A Different Kind of Jubilee

Recently, the Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee. With loads of pageantry and such, it was truly a spectacle and a once in a lifetime thing to witness. We, on the other hand, are celebrating a different kind of Jubilee. Specifically, the Jubilee Line on the London Underground. We’ve written about folks on the bus and folks on the tube before, but we have, of late, been riding the Jubilee Line a great deal and have some new highlights to regale.

Dude! You spilled your beer!

One early Saturday morning, on the Jubilee Line, on our way to Stratford for Debbie to go to a Saturday morning rehearsal and Jon to the coffee house to catch up on some work, we sat across from a “gentleman” who appeared to be just coming home from his Friday night. He was sitting quite slouched with one leg perched at the ankle on his other knee. Next to him was his plastic bag full of little bottles of Jack Daniels. In his hand was a full Kronenburg (pint of beer in a can). His grip on the can was less than ideal and he kept nodding off/passing out. Through 7 stops we watched him nod off and tip the beer ever so slightly one way or the other. Between stops 7 and 8 he fully passed out and we knew the full pint of beer was not going to stay in the can much longer. The tube came to a bit of a jerky stop and the beer departed his hand to the left, pouring out all 20 ounces on to the two seats next to him (one of which had a 20-something girl sitting in it – her leap from the seat was Olympic). Our passed-out friend had no clue. So we together kicked his foot off of its perch on his knee and Debbie says “Dude! You spilled your beer!” His response was as expected – kind of a “I did? Wow. Neat. Zzzzzzz.” Hilarious!

Please do not use your pram as a doorstop

Coming home from Stratford one night after a late rehearsal, we jumped on to the Jubilee just as the doors were closing and barely survived the potential smashing (those doors do not close lightly or slowly). As we sat, the conductor comes over the loud speaker and says “Attention Ladies and Gentlemen. Please do not use your pram as a door stop. There are plenty of trains from this station and you need not put your child’s life in danger just to make sure you get on the train. It is bad for the train and even worse for your child. Again, please do not use your pram as a door stop…This means you, you stupid woman.” Really? People need to be told this?

You’ll have to excuse me, I’ve been drinking

While on the Jubilee Line one day, Debbie was enjoying her 30th book while living here in England. The bookmark inside the book, was a gift from her friend Yasmine, who brought it back from Turkey. The woman sitting next to her asked her a question about the book mark. It went something like this….”blahioeksblashkibookmark?” Debbie said “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand what you said”? The lady said “You’ll have to excuse me I’ve been drinking.” It was 10:00 in the morning!

.....Best wishes for your own Different Kind of Jubilee!.....

Halifax Chicken Soup

Fooling around in the kitchen one day using up some leftovers and came up with this tasty dish.  It also happened to be a rainy day (go figure) and this soup really hit the spot.

Here is what you'll need:
 
Cabbage
Leeks
Yellow Onions (2)
Juice of one Lime
Chicken Thighs
Canneloni beans
Chicken stock (2 tubs or 2 cubes)
Milk
Sour Cream
Boiling Water
Herbs:  course ground pepper, garlic salt, herbs de provence
Crock Pot

Slice the leeks, shred the cabbage, dice the onions and put into a bowl.  Add approximately 1/2 a small container of sour cream and the juice of one lime.  Stir. Set Aside.

Dice the chicken thighs and saute with the herbs till done.

Put the above into a crock pot.  Add boiling water, chicken stock, beans and milk. Cook on High for an hour or two then reduce to low.  You may need to add more sour cream at the end.

Very tasty and worth a shot.

The Precious One Comes to Town.

Nikki, aka The Precious One, came to London on March 1st.  It was a Christmas gift from her to us and a what a great gift it was.  When we knew that she was coming to London we asked her "What do you want to see in London?" Her reply...."Paris".  We had a party for our London friends to meet Nikki and then we went to Paris.  Keep in mind that from the time she arrived until she left a week later it rained, rained, rained......sometimes it poured.

We left London at 0 dark 30 to take a bus, train, and the tube to Kings Cross/St.Pancras.  There we boarded the Eurostar bound for Paris.  This journey should normally take 2 and a half hours.  Our trip took six hours.  There were signal failures and such, but the biggest problem was that the train ahead of us had electrical problems and caught on fire.  Bummer!  However they did give us a free train ticket to take within a year's time to either Belgium or France.  We took them up on that offer in July, but that is a story for another blog.

Finally we arrived in Paris and we chose a hotel close to Montmartre because we felt that would be the area of most interest to Nikki.  Below is a picture of our spacious room!

The subway system in Paris is called the Metro and it is not exactly known for its cleanliness or its fragrance....not in a good way at least.  The guide books say it smells like urine, cheese, and dirty socks. Undaunted we took many trips on the Metro.  On one leg, Nikki got on too soon and we waved goodbye to her, hoping to see her at the next stop.  Memories of her childhood came floating back.

One of our favorite things to do in Paris, just ask the Jaffees, is to have "walkin' around crepes".  This particular trip it had to be "sittin' down inside where it is dry" crepes.

Any trip to Paris is not complete without a visit to and picture of the Eiffel Tower.  Good weather or bad you have to take that photo.

We wanted to take Nikki over to Montmartre to see the Sacre Couer, the artists square and the Creperie where 10 years ago we stapled a picture of Nikki and Joey to the wall. (at this point, please refer to a previous blog....hee hee) anyway...what a great day.

Unfortunately, we were only in Paris for one night and took in a lot but we now had to leave to come back to London.  We took Nikki over to Camden Town which is where Jon works, but it also is a very unique and eclectic area for shopping, food, tattoos etc.  Yes, Nikki got a new tattoo for a souvenir from this trip.  One of our London friends, Peter, calls Nikki the "Little Ginger Kitten".  She liked that and wanted that on her wrist but in Debbie's handwriting. We are not crazy about tattoos but we are crazy about The Precious One, now the Little Ginger Kitten.

When Nikki was a little girl and unhappy about something, Jon used to ask her if she wanted a pony.  That would usually work to bring a smile to her face and temporarily forget whatever was bothering her.  On our way back to London from Paris we only had one bus ride left to go, but it was raining, and windy and very miserable.  Nikki's umbrella broke and she was shaking and pretending to cry.  Jon asked her if she wanted a pony and she said....." I don't want a pony, ever !!!"

That's our baby girl, thank you for visiting. xxoo

Keep Calm and Carry On

The mantra of England, as anyone who’s been here or seen the t-shirts, mugs, and posters would know, is “Keep Calm and Carry On”. It is basically a fancy way to say “Don’t sweat the small stuff”. At first interpretation, it sounds like a very reasonable way to get through the day. After much time in England, we have come to learn that this is much more than a mantra – it is at the heart and soul of most English people. There are certainly many times when keeping calm and carrying on is actually the best choice (e.g., looking for lost keys, finding your gas tank is on E and you are a few miles from a gas station, learning that your favorite TV show has been interrupted for a special report on something you don’t care so much about, etc.).

Being two of the more passive Americans around, it would stand to reason that our approach to day to day activities would be just the ticket – we’ll fit right in… Not so much. It turns out that our level of “passivity and general acceptance” of things that come our way is not even close to the intent of the mantra. Our seemingly casual approach to life actually makes us demanding a-holes on the OSB (Official Scale of Britishness).

So many times, we force ourselves to remain calm because we are surrounded by others who are genetically calm about all of it. We thought it would be fun, and somewhat cathartic to share with you some of the moments where we opted for valor through discretion, when what we really wanted to do was scream our fool heads off.

Electricity on a Stick?

We have metered electrical service in our house…sort of. The meter is actually under the stairs and requires a microchipped plastic stick in order to work. The way it works is you go to the local store, give them money, and they program your microchipped stick to know that you’ve pre-paid an amount. Then you take the stick home and put it in the “box in the Harry Potter room under the stairs” – voila! Electricity! What appears to be a relatively smart way to manage your daily electrical use is simply a pain in the ass. In the year 2012, there is not enough infrastructure in place to have metered power supplied to the houses – you can choose from 5 electricity companies, but they all send you a stick. The worst situation is realizing your electricity stick has run out of money and it is after 7pm on a Sunday, when the “electricity store” is closed. Keep Calm and Carry On.

When drunks lose their Oyster Cards

On the way home from work one day, Jon hopped on the 122 bus for the last leg of the journey. He was followed onto the bus by a man who had clearly spent the last several days at the pub. Once on the bus, Mr. Pub-Lover realized he had lost his Oyster Card (the card you use for transport – pre-loaded with money – to allow for quick “tapping in and tapping out” for buses, trains, tubes, etc.). When this happens you have to pay for the bus in cash. So he digs through his pockets and comes up with £1.90, 40p short of the required £2.30 cash fare. Seeing this as a problem, his razor sharp mind goes into overdrive and he determines the best way to handle this is to ask the bus driver to “hold on a moment” while he jumps back off the bus and starts begging the folks waiting for other buses to give him 40p. In some circles, this would seem somewhat reasonable, except that it was the 9th person he asked that actually helped him out. Odd that the bus driver would wait that long (it was almost 5 minutes) and even odder that no one on the bus seemed to be disturbed by the delay… Seriously? Keep Calm and Carry On.

Sorry, the bus can’t go up that hill

After a fun evening in London in wintertime seeing a West End show, we hopped on the bus to head back home. Snow was just starting to fall and it was 10:30pm (or 22h30 as you would say here). The journey is about 35 minutes and drops us at the stop 2 blocks from our house. Easy breezy, yes?...No…10 minutes into our journey the skies burst open and the snow fell like an avalanche on the city (something like 8 inches in 20 minutes). Our driver bravely and safely got us through the streets of London until we reached Dulwich. In Dulwich, there is a big hill you have to traverse to continue on your journey. We were at the foot of the hill and the bus stopped. It seemed like any other stop, except we never started again. After 15 minutes or so, some passengers decided it might be time to ask what was happening. “Sorry, the bus can’t go up that hill.” So, here we are with the snow mounting, time passing (now 23h30), and the driver turns off the motor (and thus the heat). There are still about 30 people on the bus, all patiently waiting for something to happen to change our fate. To cut this long story short, we and the other 34 buses stopped on that street were able to start moving again at 1:45 in the morning. We got home about 3:00 a.m. Keep Calm and Carry On.

It’s not really Rocky Road

We spent many months looking for Rocky Road ice cream, checking every store and ice cream vendor we could find. The general answer when we asked was “Whu?”. The answer after asking a second time was “Rocky Road?” We finally gave up our quest and made a note to have Rocky Road next time we were back in the US. Until one glorious day in the grocery store when we saw Rocky Road Ice Cream in the freezer case and did a happy dance up and down aisle 3. We planned to watch some “telly” that night and enjoy our taste of home. Ice cream scooper in hand, we open the container and immediately said to ourselves, “Whu?” Rocky Road in England has neither Rocks nor Roads, no dark chocolate, no nuts, no miniature marshmallows. While the milk chocolate, vanilla, caramel blend that awaited us was tasty, we decided…Keep Calm and Carry On.

And finally…

When your heater breaks, your local store runs out of milk, you bump your head on the top of the 3 foot tall passageway from your bedroom to the hallway, your internet service goes down, you burn your finger on the stove, and you can’t remember where you left the box of plasters (that’s Band Aids), all within a 30 minute period, only one thing to do…

Christmas/New Years 2011-2012

Well, Christmas 2012 is around the corner and we are just now getting around to blogging about last year.  So now we bring you and us up to date. Ho Ho Ho!
We flew to L.A. on the 23rd of December, just in time to participate in Schnappy Christmas; which is an evening walk in Tarzana, to see Candy Cane Lane armed with Hot Chocolate and Peppermint Schnapps.  This annual event usually includes, Joe and Robyn Moshier, The Houstons, Nikki and Jon and I.  Charlie and Moki Moshier, the Yorkies, are dressed up as Santas and they get as much attention as the beautiful homes that are all lit up for Christmas.

A little tipsy and very much jet-lagged, we went to bed for a very "short" Long Winter's Nap.  We woke up at 3:00 a.m. and decided it was a perfect time to wrap all of our Christmas gifts that we brought from London.  Fueled by leaded coffee, we were done wrapping at 7:00 a.m. Next on the agenda was to drive to Northern California with Nikki and our grand dog Olivia.  We picked up Shaun's car at Sacramento airport and Nikki followed us to Shaun's house.  He graciously let us use his home and car for the week while he was visiting his family in Kentucky. When we picked up his car there was a welcome note and a "Glee" holiday C.D. all cued up for our drive.  We arrived at his home and were greeted by Miss Annie Bear (our combined dog) and a welcome pack from Shaun.  A Christmas tree was waiting with ornaments underneath it for Jon, Nikki and I to decorate.

Nikki made us open one package each from her on Christmas Eve.  They were "Forever Lazy" onesies.  They become our holiday uniforms.  On Christmas day, Joey, Anne and Khan (another one of our grand dogs) joined us.  We had a very nice Christmas reunion for humans and dogs.

Shaun returned a few days after Christmas and we drove down to Morada (Stockton) for a festive New Years Eve party at the Jaffee's.  Here is a picture of Jon and I in our Forever Lazies and Shaun in his Monkey onesie that we got him in London.  We had a blast in Morada, as we always do, and were quite sore from all the side splitting laughter that we had there.

We then flew to Seattle and drove up to Ferndale Washington to celebrate Christmas  with Jon's Mom Janet, his sister Karen and her son Jeremy.  They had a ball stuffing our Christmas stockings with things we can't get in England.....i.e.....Lipton Onion soup mix, Tapatio sauce and Jon's favorite deodorant.  We had a great visit in the Pacific Northwest.

A quick trip back to L.A. and a birthday party for Debbie's brother Wade, ("Vandy") in January, always celebrated with a

Sushi dinner.  On the day of our departure we got together with a few of the ladies from the Woodland Hills Woman's Club. Always good to see "the girls".

                                    

             

All good things must come to an end and we had to leave the US and come back to England.  We arrived only to discover that our boiler was broken and we had no heat or hot water for 5 days.  Thank goodness (or rather Nikki) for our Forever Lazies.



Our 2nd Christmas Market and Thanksgiving Wieners

Previously, we wrote about the German tradition at Christmastime to have a Christmas Market in the town square, where local artisans, restaurants, and pubs put up booths to display, cook, and/or serve their wares.  Since we only “tasted” the Markets in Lille, France the year before, we decided to do it the right way and go the birthplace of the Christmas Market – Munich, Germany.  We found a small town outside of Munich called Memmingen and made that our headquarters for the visit.

For years, we have always joked about going to “Bawaria” and here it was Thanksgiving Day and that is precisely where we were!  Memmingen sits at the base of the Bavarian Alps – it is a town of about 40,000 people and is set in one of the more beautiful places in Europe.  The people were delightful and extremely friendly and we did some really amazing stuff.  After getting settled in the hotel, we decided to explore Memmingen for our first night and see if we could find a nice local German restaurant for our Thanksgiving feast – we were successful!  We had Bratwursts and Kartoffasalat (wieners and warm German potato salad); it was delicious.   We were the only patrons in the bar/restaurant – the owner made sure we had good German beers to drink and his wife was our waitress and chef!  One of the most unusual Thanksgiving dinners ever but completely worth it.

The next day was the opening day of one of the biggest Christmas Markets in Germany, in Munich.  We arranged for a train to get into Munich and zipped over there for the day (Memmingen is about 30 miles from Munich).  This is how a Christmas Market is supposed to be done!  We walked around drinking Gluhwein (hot mulled wine with spices, pronounced "gloo vine"); you have to give a 2 Euro deposit for the mug, which made sense.  But we kind of liked the mugs and so we went back to the Gluhwein hut and asked “Can we buy these mugs? And if so, how much do they cost?”  The Gluhwein Master looked at us as if we were a little crazy and said “Just don’t return the mugs – you already paid for them.”  DUH!

We went all over the center of Munich, watched the biggest Glockenspiel as the clock hit noon and the whole building came to life.  We meandered the Marienplatz (the “strip” as it were) and walked through open food and flower markets – all full of color and vibrance.  The smells and sounds were amazing and we knew this was a unique experience.

We then roamed in the direction of the most famous bar/restaurant in Munich – the Hofbrauhaus.  We were told in advance by some German friends that we had to go there, have a beer (which is served in Litres! – the equivalent of about 3 ½ U.S. bottles of beer), and order the Sweinehachsen (pronounced “shvine uh hox un”) – PORK KNUCKLE!  Debbie ordered it and Jon ordered another Bratwurst.  The food was delicious and we are big fans of the Pork Knuckle!  Who knew Pigs had so much meat on their feet?

As we roamed further in Munich, we stumbled across a Marching Band that was just heading out for their March to celebrate the Season.  We followed them down the street – what a cool thing to see and hear (video link below)!

Munich Marching Band!!!!

 

From there we found a secondary Christmas Market and tried their pastry-type desserts; not sure what it was called but it was like a pancake or waffle all smashed up and smothered with an apple and berry paste and then coated with sugar.  Wow, delicious!

Back to Memmingen to visit the local Christmas Market there – which was about 20 yards from our hotel.  There was a restaurant called “The Hamptons” that had outdoor seating complete with blankets and heaters and it overlooked the entire Market.  So we pulled up a table, wrapped up in blankets, had some hot cocoa and watched the market till it closed up.  The 16-year old who was running the merry-go-round was having problems getting in touch with his mom to come pick him up from work, so that was amusing to witness (seems teenagers are teenagers no matter what language or country).

The next day was our day trip into the Bavarian Alps.  The goal was to see Neucshwanstein Castle.  What unfolded was so beautiful and amazing; not just the castle but the whole area – spectacular viewing.  It was as if a great artist had taken his paintbrush and just created this perfect painting, but it was all natural, all real.

On arrival we bought our tickets to the castles and learned that is was a 1 ½ mile hike, straight uphill, to get there.  Fortunately the Bavarians had a solution for that – horse-drawn carriages.  We hopped on the equine Bavarian taxi and we were on our way.  As you approach the castle, the beauty and sheer size of it start to impress.  Neuschwanstein Castle is the castle on which Walt Disney based Sleeping Beauty’s castle; and here we were, right in front of it.  Simply amazing.  Pictures do a better job here than words.  Wow!

A related side story:

Mad King Ludwig, was the king who commissioned the castle to be built.  When he became King, he felt that the castle where he was raised and where he still resided, Hoehnschwengau, was simply not big enough for him.  So he decided to have the new castle built.  It took 12 years to build it to its current and still unfinished state.  He moved in once the bedrooms were done and the “throne room” near completion.  All the while, the townsfolk were convinced he was just a nut job (for many more reasons than just an extravagant castle), but no one could prove it.  So, he agreed to have an evaluation by a professional psychiatrist to put all the rumors to rest.  Ludwig thus invited the local “Vitch Doktur” to come to the castle for visit and assessment.

There never was a final result issued for the evaluation because … Ludwig AND the psychiatrist were found dead the next morning, floating in the lake at the bottom of the hill. He only lived in the castle for 14 days! No one to this day knows what happened – it just adds to the mystery and madness that was King Ludwig…

We left the castle, enriched by the experience, and went into the village below.  We decided to stop in for dinner at a local restaurant.  This is where we had “The Best Cheese Soup Ever!”  It wasn’t called that, not even in German, but that’s what we called it.  Amazing.  We asked how they made it and they gave us the basics.  We have since tried to recreate it at home to no avail.

Then we headed back to Memmingen for a final night in Germany, complete with more hot cocoa at The Hamptons.  It was a great Thanksgiving to remember and we would recommend Germany to anyone – what a beautiful country. 

Ryan Air

We decided to go to Germany for Thanksgiving last November and picked the Munich area as our destination.  We will blog all about the visit to Germany, but today’s story is only about how we got there!

So, ve vere going to go to Deutschland.  Next step was travel plans.  There are two European equivalents of Southwest Airlines: Easy Jet and Ryan Air.  Tickets are ridiculously cheap on Ryan Air, so that is what we chose.  Important note here – there are many reasons the airfare is inexpensive (our outbound flight was £29 per person and the return was £1 per person).  Checking a bag is £35 – more than the airfare!  So, we packed lightly for our 4-day holiday and shared one bag that was just under the weight limit.

The flight on Ryan Air was actually just fine, but over the course of the 110 minutes we saw things we never dreamed of seeing on an airplane!  It started with the cattle call boarding process, no surprises there except that it is truly first-come, first-served.  However, up until 5 minutes prior to boarding you can go to the kiosk at the gate and pay £19 for the privilege of jumping the line and getting on first.  Once on board and in flight, the announcements began.  The first was to review the menu printed on the seat in front of you (no seatback pockets so it’s all on the chairs!).  If we wanted any food or beverage, we were to flag down a flight attendant and place our order and pay for it.   After the “food service”, things went from odd to crazy to unbelievable.

The flight attendants went up and down the aisles carrying the “Girls of Ryan Air” 2012 Calendar – the main attendant was on the loud speaker to let us all know that for £20 we can own one of these precious works of art (turns out the money goes mostly to charity, but we didn’t know that at first). 

It occurred to us that if we had booked full baggage, tried to board early, bought any food or beverage, and secured that awesome calendar – our £60 total flight price for two would have jumped to £125.  But we were headed to a new country, so we were embracing the experience.  About 20 minutes prior to landing, here comes the main flight attendant with the final announcement (once in English and once in German):

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we would like to draw your attention to the flight attendants in the aisles.  If you would like to purchase Ryan Air Scratchers, you can get them for £1 each or 6 for £5 and have a chance to win fabulous prizes, including a £5,000 jackpot and free trips on Ryan Air.”  We looked at each other and found ourselves unable to speak.  Lotto tickets! It felt like they were going to come back in 5 minutes with “Peanuts! Popcorn! Get your hot peanuts here! Beer Here!” 

One has to wonder how things go at the Ryan Air Flight Attendant Training Center.  “OK trainees – we are going to learn how to evacuate 200+ passengers safely in an emergency, but first if you could pose for this calendar and then give us your best pitch for selling cotton candy, then we’ll get on with it.”

With all of that, we would still fly on Ryan Air – it was indeed inexpensive, very efficient, and safe.  Our only hope is that on the next flight they will ask for volunteers for the “Passengers of Ryan Air” 2013 Calendar.

Your Quick Reference Guide: English to English

George Bernard Shaw said:  "America and Britain are two nations divided by a common language." So true, and for your information and enjoyment here are a few words and expressions translated:

American                 British                 
Bathroom/Restroom        Loo/Toilet
Yard (Front or Back)     Garden
Dessert                  Pudding
Cotton Candy             Fairy Floss
Cupcake                  Fairy Cake
Zucchini                 Courgette
Eggplant                 Aubergine
First Floor              Ground Floor
Second Floor             First Floor
Third Floor              you get the idea…
Flashlight               Torch
Bangs (hair)             Fringe
Truck                    Lorrie
Raisins                  Sultanas
Cilantro                 Coriander
Ground Beef              Mince
Cookies                  Biscuits
Biscuits                 No such thing!
French Fries             Chips
Sausages                 Bangers
Pacifier                 Dummy
Sweater                  Jumper
Tennis Shoes             Trainers
Umbrella                 Brollie
Hey! How's it goin'?     Hiya. You alright then?
Excuse me.               Sorry.
Can I help you?          How can I help?
Thank you.               Cheers.
Bye.                     Cheers.
Cheers.                  Cheers.

We will no doubt remember more and will post them at a later date.  For now, here is one of our new favorite jokes:

A Pilot flying into Heathrow makes an announcement on the intercom:  "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are making our final approach into England.  Please set your watches back 100 years."

(The photo above was taken when we returned from our December-January trip to the U.S.  We came back to a broken boiler...............so no heat for 5 days...........it sucked!)

CHEERS! CHEERS! and CHEERS!

September 2011 Visitors for Li'l Buddy and Captain Cupcake

Well, Happy New Year all!  Here it is the end of January and we are blogging about our visit from Jason and Dee Dee Jaffee last September.  Fortunately we (the four of us) made a memory jogger list so as to not forget the details!  The big picture is that they came from California to visit us in London and we took a mid-week trip to Paris to celebrate Dee Dee's 50th birthday in style.  Side note: Jason wanted to kiss Dee Dee under the Eiffel Tower (insert your own joke here).

Upon arrival to Halifax Street on September 1st, we had appetizers and wine; followed by Roast Chicken, potatoes and salad and more wine.  Referring to the memory jogger list: this was the beginning of the nicknames for this trip.  Dee Dee was suffering from jet lag, and was getting jumpy legs... so from day one forward she was "Jenny Jumpy Legs Jump House".

Day two started out at Big Breakfast, a cafe in Forest Hill, and then off to the train station there.

 
We were on our way to Brighton, which is a seaside resort an hour from here by train. We strolled along the promenade and ended up on the pier at Horatio's bar for Beers and a beautiful view of the ocean.  We then made our way back to the promenade for Sangria and Fish and Chips.  We found a great restaurant outside to people-watch and have lunch......and to have more Sangria (I see a pattern here).

Brighton has a rich history in that King George had his summer palace there.  It looks more like a Russian Tsar's palace than an English King's palatial home, but then again, King Henry was very eccentric.

We strolled "The Lanes", which is a quaint cobbled road area of boutique shops and antique stores.  We stopped at a Starbucks (they are everywhere) and round two of the September nicknames started.  We were talking trivia and Debbie said "What was the name of Li'l Buddy who was on Gilligan's Island?"  Laughter ensued and from that point on Debbie's new name was "Li'l Buddy".

After our coffee stop we wandered around Brighton and came across some very unusual graffiti. It was at that point that Jenny and Li'l Buddy decided the guys needed nicknames too.  There were two shops right across the street from each other; one sold cupcakes and one sold bagels.  Jason became "Bagel Man" and Jon became "Captain Cupcake".

When we returned back to Sydenham we had a very funny video Skype session with Joey and Anne who were celebrating their one year anniversary at a beach cottage in Half Moon Bay, California.  Through much hilarity on both parts an unknown man (to us anyway) walked into the picture on the laptop screen.  Joey said that he was the Owner.  For the rest of the Jaffee's stay, whenever they crossed from the Guest Room, through the Master Bedroom, to go down the hobbit hole to use the one and only bathroom, like a random man walking onto the laptop scren...they said..."Owner!" (maybe you had to be there).

We later staggered down to our local Kebab shop for some awesome take-away Turkish food.

The next day we had our friends Peter, Katya and Kai over for a BBQ.  They had met Jenny and Bagel Man the previous Christmas when the Jaffees and Shaun were here.  We had bacon wrapped shrimp, lasagna...wine...and then played American Idol on the XBOX.

The next day we took the Jaffees to Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane. However, the weather and the trains were not cooperating with us. It was raining and there was no train service. So we hopped on a bus and sat on the upper deck to get a better view...which there was none since it was raining. After shopping, eating and walking around in the rain, we headed back to Halifax. It must be mentioned here that Jason won at Trivial Pursuit and Dee Dee won at Progressive Rummy (sigh).

On Monday, the day before our Paris trip, we started off again at Big Breakfast then Dee Dee and Debbie got manicures and pedicures. Later we went to a pub in Blackheath on our way to Greenwich.  In Greenwich we self-guided our way through the Naval Academy, then took the Thames Clipper (water taxi on the Thames) into central London. We had dinner in Chinatown and then did a practice run for the Eurostar at the Kings Cross/St. Pancras train station.

September 6 we got up at O-dark-thirty and made our way to Kings Cross/St. Pancras to board the Eurostar to Paris.  We got settled into our hotel - Act V - and had a couple of glasses of wine.  We then walked to Notre Dame, via St. Germain des Pres and walked along the Seine.

We stopped and had a very expensive (unintentionally) lunch at Beaurepaire's.  It consisted of Snails, Camembert salads, Ham salad and you guessed it.....more wine.

As were were walking around the Left Bank we told the Jaffees of our favorite thing to do there. Walking and eating crepes...... which we call "Walkin' Around Crepes" (we are special indeed). They took our suggestion and loved it. We took a rest period back at the hotel and then met for dinner at a cafe near Place Monge, the area where we were staying. After dinner we took the Metro over to the Louvre to see it lit up at night.

The next day we journied to Montmartre to the artist's village and the beautiful Sacre Couer

We also went to Montmartre to visit a very special Creperie - this was the Creperie where, ten years ago, Jon and Debbie stapled a picture of Nikki and Joey to the wall under the stairs. We were not defacing the place in 2001, that is what you were supposed to do. In 2011, the picture was still there!

Outside this Creperie we visited with some of the patrons, both English and French. Our creperie mates swore that Dee Dee was Meryl Streep. (She gets that alot!) We had crepes and ... oh well you know.

Staggering down the hill we wanted to see the Moulin Rouge.  Lo and Behold there was a Starbucks across the street where we could get a good view and a little rest.

Later that evening, we celebrated Dee Dee's 50th birthday with a photo shoot under the Eiffel Tower and a wonderful dinner cruise on the Seine (compliments of Bagel Man).

Thursday morning we met for breakfast then it was off to the Catacombs.  A very moving experience indeed. We descended many many many steps underground and the floor was clay and wet.  The following photos will speak for themselves.

After we climbed back up all of those steps, we needed a pizza and wine break.  We all went our separate shopping ways then met back up at the pizza place.  We walked through Montparnasse cemetery where Jean Paul Sartre is buried.  Later on that evening we had a Moulles dinner (mussels in any kind of sauce that you would like). Yum!

So, back to the Hotel to pack up. Sadly it was time to leave Paris and catch the Eurostar back to London. The next day was Dee Dee's actual birthday and we started the day by going to Sugahill and having Yasmine make us wonderful breakfasts. We then took the train to Seven Oaks to go for a walk and see the fallow deer and Knole Estate. Jason's question to all of us was...why do we talk baby talk to animals?.

The answer was...don't know...don't care.

After a long walk through the hills and meadows we took a break at Knole Estate. Looking at the statue in the courtyard Dee Dee wondered if the statue might be saying "Does this pedestal make my ass look big?" We left Knole Estate and stopped at a pub for Orangiboom beer; a Dutch beer that Jon has come to enjoy.

Back to Halifax to celebrate the 50th with champagne and blackberries; then to That's Amore for dinner (an Italian restaurant around the corner from us). Jason and Debbie called ahead for their special dinner of Sage Liver. Again......Yum!

By special request we asked Gianni to sing Happy Birthday to Dee Dee and sing a song from Jason's favorite film to both of them.....which is.....As Time Goes By (from Casablanca).

And as our Time Went By with the Jaffees, we were grateful that they came for a visit that none of us will ever forget.