A Few Snaps from the Trip to Prague

A view of the River Vltava and the Stare Mesto, or Old Town

A street near Prague Castle

Stained glass window by Alphonse Mucha in St. Vitus' Cathedral

A tram bearing evidence of my family's coffee empire

Kim, I hope this makes you happy

As "requested" (note use of ironic quotation marks) by Kim, here are a few snaps from our trip to Barcelona.

These geese live at La Catedral.

A chocolate stand at Mercat de la Boqueria, Barcelona's best known market. However . . .

Simon and I prefer Mercat de Santa Caterina. In particular, we like having lunch at Bar Joan. Cava, patatas bravas, and bacalla amb samfaina (fried salt cod in a tomato sauce). Yum.

Books Read in September

J.D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye
John Le Carré: The Honourable Schoolboy
Stephenie Meyer: Twilight
Sergei Lukyanenko: The Night Watch
Georgette Heyer: The Convenient Marriage
Salley Vickers: Mr. Golightly's Holiday

Yes, of course, I have read The Catcher in the Rye before -- probably when I was about 12. Having reread the novel to prepare for tutoring two students, I realize that, at 12, I did not understand it. And unlike most Americans born after 1950, I wasn't assigned Catcher in high school. I'm rather glad of that. My currents students could not empathize with Holden Caulfield, most likely because his attitude is an amplification of their own.

I LOOOOVED Heyer's The Convenient Marriage. It was sweet, hilarious, and just fun. I had read or heard somewhere that reading Georgette Heyer is one of Stephen Fry's guilty pleasures. Well, if it's good enough for Stephen Fry, it's good enough for me.

I also LOOOOVED Vickers' Mr. Golightly's Holiday. (I'm not a pushover. I simply choose my reading carefully.) I also enjoyed the three other novels. September proved to be a good reading month for me.

Just for giggles, here are a few snaps from our trip to Wales and England last month.

This is Del. She "works" at Byrdir,
the B&B where Simon and I stayed for two nights.
Del, who seems to have some compulsive behavior issues
when it comes to playing fetch,
brought these scraps of sticks to the door of our cottage.

Another "working" animal,
Kit lives in Cheshire with her peeps, Elaine & Simon.

Slightly less cuddly than Del or Kit,
La Princesse was featured in
Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008,
over the weekend of 5-7 September 08.

Rain Drops Keep Falling on North Wales

Simon and I were in north Wales last week, intending to get in two days of hiking. How silly! Don't we know that it rains A LOT in north Wales? We did, though, manage to get in one lovely but soggy hike.

This is not a stream. It's the trail.

The trail crossed this bridge.
And that's not a dry, grassy field.
It was a swamp the day we were there.

We passed this ancient burial chamber.

And then we cautiously passed this horse,
who didn't seem to mind our being on its trail.

Vacation Recap: Day 5

Tuesday the 22^nd was an action-packed day that began with the Battle of Hastings and ended with the D-Day landings.

We first went to the town of Bayeux to see the Bayeux Tapestry. Nearly 1000 years-old and over 200 feet long, the tapestry chronicles the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. I found the tapestry fascinating, especially as I had an audio-tour that described each panel of it.

After Bayeux, we headed to the coast, stopping in Arromanches-les-Bains for lunch (moules et frites -- yum!) and a look at the remains of Mulberry Harbour B, one of the artificial harbors constructed to bring in supplies for the D-Day landings.

Our next stop was the excellent and informative visitors’ center and memorial at Omaha Beach, where we spent about two hours, first going through the visitors' and then walking down to the beach.

Since it wasn't far away, we headed to the Ranger Monument at Pointe du Hoc, and then -- since our goal had apparently become 12 hours of sightseeing -- we made one more stop for the day: Sainte-Mère-Église. On D-Day, when paratroopers landed in this town, one soldier's parachute became entangled with church's spire. This incident became the basis for The Longest Day.

Church with slightly unconvincing model
of paratroop and parachute

Vacation Recap: Day 4

On the morning of Monday the 21st, John and Patricia, the owners of Le Petit Corbon, stopped in to say hello and mentioned that there was a good market that day in the village of St. Pierre sur Dives. Since the village wasn't far off our route to the castle of William the Conquerer, we went first to the market.

It was huge!

Simon and I dropped Mom and Dad off and then found a parking space. At that point, we had no idea that it would take us more than an hour to cross paths with Mom and Dad. By then, both parties had purchased stinky cheese. And it's just possible that I bought a crepe from these fine ladies.


Leaving the market, we went to Falaise to visit le Château Guillaume le Conquérant. Most of the exterior was under scaffolding, but it was nonetheless a worthwhile stop with an excellent audio-tour.


In Falaise, Simon picked up some walking maps that covered the area around our rental house. That evening, we did part of one of the walks. As we didn't have proper hiking gear, the paths were much too muddy for us to continue. Still we had some excitement: we encountered a ferocious poodle and dozens of inquisitive cows.

If you click on this picture
and see what you think is a dead cow in the background,
do not be alarmed.
That cow is just rolling around in the grass.

Vacation Recap: Days 2 & 3

On Saturday the 19th, we -- well, Simon -- had a longish day of driving. Just outside Ypres, we made a quick stop at the Hill 62 Museum. It's a private museum and a bit chaotic and pricey, but it's worth visiting if only for the trenches. (Plus, the stench of cat and the opportunity to pet the skinny perpetrators of said stench are included in the ticket price.)

A close-up of the remnants a tree amongst the trenches.
There were about three or four of these trees, all dead, full of bullet holes,
and held up with cement and metal poles.

After this stop, we drove on to our house, "Le Petit Corbon," located just outside the village of Putanges Pont-Ecrepin. The house was so nice and comfy and ended up being about half the cost of two hotel rooms for all of us.

Even after all the driving on Saturday, Simon was ready for another roadtrip. So on Sunday, we headed across Normandy to Monet's house and gardens in Giverny. Before going into the village, we stopped for lunch at a little outdoor pizza cafe. There Daddy, Simon, and I had pizza with andouillette sausage. In other words, we had chitlins pizza.

Monet's house with cute, well-dressed French child in the background.
I love the way French people dress their children as children,
not as (skanky) mini-adults (hello, people of the Netherlands!)

Tulip and little blue flowers whose name I do not know.

Monet's water garden with The Japanese Bridge.

Vacation Recap: Day One

On Friday, 18 April, we headed out for Ypres, Belgium. Simon piloted the rental car (a snazzy Skoda), and I -- map in hand -- navigated. Mom and Dad engaged in the ever-popular "Crop Talk."

I grew up hearing "Crop Talk" from Mom and Dad whenever we drove anywhere: "That corn is gettin' right high" or "That tabacca needs toppin'." My parents don't generally talk like that -- only when they're playing car-window-farmer (sort of like armchair-quarterback, but not as interesting).

We arrived in Ypres around mid-afternoon, with enough time to tour a few sites and get back to town for the "Last Post" Ceremony at the Menin Gate.

Memorial to John McCrae, writer of "In Flanders Fields," at Essex Farm Cemetery.

A crowd gathers for the "Last Post" Ceremony.

Books Read in January

The length of this list may cause you to wonder whether I spend all my time reading and eating bon-bons (why it is always bon-bons? why not pork rinds?). However, much of my reading occurs during the nearly two hours I spend every weekday enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of public transportation. No, I'm not on the bus for two hours. I spend most of that time waiting for the bus. It's fun.

Marisha Pessl: Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Mark Haddon: A Spot of Bother
Lois Lowry: The Giver
Laurie Perry: Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair
Sébastien Japrisot: The Sleeping-car Murders
Diane Setterfield: The Thirteenth Tale
Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love
M.T. Anderson: Feed
Philippe Claudel: By a Slow River
Susan Runholt: The Mystery of the Third Lucretia
Anthony Trollope: Rachel Ray

And finally a couple of snaps from our November trip to Boston:

The squirrels in Boston are fat and fearless.

I always travel to Boston for Belgian beer.

Scotland Trip, Episode 4: Arthur's Seat

On the last day of our trip, Simon and I went to Edinburgh to hike up Arthur's Seat. (As the actor said to the bishop. Har-dee-har-har.) Arthur's Seat is an extinct volcano pretty much smack in the middle of Edinburgh. Actually, it and the Salisbury Crags are part of Holyrood Park.

Simon at the beginning of the hike

View of Arthur's Seat

Another view of Arthur's Seat. Note the trail's switchbacks.

View of the Salisbury Crags

Scotland Trip, Episode 3: North Berwick

Simon and I went to North Berwick to visit the Scottish Seabird Centre (recommended!). Inside -- where it's warm and not windy -- you can view seabirds by manipulating cameras on the large rocks/small islands just off the shore. The day we were there, Bass Rock appeared white because it was covered in gannets.

Simon outside the Scottish Seabird Centre

View of Bass Rock

Afterwards, we hiked up North Berwick Law, "a 613ft lump of volcanic rock" according to Undiscovered Scotland.

View from the base of North Berwick Law

View of Bass Rock from North Berwick Law

Scotland Trip, Episode 2: Craigmillar Castle

On Simon's birthday, we flew from Amsterdam to Edinburgh (yea! EasyJet!) and picked up our rental car. Unfortunately, the rental agency was out of the car we had requested, so we were upgraded. This upgrade was unfortunate because Simon then had to drive on the wrong, err, other side of the road in way too much car. If this ever happens again, we will definitely request a downgrade.

We had a few hours to spare before we could check into our B&B in Musselburgh, the Honest Town, so we decided to visit Craigmillar Castle, which dates back to the 1400s.

Simon and I later learned from our pals at the Volunteer Arms in Musselburgh that we had been in a rather dicey part of Edinburgh. We didn't have any problems though and would recommend visiting Craigmillar Castle.

Scotland Trip, Episode 1: New Relative

Usually when Simon and I go on holiday, I do, umm, most of the planning. But for this trip, Simon contributed to the research by consulting CAMRA’s website and compiling a seemingly exhaustive list of recommended pubs. One was the Volunteer Arms in Musselburgh, a friendly, lively pub with a great selection of real ales.

And, had Simon not pursued this scholarly endeavor, I would not have met my cousin Scott. Like me, Scott has freakishly double-jointed fingers. We must be related.


Scott was out with his pals Robert and Steve. Silliness ensued.

France with Bud 'n Bren -- Ooh La La!

Last Thursday, Simon and I headed out with Mom and Dad to visit northeastern France, in particular the areas where my grandfather (Dad's dad) fought with the 42nd Rainbow Division in World War I.

As a child, I was dragged off to cemeteries, battlefields, and battle re-enactments and always vowed to myself that, as an adult, I would never go on another history-oriented vacation. Well, this trip to France was my and Simon's third WWI vacation.

Here are just a couple of snaps from our trip.

American War Memorial at Chateau-Thierry

The Buies Creek Expeditionary Force, as it advances on Belleau Wood

We weren't at war the whole trip. It just happens that we were in the Champagne region.

Bud 'n Bren at the grape press

A vineyard at Champagne Maison Mercier

The Kim Show, Episode 2: Maastricht

On the Saturday of Kim's visit, we got up early and headed for Maastricht, about a 3-hour train ride from Leiden. Located in Limburg, Maastricht is the southernmost city in the Netherlands. With its proximity to Belgium and its Catholic history, Maastricht seems much more continental (i.e. French?) than most cities in the Netherlands.

On the way to the center of town, we walk through an antiques market. Kim can't believe that I'm looking at baseball cards.


Kim poses by a sculpture in the Vrijthof.


We visit St. Servaaskerk, the church that houses the relics of St. Servaas, the first bishop of Maastricht.



We had hoped to tour the sandstone caves on the edge of town, but they had already closed for the day. Instead we took a walk in the "Dutch Alps" -- that's what the Dutch call Limburg because, as it's actually above sea level, there are a few hills.