Act 1- Entrances

  By now most of you know where we are and what we are up to but, for those you that don't, I have fired up my haphazard blogging skills again to record Kurt's second professorial sabbatical, this time in England. Yes, we have finally fulfilled a dream for both of us and are fortunate enough to get to live and work in Cambridge, England for the better part of the next five months!
  Unlike our Netherlands adventure I did not do much language prep for this trip aside from chuckling though "British English A to Zed." The visa process was pretty smooth thanks to the gathered experience of many other Gettysburg professors and hopefully we will be able to enroll the kids in school here once we get more settled. The rental process was not quite as easy but, to make a long story short, we basically had to bribe a local landlord by offering him $300 pound per month over the rental price. The apartment is fantastic though with two bed rooms, a little garden, and friendly neighbors, located within walking distance of the city center, no less than three Asian grocers, and an antique store that sells art nouveau tiles (my most desired collectible- I have already bought two).
  The trip here went off without a hitch. Thanks to Kurt's mom for getting us to the airport with plenty of time to spare and thank you to the forgiving London Tube passengers who at least looked askance of our overly enthusiastic use of public transport. Just for future reference for any of you planning similar journeys: six suitcases and two car seats is probably too much luggage for a tube ride.
  Since we arrived on Wednesday and could not get into our apartment until Saturday we spent a few days in London right off the bat. Kurt found a mini hotel room in Canning Town where the boys and I immediately crashed while he watched England's sad loss to Croatia in the hotel lobby with only a warm beer to console him.
  Thursday we struck out for Windsor not to see the famed castle of the same name but to create an immediate positive association with England for the boys by taking them to Legoland! Initial thoughts about the park were that it was a little run-down but the rides and games were so fun that we were quickly able to look past any of the faded plastic and torn awnings. Our taxi driver from the station to Legoland told us that the sight of the current park used to be a zoo and that his father was one of the zoo-keepers so he had actually grown up there. He sounded somewhat sad about the demise of the zoo but as with all the people we have met so far he was super kind to us. The boys turned out to be the perfect age for the park. I think much older kids would be a bit bored with it. The biggest ride is a coaster called The Dragon which (despite Klaus' claims to the contrary) is just one step up from those collapsible coasters that travel to your typical county fair. After the park closed at 5 (somewhat early for our taste) we ate dinner at a cute little pub in the shadow of the Windsor Castle passing by many a gift shop still trying to hock royal wedding souvenirs.
 

  Since we catered to the boys' interests on Thursday we thought they could stand a few activities of our choosing on Friday. First up was William the Conqueror's fortress, the Tower of London, a spot I had wanted to see on our last trip to London but that had gotten trimmed from the schedule. We arrived at opening and, on the advice of the guides, went straight to see the crown jewels before the line got too long. The jewels were of course fascinating and beautiful but also gaudy and unbelievable. Monarchy in this day and age is a funny thing, feeling almost anachronistic but also comforting in its constancy.
  After the jewels we enjoyed a tower tour by Yeoman Warder Mark Anderson who was clearly used to dealing with crowds comprised mostly of American tourists. His stories were graphically informative (maybe too much at times) and chock full of humor. After the tour we briefly looked through the White Tour (the oldest structure of the fortress) trying to get the boys interested in the armor collection that is housed there but they quickly tired of it so we headed across Tower Bridge to find some lunch near our next destination, Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

We had bought our tickets before leaving the states knowing full-well that it would be a gamble with the youngest members of our party especially since we were only willing to shell out for groundling tickets. But having chosen a career in theatre I am desperate for my kids to have some experience and appreciation for it. I fell in love with Shakespeare when I was in kindergarten thanks to a artist in residence at my brother's school and so I turn up my nose at the idea that the kids are too young for it. Our choices of play were Hamlet or A Winters Tale. Hoping that maybe the action of the former would grab the kids attention we settled on that one (despite is 3-hour run-time) and crossed our fingers. While it was not a perfect experience, it went as well as we could have expected. We found spots at the back of the groundling pit where the boys could stand on the ledge and look over our heads but still not block the view of those who paid for seats. We happen to luck out and end up in some of the only shade in the theatre which kept our beers colder for much more time than our fellow patrons in the stands. They were squirmy for sure after only an hour, but Leif and Klaus made it to the end of the show with no tears and lots of extorted snacks. The production itself was pretty good though both Kurt and I felt there were some questionable costume and directing choices including a strange full-cast dance number at the end.
 

On Saturday we left London, Klaus in tears over the loss of the Underground in his daily life, and headed to Cambridge. After another harrowing suitcase encumbered walk we made it from the train station to 108 Gwydir Street only to find that, unlike most of the houses on the street, it has no front door. To get into the flat we have a skeleton key which unlocks a communal passage between our house and the next and then we must go around the back of the house to find the door in. While this inconvenience is fine in general it will make it hard to know when someone is at the front door and also for the post to leave us packages (UPS left a cryptic note the other day saying they left something for us at the neighbor's but since we don't know any of the neighbors we have yet to figure out where the package is). Like our house in the Netherlands there is only one bathroom, a narrow kitchen, and a somewhat tricky central staircase so everything feels familiar. After unpacking a little we headed two doors down to The Cambridge Blue, a nice pub with award winning pies, hand-drawn ale, and a fabulous back garden. We miss Gettysburg but this is a pretty nice substitute.
  On Sunday, Kurt's new research colleague and the reason we are here, Professor Ulrich Keyser, invited us over for dinner at his beautiful house in Cambourne, a newly constructed village outside of Cambridge. Professor Keyser and his wife Melanie made us feel right at home with a delicious dinner, pleasant conversation, and even a lift to and from their place. The boys are definitely in awe of their teenage son, Thalus, who played football and video games with them. Despite Leif soaking a few paper towels with an oddly massive bloody nose it was a great evening and we hope we can return the invitation to the Keyser family sometime.
  Monday Kurt started work without much ceremony but was able to meet up with us at the end of the day to check out the local pool which, like all of Cambridge, is amazing. Not only is there a fun zero entry pool for little ones complete with bubble pool and slides but there are two huge waterslides (called 'flumes' here) similar to something that you would find at a Great Wolf Lodge. Klaus was literally jumping for joy and we spent two full hours climbing the tall set of metal stairs to the top of the slides and zipping down to the bottom on big blue tubes. As soon as we get a bank account we will be spending lots of time here I am sure.
 

In other news Leif lost his third tooth making him look more like the goofy kid that he is. We left a note for the Tooth Fairy requesting that she pay for the tooth in British Pounds to which she kindly agreed, leaving 5 quid under his pillow that night.

We are still looking for a bicycle that can accommodate the kids and I. The salesman at the bike shop was so un-pushy I wondered if he actually wanted to sell me anything. He kindly offered to look around for used/rental options for me. I convinced Kurt that we did not need a car claiming that I could not switch my brain around enough to drive on the left properly but I failed to realize is that with a bike I will have to do the same thing. Gulp. 
  Today is Klaus' birthday and though we already threw him a party in the states we are trying our best to make it special for him. Kurt ran out yesterday and bought him a few goofy items from a Danish toy store and Klaus picked out a football shaped cake. His request for a hot dog dinner might fall a little short of expectation but it will be good for him to work on his food-related flexibility.
 That is all for now. You are all caught up with our adventures. Until next week! Cheers!