UK 2009 Recap - Pastys

On our first few days of our England trip, we had a number of Pastys - they were delish! It's the same concept as a Hot Pocket except it's less streamlined, better dough, and so much better because you're in England eating it. Ryan and I joked that our three favorite Ps from our travels were...Pastys, Pasticcini, and Pasta. (The middle one are the cute little delightful treats you get at a Cappuccino bar in Venice.)

In Salisbury, they weren't quite the rough-and-tumble Pastys that sneak up from Cornwall. They were more delicate pastrys on the outside but hearty fillings on the inside. We stopped into "Reeve the Baker" which makes these goodies fresh - and they call them Wiltshire Pastys.


"Ryan hamming it up in Salisbury."


"The trick is to make sure as much filling goes in your mouth than down on the plate...because Miner's didn't have plates."

With a hearty meal in our stomach, we continued our graze through Salisbury. Their cathedral celebrated its 750th anniversary last year and was full of interesting facts...it has the oldest working medieval clock in the world. (You know we just love clock facts...read back when we went to the Deutches Uhren Museum.)



At about this moment, I think we both realized we were in a special part of the world. Centuries of amazing history, roots and body of a huge culture that extended to our own, gobs of experiences that just needed to be grabbed.



After a quick nap, of course. Before we got too far, Ryan dozed on a bench while I adored the swift moving clouds, the greenness of the Bishop's Close, squatty colorful doors, crows in trees, kids in school uniforms, narrow streets, corgies galore...This is England!

Tschüß!!

Please Do Not Feed the Pigeons They Carry Diseases And Are A Nuisance.

As seen in front of the moat of the Bishop's Palace in Wells, England. Poor pigeons, what did they do to you?

Croatians in Piccadilly Circus

On our last day in London, there were tourists in Croatian jerseys everywhere...red-and-white checkered shirts...we know this well from some of the blogs we read and from our trip to Slovenia. In front of Big Ben? They were there. Watching the Royal Horse Guards? They were there. Climbing lions on Trafalgar Square? There too. Chanting in the middle of a busy lunchtime crowd in Piccadilly Circus? See below...



Tschüß!

Home

Our travel plans and schedule were perfect yesterday. It wasn't easy on about 5 hours of sleep, but we did it anyhow. Within 15 minutes we were out of bed and checking out with a car service to take us to Victoria Station. At the station we bought our tickets to Gatwick and plopped down. Security at Gatwick meant huge lines but they moved fast and we then found a Pret A Manger for some croissants and white coffees (coffee heavy on the cream). A little light shopping (finally found a Superdry store...love it!!!!!!!!!!) and we got to our gate.

Boarded our 8 1/2 hour flight and it was very smooth. We were going to move to a bulkhead but seriously you don't get much foot room. Just a wall to stare at. So we moved back to our seats and settled in for the ride. Ryan slept for about 4-5 hours of it flight, I mostly watched movies and read on my Kindle. His iPhone and my iPod were dead so we had to make do with what we had. If we found another cheap fare on US Airways in economy we definitely would do it again!

Layover in Charlotte was easy, flight to Austin left on time and after a short stop at Central Market, we were home with the babies. House was beautiful, kids were happy (a little mad of course), and in bed by 9:30.

Now, to tackle work. Thanks for listening to our travels! Stick around for more cooking and travel thoughts as we settle in for fall in Austin.

Tschuess!!

London Wonders

London is fantastic. No wonder everyone falls in love with it at some point or another. It's massive, there are so many people, there are just as many tourists, there is amazing food, there are tons of pubs, there is a good amount of traffic, and doubledecker buses (my favorite thing here), amazing sights, free museums, what else could not NOT like?

After a long drive on the M4, we dropped the rental off at Heathrow (suspicious looks around the car, but it was deemed 'clean') we took the Heathrow Express into Paddington station. Few blocks to the hotel, and we checked into the fabulous Gore hotel. Other than the first night with a smoker next door ('She didn't have a balcony to smoke on so she just smoked out her window.') Right.

We are knocking off the sites with relaxed rigor, including the awesome British Museum yesterday with a whirlwind but awe-inspiring tour. They had a 'touch' exhibit where we got to feel and hold real Roman coins, where we learned where some coin details from today even come from...faces on coins, or even having regional items on the back. For instance, in modern times the Euro has icons for the country it started circulation...in roman times you'd see the army you were a part of...a very propoganda-type mindscrew.

Later, we proved why you can never get church-ed out! St. Paul's cathedral is amazing! We even climbed the 500+ steps up to the top of the dome. (You would not believe how claustrophobic it gets..but we managed and the pictures from up top are incredible. Then a walk across Millenium Bridge, a tour through the Modern Tate, a stroll down the Thames, and a look at Tower Bridge.

The last time I was in London was when I was 16 or 17 with Rob...we took a day-trip down to London and went EVERYWHERE! Now that he and his family live in London, we could not pass up meeting him for lunch and it was fantastic! Went to a pub and had some Bangers and Mash (what happens in London stays in London) and loads of great conversation. It's funny to see the three of us all grown up and doing well. I wish we had more time to spend with eachother and Amy. Alas, the overachievers are already up, showered, and ready to hit the sights for the last big hurrah in England. Gonna be a long exciting fun thrilling day - off we go!

Tschuess!

Wedding at Thornbury!

We are still in awe at the beauty of today's experience! Thornbury Castle, which is where Henry VII kept many of his concubines, was the amazing setting of both the ceremony, garden reception, and luncheon. The ceremony went off without a hitch, beautiful with the sun streaming through old windows and candles burning nearby. It was truly amazing! Melissa's gown is gorgeous.

Just now (I'm typing at a terminal in a nearby sitting room) I heard her pout a bit, not wanting to take it off, because she is stunning in it! The entire family is wonderful, we almost feel like family having been a part of such an intimate experience. 19 of us did the rehearsal dinner last night, at the Marriott Royal Bristol - an old hotel of sorts that is gorgeous and smack in the middle of Bristol. And then in a caravan, dodging the Bristol Marathon that was going on literally outside the hotel, we made our way out to Thornbury. We nearly knocked a few onlookers over as our car drove through cordoned off areas to leave the hotel.

Melissa lived here for three months as a baby, before they moved to the States. Her aunt and their family still live in the same neighborhood and are fantastic!

I was nervous, of course, doing the ceremony but it went well, they are truly officially married, and I can't wait to see the photos!

Next year, this castle will celebrate its 500 year anniversary. There is a church nearby, we drank wine from their vineyard, and strolled into secret gardens around old walls. Melissa and Robert have the biggest smiles I've ever seen on them - and both look gorgeous! What an terrific wedding, it all turned out so very well.

We're off to the hotel, going to have an early night and then up early for our trip to London. I still need to recap a bit of our day yesterday, seeing Avesbury, but we'll get to that later.

Tschuess!

Loving Somerset

Hello! First, wifi here is very picky with the iPhone and other than our brief connection yesterday morning, each wifi location has been a total bust. We have loads of pictures and stories saved up - but could never get them off. Now that we're in Bristol, in a very proper Marriott with a business center, we're back in business and the updates should flow quite often from now.

After landing and grabbing a rental car, a Peugot - we switched after the original Ford they gave us was just too big - and we're glad for it because the roads are small in the countryside! Ryan is an amazing driver. Not only did he get used to driving on the 'other side' of the road and from the 'other side' of the car, with pedals and manual gearbox still in the normal positions, but he took my feverishly pointed directions very well. 'Go here, there, left, right, straight...' He has mastered the roundabouts and can now move through them at the normal speed...sometimes as fast as 40 mph! The only strange thing is not knowing how close to the curb you are on the left side...you are always used to it being on the other side. We only clipped a few curbs and luckily without any problems.

We sped away from Gatwick quickly and in about 2 hours arrived in beautiful Salisbury, a pleasant town with a beautiful abbey. There we discovered Pastys (prounounced PAST-ees) and had a few sitting outside with some mist puttering down. The weather has been off and on, always cloudy, sometimes windy, most times rainy, but all times lovely and cool. We've had to worn jackets and sweaters, and sometimes scarves, each day.

After Salisbury we made way to Bath, a gorgeous town in Somerset that is just the right size. It's full of Georgian-style homes, mostly row houses, sometimes in geometric shapes like 'The Crescent' or 'The Circle' where Ryan was able to clap his hands in the middle and hear it echo back and forth from the houses.

Our hotel there was a quaint Bed and Breakfast in a beautiful house, Parkside, and run by a really sweet mother and daughter. Our room, number 6, was at the top of the house and very comfortable. We slept with windows open (no screens - I love Europe) each night and enjoyed a very British breakfast in the morning, overlooking her nice gardens.

We did well adjusting to the time, only sneaking a quick 20 minute nap, and heading back out for drinks and dinner. The town is very old, reaching back beyond Roman times, and full of shops and stately buildings. We found a 'freehouse' which is another name for a pub that has really really good beer and cider. This one was strictly locals only, which included us having a chat with someone whose father was (and by the conversation still is) the lead Communist party person in the area. We talked a bit about Texas vs. England, culture differences, but when it got a little heavy on our opinions on Socialism or Communism we made our exit. I just am not passionate enough to have a chat about that after three ciders!

Perfect timing, because just up the street we found Jamie's Kitchen which is a restaurant of Jamie Oliver's! Fabulous! Great food, both of us eating Pasta dishes. By the end of it, around 10:30 p.m., our bodies were so very tired and I literally almost fell asleep in my meal. (Earlier, while driving back from Salisbury, we both nearly fell asleep...I think Ryan dozed as we waited in traffic...)

We made our way back to our bed and quickly fell asleep. The next day was Bath in the morning, touring the actual Roman ruins and drinking actual water from the thermal hot springs! Ryan says it's like drinking warm tap water that has pennies in the jar. I made him drink the whole glass - 'Wellness, darling! Wellness!' Our favorite quote came from the audio tour - where the described a non-Roman asking a local Roman leader why they bathed twice a day. The roman replied, 'Because there isn't enough time for twice a day.'

Afterwards, we went for a drive down south to Glastonbury Tor - a creepy 500+ foot hill with a tall tower at the top. It's a natural hill, carved by time, and terraced due to Medieval farming before the swampy lands around it could be properly drained. It was super windy at the top - the kind where you can lean on it - but the view was incredible. 360 degree view of the Somerset lands. Stunning!

We moved on to Wells, which has a huuuuuuuuge Abbey (read: Church of England church) that was a special experience altogether. It is split in the middle with this scissor-looking structure that was added later to keep one end from sinking in because of all the weight. In the 'Chapter Room' which is a round large room where the clergy would have huddles and discussions, two girls decided to try out the amazing echo by singing 'Amazing Grace' - so neat.

We also got to see the oldest Medieval Library, with books from hundreds of years of dust and age on them. A cute volunteer gave us some history and even took us back into the church itself to point out some cute carved faces up on the pillars showing some tribulations of medieval times...toothaches, grape stealing, etc.

Another Pasty, and another drive back to Bath.

We hit the pubs - and later on in the night was approached by a lady with a Texan accent. 'I know you two, Ryan and Scott.' We were shocked...and then saw her daughter in the corner, Heather, laughing up a storm. They had just arrived, were out for a drink, and ran into us! They are here for the wedding as well - we had a great chat.

So that's part of the story...I need to go get showered and dressed for dinner. More about the Avebury Circle, driving through part of the Cotswolds, and our arrival in Bristol later...

We love you all and will keep trying to post!!

Tschuess!!

Packed and Ready

Rick Steves, please don't hate me. We finished packing within the 12-hour bubble. We should be sleeping soundly, with visions of Stonehenge and foamy beer in our heads, but no we're frantically downloading music and books (Kindle is comin' with, ya'll), cleaning and cutting up bird food, and making sure loose ends are wrapped up. It didn't help that I had two full weeks of travel during the past two weeks - but that seems to always happen right before a trip. The zen will come, just not tonight.

The kids are doing ok - no freak-out just yet, although I think Grete slipped a hiss when I pulled our luggage (the same hybrid carry-on/back-packs from last December's journey) out. Isaac eyed them warily, but let me pass. He already has been regurgitating for Karin, our great friend/housesitter/pet guardian, so he knows what's up. He also knows when I make him two big things of Birdie Salad that something *really* is up.

No pretty pictures from First Class this trip - we're coach all the way, since no business travel means no miles and no upgrades. I did pack our first class amenities from the last trip (earplugs, eyemasks, hydrating mist, salt and pepper) since we love to hoard travel items and will need something to keep us amused in coach. $7 drinks, here we come. (Better than the $600 per person per way we could have paid to upgrade...seriously? For 2.5" more width and 30" more pitch? I think I'll stick with a few Xanax and buy myself a severely awesome dinner once in England.)

OK, travel snobbery aside - we're doing a B&B in Bath, a modern hotel in Bristol, and a boutique hotel in London. I can't wait!

Tschüß!!

The 96-Hour Bubble

It's nearly a given that my work travel picks up shortly before a vacation. I was at a conference in Scottsdale during the days before our 2006 trip, had a few days in California before the 2008 trip, and now just spent two weeks out for work. The good news is I've learned to take it easy, get a lot of things done, but make sure I get solid sleep, eat well, and drink lots of water whilst traveling. (Ryan would laugh at that since I'm notorious for not drinking water...)

But as our plane descended yesterday evening down into Austin, I felt the oncoming checklist of the 96-hour bubble...that period of time where you ramp up, fret, pack, remember, gather, and relax. The latter being the more difficult thing to do, but the most important. No one wants to go on vacation mad.

The upcoming breeze-of-a-trip (if you compare it with the 2008 whirlwind) is 8 days in Southern England. Three cities/areas of focus: Bath, Bristol, and London. The middle city, which always gets a kind of head-yank that says "huh?" from my co-workers who live in London, will be certainly exciting as it's where I'll officiate the wedding for my best friend! I'm very honored and excited - and it adds an interesting element to our travel: carrying the one-off outfit.

I'm notoriously picky about packing. Rick Steves taught me all about traveling as lightly as possible. I mean, seriously, who is going to know or care if you where the same socks three days in a row? And "Rei in der Tube" makes the most awesome handwashing detergent you can imagine! Thank god for radiators!

But packing formal shoes, a jacket, and formal pants adds a new element of challenge in my light-packing process.

So, the bubble is here, time to lock down. We will be taking the iPhone for blogging convenience, so we'll update here as we go!

Tschüß!

Asparagus in Tomato Sauce

I still love Indian Food. Yes, I cheat at times and use the canned sauce...but recently have even started applying basics in one recipe to something different. Last year, I first tried Potatoes in a Tomato Sauce. Awesome, awesome, awesome! I used basically the same sauce but added cut Asparagus to it and it was amazing!





I will admit, this picture is from a few weeks ago - we've recently decided to go veggie for a while (which may be a long while). I've always had some serious meat guilt and struggle with my love of cooking and my love of animals. Using the "circle of life" justification only gets me so far...at the end of the day, I know animals are beautiful and deserve to live their own peaceful life. "But what about overpopulation?" There are always going to be meat-eaters and I'm sure I will eat meat in the future. However, we've created an industrial process that raises animals specifically for food, we raise too many of them, we spend too many natural resources to produce it, we kill and reap the harvest when they are too young, and I'm tired of being a contributor to that. It's the same thing with High Fructose Corn Syrup or other corn by-products. I don't have anything against corn or even goopy sugary syrup. I have a thing against nations, cultures, communities, and companies being dead-set reliant on one crop that's ruining the environment and is full of corrupt policies and practices/subsidies.

Wow, I needed that. I've been very trigger-shy lately about posting - this is a travelogue about our journey through food, through cultures, and through a very fun life in Texas - so let's get on with that, shall we?

I'm making good progress on planning our UK 2009 trip, which is coming this September. We'll be focused in London, Bath, and the Cotswolds, along with two days in Bristol for my BFF's wedding. I can't wait!

Tschüß!