the Green Bean Cassarole (we'd smuggled in a can of French Fried Onions back with us when we went to Louisiana last year).

Tony made the Cranberry relish from scratch using his favorite recipe. And also made a roasted garlic and cheese appetizer that we'd seen our new favorite British Cooking Diva, Lorraine Pascale make. Tony even made homemade bread for it.

Mark roasted the turkey, made his grandmother's stuffing, and some fabulous sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows on top.

After two years of mediocre Thanksgivings, it was great to finally have a real Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings.

Return to Roma - La Dolce Vita

2011-12-27T03:00:00.000-08:00

For our final day in Rome, we woke up late and had a leisurely morning. It was a stunningly beautiful and warm day, and we had brunch by the hotel pool.

I ordered pasta with an Amatraciana style sauce. Basically, it is a tomato and bacon sauce. Absolutely delicious.

The hotel brought us this beautiful little tray of desserts to eat. It was so nice to be able to sit outside in the sun with a clear blue sky and enjoy a relaxing brunch. I could get used to this. . .

We headed downtown to do some wandering and shopping. Rome is a fun city to just simply take in "La Dolce Vita".

We stopped in at a leather store for Mark to look at a Deer Skin Coat for his birthday present to himself. It was beautiful and he bought it.

We went to a recommended Gelato shop called, San Crispino, as part of our great gelato taste test. Tony tried the Fig gelato, while Mark had a gelato with crumbled crispy meringue in it. Both were very good.

We then wandered over to the famous Trevi Fountain, which was built in the 1700's to celebrate the reopening of one of the aqueducts feeding water to the city.

We each did the famous coin toss photo op.

Mark.

Kevin.

and Tony.

The story goes that if you toss a coin in the fountain, you will someday return to Rome. It obviously works, as here I am, back after 15 years.

We paused at the Spanish steps to take a break and enjoy the sun and scene. The fashion sense in this town is very good, and the fashion coat trend seemed to be the down puffer jacket. I'll have to pick one up when we get back to London.

Rome is definitely a fun place to go shopping for clothing. If we had a bunch more money, it would be fun to buy some new suits. Not that we have that many occasions to wear them.

Before long, it was time for gelato again, and we had to visit one of the more famous gelato stores, Giolitti's. It was completely rammed, but we got in line.

We each got a gelato, that I can only call MASSIVE. And it was delicious. I had my favorites, chocolate and pistachio with fresh whipped cream on top.

From there we wandered around the block to a coffee store, La Casa del Caffe, which is also one of the more famous coffee houses in Rome. They roast all of their own coffee here too.

I got a wonderful cup of espresso there.

Tony got a cup of Cioccolato Caldo, which is a sumptuously thick Hot Chocolate only served around this time of year. I didn't realize that you need to pay extra for a dollop of whipped cream on top, and you need to pay for that in advance at the till, so we didn't get it with whipped cream. Next time. .

Everywhere we looked, there were piles of Panettone breads all looking so pretty in their boxes. We already have one back at the apartment in London, otherwise, I think I would have had to find a way to bring one back with us.

Before we knew it, it was getting dark and we were back at the Pantheon, and we had to look inside again. Just an amazing building.

We decided to eat dinner on this square, and we found a small little pizzeria. We each ordered a pizza, though we might have gotten away with ordering less.

We did manage to eat it all, as there was no way we were going to be able to take it home with us. And it was terrific.

We waddled back to the hotel, where the bar manager greeted us on our last night in Rome with a new grappa for us to try.

By now, we had learned to appreciate it, so he was showing off the good stuff. And it was quite tasty. . . for grappa.

If you are thinking that we spent the entire day strolling, eating, and drinking, well, you are correct. In Italy, that's called "La Dolce Vita". . .

Return to Roma - A visit with the Ancients

2011-12-27T01:06:00.001-08:00

For our second day in Rome, the running theme was ancient Rome. We visited the Colosseum and Forum.

Fifteen years earlier, I had visited Rome and had stayed only a couple blocks from the Colosseum. I think the image of emerging out of the subway and seeing it all lit up at night will be remembered as one of the greatest moments of my life.

The size of the building is so impressive, and it is amazing that it has stood this long in the center of Rome without having been destroyed.

No building summarizes the brilliance, decadence, and ultimate collapse of the Roman empire better than the enduring image of the Colosseum.

Arrested now in its decay and shown as a reminder of the brilliance of this ancient advanced civilization which, though standing for a 1000 years, failed and fell into discard and ruin.

It stands as a warning to our own "advanced" civilization. No matter how proud we may be of our technological advances, we shouldn't lose sight of the possibility of its own transitory nature.

Directly across from the Colosseum is the Roman Forum. Buried and forgotten for 1000 years, it was unearthed around 200 years ago, and thankfully preserved.

This was the civic center of ancient Rome complete with shops and temples. It must have been a site to see in its day.

One can even pause to pay tribute to Julius Caesar at the spot where he was cremated following his assassination.

It is amazing to think that all of this was abandoned following the collapse of Rome, when its aquaducts were cut, and the disease killed off most of its 2 million inhabitants. Without the engineers and intellectuals this amazing civilization ended. A reminder of the precarious nature of civility.

From what we were told, most of ancient Rome stood as it had for a long time gradually falling into disrepair and burial over the 1000 years until the 1500's.

During the renaissance, the church began building the Vatican and a lot of the ancient Roman sites were raided for building materials. As more and more was unearthed, it became a great source of curiosity, and thankfully, the Church worked to preserve the sites from further destruction.

Just above the Forum stands the remains of the ancient roman palace on Palatine Hill. We wandered up there and had a great view of ancient and modern Rome beneath us.

A magnificent view spanning the millennium. . .

Here in this regal hill, Mussolini built his dictatorial home in an attempt to link himself to the ancient Roman rulers.

Today it is a museum in the middle of a beautiful park strewn with the ruins of Roman dreams.

An empty race track for entertainment, that once stood for royal spectators and the upper classes of society.

In the 1500's with the return of fresh drinking water to the city via the repaired aquaducts, people again returned to this ancient city. To this day, fresh water is delivered to fountains throughout the city via these waterways.

We visited one last ancient Roman site, the Circus Maximus. This was the largest race track in Rome, and would have been the site of the chariot races made famous in films such as Ben Hur. There isn't much to see today, but with a little imagination, one can imagine the 150,000 spectators that would have lined the stadium.

From there, we wandered from ancient Rome to modern Rome epitomized by the Vittorio Emmanuelle II monument, often refered to as the "wedding cake". It was built by Mussolini in an attempt to link modern Italy to ancient Rome. Today it is heralded as an excellent example of fascist architecture.

For dinner that evening, we journeyed out of central Rome to the neighborhood of Testaccio to dine at a restaurant called, "Flavio al Velavevodetto." This is definitely not a restaurant catering to tourists, as not much English is spoken here. The food however is exceptional.

The interesting thing about the neighborhood however is that this was basically the city dump for Rome. Here, they discarded their terracotta vessels, and the pile of broken pots eventually became a massive hill. Today, restaurants and other businesses have dug into the terracotta hillside. You could see the piles of broken pots through a window next to our table.

Tony and I each had a wonderful Lamb Shank cooked in olive oil and rosemary.

We also had a bottle of small production locally produced wine that was delicous. It was a great and memorable meal. Yes, the Italians eat well. . .

Return to Roma - A Rendezvous with the Vatican

2011-12-24T03:42:00.000-08:00

For our first full day in Rome, we woke to see the amazing view of Rome below our hotel. Stunning.

We fueled up on a wonderful breakfast at the hotel buffet, and then caught a cab to the Vatican Museum.

We were in a hurry getting out of the cab, and I got ripped off by the driver, but that's the danger of traveling in a foreign country, and I learned my lesson - never hurry when dealing with cab drivers.

The entrance to the museum had changed a lot from the time I'd come over a decade earlier. You now enter through this new modern entrance just to the left of the original entrance. It is quite impressive now.

I was reminded at just how amazing this palace/museum/gallery is. The collections of Greek, Roman, and Renaissance Art go on and on.

The museum is massive and oh so impressive.

Few art collections can begin to match this amazing collection of art accumulated by the Catholic Church. I was told that the full museum contains about 4 miles of art.

Even Tony was impressed and liked this museum.

I particularly liked seeing some of the intermediary Bernini Studio pieces, which showed the method by which the large sculptures that came out of his studio were produced.

I find it interesting that the Vatican Museum also houses a large collection of Egyptian art, which includes mummies and religious artifacts.

I'd like to believe that this shows a certain degree of respect on the part of the Catholic Church for other cultures and their respective religions, or at least perhaps an appreciation for their art.

One room that impressed me a lot on my first visit was just as impressive on this one - the Map Room. The amount of detailing in the maps and decor of the room is so beautiful.

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the Sistene Chapel, but we were able to snap some in the recently restored Rafael Rooms, which were magnificent.

Tony was awestruck by most of it.

On my last visit, I skipped the Museum's Modern Art collection. This time, I paused for a bit to take it in.

Chagall, Picasso, and Dali are all represented in the collection as well as many others.

It was fascinating to note how the religious subject matter was interpreted by various artist throughout history, and how it will be continued to be reinterpreted in different artistic styles and mediums.

We'd spent about 2-3 hours in the museum, and it was clear that Tony was starting to get antsy. We exited the museum through what I remembered as the old entrance.

The picturesque spiral staircase afforded us some fun photos.

Having survived the Vatican Museum, it was time for some gelato. Our hotel's concierge had recommended a famous gelato place called "The Old Bridge".

Right on the path from the Vatican Museum to the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica, it is a perfect place to pause and relax on a nice afternoon. It also proved to be the best gelato we had while we were in Rome.

We wandered up to St Peter's Basilica. It really is an impressive church. It's massive courtyard out front, the setting for the large outdoor mass performed by the Pope.

The front facade looming up and overhead, at once both entreating and imposing. Showing both majesty and intimidation.

The vatican is often held up as a concrete symbol of God's physical beauty and strength. An image of both endurance and corruption. It isn't hard to see why such opinions are played out here.

The interior is amazing. The high vaulted ceilings draw the eye heavenward to such beauty and majesty.

It truly is one of the most amazingly beautiful church in the world.

We were there in the late afternoon, and the interior was bathed in the most beautiful golden lightbeams. It created a very heavenly effect.

Bernini's altar and Michaelangelo's dome not to mention his scupture of the Pieta (which was mobbed) really are the stars in this building architecturally.

It is impossible not to be overwhelmed by this church, and drawn into its majesty. The building itself is a work of art.

And I think everyone, Catholic or not, become part of the Catholic Church during the visit. I even touched the famous foot on the statue of St. Peter. As they say, "when in Rome. . ."

That evening, we went to the Pantheon, the oldest continuously occupied building in Rome. And it is truly a magnificent piece of Roman architecture.

A lot of people don't realize that this building is about 1500 years older than the Vatican. It actually is a Roman building and it is still standing in amazing condition given its age.

It contains the remains of two Italian Kings Vittorio Emanuelle II and Umberto I. It is also the burial site of famous renaissance artist, Rafael.

The building is an architectural treat, and an amazing testament to the engineering prowess of the Romans.

Truly spectacular.

We had dinner that evening at "Armando's al Pantheon", Mark's favorite restaurant on the planet, which is definitely saying something as Mark is a good chef in his own right.

It is a cute little family style restaurant just a couple blocks from the Pantheon.

Tony ordered his favorite pasta dish, "Spaghetti Carbonara". I ordered it as well, as it is truly a classic Roman pasta dish. It was delicious tasting of egg, cheese, and pancetta.

Mark ordered another pasta dish that became the signature dish for the weekend, "Cacio e Pepe" (Cheese and Pepper). It is a very simple dish made with spaghetti, cheese and pepper. Surprisingly delicious.

We ordered some beautiful appetizers and a wonderful bottle of wine. Mark treated us to a really, really nice bottle of Barbaresco.

For dessert, we had a specialty of the restaurant called a, "Roman Torte". It was much like a ricotta cheesecake with layered fruit and struesel.

After our wonderful meal, we wandered the atmospheric streets around the Pantheon. Much of the layout goes all the way back to Roman times.

Rome is a great city to explore, and it is terrific to see it at night all lit up.

One never knows what one might find on some ancient back alley in this exotic city.

Perhaps a toyshop filled with Pinochio puppets

or a delicatessen with the largest salami you've ever seen.

We made our way over to a coffee shop that I'd been refered to by friends as having the best coffee in Rome.

It was a cute little shop where they roast all of their own coffee. They work with growers in South America to help them grow and sell their coffee, and the profits from the shop go to help the restoration effort of the nearby St Eustachio Cathedral for which the shop is named.

They were, however, very secretive about their method in making the perfect cup of espresso. And it was good too.

We ended our day at the hotel for our nightly glass of grappa. The hotel bar manager, knowing that Mark was a Hilton executive, took very good care of us. He brought around a cart with many types of Grappa including one that was the Gold Medal winner for that year.

It was Mark's birthday weekend, and they presented him with a cake to eat with the grappa. We each had a glass, which turned into two. You know after a couple glasses, grappa actually starts to taste good. . .

A Return to Roma - Part 1

2011-12-18T10:36:00.000-08:00

For Tony's birthday, we joined our old friend Mark for his birthday, and went to Rome. I'd been to Rome many, many years ago, and looked forward to seeing what Tony would think of it. I think Mark was excited to see what Tony would think of this town which he holds so dear.

I hired a car to take us to the airport, and upon arrival, we went up to the Business Travelers Lounge - a perk for traveling with Mark.

Beaujolais Nouveau, was making its 2011 debut, and they were serving it in the lounge, so we all toasted a great trip, and got the birthday party weekend started off in style.

We arrived at the Waldorf Astoria Hilton Cavalieri, which has an amazing view of Rome. It is situated on top of a hill just outside of the Historic Center.

Our room was amazing, and there was a bottle of prosecco already chilled and ready for us. First class all the way!

The lobby is beautiful and full of some amazing art. They have a fantastic painting by the famous Venician painter, Tiepolo.

There is also a bronze by the Danish sculptor, Berthel Thorvaldsen. He has an entire museum in Copenhagen. Sadly, we didn't visit it when we were there earlier this year. Guess we'll just have to go back sometime.

As it was already getting late, we decided not to head into town, but rather to have dinner at the hotel. We settled into one of the large comfy sofas in the lobby, and had some Prosecco and rustic Italian sandwiches.

Then began what became a nightly tradition - Grappa tasting. Tony didn't like it the first night, but as the weekend wore on, he would develop a taste for it.

Cooking Challenges

2011-11-21T23:06:00.000-08:00

I've had some fun these last couple months cooking some new types of cakes from the ordinary. Some of it has involved learning different types of European ingredients, or discovering that some seemingly European dishes are actually American in nature.

German Chocolate Cake is actually named for an American man named German, and is not German in origin. It is a delicious chocolate cake with a carmel coconut frosting. Yummy, but not German.

Apple Brambleberry Crumble is a classic British dessert. We made it with Bramley Apples, the large green cooking apples that I bought at the local farmers market, and wild blackberries that I picked in our park and along the canal where they grow in abundance over the summer.

Apple and Damson Pie is another classic end of summer pie. It is made with Bramley Apples and Damson Plums. They are small dark purple plums. They are often made into jam. When cooked in the pie, they color the whole pie a reddish color. I used a cherry pitter to remove the stones from inside the Damsons, but they were a bit of a challenge to remove. Sadly, I can't find a picture of it.

German Apple Cake. Coming back from Austria, I was inspired to make some cakes from that part of Europe. I made this apple cake using Braeburn Apples and Bramley Apples. I found the recipe on-line, and it was really delicious. Very cinnamony and tastey.

German Peach Kuchen. The recipe actually called for plums, but Tony doesn't really like plums, so I substituted peaches, which is probably a bit more of an Americanized version of the cake, but it tasted really good.

I even tried my had at a French Pear and Cranberry Galette. Actually a very easy dish made with a freefrom crust.

We bought a small Gooseberry Pie to eat. It was tart, and tasted a bit like Rubarb Pie. It is everywhere in the summer time, and goes particularly well with Ice Cream.

Marmalade. Even though the oranges came from Spain, Isreal, or Africa, and Marmalade is most likely a Portuguese invention, the British have made it their own, and it is a very popular spread for crumpets. I bought some oranges at the market, and decided to try my hand at making some. It came out great, very tastey.

There are some specific very bitter Spanish Oranges that come available in March. I plan to get some and make another batch then.

Not all of the cooking challenges have been sweets. I tried my hand at the classic Italian pasta dish, Penne a la Vodka. I made a large batch when we had a bunch of friends over for dinner. It was a lovely evening full of good pasta.

Halloween

2011-11-13T02:28:00.000-08:00

Halloween is not a holiday celebrated as much here in the UK as it is in the states, but there is still plenty of Halloween spirit here.

There certainly is a lot of Halloween inspiraton from mossy gravestones in old cemetaries to the amber leaves falling everywhere.

Autumn is a beautiful time to visit London. The summer crowds have died down, and the kids are back in school. The weather is also usually dry. This year has been particularly warm and pleasant.

Tony and I have enjoyed just walking around our neighborhood with the dogs soaking it all in.

Even my main girl, Elvira, has been known to make an appearance here.

People do occasionally dress up in costume and go trick or treating, but it isn't as commonplace as in the states.

We didn't do much this year, except that I stretched my culinary legs and made my first batch of Pumpkin Soup. I cut up a whole pumpkin, then roasted it in the oven with rosemary and onions.

I then purreed it and added some sauteed bacon and cream. Delicious.

You can actually get canned pumpkin here, but it just isn't as commonplace.

Some festive Halloween Beers were the finishing touch. Hobgoblin Beer has proclaimed itself the Unofficial Beer of Halloween in the UK.

While in the Pumpkin mood, I also made some Homemade Pumpkin Cranberry Bread. Yummy.

Now, however, is the time to enjoy pumpkin everything, as come January, I won't want pumpkin anything for another year. . .

A Tale of Two Oktoberfests

2011-11-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

During summer, I saw an ad for an Oktoberfest celebration that would be taking place near us in Shoreditch Park. It promised traditional food and music.

We've been wanting to go to a real Oktoberfest ever since we missed it in Munich by a week. Perhaps someday we'll just have to go back.

From the look of the poster, perhaps I should have known better. It did look fun enough, so I ordered us the full package including reserved seats, 2 mass (1 liter) biers, and dinner.

It proved to be a fun time, but it was mostly an excuse for people to get drunk and act silly. I know, what did I expect - that's London Oktoberfest.

We dragged Mark, who had just flown back from a business trip to South Africa that morning, along to the festivities.

The meal turned out to be a joke with hotdogs, instant mash potatoes, and canned sauerkraut. Oh well . . .

At least the bier, which was from a brewery I'd not heard of, was good and plentiful.

And after two of the giant biers, the food didn't really matter, and we were having some good laughs.

There was a lot crazy mayhem going on around us with people stealing other people's beer, and wrestling on the ground.

A few people were thrown out, but mostly, people were just having a good crazy time drinking and dancing.

The following weekend, our friends Jeff and Damien who live in Surbiton, which is just outside London invited us out for a bike ride, and an Oktoberfest style lunch at a German restaurant on the Thames River in Richmond.

London was having what they call an Indian Summer, which is when they get a late heat spell in the early Fall. There were all kinds of boats sailing around the water. It was absolutely lovely.

We biked from Surbiton to Richmond to a restaurant called "Steins". It is an outdoor restaurant right on the river, and they serve wonderful German cuisine.

Tony and I each had a mass of bier. Tony had the Hefeweisen, and I had the Oktoberfest brew. It was almost LA weather that day, and the cold bier was terrific.

For food, I ordered their wurst plate, which came with a couple great sausages, real sauerkraut, and some delicious German potato salad. They also had the sticky sweet mustard to go with it. Fantastic. I can't wait to go back there sometime for dinner. Except it is all outdoors. . . Perhaps they put up a tent in the winter. I'd love to try their apple strudel some time.

It was wonderful day. Great weather, good food, good friends, and good bier. Perhaps this is what Oktoberfest is really all about. . .

The Arrival of Autumn - 2011

2011-10-27T00:27:00.001-07:00

Carol has officially announced the arrival of Autumn here in London. Either that, or in her mystical Weather Lady ways, she has commanded it.

The days are getting shorter and cooler.

Leaves are suddenly all falling from the trees everywhere creating large blankets of gold and amber covering the ground.

We went to the Shoreditch Park one morning as the sun was just starting to rise. It filled the park with the most amazing light.

Everything was bathed in wonderful gold mist.

One can't help but appreciate the leaves all tinged with gold and red.

I've taken tons of pictures of the fall this year, and here are some of my favorites.

Sadly, autumn being here means that the long cold dark winter isn't far behind. . .

Morning History Walk in Central London

2011-10-22T01:35:00.000-07:00

It was another beautiful sunny summer days, and we went on an organized History Walk with Dara down in Central London. On our way there, we saw a new building that bordered an old building that had recently been torn down. It was facinating to see the old fireplaces that once warmed rooms that no longer existed. I suppose that sense of history is one of the things that never ceases to amaze me about London.

We walked with our dogs down to Barbican station, and met up with our guide. Our first stop was at a building built in the 40's, and is a classic example of Art Deco. It is also used as the building where Hercule Poirot lives in the Agatha Christie TV series.

The square facing the building is lined with Mulberry Trees. In the latter 16th century, James I wanted to promote silk production in England and had these trees planted. Unfortunately, these were the wrong type of Mulberry tree, so the silkworms died, and production didn't take off.

We walked on further past an entrance blocked with two barricades. It is said that the traditional barricade was made from a decommissioned cannon with a cannon ball stuck in its end. The design stuck, and to this day, the barricades throughout London have been reproduced based on this design. The one we were shown is reputed to be the real thing.

From there, we walked over to Smithfields Market, which was built in the 1800's and was the main food trading market in Victorian times.

It is a beautiful iron structure with some of the best dragon sculptures in London guarding its entrance.

Smithfields was originally called smooth fields, as it was basically a flat area. It was here that most of the executions took place. Among them was William Wallace of Scotland, who attempted to hold off the English. His story was told in the Academy Award Winning Best Picture Braveheart. Great movie. Evidently there wasn't much attention paid to this spot until the film came out. Now there are flowers and strips of Tartan laid at the base of this plaque all the time. What a little publicity can do. . .

Right next to this is a mixed timber building from the Tudor era. It was covered with brick facing in the Victorian era to modernize it, but recently, the bricks began falling off, and it was decided to restore it to its original appearance. It is beautiful.

We got an explanation of the different types of phone booths in London. There are basically two, and they are made of cast iron. The larger, called the K2, is the original design created by Giles Gilbert Scott in the 1920's, which was inspired by headstones in the old St. Pancras Cemetary. The smaller K6 was introduced as a cost saving measure. Notice the size and fewer window panes.

There is a small statue of a boy on the side of a building. It reminded me of the famous statue in Brussels, which has become the symbol of that city. This one symbolizes gluttony, and stands as a warning. This was where the great fire that destroyed much of London stopped in the 1600's.

There are reminders everywhere of the long history of destruction and rebuilding in London from both the fire and the bombings of WWII.

We stopped to look at St Sepulchre Church. It is a great example of Neo Gothic design. And in front of it. . .

Is a Victorian Drinking fountain that still has the cups connected to it. In the 1800's there was a big push to have clean drinking water throughout London, and these drinking fountains were built and installed throughout the city.

Directly across the street is the old criminal courthouse building - affectionately known as "The Old Bailey".

It is a stunning building that must date back to before WWII, and thankfully was spared destruction somehow. And perched on top is a giant gold statue of justice blindfolded and holding a scale.

I like the classic slogan "Defend the children of the poor and punish the wrongdoer."

Now if we could only get the police to enforce the dog poo laws. . .

Looking back on the Summer of 2011

2011-10-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Summer 2011 has come and gone here in London. It's even harder to believe that it actually came at all.

In looking back over the summer, in addition to the fun travel outings we did, we managed to find time to get out and do some fun history walks.

One of our going away presents was a Haunted London Walks book, and one of the walks took us out to Chiswick, which is in West London.

Our friends Michael and Lynn live out there right along the Thames River. These walks in the summer are part History Tours and part Pub Crawl.

We've developed some close friends that like to get out on these weekends and do these walks. And the best part is that we can take the dogs along with us.

One interesting pub stop was at "The Black Lion". A ghost was reputed to have been spotted in Chiswick, and one night, a vigilante thought he saw the ghost and fired a shotgun at it.

Sadly, it was just a poor human bricklayer covered in dust. His corpse was brought to the pub where the vigilante was tried and found guilty of murder. It is said that bricklayer's ghost now haunts the pub and nearby neighborhood.

As we walked on, we came to another location of a grisly death. We came to the spot where the body of John Druitt, one of the men suspected of being Jack the Ripper was found. He had drowned of apparent suicide in the Thames and washed up over here.

There were plenty of creepy signs and graveyards along the walk.

As well as an estate that at one time was used as an insane asylum. It has now been converted into an Institute for the Arts.

Of course, the most famous site in Chiswick is The Fuller's Brewery. They are still a privately owned company, and make some of the best beer in London.

They even make a brew named after the neighborhood. Guess which one I tried. . .

The dogs love these walks as they get to have exercise, see new things, and enjoy an afternoon with us.

No Summer History Walk is complete without ending at a pub for a late lunch consisting of a summer pie or burger and of course another beer.

The Cliffs of Dover

2011-10-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

We left Dover Castle and drove over to the Langdon Cliffs Park - more commonly known as the White Cliffs of Dover. It is only about a mile away from the castle, and can easily be done in conjunction with it.

It was mostly a chance to walk some lovely rural coastline. The views are magnificent. If you look back, you can see Dover Castle perched on top of its hill.

Most importantly, it gave us a chance to walk the dogs before starting the drive back to London.

Radar towers, not unlike the ones that were positioned here during WWII, still stand and are in use today. Radar Towers were used for the first time in WWII to detect incoming German planes.

You can ultimately walk all the way up to an old Victorian Lighthouse. We weren't feeling that ambitious, but instead chose to enjoy only a 30 minute or so walk in along the cliffs. If you go, remember, 30 minutes in means 30 minutes out.

The views and the sheer drop down to the water is beautiful and spectacular. Even Pepper appreciated it.

The cliffs really are just made of white chalk. I found a piece on the ground, and thought about bringing it home, but then my environmental instinct thought better about it, and I put it back.

The whole trail is public property, but they do charge you to park your car in the visitor center parking lot.

Signs everywhere warn about getting too close to the edge, and they warn you to stay back at least 5 feet from it as it is still continuing to erode.

We were feeling a little hungry, but luckily there were wild blackberries growing all along the path. Yummy.

We ended our Dover excursion with a snack at the Dover Cliffs Visitor Center. I had the quintessential British Cream Tea with Scones and, well, Coffee. It was wonderful to sit on the deck enjoying the last bits of sun as the rain began to come in. Yes, our timing was good, and it was time to head home.

Dover Castle

2011-10-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

Perched high above the town of Dover is Dover Castle. It is a fascinating castle and the longest continuously occupied defensive fort in the UK. It was established in Roman times, served admirably in WWII, and was in use up until the mid 80's.

Our plan today was to get up early and head off to the castle to beat the crowds. We had breakfast at the B&B, and it was excellent. I had the Full English, which consisted of eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, baked beans, black pudding, and toast.

I have come to appreciate black pudding while here. It is spicy and very good with eggs and baked beans. Tony has not come to appreciate baked beans for breaky.

Pepper was being particularly stubborn about eating her food that morning. Bentley was dying to step in and eat it for her. Eventually, with the help of some bacon smuggled up from our breakfast, we got her to eat.

It was a beautiful sunny morning, and looked to be a good day to do some sightseeing.

Dogs are allowed on the castle grounds, but not inside the warrooms or the castle interior. This made for a lot of fun walking around the verdant ramparts surrounding the castle.

These have evolved over the centuries to form the extensive fort that this has come to be.

The dogs seemed to really enjoy walking around exploring it as much as we did.

It really was one of those rare beautiful mornings that we get here on occasions.

We climbed up the hill to the old Roman lighthouse standing sentinel over Dover harbor and the closest point to France. We could see it across the English Channel only 20 miles off.

The views or Dover below were amazing that morning.

We could see the harbor and the ferries taking people back and forth from France. At some point the plan is to rent a car and drive down here again to take the ferry to the mainland. It is one of the few ways we would be able to take the dogs with us.

One of the more fascinating aspects of Dover Castle is its long history and involvement in WWII. As this was the closest point to Nazi occupied France, there was great concern about this being the point of invasion.

So they built out this huge underground complex into the Chalk Cliffs. It has just recently been opened to the public.

So deep into the cliffside we walked. They attempt to take you back to the 30's by giving you an audio visual presentation. Tony wasn't impressed, but I thought it was a good effort, if a bit too long at about 1 hour. It would be even better if it were about 30 minutes. It does give you a really good view of Operation Dynamo, which was a strategic retreat from France by Britain near the beginning of WWII.

The best part of the tour was when they finally let you wander around some of the original rooms that have been setup as they would have been at that time. They have done a nice bit of set dressing, and they make for a neat experience.

By the time we were done with this tour, we decided not to take the tour of the underground hospital, as it was starting to wear on in the day, and we still had a lot to see.

Standing guard over the channel is a statue of Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay. I couldn't help but think of the movie Patton, and the portrayed rivalry between George Patton and Ramsay.

The cliffs are very steep in this spot, and there are dwellings at the base of the cliffs. So they had one of the best signs I've ever seen. It is in both English and French.

After seeing the WWII rooms, we journeyed back in time to the era of Henry II and visited the original castle up on top of the hill.

It is a beautiful structure, and the castle keep inside has been wonderfully maintained, and recently restored.

It has multiple levels with drawbridges. It really felt like the castle one always imagines in literature about mideavil knights and castles.

All we need now is a dragon. . .

It was fun to climb the stairs to find the different chambers in the castle.

All of the unusual shapes and tunnel directions, designed to make the castle difficult to capture provided for some very unusual and interesting lighting and shapes for photography.

We eventually made our way to a room where they had recreated a concept of what the original king's chambers may have looked like.

The throne room and bed chambers felt a little Disney-fied, but they were still fun and played into the medieval fantasy just fine. If only they'd let me bring in the dogs, I would have love to take their picture sitting on the thrones.

We ultimately ended our time at Dover Castle on the roof of the castle which is the highest point in the immediate vacinity. There were stunning views of the castle grounds and Dover below. We stared out across the seas at France as had so many generations before us keeping an eye on the people across the channel.

The Canterbury Tale

2011-10-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

Tony and I booked our local "Streetcar", which has now merged with another car share company, and is becoming named "Zip Car, for a road trip to Kent. So last Saturday morning, Tony, the pups, and I took off for Canterbury and ultimately Dover for the weekend.

I got my license so I could do just this sort of weekend getaway. It still amazes and terrifies my family and friends that I drive over here.

The dogs however could care less with their first class sleeping accommodations in the back seat. They are amazingly good travelers, and almost immediately fall asleep when we start moving.

Canterbury is a quaint and very livable town. It has it cute older section, from when it was a walled city some 500 years ago to a modern shopping district with all the comforts one would expect. It is interesting to see how they have managed to make the new fit with the old successfully.

We wandered around the town taking in its charms. Tony, who'd been a bit skeptical about this trip, was really taken in by the charms of this cute village.

The weather was supposed to be nice, but proved to be a bit unsettled. We had moments of heavy rain, that would then pass and we'd have some beautiful moments of sun.

The dogs of course were having a wonderful time being out with us enjoying the country air.

We paused during one of the rainy moment for a pub lunch. They were serving a Country Rabbit and Ham Pie, so I had to try it. It was good, but I was hoping for more. (Steak and Ale, and Chicken and Leak are still my favorites).

But the nice pint of Shepherd Neame beer helped to wash it down.

The highlight of the visit to Canterbury is the famous Canterbury Cathedral, which is headquarters for the Church of England. It is the equivalent in English terms to the Vatican in Catholicism.

And an amazing Cathedral it is. I'm not sure how it compares sizewise to York Minister, but it certainly would appear to be comparable.

There was evidently some debate over who would head the Church of England. Both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York wanted to be the heads of the Church of England. Eventually, they split the titles so that the Archbishop of York was Primate of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury was Primate of All England.

Whatever makes you happy I suppose. . .

It is interesting to see the nationalism embedded into the walls of the church. I've not seen a church where the heads of state are placed alongside the Saints, Disciples, and the Virgin Mary.

But here you can see Queen Elizabeth, Prince Albert, and Queen Victoria. I guess this serves to remind everyone that this is their church, and they are appointed as Sovereign by God to be the rulers of the land.

Inside, it is an impressive large Gothic building. It didn't strike me to be as pretty and impressive as the church in York, but it is a stunning and very important Church.

The most important character in this church's history is Thomas Becket. Henry VIII, who is not represented as a statue in the walls of the Cathedral, had Archbishop Thomas Becket, whom he had appointed to be his puppet leader of the Church of England, assassinated after he began instituting policies that differed from his own.

Shortly after the assassination, miracles began to occur, and Thomas Becket was deemed St. Thomas of Canterbury, and many religious pilgrims began descending upon Canterbury to see the spot where St. Thomas was killed.

These pilgrimages reached their literary fame with the publishing of "The Canterbury Tales".

So popular were these pilgrimages that there are actually two memorials to St. Thomas. The first is a more modern memorial featuring these very sharp and dangerous looking knives.

The original is a simple lit candle sitting in the spot where St. Thomas was killed. I found this to be the more moving of the two memorials.

In tracking down the various Kings of England, one can visit King Henry the 4th and his wife Joan of Navarre as they are interred here. They look very peaceful laying side by side.

One can also see the tomb of "The Black Prince". a knight in shining armor who was very highly decorated and respected for the good things he did.

After seeing the cathedral, we wandered around the village a little more before heading off towards Dover, where we planned to spend the evening.

I kept thinking to myself how much my Ren Faire loving brother would love this town.

We saw a tower that was part of the old wall of the city. It carried a plaque mentioning that this was the hometown of Christopher Marlowe, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, and portrayed as his writing rival in the film, "Shakespeare in Love".

Canterbury is a wonderful town to visit, and I recommend it as a fun day trip from London, or as we did it, a relaxing two day trip to Canterbury and Dover.

We drove the 20 minutes it takes to get from Canterbury to Dover, and easily found Castle Inn, the cute Pet Friendly B&B where we planned to stay the night. It is a Grade II listed building, and very comfortable and conveniently situated just below the castle and just a couple blocks from the center of town.

Looming over the town and offering a sense of both safety and intimidation is Dover Castle. It has been in active service from the middle ages through WWII, all the way up until the 80's when it was turned into a Heritage Site. It was on the agenda for the next day.

Sadly, Dover has seen better days. Though we are told that it is busy in the summer, it was amazingly quiet while we were there.

It was once a bustling port town, but with the advent of the Eurostar. The need to use the ferries to the mainland has decreased, and the town is a bit quieter.

Almost creepy quiet. . .

I'd call it a modern ghost town, but that probably isn't fair to the obvious community that still lives and works here. It is just a modern port town that isn't as vibrant these days as it was in its past.

Tony and I found a cute restaurant, and went to dinner. That evening they were serving Pumpkin Soup. It was delicious, but always a good sign that Summer is ending and Fall is on its way.

The Nun Run

2011-10-01T00:31:00.000-07:00

We got up early Sunday morning to take the bus down to Monument to meet Dara for the "Nun Run". It is an event where people dress up as nuns and run through the streets of London.

The location for the start of the race were the city civil courthouses. They are beautiful buildings with these marvelous horse statues out front. They have a covered atrium that must come in handy with the common rain in London.

Today however looked to be a beautiful day, and looked to be warm and amazing. The official sponsor of the Nun Run is the West End show Sister Act.

The run is a charity fundraiser for Round Table Children's Wish , a charity much like the "Make a Wish" Foundation in the US.

There were people in all manner of dress assembled for the run.

Some were quite funny.

The course took Tony and Dara down along the southbank of the Thames and back again to the courthouse.

It was quite entertaining to watch all the nuns come running out of the starting gate on their 4 mile run.

They arrived back at the start about an hour later, and they both looked winded, but in fine spirits.

Faversham Hop Festival

2011-09-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

A coworker of mine told me about the Faversham Hops Festival in Kent, where hops growing is a tradition. Hops is a major ingredient in beer, so this seemed like a must-do.

The weather was predicted to be good on Saturday, so we got up and headed off to St Pancras train station to catch the high speed train for the 1 hour train ride to Faversham. Our friend Dara was joining us, but unfortunately, she missed the train and had to follow us a half-hour later.

Faversham is a cute little country town east of London. It once served as an important port during medieval times. Today it is mostly rural, surrounded by orchards growing apples and cherries and of course large fields growing Hop vines. It is also the town where Shepherd Neame, the oldest brewery in England, makes beer.

We all rendezvoused at the train station, and started walking down the one main road in the town. It was one of those rare sunny and warm English Days, and I think we all planned to make the most of it.

There are some very old buildings that are in wonderful condition, and show many major periods in British architecture. From Mixed timber to Tudor brick to 1800's modern, you'll see them all mixed in together side by side.

Faversham even has the one thing that no small English country village can do without - A Kebab Shop. . .

It wasn't long before we came across a huge truckload of Hops. It smelled of grass and pine.

They were making Hops wreaths for everyone. Tony quickly "hopped" into the action and made wreathes for all of us too.

It was a lot of fun feeling a part of something as hometowny as this. It reminded me a bit of when we went to the Orange County Fair of the Crawfish Festival in Louisiana.

Mostly, it was fun to cut loose and enjoy the beautiful day and the fresh country air. Early Londoners used to go on working holidays to Kent to pick the hops and enjoy a break from the city. I can see why.

Even Bentley and Pepper got into the spirit of the day. We called them our little "Hop Dogs".

As Kent is known for Hops and Beermaking, it wasn't long before we found our first microbrewed beer stand.

It was turning into a hot day, so it was time for the first round. Dara and I had the Nelson IPA, a strong hoppy beer that seemed appropriate for the occasion. Tony sampled their locally sourced Cider.

A little further down the villages mainstreet, we encountered a local folk dance troop that was performing a traditional dance involving the clapping of pieces of wood. I've seen these different troops around at different locations, and they always put a wry smile on my face.

They were accompanied by a small group of musicians playing some traditional folk instruments. It really felt hometowny. . .

We walked on through the pretty little village until we came to the main square where food stalls were set up. They had roasted a whole hog, and we had to have a pork sandwich complete with crackling, dressing, and homemade apple sauce.

We found a spot to sit on some grass, and enjoy it. If ever any of you come to England, do not pass up the oportunity to have one of these amazing pork sandwiches. You will find them at most fairs, and at the Portabello Road market on Saturday. Yum!

And of course some more Hoppy Beer.

Faversham was once an important town for England, and as such, signs are everywhere celebrating it's past. One sign referenced a visit to the town by Queen Elizabeth I. The town was heavily involved with the making of gun powder, but thankfully by the time of WWII, it was no longer involved, and appears to have escaped largely unhurt.

It is also a rural area, and there are cows wandering through the pastures just across the inlet from the main street. We walked with the dogs out into the field, and Bentley got very excited seeing the cows.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk out in the countryside.

There was one particularly picturesque building that was once some sort of warehouse, but has now been converted into residential living. It is right on the water. If there were a place I'd want to live in Faversham, it would be here. Really nice.

Wild Blackberries were growing in abundance, and they gave us quick little sugar bursts to fuel our walk.

Of course we discovered a wonderful country pub
conveniently located on the water.

It was run by the main local brewery, Shepherd Neame, and was serving all of the special Hop Harvest Brews.

Before long it was time to start making our way back to the train station. Enroute, we ran into a troop of "little old ladies" riding their shopping carts. It is a common site to see older women pushing these shopping carts for their daily groceries, so these were a wonderful send up of them.

It looked like they'd taken Segways and adapted them to make the carts, and then they had fake legs on top to make it look like they were riding the carts. They were a huge hit with the crowd.

We decided to have one more beer for the road. How often would we have the chance to have fresh microbrewed beer out in the countryside on a beautiful day like this.

On the trainride back, we saw what is called an Oast House. It is where they would dry the hops. Most of these are no longer in use, but they have such a place in English beer making history that they are being preserved in some form.

We also saw an old submarine in the River Medway near Rochester. Turns out that it is "The Black Widow", a Russian Hunter/Killer Class submarine built in the mid sixties in the cold war.

Guess we have another adventure in store for us down here someday. . .

Star Wars - Blue Ray World Premiere

2011-09-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

In honor of the World Premiere of the latest version of the Star Wars saga on Blue Ray, they took the BT tower, which is only a couple blocks from my work, and made it into the world's largest Lightsabre. A genius marketing gimmick.

I hadn't thought that it looked like a lightsabre, but now that you mention it. . .

Fortunately, it was a clear night and the tower was visible for miles. We could see it all the way from our apartment.

A World of Honey!

2011-09-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

One thing that I've loved trying out in Europe are all the different types of honey. I've purchased honey from almost everywhere we've visited.

Denmark, Ukraine, France, Spain, Sweden, Luxembourg, Austria - they all have honey of varying types and consistencies.

Luxembourgish Honey from the Grand Duche of Luxembourg is quite sought after, and is strictly regulated. I'm not sure why, but each jar is stamped with a number and the seal of the duke.

Of course I had to buy a jar of it to bring home. With this kind of exotic marketing, how could I not?

I think this honey mania reached its "bee-nith" when Tony, Mark, Dara and I went to the Southbank Convention Center for the London Honey Festival.

Evidently, there are hives all over the London area, and there are clubs that maintain them and teach others to do it. There are some right in our neighborhood even. I had to buy a jar of Honey from Hackney, which is only a few blocks away. I've probably seen some of their bees in action.

I was happy to find that I'm not the only Honey Nut in London. Turns out that Dara is quite a Honey Fiend herself.

I was amazed at the numbers of beekeepers in London. Right now, they were selling honey from the work of the bees in the Spring. As a result, the honey will have a very light floral flavor. They are just now preparing to harvest the honey from the late summer. Because of the abundance of other flowers, the honey will have a much deeper complex flavor. Very interesting. . .

I'll have to buy some more honey.

Of course this does have the makings for a really bad "B"-movie. . .

The Imperial War Museum

2011-09-15T13:23:00.001-07:00

We got up on Saturday, and made our way to Angel Station to meet up with our friend Dara, and our old neighbor Mark. We took the tube out to the Imperial War Museum to see a bunch of military weapons from Britain's history - Mostly WWII.

The building housing the museum is an old hospital that once held the Bedlam Asylum - the origin of the word "bedlam". It is a beautiful building, and the collection of military vehicles is first rate.

Value to money, this is the best museum I've been to in Europe. It is packed with a variety of things to interest both adults and children. Best of all, it is free!

We arrived at the museum ready for a day full of fun and cheer. But the museum also hammers home the horrors of war, and before we would leave, we would all have an emotional journey that would leave us all exhausted.

On our way to the museum, we passed the residence of Captain William Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame (played by Anthony Hopkins in the Mel Gibson film, "The Bounty"). It shouldn't still amaze me to round a corner and see such places, but it still does.

Once inside the museum, you are greeted with a spectacular courtyard filled with airplanes, rockets, and tanks.

The old WWI planes are in excellent shape. I can't imagine going into combat in a plane made of light wood and paper. Crazy.

They have tanks from many countries in Europe including Russia. It was fascinating to see them up close. And they are all in amazing condition.

Some tanks look like they go back as early as WWI.

They have a real British Spitfire forever locked in combat over London with its arch rival. . .

The German Messerschmitt!

One of the planes was an american plane. I was pleased to see that it was credited as having been made in Inglewood, CA. Almost my home neighborhood.

A nose of a larger bomber is setup so that you can walk through it and see what it would have been like to serve inside one of these larger air machines.

A small early German U-boat is on display. It is basically a carrier for 2 torpedos, that were mounted on either side.

There are even several different types of missiles on display from the early German V-2 rocket. . .

To the modern Polaris Missile.

Of course one of the highlights would have to be the replica of "Little Boy" - the Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which heralded a new era in warfare.

There was a really cool display on Spy Warfare. It featured spy cameras, listening bugs, and code communication devices.

The most infamous of all being the German Enigma Machine. It was a encoding and decoding device which had a series of discs that could be swapped out. This created what's called a Polyalphabetic Solution, which made the cypher so difficult to break.

I was surprised to learn that there were several other more elaborate code machines developed on both the British and German sides. However none equaled the notoriety of the Enigma device. It is the granddad of our modern cypher machines.

There was also a Holocaust Exhibit. We saved this to the end, which was a wise decision. It is very moving and emotionally draining. After walking through it, we were all pretty much exhausted, and that was the end of our time at the Imperial War Museum.

We all needed a drink!

Copenhagen - The Final Snegl

2011-09-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

Our flight home wasn't until 5pm, so we had a leisurely morning at the hotel, then made our way over to our favorite bakery for one last Snegl.

Even Tony had to have one last Kanelstang (cinnamon stick).

It was a rainy morning, and we'd ducked inside the bakery just in time to avoid a sudden, believe it or not, Hail Storm!

We enjoyed strolling leisurely through the streets taking in Copenhagen. A fascinating city with a long history and a bright present. It is a College town, and there was a huge fascinating interactive touch screen outside a student housing building to promote it. I'd never seen a promotion like this before at this scale.

We'd hoped to visit the Glyptotek Museum, but unfortunately, we'd not realized it was closed on Mondays. It is the art collection of Carlsberg founder JC Jacobsen and a gift to the city of Copenhagen. It would have been neat to see. Instead, we went to see. . .

The Museum of Danish Design. As a shopper at Ikea, I've been exposed to the Scandinavian design asthetic for a good part of my life. Indeed, it seems that most of England (and the world for that matter) is furnished by Ikea these days. It was fun to see where it comes from. Such designers as Arne Jacobsen revolutionized chair designs, and you see his influence to this day.

We got to see a few Arne Jacobsen's chairs as well as other products he designed. He managed to design everything from buildings to chairs to small appliances.

The museum did hammer home the point that design has impact on our daily lives and that good design can improve our world. An example they showed was a Hospital gown that took into account needs for modesty, dignity, and respect for peoples different religeous beliefs. It was interesting to see how all of these interests have an impact on how the final design can be realized.

Of course they had one of my favorite designs on display. The Bodum Coffee Maker.

From there, we went for lunch at this cute authentic Danish lunch place. It is only open Monday through Friday, and the lady who owns and operates it comes in early to cook all the meats and assemble the smørrebrød sandiches herself.

They look so pretty in the window. We'd seen this place on Friday, and had to wait all weekend to eat here.

They were all very reasonably priced and are served on this Danish Rye Bread that Tony came to love.

We ordered an assortment and had a nice lunch outside the small sandwich shop. It was fun to try a bunch of different sandwiches. We figured that if we didn't like it, it was only a few bites.

With that, it was time to start to the airport. On our way to the station, we passed the stature of Hans Christian Andersen. He almost seemed to be tipping his hat to us as if to say thanks for visitng Copenhagen.

We boarded our train to make the easy journey to the airport. Once there, we were greeted with a pleasant surprise. . .

There was an outlet of my favorite Danish Bakery. They had some beautiful cupcakes with fresh fruit on them. We couldn't help ourselves, and we both had to have one last Danish Pastry for the road. . . or rather air.

Copenhagen - A Day of Gardens

2011-09-10T14:17:00.001-07:00

Our last full day was going to be another exciting day of sites and sounds. We had a few sites still to visit - not least among them would be the world famous Tivoli Gardens. But first we had to get our priority straight.

We went to the bakery again to sample yet another Danish Pastry. This time Kanelstang Stykke. Again it was outstanding. I could make a habit of this. Thank goodness I don't live here. . .

From the bakery, we walked to the botanical gardens. This was another community improvement project that was paid for by Carlsberg Brewery. It is a beautiful park complete with a lake.

In the heart of the park is a classic Victorian Era Greenhouse. It was renovated in the 1980's, and looks wonderful. It reminded me a lot of the Bio Dome I visited with my parents outside of Tucson, but on a much, much smaller scale.

It houses a remarkable collection of plants from all different climates. I can only imagine how difficult it is to take care of all of these different plants during the cold Danish winters.

In one section of the greenhouse, some plants were even sited as having come from California. It was warm and dry, and made me feel right at home. I suppose just like the plants the room held. For transplants, I guess we were both doing well in Europe.

The greenhouse even had some flesh eating plants from the Amazon. I'd read about one of these exact plants recently when it ate a bird. The bird had slipped and fallen headfirst into its flower, couldn't crawl out, and died. The plant was slowly digesting the bird, but unfortuately, the bird was starting to rot, and the bacteria that were also eating the bird would ultimately kill the plant too. So in some way, the bird would have its revenge on the plant. Such drama in nature.

From the biological gardens, we walked across town, across a bridge to the neighboring island of Chistianshavn. There we went to the beautiful Vor Frelser Kirche (Our Saviors Church). It's most unique feature is its spiral steeple with an exterior stairway ascending to the top. At one point, this had been the tallest building in town.

It is definitely the most beautiful church we saw while we were in Copenhagen. Interestingly, we didn't see much stained glass in any of the churches here. Only clear. There was a really cute baptismal fount surrounded by frolicking creepy rococo babies.

Dominating the interior was the most amazing pipe organ. It is huge, and artfully constructed to appear to rest on the backs to two elephants. I guessing these are symbols of not only purity and loyalty, but also the royal family. I bet it is amazing to hear it play.

There are some wonderful sculptures of different angels lining the alter in the front of the church. Especially good was the statue of Michael blowing his trumpet. I would love to come to a service here, except, I'm willing to bet it is all in Danish.

Tony and I accended the tower to the top. It is a wood structure, and gets crowed with tourists. Tony got nervous when we emerged to the exterior spiral path leading up to the top, so I had to go on by myself.

It was a bit disconcerting, but I just kept telling myself to go on and enjoy the amazing views of Copenhagen.

There was only one thing to do after expending all that energy climbing that tower - have a coffee and a Danish pastry. This time, we tried a cake - Drommekage fra Brovst (Danish Dream Cake). It is a yellow cake with a caramel coconut topping. Was it ever good! I'm going to be scouring the internet looking for recipes when I get home.

We were only 2 blocks from the famous squatters town, Christiana, so we decided to take a walk on the wild side and go see it. It was a part of a military base until it was closed. After that, squatters moved in, and have stayed there some 10 years now. It is its own town with its own laws, and it is known for its free attitude towards art and hash.

Tony and I walked through as much of it as we could even into the "green area" where photos were not permitted. It reminded me a bit of Venice Beach. It was strange to see hash and marijuana sold so openly.

We walked back toward Copenhagen, and it was a stunningly beautiful and clear day. The view was amazing.

They had all of these painted elephants around town that were going to be auctioned off for a fundraiser. Tony found an elephant he wanted to adopt.

I did too.

That afternoon, we walked over to Tivoli Gardens. One of the oldest and most famous theme parks in the world. It was an inspiration to Walt Disney when he created Disneyland, and you can definitely see it in the park.

It is just across the street form City Hall, which put it only a couple blocks from our hotel. It was very convenient for us to go over there to enjoy an afternoon and evening, and the size of the park makes it very doable in that amount of time.

It was surprisingly not crowded, and as soon as the sun went down, it emptied out leaving us the park to ourselves pretty much.

They have a few rides, but as the space is fairly tight, there aren't that many. The park is definitely aimed at being a family park with a little bit for everyone. If you want a lot of thrill rides, I gather that there is another park a little further outside of town.

Mostly, the park is a place for people to wander around and enjoy on a sunny day. There are tons of places to get ice cream and candy. They have a midway with games. It is a very quaint park, that I imagine is really busy over the summer.

Alcohol is freely served in the park harkening back to its, I suspect, Oktoberfest roots. The park has its own Microbrewery, and after taking a few rides and needing a break, we sat down next to a lake and had a pint.

Here's something you won't see in Disneyland, two people having pints of beer made in the brewery right in the park.

With all of our running around, it was nice to stop and enjoy a beer lakeside. I guess this is what Tivoli Gardens, or any urban garden is really about - stopping to enjoy a moment.

Tivoli is beautiful at night when it all lights up. Tony and I wandered around the quickly emptying park and enjoyed the lights.

One thing I wasn't expecting was the large number of quality dining options. We looked around at the different restaurants represented in the park and saw some that are the same as the restaurants that had been recommended around town.

We went to Madklubben, a restaurant that we'd been wanting to go to, but didn't have time, so we finally got to eat there in Tivoli. They serve traditional Danish food. They describe it as food your grandmother would have made. I had a chicken that was delicious comfort food. I guess it is not uncommon to go to Tivoli on a Friday night to enjoy an evening in the park and have a nice meal.

Our timing was good, because no sooner had we gotten in the restaurant, then the rain came pouring down. We took the rain as a sign that it was time to start to wind down our day.

On our way out of the park, we saw a statue honoring the founder of Tivoli. He had a great idea and it changed the way the world thinks about urban parks. Now time for bed. It's been a busy, busy day.

Copenhagen - The Little Mermaid Likes Beer

2011-09-09T22:34:00.001-07:00

I awoke the next morning to a massive storm. There was lightning, thunder, and a monstrous downpour of rain - the likes of which you don't see in London. Tony awoke and closed the window, but the window latch wasn't working properly. Luckily, the rain soon stopped, and it appeared that the rain was going to clear. Or so it appeared. . .

We lounged around as the weather was still somewhat poor, but following breakfast at the hotel, we wandered over to the bakery to grab what was now becoming our traditional breakfast pastry. Today it was a chocolate and cinnamon snegl (roll).

By now, even Tony was warming to the idea of having a second breakfast at the bakery.

Our main goal today was to visit the Little Mermaid. She was all the way at the other end of town from us, so it was going to be a bit of a hike.

We stopped along the way to see Amalienborg Palace, which is the residence of the royal family. It is a complex of 4 buildings. We didn't take a tour. This may sound weird, but by this point, we've seen so many palaces, that if we see one more set of royal apartments. . .

We walked across the street just in time to duck into domed Frederick's Church before the sky opened and more rain came down.

It is a pretty church, but not as big as I was expecting. It is basically a round interior with the dome overhead.

From there we walked on out to the point where the Little Mermaid statue sits. It was already mobbed with tour buses. It is a pretty statue commissioned by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg Brewery. It is certainly one of the most famous pieces of public art ever made, and people travel from all over the world to see it and snap their own picture.

That afternoon, we caught the bus out to the Carlsberg Brewery. It is the fifth largest beer making company on the planet producing over 500 different products worldwide.

The symbol of Carlsberg Brewery is the elephant. It harkens back to the religious symbol given to the Danish royalty of the elephant which represented the highest order of nobility. The swastica symbol represented good fortune, and was used long before the nazis usurped it as their symbol.

The old brewery is a museum and historic center. Copenhagen owes a lot to the family that founded Carlsberg. The profits from beer have gone into creating various cultural projects including the Little Mermaid Sculpture, the Botanical Gardens, and the Glyptotek Art Gallery. It made me feel good to think that this company gave back and hopefully continues to give back so much to the community in which it was founded.

Inside you can see the traditional copper kettles used for making beer, as well as a scent station, where you can smell the different fragrances that often manifest themselves in beer.

There is even a breathalyzer on the wall if you need to make sure that you are sober enough to drive.

They also have the traditional Clydesdale Horses that pulled the beer wagons around Copenhagen making deliveries. It reminded me of the time I visited the Budweiser Ranch in California to see their Clydesdale horses.

They looked well cared for and happy.

We took the bus back into town and then relaxed for a little while before heading out to meet my coworker Dave and his wife Eniko for dinner. Dave commutes from Copenhagen to London every 2 weeks. And this weekend he was in Copenhagen.

We went to Nyhavn to a cute little seaside restaurant called Cape Horn. There, we had a lovely dinner. After dinner we tried the local apertif, Akvavit. It tasted of anise and dill. This was as traditional an ending for the evening as one could get. A lovely time.

Copenhagen - The Grand Tour

2011-09-08T00:27:00.000-07:00

Rain had been forecast, but we awoke to sunny skies. As we would learn, weather is much more unpredictable here in Copenhagen than in LA or London. After a quick rinse in our tiny shower, we were on our way for day 2. As the weather looked to be good, we planned to do the Boat tour of Copenhagen.

We went down to breakfast, which was a very, very nice buffet spread. We had bacon, sausage, and eggs, but I made sure to save some room for a piece of pastry from Lagkagehuset, a bakery just a few blocks away. It turns out that they were recently voted the best bakery in Copenhagen, and they well deserve it. I could do some serious damage here.

This morning I had the Hazelnut Cinnamon Pastry. It was as amazing as I would have hoped. I definitely have my work cut out for me if I want to try to replicate these monsters.

Tony and I strolled down the quiet morning version of Stroget, which means Shopping Street in Danish, which is very busy later in the day. It is a beautiful area, built mostly in the 1800's it would appear, though occasionally, one will find buildings that are definitely from an earlier era.

We arrived at Nyhavn, which is Danish for New Harbor, and caught the 10:40 boat tour, which was just waiting for us. It was a beautiful warm sunny day (the best we saw while we were there), and it looked to be perfect boating weather as it wasn't windy.

The tour boat sailed out into the larger harbor and took in such wonderful sights as the new Opera House, which is waterside, and actually extends about 5 stories underground, or underwater. That must have been a challenge to build.

We went as far towards Sweden as the statue of the Little Mermaid. All the people on shore taking pictures of her made for quite a spectacle. In fact, she looked a little bored with all the attention.

We sailed past the building housing Noma, which recently had the honor of being named "Best Restaurant in the World". We can't afford to eat here, but I'm sure we will find something equally good.

It was a pleasant way to see the city and spend about 1.5 hours. It is as pretty a city from the water as from the land.

We arrived back at Nyhavn in time for lunch. We wandered around the city looking for one specific Hot Dog Cart that we'd read about called "Dop". They serve Gourmet Organic Hot Dogs.

The special that day was a Goat Hot Dog with Garlic Aioli sauce, Fried Onions and and Pickled Rose Pedals. It really was delicious and at $10 (after conversion), it was certainly the most expensive hot dog I've ever eaten.

But how often do you get the chance to eat a Goat Hot Dog in Copenhagen. . .

That afternoon, the moving Dop cart was located at the base of the Round Tower, which houses the world's oldest observatory. It is a really cool structure, but after the hot dog, we didn't feel like climbing all the stairs to the top.

Not far from the Round Tower is Rosenborg Castle. It was originally the summer palace for King Christian IV, and was situated outside of town. It is now part of a large urban park and is surrounded by the city. Of the castles we've visited, I could learn to live in this one. Charming. . .

It is still located on a manmade island surrounded by a moat. It is a beautiful manor house, and it is said to have been designed by Christian IV himself. It is here that he died.

The Royal Treasury is housed underneath the castle. There are some beautiful things to see in the castle including an ornate gold inlaid Colt flintlock pistol given to Fredrick VII by our own Abraham Lincoln.

We wandered around the lovely gardens enjoying the warm afternoon air. Many of the locals seemed to be doing the same. A beautiful final weekend of summer. I can only imagine that it must get much darker and colder here than it does in London over the winter months.

But for now, the wonderful roses dispel such thoughts. . .

Before we knew it, it was time for our afternoon coffee and pastry. We found the Holm Pastry booth, and grabbed a very nice danish. Sitting on the edge of a large fountain in a beautiful European square, we took in Copenhagen and wondered why there aren't more public spaces like this in the US.

The ones in Europe just feel so natural and organic in their creation and use - a pleasant and inviting way to pause and enjoy an afternoon.

At least I enjoyed it. . .

After a brief break at the hotel, it was time for dinner. We went back the same square that we had enjoyed the pastry earlier to a restaurant that served traditional Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs) and potato salad. We sat at a table enjoying the balmy evening weather.

And of course a Danish Carlsberg Beer.

Copenhagen - The Journey Begins

2011-09-04T02:45:00.000-07:00

Tony and I have been trying to get to Copenhagen for a while. Finally, we are on our way. We got up very early - 3am, were picked up by a taxi at 3:45 (the bus we needed wasn't running this early) to make our way to Liverpool station to catch the 4:05 train to Stansted Airport. Liverpool Station is a really pretty station that is often overshadowed by the larger stations such as Paddington, St. Pancras and Victoria.

Unfortunately, we got to the station only to discover that the 4:05 train only runs on Monday and Friday, and not Monday thru Friday. I misunderstood the schedule. Turns out I wasn't the only one though, as there were a few others that arrived about a half hour before their train too. Tony was thankfully fairly pleasant about it.

While walking around the station, I found a neat little statue of some kids. Evidently a bunch of children fleeing the holocaust on the mainland were ferried over to England to foster parent who met them here at Liverpool station.

Before long, our train arrived, and we took off for Stansted. It was an easy journey from London to Copenhagen. We arrived in Copenhagen to a strangely deserted terminal. It was a little creepy.

However, the wonderful Danish Modern design of the terminal made for a clear and easy transport to the baggage handling area. There we were greeted by luggage carts that could have been something right out of the Arne Jacobsen (famous Danish designer) catalog. One funny tradition that we saw in the airport was the proliferation of Hot Dog stands. Evidently, it is tradition for Danes to eat a Polser (hot dog) immediately after returning from abroad. It was only 10 in the morning at this point, and we weren't ready for a Hot Dog.

We made our way downstairs to the easily accessible train station that would takes us to the center of town. Very, very convenient. If only LAX had something like this. . .

Fifteen minutes later, we were emerging into downtown Copenhagen. It is a beautiful city that was spared most of the devastation ravaged on London. The tall clock tower stands proud on the skyline chiming out the time every fifteen minutes from 8am - 12 midnight. As our hotel was only a block away from it, we had to wonder about the intelligence of this decision. . .

We were staying at the Hotel 27, which was an easy walk from the train station, and a very nice modern boutique hotel. It was very European with very small efficient rooms, yet a very nice full (organic) breakfast.

We went for lunch at a cute little Danish restaurant known for serving smørbrød, very traditional open faced sandwiches. I had a pate with bacon and pickled beet smørbrød.

From there, we took off to explore the town center. The largest palace is Christiansborg. It no longer serves as home to the King, but is where the parliament assembles. It is a grand building with beautiful grounds.

Next to the palace is the Kings Library. Once the library of royalty, it has been expanded on the seaward-side and is now a beautiful modern public library.

It is an amazing merging of the old and the new and nice that the modern side of the library is not visible from the traditional gardens of the old. It was an interesting experience to enter the modern library, but while walking through it, to find oneself back in the older classic rooms. Very well done.

We walked along the seawall, and admired the beautiful town. It was a cool overcast afternoon, but the town was still lovely.

We wandered over to Neuhavn, the heart of the old shipping industry. It is now a pleasant public space with many outdoor restaurants.

It is here that famous author Hans Christian Andersen lived while writing the beloved Copenhagen classic, "The Little Mermaid".

We found Tony his customary vacation afternoon Ice Cream. The Danes are very big Ice Cream eaters, and ice cream shops are very common.

I, however, had my eye on Danish Pastry. It wasn't long before we came across a shop, and I tried my first real Danish Snegl. Snegl means snail, and refers to the rolled appearance of the danish. There are many, many types. The most common that you see here are the Cinnamon Snegl, Direktor (chocolate topped) Snegl, and Apple Snegl.

They are all delicious. And believer me, I tried as many as I possibly could over the four days that we were there. My favorite proved to be the traditional Cinnamon Snegl.

Sometimes the simplest is still the best - A classic. I can't wait to try making them when I get home.

Tony and I stopped in at the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain store. I always remember my grandmother having their Christmas plates. It was fun to see the flagship store from where they all came.

Inside, there is a demonstration of how the porcelain is glazed with the Royal Copenhagen blue color.

They even showed the new 2011 Christmas plate under construction.

Tony and I have collected plates from many of the various countries we've visited that are known for their ceramics. It seemed only natural to add a Royal Copenhagen plate to our collection.

From the store, we continued up the Strøget, the worlds longest pedestrian shopping street, past several other Danish Pastry shops that I logged into my mind for the next day.

We ultimately arrived at the Town Hall - a massive building that certainly shows the importance that Copenhagen has in regards to shipping and trading.

Copenhagen is still home to the headquarters for Maersk, the worlds largest container shipping company.

And directly across the street from City Hall is the Palace Hotel, which was built around the turn of the century, and was a marvel in Danish Art Neuveau architecture. Sadly, it has been remodeled several times over the years, and all that remains of the original design is the exterior and a few paintings showing many of the original designs for the interior and its fixtures.

That evening, we decided to have an early dinner and retire after a very, very long and busy day. We grabbed a beer from a local microbrewery called Nørrebro Bryghus at a sidewalk cafe, then went to a fun restaurant called "Tight". It is run by an Aussie and a Frenchman. They have a signature burger that was amazing. However, we had a rude awakening when I started to do the conversion Danish Kroner to American Dollars. Our beers each cost $10, and the burger cost $20. Guess the dollar just doesn't go as far as it used to. . .

With a full belly (and an empty wallet), we headed off to sleep. . .

Portsmouth Harbor

2011-08-28T23:13:00.001-07:00

I'd been wanting to take the train down to Portsmouth Harbor for day trip for a long while. So one day when the weather got up into the 80's, we headed off to Waterloo Station, and caught the train.

The puppies came with us, as we thought it would be a great chance for them to get out and walk around and tire themselves out. They are remarkably good on trains, and just settle in at our feet and go to sleep.

We walked along the sea enjoying the beautiful weather and the lovely community. Modern Portsmouth reminds me a lot of Marina Del Rey with its modern apartment complexes and enjoyable seaside ambiance. The weather was absolutely stunning with a clear blue sky and warm temperatures.

Portsmouth has been the seat of the British Navy throughout History. And to this day, the British Navy calls this home.

There are some great stone battlements that can be found along the sea wall, and we enjoyed walking along them.

The walls go back to the days of Admiral Nelson and even earlier, and helped to secure entrance to the port. There had even been a chain that could be drawn up to prevent entrance by ships.

The pups were fascinated by the lightly rippling ocean water. They would attack and retreat as the water moved. It was very cute to watch them try to understand it in their own way. They'd been to the ocean once before, but that was many, many years ago in California.

Portsmouth was bombed horribly in World War II, and the remains of an abandoned church bare testament to the many attacks that it enured.

One cannot think of the British Navy without thinking of Admiral Nelson, who lost his arm in the service of the empire, and yet remained in active duty for another 7 years.

We ran into my coworker Graham Hudson (I often kid him that he's some long lost relative) and his wife when we stopped at a sunny fish and chips shop to grab some lunch. It was fun to meet up with them there. Strange coincidence but really fun. The pups loved the fish and chips too.

There are some historic ships docked at Portsmouth Harbor. Unfortunately, we discovered that the pups would not be allowed access to even the dockside area. Tony decided to head home with the dogs, so that I could explore the ships. Bummer.

The first ship I visited was the Warrior. It is the first all iron steamer built in the mid 1800's. It represented the latest in naval technology at that time.

It was deemed so powerful, that no one ever dared to challenge it to a fight, so it served as a deterrent to war throughout its career until it became obsolete. I guess the "Deterrent through Strength" was a slogan then too.

It has been wonderfully restored to its original glory, and it is worth exploring above and below deck. A truly beautiful ship.

Admiral Nelson's ship, The Victory, upon which he served and ultimately died, is also on display. It is honorably still listed as "in-service" of the Royal Navy to this day. It is impressive to see the size of it, as it is much larger than I had imagined.

It is remarkably well preserved both inside and out, and worthy of good exploration. It is great to see the care that has been taken in its maintenance. It is amazing how low the ceilings are the further below deck one goes.

Admiral Nelson's office served as a portable embassy and is extravagantly appointed. I must have been impressive as a foreign dignitary to meet with him here. However, even here, the table and chairs could be quickly dismantled so that the area could be used for battle.

There is a plaque on deck marking the spot where Admiral Nelson was shot, and a painting below deck showing where he ultimately expired. It is moving to see where a man who dedicated so much of his life to the British Empire served and died.

After visiting both ships, it was time to hop on the train back to London, where Tony had made it back to our little apartment.

Portsmouth is a great day trip from London filled with fun places to walk around and fascinating historical ships to explore.

My New Commute

2011-08-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

I completed my work on John Carter of Mars, and have now begun work on Dark Knight Rising. Double Negative occupies 3 different buildings in the Soho area, so I am transitioning from the Shaftesbury Avenue building to the Mortimer Street building. It is located north of Oxford Street, so I needed to look for a new bike route to get to work.

I was told of a less busy route that has a real bike path that would take me almost all the way from our small apartment to my new office while avoiding cars.

I still bike past the old church down the street from us.

And the old "The Wall" school, which is just about done with it's major facelift.

And then past the neat old Victorian clock that has just recently been restored.

Shortly after that, I head down a road that doesn't allow cars to pass on it. It is a lot more relaxing not having to weave around buses and cars.

I pass another neogothic church that looks a lot older than it is. It always makes me think of the church where the priest was killed by the falling lightning rod in "The Omen".

I then ride down the one somewhat nasty hill on my commute. It is fun going down on the way to work, but not so fun going up on the way home. I have gotten better at it, and I think I have found the least painful way of cresting it for the return ride.

Essentially, I peddle along a route that is just north of the roads I used to ride. They are just less traveled roads with some neat older residential buildings and hotels.

I pass a college called "Goodenough College". I hope that isn't advertising regarding the quality of education they provide.

I do have one traffic moment usually at Russell Square, where I have to turn left into traffic, and then make an immediate right accross it. I always wave at the statue of the Duke of Bedford just around the corner after making the crossing.

I then pass the lion guarded back entrance to the British Museum.

I pass through one more beautiful square which is flanked by these magnificent mansions with black and white brick entryways. In the center is a beautifully manicured garden.

From there, it is a few more blocks to Tottenham Court Road, where I make a right turn at the Jack Horner Steak and Ale Pub, fairly common pies and pub grub, and then a quick left onto a side street.

I pass another pub, the Newman Arms pub, which also serves very filling meat pies and mash in their upstairs pie room.

I then turn onto Mortimer Street, where I get a great view of the BT tower just a few blocks away. I very odd building resembling a space ship crashed into London.

Two more blocks and I am at work. It is a very modern building, which also houses a fashion design company and an alcohol advertising company that handles the UK promotions for Jack Daniels.

For the journey home, I follow much of the same route, but due to one way streets, I have to go a little differently. It does afford me a couple other cool sites such as this really interesting gothic church.

There were some interesting figures released that showed that bicycles and their related sales and businesses is a thriving 1.2 billion Pound industry in the London area. Who would have thought.

The Tate Modern

2011-08-18T22:32:00.001-07:00

Tony and I finally made our way together to the Tate Modern Art Museum. Tony has gone twice already with different guests, but somehow I've not managed to get there.

It was a beautiful sunny morning, so we took the bus down to St. Paul's Cathedral, and walked across the Thames River on the Millinium Bridge. It is a really neat bridge to walk on, and provides great views of St. Pauls and of the Tate.

The Tate Museum is housed in an old Power Plant. It's massive coal burning tower reaching up towards the sky. I can still imagine the huge plumes of smoke they once belched upwards.

Inside, the massive turbine room lies empty, and in need of an exhibition. I guess this space is used for temporary exhibits. It would be neat to see some large scale installation here.

Our main purpose was to visit a special showing of the works of spanish painter Joan Miro. It is the largest single exhibition of his works in a long time. I'd seen some of his works in Spain, had been impressed, and had desired to see more.

In the Miro exhibit, I was most impressed with his earlier works, where he played with bending perspective. As he aged, he became more and more symbolic and simplistic in his surreal works.

He was a contemporary of Picasso, and was also a Catalonian artist. Many of his works speak to the distressing state of Catalonia under Franco's regime. He had a long career, and eventually did outlive Franco.

Tony was not impressed, and quickly made his way through the exhibition. I found him sitting at the end of it browsing the internet. I do have to admit that a lot of Miro's works were quite odd and not as approachable as I had hoped.

We then wandered into the permanent collection. It is full of strange and wonderful pieces that rotate in and out of display. They also give opportunity to other world artists to display unique works on a temporary basis, so it is constantly changing.

One particular piece that was interesting was a pile of what appeared to be sunflower seeds, but were in fact porcelean, and painted to look like sunflower seeds. I didn't really understand the piece of art, but okay. . .

I was surprisingly impressed with Jackson Pollock, who is often associated with drippy paint, but did some wonderfully powerful large scale paintings.

We really enjoyed walking around the museum.

Unfortunately, when it was time to leave, it was pouring rain outside - a surprise. We decided to have lunch at the museum cafe. It is a very nice place to take a break and enjoy some good food and drink. We tried some locally made soda. Tony had the Curiosity Cola, which tasted a lot like Coca Cola, and I had an Elderflower Soda, which tasted like liquid summer - flowers and sunshine in a bottle.

Sadly, the rain didn't really let up, and we got soaked on the way home. That will teach us to leave the apartment without our umbrellas - even in the summer.

Screen on the Green

2011-08-08T23:02:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to go to see a film at the Everyman Theater in Angel called "Screen on the Green". It is the local small (more Art House) theater right off the Islington Green Park - hence the name.

It was having a screening of "Super 8", the new film from J J Abrams and Steven Spielberg, so we couldn't resist.

The unique thing about Screen on the Green is that it has a full bar inside the theater, where one can order drinks as well as popcorn and cake.

It reminds me of a small theater/brewpub that I visited in Salt Lake City called Brewvies.

It has digital projection and is a pleasant and intimate theater. They often have morning screenings of children oriented films as well as genre film festivals. It reminds me a bit of the Nuart or New Beverly theaters.

Now this is the way to see a movie.

Shakespeare's Old Globe Theatre

2011-08-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

Our friend Jason invited us to join him at the Shakespeare Old Globe Theatre for a performance of Anne Boleyn. It isn't a play written by Shakespeare. In fact it is a recently written play, but it is written in the style of Shakespeare, and is meant to be performed in the round, which is the way the theater is designed to showcase productions.

I reserved our seats, and also paid an extra 1 GBP to have a cushion. I didn't realize it, but the theater only has benches with no backs. For another 1 GBP, I could have reserved a folding seatback that would have given us some back support. Either that, or if we were to sit in the back row, we would have had the wall to lean back against. The person in front of me had the back support, and he kept leaning back into it, and hitting my knees.

The production was great, and I feel as though for the first time I got an idea of how Shakespeare's plays were meant to be performed. There is a lot more relating to the audience, and the long and lengthy monologues solicit audience identification.

The stage is much as I had imagined it from descriptions in school. It was exciting to see such a passionate and faithful recreation of a theatre that last stood in the 1600's.

The theatre is as accurate as can be achieved in this modern day. It is complete with an authentic thatch roof, which was what caused the destruction of an early incarnation of the theatre.

Nowadays, the roof has a sprinkler system just in case.

Shakespeare's Old Globe Theatre is the brainchild of actor Sam Wanamaker, an American who had the idealistic/naive notion that such a theater would have been standing when he came to London to work on a film back in the 70's. To his surprise, only a small plaque existed to mark the location. For the next decade, he gathered support and money to acquire the property and build the theatre. Sadly, he died before he had the chance to see his dream completed.

In front of the theatre are stone plaques recognizing the contributions of different organizations and individuals who helped to make it a reality.

I was pleased to see some the American Film studios represented as contributors.

After the show, we had a small tour of the theatre and the adjoining Shakespeare museum. I don't know that it is necessary to take the tour if one has tickets to a show. I probably would have skipped it in hindsight.

It was a warm day, and we ended it with a nice glass of the classic English Summer Drink, Pimm's, in a park near the theatre. A truly lovely day.

London's Pothole-Ridden Roads

2011-08-06T06:20:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I've driven throughout a bunch of Europe now, and I can easily say that the UK has some of the worst roads.

It's embarrassing that this once great nation has some of the worst maintained roads in the 1st world. Sadly, whether or not England is part of the 1st world seems to be more and more a matter of opinion these days.

I don't know if the roads weren't built properly in the first place, or if the weather is just particularly hard on the roads, but there are an estimated 2 million potholes throughout the UK. To be honest, that number seems low to me.

In my neighborhood, there are patches on the patches, and still there are potholes. I tried to practice roller blading on my street. HA! I did learn to stay up however, and I figure if I could manage to blade on my streets, I would be ready blade with the Sunday Afternoon Blading group.

A group is now petitioning the Transportation Authority here to have signs posted where there is a severe pothole. The sign would look like the one above. Absurdity rises to new levels. I say just fix the roads. Perhaps some of the vast numbers of people on unemployment and benefit over here could be put to work.