Jeanie, Steve, and the Royal Opera House

Jeanie and her husband Steve were back in the UK this week with friends -- for a successful shooting trip to Wales, then a visit to London. I caught up with Jeanie yesterday morning, then Steve joined us in the afternoon. In the morning, Jeanie and I went for a backstage tour of the Royal Opera House in London. The Royal Opera House, built in 1892, is the home of the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet. What a magnificent facility, and what a special tour! As it happened, we were the only two people on the tour yesterday morning -- they usually have 20 people per tour -- so Jeanie and I got the "exclusive" tour, including an opportunity to sit in the Royal box (and to see the Royal toilet!) We saw the ballet company preparing for a mid-day rehearsal, including watching the choreographer, director, lighting manager, etc complete preparations, and then we watched the company in a morning ballet class. We went backstage and saw the complex system they have devised for staging and swapping scenery. We went into the costuming areas to see how the opera and ballet costumes are constructed, from raw, undyed fabric to finished piece. Despite the fact that I know little about ballet, and less about opera, I was fascinated and thrilled by the experience. After the 90-minute tour, we stuck around for a lunchtime Christmas carol choral performance by a group of 8 members of the Royal Opera Company. The performance was held in a separate glass arcade hall of the Opera House, called the Floral Hall -- see the photo at the left -- another beautiful venue. It was a wonderful concert.

Later, Steve and his friend Marshall met us at the Imperial War Museum. While there, Jeanie and I went through the exhibit devoted to the 1982 Falklands War -- but we were left without a clear answer to the question of why England defended the Falkland Islands so valiantly. (Extra credit points if you can enlighten us.)

Since Jeanie was here in October and has already come back again, I told her that she has set an expectation with me that she will be here to visit us every two months. Don't know whether that will happen, but it has been a treat to spend time with her.

Eating Our Way Across Brussels, Belgium

Brussels, December 2007

We spent a long weekend with Don & Cathy in their new home in Brussels. They have a wonderful and very comfortable apartment, perfectly suited to them, right in the heart of the city. It was great to experience their city from their perspective. And what a great time of year to be there! Brussels is a Christmas wonderland -- with festive holiday lights on most streets, Christmas carols playing over the speakers in the subway stations, a gigantic tree and nativity scene on the Grand Place, and fun Christmas markets with stands selling food, gifts, and hot drinks. As you will see in the photos, our exploration involved a lot of food. We tried escargot in celery-flavored broth, mulled wine, Belgian waffles (a couple of times!), sausages with choucrout (sauerkraut), hazelnut hot chocolate, and fruit tarts -- and that was all from street vendors in between meals! I was introduced to Belgium's fruit beers -- loved the peach and apple ones -- and Don exposed D to a wide selection of Belgian Trappist and Abbey beers. Thank goodness we were walking everywhere -- at least we got a little exercise between feedings! Don and I used to work together in Washington DC, and the four of us shared a love of travel and good food. Never would have have guessed that one day we'd all be living overseas and eating our way through the Belgian capital together!

Celebrating Christmas, Horsham style

When we packed up our possessions last November for the move here, I made the decision to leave our Christmas ornaments behind. They're in our storage unit in the US. I knew that we'd likely be travelling every Christmas, making decorating impractical, and that I wouldn't have a place to store them here --not to mention that it just didn't make sense to risk having the ornaments smashed in the move.

While my head knows that that was the right decision, my heart isn't so sure. As many of you know, the only thing I collect is Christmas ornaments. I buy them whenever we travel, and I get lots of them as gifts -- each ornament reminds me of a special person, place, or time. I didn't use them last year (no tree for the kitties and me at the Annapolis Residence Inn!), but then again I was so busy wrapping things up at home and work in preparation for moving that the entire season was a blur. Right now, I'm wishing I had the ornaments. The only decoration we have out is a 6-inch Christmas tree that Pete and Lisa brought us last weekend when they came for lunch.

I miss our fun holiday tradition -- we spend ages selecting and setting up the perfect tree, I watch as D lugs the lights and ornament crates up from the basement, I critique (then re-do) his attempt to string the lights, then I put the ornaments on the tree while watching "It's A Wonderful Life". Sounds like fun for all, doesn't it?!? (It actually is!) So, without the ornaments, we've had to look for other ways to bring fun to the holiday season here.

Last weekend, we went to D's office holiday party. It was held in the most beautiful place -- The Ashdown Park Hotel -- a period mansion that was once a convent. They've converted the old church into a banquet hall. What a fantastic setting for a fancy black-tie optional party! It's a pretty young crowd, and there was a lot of dancing. The DJ played all of the same party tunes you'd expect to hear in the US -- "Celebrate", "YMCA", "Electric Slide", etc -- and a LOT of Abba and Queen. (You can't have any party in the UK without Abba and Queen!) The biggest surprise to me was the rush to the dance floor for that old favorite, "Oops Upside Your Head". Umm, huh? No kidding -- the crowd rushed to the floor, then all sat down one behind the next (like they were on a huge tobaggan) and did a seated line dance to that Gap Band classic. I had never seen the dance before, but it is apparently a big hit here in the UK. (I went to YouTube to see if I could find a video of people doing it to link here; by entering "Oops Upside Head" into YouTube's search engine I found no less than 72 videos of groups doing the dance! Almost all of them are filmed OF very drunk people BY very drunk people -- I watched a couple that were laugh out loud funny! I'm linking to this one:

because you can actually hear the song, but this version of the dance just didn't do justice to what I saw last Friday night!) Too funny. It's a new Christmas classic memory for me!

I've discovered a new holiday favorite beverage. The Starbucks Creme Brulee latte. YUM. I normally don't drink sweet drinks, but by using my Starbucks gift card last week (thanks Carol & Andy!) I received a coupon to try this new latte...and I can't resist a free latte of any variety. Delish. (My mom wouldn't like it -- too "strong on the nutmeg"!)

Next weekend we're headed to Belgium and we'll visit a classic European Christmas Market while there. I envision us drinking hot chocolate, eating Belgian waffles, and ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the holiday wonderland.

But this week, I've been writing Christmas cards. Did a bunch while sitting in Starbucks (drinking Creme Brulee latte!); did a bunch more at the desk at home. You know that I can't send a card without writing a note in it, so it takes me a long time. As I write the notes and address the envelopes, I'm filled with warm thoughts of the friends and family they'll reach. That's been the best way thus far for me to get into the spirit of the season. Ornaments Schmornaments.

Horsham Football Update

The Horsham Hornets played to a 1-1 draw against Swansea in the pouring rain on Friday night. If you had seen the team's post-game celebration, you'd have believed that Horsham won -- a tie against a League One team is considered huge! What this means is that the two teams play again, next week, in Swansea. If Horsham wins, they will face another underdog, "Havant & Waterlooville", at home in the next round of the FA Cup.

As a part of the TV coverage on Friday night, they introduced the Horsham players, mentioning what each does for their "real job". There was a teacher, a real estate agent, a scaffold maker....not exactly full-time athletes! They also asked each player who they'd most like to play in the next round. (It's a random draw amongst eligible teams.) All of them named a top Premiership team (Arsenal, Chelsea, ManU); no question that they want an opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime experience playing the big boys. They may be disappointed not to have drawn Premiership opposition for the next round (assuming they win in the Swansea replay). But playing a lower-ranked opponent will give them a higher chance of making it even further in the tournament. They may yet get a Premiership opponent. Go Hornets!