Unpaid endorsement

Kindles come in handy when you're waiting for a plane.  Or on a plane.  Or in line for a palace.  Or  a museum.  Really, anytime you're waiting.

We are reading:

The Lost Hero
Heroes of Olympus
A Tale Dark and Grimm
The Alchemyst
Lies
Plague
Fear
What Angels Fear
Istanbul Passage
Prague Winter

Bonus points if you can match titles to readers.

Ta-ra, London!

We were so lucky to get to see so many good friends in London.  Thanks much to Matt, Tony and William for stopping by Linden Gardens for a beer and the Spain v. Italy match!  And looking forward to seeing Sean, Kendall and Stuart back in the states!

We had a great time and then we tried a Potter-style exit at Platform 9 3/4.  Didn't work so well, so we jumped the plane to Prague instead. :)  See you at the next stop!

Sensitivity and joy

We made a special trip to see this year's Serpentine Pavilion in Kensington Park.  This is the 12th annual pavilion installation and was designed by Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei and the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron (who previously collaborated on the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing.)

Nicole is an admirer of Ai Weiwei's work, as well as his political courage.  In addition to his daring  and experimental artwork, Ai Weiwei has been one of the Chinese government's most vocal critics.  Notwithstanding his national prominence for designing the Olympic stadium in 2008, Ai Weiwei was arrested in 2011 and detained for 81 days without charges.  While he was released, he has not been able to leave the country and so his work on the Serpentine Pavilion has been through Skype discussions with Herzog & de Meuron.  The result is remarkably moving and intimate:

The pavilion actually descends underground into a cork seating interior that is designed as an homage to the 11 previous pavilions that have stood here.  It is covered with a floating platform room that holds rain water and reflects the sky above.  While the setting itself is natural and calming, on the day we were there it comfortably held a dozen or so people in lively chatter.

Ai Weiwei wrote a very moving opinion piece when he discovered that he would not be permitted to attend the opening of his pavilion:

"At the same time you have to maintain a passion for what you are doing.  You have to have sensitivity and joy.  If you don't have that, you will be like a fish on the beach, drying up on the sand."

We enjoyed Ai Weiwei's pavilion and hope he'll get a chance to do so soon.

London art

Hi, this is Sophie.  This is a post about some of the art in London.

Graffiti

This Graffiti we found when walking under a bridge
in London on the way to the Tate Modern.

"I know that you know that nobody knows…"

Banksy

We found out about Banksy in a book at the Tate Modern in London, and so after that we started looking for his art everywhere we went.  Sadly we did not find any, so these are just a few he has done that we like.  (For those who don't know, Banksy is a very secretive and famous Graffiti artist that puts his work all around the world.)

See more about Banksy here.

Random Street Art

Hymn
By Damien Hirst

Big silver orb!

Me, Sean, and Anna

Anna, ruler of the world

We like to call these "locks of love"

Street Pianos

These pianos were added to the streets of London for the
City of London Festivals Golden Jubilee ( 50 year anniversary ) 

Playing a piano outside of Saint Paul's Cathedral.

See more about street pianos here.

~ Sophie

Fashionista tea

The tradition of afternoon tea is widely credited to Anna Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford and a great friend of Queen Victoria.  So, of course, we had to go to tea in London and where better than The Berkeley in Knightsbridge?

Back at the turn of the 19th century, The Berkeley was one of the few places that parents would allow their debutante daughters to go unchaperoned.  (Of course, Nicole was not about to let the girls go to tea unchaperoned.)

Over the years, The Berkeley has become a favorite in fashion circles and their afternoon "Pret-a-Portea" plays to that audience.  The delicacies are inspired by the fashion line of the season.  On our visit, we had a cherry bavorois and coconut cream inspired by Jason Wu's romantic pink and white ensemble, as well as biscuits that looked like Christian Louboutin heels and Miu Miu bikinis.  

After much sampling, we did finally choose a favorite: the Gucci-inspired Grand Marnier and dark Valrhona chocolate mousse embellished with gold chocolate beads.  

So many treats, so little time.  

Anna & Sophie with Louboutin stiletto chocolate biscuit
and D&G blueberry spongecake purse 

The many faces of the phone box

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott designed the iconic British red phone box to celebrate King George V's Silver Jubilee in 1935.  This year, British Telecom brought it back as a street art project to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  All over London, we found the phone box re-imagined by British artists. 

Sophie and Anna pose with the K6: 

"Jubilee" by Ryan Callanan

"Slip" by Gerry Judah

"The Greatest Love of All" by Stuart Semple 

"Flower Box" by greyworld 

"Beacon" by Steven Dray

Towers, palaces and castles

London has no shortage of places for the Royals to hang their hats.  We saw the Tower of London, Kensington Palace and Windsor Castle, some constructed over a millenium ago.  At times these places were used to keep their enemies out (or, in the case of the Tower, their enemies in) or to grandly welcome friends or, sometimes, to have a respite from their royal duties.  All in all, pretty sweet cribs.

The Tower of London began construction under William the Conqueror in the early 1080s.  At the time, it would have dominated the landscape with its highest wall standing 90 feet up.  Lots of ugly stuff happened here.  The young princes, Edward V and his younger brother Richard, were imprisoned here and then mysteriously disappeared, clearing the way for their uncle, Richard III, to become king.  Of course, Henry VIII imprisoned and executed Sir Thomas More, Bishop Fisher and two of his 6 wives (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) at the Tower.  It's even believed that Guy Fawkes was tortured here after his failed attempt to blow up Parliament on behalf of the persecuted Catholics.

Interesting for history buffs, maybe, but the girls were particularly interested in the bling.  The Tower is where the Crown Jewels are held and, even if you're not a jewelry kind of person, they are impressive.  Like the Sovereign's Sceptre which features the 530.2 carat Great Star of Africa, the largest colorless cut diamond in the world.

Or the Queen Mother's Crown set with 2,800 diamonds, including the Koh-i-Nur diamond.  This 105.6 carat diamond originated in India and was seized when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877.  The diamond is said to be cursed for any man who dares to wear it.  (Reportedly, a Hindu text authenticating the diamond in the 1300s says "He who owns this diamond will own the world, but also know all its misfortunes.  Only God or a woman can wear it with impunity."  Lots of food for thought in that.  But the British, taking no chances, have only passed the Koh-i-Nur on to women.

As we left the Queen's riches behind, Sophie looked at a portrait of the young Elizabeth and noted "Looking at her makes me feel kind of insignificant."  Anna nodded and said, "I want to be queen when I grow up."

We also enjoyed Kensington Palace (where Anna got a lesson in courtly etiquette in the King's State Rooms!) and Windsor Castle (where we oohed and aahed over Queen Mary's dollhouse).  All the towers, palaces and castles are here.  We may need a few more etiquette tips before we move in.

London calling

It take some getting used to London.  Of course, everyone speaks English, but they do it with those brilliant accents.  And every street corner has a reminder that a big red doubledecker bus might be barreling your way from an unexpected direction.  That's helpful.  And, since we're staying in Notting Hill, mom keeps looking for Hugh Grant to come around the corner (we totally don't get that).

It's all good. 

We love our neighborhood and spent the first afternoon just wandering around, window shopping and people watching.  There seem to be a lot of foreign tourists in town, what with the Queen's Jubilee just ending, Wimbledon in full swing, and the Olympics around the corner.  When our feet started to drag, we went back home to 11 Linden Gardens and had tea and marmalade biscuits while we watched England v. Italy in the Eurocup.  Seriously authentic.

On our first full day, we slept til 1 in the afternoon but still had time to meet our friend, Sean, and his mom Kendall at the Tate Modern!  Sean's parents have known our parents since, like, forever, and Sean has known us since we were born (Sean is 8 months older than Sophie).  So, it was fun to get to see them half way around the world!

The Tate was interesting, but we actually just enjoyed wandering around the city.  We went over the Millenium Bridge (you know, the one that the Death Eaters destroy in The Half-Blood Prince -- you know, right?) and then to St. Paul's Cathedral.  And even more interesting than the Tate's collection was the cool street art all over the place, like random "street pianos" that anyone can play -- even us!

More pics from our walkabout are here.  Sophie's up next with more details on the street art in London.  Til then, ta-ra!

Innocents abroad

"It was a novelty in the way of excursions—its like had not been thought of before, and it compelled that interest which attractive novelties always command. It was to be a picnic on a gigantic scale."

~ Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869)

On Saturday afternoon, we launched our ambitious tour of Europe: 5 countries, 8 cities, many splendors and new stamps in our passports. 

As early readers of The Honeychurch Chronicles know, the girls are seasoned international travelers.  We have been planning this trip for months, having taken only a few short vacations in the last year when we lost Grandpa Wong to cancer.  In 2009, we took a similar trip during Nicole's sabbatical from Google.  Just three years later, the girls seem so grown up!  Sophie is a shoe-size larger than Nicole and  is quickly catching up in height.  She will be old enough to drive in just 5 years!  Anna, always an eloquent speaker, is now a very sophisticated conversationalist and hurdling with her sister toward adolescence.

All of this made us realize that the window of their childhood is closing quickly.  ("No it's not!" exclaims Anna, holding tight to her stuffed caterpillar.)  We don't know if a 6-week trip to Europe can slow that process - like sending an astronaut into space - but we'll try anything.

It all begins with one long plane ride.  The flight from San Francisco to London logs 5,359 miles in 9 hours and 37 minutes.  ("We went over Greenland!" said Sophie who discovered that it was quickest to go over the top of the earth.)  In that time, we now know it is possible to watch two movies, eat two (pretty awful) meals, and sleep (but not much).  The girls also entertained themselves with art projects -- working in the mediums of colored pencil on paper and finger on iPad (see above).  Best thing about the British Airways flight?  "We love their accents!"

We are slaughtered by jet lag.  Will post more from London soon!

Ahhh, that school's-out-for-summer feeling

School ends.  Check.
Soccer season ends.  Check.
Violin recital caps our lessons for the summer.  Check.

SUMMER IS HERE!!!  It's that chest-expanding, clear-headed joy that comes with the end of our routine responsibilities, waking up to alarm clocks, eating on schedule and schlepping from one lesson/practice/appointment to another.

Letting no moss grow, however, we quickly started summer with a trip to Yosemite where Ed and his childhood friend, Cliff, crossed an item off their bucket list: summiting Half Dome. 

Yosemite is fantastic in June.  Granite cliffs stretch up to perfectly blue skies with views that make you forget to breathe.  Like these:

That last one's Half Dome.  Beautiful and awesome in the "I-am-struck-with-awe" kind of way.  And that's what Cliff, Ed and their friend Joe (who wanted to work on conquering his fear of heights short of jumping out of an airplane) set out to climb.

The hike to Half Dome is about 16 miles round trip, up an arduous trail that hits the summit about 8,800 feet above sea level.  It gets really hairy in the last 400 feet up the summit where hikers use metal cables to scale the rock.  I particularly liked this about the Park Service's description: "Since 1919, relatively few people have fallen and died on the cables."  

We casually speculated over dinner that some 400 people climb up the trail every day and maybe one person a year dies, from being unprepared, out of shape, careless or, say, from a lightening strike (you are, after all, on the tallest point in Yosemite Valley and hanging from a metal cable).  When the boys left at 5 the next morning, a still half-asleep Sophie did the math and warned Ed, "Daddy, be careful.  You have a 1 in 146,000 chance of dying." Gold star for our 5th grade math teacher, Aaron.

Thankfully, the guys made it up safely and quickly, reaching the summit by 9:40 when they texted us from the top!  Everyone also returned with all limbs intact, although Ed reported that the Park Ranger at the base of the dome said he had carried one person down in a body bag during his tenure.  Nice.

The pictures of their climb are spectacular:

Ants on a hill

Getting close

Up the cables

The summit!!

The girls, for their part, did 1/8th of the trek by getting to the top of Vernal Falls after a leisurely breakfast on the terrace.  It was plenty work out for us and we were graced with a double-rainbow vision on the way up the trail.

Here's a link to the rest of our travels with the Rigbys.  Looking forward to their next visit and can't wait to find out what's next on the bucket list!

On the Mist Trail

Make a wish

Double Rainbow!

With Caroline at the top