The French Rivera - Nice and Monaco

We left Paris on Tuesday to head to the South of France. This made us homesick as this was a nice taste of the beach. The thing we noticed on this part of the adventure was that many of the people we encountered spoke no English (Marshall is now thankful for Madame Pecoy and all the extra practice she afforded him). The taxi driver, the folks at the restaurants, and many people in stores spoke only French. This only adds to the adventure.

I will say that our digs were quite spectacular. The views are what you would expect on a post card. The kids wanted to mess around the hotel room and on the beach and of course, we tortured them with walking and looking at stuff. MJ gets the find of the day. He took us to a place known as Le Chateau. It was basically a site that dates back to early roman days. The last major structure there was a castle that was destroyed in 1706. There is an amazing waterfall seen at the right and the views from up here are quite spectacular.

We did fit in a nice Marc Chagall museum one afternoon. As he has a strong biblical theme to his work, the kids actually studied a number of the paintings. OK; they looked at half a dozen and then sat on the benches while mom and dad walked along the walls. Luckily, many museums are free for kids so technically, all this cost the kids was a little part of their life that they will never regain.

The Cimiez sits atop a hill about a half mile walk from the Chagall exhibit. This is a site that dates back to the 4th century BC. There is one account that dates inhabitation of Nice back 400,000 years. The structure in the picture to the left was an amphitheater that dates to 193 AD. As we tend to gravitate to ruins, this was a nice score for the tribe. We really had a good visit just walking the streets in Nice. There is an interesting mix of people and some of the churches are spectacular.

We slipped over to Monaco one day. MJ did a report on Monaco when he was at Myrtle Grove Middle School and he really wanted to go. It is only about 10 miles from Nice so we had to hop over. I looked for Christmas presents for myself. It is down to a yacht, a Lamborghini, a Maserati, a Ferrari, or a Bentley. I could get any of the above within one block. The picture to the left was our favorite part of the trip. This is from the palace at Monaco. When the prince and his family are gone, you can tour the palace. The kids actually enjoyed this one and there as a separate display of Napoleonic artifacts that was exceptional. While the family picture is from one side of the palace grounds, the picture on the right is of the other side. Quite spectacular.....

AND there happened to be a carnival/fair in Monaco the day we visited. The kids insisted that we go there so they had cotton candy and a trip through the fun house in Monaco too.

Paris

With the kids off school for interim, the Skeltons loaded up the truck and headed to... No, not Beverly Hills. We were off to Paris and then south to the French Rivera. I won't bore you with a complete play by play at this time. I am lucky enough to have one night home then I catch a plane to Hong Kong and Singapore. I need one of those vacations where we dive in the morning then lay on the beach the rest of the day. Maybe in a couple of years.

We were very fortunate to spend 4 days in Paris and 3 days in Nice and then back to Paris for Halloween night. Fortunately, trick or treating has not caught on but there were some interesting costumes out that night. Paris was excellent. While I could dive into details about the magnificent art and sculptures we saw, the wonderful strolls we had in the Latin Quarter, the climb up Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur and climbing Eiffel Tower. The kids actually almost enjoyed the Salvidor Dali museum. But the true tale was the final night as we were able to get the kids into the Louvre for free. As we were just getting back from Nice, we dropped our bags, swung into McDonalds to get burgers, and then sat in the subway eating our dinner. I have not felt more American than I did at that moment. Over a long dinner some night, I'll share with you the commentary from John John as we walked through the Louvre. The blog is just not the place for that story. It is much too colorful and would take a whole day to write.

The Arc de Triumph was a winner. The tour there and the view was tops. At Notre Dame, we looked all over for the hunch back. No luck but we happened to show up during the Sunday evening service and I have to say, the sounds and the acoustics from the organ and the choir were utterly amazing. It was one of those moments of a lifetime. The shot of the tower on the right is from the kids bed in our hotel. It was a great view. I have to tell you that the kids were dead set on climbing the thing. We actually did climb to the second level (698 steps and John counted every one!). Thankfully for mom and dad, you have to take the lift to the top. It is amazing what the wind is like at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Here is a little taste.

One last thought. We have decided that the first person that comes to visit gets to keep the kids while mom and dad sneak off to the city of love for a real adventure. We already have this planned, we just need a visitor.

Rugby

One of our more interesting experiences is the transition into new extracurricular activities. John played football (soccer) at the primary school and they play on the blacktop playground. Maggie is involved in drama and in dance. Marshall decided that Rugby was it.

He played on the year 9 team at Bottisham. When he showed up for the first time, the coach asked him what positioned he played. Being that we knew nothing about Rugby, he couldn't answer the question. Guess where the kids that can't answer that question end up. You guessed it, the sideline. He did get in the match late in the game. The next match, Marshall started to see some playing time. By the third match, he was in for basically the whole game. He even did one of those American style football tackles that the coach deemed the hit of the match. The coach talked about it afterwards in the huddle and commented on how well Marshall was doing when he had never played rugby before.

Marshall is the one in the middle of the picture on the right, catching the pitch from the kid that is now on the ground. In the picture on the left, he just pitched the ball out. Overall, it was a great season. They were undefeated for the regular season and came in third place in what was basically like a regional tournament. We can now hang up the rugby boots and we head into basketball. It will be interesting to see what happens next....

The last picture shows how much we need our 70-300 mm lens that is probably in storage somewhere. If your eyes are not too tired, you can see Marshall on a breakaway in the middle of the screen.

Wimpole Hall

This Sunday, we decided that we would torture the kids with another one of those excursions to the house of some old dead person with lots of big pictures that no one really cares about. The kids were definitely wrong about this one. While the house fit the kids description as a site that only the grown-ups appreciate, the 2500 acre estate actually has a working farm that turned out to be the treat of the week. The house was built in the mid 1600s but the interesting fact is that the last owner was the daughter of Ruyard Kipling and when she died in 1976, she left it to the National Trust. The grounds were awesome and quite well kept. The estate even comes with its own set of ruins that you can see on the hill between the trees between MJ and John.

Rather then ramble on about all the details that made the kids melt, let's jump to the farm. About a half mile walk from the main house, past a field full of sheep and past a walled garden, is the farm part of the estate. It is a fully functional farm with pigs, cows, horses, goats, sheep, chickens, etc. We got to feed the goats and pet most anything that moved. In case you are wondering, Maggie wanted to take everything home with us. John got to drive the tractor and there was even an adventure park with all kinds of things to swing on. There was even a hay bale maze that was reminiscent of our days back in Indianapolis when we would take the kids to Waterman's Farm to pick pumpkins. Of course, all it takes is a stack of hay bales to entice MJ to climb and jump. We're now glad to be back home where it is warm and cozy. Three of the neighbor kids are over and we're going to laze away the rest of Sunday.

Cambridge

Today was a lazy morning in the UK. It was a hard week with Marshall out of the country and the kids running around. We were lazy this morning and decided to stick close to home. The weather was nice so we decided to kick around Cambridge. We caught the double decker bus at the park and ride and made our way into Cambridge city centre. We caught a quick lunch at Tattie's. We all had some sort of jacket potato which translates into baked potato. Nice carb load for an afternoon of walking. We then took off to explore more of the city centre and also to explore the various campuses that make up the Cambridge system. The picture with the trees is the back entrance into Clare College. It is the second oldest of the 31 colleges in the Cambridge network and was founded in 1326.

As the day was beautiful, the River Cam was full of punters (boaters). We spend the day crossing back and forth over the various bridges over the river. In case you want to play the word game, Cambridge is names for the bridges over the River Cam. The students have all returned for the fall term so there were people everywhere. The building that is behind Vivian was full of students sitting in the windows with their heads stuck in books. Shameful way to waste a sunny afternoon. Actually, Vivian could relate to them. Of course, Trinity College us right in the middle of all this. Just think, this is where Isaac Newton studied and then worked. Byron and Tennyson were both graduates. The list goes on and when you think of the history attached to this school, it is amazing.


We made our way through a couple of different markets. The one in the picture is next to a church.


While all this history is interesting and some might think the sites are beautiful, the highlight of the day was the journey down one street. We heard a street performer and couldn't find him. John finally discovered the secret to this mystery. This is what crowned the afternoon. Nothing like earning your living playing guitar in a rubbish bin.

The Red Lion Pub

Pubs in the UK have quite a range. They can be the nicest, fanciest place to eat. They can also be right up there close to a total beer hall. The Red Lion is our local pub and is is supposedly more of the kind of place where Marshall Sr's book club would meet (if you get my drift). Needless to say, we decided that since it is our village pub, we needed to visit. After sandy park and the bike saga, we were pretty spent so we made reservations for 6:30 at the pub. We walked up the hill and were basically the first people on the food side. They were setting up Karaoke on the bar side. More on that later.

The people were nice and we met the people who were probably the owners. Another table even arrived while we were there. We ordered drinks from the bar when we arrived (this is the protocol) and then we looked around the room at the pictures hanging on the walls that showed times of old. In case you are wondering what Marshall Jr. is drinking, this is Apple and Blackcurrant Squash, a very popular juice drink (and it is NOT amber beer). While we are looking at old historic pictures on the wall, John decided to wander down into the bar to meet the bar patrons. Before you know it, John is singing the Karaoke style rendition of Old McDonald had a Farm (it was actually on the machine and the Karaoke guy (also names John) loaded it up and let little John go to town. The entire place went crazy.

From there, it was a nice quiet meal. Food was good and after about 2 hours, we were heading home. It is about a mile walk down High Street to get back to Broomstick Corner. It is interesting to see the village at night. It is quiet and peaceful and the moon was full which closed out Saturday with a nice stroll home.

Ickworth House and Bury St. Edmunds

Today's adventure was to Bury St. Edmonds and to the Ickworth House.

Our travels started just after church let out. Bury was our first stop. It is a beautiful town that is about 15 miles from home. St. Edmund was the last king of Anglia and when he refused to outlaw Christianity, he was martyred and his bones were buried in the monastery in this town.

Today, there is a cathedral on the site and is is excellent. The old abbey grounds are now basically a park with a playground and interesting enough, tennis courts. This is basically central park for the folks in town.

Next on the agenda was Ickworth House. It was built in 1795 and is noted for it's rotunda. The house and grounds are spectacular. The art collection was incredible and it is also noted that much of the original artwork owned by the builder was taken by Napoleon in 1798. We toured the house and there were magnificent antiquities. Part of the house is now a hotel and I will say, that we won't be staying there anytime soon. It cost a pound or two above our budget. It was nice though. The grounds are well over 1000 acres. There is a pond, a canal, a summer house, a vineyard and a private chapel. While we were walking to the chapel, we stumbled upon a helicopter that started right up and took off. Quite a way to travel.

Just to rewind back to Bury.

We must close with Marshall Jr's latest version on medieval urban gymnastics. Any ruin we visit becomes a launching ground for high flying antics. This is the gene of Uncle Lawton that has been somehow passed to MJ. There is no other explanation.

The Bike Saga

When we moved here, Marshall Jr. had outgrown his bike. He looked like a Shriner driving the little cars when he was on it. We shipped all the bikes and decided to buy one for him when we arrived. We purchased it from the store on Thursday night but because the Sequoia is in the States, we have no way to get it home. Since the store is only 6 miles from Cheveley, we decided that I would ride my bike to the store and then Vivian and MJ would drive to the store then both boys would ride home. Excellent idea in theory. We pick up the bike and decide to ride into Newmarket because it is market day. (I'll add that Alison next door took Maggie and John to the sandy playground; their equivalent of a beach).

We go to Newmarket, decide to grab a snack at the bakery and then we proceed to watch life on a Saturday evolve before our eyes. It is now time to go home. This is the valuable lesson part of this fable. Don't bike on hedge trimming day.

MJ and I started out of Newmarket for the last 3.5 miles. We are not 200 yards down the road and Marshall says he has picked up a thorn in his tire. Note, when you see the post cards of the UK with the fields that have hedges around them, while it looks picturesque, it is death to a bike tire when the thorns from the hedges are set free on hedge trimming day.

To continue, I tell MJ to bike towards home as fast as he can (nothing like a little testosterone to solve the problem, I would have used duct tape if I had that). We make it less than half a mile and we are totally flat. We call Vivian to the rescue to bring the pump from home; figuring we can pump it up, ride quickly home. Problem solved. This solution lasts about 500 yards. Then the next one lasts about 100 yards. Game over. We had some good quality time from that point forward, just walking, and talking and enjoying the sun and seeing the horses in the fields. That lasted about 1000 yards and MJ was brilliant enough to deduce that he could take my bike and could hurry home. This is one of those moments of fatherhood where you try to find a valuable lesson about responsibility or manhood or something like that. Being old and tired, I decided to let him take off. I was able to do the last mile, wrapped up in my own thoughts (not a nice place to be). Lucky for me, Vivian came out to help me across the finish line.

Quiz Night at Cheveley

Friday night proved to be another interesting chapter. We participated in our first quiz night. This is evidently a common event. In this case, it was to raise money for the community room in the village. This is basically a room in the primary school in the village that is used by groups at a greatly reduced rate. The Brownies for instance take advantage of this.

Our neighbor Alison (in green) put together our team. You are supposed to bring your own drinks. Being from the beach, we throw our water bottles, etc. into the cooler and head up the hill to walk to the school. People from all over the village are filing in. All have plastic grocery store bags with their drinks. Bottles of wine, and cans of beer all come out of the plastic bags. Our friends looked us as we arrived and asked why we brought a suit case (we still have a lot to learn).


There were over 100 people participating. There were 10 categories of questions. The host would call out a question, we would discuss it at the table and would write the answer. Anytime it was a United States question, we were supposed to know. Quite fun and funny. At the intermission, there is a dinner of, you guessed it, FishN'Chips .

The meal was late so to pass the time, there was a special game. They passed out a sheet that had all the colors of a Monopoly board. We had to write all the names beside the colors, name the railroads and the utilities and then list all the pieces that were part of the modern Monopoly. Let's start noting that in the UK, they don't quite have Boardwalk and Park Place. Their streets and locations are all specific to here. For instance, Kings Cross is the railroad station that I went to in London when I went to Paris. This was a space. Liverpool Street is the station we use when the family goes to London. Basically, we were deadwood during this part. Also, unknown to us, they changed the pieces of the game a few years ago. The top hat, the Scottie, and the horse; all gone. We now have the cell phone, the skateboard, and roller blades. Wonder how many of you knew that???

In the end, we had a great time (you know how Vivian loves games) and our team came in fourth. Bragging rights is all you get. We had a nice chilly walk back down High Street and were in bed by half eleven.

Lavenham and our first party

Saturday turned out to be quite the blustery day. We decided to head towards some closer villages as we had to get back for our first party in the village. More on that later. The first stop was to be Lavenham. The guidebooks list this as one of England's most perfect small towns. It is a picturesque timber framed village that dates to the 14th century. We dropped into a little tea room that was part of a B&B. The chap who ran it was retired from London and he and his wife came to run the tea room. They decided that they had so much room in the house, they they would convert some of the rooms into a B&B. Between the 5 of us, his dog and cat, we almost filled the place. Nice lunch time. The house on the right is the crooked house. It is basically famous for being crooked. Our next stop was the Guildhall of Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi means the blood of Christ). This contained a great museum and the man in the front hall took a shine to the kids. He gave us quite the explanation of the house and sent us into the cellar in search of bricks. Come to find out, the foundation of the White House is made from white bricks that were made in this region. They were used as ballasts on ships and were piled up in America. When Cornwallis burned the Whitehouse, they noticed that the foundation bricks were different and they traced them back to Lavenham (this is another detail that I have not been able to authenticate but it makes for a nice story).


From there, we headed off to Colchester. This is the oldest recorded town in Britain. It dates back to 43 AD when the first permanent Roman colony was established. I would love to launch into a grand and descriptive story of this adventure but the complications of modern life decided we would have a different adventure. It just so happens that the Roman wall and the Norman keep are also in the commercial center of this quite large and developed town. So picture the 5 of us in the Merc driving 50 miles an hour into the center of this town where there is not a single parking spot for miles. Vivian has her head buried in the map and I am driving like a bat out of %$&* (sorry, I needed to use the language here because it fit the moment). We basically made it all the way through town with barely seeing a wall. From there, we voted and decided to head for home rather than make an attempt at seeing this. We would regroup and would tackle Colchester another day. Well, the stars did not agree and despite our best efforts, we were caught by the pull of the black hole that is known as the center of Colchester and we made one more run through hades before being spit out on the other end of town.


I would love to say that our tale for the day ended there but this cartoon we call life had one more chapter for the day. We then came home to attend our first soiree in the area. A friend of Vivian's from the primary school(Jayne and Alex Gingell) invited us to what turned out to be a wedding party. It was a very nice couple and there were more kids than adults at the shindig. The kids mostly stayed out of the way and the parents enjoyed prawns (shrimp to those from the Carolina's) and champagne and many other delightful treats. There was even chocolate fondue. We realized that John has adjusted to life well and was comfortable in this new setting when he showed up in the center of the party dressed in jockey goggles and a skirt. Rather than type on, I'll just stop as an explanation would come up short......

Marshall's Bookclub Edition

I must honestly say that we have truly had a smashing transition into our new life and our new lifestyle. I must also confess that there is one true hole in life and I have found nothing that is able to fill it. American football is basically absent from my life and the withdrawal shakes are almost uncontrollable. I went as far as telling my boss that if it does not get better, I have to come home. He has offered to buy a second TiVO at his house and he will record games one Sunday and will ship the box to me. I can then watch them and can return the box while he mails the next set of games. With that said, I thought I would share a peak into my life.

My drive tends to start at a little before 7:00 AM. While the office does not typically spring to life until half eight or nine, I hold on to the early morning hours as that seems to be the only chance I get to address my to do list. The drive in takes me past the Heath every day. I love to watch them exercise the horses every morning. They'll stop traffic as they come from the studs (stables) in the middle of Newmarket. Usually at this time, the delivery trucks are in full swing as they stock the stores. The milkman is typically on the move as well. Our neighbors have the milkman deliver every single day. That is quite a look back in time for folks. We have yet to do this because we still consume on a Skelton pace which would make this quite expensive.

My dream in life would be to have an office that looks over the Georgia Football Stadium (Between the Hedges). Instead, I have an office that looks over a Cricket pitch. I have yet to see a match but there has been a couple of chaps practicing bowling (this is pitching in cricket speak). The building to the left is Mary's place. This is where you can go get a bite to eat. Just off the right if the screen is the gym for the site. Granta Park is basically a mini Research Triangle Park. There are several pharma companies that share the campus with us.

Last week was a particularly eventful week. It started with a trip to Paris. There was a Works Council meeting. This is somewhat similar to a labor union in the US. I was able to meet with the representatives. It was quite the experience. We would conduct the meeting in English but when the the group decided that they needed to dig into a serious discussion, they would launch into the French and I would just hang on for the ride. Luckily, the person that sat next to me had lived in Texas and California and she graciously looked out for me. They were a nice group to work with. The ride back through the Chunnel Tuesday night was great. You blow past the cars on the motorway and you realize they are going 80 miles an hour and you are going 40 miles faster than that. Wednesday, I headed down to Winchester, which is on the other side of London past Windsor Castle. I went to meet with all the country managers for EMEA. The new folks from Russia were there. I was able to spend time with managers from Poland, South Africa, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Germany, and many more places.

Saturday saw my first hair cut. Chris the barber is the place to go. Vivian had to make an appointment for me. I arrived early but Chris was running a bit behind and he suggested that I go to the market. It is quite the day. The town was packed as everyone was taking advantage of all the goods in the market. Market days are only Tuesday's and Saturday's with Saturday being the biggest. I grabbed a sausage roll from the bakery and strolled through the market then it was back to Chris's.