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.

Mythbusters - UK Edition

You may recall us telling you about our Grandcats from next door, Harrison and Ugly?  Well, they are very friendly but have taken up the bad habit of using our back garden as their British litter box.  When we were home for the holidays, we sought the advice of Jon’s wise older sister (actually we griped about the poo and she offered a solution unprovoked, but it sounds better to call her wise).  According to Karen, if you sprinkle cinnamon on the ground, the cats will stay away because they don’t like it; it is better than using red pepper flakes, because it doesn’t harm the cats.  Fantastic, we had our solution.

Today was the day to implement the Great Cinnamon Repellent Act of 2012.  To start with, Jon removed roughly 8 kilograms of poo from the flower beds (converted to pounds and ounces, 8 kg is equal to a shitload of poo).  Side note: when poo sits in the flower beds for 26 or more days, it tends to grow lengthy vertical moss hairs in the English environment.

With the flower beds completely poo free, the giant jar of cinnamon was rolled out.  Jon sprinkled it everywhere, in layers thick enough to see from space (or at least from our upstairs bedroom).  With the garden ticked and tied and protected from the evils of the Grandcats, we headed out for a day in London.  We had a great time.  Upon returning to the house, we went to check the garden to find out if the Cinnamon Theory was fact or fiction.  This is what we found:

While checking this and taking photographs, guess who showed up for a visit? Harrison!  And guess who proceeded to again poo in the flower bed on top of the cinnamon laden dirt right in front of us? Harrison.  We caught him spicy-pawed:

Thus the myth has been busted.  We will continue keeping a stock of plastic bags for poo removal,  we’ve filed a petition with the city to see if we can legally poison the cats with red pepper flakes, and Karen is full of Not-Nice Spice Advice.  In the meantime, there is one saving grace: when we walk out into the back garden, instead of being hit by poo smell, we find our noses telling us we need to eat Snickerdoodles and Cinammon Rolls.

Flat Stanley........ our latest visitor

Our latest visitor was Flat Stanley.  He went on a number of touristy trips here in London with Debbie.  He never complained, didn't eat a thing and was a great guest.  Our nephew Daniel's daughter Evie, was participating in a class assignment in Sacramento, California.  Her class was reading Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.  Stanley is a young boy who is accidentally squished as flat as a pancake when a bulletin board falls on him.  Stanley discovers some real advantages to being flat, but is otherwise fine.  He can slide under doors and even fold himself up small enough to fit into an envelope and be mailed to different locations around the world for a vacation........and that is how he ended up in London.
Here are some highlights of Stanley's vacation in London, England.

Stanley and Debbie at Sugahill Cafe

Stanley getting ready to catch a double decker bus.

Stanley at the London Eye.

Stanley and Big Ben.

Stanley overlooking the River Thames.

Stanley at Buckingham Palace.

Stanley in front of the Statue at the Palace.

and.....near 10 Downing Street.

We had a very nice visit with Stanley and even if you can't fit through the mail slot we would love to have you come visit us in London.  

Cheers !

A Tale of Two Cats

We are in training to be Grandparents.  Our neighbors have two cats.  One of whom, loves us to pieces and when he misbehaves we tell him to go home to his parents.  We only know the name of one of the cats.  His name is "Harrison".  He is the one who comes to visit, rubs our legs, runs into the kitchen and promptly uses our garden as his litter box.  We do not know the other cat's name.......so we just call him "Ugly."  Ugly is a tortoise shell cat who looks like he was painted by God on a day when he was very tired.  
Here are a couple of pictures of Harrison.  We don't have one yet of Ugly, but when we do we'll post it.
It really is very nice to have a pet to love and cuddle and not have any responsibility for.........so kind of like being a Grandparent I guess.

So, Nikki and Joey, when you do have children, make sure you tell us what their names are or who knows what we will call them!!!!  (Just kidding in all seriousness, we can't wait to be Grandparents.)
Just a short cat tale ...........over and out.