/tacanderson

Almost 1,000 years later the Anderson children think the ruins of Battle Abbey is one of the coolest places on the planet. We spent the whole day hiking around the battle field and climbing on and walking through the ruins of the Abbey. 

If you ever get the chance to go to Battle England we highly recomend it. It makes a great day trip from London. 

The weird/cool steampunk ship thing is actually in a fountain and the oars actually row. The Adelphi theatre where Jen and I saw Sweeney Todd is actually the only theatre we've been to and was a favorite of Charles Dickens.

For any non-geeks, not familiar with British culture, Doctor Whois a huge cultural phenomenon. The shows a little cheesy and the special effects are about on par with the original Star Trek series but that's okay because IT'S AWESOME.

If you've never seen it jump on to Netflix and you can stream it, if you're an Amazon Prime member I'm pretty sure you can watch Dr Who on Amazon Instant.

Or you can do what we did and go rent the series. We rented the first two seasons as I doubt we'll get through more than that (mom and dad need their sleep).

Jen and the kids have only seen a few episodes but they're already hooked. I've seen more than they have and have even seen a fair amount of the original series but I haven't seen all of them.

I feel it's my job as Geek Dad to make sure my family is up to speed on this key piece of British culture. And like I said, it's awesome. Which should be all the reason you need. But if it's not, here's one more reason:

If you go out on New Years Eve and die, it will really ruin my 2012. So be safe, whatever you do.

Here's to a happy and safe New Years.

One of the things Jen's really been wanting to do is to take more day trips around the English countryside. We've already traveled to many countries around Europe but we've seen surprisingly little of England.

So the day after Boxing Day we went to see Stonehenge and the city of Salisbury. Stonehenge is really cool. From every angle you get a different interesting view. There's not a lot to see but it's well worth the trip and an hour spent.

Afterwards the town of Salisbury is a great place to spend an afternoon. The Salisbury cathedral, where one of the copies of the Magna Carta are kept is very cool. They have lots of art, both medieval and modern. At first I couldn't understand why a brotha had a statue on the outside of a cathedral, holding a cup of coffee none-the-less. But it's all part of an art exhibit there.

The town itself was also really nice and they have some great walks along the many rivers that run through town.

The Anderson's give this trip two enthusiastic thumbs up.

In all actuallity though this is probably due to my horible spelling as opposed to assimilation into the British culture. 

Most of these pictures are actually on our walk to the Thames. It's a perfect end of summer day for the short walk from our flat. It's not too hot, not yet cold with a nice light breeze. Now I think it's time for a nap.

1- The doors open to the inside. Yes it's a little weird at first that cars drive on the wrong side of the road but what I've found harder to get used to is that doors open to the inside. In the States most public doors open to the outside. I presume this is in case of a fire or emergency it makes it easier to exit. In the UK, and most if Europe that I've been to, the doors open to the inside. And they rarely say to push or pull you just have to guess. So I think it's the surest way to spot an American, if they push on a door trying to get out, instead of pull, it's a good bet their American. I'll probably figure it out about the time we move back.

2- If you look at the British flag, it's asymmetrical. The cross in the background (from the corners) doesn't hit the intersection of the front cross evenly. It's because of the way the red lines originate from the corners o the flag. I'm sure there's a reason, I just don't know why.

3- Football may be the main sport but people are really excited about Rugby right now. England is in the Rugby World Cup and lots of parents were out in the park with their kids teaching them to play Rugby. That's one sport that has even less acceptance than soccer in the States. But I think it's gaining in popularity. Slowly.

4- Unless you're a citizen, even if you have a visa to live hear, every time you come back into the country you have to fill out a border entry form. It's really annoying because it says basically the exact same thing that's on your passport and visa but you still have to fill it out. With as much traveling as I'm doing I think I'm just going to fill them out in bulk.

5- Every British person will rub it in Americans faces that they have so much culture and history here, which is true, but most of them never go see any of it. Most never hit the castles and at best hit a museum or two. In the two months we've lived here we've probably seen more British culture than your average Londoner.

London is an amazing city. We love it here and I highly recommend that everyone should come here and visit at least once in their lives. And if you are going to come, come in the next two years while we're still here.

Despite what everyone says the French are actually quite nice. I had no problems. The food of course is great. While I didn't understand a word anyone said it all sounded beautiful.

I did take a cab to the Eiffel Tower. It's really tall.

I took the picture of the cafe because the French might be the the culture that most likes people watching. Even in the rain people sit outside with the chairs turned to watch the streets. People after my own heart.

Lastly, our office is located in an area where a lot of agencies are located and Obiwan Marketing made my day. I may need to stop in there on my next trip just to shake their hands.

• Stayed in a hotel in Bellevue, Washington
• Drove to Boise, Id
• Stayed with my mom in Caldwell, Id for a week 
• Stayed with Jen's mom in Idaho City for a week
• Flew to Chicago then caught our connecting flight to London
• We stayed in a temporary flat for the first four weeks near Hyde Park
• Moved to Chiswick, London a few weeks ago. 
• Then we've been staying in a hotel for the last week in Munich, Germany. 

Over the course of the next six weeks, we will be traveling for about 3 of those:

• Go back to our flat in London
• Stay for about a week in Edinburgh, Scotland
• Back to London for a week or two
• Then I'll go to Paris for a week before Jen and the kids join me for another weeks visit. 

We've started joking that we're starting to feel a little more like gypsys without a home. Although getting our flat in Chiswick has helped the kids feel a sense of permanency. We at least now have a home base. Things will also slow down some once summer's over.

I've also started to notice my children adapt their vocabulary. At the end of the day of visiting museums or other historic things their parents drag them to they ask if we're going "home" not back to the hotel. This isn't something Jen and I started and even though we've corrected them a few times, to them I think home is wherever you keep your stuff; your change of clothes, your power chargers, etc. And sense everything we own fits in a few small and a few very large pieces of luggage, and we plan on keeping it that way for the next few years -

Home is where our luggage is. And of course (more importantly) wherever we are as a family.