Henley Royal Regatta

Our landlady graciously gave us a pair of tickets to the Henley Regatta for Thursday.    We went and had a great time.

We just got the tickets on Wednesday evening - and they were for the Steward’s enclosure, the most traditional place to view the races.  It is typically very difficult to get tickets to the enclosure, and thus very exclusive.  We went to the Regatta  last year [last year's writeup] but actually being in the enclosure is a very different experience.

First thing, we had to figure out what to wear.  The enclosure has a strict dress code – for the ladies AND the men.  Luckily, my best sundress covered my knees (just).  Hats are ‘encouraged’ but not required – good thing as that would have been tricky.  We had a bit more of a challenge with Steve.  Jackets are a MUST, and for some reason Steve’s navy blue, pin-striped wool suit did not seem like a good idea for one of the hottest days of the year.  His co-worker Tim came to the rescue and offered to bring in a few jackets to work for him to try and borrow.

It was very hot today.   We arrived about 3:30 and a distinct seating pattern could be seen. 

 

Lucky for Steve, for the first time in 33 years, the men were allowed to take off their jackets in the enclosure.  (ties had to stay on)  I got to cool my feet in the river.

 

So, this post is already pretty long and we haven’t even talked about the rowing.  That’s because that the rowing is not the main point of the Regatta.  The Regatta is more about seeing and being seen, and for most people drinking lots and lots of alcohol.  The boats only come about every 7 minutes or so, and most of the races are not actually that close.  But, if the day is fine it is wonderful to sit and just watch everything pass by.

I do have to admit Steve looked pretty good:-)

The Sad State of Mexican Food

One of the things we miss most about the states is good Mexican food. It makes sense… the best Mexican restaurants in the States are typically run by Mexicans, and there are not many Mexicans in the UK. Unfortunately the lack of Mexicans in England doesn’t stop the English from trying.

Wednesday is quesadilla day in one of our cafeterias. You pick up a plate with a quesadilla and then add some guacamole and refried beans. Actually, I should say that you then add some “guacamole” and “refried beans.” The guac was very light green and had the consistency of mayonnaise. The beans were chunky and light gray. I bravely took some guac (which might have made a nice salad dressing), but decided the beans were better left to my imagination.

One of my American coworkers from Texas was more cheeky than me. Without trying to be mean, she specifically asked the chefs why the sides did not look like they ought to. The chefs explained that the guacamole was made from avocados, sour cream, and mayonnaise. I don’t think she had the heart to ask about how they made the refried beans.

On a lighter note, the chefs did say that she should come back the next week to show them how to make the food properly.

The Schrockinator

Houston – Brother Lowell

Along with Margie, and John I got to see my brother, Lowell, who was on his university spring break.

He is a proud uncle.  He also says babies are ‘chick magnets’ so he held John as much as possible when we were out.

Lowell goes to Webb Institute, a shipbuilding school, and he has been spending his internships working in oil and gas shipping.  Lowell has done two internships in Houston, and will be doing a third this summer. He took me to one of the places he worked in Galveston on Saturday afternoon. His employer in Galveston was a business that repairs offshore oil rigs like this one.

There was also a lot of other cool stuff in the yard, like this reel for laying sea floor cables.

He was really excited about this ship – for a lot of design features that he was rambling on and on about.  I just think it is a cool looking boat – and he asked me to take a picture of it.

It was good to see you Lowell – I hope to visit you in New York next year before you graduate!

Krakow – Day 4

Our fourth day in Krakow had no real sightseeing agenda – just a day to explore.  We had a FOURTH day of beautiful weather, and abeautiful old city in lovely weather is a joy. 

First we stopped at a small art exhibit on the works of Jacek Malczewski.  I really liked his style, the colors and shapes were beautiful.  I am a fan of art nouveau and he is considered to be the best Polish art nouveau artist.  But, let me tell you, this guy sure was a narcissist.  Within 60 seconds of the exhibit, about the time I figured out that it was his face staring back at me from nearly every painting, I decided as much as I liked the style and technique of his work, that I wouldn’t have liked him as a person and I wouldn’t want a picture of his beady eyes staring back at me in my house.

The real piece of work was his version of ‘the last supper’ – guess who played Jesus, yep.  And to top it off, although in real life he had a receding hairline, as Jesus he gave himself a full head of flowing hair.

OK, sorry for the diversion about narcissistic painters, back to our tour.  Steve, the good traveller he is, had a waking tour from the Rick Steves guidebook to follow.

We took a leisurely pace, stopping at anything that struck our fancy. 

• We had a morning snack at a fabulous art nouveau cafe – with the best booths made for reclining – I could have stayed there all day. 

• We stopped at St Mary’s church, to see the altar piece. 

• We visited St. Francis’ Basilica – a beautifully simple art nouveau interior, a copy of the shroud of Turin (very interesting) and beautiful stained glass by one of Alek’s favourite artists, Stanislaw Wyspianski.  This church is where Pope John Paul II was archbishop of Krakow.  This picture was taken from the bench where he liked to pray in the back of the church.

• We stopped at an ancient, tiny church where nuns were singing prayers.  Very beautiful sounds. 

• There was lots of meandering, beautiful buildings and taking photographs - followed by a return to the same cafe for more coffee.

Just a wonderful day, taking it easy.

Krakow – Day 3

Monday, Steve, Marcin and I travelled out of the city of Krakow to Auschwitz.  Aleksandra had visited as a student, and didn’t want to go again.

We took a bus, which took about an hour and a half.  Auschwitz is actually two camps, Auschwitz is the smaller of the two, and Birkneau the larger, about 3km away.  Auschwitz is the one we visited first, as it has exhibits that explain the history of what happened there.  It is, obviously, and extremely sobering place. 

After a couple hours there we walked over to Birkneau.  The time to process and talk about what we had seen was good.  At Birkneau you get a sense of the vastness of the horrible tragedy that took place here. 

The landscape is bleak, and the chimneys that remain continue far into the distance.

The train track that brought people in like cattle is nearly a half mile from the front of the camp to the back.

I was surprised that I was not emotional while I was visiting.  What breaks my heart about the Holocaust is thinking of individuals facing their deaths and families being separated.  The individual emotions and moments.  The sites had relatively few photos and stories.  What I experienced on my visit was the immense scale of the numbers impacted.  Not individuals, but a countless sea.  I still can’t get my head around it.  And, I suppose, it is harder to be sad about what you can’t understand.

Krakow – Day 2

*Second in an occasional series on our April trip to Poland.  Once I’m done with this I’ll pick our Spain trip from September back up before my sister nags me again.

Our second day in Krakow, Sunday, was as beautiful as the first – so we visited an underground salt mine:-)

The Wieliczka salt mine has been in operation for about 800 years years, and  some 200 years ago the salt miners started making carvings and turning the rooms created by the mining into chapels and dioramas commemorating important people and events.  It really is an interesting tour, and I’d particularly recommend it if you have a rainy day in Krakow.   You had to pay extra to take photos, and photos in a cave generally turn out like rubbish, so I didn’t bother.  So this is all you get.

When we got back to the city we wanted some sun – so we found a cafe and had coffees or beers and just enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Sunday night Marcin had made reservations at Restaurant Wierzynek, one of the finest restaurants in all of Poland.  Marcin had wanted to visit this restaurant for many years – so it was a highlight of the trip for him.  The food was great and the service was excellent.  We had a beautiful meal, with glasses of wine, for about £100 for all four of us.

The Jones European Adventure (TM)

I was going to write a blog post today about all the great National Trust properties we’ve been visiting this weekend, and all the good pub food we’ve eaten, but I just can’t compete with the travel tales that Steve’s sister’s family are experiencing.

We’ve been following along at Facebook, but I’ve been pulling out the highlights and posting to their blog, Dear International Family.  If you have 20 minutes to laugh along WITH them it is more than worth checking out.

The Griswolds have NOTHING on the Jones family!

What is Different – Part III

(Part 3 of an occasional series on the lesser-known differences between the States and England.)

Hanging “do” at the end of a sentence. It exists in a few colloquial forms in the States, as in “No can do”, but it is much more common in England.

US: “Can you take care of this?”  “I can.”  
“Can he take care of this?”  “He might.”

England: “Can you take care of this?”  “Can do.”  ”Can he take care of this?”  ”He might do.”

Then there is this very strange phrase with a hanging “do” that describes an event: “Leaving do.” As in “Are you going to Andrew’s leaving do?” In the states, this is more expressively known as a “going away party”.

The Schrockinator

Ironing

I really dislike ironing.  Probably the only household chore that I dislike more is vacuuming.  And since moving to England I am doing a lot more of both.  But this post is not to whinge about vacuuming – that can come later.

The reason I iron so much is that I don’t have a tumble dryer. I hang all of our clothes and linens up to dry.  We have two racks that are in our third bedroom (the ‘laundry’ room – the washing machine is in the kitchen).  I hang neatly, and shake the clothes out to get some of the worst out – but still – virtually everything needs to be ironed.  Shirts, trousers, jeans, sweaters – the whole lot.  I don’t iron underwearor socks, towels or sheets (I’m not a masochist).  I do iron the pillowcases as it makes the bed much more comfortable and it just takes a couple minutes.  The WORST ironing task is the duvet cover.  Yep, once a week I spend 20 minutes ironing the dumb thing.  I just can’t stand how terrible the bedroom looks with a wrinkly duvet.

OK – whingeing over.  Now a story.

There are quite a few mornings when we get half way down the lane and I say ‘did i turn the iron off?’  Maybe once a month I think I didn’t and we head back to check.  I can’t think of a single time that it was left on, but hey, checking is better than burning the house down.  Anyways, two weeks ago I went to Texas to visit my sister.  I did my packing on a Thursday night after a day of meetings in London, and pressed the worst out of a couple tops before putting them in my suitcase.  Well, on Monday night, after coming home from work, Steve thought the house smelled funny.  Sure enough, the iron was on.  STILL on.  Since THURSDAY.  Four days.  We are so lucky the house didn’t catch fire.

The iron still works, but leaks water – so today I got a new iron.  YES, it has auto off.  It is 2300 watts, heats almost immediately and irons a pillowcase in about half the time.  It will take the edge off the drudgery.

Yes, I am aware you can hire people to do your ironing.  (there are quite a few services here in England that will pick it up from your house and deliver weekly)  I just can’t justify the cost.  When I’m a VP maybe:-)

A treat for Dad

We saw this at the store today.

Steve’s dad is always talking about the good old days on the farm with the rich milk from the Guernsey cows.  We’ll get this for him when he visits in August so he can show us how it’s done.  Gold Top ‘breakfast’ milk.

This milk has an amazing 5.8g of fat per 100ml.  Almost 50% more than English whole milk and 3 times that of 2% milk.  Yummy (sortof)