York With the 'Rents

Nathan and I went to York when we first got to England, and we knew immediately it was a place to bring vistors. It's just so charming. You can see more pictures from our first time here.

We started off in the cathedral. I loved the giant advent wreath.

Carter and Liz, this is the Christmas present we found for you in the cathedral gift shop: a kids' coloring card with pictures of Vikings looting and pillaging an English neighborhood. There are others of them burning down villages and pirating enemy ships. We were torn as to which one to get and then we saw the price. Taking a picture of the picture was free, so... Merry Christmas.

 

York was decorated for Christmas and there were lights and trees everywhere. So lovely!

Can you see the Christmas trees "growing" out of the buildings on the Shambles? We had a very tasty lunch at an Italian place on the street. It started snowing while we were there, making everything look like a winter wonderland.

After more shopping, we finished with some tea and scones. Sorry it's so blurry.

Next stop... London.

Edinburgh With the 'Rents - Part 2

I just got the afternoon off as a Christmas bonus. Merry Christmas to everyone!

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On day two in Edinburgh we finished walking the Royal Mile with a lot of shopping stops and churches in between.

Here's Nathan practicing his preaching with Starbucks in hand.

I think this was an Episcopal church. It was pretty, and my mom was really into the charity Christmas cards being sold inside.

Fat guy in little coat... I was trying to find a warm puffy vest, but they all just made me look more puffy.

Nathan looks handsome in the vest he tried on, minus the mouth agape.

Father and daughter

Mother-in-law and son-in-law

John Knox's house

Nathan was pumped, but not pumped enough to pay the entry fee to go inside.

This is Hollyrood Palace, where the Queen resides when she's in town. It's right across the street from Scottish parliament. We walked all the way there but, again, didn't think it was worth it to go inside for the price. I just took these pictures from outside the iron gate.

And... because my dad was really into doors during our trip, here are three pictures of doors he wanted.

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Edinburgh With the 'Rents - Part 1

We went to Edinburgh on Tuesday, and we stayed in a really nice hotel for one night. Here we are in one of the lobbies. I'm all layered up for our adventures outside.

Like daughter, like mother. She already looks cold.

Here's Daddy and me on Princes Street. Miraculously, this picture was taken without any buses in the road behind us.

Two sanguines up to no good, I'm sure.

Still being silly I see.

John Knox makes yet another appearance on a Parker holiday.

I'm think this is some sort of war memorial. I'm not sure... but my dad looks handsome so it made the blog cut.

We found The Witchery, as per Luke's recommendation, but as he warned us, it was quite expensive so we didn't eat there. Ignoring another one of Luke's recommendations, Nathan is "carrying around his passport in a frame" with his guidebook, athletic shoes, white socks, and jeans. He thinks the driving cap balances it all out, even though he only looks English from the neck up.

On second thought, Nathan, you sure do smile with your mouth open a lot. I don't know any Brits who do that. That cancels out the Englishness of your hat. You still look 100% American.

Here's Daddy looking out at Edinburgh from the entrance of the castle. It was a beautiful but cold day.

This is a classic shot from my childhood. My sister and I would get on either side of my dad, and my mother would say, "Look at your father, girls," and take a picture. Twine, I missed you especially much when we took this one.

The last time we were here it was free because of St. Andrew's Day, but it was also very, very crowded, so we didn't stay long. This time Nathan, Dad, and I went in the castle while mom did Christmas shopping at the gift shop. It turns out that the king of Britain during the time period Nathan is studying was born here. Nathan took tons of pictures inside, but none of them turned out really well because it was too dark.

Mom and Dad outside The Witchery on the way down the Royal Mile

The happy couple at the German Christmas Market

For dinner we went to a delightful restaurant called Brown's with our friends the Kellys, who fed and cared for us over Thanksgiving. I am so glad that they and my parents now know each other. So fun!

One more day in Edinburgh...

Durham With the 'Rents

Thanks for your patience everyone! Let's get this party started.

Our journey started last Friday, the day my parents flew into Heathrow from LA. Nathan walked across town to get our rental car and picked me up at work at noon.

Sidebar: I fully confess right now that I am a nervous wreck in the car as a passenger, making involuntary gasps when frightened, stomping at the imaginary brake pedal, closing my eyes and holding my breath, and even clawing the window to get out if it gets really bad. During particularly stressful journeys, I sometimes just put my seat all the way back and close my eyes. It drives Nathan crazy (no pun intended... at first) and I've worked really hard to reign in the theatrics over the past five years. Let's just say that I absolutely do not miss driving or riding in cars, especially on the "wrong" side of the road, since we've moved here. End sidebar.

To avoid "traffic," he decided to take the longer (read: muddy, sludgy, snowy) way home and, in the process. managed to completely slosh two very hoity toity, dolled up girls with slate grey, very wet snow. I totally saw it coming.

He was driving too fast, "testing the abilities of the car," and the cobblestone lane was quite narrow. There were still abandoned cars on both sides of the road and snow on the pavement, so most pedestrians were walking on the street. When we came roaring down the quaint little lane, the hottie college girls jumped up on the icy sidewalk to avoid being hit, but then they saw a huge puddle that we were about to drive through.

I can still see their teased out hair and big bows, their creamy cableknit sweaters, their ubiquitous leggings and Uggs, their overdone makeup. They opened their mouths wide and tried to scratch their way up the stone building, as if they could climb up the wall to avoid being splashed. They screamed...

I moved my hand to Nathan's arm, which I'm sure was shifting into at least third gear, to signal him to slow down. He turned around and gave me a look, like "What?! You're criticizing my driving already?" and then I started laughing.

"You totally splashed those girls!" I looked in the sideview mirror to see their mouths and eyes still wide open, this time with mud all over them. I'm pretty sure they were already wringing their hands and crying.

He laughed a big laugh. "I was wondering why they were screaming! Should I throw it in reverse and apologize?"

Thus began our long journey down to Heathrow. What should have taken four hours took more than six because of traffic and road construction (with no one working - just lots of cones and a sign that said "Disruptions likely until 2013"), and my poor parents had been waiting over an hour in the airport before we found them. We turned straight around and came home, arriving at the barn at midnight. I'm sure all of the English people reading this will conclude that we are completely mad for driving so much in one day. I don't disagree with them.

We explored Durham for the first few days. We went to a winter concert at the castle, pictured above in the day time, where students played and sang a variety of Christmassy music, including the Nutcracker Suite. They all filed in and were about to begin when the first chair violinist came up missing. The student in charge left the stage to go look for him, but not before saying something that still makes me chuckle, "Off to a flying start...".

Here's Mom, Dad, and me on the Palace Green with the castle in the background.

Nathan and I got our picture taking in front of the Castle food hall Christmas tree. Don't ask me what I was thinking with that outfit. I was just cold.

As per Mother's request because of my previous post, we went to Leonard's cafe for some hot chocolate and sandwiches.

Nathan got a baked potato (called a jacket potato) with just mayonnaise and bacon. That's just gross.

We spent the rest of our time shopping, going to church, decorating the barn for Christmas, making Christmas treats, and having friends over for Sunday lunch. It was awesome to have them here, seeing where we live and interacting with our world.

Oh, I forgot that we all climbed to the top of the cathedral to see the view, which was amazing, but I failed to bring my camera. Curses!

Next up... Edinburgh. I promise not to double up too many pictures from our Thanksgiving trip.

Back in Action

Hello faithful readers!


Nathan and I are back in Durham after adventures with my mom and dad all over this island. After a long and tenuous journey, they are now home in Bakersfield safe and sound. Travelling in London is a mess right now, and I'm still in disbelief that they got out of the airport via the air. To use a common English phrase, Heathrow is "a complete nightmare." We didn't leave the area until we knew they were airborne, and we got home late last night. It's a long story, which I'm sure I will be telling in due course.

People sleeping at Heathrow. NIGHTMARE!

Tonight I plan on uploading all of the pictures on the computer, and since all of the students are gone for Christmas now, I'll have lots of time to blog here at work this week.


Cheers.

Travel Tips Please

Hello friends!

Mom and Dad are coming tomorrow, and (I think I may have mentioned this once or twice) I am so pumped! We'll be exploring more of Durham, Edinburgh, York, and London during their stay. If you have any tips on places to visit or eat or anything in any of those cities, please pass them along.

Also, I may be a little less regular with posting while they're here, but I'll be sure to document everything and put you in the loop as soon as I can.

Google images brought this baby up when I entered "England at Christmas." I'm sorry, but Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, looks so ominous in this picture. Next thing you know, they'll be selling rosaries in the gift shop.

Whew... That's more like it.

What Can I Say? My Man Knows Me

In an attempt to start some Christmas cheer in the ol' Barn, and because Nathan broke yet another mug, I bought these mugs and cookie tray at Tesco. They were on sale for 2.50, and the third item was free. I was really excited about these until I started out of the store in the freezing cold with five very heavy Trader Joe's bags of groceries. Then I was regretting the weight of them.

After my long and arduous hunting and gathering trek home, I collapsed in a heap of snow and tears (okay, maybe I'm being a little dramatic) in the house. It took me a full 20 minutes to just get off the floor and take my wellies off (that part is true). Nathan came home about 30 minutes later to me stuffing my face with some hot Scottish porridge. When he asked me about my day, I told him about my battle with the weather and heavy bags of groceries, teared up, and said, "I'm just so tired of being cold all the time..." He immediately covered me up with a wool blanket - I was already bundled up in my hat, coat, scarf, etc. - and made me a cup of tea. He usually brings me a digestive to go with it, but this time he just opened the whole tin and left it next to me. 

In other news, date night was Monday night. We've been so, so bad at having a consistent date night since moving here, but we made the attempt again this week. Anyway, we went to a carol service at the cathedral, which was amazing, and then when we came home Nathan pulled this show stopper out of his backpack. This, my friends, is my very own space heater, which made me smother my husband with slobbery kisses - after I turned it on to make sure it worked, of course.