Christmas Abroad

Wow! It's hard to believe that Christmas is here. It seems just like yesterday we arrived and now we are buying presents, putting up trees and celebrating our first Christmas overseas. It's been lots of fun learning about new traditions, although being away during the holidays definitely makes you homesick. With that being said, it's been great getting gifts and Christmas cards from the states. It makes me feel really blessed and grateful we have such wonderful friends and family. I know mailing a box or a card is not easy when the recipient is abroad but it's definately appreciated.

All in all Christmas in England is very similar to Christmas in America. Trees, gifts and garland are all pretty universal, however things tend to differ when we get to the Christmas desserts. In America, we don't really have a traditional Christmas dessert. It's cookies, cakes,candies and the all uninspiring fruit cake, but in England there are several traditional desserts. The biggest in the Christmas Pudding. It's a ball shaped dried fruit based dessert. It often takes a month to "cure" for lack of a better term and it's made of dried fruit. When being served it is doused in brandy and set ablaze. Sometime it has custard on top.

Christmas Pudding

The next big one is the Christmas Cake.  Unlike the Christmas Pudding that combines alcohol, citrus, dried fruit and spices, the Christmas Cake is basically a frosted and ornately decorated fruit cake. It's normally square and doesn't seem as laborious as the Christmas Pudding.

Christmas Cake

The final one is Mince Pies. Most mince pies today do not contain meat, although some do. The vast majority are a mini pie filled with (you guessed it) more dried fruit and spices. Someone told me at work, fruit start creeping into the pies many years ago because alot of times the meat used in mince pies was slightly bad and the fruit covered up the smell. With that being said, I also read on line that it was a combination of the sweet and savoury, so the fruit-meat combo was on purpose as opposed to necessity. Whatever the reasons, the modern Mince Pie resembles more fig preserves to me than anything else.

So, with all this being said if you like fruit cake, dried fruit, fruit and spiced based desserts you would really enjoy all three of these. I'm not a huge fan of them as I don't like raisins and they all seem to have them, but there you go. Traditional British Christmas Desserts. Merry Christmas!

Mince Pies

Right Hand Drive

Wow! It's been a while since I blogged, life of a working woman I suppose. Things in jolly 'ol England are good. Christmas is around the corner and the hustle and bustle of the holidays is upon us. This weekend Matt and I treated ourselves to an early gift, tickets to Top Gear Live. Top Gear is one of the world's most popular shows, it's watch by nearly 350 million people world wide, and Matt and I have been "petrol heads" for many years now.

The shows three hosts have great chemistry and the live show is a tribute of sorts to the fans. It was a half day affair of racing cars, amazing stunt drivers, comedy and a "beauty pageant" of rare and exotic super cars. My vote was for the Ferrari California. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are brilliant live and the theme of the show was "Top Gear takes on the Olympics". The Stig made an appearance and the stunt drivers are amazing. You see these amazing slides and coordination on TV, but seeing it right in front of you if something completely different!

 We were able to take a backstage tour to see the cards used in the live show. It also had the cars used in classic Top Gear episodes. They didn't have my beloved "Oliver", a 1964 Opel Kadett Richard Hammond drove in the famous Africa episode, but what can you do. Some of you may remember I had vanity plates on our LR3 in the states that said "Oliver".  That was because of that episode (slightly lame I know).

Anyway, it was a great experience for Top Gear Fans and we are looking forward to the next live show in 2012. Oh, and in case you are wondering if we are going to try to visit the filmed show, we are on the waiting lists for tickets!

Visiting Top Gear Live got me thinking about driving in the UK. I'm going to be honest, in the beginning, it scared the daylights out of me. Remembering to stay on the left side was pretty easy, it was the roundabouts and small roads that were the worst. Also, when you are learning to drive at 16, you have this fearlessness about the road, mainly based off stupidity. Learning to drive as an adult is much worse. You are keenly aware you could die, kill someone, or get sued because you hit someones kid on a road with a shoulder the size of a sidewalk. I often thought if I could just hit someone and get it out of my system I would feel more much confident haha. So far so good. No accidents, roundabouts make much more sense and I only drove on the wrong side of the road twice (I think!). I also am going to toot my horn because I mastered the double roundabouts and the 7th layer of Hell, the Magic Roundabout, a giant roundabout made up of various mini-roundabouts.

The first time I drove through this beast, I had no idea what I was doing, seriously, I think Matt just about had a heart attack, but it all worked out in the end. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I am still not a very good driver, no matter what country I am in, but at least I can drive a car regardless what side the steering wheel is on now. 

Colchester Magic Roundabout

Imprisonment in London

Friday Matt and I made our second pilgrimage to London. Our mission was two-fold. Head to the American Embassy to get Matt a replacement passport (long story) and visit the Tower of London. We knew there were parts of the Tower used for torture, we had no clue the waiting room of the American Embassy was much the same. If you ever have visited the DMV, you know the brutality that takes place. Get a ticket and wait to be called. Well guess what, the American Embassy is the same way, BUT WORSE! Armed guards take all your "kill time" toys lest they be used to detonate a bomb, and you are stuck waiting in a room full of crying babies getting their first passports!! Our imprisonment lasted just over three hours before we were free to go. A definite modern torture device.

Free from the Embassy we hit the tube and headed for the Tower of London, which by the way is actually 20 Towers spread over a huge complex. It's not cheap, about $75 for two adults, but you will get a huge bang for your buck as the whole experience lasts around 3 hours and is incredible.

Henry VIII's Armour

Tower of London

When we arrived at the tower we decided to take a tour with the Yeoman. This is part of your ticket and is a must do when you visit. The Yeoman are usually military veterans and to be a Yeoman (also known as a Beefeater) is an honor. They are animated, well versed and make the Tower really come alive. You spend about an hour with them and then head off to explore the insides. Of course the highlight of the visit is seeing the Crown Jewels (no pics allowed). Beautiful pieces dating back to the 1200s encased in a multi-ton vault.

Matt at the Tower, the grass used to be the moat

Next we headed to the White Tower, home to many of the Tudor royals and saw some amazing displays of Henry VIII's armour. He is a prominent figure in the Towers' history and much of his battle armour is displayed. Also, three of his queens he killed (Anne Boylen, Lady Jane Grey and Catherine Howard) are buried at the tower! You can also visit other Towers where prisoners were held and carved their names into the stone. Much of the Tower is original, although it has gone through many transformations since it was established by William the Conqueror around 1100. 

Our badass Yeoman tour guide

Henry VIII Christmas ornament

Another perk of visiting the Tower is that you are a quick walk to the Tower Bridge, most commonly called the London Bridge, although technically the London Bridge is a smaller one down the Thames. Anyway, we walked across the bridge just for bragging rights and hit the tube back home. All in all a good day. I even scored a Henry VIII  Christmas ornament to remember our visit! As for the Embassy, I think I would prefer a medieval prison over a bureaucratic one any day of the week.



Tower Bridge

English Footpaths

England is currently in the midst of an Indian summer. The temperatures have been record breaking warm, around 75 degrees, which is unheard of around October! This great weather, combined with clear days, make trips down an English footpath a weekend must.

Matt and I have several around our village and they are a terrific way to let the dogs run free, jump in the water (sometimes), and see bits of the countryside. Footpaths are basically walking trails that cut through private land, wind along rivers, and provide some spectacular views. The paths are all over the country and they are definitely one of my favorite things in England. Below are some shots from our Sunday journey.

Farm Land

 And to our future guests, a trip down an English footpath is complimentary with your stay at the Neill cottage.

Matt, Scooter and Kaiser

Old Church we stumbled across on the trail

Gipping river footpath around Sproughton

Let them eat bread

In my short time living in the UK, I have discovered (for the most part) I am not a huge fan of British food. Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad. I appreciate most food here is fresh and lacks all the chemicals in American food but having fried eggs, blood sausage, baked beans and a grilled tomato for breakfast is just plain gross.

Italian Sourdough

 With that being said, I have discovered the joys of European bread. Now, it doesn't take much arm twisting for me to eat bread. Hand me a piece of chocolate or a roll, the roll wins every time, but the different types of bread I have discovered here have been wonderful! At our local farmer's market I love to buy French Pave, Tiger's Bread and Italian Sourdough. All are crusty white breads, soft in the middle and just about the most delicious thing ever. Back in the US, I would have always gone with wheat, but wheat is dead to me now. Yes, I will have to exercise more (another day about the confidence blow realizing your two sizes larger in the UK) but these breads and others are too good to pass up. Below are some photos. I am sure some bread shops sell these in the US, highly recommended if you can find them.

Tiger Bread

French Pave

A day in London

We made our first pilgrimage to London Saturday. Twelve hours to explore one of the world's greatest cities and what a great city it is! It was sunny and 70, minus a brief rain shower, and we had an absolute amazing time. For a big city, London is very clean and people are polite and nice. We started our trip with a train ride into London Liverpool and hit the streets to go exploring. We walked along the Thames and popped in front of the London Bridge. 

From there we headed to the subway (tubes) and made our way to the British Museum.  It took a bit to find it, but I just about peed my pants when we got there. THE BRITISH MUSEUM. This is bucket list stuff in my world and I was absolutely thrilled to walk in. The museum is huge and beautiful. It contains one of the largest collections of Greek antiquities, including the Rosetta Stone.

After several hours exploring all the rooms, we hit the tube again to head to Piccadilly Circus. Okay, that was kind of disappointing. It was pretty much a giant tourist trap, so we kept moving to Trafalgar Square. On our way there, we spotted the Texas Embassy, a great tex-mex joint in the middle of London. We popped in for lunch and the food was pretty spot on, PLUS, they happened to have a Texas licence plate with the UNT logo, Go Mean Green.



That was alot of fun and we look forward to returning in the future. Right around from the Texas Embassy is Trafalgar Square and it was much more impressive than I had imagined. The bronze lions are huge and the water is beautiful. Although there were alot of people it didn't feel crowded and the weather was perfect to hang around the steps to the London Gallery. After a few pictures and tossing some coins into the fountain, we headed off to the London shopping mecca Harrods.

Harrods is the largest department store in the UK and by far the most amazing store I have ever been in. The single store is over five acres and 1 million square feet. It's expansive, beautifully decorated and a window shoppers paradise. They have every piece of fashion you could imagine, but also have an ice cream parlor, a gourmet grocery store, a Christmas shop (even in August) a room devoted to chocolate and was beyond gorgeous. We did alot of browsing, but did snag a few things and look forward to returning when they decorate the store for the holidays. Apparently it is pretty spectacular. All in all Harrods was by far the most amazing store I have ever been in, plus the customer service is super nice too. Sorry no photos of Harrods, you cannot take pictures inside.

This pretty much wrapped up our day in London. So much more to see, but we are planning a visit again in the Fall to visit the London gallery and see a special Leonardo DaVinci exhibit. More to come.

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square

The British Museum

Arrivals and Departures

We finally made it! Six months after learning Matt and I were being relocated to England, the dogs and I safely arrived to Heathrow Airport on August 13th. All humans and canines survived the flight and nobody really had jet lag. Life in a tiny English village, Sproughton, is pretty quiet. We have met several neighbors and I was even recruited to volunteer at the local community shop! We visited our local pub, "The Wild Man" and Scooter and Kaiser discovered what horses are. (I suspect they think they are giant dogs, but at least the barking has stopped).

Our backyard is a wonderful place, with several old trees and English Ivy growing on the fence. It also had some sort of horrible bull needle plant that I pulled up with my hands  and freaked out when they started to burn really bad. Life with air conditioning has not been missed. The temperature has not broken 65 and it is nice to always have the windows open. At one point I thought there were birds living in our 300 year old attic and Matt bravely climbed up there to confirm there is nothing dead or alive. I secretly hoped we fight mind some old papers or something, but it was just insulation.

All in all things are good. The Neills reunited is a great thing and we are slowly completing the process of furnishing the house completely, painting and getting things sorted.  This weekend we are off to do some furniture shopping and check out the Suffolk Chili Festival.