Next book...

I just picked up a new book at the library today.  It's called Mini Shopaholic written by the British author Sophie Kinsella.  I've read the other 5 books in the series starting with Confessions of a Shopaholic which was unfortunately made into a mediocre movie.  The main problem was they changed the location of the story to New York when it should have been London. 

Anyway, the heroine of the story is Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) who never met an item she didn't want to buy!  This book deals with her two year old daughter Minnie.  It looks like a lot of fun and I enjoy a nice fluffy chick-lit book every once in awhile.  It's like seeing what an old friend is up to!

Sophie Kinsella's website is fun too -

http://www.sophiekinsella.co.uk/

Pretty song

I heard this song in the car on my way home today.  It's just lovely and I think it's my new favorite song.  Jim Brickman is great and I love the female singer Lady Antebellum's voice  -

Bon Voyage

I decided to go back and write about the beginning of our big trip.  We booked our tickets on Air France since we assumed it would be more fun than taking an American airline.  It actually was more fun with some perks I didn't expect. Our seats were closer to the front of the plane than we expected which was nice. They provided eye shades and earplugs for sleeping.  Besides movies to watch I was able to see episodes of The Sopranos, Mad Men and the Sex and the City.  What more could I ask for?  The meals were better than the usual airplane fare.  I had pasta with a roll and rice pudding for dessert.

The flight was smooth (no turbulence) and we arrived on time in Paris.  We went through customs with nothing to declare.  We then took the short flight from Paris to London.  We went through immigration in London.  The agent asked for the purpose of our trip and Jackson told her we were on holiday, as the Brits say!  Our passports were stamped and we were on our way. 

Our first stop was Bath which was recommended in Rick Steves' guidebook.  Bath is a charming tourist town like Bruges.  Bath is the home of author Jane Austen and the setting for her books Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.  There is a Jane Austen Centre but we didn't have a chance to go there. 

We stayed in a nice B & B called Three Abbey Green.  The bed was comfy and they had a flat screen TV (but I don't think we watched anything) and a computer with internet access downstairs.  Unfortunately, the heated towel racks couldn't be turned off and the bathroom window couldn't be opened so it was too hot in our room.  For breakfast the first day, I had poached eggs on toast with tea and Jackson had the traditional English breakfast which included baked beans!   Jackson loves British tea.

First on the agenda was a two hour walking tour of Bath.  We had a great informative guide provided by the Mayor's corporation of honorary guides.  Our guide was fun and he actually said "by jove" at one point!  I do love to hear a British accent! 

We also had afternoon tea at the Pump Room our first day in town.  I posted a picture of myself in the Pump Room which can be seen on this blog.  On our second day we took a 45 minute guided tour of the main tourist attraction which are the Roman Baths and museum.  We also took quite a few photos there.  Here are a few -

This was one was from the museum -

For more information on the Roman Baths, you can check out their website -

http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/

Yada, yada, yada...

Seinfeld is definitely my favorite sitcom of all time. The comedy lives on in reruns since it went off the air in 1998. The show wasn't even popular for the first four seasons. But the writing is so brilliantly funny that it gained a loyal following which continued to grow. The show about nothing was tremendously funny! I always say that there is a Seinfeld episode that fits any situation in life. Sometimes the show even helps me get through unpleasant situations. When I was having a tooth filled, I replayed an episode in my head.


Actually when I had foot surgery a few years ago, I had watched Seinfeld the night before. When I came to afterwards I felt the urge to describe the Soup Nazi show to the nurses in detail! I know a lot of episodes by heart.

 The Soup Nazi has some great lines. I also enjoyed the Dinner Party episode in season 5 where Jerry and Elaine went to a bakery to get a dessert for a party. They couldn't get their first choice of babka they debate the other choices. Their conversation goes something like this - Elaine suggests carrot cake and Jerry replies, "Carrot cake? How is that a cake? You don't make carrots into a cake, I'm sorry." Elaine then suggests black forrest cake to which Jerry states, "Too scary, you're in the forrest - oooh!" He looks at the Napoleon but Elaine says, "A Napoleon? Who is he to have a cake? He was a ruthless warmonger!" You just don't find dialogue like that in any other sitcom!

I also really like The Opera, which is the one where the gang goes the opera. Here's a clever scene from that show -



Seinfeld is truly a unique and wonderful television show.  I guess if you somehow haven't seen it, there is no soup for you!

Flowers in the front

Since I posted some pictures of the lavender in our backyard, I thought I'd add a shot of the flowers we have in the front of our house.  I like to plant fuchsia in the front since they thrive in partial shade.  Fuchsia often attracts hummingbirds and I was happy to see one once.  They are unique looking flowers.

Fuchsia

Lavender

Jackson took some pictures of our lavender bush the other day.  We bought this small plant in Sequim, WA quite a few years ago and it has really thrived in the backyard.  It doesn't take much care either.  In the fall I make sachets out of the fragrant lavender. 



Lavender

 Here's a closeup -

More lavender

Flowers

I bought this pretty bouquet recently and thought it be a nice picture.  I just can't remember the name of these flowers. 

Lovely

Beefeater Bear photo

Here is a shot of the little Beefeater Bear I bought at the Tower of London gift shop -

Beefeater Bear

Isn't he cute?

Cheers!

One of my favorite shows from the 80's was the comedy Cheers.  I especially loved the early episodes with Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelley Long).  They were a great pair and had such good chemistry.  I lost interest in the show when Shelley Long left in 1987.  She got too big for her britches and thought she could have a movie career but it never really took off.  I also really enjoyed the lovable character Coach, played by the late Nicholas Colasanto.

Cheers is being shown on the Hallmark channel these days.  I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you've missed it somehow!  Here is a clip of the wonderful theme song (one of the best ever)!

More Hamm news

I just read that Jon Hamm will host Saturday Night Live for the 3rd time on October 30th.  I thought the first time he hosted was especially funny.  He did a spoof of Don Draper called How to be Don Draper which was hilarious.  He has great comedic timing.

The Plaza

I wanted to see the Hotel Plaza Athenee while we were in Paris.  This was mostly because of the series finale of Sex and the City.  They filmed the final two episodes there and I love to see beautiful hotels. In An American Girl in Paris, Carrie Bradshaw went to Paris to live with her boyfriend Aleksandr Petrovsky played by Mikhail Baryshnikov.  It doesn't work out with them and Carrie reunites with Mr. Big (Chris Noth) who had gone to Paris to find her.

It took us awhile to find the Plaza but it truly was beautiful.  Here's the website -

http://www.plaza-athenee-paris.com/

Here I am in front of the hotel -

An American Girl in Paris

Hamm alert

Jon Hamm (from Mad Men) is going to be on The Daily Show tonight. He has a new movie to promote called The Town which stars Ben Affleck, who directed the movie and co-wrote it as well. It's been getting great reviews. Jon Hamm plays an FBI agent. I haven't seen him being interviewed very often and I'm sure he'll be fun talking to Jon Stewart.


Here are more details about The Town which opens on September 17th -

http://www.themovieinsider.com/m3715/the-town/

Afternoon tea

Jackson and I have enjoyed the treat of having afternoon tea in many different cities.  So when we were planning our trip to London I wanted to be sure and have tea in the famous department store Harrods.  Their Georgian restaurant is described on the Harrods website -

Afternoon Tea at the Georgian

The Georgian’s quintessentially English afternoon tea stands amongst London’s finest, and when enjoyed in such regal surroundings, is an experience to be savoured, remembered and repeated. Freshly cut sandwiches, scones and pastries are accompanied by your choice of tea from Harrods private tea gardens.

It is a beautiful restaurant with a piano and the piano player wore a tuxedo.  Our waiter was very attentive and I loved the little sandwiches and cakes.  It actually was a moving experience for me to have tea in Harrods.  I'm not sure why but maybe it was just another dream coming true on this vacation!

We bought some loose leaf tea in the gift shop.  It's a set of three fruit flavored teas including strawberry, lemon and kiwi.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Harrods

Eiffel Tower

It was great to see the Eiffel Tower in person after having seen it in countless movies and on TV.  It looked especially beautiful at night when it's lit up with a golden glow and sparkling strobe lights.  We could see it from our hotel room, which was the nicest feature of our otherwise small and ordinary room.  Not one of Rick Steves' best hotel recommendations except it was in a great and convenient neighborhood. 

Here is one of the few photos of the two of us taken by a passerby -

American Tourists in Paris

She didn't get all of the Tower in the shot but I still like the picture.  Here is another view of the Tower -

Jackson and the Eiffel Tower

Randall Hodges Photography

Yesterday we went to an art festival to buy some photographs by Randall Hodges.  We have one of his nature scenes already and now we have 3 more of different sizes.  This one is my favorite as it's kind of mystical.

http://www.randalljhodges.com/Images/Fall_Color/source/foggy_fall_trail__mt_baker.htm

The other two are a panoramic scene of Crater Lake and Mt. St. Helen with wildflowers.  Randall is a really talented photographer and I'm so happy to have his art in our home.

In Bruges

A few years ago we watched a movie that had been getting good word of mouth.  It's called In Bruges and stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.  They play hit men who are told by their boss (played by Ralph Fiennes) to hide out in Bruges and wait for his instructions. 

Brendan Gleeson's character, Ken, is enchanted by Bruges and it's storybook setting, old buildings, canals and swans.  Ray (Colin Farrell) is bored and not interested in soaking up the local scenery but Ken insists that he go with him.  Of course there is more to the story but I don't want to give anything away. 

I mentioned it because the movie was filmed on location in Bruges and is somewhat of a travelogue.  When we were planning our trip to Europe, one of the reasons I wanted to go to Bruges was because of this movie.  However, this is a violent crime drama so it's not for everyone.  I do recommend it though. 

Bon appetit!

My favorite dinner in Paris was at the restaurant called Mon Vieil Ami (my old friend) which we found by accident.  We had been shopping at a fancy bath store called Durance - http://www.durance.fr/.  It was time to eat so we asked the clerk if she knew of a good place for dinner nearby.  She told us about Mon Vieil Ami and after some searching we found it.  It is a beautiful restaurant and the food was tres magnifique! 

I had a delicious pork dish but unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of our meals.  We started doing that later on during this trip.  The dessert I had was wonderful too.  We sat next to some friendly people on holiday from South Africa.  We talked about the upcoming World Cup. 

Here is the website for Mon Vieil Ami - http://www.mon-vieil-ami.com/uk. I highly recommend it!  To paraphrase Father Intintola from The Sopranos, "This meal is beyond reproach!  Word up!"

Beautiful Duet

Since we got a satellite dish I've been able to watch The Andy Griffith Show again.  This wonderful family classic is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.  I thought I'd share this clip of a lovely duet called Down in the Valley sung by Andy and Miss Peggy (actress Joanna Moore)  -



The episode is called Andy and Opie - Bachelors.  Peggy is helping out while Aunt Bee is out of town.  By the way, Joanna Moore was Tatum O'Neal's mother.  Joanna passed away from lung cancer in 1997.

Beefeater Bear

I bought a small, adorable teddy bear at the Tower of London gift shop.  It came with this poem -

My active service is complete,
Yet still a role to play
Serving Queen and country
At the Tower where I stay.

I join the Guards with keys in hand
Each night at "witching hour"
I keep the ravens black as space,
Guardians of the Tower.
Yes I am a Yeoman Warder
And bearly can contain
The pride with which I serve
my Queen
And England once again.

I am a serving Yeoman Warder
Or Beefeater it is true
I'm honoured by the post I hold
And proud to inform you
Of history within the Tower
Of London and the fate
Of kings and queens and rebels
Who passed through Traitors' Gate.

My uniform is quite unique,
Upon my coat a crown.
A buckled belt and hatted head
Tradition handed down.

Tower of London

 

The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart

Here is my review:

I really enjoyed this charming and touching story set in the Tower of London. We were visiting there recently and took the guided tour. Our Beefeater guide was wonderfully entertaining and informative. I hadn't known that the Beefeaters and their families are required to live in the Tower.


Balthazar Jones and wife Hebe are stilling reeling from the unexpected death of their young son Milo. Balthazar is charged with opening and maintaining a new menagerie at the Tower with animals given to the Queen. Hebe works in the London Underground's Department of Lost Things and goes to great lengths to return lost items to their rightful owners. I was reminded of how fun it was to take the Tube (mind the gap!) around London.


One of my favorite lines was spoken to Hebe, "You haven't lost Milo completely, you know. I lost my sister when we were both very young.  We always carry a part of those we love tucked inside of us." 


I hope they make a movie based on this book. I would love to see these characters brought to life on the screen. There is even a wonderful Hollywood ending that is really heartwarming.  I look forward to the next book from Julia Stuart.

All Good Things Will Be Added Unto You

I happened to catch part of an episode of The Cosby Show recently.  It was the one where Claire sings a beautiful song with a choir at the Hillman graduation ceremony.  I just love the song so here it is -

Belgian chocolate

Bruges is known for its chocolates and we went to a few stores to sample some.  The first shop we went to offered hot chocolate served in a unique way.  They brought us a cup of warm milk with the chocolate of our choice on a spoon.  We swirled the spoons into the milk until the chocolate melted - yummy!

We also went to the Chocolate Line since our hotel owner said it was the best in town.  The owner, Dominique Persoone, is well known and has a book called Cacao, the Chocolate Route.  You can see the chocolates being made in the store and the delicious scents are intoxicating!

Here I am outside the store  -

The Chocolate Line in Bruges

They have some very unique flavors of chocolate there such as black olive and no, we didn't try that one! I love the lavender chocolates.  They even have chocolate lipstick.  Check out their website -

http://www.thechocolateline.be/

I heard that Dominique worked on the movie Alice in Wonderland and they had some related chocolate items on display in the window.  The store was crowded with tourists  and I'm sure it's listed in many guidebooks as a must-see.