South Italy

Sorrento at night

As you may have realised blogging and a baby don't really mix. =) So here's my attempt at catch up. In September (2 months ago) we went to South Italy. Mainly Naples, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast.  In our guide book it said..."if you don't like Northern Italy then don't travel further south." Oops... we have never been to Northern Italy so we figured we would wing it and do the south first and see how it goes. 

We stayed in Sorrento, which was amazing. The hostel we stayed in looked like an expensive hotel and the the location was central to everything we wanted to see and do. Sorrento the town was great. No pushy sales people, very nice and patient people. I really liked Sorrento and they loved loved loved Sophie! Baby's are really welcomed in Italy. 

Sorrento daytime

Any way, Sorrento was amazing but Naples was super scary.  We should have known what we got into by the bus ride from Naples Airport to Sorrento.  Trash everywhere, it really looked like Mexico. And then I read that Naples is the home of organised crime.  And one of their main businesses is trash collection. Le sigh.... In Naples the city (which we visited only for the main archaeological museum) I felt very unsafe. We walked through town being harassed all the way. By the time we made it to the first pizza place I'd had enough so we got back on the train and hot tailed it out of there. 

Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius

The best part of our trip was visiting Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. (I've dreamed of visiting these places) Both are half way between Sorrento and Naples. And both are totally worth a visit!  This is the place were you can see the effects of a natural disaster. Pompeii is huge!!! And the best example in my opinion of Roman life. Pompeii was a town of rich and poor living together. You can walk through buildings, on side walks, in streets and see how they lived. And this was very important to me as a history lover you are actually able to walk where they walked rather than walking on plates of glass to protect mosaics. Vesuvius just as interesting and amazing for the view of Naples bay. Vesuvius is still an active volcano although it's currently resting.

Positano

We also went on a tour of the Amalfi coast. This is were many films were made. And I could see why the moment the bus turned the corner and you could see the amazing cliff faces.  There is an island you pass on the way to Positano which was owned by a famous male ballerina. (Love that some who made beauty was inspired to live somewhere so beautiful) Positano is amazing, I wished we had time to stayed longer. The town of Amalfi was beautiful too with a big church at it's city center and lots of tourists. It's the main bus stop on the coast.

Baby eating squid

All in all I would love to go back to this area of Italy. The food was great, the espresso was hot and the lemoncello was cold. 

Health Care... To pay or not to pay???

I personally feel really lucky to have this opportunity to live abroad and experience a different culture. Had I lived abroad for a semester in college I don't think I would have gotten this same kind of experience. I would have probably gotten to know every pub in the area and how to stumble to my classes.  But what I really appreciate is now at 30 learning all the in's and out's of being in a different culture, a different way of life and different perspectives of the world. 

So do we cancel our US Health Insurance or not?!? This is what I'm faced with at the moment. I have always had health insurance. It's always been very important to me to be covered. We are paying over $3K a year in US Health Insurance costs.  (That's a trip to a far away land) So why aren't we using the US Health system?  Well mainly because they told me on the base that if I wanted to have a natural birth that I would have to go to the British system. So since we were sent (kinda forced) to the British system (the NHS) we have just been getting all our care from there.

On the NHS, my daughters birth was FREE! All our pre-natal care was FREE! My dental while pregnant and 1 year after her birth is FREE! All her prescriptions are FREE! (We got 1 ointment on the US and that costed us $129 and we didn't even use it cause it was too aggressive and the NHS doctors recommended not to give it to her and turns out the problem just went away on it's own) All her shots (they say jabs here) are FREE! All our check ups are FREE! 

Now we're pretty lucky cause we're not really sick people. (knock on wood) But that means that we don't really know what would happen if we got super sick. (We have been to the ER once and that was FREE)  However, I do have the worst teeth ever and I did need a new filling and the experience was definitely better than I've had in the US. ( Only took 30 minutes, only had to give me 1 needle, and no pain afterwards). I was a little wary though. The dentist is like 25 and eastern European so I couldn't really understand everything he was saying. But it all turned out awesome. 

So is free healthcare better than paying for healthcare?  I don't know but I can say that I have gotten better attention with Free Healthcare than I ever got with paying for it.  So I guess the grass is just a different shade of green... And we will be using that savings to travel to a far off land of amazingness. 

Canterbury Tales

What is a trip to the UK without an English lit stop in Canterbury. After all that's what our blog is named after.Did you have to read the Canterbury tales? I did. Famous for it's multiple themes and for being written in Middle English rather than Latin. A story of a bunch of peoples journey to Canterbury to a holy spot.

lighting points to the death spot

The story goes like this: Henry II needed a priest that would do what he said so he turned to his drinking circle of buddies. There he found Thomas Becket. Thomas agreed to be the archbishop of Canterbury.  He found holy inspiration in his new found position and so went against the King in his decisions. At some point the King said "will no one rid me of this priest"?  Well 4 knights over heard him and took him seriously. They headed to the Canterbury Cathedral and murdered the Archbishop right inside the church. Christians were stunned! The Archbishop was buried and that's when the miracles began! The Pope made Thomas a saint and pilgrims began to flock to the cathedral to gain a little miracle for themselves. The Canterbury Tales are about these pilgrims. All walks of life went on this journey just to pray at Thomas Becket's memorial.  Well then good old Henry VIII got rid of the body of Thomas Beckett so that pilgrims would stop coming to the Cathedral. But they still come! Even to this day!

Black Knight

Amazing and interesting! The Cathedral isn't that grand in my opinion. I would say the York Minster is way more impressive but the history and lore is enough to bring me in. Canterbury is now the head quarters of the Anglican Church. Inside the cathedral you can feel the importance of times gone.  The tomb of the Black knight is there. The original knight in shining amour. Yes, he was a real guy! And the place where Thomas Beckett took his last breath.

For our home-town Marylanders... there is a plaque to the 1st bishop of Maryland who came from Canterbury and his relatives became the mayor of Canterbury. Go Maryland!

I'd say on a trip to the UK, Canterbury deserves 1 day.  PS - we had the best Indian food there on the high street. And the Tourist information center is incredible helpful. Visit the Canterbury Tales story show. Totally worth it!

Olympic fever!

Watching the opening at the Ely Cathedral

Well the Olympics have come and gone. We never really cared about the Olympics until our home-town hero, Michael Phelps, made us Marylanders proud. But even still we had no plans in watching or participating in all the craziness in London. I mean... it's historic yeah... but so was the Queen's Jubilee and that was neat but we just didn't want to get all into it. Crowds and such are not our thing...

But being in England the Team GB spirit is infectious.  I found myself agreeing to take my 9 month old down on a crowded train and through the crowded tube and onto another crowded train just to go witness some kind of history. What can I say... I'm a sucker for history.

Luckily, when we went down to watch the cycling race the trains were crowd free. Kings Cross station had no crowds! And the only time I had to stand on the train was when everyone was leaving the cycling viewing area. We were able to walk right up to the road and stand anywhere we wanted. I thought for sure it was going to be a mad house but really it was as easy as it could be.

The Cycling was so exciting! And it was a really great experience for all of us. I only wish I had a USA flag for circumstances like this. I was actually wondering why we don't have a US flag?  Maybe I'll ask for one for Christmas. In any case, we represented well but Team GB ended up winning that race. But I still can't help but snicker a little when I think Team GB could mean Team Glen Burnie. =)

7 Day Irish Road Trip

Over the 4th of July Mike, Mike's Dad (Pat), Sophie and I all went on a 7 day road trip through Southwest Ireland.  We drove from our house in Ely, England across England and into Wales. From Fishguard, Wales we took a ferry across the Straight of St. George to Rossalear, Ireland. Once in Rossalear we drove through New Ross and stopped our first stop in Kinsale in the County Cork.

Kinsale is apparently the culinary capital of Ireland and the food was pretty tasty! The beer was better though. =) Kinsale was once a large port area but was silted in and since then has become a fishing town. Instead the city of Cobh became the main port town. In fact, Cobh was the last stop of the Titanic before sailing into the Atlantic. I really enjoyed Kinsale for the people. The Irish are amazing and funny. And many times we were told "you must know my cousin that lives in America".  Apparently, lots of American's say the opposite.

Any way, from County Cork we drove around the Ring of Kerry but didn't see much due to rain and fog and then we stayed in a cute little town of Kenmare. Usually the tourists hordes stay in Killarny but we decided to skip that craziness. In any case, Kenmare has a great old stone circle and I just love a good stone circle. From Kenmare we made the trip to Dingle. Oh, famous Dingle!  If your American your family probably came from this southwest area. I know mine came from County Cork so lots and lots of Americans. In fact, Pat said that he was "glad to come to Ireland and all the American's were really nice."

Dingle is amazing though. The Ring of Dingle takes you around to where the famine can still be seen. Since the population was so devastated they never re-plowed some of the fields and therefore you can see the lines of crop that failed all those years ago (1800's). Amazing! A crop that only failed for 2 to 3 years created so much damage. Mainly because a man would eat something crazy like 13lbs of potatoes a day in Ireland at that time. Hard to think that was all there was to eat.

Dingle Peninsula

From Dingle we drove across the country to Cashel for the ROCK! The Rock of Cashel looks like a big castle but in fact it was a church.  The place where St. Patrick baptised the King. It's said that during the baptism St. Patrick jammed his staff into the Kings foot and the King didn't say a word. At the end of the service St. Patrick saw his staff still in the Kings foot and asked "why didn't you say something?" the King replied "I thought that was part of the service." Apparently, he thought that was symbolic of all the suffering that Christians had been through. Oh the Irish!

On the way from Cashel we stopped in Kilkenney just to take a look at the Smithwick's brewery. Unfortunately  they don't allow sleeping babies on the beer tour so we skipped it and toured the castle instead.  Then we stopped in New Ross at the Dumbrody Famine ship but just a little more history on the plague and the hordes that left Ireland for the New World. The ship is a replica but it is really amazing to see how people would have made it across the Atlantic. Most would die on the trip but I'm still amazed at what Humans will do to give their children a better life. It's a testament that we will survive!

If you have a chance to go... then go to Southwest Ireland!

Time passes

Has it really been a month since my last post? Geesh... time flys...

What have we been up to... Well let's see...
1. Grandma Llewellyn and Aunt Mandy visited
2. Sophie's 1st international trip to the Netherlands for the Tulip festival
3. Grandpa Llewellyn and Me ma Cathy visited
4. Cousin Jim and Donna Spillman visited
5. Sophie's 2nd international trip to Belguim

6. Uncle Dave and Aunt Anjel visited


Wow! That's a lot!  And we aren't slowing down in the least...
Next up we have the:
1. Queen's Diamond Jubilee parties
2. Celebrating our 1 year anniversary of moving to England
3. Welcoming Mike's Uncle who is moving to England
4. 7 day road trip to Ireland with Pop pop Pat
5. A little Olympic Action
6. And possibly a trip to Rome

Sophie is now 7 months old and growing like a weed! She is crawling like a champ and already trying to walk. She is very busy exploring and mastering all that life has to offer a little baby. Brian the dog has found a new hobby of chasing cows. A great example of city dog gone country.  Mike is getting over a 3 week sickness. And starting to train for a 60 mile bike ride that is happening in 3 weeks. I'm getting back to my schedule. Teaching yoga 2 days a week and raising this baby.

Next week marks 1 year we have been in England. Wow! Time keeps on slipping... slipping... slipping.. into the future.

It's the simple things

Ely dog walk

Like how shopping carts are called trolleys and don't just move forward and back but can go any which way.  Or how you can always find a market. Or how the bushes are called hedge and they are always nicely manicured. 

It's been a month since my last post and things have been adding up. We haven't been sitting around. Although some weekends are great when we do that. I love snuggling as a family on Saturday or Sunday mornings. It's the best! But we have been on the move and preparing for journeys that will come.

Sophie and Brian in our backyard aka Garden

With Spring and our 1 year anniversary of moving to England fast approaching Mike and I started thinking of all the things that we will miss when we leave England. It's amazing how fast you become acquainted with a place and make it your home.  Now we take things for granted that we see as daily life.

Like how a vacuum cleaner is called a Hoover. No matter what brand it is.  Or how a Stroller is called a Pushchair, Pram or Buggy. Or how you can get tea no problem anywhere! Life is a little slower and everyone seems to enjoy themselves. Garden center's have more than just plant supplies and nothing like Home Depot! Picnics are a daily activity on a nice day, and let's not forget tax free shopping on the base.

Ely dog walk

It's been 10 months and a new job and a new baby since we left the US and just now am I realizing that it will be hard to leave all this behind in 3 to 5 years. (there I go thinking of the future again) I already think about the friends we have made here and miss them. Don't get me wrong I miss everyone from home too. And I can't wait to come back to the states to see our family and friends.  But it's so interesting when you leave your comfortable home to travel outside of your comfortable box.  Maybe you'll learn something interesting about a culture. Like when you order water sometimes it's assumed you want sparkling water.  Or if you want a pickle and cheese sandwich it's not always pickled cucumbers that are the pickles. And the cheese is almost always shredded. Or why almost everyone wears a red poppy pin.

So now we have broken in living abroad and at first it was hard. But given the opportunity to go any where else in the world, we will take it. After living in the same place for 29 years I almost regret not living and experiencing other cultures. Not that I'm any smarter for living in a different country but now I'm beginning to understand a different group of people and a different set of traditions that will ultimately shape our family.

I have a feeling that I will barely make a dent in my personal goal to see as much as I can before I die. But at least I can say that I tried and I wasn't afraid to take those first steps.  And with any luck, Sophie will learn that she doesn't have to be afraid either.