Home, Bitter Sweet Home

Our adventure has come to an end and we are almost back in the United States.  None of us wants to say "finally," because the return is bitter sweet.  Sweet because it will be wonderful to sleep in our beds tonight, and see our friends, and return to some semblence of normalcy.  Bitter because we enjoyed our time in Europe so much and now it is over.  Because we will miss the friends and colleagues we saw there and made there.  There are things that we've missed from home and now there are things we will miss from the last two months in so many different places.

Here are some of our take-aways.  This was fun for us to sit down and think about, and it can also serve as an FAQ for this blog's close followers (nearly 4000 page views in the last 8 weeks!)

Favorite City
Eli - Edinburgh
Emmma - Paris
Sharon - Paris / London
Andrew - Edinburgh / Leiden

Most impressive thing you saw or did?
Eli - Miniland in Legoland
Emma - Notre Dame
Sharon - View from the Eiffel Tower
Andrew - Edinburgh

Where would you live?
Eli - Amsterdam
Emma - London or Paris
Sharon - London
Andrew - London

What does Europe do better than the United States?
Eli - Trains
Emma - Trains and Fish & Chips
Sharon - Public transportation & Credit cards
Andrew -  Coffee (on the mainland) and Beer (in Britain)

What does the United States do better than Europe?
Eli - TV channel setup
Emma - Peanut butter, crowd control, air conditioning
Sharon - Restaurant customer service
Andrew - Ice

Where would you like to visit again?
Eli - Amsterdam
Emma - London
Sharon - London
Andrew - London

What did you want to do that you couldn't?
Eli - Ireland
Emma - Ireland
Sharon - Scottish Highlands
Andrew - Meet the Queen (I wanna tell her that I love her a lot, but I gotta get a belly full of wine)

What is the best meal you ate?
Eli - Chicken and potato salad with balsamic salad (Edinburgh)
Emma - Penne with spinich, chicken, pancetta, mushroom sauce (Sheffield)
Sharon - Goat cheese ravioli with pine nuts & pesto (Sheffield)
Andrew - Wolf fish (Leiden)

What is the best dessert you ate?
Eli - Waffle with chocolate and whipped cream (Amsterdam)
Emma - ditto
Sharon - Hot chocolate (Cambridge)
Andrew - Shared dessert plates at product management dinner (Amsterdam)

What did you miss the most while you were gone?
Eli - My bass
Emma - My friends, chocolate and peanut butter, Beaufort
Sharon - My bed with a top sheet and my shower with a door
Andrew - My bed

What will you miss the most when you're settled back home?
Eli - Familiarity with our home away from home
Emma - Being able to easily go to different countries and site-see
Sharon - Getting around without being so dependent on a car
Andrew - Working face-to-face with European colleagues and libraries


One take-away that we all share is that we will have a very different view of people coming to the United States to live for the first time or for extended visits.  Some people made us feel very, very welcome (I will never forget the public works employee who saw us lost in Sheffield's town center and went out of his way to holler "'elp ya?"), and that is a feeling that all of us want to share with other people in a strange land. 

I would be remiss if I didn't thank OCLC for supporting my professional endeavors, and all my colleagues in Europe who helped me out, and all those back in Ohio and Seattle who endured (or enjoyed?) my absence. 

The kids have a few weeks of summer vacation left, though Emma will be busy with Band Camp and Eli has an epic Nerf battle to finish planning.  As I write this, we are almost home, sitting in the airport in Toronto for our final leg.  It will feel like 4 am when we get to the house, but at least it will feel like home.

Harry Potter: The Making Of

Every wand, every robe, every stone statue. That's what we saw at the Harry Potter studios. Behind the doors we were met with the astounding details of the Great Hall. But only ten feet away from that, the Gryffindor Common room. I can honestly say that not only was it amazing to see all of the original sets, props and costumes from the beloved movies, but to learn about the outstanding work from the crew that put so much work into the tiny details that make the movies amazing and so loved. We saw the Knight Bus, Number 4 Privet Drive, and the Burrow's cozy kitchen. The entire experience was indescribable and amazing. My favorite part was the enormous model of the Hogwarts Castle, in every detail. Right down to the lights in the windows. I loved every minute of it and it only made the movies and stories even more magical.

The entrance to the studios

Eli and I in the Great Hall

The model of the Hogwarts Castle

Model of the castle

The cupboard under the stairs

Number 4 Privet Drive 

One Last Day Trip

I'm on the train to Edinburgh today...up and back the same day for a short two-hour meeting with libraries. One of the disappointments for which we were prepared was the fact that we would not be able to do everything together on this trip.  I've missed York, Cardiff, trips to windmills and castles.  I've gone alone to Florence, Delft, Tilburg, Munich, and now another trip to Edinburgh (though we were all there together a short time ago).  Eli even asked if he could come with me today.

We're all winding down now...ready for the comforts of home and desperate for our own beds, our own space, and our American friends.  The only things I would do differently are with the benefit of hindsight.  I probably should have taken some more time off of work...somehow I've managed all of this with only three days holiday over the course of seven weeks.

It's been absolutely fantastic to visit libraries and librarians with whom I have limited interaction.  It's been equally wonderful to meet more of the OCLC staff in Europe...putting faces to names and meeting others for the first time.  There is part of me that could just stay for another month or another year, but right now there is a bigger part of me that is ready to return home.

I will return to the Sheffield office tomorrow for one last day, then we're off to London Friday, a last hurrah at the Harry Potter Studios, then a long trip home on Saturday.  For now, however, I will enjoy my last bit of civilised travel across a beautiful countryside.

GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR IMMA VIKING

So, I went to York today, and I went to the Jorvik Viking Center.  It was a very, very interesting place to learn about the Vikings in Jorvik.  Once you walk into the dark room downstairs, there is a big glass floor that had artifacts from the Vikings right underneath your feet.  Once you were done looking around in that area, you go on a little car to see what it was like to live as a Viking. The car passes traders, blacksmiths, butchers, and children playing games that Vikings played.  At the end of the ride it showed a pleasant, plastic Viking pooping in a wooden bathroom in his backyard!  Also, that pooping Viking had sound effects.  It was very pleasant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And if that pooping Viking was not enough poop for you, near the end of the museum there was a nice, shiny, delicious looking fossilized piece of poop! I also got to learn a little bit about the famous battle of 1066.  Of course, we got dropped of into a gift shop where I bought a nifty, little green leather coin purse.

Good Night Moon,
Eli (I hope you enjoyed my in depth description of Viking poop.  It was the most interesting part of the museum anyway.)

@_@  <------ that guy likes pizza flavored pizza!.!.!.! $_$   <------ he does too!.!.!

York, Trains, and a Prince

We hopped on the train this morning and arrived in York in just under an hour.  I LOVE the trains in England.  It is so easy to get around and you dont have the stress of driving and parking.  I really wish the U.S. would embrace train travel.  I am a little sad that when we get home we will be dependent on our car again.  At the beginning of the summer, the kids winced at the idea of walking a mile.  Now they think nothing of walking the mile to the train station, hopping a train, and then walking for miles around our destination.  I will get off my soapbox now and tell you a bit about York. 

When we arrived we went to York Minster.  The streets were blocked off and there were police everywhere.  The bus driver told us that Prince Charles was due to arrive any minute.  We hurried up to the front of the church and saw his motorcade go by, but by the time we made it up to the barricades, all we saw was his back as he entered York Minster.  After the crowd thinned a bit, we headed in to see the church.  It cost 9 pounds to go into the cathedral.  It is beautiful, but honestly, I have a hard time paying a fee to go in a church, so we opted to take in it's beauty from the back corner where we were allowed to stand for free!!

York Minster

The part that I could see for free!

After our brush with Prince Charles we headed over to the Jorvik Viking Center.  Apparently the Vikings lived in York at one time and they have unearthed many artifacts.  Eli wants to blog about our visit there, so I wont say any more.  Check back later for his post!!

We finished our day at the National Railway Museum.  This is the largest railway museum in the world and a chance for them to celebrate their wonderful rail history.  We spent two hours there and did not even scratch the surface of the museum!  

This is just one corner of the warehouse.  

 There is another room full of Royal Coaches.  They are beautiful and Emma and I decided that we would prefer to always travel by Royal Coach! Some of the trains had footprints nearby that explained where each person would stand when the Royal of choice was entering and exiting the coach.

Emma is pretending to be the queen, exiting the coach.  She is missing a few footmen!

We learned the history of the Flying Scotsman, which was acquired by the Museum in recent years and is being restored.  We also rode in a simulator that recreated the Mallard's 1938 record breaking speed of 146 mph. This still stands as the fastest speed for a steam engine. We ended our day by walking to the train station and boarding our train for Sheffield.  After a long day it was so nice to sit and relax and watch the countryside fly by.  It sure beat driving in a car and fighting traffic!

We thought this looked like Thomas' friend Henry.

Eli on the bridge inside the Warehouse.

Papa's turn to ride the Mallard simulator.

Matlock Bath, Gondola Style

Prof. Sir Patrick Stewart.  Tassles?  Make it so.

Today was a very welcome Saturday.  The arrival of Sharon's parents was well timed, as I had to spend four days back in Leiden and then all day Friday in Huddersfield (that evening ended with a short pub crawl through the town with my friend and colleague from the University, Dave Pattern, and a rather late return on a slow train to Sheffield...thanks daveyp! I had a lot of fun hanging out).  Did you know that the Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield is none other than Patrick Stewart?  I kid you not.  I think he's off filming the next X-Men movie, though, so I didn't bump into him on my visit to the pub.

We had a really nice day at the Heights of Abraham

Despite the late return on Friday, we awoke early today to take the train to Matlock Bath where you can take a Gondala up to the top of the peak called The Heights of Abraham (named after the British war victory in Quebec) to visit the 600 year old lead mines and enjoy the sights.  It was also nice that it cooled off a bit today.  My Sheffield friends tell me is has been a decade since there were this many sunny days in a row in Britain.

Sheffield has been a bit wild this weekend.  It's the Tramlines Festival, with bands and lots of rowdy young people who like loud music, cheap beer, and carnival rides (yes, I'm getting old..."Hey you kids, get off my lawn!")  Of course, without Tramlines, what other chance would one get to see something like this:

Motorized, cross-dressing, musical nun.  Brilliant!

Our plan tomorrow is to have a nice Sunday Roast and take it easy.  We're trying not to dwell on all the things for which there is just no more time or energy to accomplish.  We need to keep some things on the list for which we will all want to come back some day.  We've all crossed motorized cross-dressing musical nun off the list, so who cares if we don't see Stonehenge?

Dam Busters

This will be a quick blog post, but I found this story fascinating so I wanted to share.  We drove into the Peak District National Park today, which is only about 25 minutes from the Sheffield City Center.  Our destination was the Derwent Reservoir which has a dam you can walk to easily from the visitor's center.  The dam itself is quite interesting to look at since it's two towers resemble castle turrets, however having been built in the early 1900's it is young compared to England's many castles!!  It was wonderful to get out of the hot, noisy city and enjoy the peaceful countryside.  

This dam played an important roll during World War II as the training ground for the Dam Busters.  The Dam Busters were to fly into Germany and blow up their dams with an invention called the bouncing bomb.  In order to prepare for their mission they practiced at the Derwent Dam.  The planes flew low along the water and dropped the bouncing bomb that would skip along the water like a stone.  After skipping along the water the bomb would hopefully sink down below the water at the base of the dam, explode, mission accomplished.  The missions were successful and there is a memorial at the dam for those in the squadron.  My dad says there was a movie made about the Dam Busters in 1954, so we may have to check that out when we get home.  

Derwent Dam

These flowers were growing all through the woods.

I'm sure this sign is meant to be serious, but it made us all giggle!

Bolsover Castle

My parents arrived Monday!  They started their journey in Germany by visiting my mother's German sister.  She is not really her sister, by blood, but definitely in spirit.  Hildegard spent a year with my mother's family as an exchange student when my mother was a sophomore in high school.  They have always kept in touch and visited each other's homes over the years.  After a nice visit, they took the train to Oxford, England to visit another dear friend.  Now they are here in Sheffield for a week!  Andrew has been in Leiden all week, so it was extra nice that they arrived to keep us company while he was away.

Yesterday we drove to Bolsover Castle, which was the home of William Cavendish.  Cavendish raised and trained horses in the art of dressage, and built beautiful stables to house his prize horses.  The castle is in partial ruin, but the stables are still in tact and they have horse shows on the weekends.  Bolsover sits up high on a hill and the views across the village and valley were beautiful.

We have one week left of our adventure and I think everyone is ready for the comforts of home!  We have seen some amazing things this summer, but the kids admitted last night that they are "touristed out"!  I think they are ready to sleep in their beds and hang out at the pool with their friends.  I think this last week we will take it easy and just do a few day trips out from Sheffield and enjoy being with the grandparents.

The courtyard of Bolsover Castle.  The kids wanted to set up camp under this tree!

The view from Bolsover

At one time, kitchens below, dining room above.  I loved the flowers growing in the ruins!

Grandmommy and Eli enjoying the view.

Lions and Hobbits and Oxford!

Oh my!

 Dad and me outside The Eagle and Child

So last weekend we went down into Birmingham and then into Oxford, where we met up with my grandparents and their friend Mrs. Anderson. Mrs. Anderson works at Oxford and was kind enough to show us around the town. Which was amazing.

Oxford is home to MANY famous people. Including the amazing authors J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S.Lewis. Authors of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings (respectively). In the city of Oxford is a pub called The Eagle and Child. This pub is famous for being the meeting group of the Inklings. The Inklings were a group of authors, including Lewis and Tolkien, which met at the pub every Tuesday morning for drinks, for just over 20 years. The group would meet in the back room of the pub and discuss things while they drank, including their own works. Supposedly when Lewis and Tolkien discussed their most famous works with each other Lewis was said to have thought that The Lord of the Rings was too long and complex. While Tolkien thought that The Chronicles of Narnia was too childish and simple. Ah well. I guess in the end nobody really minded.

A plaque in the back room of The Eagle in Child

We didn't get to go inside the Bodleian Library though, which was kind of sad. Although we did get to see a lot of the manuscripts and sketches done by Tolkien and Lewis and several other authors.

We walked all around the university and Mrs. Anderson also showed us inside Trinity College, which was really beautiful.

I really loved Oxford, and I could (hopefully) see myself going there someday.

Christ Church in Oxford

LEGOLAND I WENT TO LEGOLAND!!!!!!!!!! bye eli

So a few days ago I went to Lego land in Windsor, and it was amazing. At the beginning we went to a star wars building, and you could see the most AMAZING Lego. The picture you see below is the attack on Naboo all entirely made of tiny Lego's. A lot of things were made of tiny Lego's ( accept for the rides of course.) I tried to do the scary rides of course I freaked out at first, but eventually went on ALL the scary rides. I have to say the whole park was amazing, but not to comparison of Disney World or anything, although all the monstrous sculptures completely made of tiny Lego'. Overall I had an amazing time, and it was so fun look below to see more pictures!!!

           

Cadbury World

Once again, the kids and I had a fun day out while Andrew was working.  He had meetings in Birmingham, so we  tagged along to visit the home of Cadbury chocolate.  The Cadbury brothers established the factory out in the countryside near a little brook by the name of Bourn.  They named their village Bournville and along with their factory, built homes, parks, schools, and recreational facilities for their workers. 

We started off our day by watching a movie about the Cadbury family and how they developed their famous Dairy Milk Chocolate.  Their secret is a cup and a half of fresh milk in every 1/2 pound of chocolate.  As we exited the movie we were given small cups of liquid chocolate and allowed to add our choice of sweet ingredients.  The kids chose white chocolate buttons, while I chose shortcake biscuits.  This was the beginning of a long day of chocolate consumption!

The first of many chocolate treats.

We moved on to the "Experience".  This took about an hour and a half to walk through and included the entire history of chocolate, from the Aztecs up to present day.  We also learned about Cadbury's history of advertising, the packaging process, and a few other fun things that really had nothing to do with chocolate making!  In case we got hungry during the "Experience", they handed us each two full size candy bars to snack on.  We started off by eating the Curly Wurly, which was delicious, but I was terribly afraid the caramel might pull out some of my fillings.  I also found myself humming BLINDED BY THE LIGHT by Manfred Mann, because I swear there is a reference in that song to a Curly Wurly.  However, I dont have a good track record with song lyrics, so I could be way off!!  Near the end of the tour we were given the chance to write our names in chocolate!

By this point we were so sugared up we thought it best to have some real food for lunch in the Cadbury Cafe.  Then we hit the gift shop so we could buy some more chocolate for later!

Hogwarts

Dad playing Neville Longbottom on the Harry Potter tour 

We went to Hogwarts! Well, parts of Hogwarts anyway. On our way back from Scotland we went to Alnwick Castle which belongs to the Percy family. Alnwick was used for filming some scenes in the first two Harry Potter movies.

The castle was very nice, and the family has done a wonderful job making the castle fun for tourists. It's easy to say that they have embraced their Harry Potter importance, with there being many things Harry Potter related. Like tours that show you spots that were used for filming, and broomstick riding on the lawns.

One of the entrances into the Alnwick castle

Also the castle is still lived in and used by the family, which is easy to tell from the flat screen which can be seen in the library, across from the room with the 16th century paintings. Eli was just happy to see Bionicles (Legos) on the dinning room table next to the marble figures (it was a past, present, and future war model).

But the castle was also astounding. The outside of the castle was mostly just stone and large green fields, a more simple kind of beautiful than Chatsworth, but the inside of the staterooms were very lavish and decorated with marble statues and huge paintings.

I really loved the castle and Scotland. Both really cool places and I had tons of fun in both.

Scotland the Brave

Those of you reading this blog who have known me the longest know that I went to McLean High School, home of the Highlanders.  Our tartan was a little different (MacLean, I think), but we had bagpipers in the marching band and played Scotland the Brave at every halftime show. Thanks to a full day in Edinburgh, I have will have bagpipes stuck in my head for at least a week.  This lad was actually quite good and seemed to be following us around the town as we ran into him on more than one occasion, which meant more than one tip for him.  More amusing than seeing him on the street was watching all the other tourists pose for pictures next to the funny man in the skirt who was torturing some pore animal stuffed in a leather bag. But this guy was "well good" as they say. 

We started our day with a trip to the decommissioned Britannia, the Queens last yacht.  Sniff.   Apparently she wasn't using it much anymore and often took a plane to wherever the boat was to entertain on it.  It was still pretty impressive.

From there, it was back into the city for some more tourist attractions, but first, we needed some lunch.  We've had our fair share of fish 'n chips on this trip (well, not Sharon, she is not a fan), but the ones Emma got today might just take the prize for taste and presentation.  It was a nice lunch.

From there, it was on to Edinburgh Castle, built on the volcanic rock in the city.  What beautiful views.  It was a nice way to see the entire city.  At this point, I have to mention how lucky we have been with the weather.  The last two days have been absolutely beautiful--sunny and highs of about 72F.  To hear the Scots joke, this kind of sunshine is pretty rare.

We ended our day with a bus ride around this entire city and then some souvenir shopping for the kids. But wait, that's not all.  At Eli's urging of his tired family, we ventured out for one more short tour, the comical and not too scary Edinburgh Ghost Bus Tour. They give the tour in the old Necrobus that used to be used to transport funeral parties (and the casket) around the city until the bus depot burned down in the 1960s.  Only two buses survived and have been refurbished for these fun ghost-themed tours of the city.  The other bus is in London.

Tomorrow we head back to Sheffield.  This was a rather short post-ALA holiday, but it's time to get back to work. We still have much we want to do and only a few weekends left in which to do it.  Stay tuned for our next adventure.

The Lake District

After 8 days of conferences in Germany and the U.S., we were so glad to have Andrew home with the family.  Fortunately, he was able to take a few days off for vacation.  We have driven north into the Lake District and are enjoying a few days of quiet in a beautiful setting.  We are staying in the Lake District National Park, near Derwentwater (this is the name of the lake). Derwentwater is the third largest of the Cumbrian Lakes.  It is three miles long, one and a half miles wide, and surround by incredible mountains.  This morning we walked down to the marina and rented kayaks and canoes so we could explore our little corner of the lake.

Boys in kayaks

Girls in canoe

Later in the day we hopped on the Keswick Launch, which circles around the lake and allows you to hop on and off at various spots.  We rode for awhile before hopping off to take a leisurely stroll through Low Manesty Woods.

The ferns covered the whole forest floor

Our trail and the view beyond

View across the marshy land, to the lake and mountain

We finished our day by walking down to the local pub, The Farmer's Arms, for dinner.  Tomorrow we are off to Edinburgh, Scotland for two days, then back to Sheffield.

it's smaller on the outside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BYE:ELI

    So as Emma said we went to the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Wales. It was so amazingly fun i can't even explain it. They even had the third doctors car Bessie!!! which was made in the 1970's. It was cool because the current doctor (played by Matt Smith) is trying to get out of the pandorica( a spaceish jail). We encounter most of the death aliens that want to kill us, and the whole time When I saw an alien I was like"WAZZAP DUDE!" At the end of the experience we looked at other things from the set, and then came the gift shop. I got the third doctors screwdriver(the third doctor is my favorite doctor) and a T-shirt that has a weeping angel on it and says Keep calm, and don't blink! ( only a whovian would get that reference)






















                                                                  well good bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's bigger on the inside!!

Eli and I with a Dalek (sorry I think I am looking at Cybermen in the corner)

So last weekend we went to Cardiff, Wales. Which is only a four hour train ride, although you get the feeling that it might as well be the middle of nowhere from the way the people in England talk about it. Anyway, we went because Cardiff is where the Doctor Who Experience is.

If you don't know, Doctor Who is a British science fiction show, which has been running since the 1960's (50 years this November). Well I am a HUGE fan of the show along with Eli and my mom, who I've gotten hooked.

Me and Eli outside the Doctor Who Experience 

So indulge me while I say how amazing the Experience is. If you watch the show then you will understand how awesome it was to go inside the TARDIS (the spaceship on the show...sorta) and how excited am I about owning my own Sonic Screwdriver (pretty much just what it sounds like, a screwdriver, that's sonic). The experience was SO worth the trip. You got to go on an interactive thing where you have to get the Doctor out of the Pandorica (again...they had a spare) and walk around and see props and sets from the show, including stuff used in the show almost 50 years ago.

But nerdy TV shows aside, Cardiff was a really nice town. Right on the water, you could tell that they had put a lot of effort into making the waterfront a nice area. And it really is. We arrived right in the middle of some huge carnival or something, so it was hard to see the city center, as it was full of tents and stages. But what we could see of it was very, very nice.