visiting a school!

Today I had the opportunity to visit a school in Sussex. It's a primary school with 200 children (they couldn't believe that Kensington has 750 - that's unheard of!) There were roughly 30 children in each classroom.

Two of the students took us around for a tour while my son was a celebrity of sorts on the Year Six room. After visiting the classrooms -including a garden and a pool - I had the opportunity to sit down with the principal. It was remarkable to see that we're fighting the same battles: accountability and testing, lots of paperwork, government working against teachers, and the budget. As a matter of fact, the school teachers in England are going on strike tomorrow due to a plan in the government that raises their retirement age to 66, with fewer benefits.

I did acquire a copy of their tests, so I'm looking forward to comparing these against ours. I'm also looking forward to a continued relationship with this school.

excitement at Harrod's

Harrod's is a famous department store in England. I love coming here because it's so fancy and so over the top -- it makes Nordstrom look like WalMart.

In addition to clothing and all of the typical department store stuff, there is also a food market that is extravagant, with all sorts of items from all over the world. You can also have dinner there (we did), but you have to be prepared. For example, my son likes scallops and that's what he ordered. He got one, I mean ONE, scallop. Poor kid. However, between how much the dollar isn't worth, and the prices of things at Harrod's, I'm hoping pearls start shooting out of his ears.

Regardless, Harrod's is quite the experience with the Egyptian escalator, the memorial to Princess Diana, and the amazing market!

Windsor, and the weather

This is my third time in England...and I have never dealt with rain, despite being told "It ALWAYS rains in England". Well, today, it happened...quite the downpour, outside of Windsor Castle.

However, that's okay. Windsor Castle is beautiful, and there was a special exhibition there in light of Prince Philip turning 90 this year. In addition, my family has been working on our geneology, and we have somewhat of a "royal tie"...so going to St. George's Chapel, where many royals are buried, was a neat experience.

It was nice to share this experience with my son. I've been to Windsor before, but this was his first time.

Tower of London visit

Today we visited the Tower of London. Now, I was there 14 years ago, but I saw so many changes that have taken place - so it was like a whole new visit.

We saw the following at this massive complex, sitting next to Tower Bridge:

1. Tower cells/prisons, including the one where Sir Walter Raleigh was held, and other cells where people were imprisoned for a time, sometime before their execution.

2. The site of the execution of Anne Boleyn, among others (the last time I was here, the STONE was here. Now there's a memorial statue)

3. Armour of various kings from Henry VIII through James I.

4. Crown jewels...so much opulence.

We also did a "Wall Walk" around roughly half of the perimeter of the complex.

Breakfast of Champions - London

If I can get over the technical difficulties...I will share a picture of the typical English breakfast (at least it's been advertised as such in numerous restaurants I have seen today):

- rashers of bacon
-bangers (sausage)
- a fried egg cooked on one side (yikes!)
- baked beans
-roasted tomato

Surprisingly, my son ate all of his...plus all of MY sausage. I hope he doesn't expect me to cook like this when we get home.

Sainte Chappelle

This beautiful church was actually built to hold relics collected during the crusades. Right next to it is the prison where Marie Antoinette and other victims of the guillotine were imprisoned.

Let's talk money!

In France, the unit of currency is the Euro.

The value of the dollar has dropped in recent years, so one Euro is worth roughly $1.75 US. For the sake of shopping here, I'm just multiplying the cost times 2.

So....in order to get one ice cream cone for all three of us...at 3 Euros each...that's 9 Euros in ice cream..but multiply that by 2, and this little treat was 18 dollars. Want a bottle of diet coke? That's 3.5 Euros...so roughly 6 to 7 dollars for the same size bottle we get for a dollar at home.

Let's just say it makes things interesting!