UK Trip: Oxford

Stop 2: Oxford. I actually thought at one point in high school that I wanted to attend Oxford... obviously that didn't happen. I did enjoy visiting, though. Unfortunately, the weather and the fact that our reservation (made through booking.com) was not held for us (long story...) made the trip not nearly as enjoyable as it could have been.

Oliver and I caught the train from Slough on Friday morning. Once we sorted out the hotel issues, we visited Magdalen college, where C.S. Lewis studied and taught. It was a beautiful, immaculate place:

With gorgeous views:

And a famous old tree (I can't remember now why it was famous, of course, but at least Oli seemed to like it):

The grounds were absolutely lovely, with long paths through the gardens:

But the old cloister was probably my favorite:

The town itself was charming:

And Oliver and I entertained ourselves after dark by taking a "Ghost Tour" of the town. A little melodramatic, to say the least, but a fun 1.5 hours of entertainment while we waited for Chris to finish work and catch the train into town.

We even passed by the church door with the lion that supposedly acted as Lewis' inspiration for the Chronicles of Narnia (there are fawns carved into the doorframe and a nearby lampstand, as well):

The next morning, Chris and I took a walking tour of some of the colleges. We started with Christ Church, home of "Old Tom," the bell tower whose ring can be heard throughout the town:

The Old Tom quad was serene and beautiful despite the rain:

And the cathedral certainly was memorable:

Oliver was a little tired of the rain, I think:

We walked by the Eagle and Child, the pub where Lewis and Tolkien and other "Inklings" (as their intellectual discussion group dubbed themselves) used to meet. We later returned for lunch and really enjoyed it!

We then visited Exeter college:

Which had a beautiful chapel:

And backed up against the famous Bodleian Library:

And its reading room, the Radcliffe Camera:

The next stop was Lincoln college:

Which had a gorgeous chapel:

Although the trip would have been much more enjoyable with better weather, a hotel reservation, and quicker trains (Chris's arrival was much later than we had hoped), the town had an undeniable vigor and boasted spectacular medieval architecture, immaculate gardening, and irresistible charm:

Next stop: Cambridge...

UK Trip: Windsor

I feel the need to confess: after Shannon's sweet comment about my Salon l'Agriculture post, I felt guilty that most of my pictures have not actually been edited lately... How so many mom "hobbyist" photographers manage what they do, I have NO idea. I just feel good if I manage to remember my one-photo-a-week challenge and MAYBE find my cord to upload them before Saturday (which is why I was scouring the house at 10pm last night, only to discover it this morning exactly where I had thought it would be and had looked three times - am I going BLIND?!?!). Anyway, my ramblings are simply my disclaimer that the following posts will not be edited, but I hope you can still enjoy pictures of our most recent adventure.

Since Chris travels to the UK regularly for work, we had been talking for some time about taking Oliver for a few days. Chris' office is just outside of London, near Windsor, so that's where we started. Then, since Oxford is just two stops on the train up the road, we spent one night there and wandered around that great epicenter of learning. And, as a bonus, we have friends who live in Cambridge, so we combined our little trip with a visit to see them. A bit much to cover in four days, probably, but truly a delightful little jaunt across the Channel.

We started with a morning Eurostar through the Chunnel. I have to brag on the Eurostar employees: they have been so kind to us, both in the station and getting onto the train. As we boarded the train, the woman checking our tickets told us that there was a free four-person table at the back of the car that we could have since we had the baby. She even changed our tickets to reflect the change. And Oliver loved the table:

Forgive the poor quality of this photo, but Oliver has been giving kisses recently, and this is our first time to catch it on camera (since I'm the photographer normally)... of course it's with an iphone in a dark, bouncing train. But better than nothing!

Anyway, after arrival in London, a metro ride to another station, a Burger King lunch (since we just missed the train and had to wait 45 minutes for the next one), and a short train ride out to Slough (home of the BBC's "The Office," by the way), and a taxi to the hotel, Oliver and I were ready for a walk. So we decided to take the hour-long walk from Old Windsor (where our hotel was) to Windsor, where the famous castle is. The walk was gorgeous. We passed the Thames:

Then we had a short ugly walk down a little highway... But as we turned, we had the most gorgeous stroll past royal lands, with the castle in the distance:

And gorgeous farmland on the other side:

As we approached the town, the views of the castle and the manicuring of the land became more impressive:

Eventually, we took the formal stretch leading up to Windsor Castle:

Where Oliver humored me by allowing me to take a million pictures of him:

We passed by the castle without visiting, though, because Chris and I visited last time we were in Windsor.

We did, however, wander through the town and enjoy the cute little shops and restaurants while we waited for Chris to finish work. When he did, he met us for dinner at Wagamama's, where they have these really cool high chairs that Oliver loved:

Oliver's first day in the UK was definitely a success!

Good memories...

I realized today that many of my memories related to living in France are NOT capture-able with my lens... And since I am not a journal-keeper (*gasp* the English teacher?!?!), this blog is probably my best (well, really, my only) medium for documenting my time here. So, I'm going to attempt to post more frequent, short, just-so-I-don't-forget stories like this one:

Although my sweet boy woke up at 6:30 this morning (rather than his usual 8:30), we had an EXCELLENT morning. The sun is shining (finally!) and I think that puts everyone in a better mood. Plus, due to our early rising, we made it to the market around 9, rather than our usual 10:30ish. I had THREE (count them: 1-2-3) fun conversations in French with my vendors this morning... All of which not only increased the smile already on my face (due to the gorgeous day) because they were simply pleasant conversations, but they also left me feeling so proud and satisfied because I can communicate and make friends in French. Who cares if I probably sound like a 6-year-old who has terrible grammar skills? ;)

1. My friend at the charcuterie (who sells pork and prepared meats and yells, "Bonjour Oliver!" each time we walk by) asked me if I wanted any ham today. I told him not today but possibly Saturday because we had company arriving on Monday. He asked if it was my family from the US, and I responded that it was actually my husband's family, but they were also from the US... At which point he began to tell me that he really liked American cars. I'm not sure how this was related, except that I guess he associates me with anything American. Anyway, we discussed that there aren't many importers of American cars into Paris (which is not too surprising as many American cars won't fit down the streets there), but that he really wanted an American car because he has a huge dog and the dog needs more space in the back seat. I didn't recognize the breed of dog he mentioned, but from his description the dog is about the size of a small horse (twice the size of a labrador, to be specific), making it easy to see why he coveted a large American car... From there the conversation turned to how many trucks and suburbans my family owns and the fact that my Jeep Grand Cherokee (which is a HUGE car for Paris standards) is the smallest one. Pretty entertaining, I must say.

2. My vegetable vendor asked me last week (when I was sporting Chris' North Face fleece over my workout clothes at the market - clearly I am NOT Parisian, for a true Parisian wouldn't be caught dead as such... ah, well) where I bought the jacket. Unfortunately, I had to tell him that we purchased it from a US website... Since then, he and I have been searching for a site in French that sells the jackets and will ship to Paris. So we compared notes for a while...

3. My other vegetable vendor (who has higher prices than the first so is not my regular one except for sweet potatoes which my normal vendor doesn't carry) teased me the "Americaine" buying "patace douce Americaine" (American sweet potatoes). And then we discussed what green onions are called here and he told me about how they're used in many Chinese dishes.

Oliver just woke up... so this missive must end. Suffice it to say that I felt really good as we walked back through the 45-degree sunshine to our little apartment. So good, in fact, that I might be brave enough to make some phone calls (in French) that I've been putting off... maybe.

Explore Paris: Salon de l'Agriculture

The largest event at the Paris Expo every year is the Salon de l'Agriculture: a livestock-show-and-rodeo meets garden-show meets international-festival. Many of the major Houston attractions, all in one place. Sort of. French style...

In the first building we visited (which housed horses, donkeys, mules, dogs, cats, fish...), there was a dog ring, where some kind of competition was being held:

And a horse ring with the same:

Unfortunately, the lighting in these warehouse-style buildings was horrendous, so the pics are rather crummy... But you can't miss the delight on Blaine's face:

In another building was the French regional cuisine: stands of specialty foods from all over France, divided by area. Very cool:

In the Delicacies of the World building, a Hungarian stand had fabulous dancing, while an Italian stand had this fabulous specimen:

The coup de grace of our sensory experience was the Livestock building (cows, sheep, and pigs, mostly):

Sweet baby lambs:

My sweet baby with some lambs:

Blaine expressing his delight (Oh to see the world again through the eyes of a child!):

And the cow who displayed the level of exhaustion I was feeling by this point:

No, really, I was rather enjoying myself. In fact, I was rather entertained by the fact that several of these cows reminded me of dogs. There was the Rhodesian ridgeback:

The brindle bulldog:

And the weimaraner (I promise it was gray - the photo makes it look a little brown, though, sorry):

Really, it was a fun day, full of gigantic cows named "Colette" and the like. How can you not have a blast?

Explore Ile de France: Crecy la Chapelle

Again, to fulfill our resolution to take advantage of living here, we took a little day trip out to a small town about an hour from Paris. Although the weather was not very nice, the town had cute little canals running through it (though in light of our Venice visit a week prior, they seemed rather puny), and a very quaint atmosphere.

I loved the woodpile in this backyard, awaiting a cosy fire:

And the narrow cobblestone streets:

And the medieval tower ruins around town dated to the 12th century:

The mill on the canal was particularly picturesque:

We also took a walk out of town along the river path:

Which brought us to a 12th century church:

Bordered by a beautiful field:

All along the canals in the town were these medieval washing stations:

And, not to be forgotten, the town boasted some GORGEOUS football fields:

As we made our way back to the train station, we walked down the town's main canal, complete with ancient stairs down onto the water and decrepit bridges:

Like I said, it rather paled in comparison to Venice, but for an afternoon's entertainment and a 45 minute train ride, it was golden.

Project 52: Week 9

Yes, Weeks 7 and 8 are missing... I hope to come back to them sometime. But, in the meantime, here's my week 9 photo.

The prompt was "Express Yourself." Thus far, my child seems to have little trouble doing just that.