So You Think You Know Britain Part 4

Any vehicle driven by a learner with only a provisional license must have this red L sign (or D in Wales). Those learning to drive scooters must display the L sign for two years so it is really common to see these around town. 

Here is something  you don't see very often back home in Nebraska: a public urinal. Although, London is seriously lacking public toilets so I'm in favour of just about anything that will help. 

VAT (or Value Added Tax) is a form of consumption tax on purchases and meals. The standard rate is 20%, which was a shock coming from a state with 7% sales tax. It is already included in the prices advertised in stores and restaurants rather than added on at the cash register like in the US. Tourists that make a purchase of more than 30 pounds in one store can apply to get their VAT refunded. 

Door handles here are quite different than ones in the US. I can't tell you how often I've gotten stuck somewhere because I can't figure out how to open the door. It is sad, really. I've seen quite a few of these signs telling you how to open a door handle you typically see in the US, so I assume these are a less common type of door handle here in England. 

You will rarely see trash bins in tube and train stations. You often see a worker walking around platforms picking up trash. If there are trash receptacles they will be clear plastic bags. I heard that the removal of bins was due to the IRA leaving bombs in them in the London Underground but I had some difficulty verifying that online. 

A Bachelorette Party here is called a Hen Party. It usually involves matching outfits, fancy dress (costumes), a pink L plate (like the ones you see on scooters), and loads of drinking and general craziness. A Bachelor Party is called a Stag Party and sometimes involves a weekend trip to a city like Amsterdam or Prague.

The Stop button on the bus is often used as a method of communication. This took me a long time to figure out. I would hear someone hitting the button repeatedly and just assumed it was a child or someone did it unintentionally. But actually, if the driver doesn't stop or closes the door too soon people will hit the button to let them know there is an issue. 

Squash is a popular drink here that is basically a very concentrated juice that you dilute with water to taste. 

In a rainy pedestrian city like London you see a lot of these rain protectors over prams. 

Brits often end their personal texts with "Xx". I'd heard about this and saw someone do it on a tv program so I asked my friend, Rebecca, who taught me the ways of ending texts in England. 

Before I moved here I had this nice image in my head of feeding pigeons in front of some beautiful church, like in Mary Poppins. But pigeons here are actually kind of gross. A lot of them are missing toes and feet or have severely deformed feet. I read that pigeons here often use human hair in their nests and it ends up wrapping around their feet and causing issues.

I have a lot of reservations about driving in England. The biggest difference, of course, is driving on the opposite side of the road as the US. But a more subtle difference is demonstrated in the photo below...it is a roundabout. In the US, roundabouts typically have a concrete structure that you drive around instead of just a painted white circle. They also have those concrete roundabouts here in addition to the one you see here. 

Madrid

The month of May has two bank holidays so we headed to Madrid, Lisbon, and Porto to feel the sun on our faces again. Warren, my mom, and I spent two days touring in Madrid. We started out with a tour of the Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid). 

The ceiling above the Grand Staircase is made of frescoes depicting Religion Protected by Spain. Photos were not allowed anywhere else inside the palace but most of the rooms lived up to the standard you see in the photo below. 

Next we headed to the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande where we accidentally went on a Spanish speaking tour of the entire church. It was built in 1760 by King Carlos III and stands on the former site of Franciscan convent. The Basilica has the largest dome in Spain, even larger than the one at St Paul's Cathedral in London. 

Plaza de la Villa is a quiet but pretty square and home to Casa de la Villa, the former Town Hall. 

It seems that every building in Madrid has a really interesting exterior. Most apartments have balconies, too. I bet they get a lot of use with how amazing the weather is!

The Plaza Mayor was built during the Habsburg period. There were loads of street performers and people dressed in costumes wanting tourists taking photos with them for a tip. 

The plaza was rebuilt in 1790 after it was damaged by some fires. The statue of Philip III in the center of the square dates back to 1616 but was only placed in there in 1848. The square is surrounded by three-story residential buildings with 237 balconies facing the Plaza. 

We stopped at Chocolateria San Gines for some churros and chocolate. This place has been making churros since 1894. These were amazing and some of the best food I had the entire time in Madrid (spoiler alert: I don't really like Spanish food). 

We also went to the Puerta del Sol ("Gate of the Sun"). This square was originally one of the gates in the city wall that surrounded Madrid in the 15th Century. Now it is one of the busiest places in Madrid and is known for the Tio Pepe lighted sign. 

The original city name of Madrid was "Ursaria" (meaning, "land of the bears" in Latin) because there were so many bears in the nearby forests. The city emblem features a bear eating from a strawberry tree (being from Nebraska I can say with certainty that strawberries don't grow on trees). 

One museum I was excited to see is Museum Cerralbo. It is the former home of Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa and houses his collection of prized objects. Enrique was a Spanish archaelogist and politician in the early 1900s. His collection is often described as "a study in 19-century opulence," jammed with "fruits of the collector's eclectic meanderings."

The entire house is filled with diverse objects: 16th to 19th century European paintings, sculptures, drawings, watches, rugs, armour, furniture, and tapestries. Throughout a lifetime of collecting, Enrique amassed around 28,000 objects, one of the most complete collections in Spain at the time. 

The ballroom is the most beautiful and most elaborate room of the house. The room is arranged so that when the balcony is opened the sound from the ball would spill into the street to show off their wealth and prestige to the neighbourhood. 

Warren and I went out early on our second day to see some modern bridges. The Arganzuela footbridge was especially interesting, and Warren's favourite. 

One of my favourite parts of Madrid is the street signs. We found a shop that sells smaller versions of these tiles and bought two as souvenirs.

Along one of our walking tours we happened upon this salamander made entirely out of CDs. It took up almost three stories of this building and was quite impressive. 

Throughout our two days in Madrid we saw a lot of street performers, especially ones performing for drivers in the crosswalk at stoplights. We saw a few jugglers and also this guy who did some amazing tricks. 

The Alcala Gate is one of the most well-known monuments in Madrid, and is classified as a National Monument. The statues on the top represent four great virtues: Prudence (with her mirror), Justice (with her balance and scales), Temperance (with her stirrup), and Fortitude (with her spear and shield). 

Inside the Buen Retiro Park ("Park of the Pleasant Retreat") is the monument to King Alfonso XII. This photo does not nearly capture how massive this area is in real life. It put Hyde Park to shame! There were so many people out enjoying the sunshine and the lake. 

Also in the Buen Retiro Park is the Palacio de Cristal ("Crystal Palace") which was built in 1887 to house exotic plants. It is currently used for temporary exhibitions but we just admired it from the outside. 

My all-time favourite site in Madrid was the Metro Museum at Chamberi, a station that was closed in 1966 since it was impossible to lengthen it to meet the longer trains needed to accommodate the increase in passengers. 

The station was built in 1919 and was included in the original eight stations that formed the metropolitan network of Madrid. It was inspired by the look of Parisian stations of the time and had amazing tile throughout. 

The advertisements were especially fascinating as they are preserved in practically the same condition as they were when created in the 1920s. 

I haven't mentioned much about food so far. Sadly, I was not a big fan of the food in Madrid, so basically I lived on churros and chocolate. We went to Samm Restaurant just before catching our night train to Lisbon. They were out of calamari so instead they brought us Ensalada Rusa, a traditional salad. The bottom layer consists of potatoes, peas, and carrots, then a whole bunch of mayonnaise, followed by sliced boiled eggs and tuna. The entire salad is served cold.

We ordered the "Gentleman's" paella which has pre-shelled seafood. It looked amazing and both Warren and my mom loved it. 

Other than not liking the food, I absolutely loved Madrid. I enjoyed all the open plazas, the tours of historic homes and, of course, the weather. 

Bath

As part of our Stonehenge tour, we also spent some time in Bath. Jane Austen fans will be very familiar with this area of England. We had a picnic lunch at the Royal Crescent, which is a semicircle of majestic houses overlooking a private lawn and public park. Back in Jane Austen's day, these houses would have been rented for the season by wealthy socialites. Currently, Nicholas Cage owns one of these exclusive addresses but sadly, we did not run into him. 

The Bath Abbey was built in 1499 on the site of the 7th Century cathedral. It is made out of beautiful honey-gold stones local to the area. They were used in the construction of most buildings giving the town a cohesive, coordinated look.

The Abbey was built by Bishop Oliver King, who was inspired to build it after seeing a vision of angels climbing up to heaven which you can see in the sculpture rendition below. 

Since it was Sunday we weren't able to go inside the abbey, which made me pretty sad because the outside was beautiful.

In 1880, sewer diggers discovered remains of the original Roman Baths. Victorian architects added to what was still there, which made the new building more of a vision of Roman life from the Victorian perspective. 

After discovering the natural thermal waters, the Romans named the town Aquae Sulis in AD 44 and built the extensive baths as a temple to the goddess Sulis-Minerva. 

These "waters of Bath" stay at a constant temperature of 114 degrees Fahrenheit. When the Romans left the town faded from the map and dwindled into a generic trading town.

Bath became a popular place once again when Beau Nash became Master of Ceremonies in 1705. Already a popular person among the wealthy, in his new position he revitalised spa culture, organised entertainment, and even came up with a dress code. 

As the 18th Century wore on, Nash lost his influence and sea bathing overtook Bath in popularity as a trendy destination. 

I enjoyed seeing all the buildings in Bath, which are very aesthetically pleasing as they are all similar coloured stones. Since we were on a tour, we didn't have as much time in the town as I'd like. I hope to go back and see more of the town, especially the inside of the abbey. 

Unglam London

I absolutely love living in London but when I get together with other expats, we often talk about how people back home think we live this super glamorous life full of afternoon tea and celebrity sightings. That is definitely one side of it, but there is also a very unglamorous side of living abroad.

A lot of people have issues with their water heater and even more have general issues with their landlords. This photo comes from the time I had to boil water to take a bath when our hot water wasn't working for a few weeks. Sadly, I don't have a plug for the bathtub so I stuffed the drain full of plastic bags and washcloths. Super glamorous, I know. 

My friend, Kate, often talks about eating at Chipotle alone because you just need a Mexican food fix to cure the onset of homesickness. It isn't always lunch dates at fancy restaurants here. 

Kate at Chipotle

Even in London you still have to take your pet to vet or bring home oversize items. Instead of just popping them in the car like you do back home, you have to struggle doing all this on public transportation. And people aren't always very forgiving and nice about it. Another time I had to take a giant bag of popcorn to a party on the tube. Not a heavy item, but we got a lot of comments and strange looks from other passengers.

This is the closest grocery store to my flat. The building itself looks amazing, but the store is really small. They mainly carry just basic ingredients and lunch items. I've actually just stopped going to this store and walking farther to get to a larger store because the small one never has what I need. Thank goodness for grocery deliveries, though. 

A few weeks ago, a homicide detective came to my flat to ask me if I'd seen anything strange around the canal last week. It ends up that a body was found in the canal...inside a suitcase. I know crime can happen anywhere, but this certainly is an unglamorous part of living in London. Immediately after the detective left I (of course) went down to the crime scene and took some photos. I was promptly yelled at by another police officer who thought I was trying to cross the barrier, but it was totally worth it.

When we moved to London I had to get rid of a lot of my clothes because we only brought six boxes with us. Also our closet here won't hold all of my old clothes. One downside is that I wear the same clothes over and over again. At first I thought it was just me but some of my friends have said they also feel like they wear the same outfit over and over again. 

There are loads more inconvenient things about living in the city; these were just a couple of the unglamorous parts of everyday London life. The bottom line remains that the positives in London far outweigh the negatives.