Christmas Markets - London

The gals trip to London in late November coincided with the opening of all the annual Christmas markets and all the associated festivities. Our first stop was to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. We have been to a handful of Christmas Markets, and we were expecting lots of stalls where you can buy gifts, food (both as gifts and to eat while you shop), beer and mulled wine / cider. 

Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland

Apparently, Winter Wonderland is not really a Christmas market. It was basically a state fair/carnival decorated for the holidays. There were Ferris wheels, roller coasters, and virtually every spinning, twisting, and upside-downing ride designed to make you sick as quickly as possible. 

Oh, hell no! 

The ride above had everyone locked into swings that hoisted you far above the streetlights (at the bottom of the picture) as it "spin(s) you right 'round, baby, right 'round like a record player, right 'round, 'round, 'round" 

They're not even at the top of the pole yet!! Yikes!!!

I think the weirdest rides, though, were the two different Christmas haunted houses. I tried to get a picture of these glorious masterpieces, but they just came out all blurry. Maybe because of the Christmas ghosts??? 

Giant beer tent

There were, however, a few stalwarts of the traditional Christmas market. Such as the mulled wine, festival-type fried food, and a German beer tent. This beer tent came complete with an animatronic, singing German dude and his pet bird. He was truly frightening.  

Giant, signing German dude

The second night we went across the Thames to the South Bank and checked out much smaller, yet more traditional Christmas markets. The best view at these markets, though, were back across the river at the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Sorry the photos are blurry, I took them with my iPhone and it doesn't do so well in low-light conditions. 

Blurry Big Ben

The streets of London are done up so prettily for Christmas. They had a different motif for each main stretch of road, and this is just one of many. I liked this photo as you can see a couple of iconic red phone booths in the bottom right of the shot. So pretty! 

Oxford Street Christmas lights

And no gals trip to London would be complete without a quick browse in Harrod's. I especially liked their festive-themed window displays. There were so many displays, but I only stopped to take a picture of a few. These two were my favorites. 

Harrod's window display

Harrod's Window display

Christmas in London is definitely worth seeing. But unless you have children, I would skip the Winter Wonderland! 

London - Dressed by Angels

A few weeks ago I went to London with several girlfriends. One of my friends had seen a notice in the paper about a costume exhibit that was taking place the weekend would be there, and co-ordinated tickets for the four of us to go. 

The exhibit was called Dressed by Angels, and showcased a costume company founded by the Angel family some 150+ years ago. They began outfitting stage productions and moved on to movies and television as those mediums came into exhistance. The company is still going strong today! 

A costume from a silent film

I had never heard of the company, and now that I've seen their work, I don't know why they're not more well known! I mean, they've designed to costumes for SO MANY famous shows. 

Downton Abbey

From high-brow to camp television shows...

Batman and Robin

to new-fangled outfits….

Jon Snow's Night Watch

Strange, mystifying Doctor scarfs...

Tom Baker's Doctor Who

and mad hatter party outfits...

Alice in Wonderland

Outfits for kings and cardinals...

Wolf Hall

and ill-fated lovers...

Titanic

Virgin Queens…

Elizabeth I

And not so virgin Queens...

Young Victoria

Queenly armor...

Shakespeare in Love

and gladiatorial armor…

Gladiator

"These are not the droids you're looking for" armor...

Obe Wan Kenobi

And, last but not least, "Snakes. Why do they always have to be snakes?" armor.

Indiana Jones

We all really enjoyed the exhibit, and it was a great start to our few days away in London. 

A side note: That night my friend who bought these tickets lost her London tube pass card (oyster card) as well as her return train ticket home (they were both in a small oyster card carrier and must have fallen out of her back pocket). A last-minute return ticket home would have cost an arm and a leg, but the next morning we called the restaurant where we had dinner, and someone had turned it in!! See, there are still a lot of good people in this world :-) 

Beer Tasting

Some of the guys got together a while ago and had a beer tasting consisting of some of the top 100 beers of the world. They created histories and tasting notes for each beer, divided them into tasting 'flights' and the whole nine yards. 

I went for the pizza and a regular old beer, but headed home soon after the serious tasting began. 

The toddler did not tip back any beer.

The guys had a great time! Or so Bill told me after he walked home at 2:00AM and crawled into bed. He was smart enough to drink lots of water throughout the night, but he was still hurting a little the next day. 

He said the mild hangover was totally worth it! 

First round!

Betty's Cakes and Bakes!

I recently convinced several of my friends to come along with me on a cookery course at Betty's Cookery School. Woohoo!!! My friends picked the "Teatime treats" course, and the five of us made up almost half of the class!

Pre-baking morning coffee and croissants (already in our tummy)

One of the items we made were scones. There's a big to-do about how one says that word here in England. I've come to pronounce them sk-ons as they tend to do in the North. Other places pronounce them sk-owns (as we do in the US), but that pronunciation is for some reason frowned upon in North Yorkshire. 

We made a savory scone, so one would only put butter on it. However, another area of contention regarding sweet scones is whether you spread the clotted cream or the jam on the scone first, followed by the other. I have seriously heard women argue about the proper way to do up the scone. I have not yet chosen sides. 

Chive and cheddar scones

At Betty's Cookery School we all share workstations and clean-up responsibilities. My friend Cindy was a trooper throughout the course, but clean-up is much more her forte than cooking/baking. 

Cindy would much rather clean than cook

We all got grouped together in a double-wide workstation and had a blast! Several of the gals are now hooked and want to sign up for more classes. And I imagine they'll twist my arm into going back… Darn! 

All the baking ladies… all the baking ladies… Oh, oh, oh… Oh, oh, oh...
(you know, the Beyonce song… anyone? anyone?) 

The finished products of the teatime treats class were as follows (going clockwise from 12:00): apple muffins, vodka orange cake, strawberry custard tart, cheddar and chive scones (far left), and pistachio and walnut loaf (right, with a few pats of butter on the white plate).

Finished products!

A Fractured Fibula :-(

I broke my leg in Sicily.

Walking.

Just walking.

I took a step with my right leg and slipped on a little lava rock and rolled my left ankle underneath me as I went down on one knee. I don't really remember it, but all of my friends say I just gracefully went down in slow motion. I do remember hopping back up and taking a few minutes to test out my leg before realizing that I could walk on it, so I didn't break anything (ha!), just really twisted it. 

We had just arrived at our first vineyard on our first day in Sicily. I tried to put my ankle out of mind, and turned my attention to the wine at hand. We walked all around the vineyard, then made our way to the veranda for some tasting. I got a nice seat, some ice, and my friend's scarf to wrap around the ice and ankle and I figured all would be well. (Note: my foot is dirty from the tumble, not bruised…yet!) 

At Terrazze dell'Etna wine tasting

That first day there was no swelling and no bruising, but I walked with quite a limp. The next day we went out to explore the volcano. I took it easy, forgoing the walks, and tried to rest my sore (and only slightly bruised and swollen) ankle. By the third and last full day in Sicily, my ankle was really letting me know it was unhappy. A really good bruise showed up overnight and I had a hard time walking around in the heat of Taormina. Thankfully, the next morning we would be flying and driving home, and I didn't have much on my plate for the next several days so I decided I'd rest my ankle for a while so that it will heal. Only… it just got more swollen as the bruise abated.

I had an existing doctors appointment a few days after we returned home, and by then Bill and I both thought I should have the doctor take a look at it. My doctor didn't think anything was broken by palpating it, but she wasn't sure so she printed out an x-ray form for me to take to the hospital the next day. 

That night was our 10th Wedding anniversary, so Bill and I walked into town for dinner. I was *that* certain the x-ray would reveal nothing major. 

On our last day in Sicily, bruised, swollen, and mosquito bites

In fact, I went to the hospital the next morning wearing skinny jeans and cute ankle boots. I drove myself and walked into the x-ray department. After the two x-rays, the technician said, "Yes, your fibula's broken. Wanna see?" I hopped off the table, inducing a sympathetic wince from the technician as I limped over to see two very clear, clean-through breaks creating what looked like a pie wedge in my fibula. The tech offered to wheel me down to A&E (accident and emergency - UK's ER), but I'd been walking that long, what's another 100 feet? 

I waited about 1-1/2 hours before I was walked back to a little cubicle. The A&E doctor asked me to confirm my DOB a second time after getting to the cubicle. She left me for a minute before coming back to say, "I had to make sure I had the right person with the right x-ray. How are you WALKING?" I rolled my eyes and said, "I don't know!" 

I received a soft cast to allow the swelling to go down.  This cast was mostly gauze with some serious plaster of paris around the sides and back of my ankle to prevent any movement. The A&E team were kind enough to give me a pair of "surgery trousers" and let me change out of my jeans so they didn't have to cut them off. I really didn't think that one through - D'oh! 

My soft cast and crutches

Five days later, I went back to the fracture clinic and got a fancy, light weight, fiberglass plaster the color of my choosing. I went purple! I was not allowed to put any weight on my foot for the foreseeable future, so I spent 5 weeks hopping around on one leg and crutches. 

Crutches suck! You cannot move anywhere and carry anything with you. Bill outfitted me with a small backpack so I could take my kindle, iPad, and water bottle to various rooms in the house. Oh! And we have a wonderful, old, rickety Victorian with rooms situated over three floors. The stairs are tall and skinny, so after attempting to navigate them on crutches that first day and realizing I would end up breaking my neck in the process of moving from floor to floor, I took all of the stairs on my bum. For 5+ weeks, I was scooting up and down stairs, dragging my crutches and backpack up and down as I went. 

The NHS (UK's national health service) no longer distributes armpit crutches because they can do a number on your lymph nodes, so I had to use 100% arm upper body strength to move from place A to place B using bicep-cuff braces. Unless I was scooting on my bum, that is :-) 

My dandy plaster!

After 5 long weeks that were made infinitely better thanks to Bill and all of you who visited, texted, messaged, emailed, picked up our groceries, and brought food for us,  I went in for the dandy plaster removal. 

The cutting of the plaster

I had never had a cast before, and was surprised that the saw just vibrates and won't cut you even if it touches your skin. It was pretty remarkable, really. 

So happy!!!

And it's off!!!

The fracture clinic doctor I saw sent me home with a velcro leg brace that I was instructed to wear for the next 4-6 weeks. While I was glad to have some extra support, I thought that 4-6 weeks seemed a bit excessive. In all of my sports massage training, I learned that the quicker you can get moving, the quicker you heal, and the faster you'll be back to normal.  

Thankfully, I had my first physiotherapy appointment the very next day. The PT could not understand why, if I was not given a return appointment at the fracture clinic, I would be so restricted for so long. The PT is going to call the fracture clinic to see if there is any real reason why I need the brace for so long. In the meantime, he suggested I wear it while outside of the house, but take it off at home, where I am safe. 

My new leg brace 

In the last 48 hours, the swelling that remains is slowly going down. My flexibility and strength is already improving. And my overall happiness of being able to re-join the human race has put a perma-grin on my fact so wide, I'm sure I'll break my cheeks!

Thank you for reading this long post / rant. 

And here's to never breaking anything, ever, again! 

Cheers!!! 

Taormina, Sicily

On our final full day in Sicily, we headed down to the picturesque village of Taormina. Thankfully, our friends Ben and Nadine gave us the heads up to park in a nearby multi-story car park and take the free bus into the village center. I cannot even imagine trying to maneuver our cars through the little village gate below and into the throngs of villagers and vacationers.

The gate to Taormina

The village had a few high-end shops (Gucci was one I recognized), but its main claim to fame, aside from their outstanding gelato and granita, is the Greek amphitheater overlooking the mediterranean. It is said that the current amphitheater was re-built in the 2nd century by the Romans in the Greek style to emulate the ruined Greek amphitheater that had been situated on this rocky outcropping of land. 

Greek amphitheater in Taormina

Therefore, it is still called the Greek amphitheater, even though what we looked at was technically a Greek-style, Roman amphitheater. When re-building, the Romans didn't include the lower seating from the original Greek amphitheater (where the bleachers are located in the above photo) to make it easier to showcase gladiator and animal fights. Ugh! 

Amphitheater

Amphitheater with views of the Mediterranean Sea

As you can see in several of the photos, the theater is still used for plays and concerts. In fact, we paid half-price entry because the contemporary seating and lights were in place for a concert that was to be held there later that day.  I didn't mind, because the added stairs made it a bit more accessible for me and my gimpy leg to climb halfway up the theater. Bill went all the way to the top to take some photos from up high. 

Amphitheater being prepped for a concert

One last shot of the Greek amphitheater

Not only could you see the mediterranean sea far below the amphitheater, you could also see Mount Etna, smoking away in the distance. 

Mount Etna looms over Toarmina

I wish we had had time and knew how to get up to the Saracen castle. But truth be told, it was BLAZING hot that  day in Sicily and my leg was really started to protest. Although I loved seeing the sites in Taormina, I could not wait to get back to our vacation house so I could soak my leg in the cool water in our pool. 

A Saracen castle/citadel high on the Sicilian cliff

It was a short 2-1/2 hour visit in Tarmina, but long enough to walk the main street, see the ancient sites, have lunch (and a gelato/granita or two), before heading back to our holiday home. 

That night, Ben and Nadine came over with a feast of locally sourced and produced veg, porcini mushrooms, cheese, wine, sausage - the works - and we all pitched in to make a delicious, al-fresco dinner. We finally had to break up the party after midnight, as we had a plane to catch the next morning. 

Our time in Sicily was short, but oh, so lovely! (Save the whole breaking-my-leg part!)

Tiny streets of Taormina

A Trek up the Volcano

The day after our wine tasting adventure, we met with Roberto, a volcanologist, and spent many, many hours in his Land Rover trekking up and down the volcano. 

The Land Rover that fit nine people… barely

I told Roberto about my 'rolled' ankle, and he was kind enough to edit our itinerary so that he drove us as close as possible to all of the sites around Mount Etna. That was good for me, but the Land Rover was quite cramped and not having several longer walks throughout the day made it a bit more challenging for the taller people crammed in the 4X4. But all in all, I think we had a great day! 

The smoking volcano with lava in the foreground

Roberto took us to an old quary where you could not only see the volcano, but also a lava flow from the '80s and earlier.

A defunct quarry of lava rock and stone

Various layers of rock

We were also able to see the various stratified rock along the edges of the quary. I took a basic geology class way back in my freshman year in college, so I remembered a bit about the various metamorphic, sedimentary, and ignious rocks that Roberto discussed. 

Brook, the former rock hound enjoyed himself

Roberto teaching us about rocks

The Land Rover seated two in the front, three in the middle (I was in the middle, middle), and four in sideways bench seats in the back. I think the people in the back had it the hardest, as they bounced around quite a lot.. and sitting sideways close to the roof meant they had to use their core to try and not bump each other or their heads! My seat was quite nice, but it was rather difficult getting into and out of the tall Rover with my sore ankle.  

My view from the Land Rover

We made our way over to the lava tubes to do some cave exploring. I sat in the shade not too far from the Rover, as it was a bit of a walk. Bill took the camera, so the next series of shots are from him. 

Dan getting ready to go lava tubing

It was at least 80F outside waiting in the shade (down by the ocean it was in the mid 90sF), but I hear it was quite chilly inside the lava tubes. 

Heading in to the lava tubes

I see a lava tube!

And apparently very, very dark! 

Spotlight inside the lava tube

Exiting the lava tube

As we left the lava tubes, we noticed we were getting closer to the volcano ridge line! 

Smokey volcano 

After lave tubing, we made our way to a picnic spot for lunch. We had stopped at a small market halfway up Mount Etna for some delicious, traditional Sicilian fair. 

At a wee grocers for lunch provisions

And made our way to a small park. We met a very nice Sicilian couple who demanded we sit with them and they proceded to share quite a bit of their food with us as well. So again, we had a feast! 

Picnic lunch!

Fresh ricotta was the bomb-diggity! We also had mortadella, salami, bread, cheese, olives. I was starting to see a trend. A delicious trend! 

Lunch!

Roberto holding court at lunch

I left the picnic spot a few minutes early to slowly limp my way back to the car. Bill caught up with me to show me his special prickly flower-thingy he found for me :-) 

Bill found a cute, prickly thing

Bill and I were both enamored of the lava rock walls. They were all over in Sicily, very similar to the dry stone walls that enclose many a field here in North Yorkshire, only made of lava rocks. 

Lava rock wall

We then made our way to a tourist-y roadside cafe for coffee and a saunter around a handful of defunct calderas. A caldera is a crater usually formed by the collapse of land, following a volcanic eruption. Not to be confused with a volcanic crater, which is the mouth of a volcano. 

Exploring a few calderas

Learning about the calderas

I didn't limp far, but I keep my spirits high!

Roberto teaching us about the calderas

The rest of the group walked around the largest caldera's rim while I stayed near the Rover and took a few photos with my phone. 

Walkers around the caldera rim

Bill took the nice camera and got a few shots of his view from the rim of the large caldera. You can see quite a few lava domes, where there is (or was) an upheaval due to the slow protrusion of lava. 

View from the caldera 

And you can see at least one other caldera in the distance. 

View from the caldera 

I liked the wee park signs dotted around Mount Etna. 

Interesting park sign with graffiti 

While our group was walking the rim, several posed for a prime 'HELP' photo! 

HELP! 

One last, etherial shot of the lava domes and calderas shrouded in volcano steam, before we headed back to the Land Rover to head home for the day. That's as close as we were able to get to the volcano's crater. 

Last view from the caldera

Roberto from VolcanoTrek did a great job! He really knew his volcanology, Sicilian history, and was very personable to boot. And, he rolled with my 'rolled' ankle, for which I was very greatful. 

Heading back down the volcano