Robbie Burns

On this day (as near as we can tell) in 1759, Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Scotland.

On this night lovers of Burns or Scotland or conviviality will gather around the world to celebrate the fact. Burns was elevated to national hero in his lifetime and cult figure soon afterwards, with the first Burns Night celebration occurring almost immediately upon his death. This is due partly to the poetry and partly to the legendary details of the ploughman-poet life -- his years as a poor tenant farmer; his enthusiasm for women (fifteen children, six born out of wedlock); a patriotism that would not allow him to take money for his songs; his death at thirty seven. Though many poems are philosophical and political, there are more than enough on the Highlands-lassies-wee dram themes to go around this evening. Apart from all this, he never missed an opportunity to disparage the French.

So as not to bore those who fail to feel the greatness of Scotland, I’ve included only a wee sampling of the Great Man’s poetry below.

O gude ale comes and gude ale goes;
Gude ale gars me sell my hose,
Sell my hose, and pawn my shoon-
Gude ale keeps my heart aboon!

Surprisingly, given 1,000 years of not-so-concealed hatred, the English are not immune to the charms of Robbie Burns Day. Although there is no support for saluting haggis, there is a considerable number of Poms planning to imbibe more heavily than is normal for a Thursday evening.

For Want of a TV the Battle Was Lost...

England is a funny place. If I could be permitted for a moment to make a broad generalization - as a culture, the English are very much fixated on America. While actively disparaging and mocking American culture, the English are tremendously concerned with what the Americans are wearing, what the Americans are watching - on TV and in the movies; in short, whether English entertainment culture can measure up to the American juggernaut.

All the angst is really for nothing because the English fail the ultimate test. What is the arbiter of American culture? Its television, of course. American television drives the beast.

English television is, to put it politely, a disaster. I'll refrain from commenting on the content of English television because I can't watch any television right now. Our satellite is not receiving a signal at present. This has been going on all day and intermittently for some time now.

To have a culture in the 21st Century, you need to have television. England can't even do that right. There is no such thing as cable TV in England. There is only terrestrial TV (4 channels) and Sky Satellite. Terrestrial TV is a non-starter so we are left with Sky. The slightest gust of wind knocks Sky out for periods of time ranging from 3 seconds to 3 days.

They paved paradise and put up a satellite. Let me be the first to say it. England is doomed.
The ship is sinking. To the lifeboats. Every man for himself.

Island Living

Gale force winds, rain and flooding over the train lines means working from home for B&B!!! And it is going to get REALLY cold this weekend - the high on Saturday is supposed to be...wait for it.... 3 degrees. These silly Brits, they don't know bad weather....ice storms, -30, 2 feet of snow....now that's winter.

Best. Christmas. Ever.

Unfortunately, being so far away, some of our Christmas presents didn't arrive by Christmas. But when they did arrive, did they ever make an impact.

Thanks Julie and Brad!

Go Leafs Go!

London & Paris 2006 - Epilogue

Day 11 – Thank God its Over!

Good day and welcome to Day 11. This was going to be one bugger of a travel day. Our Eurostar left at 10:40 am and we returned to Leeds at about 4pm. Leeds had never looked so good.

* * * *

Epilogue

So what did we learn from our time away? We’ve been thinking about these things and have come up with following list:

1. If you have to be away from home at Christmas it is mandatory to treat yourself. Not just treat, but to completely overdo and outdo yourself. Do everything in your power to forget the fact that you aren’t at home with your family and friends. And even after all that, you’ll still feel like you would have rather have been home.

2. Christmas concerts are better than Christmas mass …ti-ii-dings of c-om-om-fort and joy…comfortandjoy…ti-ii-dings of com-om-fort and joy.

3. Church bells should ring far more often than they do.

4. The measure of whether you will like London or Paris more comes right down to whether you like pubs or bistros more.

5. It is incredibly difficult to get good value for money in accommodations in London.

6. For sheer historical importance, the Tower of London is likely the best site to tour in the UK. This is closely followed by Westminster Abbey. One of us did our fourth year thesis on Edward Longshanks and now we’ve touched his grave. Hammer of the Scots indeed.

7. Any restaurant in Paris, no matter whether it is up-scale or small-scale will serve you perhaps the best wine you have ever tasted for the same price as a cup of coffee and croissant.

8. We talk about, perhaps even fixated on, food much more on holiday than in real life. I mean, what is a holiday other than an excuse to see a bunch of new stuff between feasts?

9. Paris is stunning no matter what time of year you see it.

10. Eventually we must all return to normal life. After all, fat, drunk and stupid … I mean tired … is no way to go through life.

Part 10 - So That's the Eiffel Tower Continued...

" Where's this tower I keep hearing so much about?"

Part 10 - So That's the Eiffel Tower

Day 10 – New Years Day

The benefit of a low-key New Years Eve was that we were ready for fun New Years Day. This was Beth’s chance to see Montmartre – what would prove to be her favourite neighbourhood in Pairs. We wandered around the narrow streets and discovered that Montmartre is blessed with an inordinately high number of bistros and bakeries relative to other areas of Paris. We lined up at the bakery and Brent got some kind of plum pastry thingy.

Montmartre is the home of Sacre Coeur which is, as far as one can tell from the outside, a behemoth of a church. Its architechturally interesting but it was really difficult to understand why there were so many people there. After the morning in Montmartre, we made our way to the Champs D’Elysees and had a long boozy lunch in one of the bistros on the side streets. After that, we inspected the Arch de Triomphe and then the Eiffel Tower. We’ve never seen so many champagne corks discarded on the ground. After braving all that, we treated ourselves to our daily hot chocolate on a bistro’s patio and headed back to our hotel.

Nearly There - Part 9

Day 9 - New Years Eve

Welcome to day 9. What a ride so far. This morning we took the Metro to Saint-Germain and had breakfast in a little bistro comprising, what else, chocolate chaud and chocolate croissant. After eating we waited in the longest line so far to get into the Musee D’Orsay. This was truly a highlight.

In no particular order, we were able to see works by Cezanne, Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Matisse, Monet, Renior, Whistler, Klimt, Munch, Rodin and Van Gogh. The Van Goghs are in their own room and are really quite spectacular. To give you a taste of what touring the Musee D’Orsay would be like with us, I’ll include the following snippet of conversation that occurred between Floors 2 and 3:

Brent: My God, there’s a lot of stuff in here. Those Impressionists are fantastic!
Beth: Those were Post-Impressionist.
Brent: Well, what are these then?
Beth: These are Academist. Those are Symbolist.
Brent: I thought these were Naturalist.
Beth: THOSE are Art Nouveau. The Symbolists are over there.
Brent: I want to see the Ecleticist paintings.
Beth: You’ve already seen them.
Brent: Oh. Can I see the Pre-Impressionists?
Beth: No.

What fun! Seriously, there was a lot to see. After seeing all there was to see, we traversed the nearest pont (duh…bridge) to the Ile de la Cite. We walked around the market and the Palais de Justice. We finally made our way to Notre Dame. Brent was happy to be in a church at last where his Catholic god, sorry, God actually lives and he felt right at home. Waves of guilt came over him as it had been quite some time since he last went to confession. It is quite the spectacle – the building -- not the catholic guilt, although that was pretty ugly. Lots of gargoyles and spooky corners. When Beth was kicked out for being an imposter we wandered over to the Ile de St. Louis for some chocolate chaud. The day had now turned pretty cold and miserable, so the hot chocolate was really for warming purposes and not for gluttonous purposes like all the previous eating we have described.

We made our way back to the hotel. We were really starting to feel tired after all that eating and walking. Nine days of non-stop walking/eating will catch up with you, especially when one of us is not as young as he used to be. Perhaps we’re underselling the state we were in. Sore backs, heavy limbs … we were in trouble. Seeing the major sites of 2 European capitals was turning into a death march.

But, this was now the moment of truth…were we too tired to go out for New Years Eve? We had intended to go to the Eiffel Tower where all the fireworks are, but our motivation was waning. We made one last valiant effort to go out and partake in the fun at 10pm, but it was pouring rain and freezing cold, so we got a delicious crepe from one of the street vendors, bought ourselves a bottle of champagne and retired to our room. Who are we kidding anyway? We are devastatingly boring on New Years in Canada, why would we be any different in Paris?!!

Cultural Overload - Part 8

Day 8 – Dec 30th

The day to end all days. If anyone else has seen more of Paris in one day I would like to hear from them.

We started the day with breakfast in a nice café around the corner from our hotel. Fresh croissants, freshly squeezed OJ, and une chocolate chaud; is there any better way to start the day? After filling our bellies, we hopped onto the metro to the Latin Quarter. We had a beautiful walk through this historic part of Paris. We made our way to the Marche Mouffetard, which is a large street market. We browsed through the vegetable carts, the bakeries, butchers, frommageries etc. and bought a baguette, olives, gouda, meat and some sweets so we could have a picnic lunch later in the day. We found the perfect spot to have our picnic, right across the Seine from the Notre Dame. From here we were strategically located to walk along the Seine to the Louvre – our destination for the afternoon. The Seine and the bridges that traverse it are really the heart of Paris.

Words cannot describe how large the Louvre really is. Guide books often say that it is too big, so you might as well skip it during your visit to Paris. We would disagree. It is definitely worth the trip, although you do have to approach it knowing that you will only see 1/100 of what this amazing place has to offer. The map provided to visitors has the big ticket items clearly marked, so we simply followed this advice and made our way to each of these stops. We were able to see, among other things, the Venus de Milo, Vermeer’s The Lacemaker, Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Mona Lisa. Of course we had our Da Vinci Code decoder rings on as well and looked for clues to crack the code!

After three hours of cultural overload we decided to have another stroll. We made our way to the Opera de Paris Garnier. It is important to mention at this point that all of these strolls and nice walks we have been describing are actually at least 60 minutes walks. Paris seems to be fairly spread out and a short distance on the map, seems to take forever to walk. As a result of the endless walking, the endless French speaking, the cultural overload and possibly some low blood sugar one of us was getting fairly cranky. Beth’s brain was taxed by trying to conjure up all of her French from days gone by in order to communicate with everyone in cafes, restaurants, at Museums, etc., plus navigating through the streets of Paris which are irregular to say the least. (It really should be said that Beth’s French came roaring back when we needed it most. Once we became lost and Beth was able to communicate with an exclusively French speaking gentleman to get us back on track. Whole sentences were exchanged … it was really quite incredible.) To salvage the mood a time out was in order. What do we do when we need a break and a chance to regroup? Eat! Café de la Paix to the rescue!

Thanks to a fresh mindset and some red wine, we were able to continue our day. We walked through the ‘City of Lights’ to the Place Vendome to find the Ritz and check out the Bar Hemingway. This turned into quite a disappointment as we were denied access on account of the bar being “full”. Now it may have been, given it was a Saturday night, or it may just have been security trying to keep the riff raff out. To placate Brent’s shattered ego we made our way to Harry’s Bar (which, according to our guide book, is where Hemingway and his buddies drank themselves unconscious when on leave as ambulance drivers during the Spanish Civil War.) This really was an excellent place with passable martinis and a live piano player. A nice end to a lovely, but long day.

Hello Paris - Part 7

Day 7 – Dec 29th

Paris here we come! We say “adios” to the Avonmore and take a taxi to Waterloo Station. The check-in process of the Eurostar train to Paris is more akin to boarding an airplane than boarding a train with security and passport checks and all. And what a pleasant journey! Big seats, lots of leg room and boy is that train fast. The whole journey is about two and a half hours. Just enough time for some book reading, some gazing out the window and some reflecting on the inside of our eyelids. The time in the ‘Chunnel’ itself is about 20 minutes and you would never know you were under water. No strange pressure changes and sadly no windows in the tunnel to see the fishes swimming by.

We arrived in Paris and instantly had a taste for what lay ahead….line ups! It seems that everyone has had the same idea as us to come to Paris during this week. The queue for a taxi outside of the train station was over an hour! Oh well, you learn the hard way. Next time we will take the metro or arrange to have a car meet us. Thankfully, we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the hotel that it was not going to be another Avonmore disappointment. However, in the short time that it took to get from the train, into the taxi and check-in to our hotel, one thing has become abundantly clear: everyone speaks French!!! This was definitely NOT in the guide book!

We spent the evening getting our bearings and walking around the city. Brent had hoped to have dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant just down the road from our hotel but all the fish, duck liver and other weird dishes put Beth off. We doubled back and lined up for dinner at Chartier which is a famous Paris bistro type place. It’s in all the guide books so there was a generous mix English speakers. In what eventually became known to us as familiar bistro-style seating, parties of two and three are seated together at large tables of six or eight. Next to us was a man and his son from Long Island, New York. He had brought his son to see the restaurant that he and his wife dined at on their honeymoon 20 years ago. No word on the whereabouts of the wife.

We had ordered first and the New Yorkers lagged behind given their woefully deficient French. The New Yorkers wanted to order one of the 12 fish dishes on the menu but couldn’t tell the tuna from the salmon. In a classic Parisian waiter moment, the New Yorkers asked the waiter what all the fish dishes were and the waiter helpfully circled the word “Poisson” in the menu’s section heading, replied “These are fish” and scurried off to the kitchen, presumably to make fun of the Americans. We were having fun now. Beth came to the rescue with the translations and the Americans were able to enjoy their saumonette and their thon.

Hello Culture - Part 6

Day 6 – December 28th

When I was younger, I gave serious consideration to becoming an archeologist. Had I followed my dream, I’m sure that Indiana Jones would have seemed a pin-headed moron by comparison. I’m not sure what happened to my dream. It could have been my dislike for Anthropology courses at University. It could also have been my anticipated dislike for long summers digging in the jungles of Borneo or the Steppes of Russia. As it is now, I much prefer reading the Globe & Mail on summer mornings in my backyard. I think I made the right choice.

But I digress. Today we attended the British Museum and, on first inspections, it appears that the British Museum has stolen a lot of valuable artifacts from a lot of different cultures. I knew that Empire had to have more perks than just all the tea in India. I’m sure these cultures have forgiven the British Museum their thievery for the simple reason that the Museum has organized their plunder so neatly – 3rd Century BC Greek sculpture in this room, 14th Century French coins in that room. Brilliant! Could you imagine if they mixed up 9th Century Assyrian pottery with 7th Century Indian jade ceremonial jewelry in the same room? Chaos!

All kidding aside, the Museum is an excellent way to spend the morning and we didn’t even get through half of it. Particular highlights included large statues of Ramsses II, the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles (I believe the Elgin Marbles were sculptures placed on the Acropolis in Greece. I also believe that Greece has asked for them back only to be refused by the Museum. Long live the Empire! Rule Britannia, Britannia Rule the Waves …)

After the Museum we made our way to a neighbourhood pub for some lunch prior to heading to the West End for our play – Les Miserables. The theatre was very nice and the acting superb. But, I have to say, Cosette and Marius must be the two biggest ingrates in Western literature. What a couple of worthless people. I suppose the play was a success, but it just made me so angry …

Apres theatre we headed to the Med Kitchen - a renowned West End restaurant which lived up to the hype with some very excellent wine on offer. After that we made our way back to the Avonmore via Trafalgar Square and a little pub in Kensington with the nicest bar front we had seen yet in England. They had even hung garlands of greenery throughout the place to make is smell like a pine forest. Very nice touch.

The Travels Continue Part 5

Day 5 – Dec. 27th

We managed to survive the first night in the Avonmore. Much to our surprise, we were not eaten by dust mites or other bed bugs. We started the day with breakfast provided by the hotel. Unfortunately, we are both now at the point where if we have another Traditional English Breakfast – eggs, bacon, sausage, fried tomato and mushrooms – we might actually explode! We met another family at breakfast. They were from Boston, but the man’s father had been born in Hamilton. Small world! They were nice. A funny lot though, they were trying to stay on Boston time instead of converting to British time. Seems like an odd idea to me, but if you only have a few days over here, I guess it is a reasonable strategy. They were real theatre goers too. They try to see two shows a day – one matinee and one evening production. Sounds like fun.

Shockingly, most of the fun stores were still closed today so no trips to Oxford street for Beth (damn European socialism getting in the way of shopping!). Much to Brent’s delight this means a day of touring historical sights. Is there a better historical sight at which to waste, I mean spend the day, than the Tower of London? We toured around the Tower for several hours, on what was of course the coldest day of our trip. It is quite the place. Many stories of traitors, Kings and prisoners. Sounds like the same stories that Brent tells about his days in elementary school!

Interestingly, we have now come full circle in many of our historical journeys…..we have seen the Crown Jewels of Scotland (at Edinburgh Castle) and of England (at the Tower of London), and we have seen were Mary Queen of Scots was born (Edinburgh Castle) and where she was buried (Westminster Abbey). I wonder when we get our full British tourist membership cards?

We had a long walk along the Thames in the afternoon. Although we were pretty knackered, we had plans for the evening. That’s right, we actually had a social life for one small night. We met up with another midwife from Oakville who has just moved over here. We had a great time talking about midwifery and adjusting to life in England. Sadly, though after a few hours of chatting and a few pints of ale, we had to return to our hotel room. We had managed to avoid our hotel room all day, but the bedbugs were calling….

Christmas Adventures Part 4

Day 4 – Boxing Day

Our last day at the Dukes started with breakfast at the same patisserie as on Day 2. Once you find something that works, you have to go back to it. Also, we needed proper fortification for the morning. We took the path through St. James Park again and headed for Westminster Abbey in the hopes of actually making it inside.

Westminster Abbey is the second major cathedral we’ve had the opportunity to tour; the other being York Minster. It seems to us that Westminster Abbey is taller but York Minster covers a larger area (and also has better stained glass). What Westminster Abbey does have is tombs. A lot of tombs. Most interestingly, the Abbey housed the tombs of Edward I, Edward III, Richard II, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Quite a collection. After all these reminders of our mortality, we thought a drink was in order! We found a cozy pub just around the corner from the Abbey (and around the corner from the #1 voter recommended public WC in London for those of you who know the area and the facilities – you know who you are!)

Then it was back to the hotel to check-out. We took a taxi to our new (cheaper) hotel in Kensington. We were not instantly impressed with the Avonmore Hotel. It is hard to know if the caliber of the hotel is really quite poor or if it was just the effect of leaving the Dukes Hotel – nothing will ever compare! Our room in the Avonmore smelled of smoke and was well….frankly, dirty. So we were offered another room about the size of a bathroom, but which nicely did not smell of smoke and was clean. I guess £95 per night doesn’t go very far in London.

On the bright side, this room did encourage us to go out and see the sights so after dinner we headed out to see the best of Kensington. Unfortunately, it being Boxing Day, all of Kensington was closed. Except the movie theatre. We took in a 8:30 pm showing of The Holiday. That Jude Law, he’s so charming. Beth used some fancy Ph.D words like “juxtapose” to describe how the plot “mirrored” our experiences of life in England/Canada but Brent had no idea what she was talking about. (He only went to law school and doesn’t even have a Masters like the rest of his family.) He just thought Jack Black was funny.

Christmas Adventures Part 3

Day 3 – Christmas Day!

Christmas Day starts, of course, with breakfast in bed. Beth’s preferred eating location. Beth enjoyed eggs benedict with fruit salad while Brent had smoked salmon with scrambled eggs. Merry Christmas indeed. We then proceeded to open our stockings (very generously and thoughtfully provided by the Schmidt family of Fredericton, N.B.) With stocking opening finished, we headed out to St. James Park for a little Christmas morning walk. After heading by the palace and through the park, we saw the Old Admiralty Building (where Churchill worked as First Lord twice) and saw the Horses Guard change. We headed for Westminster Hall and No. 10 and just enjoyed a rather unseasonably warm Christmas morning. Just about this time, Brent decided that 10 to 12 hours of sleep in each of the last two days has cured his cold. Churchill would have been proud.

On the way back, we again went through St. James Park where we heard the bells of Westminster Abbey ring in Christmas Day. Beth was able to show Brent her favourite Palace in our neighbourhood – Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s Standard wasn’t flying as she was having Christmas day with the rest of fam across town.

We returned to the Dukes to prepare for Christmas lunch. What needs to be said about a 6 course Christmas lunch with all the fixings? It included canapés, soup, appetizer, fish course, turkey with the usual acoutrements, Christmas pudding and mince tarts. Beth even tried the fois gras pate. We were stuffed! It was tremendous but, to be honest, we both would have preferred our families’ turkeys to the Dukes. Yet, we made the best of it as did our fellow Christmas lunch guests. Our observation after 4 months in England is that the English are generally a reserved bunch. But fill them up with Champagne and get the food on the tables and they go wild! It was like eating in the middle of a rugby match played on Guy Fawkes Day.

After lunch we were suitably stuffed and had to return to our room to contemplate the meal and watch National Lampoon’s Family Christmas. Classic Christmas stuff. After resting for a good number of hours we retired to the sitting room for some light sandwiches and then the bar for the daily martinis (interestingly the hotel bar is apparently world renown for its martinis, and used to be a favourite spot of the Queen Mum’s for this very reason) We will miss the Dukes.

For some reason the pictures are not loading.....go to www.flickr.com/photos/bethandbrent/ to see all the London pics.

Christmas Adventures Part 2

Day 2 – Christmas Eve Day

Upon waking, Brent decides he has a cold but heroically continues on with the trip. After all, what would Churchill do? That’s right, never surrender. In a nice bit of foreshadowing, we discovered a nice French patisserie around the corner from the Dukes and enjoyed a good breakfast before heading down to Piccadilly Circus and then on to Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square is an awe-inspiring place given the number of famous buildings and monuments present. Nelson’s Column, the National Gallery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields to name a few. Down the street you can see Westminster Hall. Canada House is across the street. Nice. Good work Canada.

We continued on to Covent Garden and had a nice lunch. Given Brent’s cold, we headed back to the Dukes so he could nap and Beth could continue on. Beth scouted out St. James’s Palace (where Wills is supposed to be living with Charles when he’s not shacked up with the girlfriend and formerly the home of the Queen Mum), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Hall and Abbey, the Horses Guard, the Cabinet Office and No. 10 Downing Street. When Brent finally surfaced from his slumber, we had great dinner at the hotel restaurant (Beth even ate fish!).

Christmas Adventures Part 1

Prologue:
We have arrived back at our home (away from home) after our Christmas adventures to London and Paris. We had a great time in both London and Paris! We saw many touristy type of things but also had time for lots of nice strolls and afternoons in cafes. Sadly for Beth, not much shopping occurred as the stores were closed many of the days when we were travelling due to either Christmas or New Years. We both did better with our French that we had anticipated which was a welcome surprise! However, it did feel nice to return to England where, by some strange turn of events, understanding a Yorkshire accent has now become less work than understanding French. We did find ourselves missing our families and friends, especially on Christmas and New Years. And, to be honest, it was a little sad to come home at the end of a long vacation to a home that is not quite home. But enough mushy stuff…back to the merriment of Christmas…we will recap the trip over the next few days. What follows is our best recollection of the events transpiring on our travels. We are putting as much detail as we can into the following blog postings since, if we don’t, our feeble memories will forget pretty much everything, including the fact that we made the trip at all. So, here goes …

Day 1 – December 23rd

Disaster strikes as Brent wakes up with a cold. Or a hangover. It’s too early to tell since a cold is really just like a hangover that lasts for much longer. We walked to the Leeds train station with our luggage to catch our 11am train to London. The train journey took a pleasant 2 hours and 20 minutes. At this point, Brent decided his cold/hangover is really a hangover. From the train we were able to see much of the English countryside that we don’t normally get the opportunity to see. On arrival at King’s Cross Station, one of our traveling party decided she had to (just HAD to) see the Harry Potter Platform 9 ¾ sign. After that detour, we head for the taxi stand and make our way to the Dukes Hotel. We had a scenic taxi ride to our hotel in St. James. This is considered ‘Royal London’ with Buckingham Palace and St. James Palace right around the corner from our hotel.

Ah, the Dukes. Is there a better hotel anywhere in the world? If there is, we haven’t stayed at it. In hindsight, it was probably too nice since we just wanted to stay in our comfy room and only leave to go down to the hotel bar for martinis and sherry. The martinis and sherry necessitated a nap prior to our evening of fun. If you can call sleeping for 2 hours in the middle of the day a nap, that is. Whatever, don’t judge us – it was Christmas!

We were able to drag ourselves out of the Dukes to attend the Christmas Concert at the Barbican. Christmas classics and carols were sung which put us further in the Christmas spirit. We had dinner at a nice little Italian place and made it back just in time for last call at the Dukes. Perfect.