0 Max's Mandatory Phone Booth Picture

Since our time here is drawing to a close and we're in our last year (unless I can work a miracle), I figured it's time to start doing all the silly "must-do" tourist things of England.  Step one?  Take a picture by the phone booth that sits at the corner of our street.  There's no phone in it... I'm thinking we should steal it when our movers come :)

0 Lincoln; specifically Steep Hill

 Our main purpose in going to Lincoln was to meet up with some friends of ours who were there visiting family for the week.  Due to the short winter hours and the time we spent enjoying lunch with them, Paul and I were only able to sight-see the Cathedral and Steep Hill. Having a native tour guide does help- even if we'd walked on Steep Hill by accident we wouldn't have known its significance without Sarah!

Walking out of the pub we ate lunch in, Paul happened to notice the street name.  We resisted the urge to knock on doors asking for muffins :)

 This bookshop is on Steep Hill, as you might be able to read on the lower left of the building. 

 Best cat door ever (also on Steep Hill).

 This is part of Steep Hill.  Rated the Best Street in Britain by the Academy of Urbanism (yeah, that's a thing, apparently), Steep Hill also gets my award for most matter-of-fact name for a street.  We walked down Steep Hill, then turned around and walked back up.  It's a doozy, but it's also got a lot of charm and some cute shops!

0 Lincoln Cathedral details

Here are some details from Lincoln Cathedral- told you I couldn't get enough of it!

Some well-used standards of Britain.  

I love the details in the "clear" pieces of glass, much like at York Minster.

If you've been reading this blog, you should know I always find an interesting door!

Paul was quite curious as to who these spikes were intended for...

I think whatever's on that scroll must be quite shocking.

Puppy!

0 Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral is beautiful.  I just want to start with that, to try and explain why there are thirty-eight pictures over two posts for you.  Lincoln Cathedral is the most beautiful church I've ever seen. Granted, I'm quite partial to the architectural style of medieval religious houses, and stained glass gets me all sorts of giddy, so I may be slightly biased.  

The cathedral is visible for miles as you approach the city.  This was, of course, intentional, as it served as the center of religious, social, and to some degree, political life during its heyday.  The church to the left is the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, which is believed to have originally stood where the cathedral now stands.  The current church was begun in the late 13th century.

The whole looming thing is effective, yes?

I need to do some research and find out the reason for the multiple arches over the doors. 

The cathedral was commissioned by William the Conquerer and was first consecrated in 1092.

See what I mean? 

Stained glass is even beautiful when it's not visible. 

Yep.  I could live here.

The cathedral was damaged twice in the 12th century, by fire and earthquake.

The central tower collapsed in the mid-13th century, but was rebuilt and was considered the tallest building in the world from the late 14th century until the central tower's spires blew down in 1549.

There is a labyrinth on the floor under the tower.  Paul and Reece walked it, whether for penance or curiosity I'm not sure!

While we were there a school group was rehearsing for a choral performance. 

I plan to have a doorway identical to this one someday.

This window is known as the "Dean's Eye". It was recently restored.

I'll have some double-arch bench seats, too.  In my house.  That will strangely resemble a medieval cathedral.

You can't really see him, but the famous Lincoln Imp is in this image- in fact, Paul's staring right at him.  I couldn't get closer, as a small service started and pictures weren't allowed due to disruption.

Stained glass shining onto a wooden bridge. 

We're planning to get back to Lincoln, and it's not that far, so I will take time on that visit to walk around the outside of the cathedral and hopefully get on a guided tour of the interior.  

0 A Day In the Life: November 24

Today wasn't a super eventful day, but there were some particularly U.K. bits, so here goes.

This morning started last night.  As most of you know, today was Thanksgiving back in the States.  I went to work today (more on that later), and those of us going in decided to have a little Thanksgiving lunch of our own.  I talked up my pies to some of the English workers, and I was committed: two homemade pumpkin pies- a rarity in the U.K- and two homemade apple pies.  The apples are from our farm delivery, as was my dinner- chicken and vegetable soup with added carrots and celery.

It's a crappy image, and the pumpkin pies weren't collapsed
like they look in this picture, but hopefully you're still drooling :)

I got to work and *skip all the boring stuff* lunchtime came.  We had a wide variety of foods and my pies.   They both went over quite well- I came home with two pieces of apple pie and I only ate two small pieces of pumpkin there!  One Englishman who has had pumpkin pie in the past said that mine "set a different standard" and when I asked if that was good (he's known for tricks!) he moved his hand to head level in an "up to here" motion- success!  For those less brave, the apple pies still got raves.  Despite working on Thanksgiving, I'd say I still got a pretty memorable one!

Paul slept most of the morning and woke up shortly before I arrived home at 1:30.  Our Element is due for its M.O.T. and tax disc this month, so I had the M.O.T. scheduled for this afternoon.  The M.O.T. gets its name from the initials of the Ministry of Transport and is an annual test required in order to use a vehicle in the U.K. In order to be a legal driver you must have a current tax disc and in order to get a tax disc you must have a passing M.O.T. certificate. The test covers the vehicle body, fuel systems, exhaust emissions, safety features, etc.   We took Watson (yeah, I name my cars) to a garage in Hampsthwaite, the village next to our old village, Birstwith.  Since Sloan still needed her walk and it gets dark around 4:30 we decided to multi-task and popped her in the car.  As Watson got his test we walked through Hampsthwaite with her.

Watson passed, so the next item on the errand checklist was milk.  Because of our travels I decided to cancel our farm delivery this week (it normally comes on Fridays) and that's how I normally get my milk, so I needed to stop and buy some.  My favorite place to get milk/fresh veg other than our delivery?

Birstwith Post Office!  

So, we drove over to our old stomping grounds.  True to small village charm, as soon as we walked in the door one of the women said "Oh, we get to see both of you back!", followed by a cheerful "Happy Thanksgiving!"  As we picked up some fresh veg, milk, Abbot's Black Wensleydale cheese, and beetroot chutney we chatted about how much we miss Birstwith.  Don't get me wrong, we're still happy we moved- we like our new house much better than the old one (I promise I'll post on that soon!), but we both really miss our small village and the hamlet we've moved to just doesn't offer the same warmth.

Next we stopped at the farm shop we get eggs at- Paxtons.  The farmer, Ian, is a wonderfully personable Yorkshireman who is thrilled to give bumbling Americans advice and tips on fun places to go and even dishes to cook.  Paul likes to buy pork there and I keep bugging him that he needs to take Ian some of the pulled pork he makes to share the joys of Southern barbecue.  Ian raises the animals whose meat he sells as well as the chickens whose eggs we buy.  He knows I prefer extra-large eggs because I don't eat the yolks and often picks out the biggest for me from that morning's gathering.

We were driving home when Paul said he wanted tacos tonight.  When I replied that we had no mozzarella, that added another stop to the list- the supermarket.  You may wonder why we make all of these stops rather than just go to the grocery store.  Really, it's one of the things I love most about our life here.  We do make several stops and drive around a bit more, but we buy our food as fresh as possible and often straight from the people who've grown it or slaughtered it, it's often organic and preservative-free, and we both swear it tastes better.

One food note- several years ago I made a conscious effort to only buy dairy that was rBGH and antibiotic-free.  In the States (especially in the small town we lived in) this meant a bit of hunting and a much greater expense for my milk and cheese dependency.   While I was researching living in the U.K. I discovered that E.U. regulations do not allow added hormones and antibiotics in dairy- YAY!  This means I can pick up any cheese (and I have discovered A LOT of cheeses I love here!) or milk I want- except I still try to get "happy dairy"- grass fed, field-romping cows who aren't overbred.  Our farm delivery dairy has definitely happy cows- there's even a video of them!

Now we're home, making tacos and watching some American tv through the wonder that is the internet.  Tomorrow we're headed to Lincoln to meet up with some friends of ours and see the city!!

x

0 A Day in the Life

While I've been sorting through my pictures from our recent trip to Venice and mentally flogging myself over not having finished posting our trip to Ireland or our most recent Scotland trip, I realized that this blog has rapidly devolved into only travel posts.  While this is fine, and Paul and I enjoy the little posts down memory lane, I realize that there are a few of you who care about our actual lives and others of you who may just be curious about what our regular life is like. 

 (Un)fortunately, two years in, we've grown accustomed to the freedom of taking our dogs everywhere, picking up steak bakes (Paul) and Chelsea buns (Gesci) at a bakery in town when we're there, and braking at a screeching, adrenaline-rushed halt when coming face to face with another car careening around the narrow country roads at 60 mph. 

(No, neither of us has had a real accident yet, but a friend of mine who's quite competent and lived here as long as we have just did.  Thankfully she's okay, although her car is the mechanical equivalent of dead, but the incident made us realize how many chance-misses we've each had.)

With all of that I'm trying to tell you that I'm going to attempt to start a new weekly post: "A Day in the Life."  You may know that this is a fantastic song by The Beatles... coincidence?  Not really.   But I'll warn you: most of our days are fairly boring.  Lately they've involved a lot of work, especially on my part, since more work=more travel, plus as the days have gotten shorter and shorter (my biggest complaint about living here!) we've had to start cramming all of our day-time activities into the hours before 4:30 PM.   

I'm only going to do this post once a week so that hopefully I can pick days that are slightly more involved than most.  I'll even do my best to get the other articulate member of the family involved- no, not Sloan, unless you want to read "Stretched.  Pawed at covers.  Went outside, sniffed where some mice and hedgehogs were during the night.  Went back to sleep in front of the Aga.  Got up in time to bark at some passing cyclists.  Went outside again.  Barked again.  Man, I love the sound of my own voice.  Mommy and Daddy FINALLY took me out.  Trotted in front of them 'cause they're too slow.  Peed on some stuff.  Sniffed some other stuff.  Fetched my ball.  Got back in the car under duress.  Went home, ate some kibble.  Back to sleep in front of the Aga."  

[Edit: Due to some of her fans' encouragement, Sloan now has a blog.]

This post won't count; since we've been back the past couple of days have consisted mostly of me sorting pictures, Paul catching up on homework, laundry, sleep, and dog walking.  

If you have any questions about life here, feel free to ask... I'm told people read this blog, and your feedback is always welcome, so comment/message away!

0 Seven Tips for Your Visit to Venice

1. Check for passes!  At the last minute (literally on the flight there) I read about the Rolling Venice pass in our guidebook.  The Rolling Venice pass, which cost us a mere €4 each, got us discounted tickets to many sites and the small tours of the Clocktower and Doge's Palace.  We also got a highly discounted (€18 euro each instead of regularly €33 each) three-day vaporetto pass.  While the Rolling Venice is only good for 18-29 year olds, there are several other Venice passes available.  Chances are, you'll match one! Another pass we got was the Chorus Pass.  Good for one year and entry into sixteen different churches, the Chorus Pass was only €8 with our Rolling Venice pass- and is only €10 regular price.

2. I could tell you "get lost", which was the #1 piece of advice we got from friends, but to be honest I'm not sure how you couldn't get lost!  Addresses are ambiguous at best, and Venice is a maze of streets, alleys, narrow passages, and canals.  You can cross a bridge or turn a corner to find yourself one short step from being face-first in canal water!  However, if you're willing to just turn corners and mosey around, you'll find charming architecture, chiese and campi all over, and, of course, gelatiere!

3. Eat your weight in gelato!  Seriously.  It's gooooood.  Honestly the food in Venice is kind of disappointing.  I'd heard and read that, as the majority of restaurants are geared for tourists, the quality of food really isn't up to the Italian cuisine reputation.  It's true.  The food is fine, it's passable, some of it is even enjoyable, but not memorable.  However, gelato is always around and always delicious!

4. Ride the vaporetto!  We used it daily, and with our discounted pass it ended up being more than a bargain.  The stops are everywhere, and, while the maps took us a bit to figure out, once we (read: Paul) did, it was easy to get around.   Just be sure to swipe your card when you get on each time!

5. Go out for a sunset and get up for a sunrise.  We walked around every night (okay, I drug Paul around while I was taking night pictures) and really enjoyed the quiet.  Venice is remarkably quiet, since there are no motorized vehicles, and it becomes nearly surreal after dark.  Our last morning we got up and walked around at sunrise and it seemed like we were the only non-Venetians out.  Watching the sun bounce off the beautiful buildings in the Piazza was amazing, and seeing all the delivery and service boats zip around was a novelty for a car-based American!

6. Respect the "no photography" signs.  Many of the treasures, buildings, craft pieces, and artworks we've seen all over Europe are centuries old and a large part of what makes Europe so incredible.  Photography flash can damage paintings, wooden pieces, frescoes, basically everything except stone and metal.  Sites are often cornered into making a blanket "no photography" policy because of a lack of attendants to monitor visitors.  We saw people taking pictures (including flash) in almost every site that didn't allow them, and it's quite disrespectful to both the site and to other visitors, as it interrupts the viewing and, really, takes a small piece of posterity from future visitors.

7. Don't feel required to do all the "touristy" things, but also don't avoid them just because they're "touristy"!  The Piazza San Marco is renowned for a reason- it's beautiful, and the center of culture in Venice.  However, try to avoid the cruise boats and go to the Piazza in the early afternoon or very early or late just to stroll and enjoy the character.  We opted out of a gondola ride mostly due to cost, which neither of us regret, choosing instead to ride the vaporetto along most of the Grand Canal and walk around the rest of the island.  We did take in an opera, La Traviata, one evening in a Scuola- a very touristy thing to do, but we both thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to experience the Scuola in a different way.   Murano and Burano were definitely worth the visit, although Murano was full of shopping pressure and Burano didn't offer more "stuff" beyond one main area- but walking around was charming!

0 Venice Trip: Doors, Windows, and Knockers

 There was a lot of really beautiful ironwork all over the islands.

 Other than the graffiti this entire doorway is amazing!

 I love the door and the arch!

 I'd read online that one area of Venice has Pulcinella door knockers.  I searched for them, but didn't really know what I was looking for... meanwhile, I found a lot of other interesting ones!

There's a common theme of knockers sticking their tongues out... is this for visitors or solicitors??

 You can get tough...

 Or strange...

 or a little creepy!

 Gargoyle!

 Lion getting attacked by a serpent?

Aaaaand, one more lion for good measure!