Hi Family and Friends!
We've been back in Guelph for 2 weeks and I've been meaning to blog about our trip home. Since we're watching 'Election 2011' I thought I would write at the same time ;)
The Trip
Our journey back to Canada began in the early hours of the morning on April 18th as we were loading up our friends' caravan with ALL our luggage at 5:40am! We had 3 large bags, 3 smaller bags, 5 pieces of hand luggage (our 3, plus computer bag and diaper bag), 2 car seats, a stroller and a bike - yes, another bike for Mark! As we said our goodbye's to our England house, the sun was rising in the Peak District and the hills were golden pink - it was the perfect departure. As we drove off towards Manchester Airport, Liam said "I'll miss you New Mills" and Mummy began to cry.
At the airport, we began to have a bit of trouble managing all our luggage. We first returned our car and waited forever for an elevator - at that time in the morning there was only 1/3 working! We already had one full cart with us and hadn't even met our friend, Mike, with the caravan! Once we finally got down to the caravan and got everything, bike and all, we had two overflowing carts that Mark had to push one at a time due to sloping sidewalks and a precarious bike, and I pushed the stroller while pulling a large suitcase with a smaller bag resting on top and one of my shoulder. One man commented that I had my hands full and I replied - you should see what my husband's got (he was miles behind me)!
Finally at the check in counter - the line up was crazy - hundreds of people in front of us - and it was already 2hrs before our flight! We had purchased 'Option Plus' with Air Transat for $60 each paid seat (not Gemma). We did it for the extra 10kg of check-in baggage allowance each (would regularly cost $150), but it also came with priority check-in - THANK GOD! So we get in the line and the customer service guy takes a look at us, then at all our stuff, nods, and mentally prepares himself for his Most Epic Check-In Ever.
It took a long time and we had to reload all our baggage onto the carts again because they were 'canvas' and had to be taken to the special oversized baggage check-in - but not the one right next to the Air Transat desks - no, because we had a bike, we had to haul everything to the other side of the floor (at least we were on the same floor!). Our super helpful Air Transat guy took one of the carts for Mark. Our excess baggage only cost us £140 at £10/kg (120+20 for the bike). Not only did our 'more cumbersome packing' (5 hand luggage with 2 kids) and the Option Plus help, but the airline upped their baggage allowance from 20 to 25kg, which totally helped us get an extra 15 free kg!
After security Mum and Dad were desperate for coffee and the kids needed breakfast so we headed to Costa and the 'Burger Store'. We also rushed through the shops to pick up last minute duty-free gifts - we had scoped things out two weeks before when we left for Italy from the same terminal. We boarded the flight last and still had loads of room for all our hand luggage as it was a huge plane and we were seated in middle row getting overhead space on both sides - total score! The 7.5hr flight went by fairly quickly and comfortably considering we were all sweaty from wearing our hoodies, winter coats and winter boots (things that take lots of luggage space)! And we kept getting free snacks and booze because of our Option Plus! We could have had a real good flight had the kids not been with us:)
As we arrived in Toronto, our sadness to leave England quickly turned into excitement to return to Canada. It felt like when we left Toronto for Guelph last year. In the airport, we worried that we would totally get stuck in customs for being out of the country for 8 months and coming back with almost the max for personal allowance of goods ($750 each person, including Liam and Gemma). We all used our Canadian passports to re-enter and were asked what kind of things we were bringing back and breezed right through! Tim Hortons welcomed us home with an ad on the luggage carousel - it wasn't a 'double-double' but it still gave us a warm and fuzzy feeling inside ;) We struggled with the luggage again as we left the arrivals gate to find our Red Car Out-of-City Van desk to take us back to Guelph. We got the Van Desk lady to 'babysit' while I ran to Mark to take one of the two carts. The on slot of Canadian accents in Toronto was mind blowing for us - especially since the Van Desk lady sounded like she was from Arkansas! We had a private van this time to take us home and our driver was Scottish, which messed us up a bit for the accents. The temperature was 2C - 20 degrees colder than it was in Manchester the day we left - and it was snowing a bit! Welcome Back to Canada!
The Transition
It was strange coming back 'home' to our Guelph house where we only lived for 3 weeks before leaving for England. Our furniture was there waiting for us, some of it in a different spot from where we left it. The kids immediately went to the Family Room where all the toys they left behind were waiting for them - along with some new toys left by our lovely tenants. This was great because it was about 4pm Cdn time and 9pm UK time, so all the toys bought us a couple hours of jet lag fighting time. My mom did some cleaning and our Sis-in-Law, Amber, dropped off a gorgeous lasagna all before we got back which was super great! As good as the lasagna looked, we were totally craving Swiss Chalet (and the sauce) so we got delivery which was just about as much jet-lagged Mum and Dad could handle that night:) We were waking up at about 5am for the first few days and the sunrise was noticeably later in Canada than in the UK. The house looks great and we are taking our time settling in and figuring out where things are going to go.
Our beloved Subaru car wouldn't start on it's own so we had to get CAA involved - twice! We also got various friends and relatives involved in pushing it up the driveway (which has a pretty good incline) when the battery was gone (we used up all our street parking days for the year!) . Mark ended up taking the car to the dealership in Kitchener to get a new battery and it works great now! And I'm borrowing my grandmother's car so we're now a two car family - totally suburban now;)
Our Dog, OD, was NOT impressed to see us back to pick her up at my other grandmother's house where she stayed for the 8 months - she wanted to have nothing to do with us and even barked at me! So we had transition time with her (like they do at daycares!) and instead of picking her up on the first day we saw her 2 more times before taking her home to the Guelph house she had never seen. She was ready to come with us and even jumped into the car she didn't recognize! There have been a few accidents, but we expect that from a 14yr old dog. In the week she has been back with us she has done really well and has taken to sleeping on Liam's bed at night which he just adores and Gemma's new favourite word is 'Dogga'.
It was great to have Easter weekend straight away and be able to see lots of family and friends as soon as we got back. We've all been getting called out on our 'accents' from time to time - well everyone but Gemma;) People can't believe how much both Liam and Gemma have grown and developed in the past 8 months. England was definitely great for them.
Liam finds in too cold here right now, but we keep telling him that Spring will really be here soon. He's having loads of fun playing with his pal, Deacon who lives a few houses down from us. Gemma is loving walking all over the house and the park and finding new places to get into trouble - like the kitchen cupboards she hides in! We haven't visited any playgroups yet with the kids as we are taking our transition slowly with them - Liam misses his Nursery and talks about his friends lots. We've started swimming lessons which is great for now. We're just finally getting into the right time zone rythym. I'll stay home with the kids throughout the summer then I'll be looking for a new job when Liam starts school/daycare and Gemma starts some sort of daycare. Liam's already been inside his new school which he'll begin in September and will go into his classroom for a visit day with other children in June.
Mark had two weeks off before starting back at work at his old school in Toronto and has been two days now. He was missed by both staff and students which is nice to hear and the teachers are glad to have him back on the their soccer team - he's sort of their ringer;) So far the commute isn't too bad - between 40-50 minutes when he leaves before 6am. And his school changed their hours, now finishing at 3pm which is perfect for the commute home! Today he got home before he would have when we lived in Toronto!
We are relishing the Canadian things we missed while in the UK - Tim Horton's, Swiss Chalet, Pizza Pizza and the familiar brands at the grocery stores. Although I did have a major celebratory moment in the Guelph Zehrs when I found PC English Style Crumpets - not kidding, air fist pumps in the bakery section:) When the weather warms up it's going to be all about the blizzards from Dairy Queen!
All in all, we are so happy to have had the experience abroad and are real happy to be back in our new home in Canada.
Photos on Facebook
What I can't promise is a blog from Mark on teaching in England - it was a nice thought, but I don't think it will happen:)
Looking forward to seeing all of you Canucks we haven't seen in a while and to seeing some of you Brits here for a visit!
Thanks again for reading!
Cheers,
The Nicholson Family
Monday, May 2, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Our Last Few UK Days
Hi Family and Friends!
I'll make this one short and sweet since we have to be at the airport in 7hrs and we haven't gone to bed yet ;)
We've enjoyed our time here in England so much and had an emotional week as we said our goodbyes to family and friends - old and new. This week, I cried at home, the Children's Centre, Liam's Nursery and driving back from Rubery after seeing family!
I think the kid's channel 'Cartoonito' knew we were leaving and had 3 Fireman Sam mornings this week - we're talkin' 3-4 hours in a row - Wowsers! We didn't let him watch all of it - at least not all at once;)
We made cards from Liam and Gemma to the Children's Centre and Liam made one for his Nursery Teachers. He had an amazing last day of Nursery because it coinsided with the last day of term - they get two weeks off at Easter between terms, plus the Royal Wedding is another bank holiday here this year! Nursery had Easter Family Fun Day and we all got to go for the first hour and participate in various activities - Egg Hunt outside in the garden, flower planting, chocolate nests, hat making. Then for Liam, all the Nursery children sang 'The Leaving Song' to him whilst he played the drums and he got a card with all the children's hand prints and each drew a picture of themselves - it's super cute and Mark even almost cried! The Head Teacher would like Liam to keep in touch and possibly through his new school in Guelph - super fun! As we left, Liam gave his friend Luca a great big squish hug and I started to 'ugly cry' - it was so cute and I was so proud of him to get through the week with all our packing, donating and tossing out old stuff, including toys and books. We of course donated to the Children's Centre and Nursery, but also gave our little friends some things we couldn't bring back.
We packed a lot into our last days in England (not to mention all the actual packing we did!):
- Man City Football Stadium Tour (thanks Paul and Dawn!)
- Train and Butterfly biscuits every day!
- Mummy Friends visit at our place
- Parent/Teacher Meeting at Nursery School
- Visit and tea/dinner with the Gorski's and Woodward's at the Packhorse (our local pub)
- Our last Stay & Play and Messy Play sessions at the Children's Centre
- Mark finished his bike across England in just one more stage for a total of 2 stages only!
- Trip to Thomas Land
- Cousin Evie's 1st Birthday Party in Rubery, near Birmingham (that's Mark's cousin Rog's daughter)
- Nursery friend, Ashleigh's Brithday Party
- The Last Supper with Alicia & Mike, who are back from caravanning and whose house we rented (yeah, we went to the Packhorse again - twice in a week!)
Thanks to all our UK friends who made our stay here incredible! We'll miss you so much!
All our bags are packed and although our UK adventure is coming to an end, our 'Guelph Adventure' is just beginning :)
Photos on Facebook
Ode to New Mills Photos
Cheers for reading,
Tarah (goodbye/see you later),
The Nicholson Family
I'll make this one short and sweet since we have to be at the airport in 7hrs and we haven't gone to bed yet ;)
We've enjoyed our time here in England so much and had an emotional week as we said our goodbyes to family and friends - old and new. This week, I cried at home, the Children's Centre, Liam's Nursery and driving back from Rubery after seeing family!
I think the kid's channel 'Cartoonito' knew we were leaving and had 3 Fireman Sam mornings this week - we're talkin' 3-4 hours in a row - Wowsers! We didn't let him watch all of it - at least not all at once;)
We made cards from Liam and Gemma to the Children's Centre and Liam made one for his Nursery Teachers. He had an amazing last day of Nursery because it coinsided with the last day of term - they get two weeks off at Easter between terms, plus the Royal Wedding is another bank holiday here this year! Nursery had Easter Family Fun Day and we all got to go for the first hour and participate in various activities - Egg Hunt outside in the garden, flower planting, chocolate nests, hat making. Then for Liam, all the Nursery children sang 'The Leaving Song' to him whilst he played the drums and he got a card with all the children's hand prints and each drew a picture of themselves - it's super cute and Mark even almost cried! The Head Teacher would like Liam to keep in touch and possibly through his new school in Guelph - super fun! As we left, Liam gave his friend Luca a great big squish hug and I started to 'ugly cry' - it was so cute and I was so proud of him to get through the week with all our packing, donating and tossing out old stuff, including toys and books. We of course donated to the Children's Centre and Nursery, but also gave our little friends some things we couldn't bring back.
We packed a lot into our last days in England (not to mention all the actual packing we did!):
- Man City Football Stadium Tour (thanks Paul and Dawn!)
- Train and Butterfly biscuits every day!
- Mummy Friends visit at our place
- Parent/Teacher Meeting at Nursery School
- Visit and tea/dinner with the Gorski's and Woodward's at the Packhorse (our local pub)
- Our last Stay & Play and Messy Play sessions at the Children's Centre
- Mark finished his bike across England in just one more stage for a total of 2 stages only!
- Trip to Thomas Land
- Cousin Evie's 1st Birthday Party in Rubery, near Birmingham (that's Mark's cousin Rog's daughter)
- Nursery friend, Ashleigh's Brithday Party
- The Last Supper with Alicia & Mike, who are back from caravanning and whose house we rented (yeah, we went to the Packhorse again - twice in a week!)
Thanks to all our UK friends who made our stay here incredible! We'll miss you so much!
All our bags are packed and although our UK adventure is coming to an end, our 'Guelph Adventure' is just beginning :)
Photos on Facebook
Ode to New Mills Photos
Cheers for reading,
Tarah (goodbye/see you later),
The Nicholson Family
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Viva Italia!
Bongiorno Family and Friends!
Whilst living in England we really wanted to take advantage of being super close to Europe. So when Italy came up in conversation, our friends, Al & Mike, whose house we are renting mentioned that Alicia's brother has a holiday villa in the Marche area and we would get the family & friends' rate (we only had to pay for the cleaners!) We checked the home out online and it looked amazing - we needed to use this hook up! I've also wanted to go to Venice since I did a French class project on the city in Grade 11 so it was decided - Venezia and San Ginesio Italia! To prepare for our trip, we drank lots of coffee and ate lots of pasta to use up as much of our food possible since we only had one more week in England on our return. We also told Liam it was going to be a week full of pizza, special ice cream called gelato, pasta and salami ('lami') - we were all excited:)
Strolling Through Venezia
We flew out to Venice from Manchester on Krystal's first of two Mother's Days this year - UK Mother's Day is in April (for any UK readers - Cdn Mother's day is in May) - total score! Our low cost Jet 2 flight left late and kept us on the plane about an hour before taking off - annoying, especially when the flight is only 2.5hrs. Upon arriving in Venice we decided to buy tickets for the coach style public transit bus for 5€ (euros) each taking us to Piazza Roma - the last stop for vehicles in the city. After that to get around it's either water taxi, water bus, gondolas for touring or walking - what we did as our hotel was close to this area. We read online of many people who had trouble finding their hotel because the main sign was either on the canal side and not visable from the pavement or it was on the most obscure narrow street. Fortunately, we had no trouble finding the Hotel Antiche Figure which was great since we arrived around 7:30p and we were all very hungry. Our hotel was right on the Grande Canale and a few restaurants were close by - we had antipasto, wine and gelato for the kids on one of the patios before heading up to sleep. The room was quite small, especially since Liam had his own bed (Gemma slept with us this time) so we left our pram on the main floor in the storage room.
We had heard that having a pram in Venice may be a nightmare with all the bridges and their steps. There was only one bridge that gave Mark stress and that was the Rialto - it's the main bridge with tons of steps and is super busy.
Whilst in Venice we did exactly what we wanted to do - ride the canal, see the large squares, drink coffee, and eat gelato, pizza and pasta. We didn't really want to do any inside stuff with the kids (and pram) as they would be bored and the weather was super nice - unseasonally warm (low-mid 20's).
We did our canal excursions on the water bus system - vaporettos. We got a 24hr pass for 18€ euros each (kids were free) and went on 5 times, including a nighttime 'cruise' where we went to the large San Marco square and just stayed on to take us back on a round trip:) We had the luckiest timing with this water bus trip because as it got dark, we saw lightning and began to hear thunder as we got nearer to our stop. During the walk to our hotel it started to rain and once in, it just pounded down. That's the only time it rained on our enitre trip!
We had also heard that Italians love kids, and we were like, sure, doesn't everyone? But they really do. Liam and Gemma were commented on constantly by Italian women and men of all ages. I think it was the blue eyes and blonde hair;) Actually, I'm pretty sure an Asian tourist took a photo of Liam running through a narrow street.
Venice wasn't too busy at this time of year, but we've heard it gets ridiculous in the summer. There were tourists from everywhere and lots of Italian tourists too. Some of them even thought Mark was Italian and started asking him directions in full-on Italian (he gets this a lot - happened in Iceland too!)
It is very hard to describe Venice in words other than amazing - the photos do more justice.
San Ginesio
After 3 nights in Venice it was off to the Marche area to San Ginesio. To get there we hired a car from the airport and got a Mercedes A160. Without stops, the trip was to be about 4.5hrs - with stops it took us about 6hrs. Italians know how to do rest stops - the food is fresh and delicious, served on real plates with real cutlery and bottles of olive oil and dressings are available to take to your table. One stop even had a little 'Balls Room' for the kids which they loved.
We followed instructions to get to the Casa Scrucchi Villa and almost went up the wrong farm road that would have got us stuck on a steep, long gravel road that's really only for farm traffic. The road didn't feel right so Mark got out to try to speak with the farmer, who only spoke Italian (which we don't speak at all) whilst his dogs were barking at our car. We decided to reverse and try the instructions again and got it right the second time 'round.
The renovated farm house was situated deep inside a lovely valley just outside San Ginesio. It was so deep in, our ears popped each time we got to or left the house in the car! The surroundings were just incredible as was the actual home. The home is rented out steadily throughout the summer season for a week or two at a time. The couple who own it provide a handy binder full of information on just about anything you could want to know about the local area. This area is not touristy at all, and most locals speak no English, although we did find a few that surprised us. There are a handful of British people who have purchased old farm houses and have renovated them. From what the older Italian man at the local coffee/gelato bar was telling us (all in Italian) he didn't like the trend - he kept pointing out people in the square and saying "Inglesie" (sp?), as in, English people ;) He seemed to really like us and the kids. He asked if we were American and we were quick to find a maple leaf on us somewhere:)
We had amazing meals out in this area and all for very reasonable prices. We did have to eat later though as most restaurants did't serve hot food until 7:30p, which we found out on our first night out. Our best meal in Italy was on our last night at a local San Ginesio restaurant situated just before the walled part of the town and it was only 25€! It was the same restaurant we tried to go to the first night out but got there too early and were only able to have antipasto.
Whilst in this area we also took a day trip to the coast to Civitanova and spent the afternoon on the pebbled beach. They really cater to families in this area - each restaurant and cafe has some sort of playpark attached. We stopped here again on the way back to Venice airport.
Mark went for a run one morning from the house (he tried to run in Venice but it was too busy with people traffic). During his 1hr run, Mark asked a farmer (with lots of hand gestures) if it was okay to run up the hill on his farm and the farmer got so excited that he was going to run up, he yelled something like "Fasta fasta fasta!"
It was super hot here too - mid to high 20's - it's supposed to be cooler than Venice, even though it's further south due to the Apennine Mountain Range. The kids spent lots of time while we were at the house under the large willow tree in the back garden that provided just enough shade.
By the end of our trip we got quite good at the basic Italian we needed and even threw in an accent to make it all sound better (thank you Woodbridge and The Sopranos) - "due cappuccino" (two cappuccinos), "arrivederci" (formal goodbye), "ciao" (casual hello/goodbye), "latte freddo" (cold milk), "cioccomenta" (mint chocolate chip), "cioccolati" (chocolate).
Again, it's quite difficult to describe this amazing location in words - the Photos will do a much better job.
Arrivederci Paesanos,
The Nicholson Family
Whilst living in England we really wanted to take advantage of being super close to Europe. So when Italy came up in conversation, our friends, Al & Mike, whose house we are renting mentioned that Alicia's brother has a holiday villa in the Marche area and we would get the family & friends' rate (we only had to pay for the cleaners!) We checked the home out online and it looked amazing - we needed to use this hook up! I've also wanted to go to Venice since I did a French class project on the city in Grade 11 so it was decided - Venezia and San Ginesio Italia! To prepare for our trip, we drank lots of coffee and ate lots of pasta to use up as much of our food possible since we only had one more week in England on our return. We also told Liam it was going to be a week full of pizza, special ice cream called gelato, pasta and salami ('lami') - we were all excited:)
Strolling Through Venezia
We flew out to Venice from Manchester on Krystal's first of two Mother's Days this year - UK Mother's Day is in April (for any UK readers - Cdn Mother's day is in May) - total score! Our low cost Jet 2 flight left late and kept us on the plane about an hour before taking off - annoying, especially when the flight is only 2.5hrs. Upon arriving in Venice we decided to buy tickets for the coach style public transit bus for 5€ (euros) each taking us to Piazza Roma - the last stop for vehicles in the city. After that to get around it's either water taxi, water bus, gondolas for touring or walking - what we did as our hotel was close to this area. We read online of many people who had trouble finding their hotel because the main sign was either on the canal side and not visable from the pavement or it was on the most obscure narrow street. Fortunately, we had no trouble finding the Hotel Antiche Figure which was great since we arrived around 7:30p and we were all very hungry. Our hotel was right on the Grande Canale and a few restaurants were close by - we had antipasto, wine and gelato for the kids on one of the patios before heading up to sleep. The room was quite small, especially since Liam had his own bed (Gemma slept with us this time) so we left our pram on the main floor in the storage room.
We had heard that having a pram in Venice may be a nightmare with all the bridges and their steps. There was only one bridge that gave Mark stress and that was the Rialto - it's the main bridge with tons of steps and is super busy.
Whilst in Venice we did exactly what we wanted to do - ride the canal, see the large squares, drink coffee, and eat gelato, pizza and pasta. We didn't really want to do any inside stuff with the kids (and pram) as they would be bored and the weather was super nice - unseasonally warm (low-mid 20's).
We did our canal excursions on the water bus system - vaporettos. We got a 24hr pass for 18€ euros each (kids were free) and went on 5 times, including a nighttime 'cruise' where we went to the large San Marco square and just stayed on to take us back on a round trip:) We had the luckiest timing with this water bus trip because as it got dark, we saw lightning and began to hear thunder as we got nearer to our stop. During the walk to our hotel it started to rain and once in, it just pounded down. That's the only time it rained on our enitre trip!
We had also heard that Italians love kids, and we were like, sure, doesn't everyone? But they really do. Liam and Gemma were commented on constantly by Italian women and men of all ages. I think it was the blue eyes and blonde hair;) Actually, I'm pretty sure an Asian tourist took a photo of Liam running through a narrow street.
Venice wasn't too busy at this time of year, but we've heard it gets ridiculous in the summer. There were tourists from everywhere and lots of Italian tourists too. Some of them even thought Mark was Italian and started asking him directions in full-on Italian (he gets this a lot - happened in Iceland too!)
It is very hard to describe Venice in words other than amazing - the photos do more justice.
San Ginesio
After 3 nights in Venice it was off to the Marche area to San Ginesio. To get there we hired a car from the airport and got a Mercedes A160. Without stops, the trip was to be about 4.5hrs - with stops it took us about 6hrs. Italians know how to do rest stops - the food is fresh and delicious, served on real plates with real cutlery and bottles of olive oil and dressings are available to take to your table. One stop even had a little 'Balls Room' for the kids which they loved.
We followed instructions to get to the Casa Scrucchi Villa and almost went up the wrong farm road that would have got us stuck on a steep, long gravel road that's really only for farm traffic. The road didn't feel right so Mark got out to try to speak with the farmer, who only spoke Italian (which we don't speak at all) whilst his dogs were barking at our car. We decided to reverse and try the instructions again and got it right the second time 'round.
The renovated farm house was situated deep inside a lovely valley just outside San Ginesio. It was so deep in, our ears popped each time we got to or left the house in the car! The surroundings were just incredible as was the actual home. The home is rented out steadily throughout the summer season for a week or two at a time. The couple who own it provide a handy binder full of information on just about anything you could want to know about the local area. This area is not touristy at all, and most locals speak no English, although we did find a few that surprised us. There are a handful of British people who have purchased old farm houses and have renovated them. From what the older Italian man at the local coffee/gelato bar was telling us (all in Italian) he didn't like the trend - he kept pointing out people in the square and saying "Inglesie" (sp?), as in, English people ;) He seemed to really like us and the kids. He asked if we were American and we were quick to find a maple leaf on us somewhere:)
We had amazing meals out in this area and all for very reasonable prices. We did have to eat later though as most restaurants did't serve hot food until 7:30p, which we found out on our first night out. Our best meal in Italy was on our last night at a local San Ginesio restaurant situated just before the walled part of the town and it was only 25€! It was the same restaurant we tried to go to the first night out but got there too early and were only able to have antipasto.
Whilst in this area we also took a day trip to the coast to Civitanova and spent the afternoon on the pebbled beach. They really cater to families in this area - each restaurant and cafe has some sort of playpark attached. We stopped here again on the way back to Venice airport.
Mark went for a run one morning from the house (he tried to run in Venice but it was too busy with people traffic). During his 1hr run, Mark asked a farmer (with lots of hand gestures) if it was okay to run up the hill on his farm and the farmer got so excited that he was going to run up, he yelled something like "Fasta fasta fasta!"
It was super hot here too - mid to high 20's - it's supposed to be cooler than Venice, even though it's further south due to the Apennine Mountain Range. The kids spent lots of time while we were at the house under the large willow tree in the back garden that provided just enough shade.
By the end of our trip we got quite good at the basic Italian we needed and even threw in an accent to make it all sound better (thank you Woodbridge and The Sopranos) - "due cappuccino" (two cappuccinos), "arrivederci" (formal goodbye), "ciao" (casual hello/goodbye), "latte freddo" (cold milk), "cioccomenta" (mint chocolate chip), "cioccolati" (chocolate).
Again, it's quite difficult to describe this amazing location in words - the Photos will do a much better job.
Arrivederci Paesanos,
The Nicholson Family
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Last Chance Weekend Trips
Hi Family and Friends,
The last blog was really just an update on what the kids are doing now – this one’s about all the places we went to in March. With Mark working full-time most of the month we really needed to cram the short trips we wanted to do into our weekends.
The last blog was really just an update on what the kids are doing now – this one’s about all the places we went to in March. With Mark working full-time most of the month we really needed to cram the short trips we wanted to do into our weekends.
Manchester & Olde York
We went to Manchester to meet up with Gramma Barb and Grampa Eric, who were on a weekend stopover on their way back from a trip to Africa. They took Mark and Liam on a trip on the Manchester Eye – a giant ferris wheel designed for city viewing – while I tried to get Gemma to nap whilst shopping at Next (a store we’re really going to miss – it’s like Gap meets H&M – fun basics at a reasonable price – great kids’ stuff). We went out to a “Nicholson’s” pub for tea-dinner (this is what we call dinner now, since where we live in England, dinner is ‘tea’ and lunch is ‘dinner’, or lunch-dinner for us).
The next day we drove 2hrs to the city of York to meet Gramma and Grampa who arrived by train. We checked out the National Railway Museum, which both Liam and Grampa enjoyed, walked through the city and along the old city walls, visited an old castle tower site and took a river cruise. After a lovely Italian tea-dinner we said our see-lots-of-you-soons, as we will all be practically neighbours when we move back to Guelph.
An Irish Life for Us (at least for a long weekend)
Mark booked a Monday & Tuesday off work after the second weekend in March as we had flights to visit friends in Belfast, Northern Ireland (the Ireland that’s part of the U.K., not the one that just went bankrupt). Before we left for Belfast, we made sure we got our heads around which Ireland we were actually going to. We didn’t want to embarrass ourselves, although we found ourselves constantly forgetting to clarify we were going to Northern Ireland. Like Scotland, N. Ireland uses the Great British Pound as currency and accepts ‘English’ pound notes, but gives out their own pound notes that can’t be used elsewhere in the U.K. – annoying. We flew with FlyBe, a low cost Belfast airline to Belfast City Airport and rented a car with child car seats (crap ones), but had our own SatNav (GPS) to get us to the Miskelly Residence. Julia, Mark’s childhood friend, her husband, Steve, and 4yr old, Olivia, were all on hand to welcome us to their home outside the city in the village of Darragh Cross, about a half hour drive from the airport.
Olivia and Liam had only met once before in August when our UK Adventure began but they were both so excited to see each other again! We arrived for dinner and Olivia had set up her little table for her and Liam, and also helped her mum set up his bed – super cute. The kids (Gemma included) got on so well all weekend together – it was so lovely (and relieving for all the parents!)
Our friends are very close to moving into their new home designed by Steve (he’s an architect) so we went for a short walk to get the Grande Tour. Ah-May-Zing! The kids had fun playing in Olivia’s playhouse outside and running around the empty rooms inside. I wanted to marry the kitchen. Mark may have an affair with the espresso machine. We will definitely return for a future visitJ
The Miskelly Family took us to one of Liam’s new favourite places – W5. It’s all about the Who, What, Where, When and Why of science. There are tonnes of hands-on experiments for kids - of all ages - but what Liam loved best was the kid-sized Tesco supermarket – complete with cash registerJ W5 has similarities to the Museum of Science and Industry we went to in Manchester but the little Tesco was the real winner of the day with two visits from the kids. Outside the W5 building is the harbour where the Titanic was built and launched. Two famed Harland & Wolff shipbuilding cranes, nicknamed Samson & Goliath also stand tall in the area.
We had Monday and Tuesday on our own since Julia and Steve had work(what’s that again?) and Olivia had Nursery. They recommended we do the Giant's Causeway and Coastal Route which sounded fine to us. The weather in N. Ireland is even less predictable than in England. As we drove North to the Causeway (not along the coast route) it was raining and hailing! By the time we got to our destination, it was sun and blue skies – so weird, but lucky for us! This area reminded us a lot of Iceland with the black molten lava sand and rocks and the basalt formations. From here we drove South along the Coastal Route – one of the top ten drives in the world, as some list compiler once stated. There are lots of stops to make along the route including a Castle and Old Bushmills Distillery (Whiskey) however we chose to stop over and do the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge – Yowzers! Honestly, this was really scary. I’m not great with heights, particularly on bridges and particularly when there is hardly any bridge beneath me. If it weren’t for Liam holding my hands and leading the way (I was scared for him too!) I wouldn’t have been able to make it without crying or swearing my face off. I did once utter a small ‘I hate this’ that I didn't think Liam would hear but he totally did. Gemma was brave too as it was fairly windy that day, especially on the bridge – Daddy held onto her tight. She also went up all the steps, with Daddy’s assistance, along the trail back up the hill to meet the pram we left behind.
Our last day we went into Belfast to see the city – an interesting concept indoor/outdoor shopping mall called Victoria Square, a Liverpool FC shop – random, but we guess there are a host of fans in Belfast since the two cities are just across the Irish Sea from each other and there are probably lots of ties to Liverpool. We drove through The Troubles, the area where walls of poetic graffiti now stand in place where violent clashes between Protestants and Catholics once took place. We also found two Spar Tim Hortons stores in and out of Belfast!
The kids were sad to say goodbye and still miss each other loads. Liam often asks if we are going to Ireland or if we’ll see Olivia when we’re going out somewhere. It was such a lovely visit and we were glad to go after having lived in the countryside ourselves as we really understand the appeal of British country living know. We weren’t there for St. Paddy’s day, but we did have Guinness – and it did taste better in Ireland! This trip concluded our visits to all the countries in the UK – YAY!
Lincoln, Lincolnshire (go figure)
We weren’t sure if we would be able to get in a visit with Mark’s cousins Ben and Roger before we left but by some magical luck, and a bit of planning on Facebook, we were all able to get together at Ben’s in Lincoln for a Saturday visit. We drove about 2.5hrs East to get there and Roger, Pauline and Elyse, now 13, drove about the same from Norforlk. They took us to a giant jungle gym play area in a warehouse that also served food. They seem to have a lot of these places in the UK and we think we don’t have a lot of them in Canada for two main reasons: 1. Insurance and Liability and 2. Health and Safety. They are great for kids and parents though. Liam and Gemma got right to it in the under 5 area. Gemma showed Pauline the attitude she’s developing by giving her the funniest, skeptical ‘looks’ all afternoon – Pauline runs a homebased Nursery and kids are usually drawn to her so this made Gemma’s looks even more humourous. Back at Ben’s we had fun with bubbles in the back garden until we had to leave to make the drive back to New Mills - with a stop for tea-dinner at the ‘Burger Store’. We’ve had bubble fun at our house since then – thanks again for the bubbles pack Pauline! And thanks to Ben, Rog & Family for a lovely visit!
The Lakes (not 'Great', but pretty good)
The day Mark finished his online course we picked Liam up for Nursery in a rental car and we headed North for the Lake District. It was different walking up to the Nursery without Gemma and the pram - usually when I pick him up, Gemma waits outside with the other toddlers and babies in prams! What was supposed to be a 2hr drive to The Lakes turned into a 3.5hr drive with traffic around Greater Manchester and a stop at the ‘Burger Store’, of course. We arrived in the town of Kendal at the cottage we rented for the weekend (or 'Hotel House' as Liam called it) with provisions in hand – donuts (albeit, Krispy Kremes), beer, tea, Cheerios and Thomas the Tank pasta shapes. This trip was a two-for-one – a visit to the Lakes and a trail race for Mark. We had Saturday to explore Kendal and nearby towns Windermere and Bowness both along Lake Windermere, the largest of England’s lakes. Liam averaged two ice creams a day here.
The race was on Sunday in Grizedale Forest, about 45 minutes from Kendal. The kids and I didn’t hang out near the race area, since there was a play area and café further into the park. After our lunch-dinner and a runaround at the play park, we attempted to make it back to the race area by walking trail to see Mark finish, but not even 1/3 of the way in, Mark texted that he had already finished! In 20th place, we later found out! We got back to Kendal a bit late for a good tea-dinner out – many restaurants in this area are normally only open for the day and not open at all on Sundays so it was KFC for us. Liam was quite excited to find out there was such thing as a ‘Brown Chicken Store’J
We headed back to New Mills on Monday morning and even with a stop at the Stockport Tesco for Liam to have a ‘wee’, by some miracle, I fed the kids and got Liam to Nursery on time while Mark returned the car - on time and full of petrol.
When Mark was young, his family would do a trip to The Lakes about once a year, and before we had kids, we did a trip to Ambleside, also in the Lake District so it was nice to visit this area again during our UK Adventure.
Our next blog post will be on our last trip while in the UK – to Italy! We’re really taking advantage of the fact that mainland Europe is just a few hours away. And we really won’t be going anywhere for the next year or so;)
Photos of Ireland: Facebook UK - March N. Ireland
Other Photos: Facebook UK - March
Mark's Race Photo
Other Photos: Facebook UK - March
Mark's Race Photo
Cheers and thanks for reading (I know it was another long one),
The Nicholson Family
The Nicholson Family
Thursday, March 31, 2011
A Spring in THEIR Steps - Family Update
Hiya Family and Friends,
This blog is mostly a family update - okay, mostly a kids update :) We've been busy in March with weekend trips which we'll blog about soon.
The past two weeks in the Manchester area have been just glorious! Highs of around 18C and sunny - we've all even got some colour! (Probably should have got the kids' sun lotion out) It's been great to go out in T-shirts and hoodies - no coats! Just yesterday and today though it's been a bit rainy and cool so it looks like it's going back to typical English weather. Everyone here is curious about how the weather is back home and what it will be like when we go back in a couple of weeks - they are very surprised to hear there was a huge snowfall last week and it's very possible there will be snow when we get back! We're all looking forward to the Spring double feature. We just turned the clocks forward on the weekend (two weeks after Canada) so it is extra nice having sunlight into the evening - although it makes it harder to convince Liam that it's bedtime.
The past two weeks in the Manchester area have been just glorious! Highs of around 18C and sunny - we've all even got some colour! (Probably should have got the kids' sun lotion out) It's been great to go out in T-shirts and hoodies - no coats! Just yesterday and today though it's been a bit rainy and cool so it looks like it's going back to typical English weather. Everyone here is curious about how the weather is back home and what it will be like when we go back in a couple of weeks - they are very surprised to hear there was a huge snowfall last week and it's very possible there will be snow when we get back! We're all looking forward to the Spring double feature. We just turned the clocks forward on the weekend (two weeks after Canada) so it is extra nice having sunlight into the evening - although it makes it harder to convince Liam that it's bedtime.
Liam had his first ever Dentist appointment last week. It was with a private practice, as opposed to an NHS practice which would have been free since he is under 16 (the NHS is so great!). Liam has a ‘bad tooth’, as we call it, and I wanted it checked out before we left the UK but I left calling the NHS office too late not realizing they would have a 2-3 month waiting list and we would already be back home by then. The visit was only £16.50 but Liam didn’t even get in the chair. He didn’t even go near the Dentist. He wouldn’t even open his mouth for her! I had a Plan B in my back pocket in case this happened – Just Keep on Roaring - yes, like a lion. So Liam literally roared his way through the appointment whist standing near the chair and holding onto me tightly while the Dentist did her best to look at his bad tooth. From what she could see his tooth is just stained and we can just work on his comfort level at the Dentist back in Canada. And we’ll try to claim the appointment on our health insurance back home although we don’t think Manulife will like the receipt we got – the cost printed on the back of their leaflet with a handwritten ‘Children’s Dental Exam’ – yeah right!
Liam’s embracing his role as a big brother – he gets really protective of Gemma if another child plays with her ‘not gentle’ and if she is upset he sings - without prompting - one of her favourite songs (‘Twinkle Twinkle’ or Upsy Daisy’s song). He also likes holding her hand as we help her walk and wants to help get her dressed and change her nappy – we’ll see how long that one lasts!
He’s really enjoying Nursery and all his friends (I'm totally going to cry on his last day, I know it) He says he knows all the boys’ names but not all the girls’. He is going to a girl’s bday party the day before we come home and has already told her what gift we got her J. Although I think his favourite part of Nursery is finding out I’ve come with a ‘train biscuit’ from the local Potts Family Bakery which happens at least twice a week – always on Friday Treat Day J It's been very exciting at Nursery this week with the arrival of Easter chicks, hatching at the Nursery in an incubator! Seems as though everyone in town with small kids is talking about it:) I heart small towns.
Liam has an English accent on certain words and names that he learns at Nursery like ‘reading record’, the journal I write in about the books he brings home twice a week, Lucar (Luca), Lolar (Lola) and other words that just sound different here like yogurt is ‘yog-hurt’ and to Liam it’s ‘yockit’!
Toilet training is going really well – he made it through our Barcelona and N. Ireland trips in only underwear (during the day) without an accident and has had only 1 accident at Nursery – but I do wonder if it was because his friend Rowan was having accidents and he wanted to have one too! He’s also out of nappies and into Big Boy Pull-Ups for nighttime – some are even dry in the morning too which we seriously didn’t think would happen until he was 5!
We’ve been talking to Liam a lot about our ‘Guelph House’ and getting him excited about returning to Canada. He’s expecting blue ice cream (hopefully someone still makes ‘Superkid’!) and playing with our new street neighbours Deacon and Ronan lots at the park behind our house. He is excited to do lots of gardening, plant a veggie patch and see the flowers come out from hiding in the ground for the second time this year. He’s also excited about timbits and is desperate to see our dog, OD. He’s been treating the stuffed dog (really a door stop) we got in Scotland which he named Coco Begeone (?) like a real dog! He also talks about visiting his cousin, Ella, in Malaysia, but that’s not happening anytime soon!
He’s really enjoying Nursery and all his friends (I'm totally going to cry on his last day, I know it) He says he knows all the boys’ names but not all the girls’. He is going to a girl’s bday party the day before we come home and has already told her what gift we got her J. Although I think his favourite part of Nursery is finding out I’ve come with a ‘train biscuit’ from the local Potts Family Bakery which happens at least twice a week – always on Friday Treat Day J It's been very exciting at Nursery this week with the arrival of Easter chicks, hatching at the Nursery in an incubator! Seems as though everyone in town with small kids is talking about it:) I heart small towns.
Liam has an English accent on certain words and names that he learns at Nursery like ‘reading record’, the journal I write in about the books he brings home twice a week, Lucar (Luca), Lolar (Lola) and other words that just sound different here like yogurt is ‘yog-hurt’ and to Liam it’s ‘yockit’!
Toilet training is going really well – he made it through our Barcelona and N. Ireland trips in only underwear (during the day) without an accident and has had only 1 accident at Nursery – but I do wonder if it was because his friend Rowan was having accidents and he wanted to have one too! He’s also out of nappies and into Big Boy Pull-Ups for nighttime – some are even dry in the morning too which we seriously didn’t think would happen until he was 5!
We’ve been talking to Liam a lot about our ‘Guelph House’ and getting him excited about returning to Canada. He’s expecting blue ice cream (hopefully someone still makes ‘Superkid’!) and playing with our new street neighbours Deacon and Ronan lots at the park behind our house. He is excited to do lots of gardening, plant a veggie patch and see the flowers come out from hiding in the ground for the second time this year. He’s also excited about timbits and is desperate to see our dog, OD. He’s been treating the stuffed dog (really a door stop) we got in Scotland which he named Coco Begeone (?) like a real dog! He also talks about visiting his cousin, Ella, in Malaysia, but that’s not happening anytime soon!
Gemma is… wait for it… WALKING! She has been able to take 6 - 10 steps for about 6 weeks but really had to be persuaded to do so. And just this past week she has been convinced that it’s a good idea and is happily walking about on her own. She’s even got the confidence to walk around in the Children’s Centre playgroups and at the playground! There have been lots of falls, some flat on her tummy! We can tell she was trying to run first, just like her brother (and her Daddy)!
On that note, she is now obsessed with doing everything Liam does like drinking leftover cereal milk right from the bowl (Mark, who did they get that from?), and pressing buttons on lifts (elevators) or for automatic doors. She has also started to ‘roar’ with him! We can only hope she will toilet train sooner – although she’ll likely want to stand up like Liam too!
Finally after months of literally having gums the shape of molars, Gemma’s four 1yr molars came through. She arrived in England with 4 teeth and will probably leave with 16 if her last 3 incisors come out in the next 2 weeks!
Now that Gemma’s walking better she’s also ‘talking’ more and will say a new ‘word’ every day or so. The only word she says like Liam did so far is ‘dogga’ (doggie), although unlike Liam, she seems to know the difference between dogs, cats and horses J
Gemma’s really developing personality. She is definitely not a girl that will sit still and colour in the lines. She pinches Liam, hits him, swipes his toys or snack and sometimes does all this just to give him ‘I’m sorry’ cuddles and kisses. She just does it to him so we’re fairly certain she wants his attention. Liam must really love her because he puts up with a lot.
She's taken an interest in 'helping' in the kitchen - by this I mean taking out all the herbs and spices from the cupboard, placing them on the floor and then putting them back in (and not in the same spot either!) She's fairly careful however a lot of packaging here is still glass so I worry about her dropping one and it breaking. Although the real danger comes from catching her tiny fingers in the door as she plays with that too:)
Aside from not proper walking until she's 19 months, Gemma's showing all signs she's going to be quite athletic (music to Daddy's ears). She's really great at throwing and catching, loves to kick and even tried to before she could stand, loves hockey sticks and has amazing balance. We think she will be a gymnastics girl seeing as she has always been crazy strong for her small size, she's got really good form during 'Cool Tricks' with Daddy (she tucks her head in for landings!) and she loves music and dancing.
The English weather we've had this winter has been really great for Gemma -she's become poorly with the regular cold viruses but didn't get near as bad as last year when she required many nights in hospital. And the warm (and early) Spring we've had here has been great too! For some reason, Gemma, Liam and me all got eczema (pronounced eck-zehma here, not ex-zeema) - having never had it before! All taken care of with free Aveeno lotion (can you believe it?) as prescribed for Gemma - it wasn't Baby Aveeno -they don't have that here- but it worked!
Mark's off work now from an extended P.E. coverage at a Manchester school - it was only supposed to be from 2nd Feb to 2nd March but was extended until 22nd March (and could have been longer but Mark was ready to finish). It was great for him to end his employment in the UK on such a high note. (Special Edition Mark Blog still Coming Soon) So our UK Adventure finishes the way it began for Mark - on holiday and spending time with the family. He did a 10 mile trail race in the Lake District on the weekend (finished 20th just ahead of the first female) and is attempting to bike across England in 3 segments before we leave - he completed the first leg today from Liverpool to New Mills along the Trans Pennine Trail - 70 miles in 6 hours.Photo of: Mark's Race
The big news in New Mills is the newest cafe, Revive, and despite the fact that it's affiliated with the local 'Revival' Church, I still go:) It's steps from the Nursery and doesn't have any steps to haul the pram over to get in (very important!). Plus they have Chai Lattes. I've already been with 2 different Mummy friends (and many times myself) and picked Liam up sorta-late once because of it - Yikes!
That's all the updating for now - will blog again soon with weekend trip details from York, Belfast, Lincoln and The Lakes.
Photos: Facebook
Cheers,
The Nicholson Family
Thursday, March 17, 2011
The Countdown is Really On
Hi Family and Friends,
In the last month of our Nicholson Family UK Adventure, we find ourselves reflecting on our stay and taking everything in - even trips to the supermarket - there won't be any sheep on our trip to Zehrs back in Guelph!
We have very mixed feelings on leaving. We are really excited to get back onto Canadian soil and see our family, friends and our house in Guelph that we only lived in for 3 weeks before coming to England. We (okay, mostly Mark) sometimes forget what it looks like:) And it'll be nice not to be living on our 'Gap 8 months' budget with Mark returning to work full-time.
On the other hand, we are really, truly going to miss living in New Mills and England. It's been so great seeing so much of our UK friends and family here and meeting new friends too. I've also really gotten into the Stay-at-Home-Mum groove and I have all sorts of mixed feelings about looking for a new job when I get back (I wish Toronto wasn't such a crap commute!).
I'm feeling the stress of moving again when I look at all our stuff and wonder how the H-E-double-hockey-sticks we are going to get it all back? We purposely brought clothes with us that we'll leave here and we're also posting some stuff back to ourselves like Gemma's baby clothes that no longer fit and our Christmas stockings. We're looking into options with Air Transat who we're flying back with in regard to excess baggage. We looked into upgrading our flights to 'club class' for Mark and I, but didn't realize it was their name for first class and we wouldn't want to leave Liam in economy:) It would be way too much for all of us to travel 'club class'.
We're also trying to squeeze everything in while we're still here - visits with friends and family, trips to Ireland, the Lake District and Italy, and of course, one last trip to Thomas Land for Liam. We've been telling Liam since we went the first time that we will go again before we move back to Canada as our transition for him so that trip is a must. Plus, I wouldn't mind going on some of those rides again:)
Things We'll Really Miss:
Things We're Really Looking Forward to:
Tick Tock Tick Tock
Back in Canada in one month on 18th April.
Cheers,
The Nicholson Family
On the other hand, we are really, truly going to miss living in New Mills and England. It's been so great seeing so much of our UK friends and family here and meeting new friends too. I've also really gotten into the Stay-at-Home-Mum groove and I have all sorts of mixed feelings about looking for a new job when I get back (I wish Toronto wasn't such a crap commute!).
I'm feeling the stress of moving again when I look at all our stuff and wonder how the H-E-double-hockey-sticks we are going to get it all back? We purposely brought clothes with us that we'll leave here and we're also posting some stuff back to ourselves like Gemma's baby clothes that no longer fit and our Christmas stockings. We're looking into options with Air Transat who we're flying back with in regard to excess baggage. We looked into upgrading our flights to 'club class' for Mark and I, but didn't realize it was their name for first class and we wouldn't want to leave Liam in economy:) It would be way too much for all of us to travel 'club class'.
We're also trying to squeeze everything in while we're still here - visits with friends and family, trips to Ireland, the Lake District and Italy, and of course, one last trip to Thomas Land for Liam. We've been telling Liam since we went the first time that we will go again before we move back to Canada as our transition for him so that trip is a must. Plus, I wouldn't mind going on some of those rides again:)
Things We'll Really Miss:
- Being so close to UK Family and Friends
- The Milk Man
- The Beautiful Scenery of the Peak District and Derbyshire
- Liam's New Friends from Nursery - Liam asked if he could bring Rowan with us:)
- The Children's Centre - I just don't think Ontario Early Years will be the same
- Mark's 'Mr. Canada' Supply Teaching Gig - he's really enjoyed his time teaching here - Special Edition Mark Blog Post Coming Soon!
- Sky Plus - it's like having free PVR
- Sky Atlantic - it's like having free HBO ('Entourage' is Mark's 'show')
- Our local Chippy - best Fish 'n Chips
- Hilly New Mills - I hated the hills at first, but pushing the pram up them got me in really great shape
- Great Train Service
- Great Football (soccer) Coverage
- Comedy on the Tele (Mark will miss his 'Mock the Week')
Things We're Really Looking Forward to:
- Seeing our dog, OD (try to hold in your excited pee when you see us)
- Seeing Family and Friends
- Proper Tim Hortons Coffee - Spar Timmers is just not the same :(
- Proper Timbits - Mummy's banana muffin 'timbits' just aren't the same either
- Getting Our House Set Up - for us this time as opposed to renters
- Swiss Chalet - do you think we can request a Festive Special in April? No?
- Dairy Queen Blizzards - oh yeah!
- Our Subaru - we miss you 2002 Impreza Outback Sport, please work for us when we get home
- Having a Local Bank - Mark has an HSBC account through work and there isn't a branch in New Mills. And bank charges here are ridiculous
- Getting Cash from an ATM (and not Mark) - I didn't bother getting a bank card through Mark's account so he's been my sugar daddy this whole time
- Making Proper Salaries Again - Mark's supply work has been random and my mat leave benefits finished shortly after we arrived in the UK so it will definitely be nice to bring home the bacon again
- Buying 6 Tins of Baked Beans in one go at the grocery store without shame
Tick Tock Tick Tock
Back in Canada in one month on 18th April.
Cheers,
The Nicholson Family
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Me Gusta Barcelona
Hola Familia y Amigos!
Where: Barcelona, the capital of the Catalonia region in Spain
When: February Half-Term (Monday 21st - Friday 25th) - this is the first UK spring break - the other is 2 weeks at Easter in between terms! (so lucky, eh?)
Why: We toyed with going to a sun-destination, but we really enjoy visiting large cities (we always have, but we probably also miss Toronto a bit). Liam's been desperate to play on a beach for months and Gemma doesn't care what we're doing as long as she's part of the action. Mark had been to Barcelona before during a 6-week Europe trip with his his BF, Nick, after Uni, but I (Krystal) had never been to Spain at all.
As we left for Manchester Airport in our rental car, it was randomly snowing and we worried that the 'Nicholson' flight cancellation curse which has plighted Mark's brother's family as of late was going to transfer to our Nicholson Family however, lucky for us, this was not the case. Mark had a brilliant idea to rent a car for the weekend, return it at the airport, store our child carseats at the airport in the 'excess baggage' area for 5£/item/day whilst away and hire a car when we got back - more value for money than just taking an airport taxi both ways.
We flew with Lufthansa via Dusseldorf, which Liam pronounced: 'Boosel-doorf?' - he's so funny. We were able to go through the express line with pram (oversized item) for baggage clearance, but got stuck behind a family of Muslims going to UAE with tons of liquids over 100mL (yeah, they totally got drilled by security). We had to open up 2/4 apple sauces, taste and eat straight away since they would spill all over our luggage (note to self: try to stuff them in checked baggage next time). I don't know why they do that - they don't make me use my hand sanitizer or lotion? Annoying.
The actual flights with Lufthansa were great, even though we were split up for the first flight (I sat alone with Gemma on my lap in a two-seater row with an empty seat next to me - sweet!). It was nice flying with a proper airline for once as opposed to the low-cost airlines that we've gone on lately. It's nice to get drinks and snacks and not have to pay for them.
Arriving in Barcelona, we got a taxi from the airport (sans carseats) and held on tight to Gemma. The not-so-funny thing is, it's not illegal to hold onto an infant in the back seat of a taxi - not in UK either! - Yikes! It cost 30 €
(euros) to get to our hotel, including a tip, which we expected from what we read online.
BEST HOTEL EVER! Petit Palace Museum Hotel was modernized 4 years ago and is in a great area of the city, just north of Las Ramblas - the main strip. We had a family room with bunk beds for Liam (he slept on the bottom bunk and we used the other mattress as a crash pad in case of a fall), a travel cot was already set up for Gemma and there was a Dell laptop with WiFi - total selling feature since Mark had a project for his online course due. The hotel also welcomed the kids with cute stuffed hippo and crocodile, and regularly had lollies at the front desk, which Liam (and Mummy) loved.
We got into the city just in time for dinner - most Barcelona locals eat dinner at 8-9pm, although many restaurants are open earlier and we ate at around 6 most nights. We had heard from everyone to watch our wallets in this city so we were really alert the first night - I wore my messanger-style handbag under my rain coat and Mark relived his backpacker days, keeping his wallet in a pocket in shorts he wore under his pants! After feeling absolutely ridiculous and seeing loads of tourists about, carelessly swinging their designer handbags around, I opted to wear mine normally, but keeping the zippers in front of me. Mark noted that we lived in Toronto for a long time and are smart about this sort of stuff. He did opt to keep his wallet under his pants, but I think it was because it made him feel like he was in University again and he did just have a birthday :)
The only sketch part of the whole trip was on our first morning in a cafe for breakfast and a guy who we later found out was from the Congo came over asking for money. That wasn't necessarily the problem - he just continued to talk to us and he still had some white make-up on his face from buskering the day before. Dude, just take the handout and move on.
Onto the real sights: Barcelona is full of amazing architecture (lots of Gaudi) from when the walls of the city opened up and expanded to L'Eixample district in 1860.
Sights & Experience Highlights:
Las Ramblas - outdoor promenade with buskers, kiosks (some selling caged pets!) a famous drinking fountain (Canaletes), and the entrance to the main market, 'Mercat de St. Josep' or 'La Boquiera' as it's . La Rambla, the street leads to the Port Vell where a statue of Christopher Columbus turning his back on the city stands.
Plaça Catalunya - 2 huge fountains and a large square that Liam loved.
Casa Mila Mila or La Pedrera (Gaudi) - I remembered this one as a favourite from Art History and Mark wanted to see the 'storm trooper-esque' rooftop so we did the tour and actually went inside. They had 'buggy parking' for the pram and offered a carrier for Gemma, although we wanted to get her walking a bit so we declined. It was really interesting Modernisme (Catalan art-nouveau) architecture consisting of wavy concrete and iron, and a good stop for the kids to play around on the rooftop. The craziest is that people actually live there and during the day loads of tourists are trampling through! If you take the stairs, you see notes on doors asking not to knock or enter:)
Basilica de la Sagrada Familia (Gaudi) - This is the unfinished Gaudi legacy - and there were lots of cranes and construction to prove it. There was also lots of reconstruction going on as there always is with older buildings. We didn't go in this one as we had already had a big day and thought it would be too much for the kids. We walked around the entire site. Mum and Dad admired the architecture while Liam admired the cranes and all the work going on (we seriously stopped to watch a crane lift some large steel rods!)
The Markets -We went into two markets but Mercat St. Josep (official name) off Las Ramblas, is the most popular with tourists. We bought a few things on different occassions- coffees, delicious fresh fruit, fruit juices, pasta for lunch and almonds for snicky-snacks. Prices are better before 10am when locals shop. It was great getting such fresh produce - some just shipped in from North Africa:)
Parc de la Ciutadella - the site of a Universal Exposition in 1888, a ginormous public park with an impressive fountain structure (La Cascada) designed by a number of Catalan artists (including Gaudi). The Catalan Parliament meets in one of the buildings here, plus there's a zoo, a few museums, a play park and lots of sculptures. We ate our market lunch by the fountain one day and watched the locals 'siesta' - mostly kids playing football:)
The Beach - the Barceloneta beach is very much like the Toronto beaches in look and function and also has a boardwalk. The area was revitalized for the 1992 Olympics and the residential buildings in this area were created for the Olympic Village. We spent an afternoon at the beach - not warm enough to go for a swim, but we all had fun playing in the sand.
Montjuic - a big hill by the sea and the site of a Jewish cemetary in the Middle Ages (hence the name - Jewish Mountain), a second Universal Exposition in 1929 and most of the Olympic events & celebrations in 1992. We didn't realize the fenicular was part of the metro system and couldn't figure out how to get on it to get up so we walked - yowzers - Mark pushed the pram up! Once up, we took a cable car ride to the very top to explore the Castle and have lunch (Liam enjoyed looking at the shipping docks below). From the cable car we had great views of the city and could see the Palace on Montjuic as well. We took the fenicular down and connected with the metro back into the 'downtown'.
The Tapas - not Catalonian, but Spanish and great for eating out with kids - you can order lots of variety and the food just keeps on coming! We went to two tapas-style restaurants. We felt confident overall with our restaurant choices as there were quite a few locals dining at each one. Mum and Dad also sampled the Sangria and Cava (Catalan champaign).
Mark went for a run early one morning down La Rambla (street) to the beach and back. He tries to run once or twice in cities we visit on holiday - he only got out once in Barcelona since he needed to finish up his project during our down time:)
My University Spanish prof would be amused at my attempt to speak Spanish in Barcelona. It wasn't required as most people do speak some English, but it definitely helped and I believe that people appreciate and treat you better if you attempt to speak their language. Although locals in Barcelona apparently speak Catalan - a mix of Provencal French and Italian - it all sounded Spanish to me, although I have been known to mix up my French and Spanish anyway.
My Spanish came in handy when ordering our white coffees (with milk - cafe con leche), cold milk (leche frio) for the kids at restaurants as milk in Europe comes warm and with sugar - we saw this in Prague too. It was also useful while shopping and for saying how old the kids were in order for Liam to get a lower chldren's rate for some tickets (Casa Mila, Cable car). The only problem was that numerous times I would be spoken back to in full-on Catalan or Spanish and have no idea what was said, then having to do the meek 'sorry?'
Most transit systems in Europe (and UK too) seem to be free for kids under 5 which is great. We bought a T10 metro pass, which we had read on travel sites was the best value for 9 €. It got us 10 rides on transit and was good for multiple people with pass-back allowed (you reading this, Toronto?) We used it for the subway and the fenicular. We had trouble getting the pram through one of the turnstiles in the metro and a group of young African guys assisted us through the right one - cheers guys!
My Spanish also came in handy when we had to go to the Farmacia (pharmacy) - one time to see if we could get an oral steroid (prednisolone) without a prescription for Gemma's new cough and a second time to get more kids paracetamol (like Tylenol). We got the paracetamol but not the steroid since I couldn't remember what her dosage was, but had I, I would have gotten it. (We took Gemma to the Urgent Care Clinic when we got back to England and she got the meds she needed.)
The only souveniers we bought were an FC Barcelona ball for the kids and a 'windy thing' for Liam - one of those things you stick in the garden and the top spins around with the wind. There were lots of other things we could've bought, but nothing we really fancied enough to lug back with us (we're also being very conservative now that we're coming back home soon and haven't got much room in our luggage).
Our taxi back to the airport was way safer than the first we took - this one was more like a minivan and the back seats had built in booster seat conversions and a child seat on hand for Gemma. Our two flights back to Manchester were similar to the flights we took there and we were split up between Dusseldorf and Manchester. Back in Manchester I had no trouble getting back into the UK with my Visa (didn't ask me if I had a job like last time - being a Stay-at-Home Mum is work enough!). We picked up the kids' car seats from excess baggage for 40£ total (not bad) and got our new car hire. When we got back to New Mills, I took Gemma straight to the Urgent Care Clinic for her cough while Mark and Liam got Fish 'n Chips.
Overall Barcelona was beautiful (the great weather definitely made it more comfortable seeing the city), the food was delicious and the people were lovely.
Photos: Facebook
Adéu,La Familia Nicholson
Where: Barcelona, the capital of the Catalonia region in Spain
When: February Half-Term (Monday 21st - Friday 25th) - this is the first UK spring break - the other is 2 weeks at Easter in between terms! (so lucky, eh?)
Why: We toyed with going to a sun-destination, but we really enjoy visiting large cities (we always have, but we probably also miss Toronto a bit). Liam's been desperate to play on a beach for months and Gemma doesn't care what we're doing as long as she's part of the action. Mark had been to Barcelona before during a 6-week Europe trip with his his BF, Nick, after Uni, but I (Krystal) had never been to Spain at all.
As we left for Manchester Airport in our rental car, it was randomly snowing and we worried that the 'Nicholson' flight cancellation curse which has plighted Mark's brother's family as of late was going to transfer to our Nicholson Family however, lucky for us, this was not the case. Mark had a brilliant idea to rent a car for the weekend, return it at the airport, store our child carseats at the airport in the 'excess baggage' area for 5£/item/day whilst away and hire a car when we got back - more value for money than just taking an airport taxi both ways.
We flew with Lufthansa via Dusseldorf, which Liam pronounced: 'Boosel-doorf?' - he's so funny. We were able to go through the express line with pram (oversized item) for baggage clearance, but got stuck behind a family of Muslims going to UAE with tons of liquids over 100mL (yeah, they totally got drilled by security). We had to open up 2/4 apple sauces, taste and eat straight away since they would spill all over our luggage (note to self: try to stuff them in checked baggage next time). I don't know why they do that - they don't make me use my hand sanitizer or lotion? Annoying.
The actual flights with Lufthansa were great, even though we were split up for the first flight (I sat alone with Gemma on my lap in a two-seater row with an empty seat next to me - sweet!). It was nice flying with a proper airline for once as opposed to the low-cost airlines that we've gone on lately. It's nice to get drinks and snacks and not have to pay for them.
Arriving in Barcelona, we got a taxi from the airport (sans carseats) and held on tight to Gemma. The not-so-funny thing is, it's not illegal to hold onto an infant in the back seat of a taxi - not in UK either! - Yikes! It cost 30 €
(euros) to get to our hotel, including a tip, which we expected from what we read online.
BEST HOTEL EVER! Petit Palace Museum Hotel was modernized 4 years ago and is in a great area of the city, just north of Las Ramblas - the main strip. We had a family room with bunk beds for Liam (he slept on the bottom bunk and we used the other mattress as a crash pad in case of a fall), a travel cot was already set up for Gemma and there was a Dell laptop with WiFi - total selling feature since Mark had a project for his online course due. The hotel also welcomed the kids with cute stuffed hippo and crocodile, and regularly had lollies at the front desk, which Liam (and Mummy) loved.
We got into the city just in time for dinner - most Barcelona locals eat dinner at 8-9pm, although many restaurants are open earlier and we ate at around 6 most nights. We had heard from everyone to watch our wallets in this city so we were really alert the first night - I wore my messanger-style handbag under my rain coat and Mark relived his backpacker days, keeping his wallet in a pocket in shorts he wore under his pants! After feeling absolutely ridiculous and seeing loads of tourists about, carelessly swinging their designer handbags around, I opted to wear mine normally, but keeping the zippers in front of me. Mark noted that we lived in Toronto for a long time and are smart about this sort of stuff. He did opt to keep his wallet under his pants, but I think it was because it made him feel like he was in University again and he did just have a birthday :)
The only sketch part of the whole trip was on our first morning in a cafe for breakfast and a guy who we later found out was from the Congo came over asking for money. That wasn't necessarily the problem - he just continued to talk to us and he still had some white make-up on his face from buskering the day before. Dude, just take the handout and move on.
Onto the real sights: Barcelona is full of amazing architecture (lots of Gaudi) from when the walls of the city opened up and expanded to L'Eixample district in 1860.
Sights & Experience Highlights:
Las Ramblas - outdoor promenade with buskers, kiosks (some selling caged pets!) a famous drinking fountain (Canaletes), and the entrance to the main market, 'Mercat de St. Josep' or 'La Boquiera' as it's . La Rambla, the street leads to the Port Vell where a statue of Christopher Columbus turning his back on the city stands.
Plaça Catalunya - 2 huge fountains and a large square that Liam loved.
Casa Mila Mila or La Pedrera (Gaudi) - I remembered this one as a favourite from Art History and Mark wanted to see the 'storm trooper-esque' rooftop so we did the tour and actually went inside. They had 'buggy parking' for the pram and offered a carrier for Gemma, although we wanted to get her walking a bit so we declined. It was really interesting Modernisme (Catalan art-nouveau) architecture consisting of wavy concrete and iron, and a good stop for the kids to play around on the rooftop. The craziest is that people actually live there and during the day loads of tourists are trampling through! If you take the stairs, you see notes on doors asking not to knock or enter:)
Basilica de la Sagrada Familia (Gaudi) - This is the unfinished Gaudi legacy - and there were lots of cranes and construction to prove it. There was also lots of reconstruction going on as there always is with older buildings. We didn't go in this one as we had already had a big day and thought it would be too much for the kids. We walked around the entire site. Mum and Dad admired the architecture while Liam admired the cranes and all the work going on (we seriously stopped to watch a crane lift some large steel rods!)
The Markets -We went into two markets but Mercat St. Josep (official name) off Las Ramblas, is the most popular with tourists. We bought a few things on different occassions- coffees, delicious fresh fruit, fruit juices, pasta for lunch and almonds for snicky-snacks. Prices are better before 10am when locals shop. It was great getting such fresh produce - some just shipped in from North Africa:)
Parc de la Ciutadella - the site of a Universal Exposition in 1888, a ginormous public park with an impressive fountain structure (La Cascada) designed by a number of Catalan artists (including Gaudi). The Catalan Parliament meets in one of the buildings here, plus there's a zoo, a few museums, a play park and lots of sculptures. We ate our market lunch by the fountain one day and watched the locals 'siesta' - mostly kids playing football:)
The Beach - the Barceloneta beach is very much like the Toronto beaches in look and function and also has a boardwalk. The area was revitalized for the 1992 Olympics and the residential buildings in this area were created for the Olympic Village. We spent an afternoon at the beach - not warm enough to go for a swim, but we all had fun playing in the sand.
Montjuic - a big hill by the sea and the site of a Jewish cemetary in the Middle Ages (hence the name - Jewish Mountain), a second Universal Exposition in 1929 and most of the Olympic events & celebrations in 1992. We didn't realize the fenicular was part of the metro system and couldn't figure out how to get on it to get up so we walked - yowzers - Mark pushed the pram up! Once up, we took a cable car ride to the very top to explore the Castle and have lunch (Liam enjoyed looking at the shipping docks below). From the cable car we had great views of the city and could see the Palace on Montjuic as well. We took the fenicular down and connected with the metro back into the 'downtown'.
The Tapas - not Catalonian, but Spanish and great for eating out with kids - you can order lots of variety and the food just keeps on coming! We went to two tapas-style restaurants. We felt confident overall with our restaurant choices as there were quite a few locals dining at each one. Mum and Dad also sampled the Sangria and Cava (Catalan champaign).
Mark went for a run early one morning down La Rambla (street) to the beach and back. He tries to run once or twice in cities we visit on holiday - he only got out once in Barcelona since he needed to finish up his project during our down time:)
My University Spanish prof would be amused at my attempt to speak Spanish in Barcelona. It wasn't required as most people do speak some English, but it definitely helped and I believe that people appreciate and treat you better if you attempt to speak their language. Although locals in Barcelona apparently speak Catalan - a mix of Provencal French and Italian - it all sounded Spanish to me, although I have been known to mix up my French and Spanish anyway.
My Spanish came in handy when ordering our white coffees (with milk - cafe con leche), cold milk (leche frio) for the kids at restaurants as milk in Europe comes warm and with sugar - we saw this in Prague too. It was also useful while shopping and for saying how old the kids were in order for Liam to get a lower chldren's rate for some tickets (Casa Mila, Cable car). The only problem was that numerous times I would be spoken back to in full-on Catalan or Spanish and have no idea what was said, then having to do the meek 'sorry?'
Most transit systems in Europe (and UK too) seem to be free for kids under 5 which is great. We bought a T10 metro pass, which we had read on travel sites was the best value for 9 €. It got us 10 rides on transit and was good for multiple people with pass-back allowed (you reading this, Toronto?) We used it for the subway and the fenicular. We had trouble getting the pram through one of the turnstiles in the metro and a group of young African guys assisted us through the right one - cheers guys!
My Spanish also came in handy when we had to go to the Farmacia (pharmacy) - one time to see if we could get an oral steroid (prednisolone) without a prescription for Gemma's new cough and a second time to get more kids paracetamol (like Tylenol). We got the paracetamol but not the steroid since I couldn't remember what her dosage was, but had I, I would have gotten it. (We took Gemma to the Urgent Care Clinic when we got back to England and she got the meds she needed.)
The only souveniers we bought were an FC Barcelona ball for the kids and a 'windy thing' for Liam - one of those things you stick in the garden and the top spins around with the wind. There were lots of other things we could've bought, but nothing we really fancied enough to lug back with us (we're also being very conservative now that we're coming back home soon and haven't got much room in our luggage).
Our taxi back to the airport was way safer than the first we took - this one was more like a minivan and the back seats had built in booster seat conversions and a child seat on hand for Gemma. Our two flights back to Manchester were similar to the flights we took there and we were split up between Dusseldorf and Manchester. Back in Manchester I had no trouble getting back into the UK with my Visa (didn't ask me if I had a job like last time - being a Stay-at-Home Mum is work enough!). We picked up the kids' car seats from excess baggage for 40£ total (not bad) and got our new car hire. When we got back to New Mills, I took Gemma straight to the Urgent Care Clinic for her cough while Mark and Liam got Fish 'n Chips.
Overall Barcelona was beautiful (the great weather definitely made it more comfortable seeing the city), the food was delicious and the people were lovely.
Photos: Facebook
Adéu,
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