Dirty Dancing with the Chinese at St. Paul's

The last two weekends we spent time around London, taking in some of the things on our list to do before we have to leave.

On Friday, January 23, 2009 we went to the Noel Coward Theatre and saw the show Avenue Q that involved puppets. It was absolutely hilarious. There are not many places where you can see puppets on stage singing about porn, being gay, and sex. But, if that's what you want to do this is the place to go.

Saturday, January 24, 2009, took us to St. Paul's Cathedral. This is the most beautiful cathedral in London. It also has the second largest dome in the world, behind St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican City. We took in all of the sculptures and altars and then walked up the 300+ steps to the Whispering Gallery. Here you can stand on one side of the dome and whisper into the wall, and someone else around the dome can hear it. It is very neat but kind of spooky too. We then continued our way up the winding steps to the second gallery that takes you outside where you can see spectacular views of London. We then walked back down the steps to look around the crypt that even houses the tomb of Horatio Nelson, before grabbing sandwiches at the cathedral gallery.

Me and Greg on the second gallery of St. Pauls:


The front of St. Pauls Cathedral:


Queen Victoria statue in front of St. Pauls:


View of St. Pauls Gardens, Cathedral, and dome:



The following Friday, January 30, 2009, Greg and I had a date day. He took a half day at work and we headed out towards Covent Garden. We ate lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant, Mela, and then decided to go to a couple of places on our "things to do" list. We went to the London Bead Shop and I bought pink, yellow, and white beads to make a bracelet. We went to Monmouth Coffee so Greg could get his favorite coffee and then stopped into Candy Cakes to pick up some cupcakes for later. Our next stop was a place called The Dress Circle, this is a shop where they sell nothing but cd's, programs, and other memorabilia from London and Broadway shows. I purchased an Equus poster from here. They even had a Gypsy Broadway program starring Patty Lupone.

Now it was off to our main event, Dirty Dancing, on stage. It was a great show. Followed the movie pretty much to a T, but very nice to see it done on stage. I thoroughly enjoyed it. After the play we went to a Belgium pub called Lowlander for a couple beer samplers. We then took a bus to meet up with some friends for dinner at an Austrian restaurant, called Imbiss. We hung out with Diana, George, and their two friends for some food and a board game.

Dirty Dancing Stage:


Lowlander Beer samplers:


Saturday we moved our motorcycles to our new garage, nothing too exciting. However, on Sunday, February 1, 2009, we spent all day in the Trafalgar Square/Leicester Square/Chinatown area to celebrate Chinese New Year. We were there practically all day and had a wonderful time. We watched the tiger dances, the people in the tiger and dragon costumes, the shows put on by local chinese groups, enjoyed the food, and the decorations. We did duck into De Hems, a Dutch pub, to get a drink and a rest from the cold. It snowed of and on all day, but it was also windy so it was very chilly. The day ended with a Chinese fireworks show in Leicester Square. All in all we had a blast.

Greg and me in Chinatown:


One of the tigers doing the Tiger Dance:


Chinatown decorated for chinese New Year:


Fireworks at Chinese New Year Celebration:


And as you probably know, Monday, February 2, 2009 was a great start to the week, with the snow all around.

What a way to wake up......several inches of snow!!!!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Happy Groundhog Day, but better yet...tons of snow.

We have never lived in a place with so much snow, only seen this much in Switzerland. Daisy Adair loves it too. While living in London it has snowed here but never this much. Overnight we got at least 3 inches, if not more, and that is on the road. It is such a lovely site.

Here are a few pics that I could get with the girls outside. And the best part is it is supposed to continue and not get much above freezing so may be here all day. Hooray!!!

A very dark pic of Daisy Adair running around:


Our front garden:


Around the backyard:






Our snowman...ready for some football:


We walked to the grocery store this morning and this was just the snow around our area of town, we went by the cemetary and the canal and the scenes were very picturesque:



















The girls in the snow:

Girlie time around London

Once we got back from Rome we spent the next couple of weekends just hanging out around London. We will be spending the next few here as well. But, we did some pretty neat things and I wanted to put up a short post about it and some pictures.

On Friday, January 9, 2009, Greg and I did our traditional annual event of going to see the Nutcracker. This year we saw the Royal Ballet's production. It was magnificent. The costumes, the theatre, the dancing, and the story. This is about the 15th time we have seen it together but it is always good to see different versions of it. The Royal Ballet's version was much more classical ballet and the costumes were very English, as opposed to the Russian versions that we are used to seeing. It was brilliant.

On Saturday, January 10, 2009, we went ice skating at Tower of London. Last winter we skated at the Somerset House so this year we wanted to go somewhere different. It was very nice being right next to the Tower and the River but the ambience at Somerset House last year was much more romantic. The other thing was they weren't even playing music outside, which made no sense at all. However, it was a great day because we did have snow flurries on and off, so it made the mood for ice skating much more appropriate.

Each of us on the skating rink:

After skating we went by the National History Museum (which also had ice skating and seemed nicer than Tower of London) to watch the 1st Annual Ice Carving Competition. There were 6-8 teams carving large block of ice into various statues. The penguins were definitely our favorite. Greg then took me to see Bride Wars. All in all, a very girlie weekend.

The Penguins Ice Sculpture:

Thank you Greg!

Rome around the World

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Our third and final day in Rome was fantastic, and a little more laid back than the other two, although not by much. We woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel before our bus picked us up at 8:00 am to start our day. The bus took us to Castel St. Angelo where we toured the inside of the Castle for over 2 1/2 hours. We also learned from our tour guide Vincento about the significance of Ponte St. Angelo, which used to be known as Elios' Bridge. The inside of Castel St. Angelo was very interesting, you could still see parts of the very impressive floors, ceilings, and walls, but most of it has since been taken away. On the top there is a massive statue of Michel the Archangel. The Bridge itself was lined on both sides with statues of Angels created by Bernini.

Castel St. Angelo:


The Archangel Michel on top of the Castel St. Angelo:

Bernini's Angels on the Ponte St. Angelo:

From Castel St. Angelo you have the most amazing views of the River and of the Vatican. This is where we were able to catch the best pictures of the dome. Running from the Vatican (the Pope's room to be exact) all the way to Castel St. Angelo is a secret passage inside of a fortress wall. This is how the Pope could run to safety when the Vatican was under attack.

St. Peter's Basilica Dome inside the Vatican City from Castel St. Angelo:


Me & Greg at Castel St. Angelo with St. Peter's Basilica in the background:

Once we were done inside the castle it was time to head back to the Vatican City. Since today is Sunday, the Pope comes out and does his blessing. Greg and I decided that it would be a great thing to experience. We had a few minutes to kill before the actual Blessing began so we all ducked into a shop to look around. When the Papal Blessing began we all went outside to enjoy it, there were thousands of people standing around. A lot of people were waving flags and banners, but most of us just stood around, watching and listening to the Pope. We could make out a few things that he said (Italian and Spanish have a lot in common) and when the official sermon and Italian blessing were done he then did it in several other languages. We still could not quite understand what he said when he did the English version but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

The Pope in his window giving the Sunday morning Blessing:


Me & Greg at the Sunday Morning Papal Blessing:

Just some of the masses of people at the Papal Blessing:

When the blessing was done we took our leave and began walking. We were headed to Trastevere and had lunch at Margherita Osteria Pizzeria (the original place we wanted to go was of course closed), but we thoroughly enjoyed our margherita pizza, caprese, bruschetta, wine and beer. We then headed up to Giancolo, where you are supposed to get amazing views. We walked up to the top and saw the Spanish Embassy, Mausoleum, a huge fountain, and spectacular views, but could never find the puppet theatre that we were looking for. We decided rather than continue to wander around this park aimlessly we would just head back down and visit some other areas of town. When we got back down toward Trastevere we went to a cafe where Greg could enjoy an espresso. SHOCKER!.

Greg with an espresso:

We then continued our walk around Rome, we walked over the concrete island (Isola Tiberina), saw the Templi del Foro Boario, Santa Maria en Cosmedian, Archway to the Forums, Santa Sabina, and many other remains and ruins before making it to our actual destination, Pyramid of Caius Cestius. This pyramid has been around since 12 BC (can you even imagine anything being that old in the States). It was quite large but apparently was made of brick and then covered with marble instead of the traditional way of being made by Egyptians. Along side the Pyramid was a small castle and then parts of the Aurelian Wall.

Templi del Foro Boario:


Pyramid of Caius Cestius:


Remains of the Aurelian Wall:

Once done we hopped on the Metro to get back into town. We went to the Piazza del Popolo where the oldest obelisk is erected. Surrounding the obelisk are four lion fountains,on which I climbed. The whole piazza is surround by a bunch of small sphinx statues, more fountains, and then steps up to a park. We ducked into Cafe Canova for some delicious gelato, and of course Greg had a cappuccino. We then jumped back on the metro to head to the hotel. We went into a few shops for some local souvenirs before heading to the hotel to pack before dinner.

Me on the lion fountain in Piazza del Popolo:

We ate dinner at Ristorante Terme di Diocleziano in which we ate beef cannoli, spaghetti alla carbonara, consomme, prosciutto with buffalo mozzarella, and wine of course. We then headed back to the hotel for a couple hours of sleep. We were up at 3 for the taxi to take us to the airport so we could head back to London. Note: Nothing in the Rome airport opens before 7 or 8 am.

Rome with a view

Day 2 in Rome: Saturday, January 3, 2009

Today was going to be an amazing day, we were going to the Vatican. We woke up early and had breakfast at our hotel before jumping onto the metro to get to Vatican City. We met up with our group before battling the mobs of people trying to get into the Vatican. We had gotten very lucky. We originally tried to book one of the "intimate" tours but they were completely booked. These tours only take up to 8 people instead of the standard 20 or more, but at least we could book at all, so we took what we could get. But, let me tell you, only half of our group actually showed up, 9 did not, so we got our 8 person group anyways. Yay! This is definitely the way to go. We saw groups of nearly 100 people and their tour seemed so chaotic so we were happy to only have 8. Our guide Michelle was amazing as well. She was very knowledgeable and seemed to really enjoy what she did. It was raining when we tried to enter so we had to fight our way in through all of the umbrellas but we finally made it.

A Statue from around 2 A.D.:


This statue supposedly inspired Michelangelo to make his men very muscular, it also inspired Rodin's The Thinker:

We spent almost 4 hours walking through all of the thousands of statues, museums, Raphael rooms, Sistine Chapel, and so much more. They say if you spend 60 seconds looking at every piece of art in the Vatican then you could spend 12 years inside. It was all so surreal and amazing. The age of the art is also amazing, seeing statues that dated back to 2 A.D. It was very hard to fathom it all. We learned so much about Raphael and Michelangelo's personal history, about each of them painting their rooms, where they received inspiration from other statues inside, and so much more. The Raphael rooms were a great treat but of course the main attraction was the Sistine Chapel. I couldn't believe how high the ceiling was, it was intriguing to think how Michelangelo stood up for years on end painting the ceiling, usually without any breaks for weeks or months at a time. Nobody in this day and age would have that kind of patience to do a masterpiece like that. We stood in the Chapel looking up at the ceiling for quite some time before heading out.

The Teacher painting by Raphael:


Sistine Chapel ceiling:

One panel from the Sistine Chapel ceiling:

Our next stop was inside St. Peter's Basilica. One of the highlights inside is Michelangelo's Pieta, which shows the Virgin Mary holding Jesus' body. The rest of St. Peter's Basilica was just as impressive. All of the enormous statues, high ceilings, and the main attraction of the copper altar piece done by Bernini, known as the Baldacchino. The church supposedly is built on top of where St. Peter is buried. Outside the Basilica is Piazza St. Pietro. There of course was another huge obelisk, which was put in front of a Christmas Tree and very large Nativity scene. I will say we probably saw 30 or more nativities while in Rome. After taking tons of pictures of St. Peters Square and the columns we headed into the Post Office to pick up some souvenirs before heading to find something to eat.

Front of St. Peter's Basilica:

Michelangelo's Pieta inside St. Peter's Basilica:


The copper altar by Bernini, known as the Baldacchino, where St. Peter's body supposedly lies below:


The St. Peters Statue where everyone rubs or kisses his foot for luck:


Me inside St. Peters, with the pews and altar behind me:


Greg inside St. Peters with one of many statues behind him:


A couple Swiss guards outside St. Peters:

We ended up stopping in at L' Insalata Ricca for some pizza, bruschetta, wine and a Peroni. Next we walked to Museo della Anime del Purgatorra (Church of Purgatory) but unfortunately it was closed so we walked to Piazza Navona where we walked around a Christmas market that was still going on. In Rome they celebrate until after January 7th. On the 7th the Christmas Witch brings presents to the kids, there is a parade and party on that day as well. All of the stalls had witches on brooms and we didn't understand until we learned about the Christmas Witch on Sunday. We did find a very nice, hand-painted glass ornament of Rome for us to take back. We then stopped in at a local gelateria for some gelato. Greg had a biscotti flavored and I had a cherry and cream flavored one, yummy.

Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona:


Our gelato:

We then went to Cafe Sant Eustachio near the Pantheon so Greg could get a cappuccino. After a short walk we ended up in Campo di Fiori. We bought some wine and an Italian charm for me before going to the Imperial Fora to have a look around. Here is where we saw one of the Romulus & Remus statues that are very popular in Rome. We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We went to a place that was close by, it was so cold that we didn't want to head too far, called Gran Caffe del Passeggero where we indulged in bruschetta, gnocchi, spagetti alla carbonara, frascati wine, tiramisu and cannelloni. After that it was back to the hotel for some shut eye, we had another early day tomorrow.

Romulus & Remus statue:


As well as the regular buses, Rome has several of these cute, short buses that run around the smaller streets: