UK Bound

This Sunday we're off for our annual trip to the UK. Since my husband is British and thus my in-laws we try to make it out to the UK at least once a year. This year our trip includes a wedding in Bath as well as some family time.

Our trips usually consist of London and Bath, the fam is in London and Bath being where we were married and where Dom went to University and thus a special place in the UK for us both.

Rarely do we manage anything beyond these two places.

But this time, this time we're off to Liverpool!

The hubs daddy's side of the fam is Liverpudlian and thus a plethora of family members still live in Liverpool and after 2 years of marriage and a fair amount of time spent in the UK I have yet to see Liverpool.

We are also going to make time to do a few things that I have always wanted to do but just have't made time for during our previous trips.

1. The British Museum. Famous museums of the world include the Met, Louvre, Smithsonian, Cairo Museum and The British Museum, yes? I have been to 3 out of 5 and since I've never been to Washington DC to see the Smithsonian it's ok that I haven't been there, but the British Museum is in London, I'm in London every year, I MUST go to the British museum!

2. Kensington Palace - My mother-in-law lives pretty much right next door to the palace, which is where we stay EVERY time we're in London and I have yet to do more than walk through the gardens outside the palace on my way elsewhere. Princess Di lived here when Princes William and Harry were young and it was her official residence up until her death. It is also, according to Wikipedia anyway, the official residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

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3. I need to do some Tudor sightseeing. I've been to the Tower of London several times, LOVE btw, but that's the extent of my Tudorness that I've taken the time to experience. I'm thinking since we're driving to Liverpool and thus have a car I gotta include a Tudor castle or something into the itinerary. I have a few contenders on the list so far.

Hever Castle - This is Anne Boleyn's childhood home and you know how I love me some Anne Boleyn. And bonus...it's only 30 miles outside of London.

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Hampton Court Palace - Henry VIII's longed for son Edward VI was born here, his third wife Jane Seymour died here and Henry's ill-fated fifth wife, Catherine Howard's ghost is said to haunt here. I love haunted anything. Also, it is again super close to London.

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Thornbury Castle - Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII spent a week here soon after they were married. This castle is a hotel and apparently you can stay in the actual room that Henry and Anne stayed in during their visit. COOL. Another bonus for Thornbury is that it is part of the Von Essen Hotels, which "our" hotel Ston Easton (where we were married) is also part of the Von Essen Hotels. This castle is close enough to Bath/Bristol that we can hit it on the way up to Liverpool.

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Berkeley Castle - Another castle that Henry and Anne stayed at during their very brief 3 years of marriage. Also Berkeley Castle was the where Edward II was imprisoned and murdered. Not Tudor in any event, but I like famous murder houses as well as haunted ones! This castle is also on the way from Bath up to Liverpool.

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Assume I've done the other touristy things that you come to mind when you think of England/London, ie. Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly, Stonehenge etc. Anyone have anything fabulous in England that I should include in my itinerary? Some Liverpool Beatles fantasticness maybe?

A Quick Hello

For the, wait let me count...4th time now I am on my way back to Sydney. I can hardly put into words how horrible this 12-14 hour flight is. It just plain sucks, pure and simple. Luckily this is THE VERY LAST TIME that I will ever be doing it. Bold statement I know, but we have no plans to ever return to Sydney after we leave in January. No, it's not because I have any animosity towards Sydney or Australia, I in fact have quite enjoyed my whole Australian experience, it's because of this hellaciously long flight. I will avoid it at all costs.

On a lighter note I just got back from 6 days in Negril, Jamaica, I will post some piccies soon.

And...

Prince William finally proposed to Kate Middleton, let the rejoicing ensue! What? You're not completely ecstatic that there's finally going to be another royal wedding that will rival the Di and Charles wedding back in the 80's? And that she got Princess Diana's gorgeous sapphire engagement ring? Well, I am, that lucky bitch. Perhaps we'll have to make a trip over the pond next year...about time to visit the in-laws anyway ;-)

Are You From New York?

In general no one here seems to notice that I'm American. As far as I can tell my accent distinguishes me as an American IMMEDIATELY, but apparently that is not the case... or maybe no one cares enough to comment. I don't know. Dom on the other hand, EVERYONE notices that he's English right away and comments on it. I find this funny because to Americans Dom and the Aussies have a very similar accent, sometimes people think he's an Australian when we're in America, but apparently to the Aussies they find his accent more distinguishable as English than mine is as American. I don't get it. And in fact sometimes I get lumped into being English as well, just because I'm with him i guess? Seriously, what? I do not sound English.

Anyway...

Last night was the first time since I've been here that someone actually said something about me being American, except they didn't ask me if I was American, they asked me, "hey, are you from New York?" Weird right? Dom and I were just coming back from our dinner cruise, not talking about New York, in fact I don't know what we were talking about, but it definitely wasn't NYC. Anyway, isn't that a strange question to ask someone? Was it our outfits? Honestly I have no idea, but I was like, um...yeah, I guess I am. And then they proceeded to tell us about how they went to New York once, except they stayed in JERSEY! And we had to go and be all New York snobs on them and tell them that Jersey is not New York, LOL. They probably thought we were rude...and you know what? We probably were.

We're still such New Yorkers sometimes.

Things I Don't Eat with a Knife Because I'm American

I am American, my husband is British. This means 2 things. One, we speak completely different languages ;-) and two, he ALWAYS uses his knife when eating a meal (or wants to anyway, if I don't give him a knife at dinner because I think it's unnecessary sometimes he can be convinced to eat with no knife...but not always)

Sometimes I find his knife skills admirable, sometimes I find it amusing and completely unnecessary. To quote my precious husband he can "dine with royalty" and amusing or not MY CHILDREN WILL HAVE HIS KNIFE SKILLS. They WILL learn proper rules for silverware and will eat their eggs with a knife...I make no promises that I won't make fun of them just like I make fun of Dom, but they will KNOW, they will have the skill set from the moment they pop out of the womb. Ok, maybe not THAT soon, but you know, right away.

Here's the thing, in America it's completely acceptable to not use your knife unless you're cutting a steak or something, and even then it is completely acceptable to switch hands after cutting and put the fork back in your dominant hand. It's like we've evolved the knife OUT of necessity. I THINK THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE and do not like that I had to learn how to use a knife in my 20's. I also do not like that when visiting other countries your Americanness is so blatant because you don't know how to use a goddamn knife! Anyway, since meeting Dom I've become better with my knife and for the most part I am completely comfortable using it. But, the topic for this post came about the other night at dinner, I'd ordered rack of lamb and almost immediately I discovered I COULD NOT EAT IT WITH A KNIFE AND FORK, I had to pick it up...for shame! Anyway, I wasn't actually embarrassed, I'll own my Americanness when necessary, but honestly whether I used the skill or not it would be nice to know how to scrape those bones clean without resorting to picking them up.

That being said, here are some things that DO NOT NEED A KNIFE, just because you have the knife does not mean you have to use it:

EGGS, eggs are soft no matter how you cook them, fork is sufficient to cut them, no knife.

BACON, bacon is to be eaten with your fingers not a knife and fork. Unless it's English bacon, but that's completely different.

BREAD of any sort, ie toast, biscuits (American biscuits not English biscuits which are cookies!), etc. I hate watching people cut up their toast at breakfast, just pick it up!

RICE, Indian and Chinese food served with rice do not need a knife.

MEAT ON THE BONE, this is where Dom's knife skills are admirable, he can get ALL the meat off the bone with his knife and fork, and like I said it would be nice to know how to do this, but I stand by my no knife declaration on meat on the bone, it's finger food.

CORN, both on the cob and off, no knife.

PIZZA, under no circumstances does pizza need a knife!

FRENCH FRIES, so cleverly designed to be eaten with your fingers, I cringe when people use a fork for fries.

Am I missing any other good ones? Anyone else have a non American spouse who makes you realize just how American you are when eating?