Summer Ends

More on Weber summer adventures

As we wrapped up August back in London, we managed to keep ourselves entertained...one memorable outing: the production “Railway Children.”

With three other families, we first lunched at Giraffe (family restaurant that is well liked by Claire and Ava, particularly for their free plastic giraffes and balloons).

The play was set at Waterloo Station on the former Eurostar platform.
Having read the book earlier in summer, we were ready! The staging was obviously unique, with flat cars moving back and forth as backdrop for various scenes. We audience members perched on folding chairs along the track.

The actors moved themselves around the platform as the stage moved, and the train rolled in dramatically a few times – majestic, loud, shiny and billowing steam.
The cast members were adults who began by remembering being The Railway Children, then slipping into their roles as kids. Very well done, poignant ending.

Since there was a “kids go free to theatre” week in August, we hit two other productions before school started. One was “Burn the Floor,” a West End dance production featuring dancers from around the world. We had superb seats to take in fabulous moves, costume and synergy. The lead-in was lovely: a talented dancer who played the crowd selected a couple different men from the audience for a comedic start.

Throughout the show various dance styles were represented: flapper, 50’s, flamenco, sad songs, love songs, patriotic songs, etc. The program flew by, with Gabbi, kids and I mesmerized by all the talent we saw.

Later that week Joe and I ate at Yauatcha, a wonderful Chinese restaurant in Soho. Martin spent 20 minutes reading the wine mineu start to finish. He just handed his menu over to us as apparently he couldn’t be bothered with the food. Eventually he set his turquoise cheaters aside and ordered sherries for the table to start. Naturally we got two different types of sherries so we could pass glasses around.
Then he moved onto wine; we had an English vintage, which was quite good, and a bottle of red from France.

The food was fabulous…we sampled a little of so many flavors and differently done shrimp, pork, chicken, beef. The duck was amazing. Martin made friends with the waiter, who brought us saki to try with our food, which really does taste better with the food. I would still go with the French, the Italian, the Californian, the Chilean, the Australian, the New Zealand, the South American…wine.

And the waiter has Martin’s business card so the next time she goes to Germany she can imbide at Weingut Schweikart.

Yautcha is a bustling, cheery place that does a great business; we were, in fact, told our time was nearly up! Full of Chinese food, we made our way back to St. Johns Wood and Carluccio’s for dessert and after dinner drinks.

The next day I somehow managed to run for 1 ¾ hours…who knew.(This upcoming half-marathon does require a bit of prep.)

On the weekend the kids, Joe and I went to “Stomp,” our 2nd kids free theatre adventure. I liked my first stomp experience better, still enjoyed it but found this one really loud. May that have had anything to do with the sherry, wine, saki…
I think the kids and Joe enjoyed “Stomp” but once was enough for them.

That evening Martin and Gabbi made dinner (after also shopping for the ingredients). They (I should say Gabbi) created some wonderful crepes, which were served with a fabulous tomato/corn filling. And of course we had crepes with nutella for dessert.

On Monday the kids and I tripped out to Richmond via the tube/overground. Richmond is a lovely little town on the Thames. There the puppet barge (which I associate with its docking spot in Little Venice, a 10 minute walk away). So when I called for tickets I’m not sure why but I did ask about their location near Maida Vale when low and behold the lady told me the boat had relocated. I nearly cancelled. But she convinced me that Richmond is an easy trip so voila! We found ourselves wandering along the water, a lovely walk, on a gray, windy day to enjoy “The Hare and the Tortoise and other tales.”

Set on the barge, the theatre is small and quaint, and the stage is fabulous. Our production featured some of the most intricate marionette activity we’ve ever seen!
The kids very much enjoyed it, despite a loud, obnoxious kid in row two with some kids in row one telling her to be quiet. I’m not sure who was louder, the offender or the offended.

On our return trip we stopped at McDonald’s, much to the joy of my children. Somehow we’d missed McD’s when we were in the U.S., though I was told I promised we’d go. Clearly not my highest priority, I guess.

The next day marked the first piano lessons with Kym, who turned out to be delightful; the kids are signed up for in-home lessons! I'm not sure what I'm more excited about -- budding pianists or not having to take the kids to a piano studio in the dark, cold November and December evenings...

Wednesday we headed back to the Waterloo station area for the infamous Duck tour, which was high on Martin’s list of to-do’s. London Ducks is a squad of bright yellow, duck shaped and duck-decorated amphibious vehicles first used during WWII on the Normandy beaches.

Our duck was Mistress Quickly, who unfortunately was overloaded. Apparently there was a snafu with the number of people on the tour – one too many, even though we’d booked in. With Ava in tears and me beyond annoyed, we saw Claire, Martin and Gabbi off on their duck while we tromped off to the duck office.

I got a refund and complimentary tickets for a tour the following week, while Claire was in school and Ava still footloose and fancy-free. We assuaged our irritation with hot chocolate while we waited for our party of ducks.

From there we headed off, in the rain, to Notting Hill for pizza at a great little Italian restaurant. There we relaxed in a covered veranda and ate copious amounts of food – sardines (not the little ones in the can that Jeff Hale used to subject us to on the Reichle School bus), pizzas, pasta, bread…

We left Martin and Gabbi to look for traces of Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts while we relaxed at home.

Our last weekend of August was busy; Joe and I went to “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at the Globe Theatre on Friday night. We had a bite at the The Swan (the Globe Theatre's restaurant). The pub area has great big wooden tables that you share, and its windows overlook the Thames. A wonderful pre-Shakespeare food spot, I had a warm cheesy dish that was quite tasty.

Then we wandered over to our seats in the theatre, wood in the round as in Shakespeare’s time.

We'd opted for seats (traditionally most stood, but three hours standing, potentially in rain, didn’t appeal). Our 2nd tier seats were covered and, recommended by colleagues of Joe, who are Globe members, offered a great view. The performance was very entertaining, humorous, fun to watch. The perfect Shakespeare play for the likes of me (light!).

About “Merry Wives:”

Imagining that Mistress Ford and Mistress Page have each fallen for him, the fat knight Sir John Falstaff decides to seduce them both, as much for their husbands’ money as for their personal charms. Wise to the old rogue’s tricks, the women turn the tables on him with a series of humiliating assignations and a very damp, extremely smelly laundry basket.

On Saturday we headed to Cambridge for the weekend. There we ditched our things at the Crowne Plaza (gotta love a Crowne) and headed downtown. What a lovely little city, easily walkable. First: lunch at a little deli for good sandwiches and a local feel. Then off to King’s College Chapel, one of the most iconic buildings in the world and a splendid example of late Gothic (Perpendicular) architecture. It was started in 1446 by Henry VI (1421-71) and took over a century to build. It has the largest fan vault ceiling in the world and some of the finest medieval stained glass.

It’s spectacular. We also got to enjoy lovely views of the grounds and other parts of the King’s College campus as we made our way in and out of the Chapel.
Since the weather was sunny, we headed off to punt the river.

About punting in Cambridge:

A punt is a flat-bottomed boat which does not have a keel, and is propelled by means of a long pole. Punts were introduced as pleasure craft in Edwardian times, since then punting has become one of the most popular ways to see the famous bridges and colleges along the River Cam.

The Cam rises in Ashwell in Hertfordshire, progressing northwards to Cambridge. It then flows into the flat area of the Fens and onwards to Ely and King's Lynn. There it joins the sea at the Wash in Norfolk. Cambridge's humble beginnings relied strongly on this river connection when King's Lynn used to be one of busiest sea ports in England. Goods would travel inland to Cambridge which slowly grew as an inland port.

Some of the first colleges to be founded were built right on the banks of the river. On the riverside the colleges would benefit from this major trade route into the town of Cambridge. The result today is the "Backs", a one mile stretch of river that supports some of finest examples of architecture in England. Altogether there are 8 colleges and 9 bridges. These include Queens' College with the Mathematical Bridge, King's College with its famous chapel, and the Bridge Of Sighs at St. John's college.

Our punter was a male college student (most punters we saw were young men and women). He perched on back of the boat in bare feet, steering and pushing with a long pole. We learned some Cambridge trivia (which I’ve since forgotten) and relaxed as we watched the experience punters navigate their way through the congested waterway, with numerous less experienced boaters nearly losing their seats or hitting their heads on the bridges above.

After punting we hit the Fitzwilliam Museum and were steered toward the Egyptian exhibit. We were also provided with some activity sheets, so the kids had fun looking for various jewels, markings, etc. in the cases. Then Claire and I headed up to the art section (the place has a great collection) and Joe and Ava visited the military displays.

Afterward we window shopped a bit before heading back to the hotel to relax before dinner. En route we passed Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, which wasn’t terribly busy but smelled fabulous, and the menu looked good. We asked about reservations, were told to come early and wait. So we dissed our other res to hit Jamie’s at 6:30. But by then there was a line out the door. We were encouraged, however, when we were soon sent to the bar.

After a long wait, just as Ava was at the end of her no-food rope, they shepherded us to our table. Good food, not out of this world memorable, but very good. Great bustling ambience with a good view of the kitchen at work. I had a very tasty pasta seafood dish, the kids naturally gravitated toward pasta, and I can’t remember Joe’s meal of choice.

I recall a unique, orange-flavored tiramisu. It was tasty, though not my favorite style of tiramisu.

I’d give Jamie a B, the service was a little flat and machinated, the food good but quite doable at home.

Sunday Joe and I took turns walking to the highest spot in Cambridge (it’s a great biking city since it’s pancake flat). Castle Hill is a small, grassy hill a few minutes from downtown. Apparently in Anglo-Saxon times there was a settlement on the hill, and in 1068 the Normans built a castle on it.

After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, we enjoyed some more of the city sites, sat out the deluge of rain that hit mid-day, had some appetizers and beers before making our way to the train station and back to London. Lovely weekend out.

And then…school days!