LONDON

Yeah, so this picture pretty much sums up my visit to London. Stay tuned for next weeks blog.

OK seriously. Anna and I spent 3 days in London last week for some Dr's appointments that she needed. It was a very expensive, cold, windy and rainy visit - but we tried to make the best of it. London with a 2 year old in a stroller is not exactly good times! The city was built long before handicapped or stroller accessible was ever a thought - this is clear.

We were able to get out and explore just a bit and knocked out the British Museum and the Tower of London (where all Henry the VIII's Queen's lost their necks) and even caught a good view of the London Bridge.

Not much else to report here. It has been VERY hot this last week but will quickly cool in the next few weeks and hot will be a distant memory. Can't believe fall is just around the corner. Sophia will be starting school soon and is getting marginally excited about it. We decided against the Russian school after visiting it the other week. The interior of the Russian school was like being in a time capsule of the Soviet Union circa 1965. Strictness and structure have a new definition to me now! The teachers will hold the students hands and "help" them do their artwork and handwriting...whatever it takes for the students to turn in only perfection. The students all sit down to porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch and are expected to take a 2 hour nap after lunch. Sophia was scared to death of the school and kept whispering to me that she just wanted to go home now. I was afraid she was going to simultaneously wet her pants and start sucking her thumb because she was so frightened of the place. Choosing the international school was a no brainer after that visit. If the school has not improved from it's dismal reputation last year then I will just pull her out and home school her.

Hope everyone has a great week. Congrats, again, ABBY!!!

THE FIGHTING NUNS OF ROMANIA

This weeks adventure brought us to Romania to visit the world famous (really, look it up) painted monasteries of Bucovina, Romania. There is a cluster of 6 or so medieval monasteries in the northern part of Romania that for whatever reason were painted on the outside (as well as the inside). Opinions vary as to why they were uniquely painted this way, but this fact is what now makes them so famous. Keep in mind while looking at the following pictures that these were painted BEFORE Chistopher Columbus discovered America! They have never been "touched up" and on the majority of the monasteries, the northern facade has completley eroded away. The Monastaries were closed for about 200 years (in an attempt to "ban" the orthodox religion) and during that time many people added their own additions to the paintings - check out some of the dates from the graffiti.




































Of course, Mary's favorite part of the trip was the nun fight we witnessed at the our final monastery. It was pretty intense yelling match (albeit entirely in Romanian) that ended, i'm sure, just short of punches being thrown. The loosing nun stormed off to find Mother Superior (isn't that what they called the lead nun in the Sound of Music) to help her settle the score.

Although not their idea of fun, the kids did reasonably well on our "church tour", even though they felt they had seen it all after the first "church."


























Another highlight of the trip was the crazy
Romanian man we saw while walking through
the woods. This guy and his family brought their horse cart into the woods to cut down some firewood; we stopped to let the kids pet the horses and he insisted that we all take turns getting on the horse to get our pictures taken. Sure enough, one by one the entire family got a picture atop his horse (and in return for his troubles he got a kiss from Mary...and me).













The last day of our trip we drove into a bit of the carpathian mountains, saw stunning scenery and found ourselves on the scariest road I have ever been on (and I have been on some scary roads)! The following is a quote from the lonely planet's guide to Romania, "the narrow mountain road runs directly beneath the overhanging rocks in a section known as the 'neck of hell'". Not only is the road unbelievably narrow, but because cars have to (or should) drive so slowly around the turns, local Romanians thought it would be a good idea to set up tables offering their local handicrafts for sale RIGHT ON THE ROAD. Add to the equation the tourists pulling their cars over (on this VERY narrow road) to take pictures and buy the above mentioned handicrafts and rock climbers directly overhead. I have never seen anything like it in my life.





























The trip home was LONG. Crossing from 1 former communist country into 1 former Soviet country is quite interesting and quite cumbersome. Interestingly, after a few days trying to get around in Romania where zero Russian and zero English is spoken, it was comforting to be back "home" where we can hear some good old fashioned Russian again. Reading Romanian signs makes Dutch words look simple!
So that's all for this week. No trips planned for this weekend, so be prepared for a boring blog next week. Have a great week,
~L