Visiting Parliament

LONDON
After trooping out of the tube station, all 60 of us (AIFS students plus families) arrived at Big Ben to start out Parliament tour. All together we probably took enough pictures to completely cover Big Ben in two layers, bursting our memory cards but enjoying it all the same. Once we were all assembled we went though security. Then we entered the magnificent 1,000 year old Westminster Hall. Listening to several questions though, we realized that one of the students had gotten taken aside at security for possessing a knife. As time passed this rumor bloomed into a thrilling tale about getting arrested, but thankfully the student just had a pocket knife for his lunch and rejoined the tour.

We met Russell our guide and soon found out that he was a hyper energetic, yet excellent guide. Then we made our way through, as Russell described it the 27 miles of corridors. We learned that the House of Commons has green leather seats and the House of Lords has red leather seats. This was because red is the color of nobles, and you can't escape symbolism! Though the whole complex looks incredibly med evil and ancient, it was built in the midst of the industrial revolution. To spare you from the 27 miles of history we learned today, I'll point out some of the most interesting facts:

• the House of Commons has two rooms at either side to stand in to vote. One room is called the yes room and one is called the no room.

• the House of Commons also has 650 people, yet there were only 400 seats.

• a man commonly known as Black Rod is sent to summon the House of Commons when the queen is reading her speech. Traditionally just as he is emerging the house, the door is slammed  in his face and he has to knock 3 times with his rod.

After enjoying the many lavishly decorated rooms of Parliament, we departed the gorgeous building and entered into London at dusk, a magical time, and took a final picture in front of the golden Big Ben.

Oh and by the way, the photo of us in front of Big Ben is not photoshopped; it just looks like that :)

Abby

A Taste of North London's diversity

GREEN LANES, LONDON

Beth’s students are craving Mexican food.  It’s true that despite the tremendous diversity in London, Mexican food and culture is not featured. But many others are!

Anna Mae's Mac and Cheese

Vats of seafood paella

Saturday a week ago we joined new acquaintances at the Green Lanes Food Festival down the High Road from where we live.  For six full blocks from the Salisbury Pub south to the Babinondas Greek restaurant near the Manor House Tube Station we found a wonderful variety of food.  Several Turkish stalls served Lahmacun, a “pizza” wrapped up in foil like a burrito.  A Spanish stall featured two snow-saucer-sized woks in which two varieties of paella – mussels, sausage, saffron rice -- bubbled away.  Abby and I enjoyed a plate of injera (spongy flat bread) loaded with five filling at an Ethiopian stall.  Two stalls near each other – one flying the Union Jack and the other the French tri-color -- competed with fabulous savory or sweet Breton-style buckwheat crepes.  Pig-on-a-spit sandwiches, fresh coconuts with a straw inserted, falafel, smoothies of all varieties, Trinidadian B-B-Q, Jamaican jerked chicken, grilled sardines, fudge, cup cakes, the most amazing creamy strawberry ice cream and a stall featuring Anna Mae’s American-style Mac and Cheese cooked up in a Mayflower sized vat: they each competed for our attention.

We ended our gastronomic tour of north London back at the Salisbury Pub, a quintessential Victorian corner pub.  An intricate mosaic floor leads 20 feet from the entrance to the middle of the large, wood paneled room.  Its expansive bar fills the center of the space serving patrons from three sides.   Behind the bar are mirrored panels and dozens of bottles of single malt whiskeys and liquor.  On the bar itself is a selection of over 10 draft ales, bitters, stouts and a German lager.  Cut glass windows look back out on  Green Lanes' main street and stream of people.  Inside, patrons are standing at the bar and seated around an assortment of booths and tables.  We finally found room to sit in the back “family” room, which sported a bright white-and-black checkered floor.  We crowded around a table with six chairs for the eight of us.  In the center of the room were two families with small children climbing up on the couches looking very much like they were at home in their living room.  They ate chips and grilled cheese sandwiches.  We drank our beer and reminisced on the food from the fair.  The band outside played 60’s rock and roll cover tunes.

Peter

Memory Lane in Kent

CANTERBURY
This weekend we hopped (if you don't count all the closed tube line encounters) on to a train to Kent, where we lived from 2001 to 2004. Our first year there was spent in a house in Canterbury, and the rest of the time in Whitstable, a neighboring town. We walked through the town, had lunch with some old friends, tea with neighbors, and visited some familiar landmarks.

Below: downtown Canterbury and St. Edmund's
I remember quite a lot from my time there, but it's a bit scattered. Walking through downtown I was able to connect places and times better. A particular parking lot brought back the time when Mom was learning to drive on the left side of the road nearby. The cathedral reminded of the field trips I'd been on there.



It was lovely to see our friends the Bushells for lunch. We've all changed, but we have lots of memories in common. We walked up to St. Edmund's, our old school. Everything was drastically smaller than I remember it to be. I peeked into my old classroom, and was astonished to find stick figure drawings proudly displayed. At seven I felt like the queen of the hill, but my drawings looked just like the ones hanging in the hall.

Our (first) house was very much the same. Our neighbors Bernard and Doris had been wonderful to us while we lived there, and they gladly welcomed us unannounced for tea. We picked apples as we had nine years before, although this time I didn't need a stool. It was lovely to see everything again, and spend time with people I haven't seen in so long. There's been a lot of change (including ourselves), but much is the same as well.

Lily

It’s Monday Morning, Time to Head Off to Work.

WOOD GREEN, LONDON
We’ve just enjoyed a lovely, full weekend.  Beth teaches Mondy through Thursday, so Friday we spent the day in Greenwich.  Saturday the girls and I explored the wonderful Portobello Street Market in Notting Hill and we all had dinner with friends in a nearby town.  Sunday we returned to Canterbury where we’d lived for 2.5 years seven years ago to see friends and familiar sites.

All of that feels like a travel vacation.  But today is a work day.  Beth is off to teach her classes and will be busy in town all day.  The girls and I begin our work week routine.  We arrive at work (our respective desks) at 8am and work until 12, when we pause for a half- hour lunch together.  We continue our work until 2:30 at which point we break free, get out of the house and see something. Today we’ll head in to Regent’s street so Abby and Lily can pick up their London Pass travel card.

During our 8:00 to 2:30 work day Lily spends two hours each on three of her five subjects (Math, Physics, World Studies, English and Spanish), Tuesday she tackles the other two.  Abby’s faster (either less work or smarter than the rest of us) so by 11:30 or so she is “done” with her daily work load of reading, writing, work sheets and problems.  I divide my work into three two-hour chunks: 1. London BCAG work – things that I can do for my business from here that I never make time for when I’m in San Carlos: writing eLetter articles, updating our web site, etc.; 2. San Carlos BCAG work – supporting my team, answering emails, Skype calls; and 3. Sabbatical work – thinking about the future of BCAG, new ideas, assessing where we stand, preparing for my return in January.

However,  while we work quietly at our desks, in the back of our minds we are thinking about next weekend.


Peter

Firsts in London this weekend--

Walk through the foot tunnel under the Thames to Greenwich

 

Scones, clotted cream and raspberry jam at a patisserie in Greenwich after visiting the National Maritime Museum and almost stepping on the 0 Meridian Line (there is now a charge for that privilege. . .)

Fish and chips at Toff's, a family-owned restaurant in Muswell Hill--with Lucia's brother Miguel and his lovely wife Marina and daughters Antonia and Sofia