A pyromaniac's dream

On November 5, 1605, the night before King James I was to join the opening of Parliament, a man named Guy Fawkes sat below in the cellars, overlooking the 36 barrels of gunpowder he and his conspirators had accumulated.  

Fawkes and his allies planned to kill King James I for his repression of Catholics in England in addition to devastating the key government building of Parliament.

Unfortunately for Fawkes, the King's spies had discovered this plot and stormed the cellars in the early morning of November 5, capturing Guy and preventing ignition of those 36 barrels of gunpowder.

Fawkes was tortured and finally confessed his role and the names of his conspirators.  Once this information was obtained, Fawkes suffered the fate of all traitors - he was hung and then drawn and quartered.

And since that day, England has celebrated foiling the "Gunpowder Plot" by burning Guy in effigy on bonfires with spectacular fireworks displays.  Parliament's ceremonial opening also includes the Yeomen Warders (more famously known as Beefeaters) checking for any gunpowder in the area (none found for 409 years).  

The BBC provides a great and succinct biography of Guy Fawkes here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/guy_fawkes

And because we can, people have experimented with 36 barrels of gunpowder to see exactly what it can do.  It's pretty impressive as you can see in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbvNIaC3gKM

All this is background to the fact we arrived on November 1. The Guy Fawkes/Gunpowder Plot celebration has expanded since 1606 and starts at the beginning of November, going strong through November 5.  We heard fireworks each night in our first few nights in London.

We also found an amazing playground near our apartment that the kids absolutely love (more on this in future posts).  This playground also had its own Guy Fawkes celebration, complete with mini-carnival, so we checked it out (along with a few thousand others).

They had a few carnival rides and a bouncy castle which Joey and Sammy enjoyed immensely.

Darkness fell and we got into position to watch the fireworks. Prior to the fireworks, however, was a 20 minute movie about Coram's Field and all the good work they do.  I personally enjoyed the background but for a 3 and 5 year old kid, dying to watch some fireworks, the movie probably felt longer than the hobbit triology.

Finally the movie ended and the fireworks started!  They all loved it, although initially Lanna was not a fan of the loud noise.  She changed her mind quickly and enjoyed the show with her brothers.

When the show ended, we bumped and jostled our way out and enjoyed dinner at the market area near our flat.

The next day we drove up to Northampton to stay with Alisa's cousin Michael and his family.  They has been living in Northampton for 16 years on a farmhouse nearly half a century old.

We were excited to see him in his adopted land and spend time with his son Jon (his wife was out of town and his daughter Nicola currently lives in London and was not able to come up).  Joey remembered meeting Jon at Emma's bat mitzvah a year and a half ago and couldn't wait to see him again.

Jon had not met Lanna yet and he fell prey to her charm as have many others throughout Europe.  Lanna was equally enchanted with her older cousin.

Lanna couldn't stay away from either her big cousin Jon or their black lab Brindy.  



Joey and Sammy weren't jealous since Jon generously shared his nerf guns with them.  Fortunately we all had the same number of eyeballs at the end of the weekend as we did at the beginning of it.

The boys also had a chance to meet a couple dozen chickens who lived on the farm.  The enjoyment of the meeting was entirely one-sided as the chickens likely hated our sons for chasing them all over the spacious back yard.

Fortunately for the chickens, Joey was quickly distracted as Michael showed Joey his motorcycle and tractor.  The chickens were quickly forgotten as Joey jumped on these fantastic machines!

Alisa and I enjoyed catching up with her cousin and his family as well as the quiet peacefulness of the farm.  They also had a beautiful black lab named Brindy who could have been Indy's long lost sister!  We loved spending time with such a loving dog and made us miss our wonderful Indy even more.

In addition to enjoying the Northampton Farm with the cousins, there would be a famous bonfire right near their farm which boasts one of the largest conflagrations in England short of an uncontrolled forest fire.  

Alisa and I were entertained by this, having seen the Bonfire during Big Game Week at Stanford before we played Cal (and great work to the Cardinal for beating the Bears again this year 35-22!  Go Stanford!).  The bonfire we had seen was a few stories tall and you could roast marshmallows 100 feet away.

We layered up for the chilly English country night and put on our new Wellies (nickname for the rubber "Wellington" boots) we picked up earlier that day.

Those boots came in handy!  We parked with some friends of Michael's and then walked across cow fields to come to a busy carnival!  It was incredible.  And it was popular.

Not only did they have a carnival with all sorts of rides, games, and treats, they also had a steam engine display (which the boys greeted with great enthusiasm).  As the field gently sloped downhill, we saw near the bottom of the hill a gigantic stack of pallets, complete with an RV placed inside.

They lit this giant fire shortly after our arrival.  I tried to catalog the progress of the fire through the evening.  

Shortly after ignition!  You can see the RV at the base of the fire, it looks like it is nestled in the heads of the crowd.

Starting to gather some momentum.

We started to feel the heat of the fire even from this distance.

It certainly rivaled the Stanford bonfire.  

Then it took it one step further and had a dynamic fireworks display!

These pictures certainly do not do it justice.  It was a great show and Lanna was mesmerized.

When the last firework's explosion finished echoing throughout the valley, Joey and Sammy went on a few rides.

Sammy really enjoyed riding the train.

The walk back through the fields and pastures was peaceful after the cacophony of the carnival.  The stars were brilliant and plentiful, another nice contrast to the massive bonfire and fireworks.

The next day we enjoyed the comforts of the farm.  Joey and Sammy quickly re-introduced themselves to the chickens.  When they tired of the smaller animals, Jon introduced them to Misty, one of the horses at the farm.  Joey particularly loved meeting Misty.  Misty enjoyed meeting Joey, especially since he fed her some carrots.

Before we had to leave, we were invited to pick as many apples that we could carry from their trees, pick lettuce from the garden, and Jon gathered up over a dozen eggs from their hens for us.

Alisa and the boys picking some apples in the backyard.

With the car full of delicious farm fresh goods, we loaded up and made our way back to London.

Lanna and the boys did well on the long trip back to London. The first week in London had been a great one with an enormous playground, steam engines, the biggest fire they've ever seen, fireworks, and carnival rides plus spending time with their cousin, chasing chickens, cuddling a black lab again, feeding a horse, and riding tractors and motorcycles.

We were looking forward to what the rest of the trip would bring!

We made it to London

Yes, our blog is several weeks behind. In fact we've been in London for more than 3 weeks. But this is the story of how we made it here.

We were up bright and early in the farmhouse in Calais. We showered, got dressed, ate breakfast, cleaned up a whole mess of toys, and then the kids and I played outside with Itty Bitty Tiger Kitty while Jay did the final cleaning. We met the neighbor for our little farmhouse, a Serbian who played professional volleyball in Europe until a shoulder injury forced him to retire. We also met our hostess, Linda, who had spent the weekend in Paris since we were staying in her house. She was quite kind and talkative... but I was nervous to head out to make sure that we could get to the Eurotunnel in time for our crossing.

We made it to the Eurotunnel in plenty of time - in fact, we had so much time that they let us get onto an earlier train! We drove through this mass of lanes and checkpoints. They then checked our passports and asked us a bunch of questions about what we were going to do in England and how long we were going to stay. I had been warned that they might want to see bank statements, return tickets, etc. But they only wanted to verify that all the faces matched the passports and we were through. We drove through a bunch more crazy checkpoints, all surrounded by barbed or razor wire. Apparently with the escalating number of refugees in Europe, people have been caught trying to run through the chunnel. We stayed safely in the car and then DROVE ONTO A TRAIN. It was pretty crazy. Luckily it was completely not crowded. Here is what it looks like in a CAR on a TRAIN under the English Channel.

After about 20 minutes or so, we emerged in the UK! It was much less eventful than it seemed like it should have been, but quite easy in fact. Highly recommended for convenience!

We caught the earlier train, and the UK is actually an hour earlier than mainland Europe, so we had some time to kill before we could check in to our London apartment. We decided to stop in Dover to see the white cliffs on the other side of the channel. We spent quite a bit of time driving around Dover (STAY ON THE LEFT!) trying to find:
1. A visitor center (eventually found it, but it was closed)
2. An ATM, since we only had Euro and England still uses Sterling

We weren't successful with the latter, and we wound up instead following signs to Dover Castle. We had no idea what we were getting into... except that the sign as we drove in said that the cost would be 50 pounds for the family! I panicked, but it all turned out fine. We drove up a hill to this huge, beautiful castle overlooking the channel.

From the parking lot, we climbed up a hill to look around.

Sammy wanted to climb and climb and go down and down, but it really was pretty steep for him. We managed to drag him away with only a little kicking and screaming.

Rather than pay 50 pounds for admission to just the castle, we joined English Heritage for 100 pounds and free access to many historic sites throughout England. This was totally worth it. English Heritage does an amazing job with the sites that they manage. Definitely check it out if you're visiting the UK.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/

We walked down a hill to view the underground tunnels, which we were advised to see first since they get crowded. The boys at first wanted to go through a tunnel tour about Operation Dynamo (Rescue from Dunkirk, in which 338,000 soldiers were saved after being cut off in France by German troops), but after realizing it was an hour long, they settled for the hospital tour (20 minutes). This was a good thing, since as soon as we got in the tour, Sammy was starving. The tunnel must have looked like the inside of a car somehow. Anyway, the tour was interesting and we saw much of the hospital, including the operating theatre, dining areas, sleeping quarters, etc.

When we emerged, we spent a while looking out over the channel, admiring the artillery and the white cliffs of Dover, and eating some cookies.

We then walked up into the castle to see the tower and of course, to get some sustenance.

Everyone was much happier after lunch!

We then saw an exhibit on some of the history (quickly) and then went into the tower. See if you can find camouflage Joey in the picture.

There was a fun kitchen exhibit on the ground floor. Then a whole bunch of steps up to the top of the tower. There were beautiful views over the castle and the surrounding countryside.

And then a fog slowly moved in.

After a last walk around the castle ramparts and some time spent defending the castle against imaginary attackers, we finally had to head out to make it to London at a reasonable hour.

There was a lot of traffic. An enormous amount of traffic. The whole trip was only about 60 miles, but it took us close to three hours. We finally made it, though, and picked up our keys at the University College London reception desk. We drove a few blocks to the address and found parking right out front of what we thought was the correct place. It turned out that our place was around the corner, but still very close! I was pretty nervous about what this place would look like, since I'd rented it online without any detailed pictures. Luckily, it turned out to be a spacious three bedroom that is perfect for us!

Kitchen and dining

Living room

Master bedroom

Boys' bedroom

Lanna/guest bedroom

And here is our final parking spot - the car right below our living room window! Free parking on our street in London. Unreal!

We dropped all our stuff, went out for our first London pub dinner, and then collapsed.

And to sign out, the view of our apartment at night.We are the second floor, with all the lights on. Sorry, Mother Nature.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sure, we've been away from the United States for nearly three months but I can't say I've ever fully felt acclimated.  Each day we have enjoyed new experiences, new sights but we recognize that we've been visitors since we got off the plane in early September.

This week certainly emphasized that feeling as we've been thinking about Thanksgiving week and the holiday atmosphere it creates. 

Naturally London has no such aura of Thanksgiving so this week has felt like any other week.  It made me miss Thanksgiving week even more, with the anticipation of a long weekend spent with family, playing football in the chill autumn air and the quasi-nausea after dinner from eating too much but still able to put down a few slices of pumpkin pie with whip cream.

We did plan a quiet Thanksgiving dinner.  Turkey was WAY too ambitious given the cooking tools our apartment offers (not much) or that even a small turkey would be too much bird for us.

Fortunately Alisa's cousin Nicola was able to join us for dinner.  We had missed her during the Guy Fawkes celebration with her family in Northampton at the beginning of November, but were happy to catch up with her here.

Our turkey equivalent this year was duck (and despite being away from America, we still used America's Test Kitchen for a great recipe) and we also made an apple crisp from the apples picked at Nicola's parents house!  The wine was from our host in northern France.

It was a simple but enjoyable dinner.

We are thankful for our families and sad to miss celebrating with them in person but also thankful for this special opportunity to explore so much of Europe.

We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving with the warmth of family and friends.

French farm life

For weeks prior to our time in northern France, I worried about what we would do for Halloween.  Google searches let me know that this largely American tradition had become more commonplace in France the past few years.  

The concern was that the place we found on AirBnB was here:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/817+Rue+des+Bocquets,+62370+Zutkerque,+France/@50.8251774,1.7510136,10z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x47dc4f8b00ecb2c1:0xd98c8f923ca0247d

Not exactly in a bustling community.  The night before, we were able to find it relatively easily given the sparse houses to choose from.

As it turns out, the kids had no idea it was Halloween until a few days later, so this never became an issue!  

One reason is they have no concept of Gregorian calendars being 5, 3, and 1 year old. 

Another reason is that the farmhouse we were staying had a second floor just for the boys, complete with 4 boxes of Legos and 2 boxes of military cars, trucks, and soldiers.  It was a little boys utopia!

And Sammy had fortunately fully recovered from his brutal head injury the day before, so there was no concern he had forgotten about Halloween due to any hemorrhage.

We were lucky they even came down to eat meals, let alone ask if they could dress up as Spiderman for Halloween.

It was a lovely farmhouse with a huge amount of space. The host family lived there when no guests rented it.  They had a beautiful garden plot and a small soccer field.  We were left a welcome basket with pumpkin, beets, apples, carrots, as well as homemade jam.  

Lanna made herself at home.

Despite the rustic charm, the floors had modern touches - they were heated.  Amazing!

We all settled in nicely to this calm, quiet, and picturesque farmhouse.

The farmhouse also had a welcoming committee comprised of two kittens.

The smaller kitten was, by far, one of the most adorable cats we have ever met.  As Alisa said, "If all cats were like this little one, I would be a cat person."

This cat was everywhere!  In the house when it could dash in, in the car, running across the yard, being chased by Lanna then being chased by Sammy.  

Despite the warmth and comfort of this rustic farmhouse, we were excited to experience some of the area.  

Alisa found the Cap Blanc Nez Cliffs which were a short drive away.  As a bonus, we quickly stopped at an apple orchard and Alisa hurried out, picked a bagful of apples in about 5 minutes, and shared her crisp and delicious bounty with all of us.

We drove through several tiny French coastal towns on the way to Escalles and found it charming. 

Cap Blanc Nez, slightly west of Calais, is considered by some to be France's equivalent to Dover.  It too has regal white cliffs and spectacular views across the Channel.  

In the past, it's also played a key role in World War I and World War II.  A monument is there dedicated to those who served in the Dover Patrol in World War I.  This monument has a sister obelisk in Dover, England as well.  The French monument was unfortunately destroyed by the Germans during their occupation of France in World War II but rebuilt in the early 1960's.

There's some excellent history about the Dover Patrol and this site captures that information nicely:
http://www.dover-kent.co.uk/history/ww1a_dover_patrol.htm

It has also been important in land surveys, being near Greenwich, England as well.

Here's a nice site that gives some more information and some excellent photos of the area:
http://www.calais-cotedopale.co.uk/discovering/grand-site-des-deux-caps/cap-blanc-nez-cliffs

We parked nearby and made the slow climb up towards the Dover Patrol monument, an obelisk near the cliffs.

The day was gorgeous with a slight breeze coming off the Channel.  Model planes could be seen soaring off the cliffs and near the monument.  We came across all the model enthusiasts and spent a long time watching them spin, throw their model gliders off the cliffs (some had wingspans of 6 feet!), and then maneuver the glider through the air back to the crowd to be coolly caught in one hand by its owner.

We looked up ahead and saw the restored Dover Patrol monument.

 Then looked to the right and saw Calais.

We looked to the left and saw the little town of Escalles nestled in the valley.

It was so peaceful to stand there watching the model gliders soar through the blue skies while being surrounded with such beautiful views.

Which is so strange to think that not that long ago, this area was bristling with pillboxes, strewn with barbed wire and patrolled by German soldiers amidst the rubble of the exploded Dover monument.

There were several pillboxes surrounding the monument and I couldn't help but go in to look at one (which is not, strictly speaking, encouraged).

And then we looked back behind us and saw the hillsides were pockmarked with craters.

As we walked along a path down near the cliffs, we encountered other craters, pillboxes, and other mute reminders of World War II.  There was no clear discussion about why the craters were present, but we all assumed it was due to the intense bombing this area suffered from the fall of France until D-Day.

The day remained beautiful and peaceful as we walked down a long rolling hill towards Sangatte and Calais.  We didn't get to see the famed cliffs very well, although I did stick my arm out over the edge and took this picture:

Then I was told never to do that again.

We walked until the afternoon sun started to get low across the Channel and then turned around to walk back up.  Poor Sammy started to fade, so we carried him in our backpack while Alisa toted Lanna in the baby bjorn.

As we returned to the monument, we were able to watch the sun set.  

We were able to get a selfie and actually get the sunset too!

As dusk fell, we prepared to leave and go to a local restaurant our host had recommended.  

The meal, local French cuisine, rivaled the Milan steakhouse and Michaela's Umbrian feast.  It was an excellent way to end the day and our entire stay in France.

Looking back on that day, I wanted to end this post with one of my favorite pictures I've taken this trip.  It feels imbued with the essence of the area:  rich in history, tranquility, and calm.