Second Week

So, the house is coming together, Emma's loving school, we are feeling a tad bit more settled. There is a neighborhood just around the corner called the West End, with a large park, two ponds and lots of trails in a setting similar to Minto Brown Island (the paths are great for walks or for running, so I'm planning to make use of them.) We've discovered Garson's Farm, which is a 5 minute walk from our flat: http://www.garsons.co.uk/. It's a huge nursery/gift shop/cafe/pick-your-own veggies in the summer. We've got a great neighborhood pub, th Prince of Wales, and a community hall where we've enrolled Jake in preschool five days a week (the government pays in this country!)

I was very impressed by the type of houses in this area, and in all of England. Think of a cute Tudor house you see in Portland, but multiply it by the hundreds and connect them together. It's like that everywhere. Small, winding streets lined by flats, houses, stores and restaurants. There are only small portions of land that are natural, and even those are covered in public footpaths. There is no wilderness left here, which is something I'm sure I'll miss as time goes by. What I didn't expect, however, was that there are also CARS everywhere. You'd think people would walk more or take the bus or train, and plenty of them must, but there is still so much traffic, even in these small towns further away from London. I think we are still considered to be a suburb of sorts to London, but still. I pictured picturesque, quiet streets. I think we have to get much further from London for that. As it is, I spend a lot of time driving, Emma to school in the morning (no buses and it's about 2 ½ miles to her school), Emma home from school in the afternoon, over to the cheaper grocery store rather than the more expensive one nearby. You can understand how I hate it, given that I would watch from my front porch as she walked across the street to Grant School last year. And you can't just drive to school, you have to weave in and out and over and through and around a round-about or two, and eventually you can meander your way to wherever it is you want to go. The roads make no sense, but I guess that's what happens when you turn shepherd's paths into roads for cars. But luckily I can walk Jake to preschool, and I can walk into Esher, about a mile away, if I just want to go for coffee, to the library, or whatever. And did I mention that gas is about $8.00 a gallon here?

On Thursday, Laura, Jake and I visited the Hampton Court Palace (http://www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/) Amazing that this fantastic palace is located only 10 minutes away from my house! It was built in 1514, and King Henry the Eighth lived there. It is the largest Tudor structure in England and has 60 acres of river-side gardens and a 300 year old shrubbery maze. We couldn't get through even a third of the palace, but I bought another family membership, which also gets us into several other palaces, so we can visit often. They have lots of children's activities, scavenger hunts, and holiday activities like caroling and interpretive tours. I think it will become a sort of Children's Museum/OMSI type of place for us when we need something to do. So while those you with kids go to the library or the carousel park on a rainy afternoon, we'll be hanging at the palace of Henry VIII.

Westminster Abbey Trafalger Square
Saturday was our first trip into London. We took the train from Esher to Waterloo Station. We wanted to see it all, but because we had the kids, and a very crabby Jake, we rode some double-decker buses, quickly visited Trafalger Square and Westminster Abbey (amazing!!!) and then toured the Tower of London. (Also saw London Bridge, which looks like the bridge from Salem to West Salem, highly unimpressive.) The Tower of London was a ton of fun, as it is really a castle-like structure with lots of buildings inside, so there was a lot to see. They have interpreters walking around in costumes putting on interactive plays, which the kids loved (the one we participated in involved "stealing" the crown jewels from the tower and then capturing the bad guy.) We didn't get through everything there, either, so will have to visit again. The nice thing about being here for a year is that we don't have to rush to see it all. I do have to say, however, that I do not really love London. Hard to put my finger on it, because there are neat places to see, but it just didn't grab me. Good thing there are lots of other places to go.

Tower of London