The Leaving Tour

The ride from our hotel in Canary Wharf to London Heathrow airport was like a final tour before we ended our time abroad.

The driver seemed like he was intentionally driving past all the iconic spots: Parliament buildings, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Trafalgar Square. It probably wasn't intentional, there just aren't any freeways that can get you from one side of London to the other. You've got to drive right through the heart of the city and I was feeling in my heart all the memories of our time here.

When we first arrived in London 4 years ago I'm sure we drove past all the iconic sights but I didn't realize what they were. As we went on our final leaving "tour" I was ticking off in my head each time we passed a place that I had been in. There goes a bus, rode one. Black cab, several times. Big Ben clock tower, climbed it. It gave me a sense of accomplishment.

There will always be places I wish we had been to, things we had done. But I focus on all the many adventures we did have and that overshadows the wishes.

I'm thankful for the opportunity we had to live in such an exciting city as London and I will miss it but it's time to be "homeward bound", "heading home".

Found it!

Church of Our Lady

On Sunday we explored the other end of the city of Bruges including a nunnery, brewery, lake, church, and hospital museum that was mostly religious art. Back in the 12th century not much was known about healing the body so the emphasis in hospitals was on healing the soul.

Minnewater Lake or "Lake of Love"

We walked past the picturesque house across the lake to check it out. It is an abandoned restaurant now. Sad.

Courtyard of the nunnery house

Someone has a sense of humor

We even stumbled upon a miniature rail village. My dad would be pleased we got to see a miniature train, sample a beer, and visit a nun's house all in one day.

A toast of Zot beer after the brewery tour

Dinner on our last night was a steaming pot of mussels with frites and mayo on the side:

Monday was our last day in Bruges and we successfully ticked off our list the remaining items of what we wanted to do:

• Basilica of the Holy Blood of Christ (small but beautiful)
• Chocolate Museum (complete with a sample at the end)
• Climb to the top of the bell tower
• Enjoy a Belgian waffle
• Find that darn bridge in our painting (see previous posts)

After ascending the 365 steps in the Belfry tower, we saw nice views of the city in each direction and we got to see and hear the bells chiming.

Belfry Tower

While on the spiral staircase I thought of Ryan counting steps in times past when we would climb towers. Moments later, a lady passed us counting each step out loud. The tradition lives on.

View from the tower

After our trek up the tower, we rewarded ourselves with fresh Belgian waffles and chocolate sauce:

Finally, I'm happy to report that we did find our bridge scene:

Our weekend was complete and the "winging it" strategy worked out just fine.

Here is the Eurostar train I took back to London at the end of the line in St. Pancras station:

Eurostar

And it's almost the "end of the line" for our time abroad as ex-pats.

Bridge Day

Our Saturday in Bruges was Bridge Day. We started with a boat tour and went under several bridges on the canals. One bridge was so low that people on one side of the boat had to duck their heads when we went under, accompanied by squeals of laughter.

Duck for the low bridge!

Two of the bridges we went under were supposedly the oldest on the canal dating from the 17th century.

After that we bought a painting at a street market of a bridge in Bruges.

Where we bought our painting

The artist showed us on our map where the bridge was located. We took off in search of it but we couldn't remember what the scene in the painting looked like as we had left it in our hotel room. We went back to the artist to ask him again how to find the bridge. One more try, no luck, but we sure enjoyed strolling along the canal and this time we saw two drawbridges, one of them raised while a big cargo ship went under it.

We also walked right by some old windmills and one of the old gates to the city.

 I like the  Belgian "lacework" on the fence around the windmill:

Old City Gate

When we got back to the hotel room we took a picture of our bridge painting to refer to on our next quest for "The Scene of the Painting".

Quaint, Historic, Elegant, Decadent Bruges

Our first dinner in Bruges was at Brasserie Mozarthuys.

We sat next to two ladies from England. We got to talking to them and discovered the lady in her 80s remembered World War 2 and getting sent out of London by herself at the age of 7 to avoid the bombings. Fascinating hearing her perspective. She later married a soldier from Belgium who was in London working as an interpreter for the Americans.

The woman and her daughter come to Bruges regularly to visit with her deceased husband's family. We enjoyed talking with them and they were interested to hear our story of living in London as Americans and how Chris's dad was stationed in England during the war. Turns out the ladies were staying in our same hotel so we saw them a few more times.

View from our hotel window

In the morning we could hear the clip clop of horses outside our hotel window giving carriage rides on the cobblestones. Add to that the musical tolling of bells from the Belfry tower nearby. To complete the picture a long line of swans flowed gracefully past in the canal. The word quaint barely begins to describe it.

 Our Hotel de Tuilerieen

Our hotel windows open up like french doors and only a bar protects you from falling out. You can sit in the window seat and people walking by smile up at  you. 

Don't fall out!

This is the hotel where cast members from the 2008 movie In Bruges stayed: Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes.

Movie Star photos in hotel bar

The breakfast buffet is in an elegant room with an impressive chandelier. Included in the options were crepes of course, but also fruit dipped in a chocolate fountain. Decadent!

Breakfast Room

The breakfast attendant goes through a litany of Bon jour, hello,... until she finds the right language to communicate with us. It's so impressive how many languages people speak here.

Just look at this Warm Drinks menu to get an idea of the international flavor...

Weekend in Bruges

It's just under three weeks before the Russells Abroad Experience ends. Time for one last quick trip. Beautiful Bruges it is!

12:58 We board our Eurostar train that will take us from London under the English Channel.

The conductor makes announcements first in English, then in French.

Amazing to think that in 2 hours we will be in Brussels, Belgium. The portion of the trip through the underwater tunnel takes just 20 minutes.

Our ears pop even in the tunnels on land.

14:59 We arrive in Calais, France. With the one-hour time-zone difference, it has taken just one hour to journey from the island housing England to "The Continent". 

I notice that now the announcements are first made in French, then English.

16:08 Now we are in Brussels and Dutch(German?) has been added to the announcements, followed by French and English. Feeling very multi-cultural! This portion of the journey was through peaceful countryside.

17:30 A one-hour local train ride from Brussels to Bruges and we are here. We walk to our hotel right on the canal near the historic area.

18:30 We are checked in to the hotel and checking out the free wifi. The 1.5 mile walk from the train station took us a while as we made our way through the winding cobble-stoned streets with our rolling luggage clunking along.

Actually it's turned out to be a rather long day when I think about it. We left our house at 11:00 am to catch a train to take the underground to get to the St. Pancras International train station to get on the Eurostar. By the time we walk to our hotel its been 6 1/2 hours door to door. Seems like a long time ago that I was jotting down "Amazing to think that in 2 hours..."

For some reason I did almost no planning for this trip, thinking we would just figure it out when we got here. I used to always buy a guide book ahead of time and attempt an itinerary. I've become complacent after so much traveling, maybe even burned out from trip-planning... Rough  life, right?

So we will just wing it this time, Bruges  is one of those places you can just wander around and enjoy, I'm thinking.

Earned the Right to Cry

I have been doing some commiserating with other moms of kids just starting college.

Melissa sent me this photo that I just had to share....

Yep, our kids will always be our babies, even when they head off to college.

Here is some tongue in cheek advice from another friend:

It was a mistake to raise such awesome kids. If we had raised them to be horrible then letting go wouldn't be nearly as hard. Make your kids rotten, folks. You will appreciate their leaving.

I love Melissa's answer to this:

Maybe if we hadn't done such good jobs raising our kids it would have been with jubilant anticipation that we kicked our kids out. Thankfully this was not the case so we earned the right to cry at their moving on down the road of life, knowing we will always be there waving, should they look back and our arms will always be open for one last embrace.

My Up-With-People musically-talented friend Pam always seems to find songs appropriate for the moment. Her blog references the song "Turn Around" by Malvina Reynolds:

Turn around and you're two, turn around and you're four.
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door.

Pam and Melissa both found this song from Fiddler on the Roof wafting through their heads:

Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older, When did they?
Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears.

So if any of this brings tears to your eyes, just remember Moms, we earned the right to cry!

Feet of Lexi (3), Mama, Ryan (7) 

Many thanks to Susan, Melissa, and Pam for practically writing this blog post for me!

Moving on to a New World

It's been just over 3 weeks since we pushed our last "chick" out of our nest. The empty nest thing is getting easier, I just try to focus on the positives:

• I'm no longer on chauffeur duty.
• I can listen to MY music stations in the car now.
• We don't run out of milk as fast.
• I still have my grand-dogs that need me.

I am reminded of our flight from London in August heading to Seattle to visit Ryan in his new digs. The all-day flight across the Atlantic wore me out, especially since I spent the whole time working on a cross-stitch project for Ryan: "Home is Where the Heart Is".

Then our connecting flight from Calgary to Seattle was delayed by several hours. Finally we were up in the air on our way and I rested my eyes and dozed off. I awoke when I heard the flight attendant comment on the beautiful view. I looked out the window and felt like I was in another world. The majestic Canadian Rockies were displayed before me in all their glory.

So maybe I'm waking up now in my new world of no kids at home... and finding the beauty in it.

Canadian Rockies from www.kheli.com

Fickle English Weather

I walked to church last Sunday morning in beautiful weather, wearing sunglasses, feeling silly for bringing along my brolly (umbrella).

After Mass, my weather gear swapped places as I carried my sunglasses and used the umbrella for the walk home.

I've learned to always be prepared for the English weather to change in an instant.

When we first moved here in July, 2009 from hot humid Houston, I wasn't prepared for the cooler English weather. I was in denial and kept wearing warm-weather clothes. It was supposed to be summer after all!

Over the last four years I have finally given in and learned to bundle up. Layers are actually quite useful, see above paragraphs on fickle weather.

Now I find myself much more comfortable but I can't figure out why the shops have all those skimpy summer clothes in the windows?

Looking in a Mirror

The last several weeks I have felt as if I'm looking in a mirror, a special time-traveling mirror that reflects an image of me from the past. Allow me to explain.

When we visited freshly-graduated Ryan as he is getting settled in a new city starting a career with Boeing, I saw myself after my college graduation, moving to Houston, starting my career at Shell.

Seeing his first apartment brought to mind my first apartment. Observing the pride he has in his brand new car, I saw myself 29 years ago so happy to have my first car.

What's more, here was Lexi preparing to start college life at Vanderbilt. My eyes saw Lexi, but my brain traveled back 33 years ago to my Freshman-at-UT self.

I just couldn't help but make comparisons, although I'm sure the kids weren't interested in my past, this was their shining moment. Still, walking around campus brought back memories of the blisters on my feet from my first days of campus trekking. I told Lexi she was lucky she did so much walking around in London and to the train station so at least she is in shape and her feet are used to it.

Finally, I can see myself in the new families at the American school here in England. That was me, fours years ago, scanning advertised lists of UK items that others moving back home were trying to get rid of. The feeling comes back to me of the haze I was in trying to figure out how things work in this new country. Now I'm on the more confident side of the mirror, happy to reach out to the newbies and wish them the best.

If I can carry my analogy a bit further, I'd like to think that my journalist dad, if he were still alive, would see himself in my blogging... in the special time-traveling mirror.

                                            

Then and Now

When I see this patio table that I gave away this week to a new family at the American school,

a vision appears in my mind's eye of Lexi's 2nd birthday party celebrated around it 16 years ago...

It's funny how an ordinary object can trigger memories of the past.

I look at this sofa now...

and I see the past....

Ryan, 1 1/2 years old, with cousin Chelsea on Halloween, 1992

Ryan's baptism, 1991

1997, Lexi and Ryan in "tent" with the sofa pillows that always seemed to end up on the floor.

But wait, the history of that couch goes back even further...

My first apartment, 1984

Now we are downsizing, purging for our move back to the States.

My beloved sleeper sofa that made its home in 5 different residences over a span of 30 years is about to be left behind in England.

It sits in the garage waiting for someone, anyone to come get it for free.

I tried to donate it to charity but it got rejected. It doesn't have the "Fire label" tag that the Health and Safety laws in England require.

So I'm offering it up for free, for anyone willing to come collect it and give it a good home.

I would love for it to provide 30 more years of support for another family...

And Chris is just tired of messing with it as it is so very heavy!

Heavy with memories...

A Bit of London Went With Us

Sometimes things just seem so fitting. For example, we pulled up to our hotel in Seattle and to our delight discovered it was named the Red Lion. 

"Red Lion" is supposedly the most popular name for pubs in the United Kingdom.

As luck would have it, Red Lion was the pub right up the street from Lexi's school campus in England. The pub the teachers would frequent but students were prohibited from entering due to some previous bad experiences (?!)

Here is a picture of the Red Lion we drove past countless times on the way to Lexi's school:

Red Lion Pub in Thorpe, Surrey

We had left London earlier that day on our journey to drop Lexi at college with a visit to Ryan in Seattle first.

We will be moving from London in a few months so Lexi will no longer have a home in England.

Lexi hated leaving London, the city she originally couldn't fathom just what was so great about it.

Lexi didn't want to let go of London and it seemed London just couldn't let go of us either.

Sitting outside our Red Lion Hotel was one of the iconic London red phone booths or a Red Telephone Box as they are called here.

Further observation showed the phone booth was decor for the Elephant & Castle Pub & Restaurant located at the hotel.

Elephant & Castle? I recognized that name as an underground tube station in London. There's definitely a British theme working here.

Twice we even detected English accents from tourists in the area. Lexi said it made her feel at home.

It was perhaps a sign that a bit of London will always be with us.

And Then There Were Two

We started out as a couple. Got married, had two kids, raised them well, and sent them on their way into the world. Now we are back to being two again. It's like the "circle stories" the kids and I used to read together.

Our happily-ever-after tale seems so trite and storybook, but we know the richness of the  22 years of chapters that fill the book, complete with drama, joy, happiness, sadness, worry, adventure, and even mundaneness. 

We flew from London 9 days ago with 6 bags full to the brim and with various lists of items to buy, things to get set up, things to do. We were full of excitement about getting to see Ryan and getting Lexi set up in college. These last few weeks I have had one eye on the future, planning Lexi's new life and watching Ryan's new life unfold, and the other eye on the past, recalling life with the kids as they grew up.

 Now 2/4 of us are flying back to London with fewer bags, less full, and ourselves feeling a little empty. We accomplished what we set out to do and that's a good thing but it's hard to say goodbye when you don't want the story to end.

Thanks, Ryan and Lexi, for the perfect story.

Sleepless in Seattle

 I've been waking up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep. Darn jet lag. But while I lie there various observations come to mind and I thought I'd note them in my blog.

- The jet lag from the 8-hour time difference to the west coast is so much tougher for me than our usual 6-hour time difference Houston jet lag.

- Roles are reversed when your child reaches 22 and is on his own and off our payroll. We went with him to buy his first brand new car and he was the principal character in the events. I can remember buying family cars when the kids were younger and I would hang out with them while dad did the negotiations. Now it was Ryan going off to do the paperwork.

- The fact that Ryan has already found the local library and even obtained a library card makes me proud. He did it because he is finishing up his college thesis but I want to believe it's because it's something we've always done.

- Seattle is a beautiful, lush green city, even nicknamed the Emerald City. All the rain it gets at least produces a city that is easy on the eyes.

- People in these parts are so friendly. Maybe it's more pronounced for me coming from London where folks aren't exactly the friendliest (until you get to know them of course). It was very evident in Calgary, Canada where our flight coming here had a layover. Strangers in the airport just came over and struck up friendly conversations. I didn't hear anyone complaining about the next flight to Seattle being delayed an hour and a half. People just seem happy. Ryan says he has noticed this in Seattle as well.

- Then again there is such a thing as too friendly. Like when a stranger walked in off the street at the pizza restaurant last night and appeared at our table asking for a piece of pizza. Strange. Watch out when you sit at a window table close to the door. In case you are wondering, Chris gave a firm "no" to her request.

- I find myself freezing in the air conditioning here. Buildings are so much colder than in England where a lot of places don't even have air-conditioning.

- Food seems so much saltier in America now to me.

That's all I've got for now, hoping for some sleep!

Leaving on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again.

These lyrics come to mind as we are on our trip to America to deliver our 18-year old daughter to college, that familiar rite of passage that is more poignant when it is timed with our upcoming move back home as well as our son's emergence into the "real world" having just graduated college.

I remember packing up my things to head off to college. I had the security of knowing that whatever I didn't take with me would be safely waiting for me in my room back home. Poor Lexi just has to trust that her remaining possessions will get packed up and delivered to our next residence, after Mom sorts through them of course to minimize what has to get shipped (literally on a ship) across the ocean.

Poor Lexi was also limited to what she can take to college by what fits in her allotment of two suitcases and one carry-on bag for the plane. So different from my experience of filling up our family car and my dad driving me. I remind her that the experience of living in England makes it a small price to pay. We'll just provision her up when we get to Nashville at the local Target.

Four years ago our son had to go through the same process of bundling up his possessions in suitcases for the plane ride to college from England. He had to travel by himself on the plane, meeting up with his dad already in the States on a trip. Man that was a hard goodbye at the airport knowing we would be an ocean apart.

Fortunately it all worked out extremely well for Ryan. He did great at college, academically, socially, spiritually. He got to spend Christmas breaks with us in exotic locations around the world, although that did mean spending many hours on jet planes.

Ryan's success story continues, landing an amazing job as an engineer with Boeing in Seattle. It is so exciting to come visit him after he's only been here three weeks and his apartment is all set up. He had the challenge of leaving college and getting moved to Seattle once again on an airplane. He's an old pro at that by now. I guess it's appropriate that he went to work for an airplane company.

Ryan now owns a brand new car that we got to help him pick out. Maybe now his life will be more "grounded". 

I think the kids can see now that having ex-pat parents doesn't totally ruin your life. It only makes you more aware that life is a journey. Funny that we keep running into that "journey" word. We rode on an elephant in Thailand that we thought was named Journey (was actually Jenny). And now we have a rental car in Seattle that is a Dodge Journey.

Lexi doesn't know when she'll be back in London again, 

Oh babe I hate to go...

But I think it will all be fine.

Lexi's Last Weekend, Properly Done

We are down to less than a week before Lexi leaves us for college. She should be packing and purging and getting organized and preparing for her move. But it's our last weekend in England with her. We want to make the most of it and enjoy some time together.

We spend Saturday in London reminiscing, doing some new things but also remembering meaningful places and times spent here over the last four years.

As we walked from the Waterloo train station to Leicester Square to buy half-price theatre matinee tickets, we snapped a photo on the Hungerford Bridge with the iconic Parliament building, Big Ben clock tower, and London Eye behind us:

All the rain we've had this summer produced beautiful blooming window-box flowers:

The British are concerned with things being done "properly". We had lunch at Byron Hamburgers where they claim to offer "Proper Hamburgers" modeled on American-style burgers.

Walking around the Covent Garden area, this sign outside a pub again boasts of being "proper":

We walked past one of Lexi's favorite candy stores that offers American sweets:

On a walking tour of the Covent Garden area three years ago with the American Women's group, I remember enjoying a stop inside the Royal Opera House. I wanted to share it with Chris and Lexi. A beautiful mirror and glass walled atrium houses a champagne bar: 

On one end a thin box appears to be suspended in mid-air. This optical illusion is actually a window from the Amphitheatre Bar located behind the mirrored wall. We took the escalator up and had fun checking out the view from the other side.

With some time to kill before our matinee showing, we took a break from all the walking by stopping in a pub for a quick pint and Archers and Coke:

Our last stop was the Phoenix theatre where we saw the play "Once" recommended by a friend from the Petroleum Women's Club.

It was a sweet love story musical, more enjoyed by me than Chris and Lexi I'm afraid.

Sunday dawns and we really should be getting stuff done for the upcoming trip in 5 days.... but it's our last Sunday together.

We planned a drive to the cute village of Windsor and booked afternoon tea at the Crooked House. Here is a photo of it from the internet:

Crooked House of Windsor tea room

Alas, road closures in the Surrey area for a cycling event forced us to drive around looking for a way to get there and then finally caused us to change our plans. Chris had the idea of revisiting the pub in Cobham where we had our first lunch here on a Sunday afternoon in January 2009 when we were visiting schools for Lexi. Another good idea spoiled by more road closures.

Chris has lived here for four years and not done the proper Afternoon Tea so we decided to partake of that ritual at a hotel in our neighborhood. We parked the car on a side street and walked to the historic Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge:

When we got home I looked up the history of the hotel and discovered this:

This privately owned historic country house became a hotel in 1856 and stands on the site of the grand Royal Palaces of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The great cedar tree at the front of the hotel was planted by Charles I to celebrate the birth of his son, Henry of Otelands.

I did indeed notice the towering cedar in front of the place!

Tea was served in the lobby:

Afternoon tea complete with scones, finger sandwiches and desserts can now be checked off for Chris!

Woo hoo, doesn't he look thrilled?