Happy is England

Tower Bridge (prettiest bridge in London, in my opinion)

In April we did a house swap with our friends who used to live in Evanston, who now live in a beautiful spot in England. We met up with the Saltzmans last July in Munich, where we sorta threw out a "hey wouldn't it be great to house swap?" but who knew if it would ever come to fruition. Well, lucky for us, it did!

We spent seven nights at their lovely home in Ascot. Our kids deemed it the best vacation ever, simply because of the new supply of toys, massive televisions and the trampoline and playset in the backyard that we had "all to ourselves!"

As many of you know, I'm an Anglophile through and through. My British expat friends tell me I have a highly romanticized vision of what England is. Perhaps so, but I think we all need a place like that in the world. Yes, I don't know the pains of living there. I only know the charm of visiting. And that's OK with me. I need that place in the world that only holds fond memories and warm and fuzzy feelings. I also doubly appreciated it on this trip because it was music to my ears to hear English spoken everywhere, to be able to read ALL the signs in the shops and on the roads. It was heaven to my expat brain.

Tobi and I went to London a few years ago, sans children, so I felt like I'd really done London. We were both thrilled to see other things. The kids were up for whatever, though Charlie said his "must do" was the London Eye and Grant's must was the Tower. We went into London for one day trip, and did both of those, but our day in London turned out to be the coldest and rainiest of the entire week. This can only be good news, as it means we must return to London for a long weekend (see what I did there??).

The kids in the London Eye (Big Ben to the left, across the Thames)

The kids really enjoyed the Tower of London

Grant, going to Hogwarts, from Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station

Of course, in Tobi's ever-ambitious quest to rack up the countries visited, we drove to Wales to tour a castle. British friends called Chepstow "fake Wales" because it is just over the border. Pish tosh! I saw a Welcome to Wales sign and I saw several signs in Welsh, so IT COUNTS. The kids enjoyed that day because of the 900+ castles in Wales, we toured one that is pretty much entirely ruins (ie, nothing for the kids to accidentally break and nearly no other tourists in sight). On our way back, we drove through Bath (Baaaahhhhth) and stopped at Stonehenge. Stonehenge was incredible to see in person and was a real treat for the whole family.

Chepstow Castle in Wales

Stonehenge

Lego London at Legoland Windsor

We spent one day at Legoland Windsor. How could we not? It was a mere ten minutes from our friends' home! Grant has decided we must tour all the Legolands of Europe. Thank goodness there are only three and we've already been to two (Denmark, here we come!).

Waiting for the Changing of the Guard at Windsor Castle

We spent a day in Windsor, which was a nice day for me. I got to shop at British favorites like Marks & Spencer, Cath Kidston, and Boots. We had a fantastic lunch at Gourmet Burger Kitchen and also watched the changing of the guard at Windsor Castle.

Life: MADE

We spent Easter Sunday at Highclere Castle. As I was planning the trip, I kept wondering how I could convince my husband and three small children that it would be fun to go to a 400-year old castle where the BBC period drama Downton Abbey is filmed. Luckily, a few days before Easter, I checked their site and learned of their Easter egg hunt. BINGO! 

Happy Easter at Downton Abbey

Sunday morning we set off for Hampshire with a loaded picnic basket and dreams of Lord Grantham Easter chocolate in our eyes. We got to the castle at eleven, about an hour before the hunt. There were a LOT of people there. But the queue (oh how the British can queue; it is a sight to behold) moved quickly and the kids got their riddle sheets and off we went. The Easter Egg hunt wasn't so much of an egg hunt as a hunt for riddle clues. Once you had all of your answers, you turned them in in exchange for a giant Cadbury chocolate egg. Everyone was happy, the grounds were gorgeous, and I had almost fulfilled my fantasy of living in a British period drama. We picnic'd with other families on the grounds and after lunch Grant and I took the tour of the castle itself. 

The show of Downton Abbey doesn't truck in props. They use the furnishings of the house. One of the tour guides said that the film crew is lovely to work with but that they sometimes need reminders on how to pick up and move antique furniture. There are placards around the house to alert you to certain things associated with the show, such as "Lord Grantham's desk" or "Lady Edith's room" or "Kemal Pamuk's room." They've definitely traded on the Downton Abbey fame, but who can blame them? Houses of that stature can fall to ruin if the family makes no money to restore and retain them.

All in all, our trip to England was one of our favorite trips. We had decent weather for the most part (I, for one, am happy to have cloudy, chilly weather in England - that's part of its charm!), we had good food (fish & chips, and Indian twice!), we met lovely people with lovely manners and we got to feel like we were at home because we really were in someone's lovely home.

I was so sad to leave and had tears in my eyes as we boarded the plane back to Zurich. But I know that we'll definitely be back again!

Cheerio!

Tiffany

Up next: Germany's Black Forest, and Lugano