We're off

Not sure if anyone is reading this, so I am taking an executive action of discontinuing the blog!  We are so busy that it has become a burden to find time to continue!  If you are really reading it and I get enough response, please let me know.  Otherwise, au revoir from Paris!!

LITTLE GIRLS, LITTLE GIRLS EVERYWHERE I LOOK THERE ARE LITTLE GIRLS...

So, if it is Saturday in London, it means matinees in the West End.  And top that off with a beautiful sunny day where Londoners (and everyone else!) can get out of their flats and believe me, they did.  So 

Our task today was to go to see "Matilda" which I persisted in calling everything but Matilda!  And the theater was teeming with all sizes of girls, boys, and some you couldn't tell!  And that meant ice cream, candy, soda as well.  Along with parents trying to corral the aforementioned kiddies.  Iris was entranced by the whole thing -- on the stage and off.  Which meant her mommy was entranced watching Iris watching the event(s).  It ran 3+ hours and, when we emerged, it was nearly supper time.  We were in the vicinity of Covent Gardens, where there was much activity of puppet shows, impersonators, magicians, etc.  All I wanted to do was sit down with a glass of wine and, lo! and behold, there was a NYC restaurant called Balthazar, which looked IDENTICAL to the NYC one where we had an early dinner.

I had snails (ewww, was Iris's comment) and everyone else had Dover sole, as that is what you do when you are near the Channel, North Sea, etc.  And the best part, according to Iris, was that they gave her crayons and she could draw pictures on the tablecloth!  Her daddy spied a 007 drink on the menu, ordered it, and got loopy goofy (which we all enjoyed, because he gets really talkative when loopy!)  And then back to our apartment to pack.

You see, today we are going to Paris through the Chunnel, a 3 hour ride under the English Channel.  Bos was so efficient, he found a company that is picking up our luggage this morning and depositing it, we HOPE, at our hotel, the Bristol, in Paris this afternoon.  That way we are only lugging our extraneous carry-ons at the train station.  Another adventure is about to begin.

Forgot to tell you that David, our namedropper guide, said he spent a a day a week with Bill Gates and his family while they were living in London for a month and he said they were very quiet but also very polite.

A Day in the Country A La Jane Austen

David, our guide, planned a day in the country outside London for a total change from castles and traffic!  And what a day it was!  And I found David as interesting as the sights he showed us.  Can you say "name dropper"?  David was an actor in tv, commercials and movies from his teenage years...he is now 63 and still very handsome.  His parents were very affluent and, at the age of 8, he was sent to a boarding school in Scotland that was similar to Eaton, the most exclusive boarding school in Britian.  While his father had great hopes for his future, he chose acting and, as he got older and he had a harder time getting lucrative parts, he decided to get his "Blue Badge", which entitled him to be a guide in Great Britain.  And he was very proud of his badge, which he wore each day!

Cricket

My biggest disappointment was that his interests were not in history, but in sports like cricket (his passion), soccer, and field hockey.  Each time we passed a cricket field, we would get a lecture on the sport.  And he drove us through Windsor where Eaton is located so we could see the young boys in their tails (yes, they have to wear tuxedo like clothes to class!)   A sign of how exclusive they are at Eaton, according to David, is that their cricket field is exclusive to CRICKET, while other such fields trade off with other sports as well!

Boys in Eaton traditional tie and tails

Rowers at Henly

Following small paths through thickets we went deeper and deeper into the countryside, where we got to see the windmill in "Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang" and the adorable church where "The Vicar of Dibley" was shot.  It looked just like a church in a Jane Austen movie, with a churchyard full of tilted old gravestones dating from the 1700's.  Henry VIII had all the abbeys closed and he took all the valuable ornaments, Bibles, etc under Cromwell, which is how he financed his life and his wars.  So many of the abbeys and churches disappeared.  But, in some small villages, the churches remained, stripped of their wealth, but there was a center for village life.  The abbey we visited served 8 small villages, as picturesque as you could imagine.  You felt like you were back in the late 1700's, peeking into country life.

David, Iris (the star), and the Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang
windmill way up to the left...see it?

Tudor houses in "cute village"

Village church yard

Note the list of vicars starts in 1226.

Way out

Betsy and Iris in what feels like a Jane Austin setting.
Also it's where "the Vicar of Dibley" was filmed, a BBC
comedy about a woman vicar being assigned to a small
parish (perfect setting!)

One of the 'small' roads.

For lunch we stopped at a small pub, with those well known tudor timbers and low ceilings.  It is hard to see how the place could stay open, as we were the only people there for lunch.  And after a couple glasses of ale along with fish and chips, we talked to the owner, who said that, just up the road, was the former estate of the Getty family, recently sold to an Australian lady who wanted her privacy.  So we never found out her name, although it would not have meant anything to us anyway!

Driving away from the lovely non-rainy day, we drove down another cart path where we had to pull off the road when a car or tractor wanted to pass.  And then back to civilization.  My question to David was ,"Where do these small villages go for groceries?"  The answer -- "Far away>"  And I could see that.  But Betsy, Q and I all felt we would rather live in these isolated areas some 40 miles from London where "character" was more important than money and bustle!!

Dinner was back to our favorite pizza place not far from the hotel and then we begin packing for our switch to Paris via the Chunnel on Sunday.  Betsy and Q are off in the Tube to see the Globe theater, which Bos and I have seen numerous times.  And I am playing school teacher today with Iris.  Her teacher was kind enough to send 2 weeks worth of work for her and Iris LOVES showing me what she is learning in Kindergarten!!  Then, this afternoon, off to see "Mathilda" at a theater in the West End.

Sometimes It's the People, Not the Place...

Finally, Thursday we decided to follow one of travel "for sure" events -- taking the Hop On Hop Off bus.  So, we trek a couple blocks to the kiosk to get tickets.  For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, the bus is one that continuously circles throughout the city, wherever you are, and you can get on, travel to a site you want to see, get off, and then wait for the next bus to get back on again.  Only this time was different.  We waited...and waited...and waited...and waited. You get the idea.  Finally, with a group of people waiting with us, the young man selling tickets got a little nervous. And there were tons of busses -- city busses.  And they were all starting in front of us.  Probably 6 or more at a time headed to various parts of London.  Tempting, but NO.  So finally, the ticket guy called his office.  They told him they heard traffic was so bad they closed the road and there were no busses.  By that time, even though they said a bus would be coming,  I determined I WOULD NOT GET OFF THE BUS FOR THE WHOLE DAY!  So we got a 5 hour view from the double decker bus of London, all the sights BTW, whizzing past in good fashion.

Trafalgar Square (it's not) and Nelson's column

Big Ben

Thames and The London Eye

Just part of the scenery

Surprise church 

St. Paul's Cathederal (sorry the angle hides the dome)

The bus was stopped and the crane lifted the
"johnny on the spot" right over us!

Tower Bridge and the Belfast

The 87 story ultra modern "Shard"
tallest building in the EU. (during construction
a fox took up residence on the 37th and survived a long time
on workers lunch scraps.. he couldn't make the rent so he was
trapped and evicted.. humanely.)

Modern London next the Tower of London

Tower of London from landside

And when we finally got back to our hotel, we were so exhausted ...ROOM SERVICE!

Betsy, Q and Iris got off, brave people they are, and made a side trip to Westminster Abbey, where Q proudly stepped on Sir Isaac Newton and Iris finally understood that Queen Mary, who was buried under Queen Elizabeth, was Elizabeth's sister.  Oh -- and they very nearly saw Prince Harry as they drove past #10 Downing Street.  He was stopping there at that moment.

On to Friday and a whole day with David our guide in the country!  Looking forward to getting out of the city for sure.

Like Christopher Robin, We Went Down to Buckingham Palace...

Today was the day!  Iris was excited.  Maybe she would see the Queen.  While we assured her the Queen was not in residence, she was still quite optimistic!  And we all, in the perpetual rain, made our way to our 10 a.m. entry to Buckingham Palace for our tour.  And what a tour it was.  Despite the buckets of water coming from the skies, we wandered through all the public rooms, not the area the Royal Family lives in.

And the majesty of it all was evident.  I, on the other hand,  was annoyed with all the crowds.  And they "crowds" were from all over the world, talking in all sorts of different languages.  We were shoved through from the Japanese, the Chinese, the Italians, the Middle Easterners.  It was sort of like n unending wave of people and you just had to go with the flow, so to speak.  The banquet rooms (yes, more than one) with thrones for the Queen and Prince watching their guests eat; the music rooms, the ball rooms, the portrait rooms, the art galleries.  There were plenty of chandeliers, Sevres vases and dishes, gold place settings, tapestries -- and lots of Royal guards.  In fact, we had to wait an hour at noon while the guards had their change for the afternoon and no one could leave the grounds until it was all over.s'

This was enough for Bos and me.  So we went back to the hotel to collapse while the Greensboro crew decided to go to the London Eye -- in the rain, sheets of rain persisting!  And their story was disappointing.  Their taxi dropped them off with a wave of the driver's hand who assured them, with the protests in front of the Parliament, they could walk -- in that horrid rain -- to the Eye.  So they trudged, soaking wet, for about a mile to finally get to the Eye -- where the skies were so cloudy they couldn't see the sights over London.

To get back to the hotel they had to sit in a taxi for over an hour while the driver was caught in that protest march.  But they did get back for Iris's "Tea", a very important event.  And, with the plethora of food, including champagne, it turned out this was our supper!!  What a delicious way to end a day!

Tomorrow it is the Tower of London private tour before it opens to the public.  I've been there 3 times before, so I am planning on yawning and rolling over, while the rest get up so early and I can relax.  More tomorrow!!

Jet LAG!!

It is 1:15 a.m. and here I sit, staring at the ceiling, walls, the dark of the apartment.  And I wonder why they call it "Jet Lag".  It seems to me it isn't lagging at all, but taking control of my life!  I have tried reading, humming, furnishing a mythical new house if I were building one (which I am not.)  And tomorrow, or more correctly later this morning, since it is already morning, we are supposed to be going to Buckingham Palace like all those other tourists.  Betsy says Iris is really looking forward to it, although the Queen has abandoned her palace for the North country, not wanting to see the swarms of people, waiting in the rain.

Today Iris got a lesson on curtseying to the Queen --how you never turn your back to a ruling monarch and you have to keep curtseying every once in a while as you back up.  But, at Hampton Court Palace, where she went today, she preferred the maze, which she tried to do with her daddy.  In the rain.  Without an umbrella.  Until Daddy said no more and found the way out.  On the way home, the guide David took her past Windsor castle, which she proclaimed was the biggest and best, although the Queen was not there either.

Jet Lag, oh Jet Lag.  When will you go away??  This middle of the night stuff is pretty frustrating!

If It's Monday, It Must Be Buckingham...

At the Entrance

Sitting in Chruchills War Room Chair

I know it is still raining.  The men, Bos and Quinten, got up early to meet David, our guide, to take them to Churchill's War Rooms somewhere or other in the city.  This is the bunker=like location where Churchill and the Brits planned their defense of Great Britian during WWII.  And they came back so enthused, as Quinten got to sit in Churchill's desk chair, see his bedroom, see the maps of air bases where my father was stationed during the war.

On the "Scrambler" phone

Iris

And they met us at the "Behind the Scenes" tour of the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace.  We got a complete tour of the British Guards museum where we heard about the uniforms, start to finish, and then went up a secret stair to watch the event itself from a special vantage point.  Andrew, the museum curator, told us the changing of the guard would not take place if it rained and, of course, it was raining.  But the rain stopped for about 10 minutes and the ceremony began on schedule, although it began raining again promptly.  And once it starts, it keeps on going.  Andrew told us that each uniform cost 1500 pounds and the band leader's cost 2500 pounds.  And it is not JUST changing of the guards -- it is an entire band concert as well.  Quinten was so excited because they came out playing the theme from "Star Wars"!!  There were many tourists pressed up against the wrought iron fences outside the palace walls, while we got a really close view of it with continuing commentary from Andrew.  The soldiers are actually military combat troops and do their stint in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, so they do more than play music and march around.  And little Iris was trying to keep step with the soldiers.  However, they did dress her up in a red Guards uniform just for fun!

The Young Recruit

As it was continuing to rain, we high-tailed it back to our cozy apartment for the afternoon and took naps to try to dispel jet lag and followed that with a dinner at the BEST pizza-Italian food place in Kensington.  Loved it so much better than the fancy dinner that had been planned for us at a place called "Duck and Waffle" where the menu called for pigs' ears, offal salads, etc.  Dinner in England is much later than in the US; restaurants do not open usually until 7 p.m.  So we were lucky they found us the pizza place at 6, so Iris could get to bed at a decent time.  Frankly, us too!  And off to Hampton Court Palace in the morning.

"Jolly Old England" Isn't So Jolly...

"my own BIG seat!"

In the Lounge Before The LONG Flight

We're here!

It is bleary 6 a.m. as we arrive in London and we are as bleary as the country --- owl-eyed at the very least.  But little Iris is sunny all by herself!  And when she gets tired, so gets more excited and silly, much to our disgust and admiration.  But, after a 45 minute jaunt into the city, we arrive at our hotel,  The Milestone.  If you wanted to know what ol' England looked like centuries ago, this hotel would be the definition!  It is what is called a boutique hotel, which means "small".  There are only 45 rooms.  But the bonus for us, a family of 5, is they also have 6 separate individual apartments and as apartments, it is like we have our own "flat" in the middle of Kensington!  We have two bedrooms, 2 and 1/2 baths, a laundry room, a living room, a dining and a state of the art kitchen.  And our flat takes up a whole floor of the apartment-hotel's addition.  It even has an elevator!  And a fireplace. And a balcony overlooking Kensington Park, where Price William and Princess Kate live.  Pretty posh, actually.  A minor glitch -- they had a bring a rollaway for Iris in her parents' bedroom, but that makes her even sillier-happier!! And she was happy that there was a "kids sink" in the main bath. (see below)

Lovely living room

Iris' special bed! & Our own kitchen

The Milestone did Rose petals on the bed, bath with champaign
an all for our 50th!!  Candles here and in the bath.

Why is this not so jolly??  Well, the weather is dreary.  And rainy.  And supposed to be all week rainy and dreary.  And every time it looks like the sun might be trying to come out, it starts raining again.  It only dampens me, however!  Everyone else is forging on in the good old British tradition.

Balcony With View

Iris's "kids sink"

I must say the staff of the hotel has been extraordinarily nice.  They had a group of teddy bears waiting for Iris and a list of dinner places and a schedule of activities for all of us for the week.  Now only if the sun would peek out and we could put away the umbrellas -- which also are available from the hotel!

Going to War With the Irvine-Holdren Family

Marshalling in The War Room

Usually I publish pictures of our Staging Room, which is my mother's old bedroom.  You probably remember them.  But NOW we have renamed the room.  It is called the "War Room" because we actually feel we are going to war.  Need to be well prepared for such a venture  and we are going to the Fashion Capital of the World, after all.  We may, Iris tells us, meet the queen or maybe an errant princess or two.  Have to be prepared for all events!  And we call Iris's mother the "Commandant" because she directs the all of us in maneuvers.

Detailed "wheaponizing"

Bos has taken pictures of our "war tools"...i.e. plugs, chargers, ipads, U.S. phones, European phones, cameras, batteries ad infinitum.  They take up our entire carry-on bag.  But we ARE prepared.  And, before the major battle, we will be reconnoitering at the Delta Sky Lounge in the Atlanta airport where the Greensboro troops join up.  Plans in place.  Ready to go.  Plane leaves at 5:45 p.m..  Now the troops (General Iris in charge) will get the next hurdle (but in battles there are always hurdles, you understand!)-- a airplane seat that unfolds into a bed where she is supposed to sleep.

It ALL fits!!!

Her mother has checked with the pediatrician and she has war reinforcements in the form of Benadryl to help with this campaign.

For now, we are enjoying all the hugs, kisses, and excitement that a little girl exhibits when she is experiencing new adventures.  Plus, on this blog, she picked out her first two "sight words" -- of and the.  What more could you want??!!

The Corps

Luitenant

Historian and Marshall General

Small troops

London and Paris Will Never Know What Hit Them: Our 50th Anniversary Trip With Iris, Betsy and Quinten!

It seemed like a good idea about a year ago when we concocted a fabulous trip for all of us to London and Paris to celebrate our 50th year of marriage.  It seemed like a good idea then.  But the closer we got to the departure date, the more doubts kept creeping into our thoughts.  You see, people would say, "Do you think it is wise to take a 5 year old to Europe?  Jus sayin'?"  Sometimes they would just give us that quizzical disapproving look and say "Um".  But we forged on, sure this would be an unforgettable trip, one way or the other.  Time to tell you about the preparations for the momentous journey...

ABU DHABI AND DUBAI: YES, THE POLICE DO DRIVE MASERATIS

Unity Day bike ride that slowed us down ...a lot!

Today's Newspaper celebrating the 42 years of unity of the 7 Emirs

A royal family home decorated for the holiday.

I know I have been lax in writing about our two last stops. There was a reason for Abu Dhabi…I was feeling sick. So I sent Bos along with our two good friends Elaine and Jim for the long drive from port to Abu Dhabi (1-1/2 hours each way). First of all, you need to know that the Emerati countries are in competition with each other. So, with lots of oil money, the "Wizard of Oz" kind of city, only in white, shining on the hill.

Some of the opulance.

The Biggest mosque in all categories (until one of these Emirs
out does this guy in Abu Dhabi...not likely)

The "old palace".  New bigger one being
built nearby.

It was hard for the three of my traveling companions to enjoy the visit, as their guide showed up with a very small car, meant for two people, but supposedly to hold 5! Good thing I stayed on the ship! And, they added, there were no shock absorbers, as they bumped along the desert. Because Abu Dhabi is the biggest and best, it is also the capitol city of the Emerates. And the Sheik has built the biggest and best mosque of all the 7 countries, although the other sheiks are fast catching up. And because these countries are definitely sexist, women cannot enter the mosques, although some of a small room for the ladies off the balconies.

And, to confound things, it was the 2^nd   day of their founding celebration 42 years ago. So the streets were jammed with cars, animals, people and odd and assorted kinds of vehicles. So, disappointed, the three travelers turned around and spent another 1-1/2 hours getting back to the ship – where I had spent a delightful day reading my kindle in the air conditioned cabin!

But, on to Dubai. Now you all have been asking me and asking me what Dubai was like. Dubai has great press. But remember that almost all these 7 Emirates are floating in oil money. And they pay no taxes. So they live very nice lives. 

More buildings

One of the fancy monorail stations along
the middle of Dubai

The marina and MORE tall buildings

Skyline through the 'desert haze' (has the slippery look of smog.)

But first things first. Dubai is a shining city of many many skyscrapers. And, yes, the police there do drive Maseratis, Lamborghinis, and Porsches. I have never seen so many Rolls Royces in one place as in Dubai. And the city has got to be the dreamiest favorite of all architects, as the architecture of all these buildings is out of some George Jetson movie! The clean and soaring lines are not interrupted by old buildings, as the first tall building in Dubai was built in 1979. So everything is relatively young. That is certainly in contrast to most of the Middle Eastern countries.

As we rode around the city careening past buildings on every corner, our guide would say, "This is the largest shopping center in the world." Next up: "This is the tallest building in the world." "Here are some of the palaces of the Dubai royal family." You see, the Royal Families of all these Emirates have propagated extraordinarily well and there are 30 or more "Royal Palaces" for them, as well as summer, winter, and even in-between palaces also. Which brings up an interesting statistics: Only 19% of the population of the Emirates are actually Emiratis. And if you are one of them, you are living on easy street! 

You ask, who are the others then, that make up the population? Well, almost everyone we met was from some other middle eastern country: India, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and the African countries. And, when asked why they immigrated to the UAE, their answers were all the same: no income taxes, high standard of living, and it is "safe." One waiter summed it up. He was from India and had 12 brothers and sisters. When asked why Dubai, he said, "To make money." What you don’t see though, is the temporary buildings on backlots with lots of school like busses to transport the labor force to and from their jobs. Almost all the labor force for menial or physical jobs are from other countries. And it appears Emiratis are so rich they just don’t have to work. Their "job" is shopping!!

Now, if you are an Emirati, you get, in addition to no income taxes, free education, free health care, a house plus $130,000 when you marry, and an additional $300,000 for each little baby Emirati when you start your family, Sounds too good to be true, huh?! I’m sure you are asking, how does one become an Emirati?? Well, it is nearly impossible. First of all, if you are a woman who is not an Emirati, you have to marry an Emirati. Then the woman automatically is raised up to this privileged level. However, if you are an Emirati woman and you marry a non-Emirati man, well, you get kicked out of the Emirati class.

Still, all the people we spoke with love their lives, even though they are paying for schooling, health care, housing, etc. So it is the one place in the Middle East that appears stable.

Burj Al Arab and the beach occupied by many westerers.

Some of the cars parked in front of Burj Al Arab

Lobby with decorations for Unity DAy

Interior shot

After our tour of the city, we were dropped off at the Burj Al Arab, the only 7 star hotel in the world, according to our guide. But there are so many ""onlys" in Dubai, it is hard to distinguish which are really truly "onlys"! We were fortunate enough, he told us, to have reservations on the 27th floor for high tea at precisely 1:15 p.m. (And he didn’t mean 1:16 or 1:14!). The hotel was breathtaking and filled with Asians snapping pictures. We had a special elevator to take us to the 27th floor at precisely the right time and got a panoramic view of Dubai from floor to ceiling windows surrounding the restaurant. When they said "high tea" they really meant that. It was a 7 course "dinner" really, starting with champagne, tea sandwiches, cakes, sorbet, candies, and thinly sliced tenderloin on toast. It actually took us 3 hours to complete! Just in time to be taken to the airport to fly back to the US.

View from tea table

We enjoy really great view with tea.

The four of us right before "tea"

I usually end my blog with my own personal thoughts on the entire voyage. What I learned this time, in the Middle East, is that we are so very lucky to live in this country peaceably with all the freedoms we take for granted. As a woman in the US, I don’t have to wear a burqa or have someone drive a car for me. I don’t have to find a male to accompany me to shop. And, in general, the Bedouins may like their lifestyle, living in tents in the desert. But I much prefer my warm house with air in the summer – and I don’t need to see camel races or drink camel milk to get stronger.

But I did come away with way different opinions of peoples and countries we visited. Some countries I thought I would love, I found cold and forbidding. Others, like Oman, I have a fondness in my heart for. The big question: Would I go back? Answer: Not on my life! America is really the best. We have been almost everywhere in the world now (except South America and I’m not interested in that!) and I can verify that we are so lucky we were accidentally born or landed in – our United States of America!