Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Consumerism as entertainment
Today we went to...Harrods! We didn't buy anything, but we figured that since it's all decked out for Christmas, it would be a fun place to visit on a rainy day.
The theme of this year's Christmas at Harrods is "The Emerald City." I'm not sure if this is the theme every year, but they had their Christmas parade on November 7th, so they're pretty gung ho about it. I think that in the absence of Thanksgiving, there is nothing else to celebrate after Guy Fawkes Day but Christmas (really early)! And it's all about bringing in the big bucks!
It IS a pretty awesome department store, and so big that I can't imagine actually seeing the whole thing at once. We focused on the areas that had lots of decorations, impressive looking foods and, of course, the toy section. We also accidentally stumbled through menswear, which wasn't too exciting. Evie was thrilled, craning out of her stroller for maximum viewing, squealing in delight, making everyone around her smile as she hugged the 2009 Christmas bear (no, we did not get it for her). She was also VERY impressed with the cupcakes.
I am drastically cutting back on my coffee consumption and haven't had any since last weekend, so I was thrilled to succomb to some really good coffee at Krispy Kreme in Harrods. Jim also got a doughnut.
Evie was the cutest unknowing Krispy Kreme's spokesbaby. Although I have let her taste a cupcake and various other treats, doughnuts are something that I connect with a childhood stomach virus and not something that we ever have around here. I'm sure that someone, somewhere (probably Jim) will give her a doughnut in due time!
Harrods has an AWESOME toy department. It was fun playing with the giant puppet heads.
Jim and I were wondering what kind of people actually SHOP at Harrods and decided that if we were filthy rich, we would definitely buy a 1000 Pound (GBP not weight) gorilla for Evie. Instead she had to settle for us taking her picture on some giant bears and the excitement of riding on a giant dog.
But her favorites by far, were the bears and monkeys who were part of a scene and a little dog who wandered the store with a balloon attached to him. she couldn't decide whether the dog or the balloon was more exciting.
We bought nothing at Harrods so we rewarded ourselves the end of our excursion with lunch at a fun and pretty inexpensive sushi place. The best part about it was that the people who were running it were Indian. What a fun way to spend a windy and rainy day in London!
The theme of this year's Christmas at Harrods is "The Emerald City." I'm not sure if this is the theme every year, but they had their Christmas parade on November 7th, so they're pretty gung ho about it. I think that in the absence of Thanksgiving, there is nothing else to celebrate after Guy Fawkes Day but Christmas (really early)! And it's all about bringing in the big bucks!
It IS a pretty awesome department store, and so big that I can't imagine actually seeing the whole thing at once. We focused on the areas that had lots of decorations, impressive looking foods and, of course, the toy section. We also accidentally stumbled through menswear, which wasn't too exciting. Evie was thrilled, craning out of her stroller for maximum viewing, squealing in delight, making everyone around her smile as she hugged the 2009 Christmas bear (no, we did not get it for her). She was also VERY impressed with the cupcakes.
I am drastically cutting back on my coffee consumption and haven't had any since last weekend, so I was thrilled to succomb to some really good coffee at Krispy Kreme in Harrods. Jim also got a doughnut.
Evie was the cutest unknowing Krispy Kreme's spokesbaby. Although I have let her taste a cupcake and various other treats, doughnuts are something that I connect with a childhood stomach virus and not something that we ever have around here. I'm sure that someone, somewhere (probably Jim) will give her a doughnut in due time!
Harrods has an AWESOME toy department. It was fun playing with the giant puppet heads.
Jim and I were wondering what kind of people actually SHOP at Harrods and decided that if we were filthy rich, we would definitely buy a 1000 Pound (GBP not weight) gorilla for Evie. Instead she had to settle for us taking her picture on some giant bears and the excitement of riding on a giant dog.
But her favorites by far, were the bears and monkeys who were part of a scene and a little dog who wandered the store with a balloon attached to him. she couldn't decide whether the dog or the balloon was more exciting.
We bought nothing at Harrods so we rewarded ourselves the end of our excursion with lunch at a fun and pretty inexpensive sushi place. The best part about it was that the people who were running it were Indian. What a fun way to spend a windy and rainy day in London!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Halloween!
At long last, we managed to celebrate Halloween the right way! We decorated the house and invited some of Evie's and our friends over for a not very spooky, but still fun time. Our family theme was 'Roaches.'
And Jim was a very stylish can of roach spray:
With our spooky decorations:
And our inviting jack o lantern:
we were swamped with trick or treaters! We ran out of candy!
Our friends got into the spirit of things, too.
It was a fun Halloween, the likes of which we haven't experienced in England! I already know what we're going to be next year.
And Jim was a very stylish can of roach spray:
With our spooky decorations:
And our inviting jack o lantern:
we were swamped with trick or treaters! We ran out of candy!
Our friends got into the spirit of things, too.
It was a fun Halloween, the likes of which we haven't experienced in England! I already know what we're going to be next year.
Full Disclosure
I'm afraid this blog is dying a slow death, but I'm still struggling to keep it alive! The combination of exhaustion, lack of free time and a very active baby is making it very hard to keep up with the blog and make it interesting. I'm trying to figure out a system for updating at least once a week without fail...stay tuned!
France: the finale!
We decided to visit Uzes again on the Wednesday market day. It was rainy.
We drank a lot of coffee and then wandered through a beautiful 'patisserie' and candy shop.
And were entertained by Evie's antics with the sticker we stuck on her head.
The next day was my birthday and we went to Arles, which is where Van Gogh spent a lot of time and is a very artsy and funky town.
There was another really old bull ring:
And a really old Roman Amphitheater:
And beautiful architecture throughout:
That night, Jim made me a birthday cake. It was a great day and a great week and a great finale to a fun time.
We drank a lot of coffee and then wandered through a beautiful 'patisserie' and candy shop.
And were entertained by Evie's antics with the sticker we stuck on her head.
The next day was my birthday and we went to Arles, which is where Van Gogh spent a lot of time and is a very artsy and funky town.
There was another really old bull ring:
And a really old Roman Amphitheater:
And beautiful architecture throughout:
That night, Jim made me a birthday cake. It was a great day and a great week and a great finale to a fun time.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Provence: part deux
The next day, we headed down some twisty mountain roads to a little village which I have forgotten the name of. This is not the village, but another village on the way (very large bird cages seem to be the style in a lot of the villages)
The village we walked from (which I will find out the name of when Jim is around) was perched up on top of a hill, surrounded by grape vines and with a river running along the bottom. It was very quiet and beautiful.
When we arrived, people were riding horses.
We walked into the village, noted a creperie, and then headed off on our one and only real hike of the trip (it started raining the next day).
There was a lot of talk in the walking book that we were using about wild boars. Apparently in the fall there is much hunting of the boars happening in the area where we were walking. We didn't see any boars, but we did see one hunter and we checked out this boar roasting station that was early in our walk. I think that the Pigfest set up rivals this.
Figuring that wild boars weren't that interested in cold pizza, we stopped for a picnic in a pine grove.
Jim in the vineyards:
Evie's grapes, stolen from the vineyard (we tasted them and they were good!):
When we got to the river at the end of our walk, Jim couldn't resist wading in. It was rocky so not the most comfortable experience.
Evie and I stayed on shore.
It was a beautiful river, which was rushing in some parts and calm in others.
This was a very old (can't remember how old, of course) and significant bridge. We drove over it to get back to our house and it was also very narrow and significantly scary. Fortunately there were not cars coming from the other direction!
After our walk, we just couldn't resist the call of a crepe (and ice cream). It was the best crepe we have ever shared. Sadly for her, Evie slept through it.
But when she woke up, we played a really fun game that involved me running towards her. It was, she thought, the funniest thing ever. So it made up for missing out on the best crepe ever.
Jim and Evie next to the old and significant bridge.
The next day: Avignon!
When we got there, we carried Evie up a lot of stairs so that we could wander around a park. Then we realized that we could have just rolled her up, if we had approached from the other end. Live and learn!
At the top of the park overlooking another old and significant bridge (I remember that this one got destroyed by a big ice storm or something and they never built it back. There is also a nursery song about this bridge, but I don't think I know it. My lack of knowledge of historical events is not surprising, but I'm usually an expert at nursery rhymes!)
Actually, it was kind of rainy and we were kind of tired so I didn't take very many pictures of Avignon. There was a big beautiful church because the vatican moved there at some point in history and it was the first place in Provence that we visited which seemed really touristy (also the first place we saw other Americans). So we kept our visit brief.
Avignon had a very happy parking garage.
This is a picture of what it was like driving with Jim all over France. I'm the driver and the hysterical person in the passenger seat is Jim.
Stay tuned for Uzes (again) and Arles.
The village we walked from (which I will find out the name of when Jim is around) was perched up on top of a hill, surrounded by grape vines and with a river running along the bottom. It was very quiet and beautiful.
When we arrived, people were riding horses.
We walked into the village, noted a creperie, and then headed off on our one and only real hike of the trip (it started raining the next day).
There was a lot of talk in the walking book that we were using about wild boars. Apparently in the fall there is much hunting of the boars happening in the area where we were walking. We didn't see any boars, but we did see one hunter and we checked out this boar roasting station that was early in our walk. I think that the Pigfest set up rivals this.
Figuring that wild boars weren't that interested in cold pizza, we stopped for a picnic in a pine grove.
Jim in the vineyards:
Evie's grapes, stolen from the vineyard (we tasted them and they were good!):
When we got to the river at the end of our walk, Jim couldn't resist wading in. It was rocky so not the most comfortable experience.
Evie and I stayed on shore.
It was a beautiful river, which was rushing in some parts and calm in others.
This was a very old (can't remember how old, of course) and significant bridge. We drove over it to get back to our house and it was also very narrow and significantly scary. Fortunately there were not cars coming from the other direction!
After our walk, we just couldn't resist the call of a crepe (and ice cream). It was the best crepe we have ever shared. Sadly for her, Evie slept through it.
But when she woke up, we played a really fun game that involved me running towards her. It was, she thought, the funniest thing ever. So it made up for missing out on the best crepe ever.
Jim and Evie next to the old and significant bridge.
The next day: Avignon!
When we got there, we carried Evie up a lot of stairs so that we could wander around a park. Then we realized that we could have just rolled her up, if we had approached from the other end. Live and learn!
At the top of the park overlooking another old and significant bridge (I remember that this one got destroyed by a big ice storm or something and they never built it back. There is also a nursery song about this bridge, but I don't think I know it. My lack of knowledge of historical events is not surprising, but I'm usually an expert at nursery rhymes!)
Actually, it was kind of rainy and we were kind of tired so I didn't take very many pictures of Avignon. There was a big beautiful church because the vatican moved there at some point in history and it was the first place in Provence that we visited which seemed really touristy (also the first place we saw other Americans). So we kept our visit brief.
Avignon had a very happy parking garage.
This is a picture of what it was like driving with Jim all over France. I'm the driver and the hysterical person in the passenger seat is Jim.
Stay tuned for Uzes (again) and Arles.
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