What better time to be in the Cradle of Liberty?

We are minutes away now from the end of a rather dismal chapter in American politics, as the House votes to end the 2013 government shut down. So, before Nicole goes back to work, we post our trip to see a true East Coast fall and remind ourselves about the origins of our democracy.  Hello Boston!

It is true that California doesn't do much in the way of seasons. The trees go from green to yellow to bare.  By contrast, Massachusetts looks like a firebox -- all golds, oranges and reds. While I would like to report that our first stop was the Boston Public Garden to see the turning of the leaves, that would be a lie. We were hungry and the leaves would have to wait.

Our first stop in Boston was Hei La Moon in Chinatown because THERE IS NO DECENT DIM SUM IN WASHINGTON.  We have been craving a good chau siu bao for months.  There is none to be found in the nation's capitol and, believe me, we have looked.  Maybe the terrible partisanship in DC is because of the inability to come together over tea and har gow?

In any case, Hei La Moon was the real deal: carts bedecked with dumplings, bottomless pots of tea and barely polite waitstaff.  It was awesome.  But not to be outdone, the nearby Gourmet Dumpling House has amazing xiao long bao -- soupy pork dumplings -- and serves the until 2 in the morning. On the same day we had our dim sum feast, we had more dumplings at 10:30 that night! For the record, yes, four of our meals on this four-day trip included dumplings.

Ok, back to the leaves.

We took a stroll through the Boston Public Garden -- almost familiar because we read Make Way for Ducklings countless times to the girls when they were young.  The ducks look about the same; our girls, not so much.

Make way for ducklings.

Duckling #2 strikes a pose.

We did some historical sightseeing as well, taking the Freedom Trail with William Molineux who looked pretty good for someone born in 1717.  We toured Faneuil Hall (the "Cradle of Liberty"), Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church. We also took a day trip to Sturbridge Village and saw how New Englanders lived in the early 1800s.  With the current government shut down, at least we could go back in time to learn about our country's origins.

We also got a chance to visit with Cousin Emelie who started her freshman year at Harvard!  She gave us a great campus tour and even snuck us in for a peek in Annenberg Hall (which, indeed, looks like the Hogwarts dining hall).  Ed and Nicole are probably not ready for the girls to leave for college just yet, but we hope they'll be as smart and gracious as Emelie!

Of course, we couldn't leave autumnal Massachusetts without a visit to the countryside for apple picking!  We picked a peck!  (And bought some cider as well.)  Well worth the trip.  

Empire apples!

Sophie photo bombing my apple picture.

We're looking forward to our next East Coast adventure!  In the meantime, back to work!

Greetings from the Nation's Capitol (Under Construction)

Dear Friends,

It has been over a year since we posted our travels to the Honeychurch Chronicles.  There's been a lot going on.

To recap briefly, after nearly a year and half after leaving her job, Ed and the girls started asking Nicole questions like, "What do you do with your day?"  This struck her as unfair, having caught up on 2 seasons of Mad Men, the Battlestar Galactica series and all 6 books of the Game of Thrones.  Much discussion ensued.  But since the girls were in school all day and there was no one around to play with, Nicole started doing some teaching, then a little consulting and finally was lucky enough to land a job working with her excellent friends at Twitter.

And then she got the call.

It is in fact one of those I-need-to-sit-down moments when the White House calls.  President Obama was looking for a new Deputy Chief Technology Officer to advise him on Internet policy and the White House wanted to know if Nicole would like to throw her hat in the ring.  At that moment, no answer but "yes" seemed appropriate.

To make a long story short, Ed, Nicole and the girls discussed the opportunity at length and agreed (in Sophie's words) "if we don't do it, we'll probably regret it."  Several months later, here we are:  a rental house in Georgetown, two girls doing beautifully in school and on traveling soccer teams, Ed working on new and exciting projects, and Nicole sitting in the Executive Office of the President.

Well, until today, when Nicole got furloughed.

So, this seems like a good time to reboot the Honeychurch Chronicles.  This will be a purely personal account of our adventures.  Do not expect to read about Internet policy or the Administration's position on anything.  But this is a marvelous new journey for our family, so we thought we would share it with you.  And I've got some time on my hands for at least a little bit.

Stay tuned.  More to come.

La Ville-Lumière

On the backside of our trip, we are returning to familiar and much-loved ground.  We exit Europe via the City of Light.  Paris. 

On this trip, we visited a temporary exhibition in the Tuileries Gardens by South Korean businessman, entrepreneur, inventor and budding 71 year old photographer, Ahae.  The exhibit, called, Through My Window, distilled from 2.6 million photographs taken over the course of four years from Ahae's studio window.  They are beautiful -- some of the photos are more than 12 feet tall and you feel like you walked right into the scene.  

Because we could not wait one more minute, we satisfied our need for Asian food by finding a hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant which served excellent pho.

Then we visited the legendary Shakespeare & Co., a favorite site for Grandpa Wong who once met its owner, George Whitman.  According to Whitman, Shakespeare & Co. was "a socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore."  That sounds like a place Grandpa would love, and all it's missing is a bar that serves Coors Light.

To round out the trip, we visited the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle for the first time.  When Sophie was a baby, Mom brought her a book from Paris about Siam the Elephant.  

Kind of a longish book and all in French, but the gist of it was that Siam was brought over from Thailand to France, did some time in a circus, became famous and had his own TV show and ultimately was lovingly cared for at the National Zoo until his death.  Now here's the important part:  when Siam died (so explained the book) he was stuffed and displayed at the MNHN for future generations to admire and love!  (I know it's a weird kid's story.  It's French.)

This is a long wind-up to say that we saw him!  Siam!  In all his taxidermied wonderfulness.  A childhood story turned reality (albeit real in a stuffed kind of way).  We would not have been surprised to turn the corner and find a stuffed Lorax.

We found one more must-do Paris activity: climb the Eiffel Tower.  Sure, it's 279.1 meters of stairs, but that's better than waiting in the mile-long line for the elevator.  La Tour Eiffel is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.  It was erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.  Eiffel actually had an apartment at the top where he entertained guests!  The views are, indeed, spectacular.  

We are looking forward to our next return to Paris.  Our goal is make it a city where we feel like locals and not tourists.  Anna declares she may live there one day -- as either a fashion designer or chef.  So, we all need to start working on our French!

Life without a cell phone

Warning: This is a geeky diversion.  Feel free to move on if you're not obsessed with your devices.

Is the cell phone a blessing or a curse?  Well, both of course.  In planning for this trip, I assumed that I would just get a local SIM card in each country so that we didn't have to ransom a child to pay for roaming fees.  I would not, of course, go naked sans cell phone.

As it turns out, local SIMS are not so easy to get - deciding on a local carrier, finding a retail store where the staff speaks English, reconfiguring the phone without breaking it.  For 3-5 days of stay?  Once on the ground, it didn't seem worth it.  Ok, fine, I'm lazy.  And ransoming a child started to look more reasonable.

So here are a few notes for the lazy American cell phone addict:

* In London, we used OneFineStay which, in addition to setting us up in a lovely Notting Hill flat, provided a complimentary iPhone.  Exactly what we needed for the basics of making local calls and using the maps and search features.  (Yes, MAPS - the Google-powered ones.  Take note, Mr. Cook.)  Why don't more hotels/apartments with international clientele do this?

* In Istanbul, there is a sheaf of paperwork involved in getting a SIM card and bunches of personal information, including your passport number, given to TurkCell.  Ick.  Overcome with paranoia, I decided to just eat the roaming fees and use the phone for emergencies only.  Well, the "emergencies" (defined as urgent needs) are surprisingly frequent.  Phone use to find our landlord and straighten out transport to our apartment.  Maps and texts to find my friends on the other side of the Bospherous.  Search to find the correct ferry terminal.  Suffice it to say, emergencies are not rare and not cheap.

* It is critically important to have wifi access where you're staying if you don't have the local phone.  You might be able to get wifi access on your phone, but I found that to be more difficult than it should have been.  We traveled with a laptop, iPad, 3 Kindles AND the phone.  Without wifi at our place of rest, there would have been no outlet for the pent-up cravings for email, Tweets, video entertainment and photos.  And, of course, you have to blog.

* So, bottom line and in order of importance when traveling abroad without a local cell phone: clock (no connection needed), maps, phone/txt, local search.  If you can find a good replacement for those functions (e.g., a watch), then you might get to keep your first-born.

Ok, but here's the important discovery: I really only needed those 4 functions from the phone.  On the go, it's all about those real-time, location specific needs.  My random grazing on new Tweets and emails that I usually do at home isn't actually necessary and wasn't really missed.  When it's not available, the girls and the local scenery get my full attention.

But don't ask me about my T-Mobile bill.

Au revoir, La Croix-Valmer

La belle mer

The mediterranean sun is strong and gorgeous in La Croix-Valmer.  We spent the week with our dear friends, the Merlin family.  Sun, sand and surf accompanied by good friends, food and laughs?  What's not to love?

Beautiful markets in La Croix-Valmer

Capitaine Merlin

A day on the water

(And back safely!)

Pizza on the beach

Saint-Tropez w/out a tourist in sight

The remarkable view from Chez Merlin

More photos here.  Thanks and love to the Merlin clan.  We hope we'll be back soon.

The hamam

While in Cappadocia, all the grown-ups took advantage of the hamam, or Turkish bath.  This is an ancient sauna meets shower and massage experience, and it is awesome after a day of being dusty and hot.  No wonder the Ottomans perfected the art.

You start in a sauna (as if the desert outside weren't enough) to relax, then move to the hamam.

This beautiful marble room has a large running basin of water and an enormous low marble table, which is gently heated.  This is where you are washed, soaped, exfoliated and massaged.  (There are well-run public baths throughout Turkey, but the hotels tend to offer a more private, attentive experience.)

The hamam remains an active part of life in Turkey and locals often reserve a day in the week to go and enjoy the relaxing and social atmosphere of their neighborhood hamam.  Something to think about when we re-enter our American lifestyles....