Official Residents of Royal Leamington Spa

Well, we did it!  We officially, and FINALLY moved into our new home.  and I love it.  We had only seen it once before the official move in date, and during that time the whole place was being renovated and looked like a total wreck.  We kinda took a leap of faith and trusted that they would do a good job, and they did!  Over the past two days we’ve been buying sheets, towels, plates, pots, pretty much everything you really need to live.  Thankfully Converteam is reimbursing us for all of it!  (Cheers to Converteam)

I loaded some photos onto my facebook account.  If you would like to see them follow this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007706&id=130800140&l=c7b237cadd

I don’t think that you need to have a facebook account to view the photos, but if you have any problems just let me know.

Everything looks really bare in the photos because we hadn’t moved anything in yet.  I’ll post more once we’re settled in a little bit more.  I am trying to keep the decorating down to a minimum though.  I don’t want to spend a lot of money on stuff that we’re just going to resell or give away. 

I am extremely grateful for a home.  It is great to have real chairs to sit on and our own kitchen.  Mostly though it is amazing to just have some SPACE! And closets to hang clothes in!  Do I sound like a grown up or what? Who cares, I’m finally back in my own home!

I have experienced a few minor hiccups with the place.  The most noteable one being our washer/dryer.  That’s right, it is both a washer and a dryer and it nearly got the best of me today.  I sat down this morning to do some much needed laundry (the piles were getting embarrassingly large) and quickly realized that this was a machine like I’ve never seen before.  I seriously had to read the manual 3 times to feel like I something of an idea of how it works.  There are at least 20 washing options, not to mention the washer/dryer options, or the only dryer options.  Then there are more buttons that change the settings in ways I have yet to understand.  At first I thought that I was the only dummy but then Glenn (the engineer with endless patience who can fix anything) came home and tried to figure it out.  He is still grumbling about the stupid thing.  I think he likes it less than I do.  Needless to say, it’s a silly piece of machinery and I doubt that the designers even know how to really operate it themselves. The first two loads took about 10 hours to finish- no joke.  On the most normal setting I can find the machine take 5 HOURS to get the job done.  It takes an hour just to finish rinsing and spinning the clothes (not exaggerating). This is probably because it does it about eight times.  My conclusion?  The thing has a nasty case of OCD. There can be no other option.  

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The Lakes, part 3

Here are the final photos of our trip:

Clawing my way to the top

Revelling in the moment.  :)

Stone circles.  Similar to Stonehenge but smaller.

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In the Land of Goldilocks: the belated second edition of the Lake District tour

The Lake District is, without a doubt, our favorite place in the UK
thus far. Located in the north west section of England, near the
Scottish border, it has a few mountains, lots of hills (called fells),
a bunch of scattered lakes, and an abundance of sheep and stone walls.
If you ever come to England you really should head up there. It is widely considered to be the most beautiful area in England and I would put it on the Top 10 list of things you must see while in the UK. Fun fact of the day: the story of Goldilocks originated from this region.  Bet you didn’t know that!

As I explained in a previous post, after our first couple hours in the
area we decided that there was way too much to see and do so we got a
room at a bed and breakfast and made it a weekend trip. It was as
amazing weekend and a great memory.

Our Photo Tour:

Here’s what the drive in looked like.  Green rolling hills, stone walls, and sheep in abundance. 

Loved the sheep!

Looking for Babe.

This is Beatrix Potter’s home.  After she died she gave around 4,000 acres of land in the Lake District to England’s National Trust so that it would always remain untouched and beautiful. 

I looked in here for Peter but apparently he’s learnt his lesson.

Not a bad view to wake up to every morning.

We went to this amazing gingerbread shop located inside William Wordsworth’s old school house.

It tasted soooo good :)

Wordsworth’s grave

We went on a hike Saturday evening to watch the sunset.  Behind G is the town we stayed in- Ambleside.

I loved the ferns.

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Leeds and the World Curry Festival

During our second week in the UK I saw on the news that the World
Curry Festival was being hosted the following weekend in a city called
Leeds.  Both Glenn and I love Indian food and for the rest of the
week we eagerly anticipated the food we would be eating at the
festival. We even convinced some of our friends to come with us. I mean, how could they say no? This wasn’t the city curry festival, or national even. This is the WORLD
curry festival and we’re lucky enough to be within driving distance!

Now, some people travel because they want to see the sights. Me? I’d rather
meander through the streets and eat. And eat. And eat. So when festival day rolls around we gleefully hop into our tiny little car and drive two and a half hours north to Leeds, daydreaming the whole way about all the Indian food we’re going to eat. Our new friends like talking about food almost as much as we do.

Finally, the big moment arrives. We drive into Leeds and it’s raining.
No, POURING. And we only brought one little umbrella (amateurs). It’s
alright though, cause we’re going to the world curry festival, and
they planned ahead by holding it under some tents. We pay what would
be $10 American, walk into the tents and see….not much. There are a
bunch of tables set up for people to eat at, maybe 30 booths, a spot
to watch some cooking classes, and some concessions. Refusing to be
discouraged, we fight the crowds and walk around a bit, high stepping
all the way because we’re practically walking through a small river-
you see, rain flows downhill and we were smack dab in the middle of
the currents. No biggie,  wet feet won’t matter once we have satisfied
tummies. So we grab a table and the boys run off to buy us some food.
They come back with a hodgepodge of different types of
curries…funny, it doesn’t  look like Indian. It doesn’t taste like
Indian either. In fact, it doesn’t taste like anything at all. It’s
bland and horrible. And then it dawns on us- this is not the World
Curry Festival, as in the best of the best. This is a festival for
curries from around the world. Oops.

At least we got to see a new city. And we got to know our new friends
a little better. And that night we finally got some madras and tikki
masala from a local indian restaurant by our hotel. Mission
accomplished.

One cultural aside:
The British people love Indian food. And by love, I really mean LOVE.
This year is the 200 anniversary of the first Indian restaurant
opening in the UK and Tikki Masala is considered one of the national
dishes. There are at least 2 Indian restaurants for any other kind and
they are the busiest restaurants that we’ve seen here. Even the
chicken salads, pizzas, and baked potatoes have some kind of curry
added to them. It’s really amazing to me.

yummy- No?

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Kings Cross Station

Pretty, isn’t it? I am officially on my way to Brussels to see my brother and his family. I am so thankful to be close to them and be able to visit so easily.

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The Lake District

Today Glenn and I traveled up to the Lake District, which is in the northwest section of England, relatively close to the Scottish border. We had planned on only spending the day here, but soon after arriving we realized that it is way too beautiful with way to many things to do and see for us to stay for just one day. So we booked a room at a little bed and breakfast…or so we thought. In reality we’ve booked a room in someone’s home, and they make us breakfast in the morning. Honestly, we couldn’t be happier. The man who owns the place is extremely kind and from the beginning has treated us like we’re old friends. We’ve received the rundown on the whole area and, in particular, are well versed on which pubs in town are food and which aren’t (extremely important in his book).

All in all, it’s been a great day, and tomorrow will be too. I’ll post photos soon but in the meantime will just leave you with this one. We took this during the hike we went on this afternoon.

Finally I’ll leave you with a few interesting facts about the area:
- this is where Beatrix Potter lived once she started selling her books. She bought a large piece of land with the proceeds of her books. You can see why she was so inspired!
- William Wordworth was born, raised and buried here. He believed it was the most beautiful place on earth (according to a plaque next to his grave)
- this is where Elizabeth Bennett was supposed to go with her aunt and uncle. Fortunately her plans changed or else the book would have been a bit anticlimactic.
- in addition to it’s amazing scenery, you can find some pretty cool remains left by the romans and the Vikings. There are also several mysterious stone circles (similar but smaller than Stonehenge)
- most importantly, this place has the best gingerbread I’ve ever tasted. Seriously- it’s amazing.

Alright, enough with the history. We’re off to a late dinner at a place that was on one of Gordon Ramsey’s shows. Hope it lives up to it’s reputation!

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"where there is tea, there is hope"

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Home Sweet Home!

We found an apartment! After lots on Internet searching and home viewing Glenn and I finally decided on an apartment. The search itself was a little frustrating- tree are very few furnished apartments on the market right now, and even fewer that are close to town. I cant tell you how frustrating it is so make call after call to agencies obey to be told that they, quite literally, have nothing available.

This place has almost everything we were looking for. One, it is two blocks from downtown, which is awesome for me because we only have the one car. Two, they are just finishing redoing the entire apartment. This means that we have brand new EVERYtHING. Most of the other furnished places we looked at were kinda dirty and old. It’ll be a huge blessing to have something nice. Three, it has a parking space!

The only real downside is that it is a one bedroom. This will make life feel a little cramped when visitors come and stay but I figure we can get a blowup mattress. Regardless, it’s not like we’re gig to be spending a lot of time inside anyway.

We will move in at the end of the month. I’m so excited about having my own home again! It’ll be great to not live out of a suitcase and eat a homecooked meal.
Yum!

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My official guide on how to be British.

Time to start studying!

Side note: at the time of publishing, this book ha sold 250,000 copies IN THE UK. Apparently there are a lot of British people undergoing an identity crisis.

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Harry Potter fans: don’t give up hope yet. Hogsmead may still exist. Where else would they get the butterbeer?

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The first Saturday in the UK

Last weekend we decided to go sightseeing in our neighbouring towns. There was a food festival in Stratford Upon Avon which, obviously, was calling my name. Combine the words food and festival and you have one very happy lady. Stratford Upon Avon is a beautiful town. It is everything you hope an English town would be: cobbled stoned, cottages, a winding river and beautiful parks. And, oh yeah, it’s also a little famous. It’s where this guy named Will Shakespeare grew up. Perhaps you’ve heard of him?

We really did have a great time in Stratford. The food festival was fun. I got to eat the South African National Rugby team’s mascot- the springbok. It was that or Zebra, but the man behind the register recommended the springbok instead. Can you imagine selling zebra in the States? PETA would keel over.

This is a Springbok in South Africa

This is a Springbok in Stratford. 

This is proof I’m not making it all up.

Oh yeah, and for a little touch of home we found the Cajun food booth.
G and I just past by that one. No thanks, mate.  I’ll do without.

Without further ado, here is the mini tour of our mini tour:

Brought to you by your favorite online tourguide. 

Below you’ll see the river Avon (hence the town being called Stratford UPON Avon).
Beautiful, right? The swans were huge and, we read later, are mute.
Dont ask why, I haven’t a clue.

A statue of one of Shakespeare’s characters. 

Shakespeare’s birthplace.  He was born in 1564. (Don’t mind the random lady who insisted on having her photo taken as well)

Down the street is a monument dedicated to fools. (only in a tourist hot spot)

At this point, G and I headed off to see Anne Hathaway’s home. She was Will’s wife and her house is supposed to be the most beautiful of all. According to the two maps it was located a couple minute walk down a path. Remember that monument? It was dedicated to tourists like us who trust that our maps will be accurate. The fool doth think the map is wise.  A 45 minute jaunt down the path finally gets us to Annie’s home, which, admittingly, is as beautiful as was promised.

Unfortunately,  it was about closing time so we just meandered the
gift shop and left. Here are some magnets I still wish I had bought.
They are all insults found in Shakespeare’s writings. My favorites?
“scratching could not make it worse, such a face as yours" -Much Ado
About Nothing (a favorite play of mine as well)
“Out, You green-sickness carrion!" -Romeo and Juliet

They really had some clever insults back then.

***Incidentally, this is where I would place the amazing photo of Anne’s house.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take one.  Thanks right.  I walked two hours round trip to see the outside of a house and a gift shop and didn’t even document the journey.***

So, after all that we walked back to the car which, of course, was
parked under an apple tree. We obviously were not impressed by this,
because you can pick fresh apples from a tree all the time in
Manhattan and Mobile. Pretty much common place.

And that concludes the tour. I’m sorry the photo quality isnt good- my nice camera is broken and I still haven’t decided if it is worth sending away to be fixed or if I should invest in a new one.

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Where ever did Miss Potter get her ideas?

I came across this garden the other day.  Try as I might I couldn’t find Mr. McGregor or Peter for that matter. 

But maybe Peter’s in hiding…he didn’t do too well the last time he met one of these…

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Blackdown Hall

We went house hunting again today.

The first home was a bust. Honestly, and I hope I don’t come across as too snobby or anything, but it was just so…boring.  I love a house with character, and it had none.   

The second home? Well, let’s just say that you
wouldn’t find the word “ordinary" next to it’s picture in the thesaurus.

Here she is:

Oh trust me, I KNOW.

I snapped a couple quick pics of the estate (yes,
estate) before going inside:

At this point I felt a little too much like a tourist and less like a
client, so I didn’t take any photos of the inside, but imagine this-
marble floors, an iron spiralling staircase, state of the art kitchen
with granite counter tops. Oh yes. It is beyond words be-u-t-ful.  Oh, and did I mention that it has a name?  It’s called Blackdown Hall.  I’m fairly confident that this is what you’d find at the end of the rainbow, I don’t care what those leprechauns say. 

So why, you ask, did we not pull out our checkbooks and demand to
become the next tenets? Because of those darned pesky details.

First, it’s way out of our budget. Whatev.

Second, it’s way out of the way. No grocery store, no little town, nothing.

Third, I would have to walk 25 min just to get to a bus to take me into town.

Basically, if I had a car then it would be perfect. But I don’t. And
though right now I don’t think I’d mind being trapped in a place like
that my ever wise and practical husband assures me that beauty is
fleeting and that walking in rainy cold weather for so long everyday
WILL make me grumpy.

So we’re passing it up. But, come on, just look at her one more time.

As the Brits would say,

Luv-ley. Just luv-ley.

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