We finally moved

Finally the process of finding and moving into a home in London has ended, it took us officially 8 weeks to achieve this but finally is all done. Letting a property here is significantly different than in Canada or in Colombia. The market conditions were not ideal, everybody wants to sell and fewer properties are available to rent. Once finally we decided on a house, the negotiation process took a long time. There is a "listing price" and you make an "offer" with different conditions, and the landlord can decide to take your offer, make a counter offer or amend the conditions. Once a "number" is agreed then the real fun starts to try to agree on a letting contract, not sure if everybody goes through the same but this was true for us, a very lengthy process. At the end the contract was signed on the moving day.

The house was built in 1936, it was built in the Elizabethan style, timber framed, black and white, vertical timbers supported by diagonal timbers. Very English in my opinion. It backs onto a golf course and has a beautiful garden on the back. I really hope that we will have some guests during our stay in this house. My favorite thing about the house is the garden (see picture).

It will take us a while to get Internet access up and running in the house, so for now I have to keep it short. But, soon we will be updating the site with some more pictures.

En Español: Jardín con casa

Finalmente ya encontramos y alquilamos una casa en Londres, nos tomo oficialmente 8 semanas, fue difícil porque todo el mundo quiere vender y hay pocas propiedades en el mercado para rentar; y cuando te decides por una casa, entonces comienza el proceso de negociación, donde puedes hacer una “oferta” de cuanto quieres pagar mensualmente por el alquiler y cada parte pone condiciones, a través de dos agentes. Es complicado y demorado. Finalmente firmamos el contrato el mismo día que nos la entregaron.

La casa fue construida en 1936 y el estilo de la construcción que parece común de la época se llama Elizabethan, con columnas verticales y diagonales de madera, fachada blanca y negra. La parte que mas me gusta es el jardín (Foto) y da contra un campo de golf en la parte de atrás. Esperamos que nos visiten mientras estamos aquí.

Aun no tenemos conexión a Internet en la casa, así que no puedo escribir mucho pero una vez estemos conectados pondremos mas fotos. Un abrazo.

Faces of Istanbul

Here is a photographic look of some of the sculptures from the Istanbul Archeology Museum. Sadly, one of the main sculpture halls was closed for renovations.

Nonethless it gives you an idea of the quality of the collection they have at this place.

Turkish Culture

There are a number of reasons for me to be excited about this trip. First of all, because travelling through Europe was one of the main bonuses of living in England and this trip could be the start of that and second because it was my first time in a country where the first language is neither English or Spanish, the main religion is not Christian and the role of Woman is so notoriously different, so in a world, a truly cultural experience.

Estaba emocionada por este viaje por muchas razones. La primera, viajar por Europa era uno de las ventajas de vivir en Inglaterra y este viaje seria el comienzo de eso. La segunda es porque este viaje seria mi primera experiencia en un país cuya lengua no es Español o Ingles, su religión no es Cristiana y el rol de la mujer es tan diferente, entonces es una verdadera experiencia cultural.

Turkish W.C.

This was one of the challenges for me in particular. The first public bathroom was on the side of a Mosque and it was simply "men only". There are very few women on the street and on the Mosque, even inside the Mosque they have a very small separate area enclosed with dividers where they can not be seen. About 90% of the shops attendants that we saw were men. I guess there is not as big of a demand for women's public bathrooms.

The second bathroom experience was a public bathroom on an underpass, close to a main tram station. After paying the fee, I realized that for my 75 cents I was getting a bucket of water and a pink latrine (See picture below). I can not help to wonder how this women do it, with the long skirts, head scarfs and multiple layers of clothing, how do they manage to use a latrine? . I also found latrines on the bathrooms of the museum and any other outside public bathroom.

But then, contrasting my public bathroom experiences, I found a couple of fancy bathrooms. In the lobby of our hotel, the airport and a fancier restaurant there were toilets with electronic sensors for flushing and odour absorbers with sensors.

Los baños públicos

Fue uno de las dificultades que encontré para mi en este país. El primer baño publico simplemente era solo para hombres. Hay muy pocas mujeres en la calle, trabajando en las tiendas y en las mezquitas. Todo es atendido por hombres, incluso en las mezquitas tienen un área separada para las mujeres que es muy pequeña y esta bien encerrada. Así que no hay muchas mujeres en la calle y así, muy poca demanda para baños públicos. Luego encontré un vano publico para mujeres, pero era una letrina, después de pagar los 75 centavos que costaba la entrada, me dieron un baldecito con agua y ya esta. Yo me pregunto como hacen estas mujeres con las faldas largas, las túnicas en la cabeza y tantas capas de ropa para usar esos baños?
Pero en contraste, también encontré unos baños bastante modernos con censores y también censores-extractores de olor, en la recepción del hotel y el aeropuerto.

Temples: The Aya Sofya

The Aya Sofya truly impressed me, this enourmous temple which has been a place of worship for both Christians and Muslims for almost a millenium and a half (More specifically opened in year 537). The diameter of the dome is about 30 meters and its height is 55 meters (to give you an idea, the statue of liberty without its base would stand nicely under the central dome). Its architecture and construction has fascinated humanity for decades. To me this building stands as a symbol of faith and respect and that is what I felt when I got inside it.

Templos: El Aya Sofya
Este templo verdaderamente me impresiono, una construcción monumental que ha sido lugar de oraciones de Cristianos y Musulmanes por casi un milenio y medio (Fue abierto al publico en el año 537 d. C.). El diámetro de la cúpula es de 30 metros y la altura es de 55 metros (la estatua de la libertad sin base cabria dentro del edificio). Su arquitectura y construcción a fascinado a la humanidad por décadas. Para mi, este edificio es un símbolo de fe y respecto y eso es lo que sentí cuando entre a el.

Fauna

We were quite lucky to see dolphins fighting the busy ship traffic on the Bosphorus and the seaguls lying on and flying around them, they were jumping outside the water and although they were far from our ferry we were able to enjoy the show.

There were some others, not so glamorous, animals around the streets of Istanbul. Street cats, every where and on every pile of garbage. It was kind of spooky to be around so many hungry-looking cats, specially at night in the dark streets (Well, spooky for me - and cute for Scott).

Fauna
Tuvimos suerte de ver delfines en el Bosphorus, aunque había mucho trafico de barcos y botes. Los delfines estaban relativamente lejos de nosotros, estaban saltando afuera del agua y las gaviotas revoloteaban alrededor de ellos y se posaban en ellos también. Un buen espectáculo nos dieron.
Habían otros animales, no tan glamorosos en las calles de Estmabul. Gatos callejeros, miles, en casa esquina, husmeando en la basura. A mi me parece un poco aterrador estar rodeado de tantos gatos, que parecían hambrientos, en esas calles oscuras (Bueno, aterrador para mi pero a Scott le parecían como lindos).


Food

We enjoyed a couple of versions of the traditional Doner Kebab, lamb or chicken, it was very good, they eat it inside bread and with some salad - as a fast food snack. The more elaborated delicacies that we enjoyed include Anatolian chicken casserole, Sea bream and fish stew. Lots of fruits available including cherries, "ericks" (a mini green plum) and orange juice parlors very inexpensive. Pastries filled with cheese or chicken for breakfast, boiled corn-on-the-cob stacks everywhere (without butter!) and for desserts, we tried different varieties of the "Turkist delight", made into cubes from starch and sugar and in different flavors, lots with pistachios and also the Baklava, a sweet pastry typical of the middle east. Around the Bosphorus, there were hundreds of fishermen catching tiny fish and then we saw many barbq stands grilling them and putting into bread and selling them as a snack - very smelly - did not get to try that.

Comida
Probamos el tradicional doner kebab (Foto abajo), de cordero o pollo, se lo comen con pan y un poco de ensalada, como un sándwich. También degustamos otros platos mas elaborados como cacerolas de pollo de Anatolia, pescado Dorado y cazuela de pescado. Había una gran variedad de frutas, cerezas, “ericks” que eran como ciruelas pequeñas y verdes, jugo de naranja natural. También probamos los pasteles de hojaldre rellenos de queso (al desayuno). Tienen puestos en la calle donde venden mazorca hervida, simplemente hervida, ni siquiera le ponen mantequilla. De postres, probamos el famoso “Delicias Turcas”, que son unos cubos de azúcar con diferentes sabores, como pistacho y también probamos el Baklava que es un postre del medio oriente hecho de hojaldre y mieles, con diferentes rellenos. Alrededor del Bosphorus, habían muchos hombres pescando unos pescaditos diminutos, que luego otros se encargan de ponerlos en una parrilla y venderlos dentro de un pan: eso olía mucho a pescado y no parecía nada provocativo, así que no lo probamos.

Alex.

Back from Turkey

Well, we're back from Istanbul today. Funny thing...on the plane home this afternoon they served us a very nice lunch. We had a choice: Pasta or Turkey. (not chicken...turkey...)

We had a great time these five days in Istanbul. While it is not likely at the top of most people's tourist agendas, it is a great city with a very rich history. I wouldn't say that it is a 'pretty' city, but it does have quite a number of interesting sites to see. We managed to hit most of the main tourist spots including the Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, Topakapi Palace, the Archealogical Museum, Boat ride up the Bosphorus, the Prince's Islands and the "Mystical Water Pipe" complex.

Boldly contradicting the rather dismal forecasts, we had exceptional weather the whole time. It was sunny and warm and we both got a little bit sunburned.

My impressions of Istanbul

1) Distinct odours (good and bad)
2) Amazing water
3) Pockets of beauty.
4) Potential..potential..potential.
5) Rich History

Let's see if I can delve into each of these a little more.

1) Distinct odours...well...I suppose I won't go into this one too deeply. Suffice it to say: Good: Egyptian Spice Market or the fresh Sea Air on Buyukada Island. Bad: Standing room only on the 6pm tram ride from the station.

2) Amazing water....Istanbul sits at the junction of three waterways: the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus and the Marmara Sea. There is water everywhere, and it is beautiful. The Golden Horn is an inlet on the European side. The northern side of the inlet seems to be progressively more modern. You start with the area down by the Golden Horn which has some historic sites such as the Galata tower, and then the further you go up towards the Black Sea the more 'posh' and modern it all seems to get. On the south side of the Golden Horn is the more historic area which has the Aya Sofia, Blue Mosque, Topakapi Palace etc.... The City is then further divided by the Bosphorus which is a straight connecting the Black Sea to the Marmara (which then connects to the Mediterranean). The Bosphorus is also a continental divide. On one side is Europe, and on the other is Asia. Finally, to the south and west of Istanbul is the Marmara Sea which eventually runs into the Aegean and Mediterannean. The water is everywhere and there is a great public transport system that connects everything by boat. We spent hours out on these buses of the sea and it was fantastic.

3) Pockets of Beauty: Throughout Istanbul and even across into the "Prince's Islands" you see a mixture of buildings that I would classify as: 1) Restored and Magnificent; 2) Magnificent but not restored, in OK condition; 3) Magnificent, not restored....falling apart 4) well..the rest of them...which I would classify as never nice in a variety of conditions. The first category really are spectacular, and we saw some nice examples of this over on the Prince's Islands. The second category is fine. The 3rd however is really a shame. In a number of places we saw what seemed to have been great buildings, in excellent locations, surrounded by beautifully restored buildings, literally crumbling to the ground. I don't know if there is some law in Turkey that prevents the tearing down of historic buildings, but it really seemed odd that these old places were left to actually crumble to the ground. Finally, the 4th category...well, Istanbul is a big city, and, at least in the areas we were in, I suppose the practicality of architecture seems to have greatly outweighed the aesthetics.

4) When I say "Potential, Potential, Potential" I mean to say that Istanbul is a great place that is, well, perhaps a little rough around the edges. You can see all the beauty that it could be, just beneath the surface. It wouldn't take much and you could make this a truly great city. A little cleaning and restoration and it would be wonderful. Around the Galata tower for example, you see a number of apartment blocks that have been restored, and how 'nice' they are...and then there are all of the others that for some reason or other haven't. One day, perhaps all that have been left to crumble, will have fallen to the ground and everything can be brought up to modern standards. Were that the case, it would really be a great place.

5) Rich in History: To go into this subject in any detail would require more space than I dare bore you with. Here are the basics for you: Istanbul has been the capital of four empires: Roman Empire: 330 - 395; Byzantine Empire 395 - 1204 and then again from 1261 - 1453, the Latin Empire from 1204 - 1261 and then finally the Ottoman Empire from 1453 - 1922. Through this time some pretty cool guys have called this place their home. The Roman Emperor Constantine was there for the last 15 years of so of his life, from where he ruled the entire Roman Empire. Then there were the Ottomans. Sultans with great names like: Sultan Mehmed II "The Conquerer"and Sulieman "the Magnificent". A regular Vince McMahon show.

The city apparently dates back to around 5000 BC, but most of the 'history' that you can see there now starts around 400 or so AD. Having been the seat of great empires and occupying the crossroads of Asia and Europe, a lot has happened, and there are traces of this everywhere. It is incredible to think about the history that happened within the walls of the places we visited.
Imagine...one day out in Topakapi Palace (which we visited), one of the Sultans decided that he wasn't going to let the Europeans pass through to India and China anymore....and so...in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue and well..now you have all of us Americans (I mean this in the most continental of respects possible.....all 950 million of us..not just the 300mm between Mexico and Canada.) I know that this is all highly oversimplified, but were it not for a decision made by the guy who's dagger, sword and robe we got to see, taken in a room we got to walk through....we wouldn't even be here. Its funny...coming from Western Canada, I am always quite astounded by history. In a city where the oldest building dates back to the mid 19th century, history is something you read about, not something you actually get to walk through and touch.

Anyway, I've rambled on far too long, and Alex will like to add to this. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip.

Talk to you later,

Scott.





picture of the Blue Mosque taken from inside the Aya Sofia
Foto de la Mezquita Azul tomada desde la Aya Sofia




Inside the Egyptian Spice Market
El mercado de especies de Egipto




The 'real' market. Outside of the Grand Bazaar on Saturday afternoon, where the non-tourists come to shop. El "verdadero" mercado, afuera del Grand Bazzar en la tarde del sabado, donde los locales van de compras.


Istanbul (Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia) taken from across the Golden Horn on our late return from the Prince's Islands. Estambul, tomada desde el ferry durante el regreso de las islas Prince's.



Alex with the Golden Horn and the Galata Tower in the background. Alex con el Golden Horn y la torre Galata en el fondo.


The entrance to Topakapi Palace (the Buckingham Palace (or 24 Sussex Dr.) of the Sultans. Entrada al palacio Topakapi, palacio donde antiguamente vivia el Sultan (Monarca de la region).



The Aya Sofia (Hagia Sophia) taken from the exit of the Blue Mosque. La mezquita Aya Sofia.

En Español: Regresamos de Turquía

Regresamos de Estambul hoy. En el avión, para el almuerzo teníamos dos opciones Pasta o Pavo (en Ingles Pavo se dice Turkey, la misma palabra para el nombre del país – esto le causo mucha gracia a Scott).

La pasamos muy bien, aunque Estambul no esta en la agenda de muchos turistas, es una ciudad grandiosa con una historia fascinante. No diría que es una ciudad “linda”, pero tiene un gran número de lugares interesantes. Tuvimos la oportunidad de visitar la mayoría de los sitios turísticos: Aya Sofía, palacio Topakapi, museo de arqueología, crucero por el Bosphorus, islas Prince’s y el Jardín místico de la pipa de agua.

Mis impresiones de Estambul (resumen):

1) Olores (Buenos o malos). Buenos en los mercados de especies y el olor fresco del mar, malos en el transporte publico.

2) Agua: La ciudad esta en la unión de el estrecho Bosphorus, el mar Marmara y el Golden Horn. Hay agua por todos lados. El estrecho Bosphorus conecta el Mar Negro con el Mar Marmara (que se une luego con el Mediterráneo). También es la división continental de Asia y Europa. Hay un muy buen sistema de transporte publico que conecta todo en botes (Ferrys y buses acuáticos), pasamos horas en esos botes.

3). Construcciones: Un gran numero de construcciones bien preservadas y otras no tanto, o mas bien en decadencia.
4) Potencial: En Estambul puedes ver toda la belleza en la superficie y no costaría tanto esfuerzo convertirla en una verdadera ciudad grandiosa, con mas limpieza de las calles y restauración del los edificios.

5) Riqueza histórica: Estambul fue la capital del imperio Romano, Bizantino, Latín y Ottoman, y sus monarcas vivieron y construyeron sus hogares en ella. La ciudad fue fundada 5000 anos a. C. pero la mayoría de la historia que se puede ver es de alrededor de 400 d. C. Muchas cosas pasaron dentro de las paredes de esa ciudad. Por ejemplo, un día en el palacio Topakapi uno de los sultanes decide que no dejara pasar por su región a los Europeos que van en camino a China e India en busca de especias… entonces… en 1492 Cristóbal Colón va en busca de nuevas rutas y así nace América.

Saludos,
Scott.

Yesterday London revealed the logo for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Seriously....this is the logo..........

Can you see how it captures the spirit of Sport, London and England? What are they thinking?

In case you're having trouble 'getting' it, (like I was), here is the official explanation as to why we should like it.

http://main.london2012.com/en/news/press+room/releases/2007/June/2007-05-04-11-45.htm

Maybe you'll have more luck understanding this that I've had.

Driving

Yesterday I went through something called a triple roundabout in Aylesbury. For the most part, these roundabouts seem like good ideas, and they seem smoother than traffic lights. This "triple roundabout" was a bit of an exception though. It was a mix of lights and of roundabouts.

I tried to find a picture / map of this online, but couldn't. Nevertheless, I did find a two page list of the Aylesburg driving test route. Friends from North America will appreciate how confusing this looks / sounds compared to anything we might have. Here's page two of the Aylesbury practical driver's test.

I'd say that it all looks OK until you hit about Tumfurlong Lane. Not sure exactly what a Gyratory system is. I don't recall one of these being on my driver's test.

It's not just the driving on the 'wrong' side of the road and the roundabouts that are different. They've got a whole different set of roadsigns here.

Here's a couple to consider:


This one apparently means "No Stopping". [ Español: Esta señal significa "NO PARE" ]

Well, yesterday we turned on to a motorway on-ramp and there were two of these signs ominsously standing guard over the entry way.

My first reaction was that this means "do not enter" and we thought we'd entered a motorway off-ramp (rather than on-ramp).
So, stop is exactly what we did, while we tried to figure out what to do. Fortunately, another car eventually came up and passed us from behind, so we just followed him along.

Then there is the Red Circle series of signs.



I have to be honest that a red circle with nothing in it doesn't mean a thing to me. It's tough to interpret. But the other two, I might guess are "pedestrians only" and "cars only (no trucks?)"

Well, I'd be wrong. Apparently the red circle means "not permitted". So an empty red circle would mean no traffic at all. A circle with a pedestian: no pedestrians, and a circle with a car, means no vehicles except for scooters and motorcycles.

What would be wrong with putting a slash though something to mean "not permitted"?

Español: Conduciendo...

Aquí en Inglaterra hay muchas glorietas, que parecen una excelente idea hasta que encontramos una triple-glorieta en Aylsbury. Scott encontró una lista del examen de conducción que incluye muchos términos que no conocemos, así que esperamos no tener que pasar uno de esos exámenes.
También las señales de transito son diferentes, esa señal de circulo azul y cruz roja quiere decir No Pare, nosotros pensábamos que era No pase y en efecto, paramos - hasta que vimos otro carro pasar. Las otras tres señales tampoco tienen mucho sentido, aparentemente circulo rojo quiere decir prohibido, así que la que tiene el circulo en rojo y es blanca, quiere decir "No transite", la del peatón es no transiten peatones y la del carro... No transiten carros.

Pub Signs (June 2, 2007)

Faces of Oxford

Lucy (our GPS)

Adding to Alex's comments....Here is our new travel companion Lucy. Never had a GPS before (in Winnipeg I'm not sure what exactly you would use one for!) but am very excited about this new toy ( I mean tool). Driving here is a little complicated and while Alex is a top notch navigator, she also likes to sleep and well, kind-of wander off in the car.

Driving at home was a lot of straight lines and traffic lights. Here, there are plenty of curves in the roads (not exactly sure why....seems they add curves wherever they can. The grid plan seems to not have appealed to early planners and this tradition has been carried on to today. Back at home, driving was basically the following: "Take Street A....follow it for around 10 minutes. Turn left on Street B, follow it for 5 minutes....then turn right on Street C and it's the fifth on the left." Pretty straight forward.

My initial impression of what the same journey here might be is..... Take Street A for 2 minutes....at the roundabout, take the 3rd exit....keep straight for 3 minutes, bear right...at the roundabout take the 1st exit....continue for 5 minutes....at the roundabout take the 2nd exit (ie...keep going straight after going half-way around the roundabout...) continue straight...etc...etc.....Tricky...but not too bad if you get it all right the first time around.

If you get off track though (which as you are going through roundabouts every couple of minutes can be easy to do), it can get a lot more confusing. On the way to the grocery store the other day things didn't go the way we saw them happening on the map (for some reason there was a no right turn....) anyway, it took us about 1/2 hour to actually get to the parking lot for a building we could see.

So, now we have Lucy. On her first day out she performed very well and got us flawlessly to where we wanted to go. On the way back however, I though that I would change the 'preferences' on the unit and request the 'shortest route' vs. the 'fastest route". It was funny actually....I don't mind 'shortcuts', but Alex is not quite as comfortable. The shortcut started out OK...small but OK. and then the roads just kept getting smaller and smaller. Finally we were on what you can see in Alex's picture where it was a lane about the width of the car with walls of tress/ shrubs / bushes on either side. Good practice for me driving on the right side of the car, as for some reason I've had a tendency to drift over to the left. Not possible on these roads as you'd run into the wall of shrubbery.

Here is a Google map link to the trip from yesterday. Never used the "My Maps" function on Google, so we'll see how that goes.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&om=1&msid=110225640462974242602.00000112f1398d5757c2e&ll=51.75339,-0.449066&spn=1.581187,5.108643&z=8

Cheers.

Scott.

Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon: Our first road trip

Today we had our first road trip in England that was made possible with the assistance of our new Navman Gps navigation system (we called her "Lucy"); one less thing to worry about because I do not like navigating, looking down on maps when there is SO much to see through the windows and with the left side driving and the unknown roads we thought we deserved the treat.


The trip started in Oxford, the beautiful city where Oxford University is located, about 90 miles from London and over 800 years old. The university buildings are spread throughout the city, they all keep the same architectural style - it is hard to see where the university starts and the city ends. As visitors, we were able to access some of the university "Colleges" and see the student residences, the Churches inside this colleges, libraries and classrooms.

It was a beautiful summer day and some of the students were studying outside on the many parks and squares. The city inspired peace and reflection, almost respect.

We visited a nearby town called Woodstock, a charming little village where Blenheim Palace is located, one of England's largest houses and also the birth place of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. We had lunch at the beer garden of a pub on the side of a river. There were Swans on the river and also got to see a performance of some English dancers.




After that, we decided to go further north to Statford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. A historic place well packed with hundreds of tourists. A town with lots of very old buildings, older from what we have seen in London so far. There are a number of Shakespeare-related attractions, a number of houses related to his life and theater productions. There is a lovely canal with boats and Swans (we used to think that Swans were something really special that you would only see in a blue moon, but today we changed our views on that, since we saw more swans on the rivers and lakes than ducks and geese). We enjoyed an afternoon tea at a tea house which has been in business for over 400 years.

On the way back we stopped in Alsbury, a small town with an old medieval church and lots of narrow streets. We enjoyed the English views driving outside London, the hills, country side and specially the sheep. A truly unforgettable day!

En Español : Nuestro primer paseo en carro

Hoy tuvimos nuestro primer paseo en carro en las afueras de Londres. Empezamos en Oxford, la ciudad y la universidad, como a 90 millas de Londres. Una ciudad realmente deslumbrante, muchos edificios componen la universidad, como facultades, con las residencias de los estudiantes e iglesias. Es mucho mas linda de lo que la había imaginado, tantos jardines y espacios verdes. Almorzamos en un pueblito que se llama Woodstock, en un "pub", que es como un bar típico Ingles, este en especial tenia un "jardín de la cerveza" al lado del rió donde vimos cisnes. También fuimos a Stratford-Upon-Avon que es donde nació Shakespeare, una ciudad mas pequeña pero llena de historia y magia, canales y rió. Visitamos Alsbury, un pueblito con una gran iglesia medieval. En el camino, en lugar de vacas, vimos miles de ovejas en las colinas.