War History Day in London

One day in February, during the half-term holidays for the boys, we decided to be adventurous and head down to London on our own. The awesome thing about traveling with kids on the train is that I get to use our Family and Friends Railway Card which gives me an awesome discount for train tickets IF I travel with at least one kid. So basically for all three of us, I paid just around $23 roundtrip. 

The weather turned out fantastic that day, which helped a lot since we had to walk quite a bit. 

First of all, we took the tube to Elephant and The Castle station and from there we walked over to the Imperial War Museum. 

Wow! This place is fantastic! And it is FREE! Lots of history on display here. The whole first floor is dedicated to WWI, but not only to the British bit of history--it tells us a lot about all the other nations who fought the Great War, as it's called here. 

We also walked through the exhibit about WWII. The boys found some of the short movies and journalists' video recordings fascinating. I especially appreciated the ones from the Soviet Union as that is what I was most familiar with. It's incredible though how much I do not know about the war just because I was taught about it from only one angle.

We could have easily spent another hour at the museum, but we had to get to St. Paul's Cathedral area to meet a tour group for the Blitz Tour. We had a quick lunch at an Asian restaurant, OF COURSE.

Here are the boys at the tube station again. I find the name of this station so interesting, but I still haven't fully figured out why it was named that. They call this area "The Elephant" for short. 

Right before our guided tour, we went to one of the CoOps in town and I let the boys pick out a treat. I knew the Blitz tour was not going to be Mark's favorite so I needed to be prepared;)

The tour was a two hour walking tour through many main and secret streets around the St. Paul's Cathedral. The Blitz is the name that the British press used to describe the heavy bombing raids that Britain had to endure during the WWII. This area around the cathedral suffered a great deal of damage during the war years, so the guide told us all about what and where things happened. Couldn't tell you anything from that tour now...three months later...but it was very informative. I learned a lot about how some churches survived the bombings, how some were rebuilt, as well as a bit of history about how Londoners dealt with the war.

Mark was very-very patient as this subject was not very interesting to him. He was very well behaved, didn't get lost or ran around like crazy. 

Alex on the other hand...no, he didn't run around like crazy...he followed the guide like a puppy absorbing every detail and every fact he could hear. Alex already knows so much about London during WWII, but seeing these very places where all the action happened and with a good story to follow, it was fascinating to him. He loved this tour.

It was around 4:30 pm when we were done with the tour. Since our train tickets were off-peak only, we had to wait till after 7 pm to get on the train back to Huntingdon. We decided to wander around a bit more and somehow made our way to the area we had never been before. It was the other side of the river Thames, near Cleopatra's Needle. I didn't get a great picture of the Needle, but you can see part of it next to the lantern. This ancient obelisk is almost 3500 years old. It was brought over by sea from Alexandria at the end of the 19th century to commemorate the victory over Napoleon sixty something years earlier. There is a cool story that goes with the story of this obelisk's arrival to England, so google it:).

The boys and the sphinx. Maybe we didn't get to travel to Egypt, this sphinx will have to do for now. Do you see Big Ben in the background?

And we couldn't help ourselves. Our selfie by the Eye.

We walked a few blocks further and found ourselves at Trafalgar square--love that place, always so lively.

I can't really remember what we got for dinner that day... but I do remember that Mark was still hungry as we were wandering around London, so we stopped by a Japanese place so that Mark could get his favorite rice ball for a snack. Such a funny kid:).

I was very impressed how well the boys behaved. They were a joy to travel with. Really. It's funny how dynamics changes if one of the "usual" kids is gone. 

We'll miss you, London...

Good night.

Lyana.

Special London Day For Robert And Katya.

Yes, this was a very special day in London with my little girl (who is not so small anymore).

There is a little known secret about the Big Ben tower.  Actually, there are several secrets, one of which is that the tower is actually called the Queen Elizabeth Tower, and Big Ben is just the name of the biggest bell inside.  But the secret I am talking about is that residents of the UK can get free tours of the tower!!  And that goes for military personnel who are stationed here because we reside in the UK and have a UK address.  So naturally, Lyana finds out about this.  Somehow she is always privy to cool stuff like that.  And she went to the parliament.co.uk website, and requested a free tour for two people.  We would have taken the whole family, but you have to be 11 or older to go.  :(

Our tour was for 10:30 which as I will mention later was the perfect time to go. Sadly, cameras and phones were not permitted, so you'll just have to imagine based on my description.  We started off climbing I-forget-how-many stairs to a landing where the oldish but very fit tour guide in her fantastically posh but not intimidating British accent explained the history of the tower which was fascinating in and of itself, but even cooler because we were actually sitting INSIDE the tower while she told it.  She talked about how the bell was named Big Ben, but they don't really know why.  And how the bell was made E-flat but the guy in charge wanted it E-natural so he kept hitting it with larger and larger hammers until ...  he broke it and so they had to smash it to bits, melt it down and make a new bell which was also E-flat.  So the same guy tried to make it sound E-natural again by trying different size hammers until . . . he cracked it.  So they fired him before he could do more damage to the bell, they found a novel way to halt the crack so the bell could be salvaged and they installed it.  Which was no easy feat, mind you, because the bell didn't fit in the shaft standing up so it was raised to the top of the tower (over the course of several days and with the use of clever pulley) sideways and then uprighted once it got there.

We moved up the tower further and found ourselves literally on the backsides of the clockfaces!  We walked around the entire tower in a narrow corridor that took us behind each of the four massive clocks and we could see the minute hand moving (every two seconds) from the backside.  So cool!  

Then she took us to the gigantic clock gears which are the same ones from when the clock was first installed.  And no, the clock is not run on electricity.  They still have a guy come in every couple of days to wind it!  Though it's a bit more intense than your average grandfather clock, but essentially the same idea.  What do you think is inside the middle of the tower under the clock?  Yup, long chains with weights just like that little cuckoo clock from Germany on the wall.  And to control the pendulum (inside the tower) to make sure it's within 1 or 2 seconds every 24 hours, they still use the old-fashioned system of adding or removing pennies (yes, pennies) stacked at the top of it. 

And then if that wasn't enough coolness (as we listened to her stories) we finished the tour in the belfry which is situated just above the clocks.  And the tour was timed perfectly so we arrived a few minutes before noon, got situated, put in our earplugs and waited for the chimes.  First the song played on the little bells and then . . .DONG!!!!!  TWELVE TIMES!!  Even with earplugs it was incredible!  We were just feet away and as Big Ben rang we placed our hands on the metal beams so we could feel the sound waves reverberate through the building. And then we were done.  340-odd stairs later we were at the bottom (and slightly dizzy). 

And here we are 25 minutes after standing at the top of the tower.

We couldn't just end our day in London just then though.  We decided to walk (a long walk) to Harrods for some SHOPPING!  On the way we found Buckingham Palace, which is not actually in the picture.  This is one of the gate leading into the plaza in front of the Palace.  There's Queen Victoria's statue in the back.  And I think that's Prince Harry's white van pulling out. 

Oh, yeah.  Here's the Palace.  Just the right size for a short weekend stay. 

We finally made it to Harrod's, though we made a quick food stop on the way at none other than . . Pret A Manger (it's actually French, and I can't spell or pronounce the name right, but they have really yummy grab-and-go sandwiches and soup). 

I didn't realize until I got to Harrod's that it's really just a a huge shopping mall where you can buy anything you could ever dream of.  We found LegoLand in there of course.  That's the Lego model of Harrod's itself.  I almost bought it. 

Here's the 25,000 pound (that's british money) traveling trunk I was tempted to buy.

Yes, it's a book shaped like a 'W'.  As in I Wanted to buy it. 

Harrod's (the real one) from the outside.  Now I wish I had taken more photos so you could see the amazing Macarons we bought, or the fun Disney Store we spent too much time in, or the watch we found that cost more than both my cars combined, or the delicious smelling food court, or the Baklava we bought (and ate), or the miles and miles of amazing impractical stuff for sale in there.  If you haven't been to a Harrod's, find your nearest one and just go window-shopping.  It will blow your mind, and maybe like it did for me, make you appreciate what you've already got.  Yeah that HUGE flatscreen TV was incredible, but no thanks.  I like my 32" Sony just fine. 

Happy to be outside again.  What a circus in there!  

I've realized now that we have such a short time left here in England that I need to start taking more pictures of normal life.  Like King's Cross Station.  I can't believe this has become normal for us, and never would have thought that 5 years ago, but here we are just another day in King's Cross.  Appreciate the normal folks, even if your normal is someone else's exotic.  

Cheers,

Robert

Slovenia: Finally, Skiing Again!

I thought I would never get to blogging about this last bit of our trip... Life hasn't been super busy or anything, it just has been turning to a different direction, so to speak.

All right....Back to Slovenia...the snowy (sort of) land.

So we had three days total to ski. I signed the kids up with the ski school for each morning, from 10 till 12. I figured we could use a couple of hours each day to ski on our own, with Robert. 

But then the first day came and it was kind of drizzly and rainy....and miserable looking, but the kids all protested and said they wanted to ski anyway and they didn't care it was going to be wet, as long as there was snow. I decided to skip skiing this day, but Robert rented his gear anyway and was ready to hit the slopes.

We were very-very fortunate with the kids' ski school. Because they were not very busy, Mark got to have a beginner 2 hour lesson all to himself. Monica was his private teacher, who later said that Mark was one of the most amazing listeners and a very focused boy. Because it was just him and her, she didn't need to take him to the real beginner slope but was able to basically teach him from scratch in a very accelerated way.

This is how Monica helped Mark get up the hill. 

Mark coming down the mountain again, again and again. Not afraid to fall. 

Alex was put into L1 class to refresh his memory, but he remembered quickly what skiing was all about. Katya went to L2 and by the end of the day was skiing on hard slopes again.

On Day 2...it was not as rainy or wet, but still drizzly and uncomfortable. The kids didn't care and couldn't wait to ski again! 

This time, for some reason, there were a lot more children in their skiing groups. Mark was in L1 now, Alex in L2 and Katya in L3. 

They mastered the pully system and patiently waited in short lines again and again.

They never got tired and had maybe just 40 min break to eat at lunch time. Otherwise, they were on the slopes from 9 am till the resort closed at 4 pm.

Robert was rarely seen by me when the kids were in ski school as he was able to ski on some more advanced slopes. He tried to stay with Mark in the afternoons, but a lot of the time, Mark just skied on his own on the beginner slopes with me watching him go up and down, while he took Katya and Alex on medium slopes.

Look at the thaw behind Robert. Pretty sad. And this was the middle of February. Who knew?

Both days we were so happy to come home to be warm and cozy in our lovely apartment right in the middle of town of Kranjska Gora. It was just perfect--large (except the kitchen), with hot shower and many radiators to dry off our clothes. And boy, did we need to dry those clothes off. Every day I had to pack extras of gloves and make sure the kids changed them half way through the day as they were simply drenched in water. It was not from falling down, it was from the rain.

For dinner, we went to some yummy places nearby. Slovenian food is a mixture of Italian/German and Eastern European dishes. Lots of pizzas everywhere and hearty meals. At one place called "My world" (I just guessed that's what it meant as it sounded similar to the same phrase in Russian) we ordered a dish to share that turned out to be so huge and heavy on meat that we had to take loads home. I hate when we over order not knowing exactly what we'd be getting, but at least we have yummy food for the next day. 

In the evening of Day 2, Robert was crazy enough to take ALL three children night skiing 7 pm till 10 pm. The kids are insane. I don't know where they get their bravery from, but I was so intimidated by that hill that they were going on and the kids didn't care at all. They thought it was the most amazing experience ever! 

Well, on the night before Day 3, a miracle happened. It snowed almost 2 feet of snow!!! We were ecstatic! Finally! This is what it was supposed to look like all along! Disregard the funny car on top of the hill.

Alex and Mark now both were in L2. Katya was in L3. They all did great! 

This is Katya and Alex convincing me to go up that hill that is supposed to be beginner but is quite steep at the very beginning. By now they had done it at least twenty times.

And finally they convinced me to go. It was like 10 minutes before the resort closed. 

Our last selfie of the day. Robert was somewhere hanging with Mark on medium slopes (because Mark is crazy like that).

Here is a taster video for you about "how Lyana feels about skiing". Despite the fact that I was completely fearless back in 1999 when I learned to ski at Sundance....I am now officially a wimp.

I am so happy that it finally snowed for at least one day while we were on our SKIING trip. It still amazes me how the kids had such wonderful attitude even through all the wetness and discomfort of the first two days. They loved skiing and wanted to keep going for more days. I also admire their independence. I think we, as parents, are more willing to let go of them and let them try do things on their own more often on this side of the pond for some reason. 

I am glad we were able to squeeze this cold-weather family trip and that we went to a new cool country--Slovenia.

Lyana.

Slovenia: Looking for SNOW in Bled

We have been missing snow. The kids have been begging and begging us to take them somewhere with a lot of snow, and even better--somewhere to go skiing. I researched for a long time where we should go. We didn't need anything extravagant and super expert but rather something off the beaten path and low-key family friendly. I read numerous tripadvisor forum posts and articles and searched for good deals on airplane tickets, and then we decided to go to SLOVENIA. 

I'll tell you later about the place where we were skiing, but for now, let's make a stopover in Bled, Slovenia. Strange name, we know, and it's not like it even means anything particular in Slovenian either. 

First, where is Slovenia? It's a small country, bordering Austria, Italy, Hungary and Croatia, part of the EU with the capital of Ljubljana.

We flew into Ljubljana, rented a car and drove north about 25 minutes to Bled. Here is a closer shot. 

In two hours you can cross the whole country. 

So we stopped at Bled having only an hour or two to explore, as we wanted to get to our final destination of Kranjska Gora. 

Disappointment #1--NO SNOW. At this time of year--middle of February--you'd expect at least some amount of snow on the ground in this area. The Lake Bled is supposed to be this magnificent sight with trees covered in snow surrounding it.

This is our picture in front of the lake. 

We did have a great pizza lunch right in town. Since Italy is so close by, there is a lot of Italian influence in Slovenian traditional dishes.

The church near the lake. Had to capture the national flag.

That monastery on the island behind us is one of the main reasons people come to this lake. It is supposed to be a very picturesque sight. Some say this lake is way overrated and touristy and that one should definitely drive another 30 minutes towards the mountains to see a real beauty of a lake--Lake Bohinjsko.

That's the monastery.

The weather was not so wonderful and we didn't want to hike around the lake for an hour, so we decided that we'd just get some pastries and get going.

I got some delicious kremowkas again and these super yummy cookies (salivating as I am writing about this). Oh how much I wish they were available in other places of the world!

So that was our quick stop at Bled. In my honest opinion--we were not impressed. Maybe it's absolutely beautiful in the summertime with green mountains and beautiful water, but it was just all right in snowless February:)

Lyana.