Christmas in California

After running ourselves ragged last Christmas with a 3-week, bi-coastal, multi-city visit to the US, we decided to keep things simple this year.  We flew to San Francisco to spend two weeks in the Bay Area with family and friends.  Although Josh prefers to be knee-deep in snow at this time of year, he had little objection to some rest & relaxation in sunny California after a very hectic (not to mention, cold, dark, and rainy) autumn in London.

On the beach near Point Lobos in December

Our first stop: Palo Alto, where we spent a few days with Josh's Aunt Kris and had a wonderful family dinner with his cousins and their families and my mother and uncle.

 We brought along some Christmas crackers to make it a proper holiday celebration.

Next: Monterey!  We had rented a house in nearby Pacific Grove with my mom, sister, and uncle so we could all spend Christmas together in a beautiful place with lots of fun things to do.  We were a little surprised when we pulled up in front of the house.  How could this tiny place be the same house in the photos we saw online?

Our rental house

Like the Tardis, the house turned out to be much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside.  The newly-remodeled, 3,000-square-foot house had 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a huge gourmet kitchen, and two living rooms.  It was absolutely perfect!  Well, there was one, teeny, tiny little thing that seemed a bit odd.  The owners of the house appear to have a Winnie-the-Pooh fetish, which was mercifully contained in one large cabinet between the powder room and the laundry room.

The "Pooh Cabinet"

That's a lot of Pooh!

We didn't have a Christmas tree, so Santa left all our gifts under the strange monolithic floor lamp/sculpture in the corner of the living room.

It's no tree, but it has lights...

 And our stockings were hung by the chimney fireplace with care (and hooks).

Christmas stockings for each of us, plus a spare.

Despite everyone claiming they weren't going to give anyone gifts this year, we each ended up with a nice pile of presents to open, which we did right after a hearty breakfast of waffles, bacon, and fruit salad.

Armand, Karen, Josh, Naina, and Sonia

 Poor Josh was all tuckered out after opening his presents.  Or maybe it was the jet lag catching up with him.  That 8-hour time difference between California and London is a challenge to adjust to!

After all the excitement of our Christmas Eve whale-watching tour and Christmas Day, we were eager for another adventure.  We hopped in the car and took a scenic drive along the coast.

Josh gets all Indiana Jones with the kelp

And then went to see The Hobbit at the local movie theater.  In the evening, we met a family friend for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in "downtown" Pacific Grove.

Holiday lights in Pacific Grove

Our house also happened to be a block away from the local "Candy Cane Lane," where all the houses were festooned with lights and festive displays, so we made sure to take a detour on our way home.

On our last day, we took a quick trip to Carmel, where we spent a couple hours window shopping and eating lunch before heading north.

How Santa gets around in Carmel

None of us really wanted to leave, but someone else had the house rented for the rest of 2012, so it was time to go.  We made one last stop at the beach on our way back.

Josh stares forlornly out to sea, again

Next stop: Berkeley, where we stayed with my sister, Sonia.  She lives in a great neighborhood where you can walk to all sorts of shops and restaurants and there's a supermarket across the street, so she doesn't have a car.  Normally, that's not an issue, but she enlisted Josh's help to retrieve a beautiful rocking chair she had bought from a furniture store a couple blocks away.

Sherpa Josh

We took BART into San Francisco one day to check out the post-Christmas sales.  The Macy's in Union Square had their windows decorated with animatronic kids and their pet cats and dogs skating around a Christmas tree.

Macy's window

In the smaller windows, they had ACTUAL kittens and puppies that were up for adoption.  So cute!

Yes, even I am posting cat photos on the Internet.

Outside, volunteers from the ASPCA were collecting donations.  Brilliant!  Inside, Josh scored a nice winter coat that was originally $250 for $80 and I paid $35 for a $90 Ralph Lauren sweater - in a Petite size with sleeves just the right length!  Trust me, you can't find bargains like that in London, let alone Petite sizes for short people like me.

We also stopped by the Contemporary Jewish Museum to see an exhibit of artwork by Ezra Jack Keats, who wrote and illustrated several children's books back in the 1960's.  They were the first books to feature African American children as primary characters, and my sister and I fondly remember reading "The Snowy Day" over and over when we were children.  We were probably just as fascinated by the illustrations as by the concept of having a snowy day, since it never snowed in central California, where we grew up.

When we got back to Berkeley, we made a quick stop on swanky Fourth Street, which has even more shops and restaurants now than the last time I was in town.  I think they may have gone a little overboard with their Christmas lights...

Holiday light overload on Fourth St in Berkeley

Then we met my friends Kristen & Tom for dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  (Have I mentioned it's hard to get good Mexican food in London?) They had recently moved from DC to the East Bay, so it was nice to see them on the West Coast.

The weather was lovely the next day, so we went for a walk in the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden with Sonia and her friends Kirsten & Chuck.

Aloe in bloom

Camellia

No partridge, just a pear tree

Fantastic view of the Golden Gate Bridge

Josh, Chuck, Kirsten, and Sonia strike a pose

Our final stop: Woodside (in the hills above Palo Alto), to ring in the New Year with our friends Esther & Karl.  Despite still being a bit jet-lagged, we managed to stay up until midnight, and had a nice dinner with Karl's family.  The next day we watched the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl, in which Stanford played the University of Wisconsin.  Since Esther and I went to Berkeley together (and elementary school, middle school, and high school!), we mainly watching to root against Stanford and to see if we could spot her younger sister in the crowd.  She went to Stanford as an undergrad and U. Wisconsin for grad school, so she managed to get tickets to watch her two schools battle it out in person.

Karl's 15-year-old nephew amused himself by trying to stump Esther and me with brain teasers, with very little success.  Strange kid.  I'm sure he'll go far... unless he's up against me and Esther.

On our last day in California, Esther invited us to come by her office for lunch on our way to SFO.  She works at Google, so we couldn't pass up that opportunity!

Google!

The Google campus (or "Googleplex") is like a fantasy workplace dreamed up by a group of college kids.  It consists of a collection of buildings scattered over several acres among small parks, fountains, sports fields, and even a swimming pool.  Brightly colored bicycles (like the one behind us in the photo above) can be used to get from one part of the campus to another.  More than a dozen cafeterias serve breakfast, lunch and dinner (free!) and office kitchens are stocked with soft drinks, snacks, fruit, and cereal.  There are laundry facilities and a gym, and Esther tells me you can get your hair cut or your dry cleaning done on site as well.  With the price of real estate in the Bay Area, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the employees just lived on campus.

We had lunch with Esther and her sister and brother-in-law (who had just flown back from LA after attending the Rose Bowl) in one of the larger cafeterias.  We had a variety of options, including Chinese, Mexican, sushi, burgers, a salad bar, and an assortment of desserts.  And the food was pretty good, too!

Yes, a lava-lamp Menorah in the cafeteria

We didn't have time for a proper tour, since we had to get to the airport, but I manged to snap a photo of one of the more unusual sights on campus as we were heading back to our car.

T rex vs lawn flamingos

Yes, that's a life-size sculpture of a T rex skeleton apparently under attack by a flock of lawn flamingos.  All I can say is the people who work at Google -- most of whom looked like they were straight out of college or grad school -- are in for a big shock if they ever leave the company to go work somewhere else!  The Discovery Channel always seemed like a really cool place to work -- we had a T rex in the lobby -- but perk-wise, it was nowhere near the level of Google.

We bid our reluctant farewells to Esther, fantasyland, and California, and headed to the San Francisco airport for our flight back to London.  We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends, enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery, and eating all our favorite foods.  And while there was a part of me looking forward to being back in our own home, I think I left my heart in San Francisco yet again...

Whale Watching

'Twas the day before Christmas and in our rental house, we marveled at the weather and resolved to go out.

A gorgeous day in Monterey

A whale-watching tour in Monterey Bay was just what we needed on this beautiful day.

Randy's Whale Watching tours

Fisherman's Wharf had a festive air...

Festive boat

Even Santa Claus was there...

Santa goes for a sail

The birds and beasts were all out on the water.  We saw pelicans,

Pelicans

Sea lions,

Sea lions

A pile of sea lions

and an adorable sea otter!

The water was calm heading out of the bay. We passed the aquarium along the way.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Once out at sea, the swells rose and fall.  Some of us did not feel well at all.
I lost my lunch -- fed to the fish -- but a few minutes later, we all got our wish.
A tell-tale spout from a grey whale,

Thar she blows!

And a fleeting glimpse of the great creature's tail.

Just a fluke

We followed the whale for nearly an hour, rewarded with more sightings and a sea spray shower.
Despite the fine weather and a hope to see more, our stomachs were relieved to head back to shore.

We're on a boat!

It was well worth the trip to see my first whale, a day I shall remember without fail.

Here in California our Christmas won't be white, but I'd much rather see the sun shining bright.
Whether whale-watching, skiing, or visiting family far and near,
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[Apologies for writing this blog post in verse.  It's hard to imagine anything worse!]

Priscilla: Queen of the Panto

Christmas traditions in the UK are a bit different from what we are used to in the US.  Sure, people decorate trees, put up lights, and exchange gifts -- the basics are the same.  But in the UK they have mince pies instead of Christmas cookies, Christmas pudding instead of pumpkin pie, and Father Christmas instead of Santa Claus.  No Christmas celebration is complete without Christmas crackers -- little cardboard tubes filled with paper crowns, silly jokes, and cheap toys -- and everyone books a ticket for their local Christmas Panto.

Josh shows off our tiny Christmas tree and his paper crown

Panto isn't pantomime like Marcel Marceau, it is a silly take on a traditional fairy tale or folk tale with a laundry list of required elements, including popular songs, pop culture references, a man playing a woman (or a woman playing a man), audience participation, and in the case of our local theater in Wimbledon, bizarre celebrity stunt casting.  The New Wimbledon Theatre is conveniently located about 5 blocks from our house, and rivals those in the West End both in size and caliber of shows.  Their annual Panto is notorious for featuring b-list American celebrities, such as David Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson, and Henry Winkler.  Last year, we thoroughly enjoyed their production of Dick Whittington and His Cat with Dame Edna (who is actually an Australian man) as the Fairy, so we eagerly awaited the announcement of this year's play and guest stars.

The New Wimbledon Theatre

It was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, starring Priscilla Presley as the Evil Queen, and Warwick Davis as one of the dwarfs.  Wow!  Elvis' widow and Willow performing right down the street...

Yes, THAT Priscilla Presley!

After a couple Warwick Davis sightings around Wimbledon (he is tiny!), we finally got tickets to see the show on Sunday evening.  Once again, we weren't allowed to take photos during the show, but the sets and costumes were just as lovely as in last year's show.

The narrator introduced Priscilla Presley's character as "an evil queen with a strong American accent." Nice. She flubbed a few of her lines, but she looked pretty fabulous for her age (67!).  The show was just as entertaining as last year's production.  While still keeping true to the original plot of the story, they managed to incorporate the song "Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling (as a duet between Snow White and the prince), the Thriller dance, and a running joke about the dwarfs practicing for "Moravia's Got Talent."  One dwarf dressed up as Susan Boyle and lip-synced "I Dreamed a Dream," which fulfilled both the pop culture reference and a man dressed as a woman.

But the highlight (for me, anyway) was when Warwick Davis' character showed off his 'talent' towards the end of the show.  He appeared on stage in a tiny suit, dark wig, and sunglasses and lead the entire cast in a rendition of "Gangnam Style."  I was laughing so hard I was crying.

I wonder who will be performing in next year's panto?  I can't wait!

Our Boys

I was surprised to learn that out of the 6 ladies who showed up for Theater Day this week, 3 of them had never seen Les Miserables.  Shocking!  Fortunately for me, the other two women had seen it several times, so they decided to come with me to see a play they'd never heard of while the rest of the group took advantage of the half-price matinee tickets for Les Miz.

Actually, I didn't know much about the play myself, but having seen the ads for it, I was excited to find it listed at the half-price ticket booth.  Our Boys is about six soldiers in a military hospital in the mid-80's.  What?  That doesn't sound like something I'd want to see?  Fair enough, but let me tell you who is in it: Laurence Fox!  Never heard of him?  He plays police detective James Hathaway in the TV series Lewis.  And surely you know Matthew Lewis!  Yes, you do.  He was Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies.  Yes, that chubby, awkward kid who ended up being cuter than all his male costars by the final movie.

The intimate Duchess Theatre

The Duchess Theatre is one of the smaller ones in the West End, and our seats were right in the center of the third row.  Sweet!  (Especially so when Laurence Fox stripped down to his undies, and one of the other cute male characters had a hospital gown malfunction.)  All three of us ended up really enjoying the play, which was a mix of comedy and tragedy, and not at all predictable.  Both Mary and Barbara, the two ladies who joined me, said they may even see it again with their husbands.

 

With Mary and Barbara outside the Lyceum Theatre

Our Boys closes on December 15, so if you're in London, don't procrastinate!  And if you see hordes of teenage girls standing outside the stage door of the Duchess Theatre with cameras and Sharpies at the ready, you can blame that on Neville Longbottom and James Hathaway...

A Hunting Expedition

It's not easy to motivate me to be up and out of the house by 6:15 am, but the opportunity to visit the largest antiques fair in Europe proved to be a strong enough incentive.  The Newark Antiques & Collectors Fair is held several times a year about two hours north of London. 

A group of about 30 women from the AWC boarded a bus in Kensington at 7 am Thursday morning and headed out for a full day of bargain-hunting.  We were well-armed with tote bags, tape measures, shopping trolleys, and of course snacks and drinks for the ride home.  As we passed a small aviation museum on the way in, the bus driver warned us, "Don't buy an old airplane.  It won't fit on the bus on the way back!"  Uh, OK...

I was astonished that they would hold an antiques fair outdoors in England, but we were blessed with lovely weather -- blue skies and sunshine are a rare treat! I'm not sure what this area is generally used for, but it reminded me of a county fairground.

Which one should I get?

I sent this photo to Josh to ask whether he would prefer the 10-foot-tall gold amazon, or the animatronic hip-hop teddy bear.  Sadly, I did not get a response, so I didn't buy either one.

With approximately 2500 stalls, there truly was a little something for everyone.  People were selling furniture, rugs, art, ceramics, glassware, china, silver, jewelry, clothing, and just about anything else that someone might collect.  Most of them were set up outdoors...

This horse would look nice in the garden...

But there were also several large pavilions where vendors selling more expensive or delicate items had tables set up.

Just one of several indoor shopping areas.

There were also a few food trucks and cafes scattered around; and since we are Americans, we were invited to take a break in the Overseas Buyers Lounge, where they had tea, coffee, fruit, and biscuits.  Even though we were there for 6 hours, we had a lot of ground to cover, so it was nice to be able to grab a bite on the go. 

I didn't take many photos because I didn't think the vendors would appreciate it, but I had to get a photo of this. Too bad the bus driver warned me not to buy it, because it would have made a great anniversary gift for Josh...

Old airplane for sale, in terrible condition...

So now that you know what I DIDN'T buy, here's what I brought home with me...  I bought these three little dishes from three different vendors.  The blue floral one in the back is ceramic, and the one with the yellow and pink chrysanthemums is cloisonne.  The bowl in the foreground is ceramic wrapped in pewter, and is very similar to one I bought in Richmond, VA several years ago, which is wrapped in brass.  That one is full of British coins, so I filled this one with American coins.

My Asian collection (coins not included)

My best find were two pieces of Moorcroft pottery.  (Can you tell I have a thing for ceramics?)  Moorcroft is a brand of art pottery that has been made in England for over 100 years.  The antique pieces sell for over £1000, and the new ones generally cost at least £150, so I wasn't really expecting to find any bargains here, but I did stop to admire the pieces I saw for sale.  Towards the end of the day, I came across a guy selling some cute ceramic items, and was about to ask about the price of something when I noticed an assortment of Moorcroft in the back of his stall.  Factory seconds! 

I ended up buying a "Moon Valley" vase and a "Dames Pansy" bowl (both dated 2010), each with a teeny tiny flaw in the glaze, for a fraction of the "Best Quality" price.  And, being the expert haggler that I am, I convinced the guy to take an additional £25 off the price and throw in the other small item (which I bought as a gift for someone who might read this) essentially for free. 

The trophies from my successful bargain-hunting expedition

If I had bought these two items in perfect condition at a shop, they would have cost about $890!  (And there's no way I'd ever spend that much money.)  Yes, I still ended up spending more than I originally intended to, but I think I got a great deal!

We had fun sharing our finds (and our drinks and snacks) on the bus on the way home.  Some of the other ladies even bought furniture -- mostly small items like bar stools and a chair.  At least they were guaranteed a seat on the Tube on the way home!

Dressing Downton

What could top a tour of Highclere Castle?  Not much, but to continue on my Downton Abbey high, I attended a talk last week at the Victoria & Albert Museum by Susannah Buxton, the costume designer for seasons 1 and 2 of the popular TV series.

Ms. Buxton was joined by a V&A curator from the Fashion department, who discussed some of the parallels between the Crawley sisters of Downton Abbey and their real-life contemporary, wealthy socialite Heather Firbank, whose considerable wardrobe was donated to the museum after her death.

V&A fashion curator (left) and Susannah Buxton (right), discuss the fictional
Crawley sisters (photo, left) and Heather Firbank (photo, right)

I've never really thought much about where all the costumes come from in the costume dramas that are so popular on British TV (and often exported to the US), but it's much more complicated than I imagined.  First of all, Ms. Buxton had a fairly modest budget of about £20,000 per episode ($32,200), which sounds like a lot of money until you consider that it includes not only the main characters -- whose clothing must reflect their wealth and status -- but all the servants and extras.  Some costumes were rented from local costume houses, others came from costume shops in Paris, and some were custom-made.

Also, because the series covers a period of several years, the costumes must reflect the changes in fashion that were going on at the time.  Lady Cora, as an American with a generous dress allowance, would probably wear more daring fashions than some of her British contemporaries, while the Dowager Countess would likely be more comfortable wearing the more conservative clothing of her generation.  As the years progress, hemlines creep up and waistlines drop down in the dresses worn by the three sisters, so they can't just keep wearing the same costumes over and over.

We also learned that each character had their own color palette.  So Edith is often seen in oranges and greens, while Sybil frequently wears shades of blue and purple, and Mary dresses in reds, greys, and black.   All of Lord Grantham's clothes were custom-made for him, since that would have been the case in real life, as were Lady Violet's (the Dowager Countess).

In some cases, a costume was built around a single period component that Ms. Buxton particularly liked, such as a hat or jacket, in order to create a coordinating ensemble.  In the case of the red dress below worn by Lady Cora, she found the red embroidered silk fabric for the bodice and designed the rest of the dress around it.  She must really like this dress, because I think she's worn it two or three times.

(Yes, I took this photo of the TV)

Cousin Isobel's beaded jacket came from a costume house in Paris, and has also made more than one appearance during the course of the show.  I probably wouldn't have noticed that if I hadn't gone to the lecture...

Didn't you just wear that at Christmas?

Ironically, of the more expensive costumes is the simple pink cotton dress worn by the kitchen maid, Daisy.  Since she wears the same thing every day, they decided it would be worth the investment to purchase the vintage Edwardian dress, which had never been worn.  It is the only completely original costume worn by a member of the cast.

As I watched the next episode (no spoilers, I promise!) with Josh, I drove the poor man crazy by constantly pausing the show and pointing out details about both the rooms in the house ("All the paintings in the dining room belong to the house, and are portraits of the previous Earls and their families.") and the costumes ("They had a hard time convincing the tailor to make Lord Grantham's suit with the sloping shoulders that were common during that period.").  I suspect he'll come up with an excuse to skip watching it with me this week...