Royal Oak Roundabout

Taking advantage of the nice weather, we "hired" a car to drop Zambezi off for his trial visit at the Country Canine Retreat (more to come on this). Familiar with stylish Eurowagons unavailable stateside (reference our VW Polo or our all-time sexiest ride, the Honda Jazz), we were pretty happy with the Kia Cce'd and its dog friendly "boot."

Royal Oak Pub #1

The drive appeared to be a straight shot through the village of Dorking (actual name) and down a few country roads. True to stereotype, the directions to the country retreat were based around a local pub. I plotted our route on Google Maps and happily, the pub popped up right away. We arrived without a problem but the directions onward to the retreat didn't add up from there. After much circling around, several phone calls to the owner and consultations with local residents, we determined that we were a town over, at the wrong Royal Oak pub. I re-googled the location, not relying on the apparently-common pub name this time and typed in the street name instead. Off we went. To yet another wrong pub, on a street with the exact same name, again just a village over from our destination. Back in the car. Although the third time was in fact the charm, we weren't able to locate the country retreat without at least six more u-turns and one incident in which the driver might have been driving on the American side of the road (oops).  

This makes me feel a bit better...

Upon finally arriving at the retreat, we unloaded the dog and immediately headed back up to the nearest Royal Oak for a calming pint and much-overdue lunch. Unfortunately although the pub offered tractor races, pantomime horses and allowed guests to sleep in the back garden, there was no food on offer other than the basket of duck eggs on the bar (which the barkeep said you could take home, hatch, raise the duck, kill it, and then bring back in August for the DIY roast. True story.).

The final Royal Oak

Just a short few months until lunch will be served... 

We sat outside in the sunshine and made the best of the situation by enjoying a picnic lunch of crisps, peanuts, and Dillon's baby biscuits. We arrived back in London as the sun was setting- starving, yet assured that Zambezi was "a friendly chap" and confident we would be just fine without driving for another four months.  

The village's finest

A Nifty Little Mormon Trick

Celestial set for everyone's favorite all-American prophet

Last Thursday evening, we took the opportunity to experience London's famed theater district...with an American play. An absolutely hilarious American play. From the get-go, it was clear that the Book of Mormon's reputed offensive humor was right up our alley. Almost a week later, we are still singing along to some of the more memorable show tunes (Hello!) and highly recommend checking out this comic genius in the city nearest you and you won't ever think about those guys at your door the same way again. 

You & Me (But Mostly Me)

Memorable Mum's Day

March 31st (oh, sorry... 31 March) was Mum's Day in the UK and I thought I would share this lovely note I received "from" my darling son:

Mummy, 

You are the bee's knees!  Ace in every way and I appreciate all that you do for me each day.  I truly fancy the various schemes and bits & bobs you use to keep me prim and proper and away from all things dodgy. I can see that I often leave you knockered (zonked, really) and driven out on the piss. Me being the full can of beans that I am, its no surprise you have lost all those zeds. And lets not waffle, I become a rather pernickity lil' chap when I get buggered! But although I can be a ripe pain in your arse, you simply must know that I love you and am wonderfully chuffed to bits to have you as me mum!

Dillon

PS- Zambezi says "How are you"

Quite the British lad already, isn't he?

Joie de Vivre

For our first international excursion, we felt we had to head to the City of Lights. Armed with two additional helpers, Eurostar tickets and what we felt was the bare minimum amount of baby gear, we hit the road....er, tracks.

The journey from London to Paris takes just over two hours by train, with the highlight being the passage through the famed "chunnel."  Unfortunately, we were so excited about the existence of the bar car, that we didn't even notice the passage through the chunnel on the outbound voyage.  A bit anti-climatic but we were unphased.

We arrived into Paris on a beautiful spring day and were able to perceive an apparent difference in work ethic between Londoners and their Gallic cousins.  The parks were packed almost to capacity with people of all ages doing nothing other than sitting in chairs facing the sun.  On a Thursday. At 2 pm.  Clearly this was not a city where something as trivial as a traditional work day would get in the way of  excellent weather.

We quickly caught on to the local mentality and bought a bottle of Bordeaux for our sunset stroll around the Eiffel Tower (luckily no one in the group had any interest in waiting in a seemingly interminable line to actually go up into the tower).

For the next two days, we spent our time strolling around the city, eating and drinking well, and doing our best to get the Parisians to understand our incredibly basic French (i.e. about 7 words).  

I could tell you all of the wonderful things we ate, saw, and drank on our trip, but lets be honest--it would be better if you just booked a trip yourself. Overall, it was a great start to our, hopefully, many Eurotrips to come and gave us a taste of the famed joie de vivre just south of our new border. 

Just one instance of a member of the group witnessed skipping in delight

Shrieking in Support

A few weeks ago, we decided to mix up our evening routine (afternoon walk-> messy attempt at solid foods->playtime->gradual meltdown->bath->bedtime->incredibly relieved parents) to attend a vigil campaigning for the end of the Syrian crisis. Hosted in Trafalgar Square as well as in 40 other locations around the world on the third anniversary of the conflict, the #WithSyria event gained momentum thanks to the projection created by elusive street artist Banksy. By reworking his famous "Girl with a Balloon" piece to include a Syrian girl and a message of hope, the artist added a good deal of publicity to the candle-lit vigil. 

Although the extended bedtime meant our subway car was treated to some ear-splitting shrieks on the way home, it was totally worth it to go to show support for the cause-- not to mention a cool way to witness the debut of a reworked Banksy....

To learn more about Banksy, click here.
To help end the Syrian conflict and support the work of our two favorite international relief workers, click here. 

Glorious Grey Gardens

Soon after moving to London, I was chatting with my brother online, telling him how beautiful Kensington Gardens were, despite the grey weather. Being a native Texan, he had trouble processing how grey = pretty. I did a quick google search for pictures to try to demonstrate how lovely and striking the grey sky looked against the green grass and trees but came up blank. I couldn't believe that I couldn't find any images that had manage to capture the park's beauty with its frequently grey skies. So here are a few of my amateur iphone shots attempting to do just that:

A selection of orinthological discoveries

Light at the end of the tunnel

A mud-hound's delight

Should you be interested in checking out the grey gorgeousness for yourself, you shouldn't have any trouble finding the Kensington Court Crew as we spend A LOT of time in the park, strolling around, taking up a disproportionate amount of sidewalk space and keeping an eye out for Dillon's future bestie, "Georgie."

To Market We Go

Last weekend, we made our first trip to London's famed Borough Market.  Long time readers of our blog might be curious how it compares to the Biscuit Mill in Cape Town...well, lets just say it blows it out of the water, both in terms of sheer size and offerings. Unfortunately, expanded options aren't always a good thing if you arrive hungry and overwhelmed by the choices on offer. Luckily, we found some instant winners to hold us over until more substantial decisions had to be made: fresh oysters on the half shell and a pint of the market's finest.  A few highlights from the excursion: 

Enjoying some over-sized fresh oysters

Family fun with local wildlife outside the pub

Tanked out on the tube ride home

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday with a couple thousand other Londoners....

Regal Readjustments

Now that we have begun to get settled in our new home and move past any major changes, little differences have begun to stick out.  For example, in England everything just feels a bit fancier.  A few examples:

Not regular mail, but royal mail is delivered by the postman

 

 

The toilet paper that was pre-stocked in our flat.  Not only is it lovely to look at, but a post-sneeze nose clearing reveled that it also appears to be scented.  Pina colada, maybe?

Our neighbors, who reside with us in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.  For those who might not immediately recognize this building, it is Kensington Palace.  We initially assumed it was just some historical palace not used since the 1700s, but we were wrong.  Residents include Wills, Kate, Harry and Prince George, who will obviously want to be friends with Dillon once he figures out we are right across the way.

Getting the Gang Back Together

That's right- our final family member has arrived! After a few weeks of hanging out with his best bud Ted, Zambezi took his first plane ride over the pond to join us here in London.  Happy reunions all around...

Luckily, Zambezi seems to have settled into his new lifestyle quite quickly.  He loves the weather, long walks in the park, and meeting all of the proper English hounds.  If only we could figure out how to get him to drag the stroller up our four flights of stairs, he would be a candidate for the Texpatriate of the Month award.

House Hunters International

Things are going jolly well over here in London town as our tenure in our temporary housing unit at the Point West apartments comes to an end.  It is not fair to completely bash the dreary high rise condo (pictured at right) as its hulking ugliness actually serves as an effective point of reference when navigating our new city as it is by far the most unsightly building for miles around. 

Upon arrival in London, we went on a multi-day adventure to secure new accommodations  during which we were frequently reminded of the show House Hunters International.  More than once, we felt as though our house hunt was more than a bit surreal, if not exactly TV-worthy. We looked, for example, at a building that Princess Diana used to live in (pre-princess, when she was "just a Lady"), considered a neighborhood in which Simon Cowell and Sir Richard Branson reside, and viewed a unit from which you can see Wills and Kate's backyard.  Before you begin wondering whether Jared has been promoted about 50 times over to afford to live in such locations, I should note that while here, we will be receiving a housing allowance that will offset the we slight difference in the real estate market between Houston and London.

 

After viewing almost 20 different properties, we finally settled on a lovely unit at 56 Kensington Court, just blocks from Kensington Gardens/ Hyde Park, which will be perfect for when our furry roommate arrives in a few weeks.  The flat is centrally located, convenient for Jared's commute, and offers an authentically claustrophobic Euro-style "lift" to assist you in your arrival to the 4th floor unit. 

 

Our furniture is schedule to arrive on Tuesday and, much to my delight, we have a crane booked to lift the furniture up to the 4th floor and through the window.

 

With our new accommodations secured and the moving date set, the only thing keeping me up at night is how our furniture is going to fit...

Overcoming Dining Drama

Navigating the social protocols of a new city can be challenging. Add one occasionally impatient 5 month old with two parents' desire to experience all the city has to offer and it gets really interesting. Luckily, our newest Texpatriate has inherited a strong social streak and a charming Cheshire grin that has made adapting to our new reality, and enjoying lunch, a bit easier. 

Accidental Tourism

When relying on public transportation to get around, a derailment or line cancellation can put a damper on well-thought-out plans.  Luckily, in London, even an unexpected detour can lead to interesting sights.