Le Tour Eiffel

France has this lovely monument - you may have heard of it - the Eiffel Tower?
And to tell the truth, I was not DYING to see it. I mean, I've seen it a billion times in movies and in books. How much different could it be in person?Well.
Very Different.
It's massive. And amazingly cool. Creator Gustave Eiffel was extremely humble when he said that "Fance is the only country in the world with a 300 metre flagpole."
There are two platforms you can climb to - the first 300 some steps up and the second 630 steps. The first platform not only provided great views of the city but also an exhibition.
Anyone care to guess the subject?

Did anyone say, "Greenland Seal Hunting"?

No? Okay, it was one of our last choices too. BUT. It was so cool! Snow machines covered the platform with snow, beautiful photographs lined the railings and guests could belly up to an Ice bar for (what else?) a cold one;)

One happy patron at the ice bar.
Best of all, there were free snowshoes available for guests to use whilst ambling along the walkway, admiring the views. Since snowshoes had been on my childhood Christmas list for many years, I was in heaven!
Now I'm wondering what their summer exhibition will be.

Australian pig farming?

Paris, in a nutshell...

We walked... We ate...
We photographed...
We gazed...
...and we took funny pictures of ourselves and the Eiffel Tower.
C'est bon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!

We miss you all very very much, especially at this time of year! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and are REALLY looking forward to SEEING you all in the New Year!!!!!!!! We are truly thankful for having sooooo many wonderful friends and family members to miss! We really appreciate all the help we have received to pull off this adventure,,(special kudos to Gramma and Grandpa for keeping the home fires burning and looking after all that is near and dear to us....especially our Wilers!!!!!) Thanks again for that mom and dad!!!!!!

Love Jer, Bev, and Kee-O-Sha-Ma!!!

Greetings From Notre Dame in the heart of Pariee!!!

Just a quick video greeting! We went to the 4th sunday of Advent Mass at Notre Dame!! Even tho it was all "en Francais" it was extremely cool!!!

Christmas @ Harrow High and Vaughn Schools

Well, here is a quick look at the Maths Depart. (minus a few aides and one teacher). *Notice the 's' after Math - this is not a mistake - they call Math "Maths" here. These folks could not have been nicer! All of them are top notch people...I am lucky to have them as colleagues and friends. Without these guys in this picture, I would have jumped out of a window!!!

Here is my favorite class! I looked forward to teaching them each day! They are clever and determined to do well. Unfortunately, I took this picture the day before Christmas Holiday, and 10 kids are missing, (well 6 are missing, and 4 cannot have their pictures taken for religous reasons). I only posted this class because I really like these kids!!!! Thought you may enjoy hearing a few familiar Christmas carols, sung with that darling English accent! Just a few snippets of both, as videos have to be short! Mason is in the orange hat in the back. (And on all videos, you must hit the play button - the arrow - twice, for some reason).


Notice the decorations right above Shayna's head. (She's the only girl in gray, front row).They are religious - a crown, a cross, etc. This is a public school but they told the entire Christmas story during this program! Coming from our politically correct public schools who now call the Christmas Sing the "Holiday Sing" and Christmas break, "Winter Break", it was refreshing! Even though this burrough is more ethnically and religiously diverse than Park Ridge, they embraced the entire holiday. They celebrate each religious holiday for what it is - Ead, Ramadan, Diwali, etc. We have separation of church and state but they do not. Many people I have met here claim not to be religious or go to church so I find it so odd that they embrace (or at least allow!) the true story of Christmas to be shared. Ok, I'll get off my soap box;) Enjoy!

Christmas in London - a few tidbits

We've noticed that Christmas here is less commercialized, more muted. Only about one in ten houses hang lights in their window or have some sort of decoration. (At least in the area we live in, maybe others are different). Stores have a bit of fluff but not over-the-top like in -ahem- SOME places;) Hyde Park has a small ice rink (you must make reservations way in advance!) and some carnival rides. Keely and beau went down at night... ...while we went during the day. Here is a "Haunted Mansion" below and Carousel above.
There was a circle of little wooden houses like these, selling gift items from different countries. There was also a place to buy some 'mulled wine' and a sausage or mince pie.
Loved these wooden mobiles! Couldn't get close enough to even find the prices, tho. (Aren't zoom lenses wonderful?) We were there on Saturday afternoon with half the population of London, I'm sure;)
Another English Christmas tradition is the Christmas 'Panto' or 'Pantomime'. It is a fairy tale play (we saw Cinderella) with a twist - there are always one or two women's parts that are played by males. There is audience participation, where you yell when the 'baddie' appears or boo the evil characters and there are lots of gags. Below are the evil stepsisters in Cinderella, played by men.

And even tho we think of pantomimes being silent, these are not at all!
The other little fun surprise is that the school kids all send/exchange Christmas cards and make little mailboxes to receive them. They do not do this at Valentines day like we do, they do it now. Also, many cards have a Robin on them - a common symbol of Christmas here.
Not a cardinal in the lot.
Hope all of you enjoy a healthy and blessed Christmas!
love,
US!

Unexpected Bonus

When we envisioned moving to London, we did have certain pictures in our minds.
Castles.
Double decker buses.
Darling little front gardens.
Men wearing those chimney-sweep hats.
People having tea mid-day.
All that.
But what we didn't realize was the richness of London's (and it's Burroughs')
ethnic diversity. For example: Jer and I were very kindly invited to a
Holiday Drinks party just this past weekend. The hosts were parents of one
of Shayna's friends and were very gracious to include us in their annual
party. In the span of just a few very enjoyable hours, we spoke not only to some
very wonderful Brits but also people from Brazil, Italy and Israel. There were
probably more from other countries that we just didn't get a chance to meet
(we hung by the snacks and drink tables - duh!). Then, throw us, the Americans,
in there and it was a very international soiree!
The thing is, that would be a big deal in America.
But here, it's just part of the package.
A very nice part.

Ciao!

Birthday Bonanza!

As many of you know, Shayna and Owen have December birthdays, only 4 days apart. Shayna celebrated by going to "The Doll's House" with her friends for ridiculously rich hot chocolate and cakes. Fortunately, we had the downstairs lounge to ourselves...
Owen had a great celebration too! He spent the weekend hanging out with friends, culminating with going to see one pal's band play VERY LOUD MUSIC in a hip downtown London club.
Here he's modeling his new birthday hat (thanks N and L!) and showing off his new game (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Patt!).

More birthday duds. (And smiling from the cards, emails and checks he recieved;) Thanks!

Now, on to Christmas!

England Tip #261

Put a star by the rental ads that list flats with
'double-glazed windows'. We kind of thought that
was a given.

But now that freezing air is blowing through
our very old, single-paned, unglazed windows,
actually making the curtains sway,
we're thinking we should have paid better attention.

Walk with me!

I'm going to town on one of my many errands. This time, it's to get wrapping paper for Shayna's birthday presents. As I cross the street (our 'flat' is on the far left), I check down "Pinner View" for cars that could potentially run me over, as I still occasionally look left first, instead of right. I've safely crossed and now I'm walking west down Pinner Road, toward the 'mall'. The 'semi-attached' (tho they look all attached to me) houses line just about every block. The left side of the street has mostly shops - 'green grocers', 'fruit and veg shops' and 'off license'(liquor) shops.

As we pass by Monty's we give a sniff and wipe a tear, as this is where we met our first friend, John, owner of Monty's cafe. He was a real hoot - called Jer and all his male customers 'guv' and always had a naughty joke at the ready. Then he betrayed us by selling the shop just a few short months after our arrival.
Was it something we said?

We now walk down about a dozen steps to go under the 'roundabout'. Roundabouts are very clever intersections where no one has to stop, just ease in and go around until you get to the street you want to exit. Then make a mad dash for it. At least, that's how it feels when you're inside a car or bus on the 'wrong' side of the road, absolutely certain you are going to crash. Anyway, there is a pedestrian and biker roundabout below the street one. It's very well lit up and, like in many places in England, is under 24 hr camera surveillance. A bit creepy-big-brotherish, but also somewhat comforting as criminals probably aren't anxious to get caught on tape;)
Didn't think you needed a photo of the card shop - the mall looks like any other in the US.

And now, here we are with the Birthday girl. Are you singing?

The angel food cake mix from Grandma arrived early this morning, with just enough time for me to realize I did not have a mixer, an angel food cake PAN, and no prospect of getting one as no one here has ever even heard of angel food cake. Luckily, the box did provide directions on how to make it in 2 bread loaf pans. (Ahh, the camping experience continues...) And lucky for me, they were small enough to fit snuggly in my Easy Bake Oven.

Happy 12th Birthday, Shayna!

Meet our Guardian Angels!

Here are the famous sisters Janet and Dottie, our guardian angels, chauffers, personal shoppers, providers of every utensil, plate, tv, extension cord, endtable and fluffy towel in our entire flat. I cannot tell you how many things they helped us with, both before our move and after our arrival. In fact, on this recent visit to our humble abode, they came bearing a huge sack of wrapped gifts, jars of homemade jams and relishes, a poinsettia and even plans to bring us our own Christmas tree, decorations and all!
We're thinking of making a quick trip to Rome to have them Cannonized (sp?).
To fully understand their generosity, you must know that we had never met either of them before. Ever. The only tie was that my cousin had babysat for Janet's children way back when, in MN. Here we are in our elaborately decorated 'reception room' after our lunch and TEA;)

On the post labled 'Places we have stayed', there is a picture of the front of Janet's house in Northern England. This is a shot from their very back garden. I believe Jer and I stayed in the room at the top of the peak in the middle - the most luxurious place we've stayed by far. Janet even had candies and bottled water by everyone's bed and provided Robes and Slippers just like the Ritz! Classy lady.
This gate (below) is what you'd see if you turned 180 degrees from the top picture. This gate leads out to first a road and then the beach and sea beyond!
The kids and Jer and Janet's husband Steven took a long walk out this gate to the ocean. It was misty and overcast but fun for them to run around.
I, on the other hand, felt it was my duty to stay inside and test out the Jacuzzi. And the coffee pot.

I am happy to report both were in safe, working order.

Merry Missenden!

So you've all read (or at least some of you have) how much I loved Roald Dahl's hometown of Great Missenden. Well, when I was there, I saw a flyer advertising their "Festive Evening" on the "High Street". (Every town has it's own 'High street', like our Main street.) I couldn't resist going back and this time dragging my family with. It was very sweet - like PR's but much, much smaller. They had a 3 piece band (guitar, keyboard and base) playing in the courtyard of the Roald Dahl's museum. An hour later, we saw the same band playing outside the library! No, you haven't overindulged in the mulled wine and do not attempt to adjust you dial. There ARE two Father Christmas's waving to you here on the High Street. Check out the decorations - small (real) Christmas trees sticking out from what could be flag pole hangers.
We've also seen real trees, sliced down the middle and decorated, then wired to buildings for decoration. Cool!
Like most small towns, the streets are very narrow and the homes and shops are right at the edge of the skinny 'footpath' or sidewalk. As you walk by, you are looking directly into people's reception ('living') rooms and sometimes directly into their faces if they happen to be in the room! Whoops!

Not sure if they did this on purpose, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, but note the name of the Chinese Restaurant Santa's sleigh has parked in front of.
A better view of Santa's sleigh and plaster?paper mache? reindeer. Plus, a few darling passers-by;)
Unlike what I've heard about at home, the shopping in Great Missenden did not start at 12:01. The Festive Evening hours were posted as "5 pm until late". Gotta love that.

Happy shopping!

Day-Tripping with The Patts

Thought you'd like to experience a typical side trip with us....we're headed for Abby Road studios where the Beatles recorded many of their albums.
This is our tube stop, West Harrow. If you click on the picture below, you can see the tube sign clearer. (In fact if you click on any of the pictures in these blog pages, you will get a full screen shot of it! This just discovered by my genius hubby!) We are waiting for the Metropolitan line train. Sometimes we have to wait several minutes for our train/the right train. As a way to amuse themselves, the kids pick out a spot on the platform they hope will be closest to a door when the train pulls in. The kid who comes closest to a door, wins. Wins WHAT we have not decided. Just the fact that they have WON has been sufficient so far.
Ahhhh, now we are sitting down, whooshing our way toward our destination. This trip requires only one switch onto a different line, the Jubilee. Out the window, above the red-and-white building in the foreground, you can see the famous silhouette of Wembly Stadium. Well, it's famous for some. I, on the other hand, had never laid eyes on it. When it was pointed out to me, I asked if that tube-ish arc was some sort of ride, like something at Vegas, etc.
Well.
You'd have thought I asked if it was an alien space ship, for all the grief I have gotten about it.
Here, Owen does what has become the traditional Remind Mom of Her Stupid Question, by saying, "Hey Mom! Look! It's the ride!"
They have yet to miss one opportunity, of which there have been many. (It is on the way to London AND to Heathrow.)
Sigh.

Here we are! Outside Abby Road studios. This pillar has John Lennon's likeness on it, with thousands of signatures surrounding. There is a matching wall, also filled with signatures, to our right.
A short walk from Abby Road is Primrose Hill, a posh neighborhood high on a hill (er, hence the name) from which you can see downtown London. Although Owen looks like he has transformed into Quasimodo, I can assure you he hasn't. Not totally anyway.
Now, to get home, just reverse this process.

And do me a favor. Don't point out the 'ride'. Ok?

I get enough grief as it is.

Thanksgiving Initiation

In keeping with the Pilgrim's custom of sharing a feast with the natives, we decided to do the same and invited 3 of Keely's English pals to share in our Thanksgiving dinner. (They did not wear loin cloths, however, preferring the more modern trousers and 'jumpers' instead.) Starting at the front of the table and going clockwise, we have: Shayna, Jer, "Mills" aka Mike (K's beau!), Nikola, Charlotte, Erin (from Park Ridge), Lucia (also PR pal), Keely, Owen and Mason.

I ran into a few snags when trying to rustle up all the ingredients to the traditional dinner. There was no pumpkin, fresh or canned to be found, which makes pumpkin pies a bit...lacking. So I made apple crumble instead. Then, this is the biggest bag of stuffing I could find! (Placed next to my mug for perspective). So, I did a Martha Stewart and supplemented with my own homemade croutons. (Thank goodness for Recipes.com!)

Also pictured are my very appropriate bday gift from pal Kathy T. - acorn salt and pepper shakers! They, plus a few Thanksgiving cards we received in the mail, made up our holiday decor' :) Thanks, guys!

Another group shot. Check out our festive tablecloth. No one knew it was the top sheet from our bed;) (Yes, I washed it first!)
Mills brought a bottle of wine (love him already) and mince pies for 'pudding', which is what they call dessert. We played a rollicking game of telephone, ("Chinese Whispers" to them), where Jer complained it wasn't fair because he had to sit next to 'the English Guy', in fact, the whole "English Channel". We assured him it was just because he was getting old and hard-of-hearing;)To round off the indoctrination, we forced our guests to sit 'round the telly and watch A Christmas Story with us. I'm sure they all thought we were completely 'nutters'. Which, in fact, we are.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with love and laughter and bags of stuffing larger than your average teacup;)

Cheers!

Things are looking UP!

The next time you walk outside to get the paper or down to your local Starbucks, or even just out to the car, take notice of where you're looking. If you're like me, you'll be scanning the sidewalk (footpath, sheesh!) for cracks or bumps or puddles or something else that may trip you up. You may go a whole day without raising your eyes past what's right in front of you.

But you never know when you might be missing something...

Statue of St. Paul in back of St. Paul's Cathedral

The Tower spires in the pink dusky light at Tower Bridge.

A guy wearing a very funny helmet in the Roman Baths.

Perhaps a Poseidon weather vane (Amsterdam)

Or even a new friend, anxious to make your acquaintance. (Amsterdam)

So do yourself a favor today - Look up!

Places we have stayed

Although I haven't taken pictures of EVERY place we've stayed, here is a sampling:

The Victoria Guesthouse, Dover England

Just as cute inside as out.

The Youth Hostel in Bath. Our room was the one with the large balcony and french doors on the second floor. It was an old hospital, made of cement! The building is much bigger than it looks and goes back/deep a ways. We had three sets of bunks in our room and a sink. Shared toilets, showers down the hall and hot breakfast included;) For about $300 less than the standard hotel. Such a deal!
Failed to take a pic of the outside of our rented flat in Edinbourgh but this is the view looking out the kitchen window. You can just make out the individual stone walls separating each flat's 'garden' from the others. If you're a Patt Bloggie, the outside looks similar to the shot of the below-level garden and the house with the cat topiary;)
This is the fabulous House of Janet and Steven, friends/old neighbors of my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. (Hi guys!) And yes, this is a house for one family, not your typical 'semi-detached' shared building. They live in the quaint seaside town of Southport. More pics of this later.
just kidding.
;)