Windy Windsor

This marks the second weekend in a row where we have cursed the inadequacy of our outerwear to contend with the damp English weather! Today we decided to "get out of town" and go to Windsor for the day. Rain early this morning gave way to a beautiful sunny day (or so we thought) which unfortunately later gave way again to more rain and cold wind. So far I am finding the weather here to be about as cold as we would get in Ottawa at this time of year - but it remains to be seen what the actual winter will be like - perhaps it will stay about this temperature all season. But so far I have not felt much like a hardy Canuck.

The trip to Windsor was very quick and convenient - about half an hour altogether including a short bus ride and two train trips of about 6 minutes apiece. (On the way back we made the mistake of taking the wrong train - it went straight downtown with no stops so we had to backtrack to make it home! But at least now we have truly experienced the national rail service). My favourite part of Windsor Castle was St. George's Chapel - a beautiful church built in the 15th century in the Gothic style (lots of flying buttresses). Many famous heads of state are buried here, including Henry VIII and Charles I, as well as the Queen Mum and George VI. The Queen herself was in residence today as well and the castle staff were in the state rooms preparing for an official visit on Tuesday so we got to see some of them drying dishes in one of the dining rooms. It was too cold to walk to Eton or to the huge park that's in the city, but we may go back again to the town as it's so close by.

First frost

Sigh. This morning I woke up to the first frost we have experienced here. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. I had always figured (as a proud and weather-beaten Canadian) that any English winter could not possibly be as harsh as one in Ottawa. But it has been pretty cold the last few days! And now the first frost is upon us. Last weekend in a moment of weakness we bought a hat and scarf. In our defense by the time we got out of the store we (and the outside world) had both warmed up considerably. And an unexpected downpour had added to the damp and cold permeating our bones. Nevertheless, it seems we will have to pick up some winter wear, and sooner rather than later. English weather 1, Clare & Keith 0.
I will do an update on that trip downtown (to the delightfully-named Spitalfields area in East London) in the next few days.

Just an addendum to this morning's note - thankfully the frost melted in the morning sun and it is quite mild today again. Weather 0, Clare & Keith 1 haha

Thanksgiving in Covent Garden

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is enjoying a delicious meal this weekend. We have had to forgo our usual turkey-stuffing-cranberry-sauce fare since Thanksgiving doesn't seem to have made it to this side of the pond (at least not in the Uxbridge area). However, last night we went out for a very tasty meal at an Indian restaurant, and although it isn't quite the same (especially as a party of 2 instead of 12 or 14) it was pretty nice. It just doesn't really feel like Thanksgiving here - I think because there were none of the usual seasonal reminders (flyers advertising inexpensive turkeys, abundant bags of cranberries festooning the grocery store, or the annual request to "bring buns" to the cottage feast). So we wish all of our families a happy Thanksgiving and say that we are with you in spirit.

Most of Saturday we spent quarantined at home because Keith unfortunately has come down with a cold. However we did manage to get out to the aforementioned Indian restaurant and had a nice jaunt along one of the canals in the area - a narrow waterway with about two dozen small barges (like little floating caravans) along the path. We will have to take some pictures of the canals here to share at some point.

Today with Keith feeling better and me going stir crazy we ventured downtown. True to English form, the weather started out cool and gloomy in the morning but became sunny and warm by the time we re-emerged from the tube system. We made our way through the crowds to Covent Garden. It was bustling this afternoon with lots of people enjoying the beautiful weather and a bit of shopping. We enjoyed the handicrafts, both beautiful (framed prints, wood sculpture, handmade jewellry) and... less beautiful (beer bottles repurposed into wine glasses).

The London Transport Museum is also beside the market, which was one of the museums on Keith's to-do list. Although the musem was a bit more geared toward kids than adults, the exhibits on the evolution of the London underground and what was in place before the tube were very interesting, especially since we have been using the system so much in the last few weeks. Many of the stations have remained the same for 100 years and it was interesting to learn that suburbanite commuting has been a fixture of London reality for just as long!

And Keith liked playing with the choo-choos.

Where the banshees live and they do live well

For those of you who are fans of the movie Spinal Tap, and have memorized the songs and dialogue (come on, I'm sure this applies to many people), you will immediately know what the title of this blog entry means ... We went to Stonehenge on Saturday! Keith and I got ready for our trek as any good students of history would, by watching Youtube videos of the Stonehenge scene in Spinal Tap and giggling. Keith protests that he has also read a Bernard Cornwell novel called Stonehenge - so I guess you could say we were well-prepared, at least artistically speaking, for the trip.

We took the tube downtown to Trafalgar Square and managed to book tickets on the "Stonehenge express" tour bus about 45 minutes before it left. The ride itself was quite exciting, since the bus seemed like it was about a foot wider than the lane we were driving in (particularly as we veered around downtown picking up other passengers from their hotels). The driver's skill in estimating how close he was to clocking pedestrians in the head with his rearview mirrors was exceptional. We sat in the very front seat so we had a good view of the potential carnage. They could probably make a good video game out of the experience - London Bus Driver: Brace for Impact.

The ride to Stonehenge was about 1.5 hours. It was nice to get out of the city and see some countryside. I am continually amazed by how much sheep-filled terrain there actually is in England, considering how small it is and how many people live there. There were some particularly dedicated sheep grazing beside the highway, so I guess they do have to pack them in where they can.

As we rounded a bend in the road and came up a hill, we came upon Stonehenge. It seems to be in the middle of - well, not exactly nowhere, but between two highways, surrounded by (again) grazing sheep. Like many of the famous things we have seen this year, Stonehenge wasn't quite as we expected - it was a little smaller, a little less imposing (though obviously not as un-imposing as the 18" Stonehenge in Spinal Tap...) Still, there is something very compelling about the stones - the fact that people were so driven to create this structure. For me, what was perhaps more compelling than the stones themselves were the ancient burial mounds - small hills (barrows) of earth that dot Salisbury Plain and make the area around Stonehenge look bit like a gigantic golf course. But once you notice these barrows you realize that you are standing in an area that is basically an ancient graveyard – a place that was considered sacred by people very long ago, their motives and beliefs already well forgotten by the Middle Ages – people who could not have imagined the impossibility of people from all over the world standing in that spot, dressed in jeans and taking digital pictures with their cell phones. And there is something very captivating about that.

We would like to go back to Stonehenge, maybe in the spring to see it in a different light and to walk to some of the barrows and other ancient monuments in the area. Perhaps by the spring we will be brave (and coordinated) enough to drive there ourselves.