A Year in London- Snapshots

Reflecting on a Year in Lonon

November 4, 2009, David and Shaunda landed in London. On November 14, 2009, Gray and Zane joined us. It’s been quite a whirlwind! Especially the months up to the move. We are still very grateful and appreciative of all of the family and friends who came and helped us get the house emptied. It was a monumental task, and could never have happened without everyone. An extra super huge THANK YOU to family for taking care of our boys for a couple of weeks and finishing off the house. Thanks to God for selling it so quickly!

It’s really difficult to think of how our lives have changed because we are right in the middle of it. I’m curious to hear what others notice when we return (Nope—no specific plan for that yet.)

There are many differences in language. They are pretty subtle, but very noticeable when an American is speaking to someone from Britain. For example, I was talking to a 7 year old girl, and asked her about a stain on her “pants.” She exclaimed, in a very surprised voice, “These aren’t my pants!” You see, pants are what you wear under your trousers. David received a similar shocked response from co-workers when he talked about his “pants” fitting looser. They received that as Too Much Information!

We go to the “toilet” or “loo” instead of the “bathroom.” We dispose of “rubbish” instead of “trash.” We have a “pint” instead of a “beer.” We use “trolleys” instead of “grocery carts.” Cars run on “petrol.” We use the “lift” to get us to the top floor of our building. We use a “torch” to help us see when walking through the woods at night. A “subway” is an underground walkway, and one of our primary modes of transport is “the Tube.” The kids received “loads” of gifts for Christmas. We have even caught Zane referring to his mother as, “Mum.” We go to “the shops” for whatever we need—food, clothes, household items. And, “the chemist” gives us our medication. We use “mince” to make hamburgers or Spaghetti Bolognese. The boys eat “sweets” at Halloween and Christmas instead of “candy.” “Pudding” is generic term for any dessert, but it often refers to a type of cake that takes a month to prepare.

We use the words “proper,” “brilliant’ and “sorted” more than we ever did. When things need doing ASAP, we say, “as a matter of urgency.” We use ‘single quotes’ instead of “double,” and we do not use a “full stop” after a salutation like “Mr, Mrs or Dr.”

We have been in 7 countries in one year! Of course, we have been in the US and England. We have travelled to Germany, Italy, and Ireland (twice!), France and spent a few hours in Wales. Let’s count the cities: Munich and driven in the Bavarian Alps in Germany; Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa, (Italy); Paris, Versailles (France); Rochester, Dover, Brighton, Isle of Wight, St Albans, Chessington, Littlehampton, Windsor (and Legoland!) ( England); Holyhead, Wales; Dublin, Wicklow, Arklow, Limerick, Galwick, Ring of Kerry, and the Dingle Peninsula (Ireland).

The list of places to see is more numerous than the places we have been! We would very much like to visit friends in Stockholm, Sweden and Alicante, Spain. Barcelona and Madrid in Spain are ‘must see’ places. In addition: The Canary Islands, Portugal, Southern France, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, other parts of Germany, Hungary, Istanbul, Morocco, Tunisia, Greece, Scotland, Northern Ireland, more of Wales, many other places in England (Yorkshire, Cornwall, Liverpool, Devon, Lake District just to name a few...). Feel free to offer suggestions—just remember we stay here until we’ve seen it ALL!

We have seen “loads” of theatre productions: Wicked, Blood Brothers, 39 Steps, Dirty Dancing, Avenue Q, Jersey Boys,

We have seen ‘loads’ of castles and huge, ornate cathedrals, yet we have not yet seen the insides of Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s Cathedral! The boys are very tired of old, huge buildings! The actually didn’t care much for the palace at Versailles or Notre Dame Cathedral... *sigh*. Cobblestone roads are really nice to look at, but torture to walk on. The diversity in Architecture is awesome, the diversity in people enriching.

We now do most of our shopping (grocery and otherwise) online, and have it delivered. If we decide to do a big grocery shop in the store, we use a cab to get home. It’s about the same cost as having it delivered, and much easier than having the four of us piled down with bags on buses and tubes! For the odd litre of milk or loaf of bread, we bribe one of the boys to ride their bikes to the convenience store near the house. OH! Eggs are not in the refrigerator section, and I have not seen one single white egg here!

Public transportation is great, and you can get anywhere you need to be... but you have to walk to get somewhere where a bus or tube will pick you up, and wait in whatever weather condition. Also, during rush hour, buses and tubes are PACKED! It is amazing how many people can pack in those things! There have been times when a bus will pass up one of its stops because it is full. AND, it takes about 30 minutes to go about 5 miles. That’s on the tube. On the bus, 5 miles may take over an hour! On the other hand, we have a lot more time to read now...

Our job is a difficult one. It’s a challenge to make the decision whether to leave a child with much less than great parents, or put them in a completely strange and, for the child, scarier situation. Obviously, safety rules, but that term becomes very ambiguous sometimes. On the other hand, some families actually want our help, and it is very rewarding to help them and see them make positive changes. We are also meeting some great people, and overall, it is a very rich experience. One of the best things about working here is that we get 27 days of vacation a year! Even with all of our travel and taking time off at Christmas, we still have almost weeks left (until April 1, when it starts all over again!)

The boys don’t love school so much. Zane likes school more than Gray does, but we are certain they wouldn’t like it any better in Overland Park! School does work much differently here. High school starts at age 11. Gray has 14 classes that he attends over a two week period. Both boys take themselves to school—Zane walks about 5 minutes, and Gray rides his bike for about 10 minutes. The good thing is that they have both made friends, and their friends are really nice, good kids. Most of Zane’s friends are from India, and Gray has a friend whose mother is Swedish. (It seems that almost everyone is from somewhere other than London!)

Gray says the best part of being in London is getting to see ‘loads’ of Supercars: Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s, Porche’s, Astin Martin’s, Maserati’s, Rolls Royce’s and Bentley’s are common sights. We have even seen a Bugatti Veyron (the world’s fastest production car) and a Koenigsegg CCXR (a very exclusive super car made in Sweden—only 6 the world!) He most misses friends and family, and just the life he had in the US. He also misses wide open spaces. He is the most ready to move back to the US.

Zane says the best part of being in London is all the transportation options: buses, tubes, trains, boats—any one or a combination will take you anywhere. He most misses friends and family, and some of the food. (We cannot get decent Mexican food here!)

David most enjoys the adventure and the things that we get to see. He appreciates the shared experiences we have as a family, and the ways we learn and grow from our experiences. He also misses friends and family. Sometimes he would like more of the quiet of the country, and seeing the stars at night.

Like David, Shaunda enjoys the adventure- seeing and experiencing new things and the growth and enrichment that results. She also loves the huge diversity in people and culture. She misses friends and family, and the conveniences of day to day life.

At this point, we don’t have plans to visit the US. We are thinking that if we are going to be here only 2-3 years, we will take advantage of our location and explore this part of the world. Travel throughout Europe is much more affordable than travel within the US. For the cost of taking the 4 of us to the US, we can see 2 to 3 European cities. We shall see what we decide...

Looking ahead, besides more European (or African!) adventures, we have a Royal Wedding, and The Olympics! Obviously, we won’t get to see the actual wedding, and in order to get any decent view of the processionals, we would probably have to camp out along the route the night before! We missed the deadline to sign up to volunteer for the Olympics... L But, we work for one of the Host Boroughs and there are opportunities that way, as well as another scheme through the Mayor of London. Tickets for Olympic events go on sale in March. It will be a lottery system—you sign up for events you want to see, and if your name is randomly drawn, you buy those tickets. The same system goes for the Opening and Closing ceremonies. Tickets cost from £20-£2000! Crazy, huh!

We truly value the support and friendship of our friends and family. We do hope that ALL of you will be able to visit before we leave! Get yourselves here and we will be the best hosts we know how to be! In the meantime, we are on email, Facebook and Skype. Please do keep in touch!

David, Shaunda, Gray and Zane Irwin

It's been awhile...

Burying Zane in the sand... again, it's not much more than 50 degrees, with an ocean breeze!

GREEN! We actually saw more cows than sheep...


Galway! I really liked this city!

Jellyfish washed up on the shore..... goofy things!


Someone pointed out that we haven't posted anything since April! Wow, time flies!
Since April, we've been to Ireland twice! Both times to chase Irish bands from America (and Canada) that we enjoyed in the US. In May, we chased Enter the Haggis to Galway. During that trip, we rented a car, and drove around the southwest coast of the island. It was very beautiful! However, driving was quite the experience for David. Not only was he driving on the wrong side of the road from the wrong side of the car, but those coastal roads were very narrow and twisty! We were very glad we didn't run into a tour bus, because the roads are just about wide enough for one of those alone!

The boys really enjoyed the beaches during this trip, even though it was in the low 50's and rainy most of the time! We also saw a lot of surfers there. I never thought about surfing in Ireland, even though it is an island...

In July, we went back to see The Elders in Arklow, which is where the lead singer grew up. It is a coastal town in the Wicklow Mountains on the east coast of the island. Again, we rented a car, but this time, I drove. Again, quite the experience! I wimped out and got the "automatic upgrade," because I figured I'd have enough to think about without having to think about changing gears with my left hand while driving through the mountains. Most cars here have manual transmissions, including rental cars. You typically pay a premium price to get an automatic. Fortunately, when I rented this car, it was a pretty minimal charge for it.

In May, we flew to Ireland. In July, we went by train and ferry. It did take a bit longer, but not as much as you'd think when you consider that the airports are an hour or more away, and you have to be there 2 hours before the flight. (So, add 3 hours on both sides of your travel to the total travel time. A 2 hour flight actually requires 5 hours of travel time.) The train station is in town, and you show up 5 minutes before the train leaves. Actually, you want to be there 15 or 20 minutes before the train leaves to get seats all together, but you won't miss it if you show up 5 minutes before. The hard part about taking the train is you have to stand and stare up at the departure boards to figure out which platform your train is on. And, often your destination is not the final destination, so you have to look at all of the stops between London and wherever you are going to figure out which train. I usually try to figure out the terminal stop before I get there, but every now and then, I just forget...

I now understand why Ireland is called "The Emerald Isle!" So very green and beautiful! I'm not sure if the photos do it justice. The boys really liked it too. Gray loved looking out as we drove the windy, twisty roads, though he does tend to get travel sickness, so he rides with the window down the entire time. Brrrrr!

We have also visited the Isle of Wight, of the southern part of England. The weekend we went, there was a yacht race around the island, so it was very cool to see all of the boats coming into the harbor. We hung out on a beach there for a bit, but it was a pebble beach (as many beaches here are),and it was pretty chilly, so the boys didn't get into the water past their ankles.

The boys ended school on 23 July. They go back on 7 September. They have been to two different camps: one a Christian Camp in Somerset, near the west coast of England. The other on the Isle of Wight. I have to say, the English countryside is quite beautiful-- rolling, green hills, dotted with trees and houses. We decided to rent a car to go get the boys from camp in Somerset, because it was either cheaper, or just the same as going to get them by train. David drove alone and unfortunately he got lost! I ended up navigating from home, and he was 2 hours late getting them! Fortunately, the folks at the camp were very understanding and didn't mind hanging with the boys until he finally arrived. Again, though, it was driving on the wrong side of the car, wrong side of the road, manual transmission, on some pretty narrow, twisty roads!

Needless to say, we sent them via the camp's transportation for the other camp. We dropped them off at a train station in Surrey, and they took a coach (big tour bus) and ferry to camp. At the second camp, Gray got to spend the week on quad bikes and go-karts. Zane learned to body surf, and said that on his second time out, he caught 27 waves! Wish I could have seen that! It is nice to have them home! Next week, we will do a "staycation" here in London. We have a pass that gets us into several amusement parks in the area as part of the membership, so we will hit several of those (including Legoland!) We may also visit some of the parks we haven't seen yet. There are many huge, green spaces in this very crowded, compact city. Parks so huge you could walk for hours and miles and see only a small part of them.

Last weekend, David and I visited Hampton Court Palace. It is a huge palace just outside of London, with huge, wonderful gardens. The boys are tired of castles and old buildings, so we decided to go when they weren't here. But, I think we will drag them back next weekend because they are having "Tudor Games." King Henry VIII must impress Anne Boelyn with his jousting, archery and other skills. I imagine it as a kind of Ren Fest, though on a smaller scale (well, unless you count the HUGE palace and gardens surrounding it...) Then, in the evening, there is a jazz festival. Should be some good, live music.

Well, I keep getting distracted, so I'm going to just post this. Better than going another 4 months without anything!

Working in Hackney

Hackney Town Hall. Our new building is right behind it.

The front entrance.
One half of the building...


The third floor. No wall between floors 1,2,3 and the open Atrium.

A balcony for work/meeting/break on the 1st floor (which is actually the 2nd floor.) The building is Wi-Fi enabled, so with laptops, we can go anywhere to "do a piece of work."

I have often shared the story of how I found this job. "I got frustrated with LUCI, went to Google, and now I'm in London." (For those of you not from Johnson County Mental Health, LUCI is the electronic medical records system.) Well, I have to admit, I've cut off my nose to spite my face with regards to electronic records systems. The system here is WORSE! The record keeping system is overly complicated, with over 2000 categories in which to file information! While the system does have functions for importing emails relevant to clients, there are many extraneous steps to get that email into the system. Not only that, the local authority has purchased a document storage system which provides for extra security of records. Good idea. But, again, it is overly complicated with many extra steps. Add that, the two systems do not work together! So, anytime you create a document, it forces you to save into one of these two systems. It's a minimum of 8 clicks to save any document. (I'm a click counter!) I'[m thinking of suggesting that my current employer talk with Jo Co about purchasing LUCI..... ;) NOT!

Our jobs are typical child welfare work-- like that of DFS or SRS in MO or KS. We work with families with whom someone has expressed concern about child abuse or neglect. The department we work with might be akin to Family Preservation. Families have been through an extensive assessment process, and it has been determined that there is some level of risk of harm to the children. We work with the families to try to keep them together. Sometimes, families either can't or won't make the changes needed to keep the children safe, so we have to begin legal proceedings to take the children into care.

The philosophies in the work here are very similar to those in MO and KS.

There are, however, some huge differences. We work in the London Borough of Hackney. It is one of the most diverse areas of London, with over 100 languages spoken in the area. There is a very large Muslim population. The predominant ethnic groups are Turkish and Afro Caribbean, with a significant part of the population coming from various parts of Afria (and each having it's own culture and language.) With this, comes abuse issues we don't see in Kansas, related to religious beliefs or traditions.

One of the things that attracted us to this particular job is the model that this borough is promoting. They are basically bringing the multidisciplinary team concept into child welfare work. They refer to these teams as "Social Work Units." Each unit has a Consultant Social Worker, who acts as a team leader, with both management and direct care responsibilities; a Social Worker, who focuses on traditional case work; a Child Practioner, who does both traditional case work and individual work with children (many people in this position are social work students, working toward a Bachelor's or Master's in social work); a clinical practitioner, who completes clinical assessments and provides therapeutic intervention with children and families; and a Unit Coordinator, who completes administrative tasks and keeps us all organized. David and I are both Consultant Social Workers. As with our team work in KS, a well functioning unit is like a well oiled machine. When it works, it works very well. If some parts are not functioning well, it doesn't work. David and I have had very different experiences with this. My unit is comprised of people who have a lot of varied experience both in London child welfare, and in other social work arenas. Additionally, we "clicked" right away. David's unit has had to work at figuring out their " machine," but they have all committed to working on it, and things are moving forward and becoming much better.

One of the traditional conflicts that has happened in units is a tension between the Consultant Social Worker and the Clinical Practitioner. Unlike the US, social workers here are not trained in clinical intervention. Many of the therapists here started their careers as social workers, and went on to get further training to become therapists. However, most of the Consultant Social Workers are very experienced and clinically skilled, though they may or may not have had formal training. Then, they bring in us Americans who are essentially dually trained. You can imagine some of the turf wars that occur. The deal is, the Consultant is solely responsible with what happens with every case, and has the final decision with regard to the plan of intervention. I am very lucky in that my clinician understands and values that my training and skills are very similar to hers, and she isn't threatened by that. David's is working on it.

If you haven't caught on, social workers here are not qualified to do therapy or diagnose! They are traditional, case manager-type social workers! There are many avenues to get a qualification do be a therapist, and they have to do with completing training in a specific therapeutic school. So, you can be trained in psychoanalysis, and become a qualified psychoanalytic practitioner. Or, you can complete a training program in Systemic Family Therapy, and become a Qualified Systemic Practitioner. (These seem to be the two predominant approaches, though my therapist is trained in CBT.) Each approach has it's own training program, so therapists are trained in only one school of thought, but can also get trained in more than one area and be qualifed in more than one. David and I could probably get grandfathered somehow, but we haven't looked into that.

The people with whom we work are wonderful. Our managers have been very understanding, supportive and helpful. We are meeting a lot of people from a lot of places! The Social Worker in my unit is from Madrid, and David really likes her accent! My child practitioner is from England, but of Jamaican descent. My Unit Coordinator is from Liverpool. While this is in England, it is amazing how different her accent is from co-workers from London! Our manager is from South Africa, and has been here 9 years now. (She has as much difficulty getting her children into school as we did.)

So, when Jo Co talks about "Diversity," they really don't have much to talk about, compared to here!

Oh my goodness. I can't forget to talk about our "new building." In March, we moved into a new building built by Hackney, designed to house all of the servcies which work directly with "service users." (This is how we refer to our "clients.") So, Housing, Youth Probation, Adults with Disabilities, Parking Passes, Blue Badges (disabled parking passes), and any other service which deals directly with people, are housed in this building. It has space for 2000 people! It is a very modern building, which is full of glass. The Atrium is open all the way to the top floor (it is 5 floors tall), with the work spaces in a U shape around the open atrium. Floors 1, 2 and 3 (the ground floor is 0), have no wall or divider around the outside, so people on each of those floors can lean over the balcony and look down into the reception area that is the open atrium. The 4th floor (which is where we are, in the "Penthouse Suite," does have a glass wall, but we also have a balcony looking out over the reception area.

Along with the new building, comes "a new way of working," as Hackney has said over and over. We now work in an "Open Plan," with "Hot Desking." This means: no offices (or cubicles). Just a very large, open space, with clusters of desks, each desk with a computer docking station and a phone. We are encouraged to feel free to sit anywhere each day we come into the office. (Of course, people are creatures of habit-- we all sit in the same place!) We all have a labtop or tablet, and we dock it and log on each day. We have to log into our phone extension each morning, and log out each night. "The Clean Desk Policy" ensures that whatever desk we use each day is clear, so that we have a clean work space no matter where we sit. (As our department works in Units, each unit has it's own cluster of 5 desks. Other departments may have a collection of clusters in one particular area. So, 40 desks for 50 people.) Theoretically, there are not enough desk spaces for everyone to have a desk, so we are "encouraged" to work from home one day a week. This sounds all well and good, but the connection to our internal systems remotely is VERY SLOW. For now, our department does have enough desks, but we are expected to grow, so we will have to figure this one out. We are not allowed to eat food at our desks if it requires the use of a utensil-- only "finger food." (Makes me want to bring in BBQ ribs!) There are several "break out" areas on each floor, with fridge, microwave, sink and hot water tap. There are tables and chairs and sofas in each break out area. Instant coffee, tea, sugar and milk are provided for our breaks.

Each individual has a locker to keep personal and work supplies (and our laptop), and each unit has a "unit cupboard," in which we keep things we share as a unit. (Stationary, pens, food, games and art supplies for work with children, etc.) Each Desk cluster has dividers, which is actually made of some sort of sound proofing material, so that we can have phone conversations that don't interrupt others at our cluster. The interesting thing is, I can often hear people accross the room better than I can hear people in my own unit, even when we are tryng to have conversations (work related conversations, of course!) The experience has been much more positive than I imagined. It's nice to be able to coordinate accross departments, just by walking accross the room. It can also be a bit of a distraction. That is why the laptops and tablets are Wi-Fi enabled, and there is Wi Fi available in the building. There are work areas in various places if you need to go away to get "a piece of work done," as they say here.

Finally, the benefits are wonderful! The work week is 35 hours, with an expectation of working from home one day a week. We get 27 days of "annual leave" each year. (We call it "vacation time" in the US.) This is in addition to about 10 "Bank Holidays." Bank holidays are the same as federal holidays, and includes days like Christmas and New Year. Each employee keeps track of their own annual leave-- it's an honor system. Also, there seems to be no limit to how much education leave you can take. Just can't leave the unit bare, and have to share trainings across the unit. I am taking a Systemic Family Therapy Course which is equivalent to a semester graduate level course. It will result in a Certification in Systemic Family Therapy, and if I complete the second year, a further certification. This is in addition to all the various child protection oriented trainings. I am actually getting a little tired of training! (Yes, I did just say that.)

Speaking of training-- have an essay to write. I guess this is enough for one post.
Just one more thing: We are still looking for good social workers, and they have now started interviewing by Skype! (Hint, Hint...)

More about Italy

Venice



Rialto

Our second day in Firenze, we slept in a little bit. Up in time for hard rolls, coffee, OJ, and cereal provided by the hotel. Zane was hoping that a continental breakfast meant that they brought waffles and bacon and eggs to your bed when you woke up. Nice dream kiddo.

Before too long, it was time to head for the Galleria della Academia. The artwork has been on display here since 1784. Even the museum is a museum! Shaunda had pre-arranged reserved tickets, which cost more, but helped us miss a long line. The first statuary you are treated to are some of Michealangelo’s unfinished marble sculptures – the Four prisoners. They seem to be trying to escape the marble in which they are entombed! Shaunda heard a tour guide tell a group that Michelangelo believed that each block of marble had it’s own personage, and it was his job as the artist to enable the personage to escape. But then you see David. Zane was struck by the detail – the veins, his Adam’s apple... He is so tall – 17 feet! Historic oils are on all the walls – scenes such as Abraham preparing to sacrifice Isaac. Further in, the antiquity level continues to rise as you see a crucifix from the 14^th century and other religious art that is even older – some dating from the 1200’s. On the way upstairs, you are treated to a collection of Russian icons. Gray was starting to get bored, but Zane was still engaged. Back downstairs, Shaunda reminded me about the musical instrument section. Stradavarius violins, trombones from the 1800’s, and instruments I had never seen before. I especially enjoyed seeing the original surviving precursor to the modern piano.

After all that, it was time for some lunch! On the way, however, we spotted a Leonardo Da Vinci museum that contained working machine models based upon Da Vinci’s drawings set up for the boys to handle. Zane has been quite interested in Da Vinci, so we went. Gray was interested to see how all the machines worked. I didn’t realize that Da Vinci had also been the first to discover layers in the earth and how they change over time.

In the afternoon, we took a bus up to the Michelangelo Piazza that overlooks Florence. You can really see how large Il Duomo is. You also have a great view of the city and the hills surrounding it. Beautiful view! From there, we hoped to go to the Pitti Palace, but we couldn’t find the best route. In addition, it had been too long since we had had a bathroom break, so we struggled to find our way. The map wasn’t much to go on ;-) The end result was that some tired kids got some gelato they didn’t deserve, cause you gotta buy something from the merchant with the bathroom!

We eventually passed by the Pitti Palace, but too late in the day for a tour. We headed back over the Ponte Vecchio, enjoying some shopping on the way despite our sore legs.

Following taking pictures of the nearby statuary (including the Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna, and Perseus by Cellini, as well as a copy of David, which stands where the original stood before it was moved to Acadamia), we enjoyed a good, but pricey dinner in the Piazza della Signoria. The Palazzo Vecchio’s huge bell tower nearby, beautiful weather, and a nice bottle of wine. (of course, the boys got gelato again too!)

At the end of the day, we are fulfilled, tired, and butts and legs ache...

Second day of Venice:

Sun was shining this morning! We didn’t rush too much. Gray had been sick the night before – we had really worn him out! Time to pack up to leave this hotel, but we still had most of the day ahead!!

One of the things Gray had wanted to do was to rent a bicycle cart – like two tandem bikes joined together with a little roof. Our destination – the other side of the island where we could see the sea. The Adriatic Sea! I’m not sure I could have found this on a map previously! Gray kept his mother awake while he piloted this craft. Eventually, we found the beach. Gray and Zane collected some shells. During our explorations, we saw more sights of Lido, the island on which we were staying. We found a neat open-air market with the backdrop of the bay and Venice (with the Alps back behind that!). After returning the cart, we attempted to find our way back to Murano. Venice is famous for having blown glass, but all of the actual furnace (furnaces?) were moved to the nearby island of Murano due to fire risk, odor, etc. After a few setbacks, we took our lunch in Lido, overlooking the waters between Lido and Venice.

Take two on heading to Murano – but the boat we had boarded kept going a different direction! We ended up going through more of a residential side of Venice to the train station, where we stored our bags while seeking more Venician adventure. From there, it was back to the Rialto bridge area (more gelato and more shopping). OK, now we needed to return to the train station. Gray wanted to take a water taxi (a smaller wooden motorized boat). The driver wanted 40 Euros! So we went to the water bus station. But they said that our passes had expired!! We went to another taxi, but they wanted 50 and wouldn’t budge. Then back to the water bus ticket station – a different one – who stated that our tickets were fine! But now we were seriously running out of time! Where was that big boat!! If we missed our high-speed train, it would cost even more than a water taxi! Plus it would take two hours longer on the slower train! What to do? (Remember – this has all been quite expensive and I don’t like to spend too freely!) Water taxi it was. But would we make our train on time? I kept urging Gray to tell the driver “Rapido!” Out of the taxi, Gray and I ran to get our luggage. Track 13? No, track 5. Which car? What is a carrozza anyway? Anyway, we did make it. We have been enjoying the Italian countryside roll by on our way to Rome!!

Italy

The Rape of the Sabine, by Giambologna, in Piazza della Segnoria, Florence


Is it our store? Or a completely different family?


On Ponte Vecchio
Hmmmmm...... what do you notice?


Ponte Vecchio




The Duomo (cathedral) in Florence


This is actually a copy of David, by Michelangelo. It does stand where the original stood before being moved into the museum.

Ponte Vecchio. How cool is that!

Shaunda and I both had a lot to do our last day of work. Shaunda had a teenager with a baby that took her past 6 pm without any of the resulting documentation required afterwards. We got all packed for our 6:30 am flight - which meant getting up at 4! Our cheap airline also required a lot of extra re-shuffling to avoid a £20 per kg charge for luggage over 15 kg (33lbs).

I slept most of the flight, but woke to see flying over the Alps and part of the Mediterranean sea. We took a very crowded bus to our hotel. Once we found the hotel, we also found that there were two and a half flights of stairs up to our room - with our heavy suitcases!

The hotel Shaunda had found was really cool. It is reportedly part of an old castle. It was clearly really old, with a huge room and a very high painted ceiling with heavy beams. They recommended a nearby restaurant we enjoyed after wandering around Il Duomo and the local streets for a while. The food was really good (but not inexpensive!) Afterwards, we wandered some more. We found another piazza with statues - but more to the kids' interests - some gelato as well. Ice cream in hand, we found the Ponte Vecchio bridge! The first shop on the bridge was a jeweler named Gherardi!

Our train the next day was to leave at noon on Easter Sunday. Other options were too much later or involved a lot of changes and more time. So we searched for an early Easter service. 7:30 at Il Duomo - in Italian. The boys were not excited to get up early again! Unfortunately, we did not find the entrance until well after the service had started, so we returned to the hotel for breakfast and checking out. We returned for the 9:30 service - also in Italian. The side chapel was pretty full, but the huge old cathedral was not used for the Easter service. Instead, setup was in preparation for the Holy Fire ceremony. This ceremony originated from the crusades, when rocks from Jesus' tomb were brought back to the church. They would strike them together for Holy Fire. One thousand and some years later, this means fireworks!! We could barely see, but I have some video from a camera held over my head. There was a huge procession involving men dressed in period and decorative garb as well as musicians. Then a huge cart arrived pulled by white oxen. After the oxen were led away, a cable was attached leading from inside Il Duomo. Also, several extensions were added. The place was incredibly packed. The show was to start at 11 - and our train left at 12!! A once in a lifetime show, but would we catch our train? (stay tuned!)

Fortunately, the show did start actually at 11. A 'dove' flew down the cable into the huge cart. Fireworks burst from the cart - St. Catherine's wheels, rockets, loud bursts, etc. followed by flags released from the top and clouds of multi-colored smoke. We pushed through the crowd, hauled the luggage down 2 and a half flights of stairs and tried to negotiate a taxi via broken English and Italian. The streets were choked with revelers - the driver scared me with how close he came to hitting people! We made it to the train station at 5 minutes until 12 - trying to find our line and our car! (All listed in another language - how inconvenient! ;-) We made it!!

Next up - Venice!!

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Dover photos

Not the ferry we rode, but one like it.

A view of buildings surrounding the castle, from the top of the castle. Notice the trebuchet.

Another view of castle outer buildings from the top of the castle.

Dover castle. Started in the 1000's. Many additions over a couple of hundred years.

Those white cliffs!

The boys hunting for treasure on the pebble beach at Dover.

Roman Lighthouse, built in 1 AD!

Zane gets a medieval chess lesson.

A view of Dover from the top of the castle.

Saxony church and Roman lighthouse.

A medieval toilet
Castle gate.
St. Edmund's Chapel. Built in 1253.


One thing I didn't mention in previous blog. The "hostess" on the ferry felt bad for us, just riding the ferry, not getting off in Calais because it was too late. So, she arranged for us to visit the bridge of the ship. It was pitch black up there, because the crew couldn't see anything if lights were on, but all of the digital navigation equipment was lit up, and very cool!