The great mosey home

Well, that's it, folks! We reached the end of our great European adventure, and have finally moseyed back home again. We narrowly missed 3 snowstorms in our travels back to Austin (via Dulles, which closed 2 hours later due to the blizzard) and then two days later, to Amarillo. We had a lovely Christmas with the Millers and New Year in Austin, and our dogs were wildly happy to see us. Everything is just as it was when we left - our house, our pups, our family and friends - and it is as if London was one long happy dream.

Our last night in London was cold and snowy, spent with good friends by the fire at the Earl of Lonsdale. We walked back down a snow-covered Portabello Road with Jamie & Megha to Linden Gardens, where we said goodbye in the street for the last time. We weren't sure our flight was going to take off the next morning due to all the snow, but thankfully it did, which means that looking back it was just about as perfect as a last night in London could be. It was very bittersweet to leave; this has been such an amazing experience, and we are so pleased that we've had this blog to record each step of the way. It was 100% worth every agonizing decision, squabble and dollar (and job!) we went through to do this. We already miss our little 10x15 lives in London and are so glad we threw caution to the wind and jumped on this chance.

I'm always saying this, but we really do owe so much to our incredibly supportive family and friends, who came to visit, kept in touch, and kept our dogs (Mom, John, and Kathy, we will never be able to thank you enough!). We owe a lot to Nicholas' sweet, courageous cousin Anna Belle, who we lost in 2009, and was a driving force behind our decision to go on this trip. We think she would have been proud we took this opportunity.

Thanks so much to whoever is out there and still reading for suffering through some of our more boring posts, coming on this journey with us, and for giving us a reason to keep this blog up. Everywhere we went, we thought of you, and it completely changed how we saw each place. It forced us to travel with our eyes open, try to capture the essence of where we were and take it back to you. The result is this journal of our trip. So, grazie, merci, thank you very kindly.

We have great things to look forward to in the coming year, including a pretty intense payback for all the indulging we did (hello, detox, veggies, gym membership! Goodbye pints, rich fatty food and using all the walking you're doing as an excuse for exercise!). New jobs for us both, new creative pursuits on the horizons for me, and a very big graduation for Mr. Miller and his very proud Mrs. Miller are all ahead in 2010.

We hope everyone had a very happy holiday and wishing you all a very happy 2010!

xoxo,
lmm

A few of our favorite things: Europe at dusk

A few of our favorite things: Old pubs, old friends

This one tops Nicholas' favorites list. We've enjoyed getting to know some of London's most historic and cozy pubs, a few of which we are lucky to have right in our neighborhood and are best enjoyed with old friends (also in our neighborhood, in fact just across the street).





You can't swing a cat without hitting a pub in London, but not all are created equal. Here are Nicholas' reviews of our favorites (and a few photos, where possible. Low lighting is what makes these pubs great, but near impossible to shoot in a surreptitious, untouristy manner!).

Earl of Lonsdale
-The best place for a cold pint after walking Portobello. Great lounge area
with a fireplace and cheap cheap food and beer. Where we first met George.

Portobello Gold
-On Portobello, right across from the Earl of Lonsdale. Live music on
Sundays that always seems to feature a great band. Excellent staff and a parade of eccentric, but friendly, locals that are in there every night, as well as Bella, the 15 year-old pub dog.


(she often sings along).

This past weekend, we discovered the Smokey Angle Shades, who are coincidentally performing at SXSW this March. Their sound is 60s-ish, sort of a blend of the Band and British invasion? They were excellent and we hope to check out their show when they're in town (you guys should too).





Churchill Arms
-Pub right down Kensington Church St. themed after, you guessed it, the man
himself. Excellent and cheap Thai food served in the back, traditional
English pub in the front with incredible décor all around. Winston
Churchill night with people dressed in period garb and an authentic
look-a-like speaker was especially memorable. Not to mention the free fish
and chips.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
-One of the oldest pubs in London hailing from right after the Great Fire.
Past clientele to tip back a pint of Sam Smith's include such literary icons
as Voltaire, Dickens and Twain. Had a great evening nestled in the cellar
with Eric, Ben and Eliot from the UT program, Jamie and Lisa.


Fuller Arms
-The pub with maybe the best view in London looking out over the Thames toward the Millennium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral. Large flame lamp heaters decorate the front deck. Met our friends from Cinque Terre, Richard and Tessa here for a pint.

The Cow
-Gastropub in northern Notting Hill. Excellent food ranging from fresh oysters (their specialty) to haggis to savory venison pies. Also not a bad bar on the front with a patio.

Windsor Castle
-Another old one located on the border between Kensington and Notting Hill.
Back in the day you could see Windsor Castle in the distance from the roof
of the pub giving it its name. An old stop for farmers coming to market in
the city, its also reputed to be the final resting place of Thomas Payne's
bones after his son bartered them to pay his bar tab. Good food enjoyed
here by all our wonderful guests who visited us and even a celebrity
sighting one quiet evening (Claire Danes).



The Prospect of Whitby
-The oldest pub we went to in any country, this one has been around since the 1500s on the banks of the Thames. Maybe the prettiest pub we've been in, worth the visit if you are anywhere near Wapping.


The Argyll Arms:
Just off Regent Street (literally outside the Oxford St. tube), this one is a surprising gem in tourist hell. It's a true Victorian pub with great food, a great stop if you're out shopping the high streets, or maybe had enough of them. We were eating here today and saw the snow start to fall in huge fat flakes while Silent Night played in the background. My wife started crying (she doesn't want to leave).

A few of our favorite things: Our friend, George

We met George on a quiet Wednesday evening at the Earl of Lonsdale pub on Portobello Road. He was sitting by himself on the leather sofa in the corner, reading a book about Warren Zevon. I was admiring the photography in the lounge, and he came over and told us all about the pictures, the history of the pub, and invited us to have a seat in his corner. Why not? The usual getting to know yous introduced us to a legendary London drummer with more than a few interesting stories to tell.

George moved from Scotland to Woodstock, NY in the mid-60’s searching for a chance to play his drums and achieve the American Dream...or at least have a lot of fun in the counter-culture of the period. He quickly befriended and moved in with Happy Traum in Woodstock, who introduced him to such local characters as Bob Dylan ("Bobby") and Levon Helms, who remains a friend of his. This was the beginning of a long life in the music scene, or just outside of it. From ‘shagging’ a certain ruby haired blues-rock legend during his time at Woodstock, to appearing on a music video with Ringo and Paul in the early 80’s to drumming with the Clash in a huge concert in Bologna, you could say that George has done and seen it all. He's been the drummer for the Pink Fairies, the Deviants, and countless big gigs and a central figure in London's underground rock scene.

These don’t even take into account his stories about John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards/Ronnie Wood (good friends of his and performed on his last album with his current band, The Dirty Strangers). We bought him another round of stout, and the stories kept coming. He told us the story behind the Band's breakup (blame Scorcese...). Naturally, he attended the famous party on Portobello in the 70s at the home of hippy socialite Sally Sparkle, with everyone who was anyone in the 70s rock scene (Mick, Rod, Ronnie Wood, Jimmy Page among them). His drums were the ones Sally borrowed for that party. Of course he met a little girl named Diana many times with her stodgy Uncle Spencer at Sally Sparkle's home. Sally was a cousin of the Spencer family. George is usually great with kids, but she was shy and tough to charm.



At the end of the night, he invited us to come see his band play that next Sunday at the Gold. We did, and it was great. It's obvious why he remains one of the most respected drummers (or beaters, as he calls himself) in London. We have since hung out with George on a number of occasions down on Portobello. He always has a new story to tell, and for some reason, he enjoys telling them to us. Most recently, we learned he once bought Liz Taylor a drink. She was in London, visiting her son, a "crap" saxophone player, who was doing a gig before them. They chatted, he bought her a gin and tonic. He found her to be a kind and classy broad.

We will miss George and his great stories, all told with a gravelly Scottish accent. We aren't sure when we'll be seeing him again, but he can count on receiving our Christmas cards. On the Dirty Strangers' next album, they are collaborating with poet John Sinclair. Just another notch on the belt for the man who has seen the backside of so many legends from the rear of the stage.

A few of our favorite things: Kensington Gardens

Found in Kensington Gardens:



Swans a swimming, geese a laying

A bird man, similar to the lady in Home Alone II (or Mary Poppins!) who feeds his birds in mid-air:




See the crumbs?


Waggly tails


The proud and cheeky


and cautiously sneaky


Lost balloons


Love.

Farewell to Kensington Gardens, which we've loved having right on our doorstep. It's my favorite place to stroll on a pretty day.

Wooosh!! (or, good riddance, little flat)

Well, this time flew by just as we knew it would! Only one week left. I admit we're pretty sad about leaving, but so excited to see everyone.

The things we will miss about London and this fantastic experience are numerous, and we have a long list in the works of our highlights. But here are the things we will think of to make us feel better when we look back with only rosy colored glasses and wish we could jet back in an instant:

-The tiny mattress and its poky, poky springs
-The shower that fills up with water
-The 4.5 hour laundry process. That is, if the washing machine isn't taken (there's just one for the whole building)
-Unreliable, SLOW Internet for which we pay £5 per 3 GB of memory (and has made posting here much more difficult!). We call the "Internet guy" daily to ask him to reboot it. We're pretty sure he hates us.
-Hitting my head on the corner of the kitchen counter in the middle of the night (this continued about twice per week)
-Soaking my pillow while washing the dishes
-"Come in, have a seat. You may sit here (little table), or here (little bed)."
-Lack of oven, freezer, counterspace, space space
-Watching movies at night with the laptop propped up on a wobbly tower of books

We could go on about chateau Miller. Nicholas wanted to add "inconvenient tube closures on weekends" and I'd like to add "not having more than one suitcase's worth of clothes to wear" (and no, I didn't shop...) but we otherwise just pretty much can't wait to be out of this glorified dorm room. It's a wonder we are still happily married (don't worry, we are!). But these little adjustments in our lifestyle have been well worth every day here, and it's just the kind of adventure we were seeking out when we made the decision to come. We feel so settled in our little neighborhood and routine, and have made some wonderful friends who we will miss most of all.

Tonight, I made Texas chili in honor of Nicholas' last night of paper writing. So proud of him for getting it all done; he worked hard and got a lot out of his courses here. The hotplate performed admirably, though it's probably also something I'm not going to miss too much back home.

And we wanted to send a huge thank you to my sweet mom for helping us make this place a little more comfortable, as well as bringing the chili fixins all the way from Texas. She's truly the greatest and I couldn't have picked a better one myself.

xo,
lmm

En Bruges

We left Deerlijk early the next morning and headed on the short train ride over to Bruges. More rain! Boo. Belgian weather gets a thumbs down. But the Christmas markets did not disappoint. Warm up with some gluhwein and stroll through the twinkly stalls...


Where you'll find:


traditional wooden crafts


sweets


All manner of traditional yuletide treasures


and a bit of junk too


the brats man


the cheese lady


and waffles, of course!

Not to be outdone by its famous markets, Bruges turned out to be quite the little Christmas show-off itself.


Even the Christmas trees are made of chocolate


while real-live gingerbread houses surround the square


and, if you're really lucky, you might even catch seven swans-a-swimming in the moonlight.

Seriously.