Friedrichshafen with a Teenager

Posted on August 29, 2024 by katese11

Now, where did we get to in my last post? Somewhere approaching our holiday apartment I think. I’d chosen Friedrichshafen as a place to rest for a couple of days after the big cities (Paris and Stuttgart) and before we moved on to a bit more exploring.

Welp, things didn’t work out as planned.

The first bit did – we arrived at the station and found our apartment, which was about ten minutes’ walk away. We even found the correct apartment after some confusion – mainly me telling Nathan entirely the wrong street number. I found the supermarket and got a few basic supplies to cook dinner, which was nice after having to eat out for a couple of nights.

Aaaand then I got ill. You don’t need the details but suffice to say, it threw our onwards travel plans into disarray and we never did make it Austria or Liechtenstein. We had nights in Feldkirch and St Gallen booked that we had to cancel and instead book a second apartment in Friedrichshafen for an extra two nights.

So we ended up spending the bulk of our holiday in one place and I spent a fair amount of that lying down with my head under a duvet. But eventually I was well enough to be out and about again, which was just as well seeing as we had a four hour gap between leaving one apartment and moving into the next. Once again, we needed a place to leave our worldly goods and after some hunting, managed to locate the luggage lockers at the station.

We had to go onto the platform, so luckily there were no ticket gates, and right at the end of Platform 1 were a stack of lockers with pretty pictures of the town on them. Most had a red light on, suggesting they were occupied, but the ones on the far side had a few with green lights. For a very reasonable 5 Euros (in coins of between 50 Cents to 2 Euros), we managed to fit three suitcases and two bags inside. I had hoped for maybe one or bags so that was a proper result.

With many hours still to go before moving back in, and with me still not at full strength, we wandered down to the lakefront to find somewhere to sit. It’s very pretty along there, with the boats in the harbour and Switzerland on the horizon. There’s mini golf, which Nathan took the kids to while I was hibernating., and ice cream and public loos. Plus there’s a Geldautomat, which is Eva’s favourite German word.

After a short sit down, the more ambitious of us decided to climb the Moleturm. Eva and I both got up about three levels before she remembered she didn’t like heights and I remembered that I hadn’t eaten for about three days. Only Nathan actually made it to the top. Apparently the views were nice.

It did remind me though that I should start the eating thing again and I could be tempted by Currywurst. We wanted to sit outside and this place was probably a total tourist trap but it ticked all the boxes.

Nathan and I had the Currywurst and Pommes Frites deal for 12 Euros each, Eva just had the Pommes and Reuben had a salami pizza. It would have been perfect if it hadn’t been for the wasps but Reuben managed to trap at least one in his Coke glass.

After lunch we wandered around the town a bit more and sat by the church in the shade for a while. The kids and Nathan also found a comic and games shop to browse through. We saw the outside of the Zeppelinmuseum but didn’t go in. It’s a very cool building though, and there’s a little zeppelin-themed play area just outside.

It’s all very mellow, which was welcome after the busyness of two cities in a row. Everywhere we went was walkable and you can see the Bodensee from lots of bits of the town.

The best bit was actually swimming in the Bodensee, which was what we did for most of the day on our last day there. The Strandbad was around fifteen minutes’ walk from the new apartment and only 4,80 Euro for a familieneintrittskarte for the day. Once you’re in, there are stands selling drinks and ice creams as well as “Potatoes” (wedges) and yet more currywurst.

There’s a playground and giant chess and inquisitive ducks, who Eva named Tom, Gary, Cheesecake, Computer Monitor, Essen, Child, Thomas Jefferson and, of course Geldautomat. None of the rest of us were convinced that these weren’t just the same two or three ducks over and over again but she claimed to be able to tell the difference.

The lake swimming was lovely, and the perfect way to sooth my head after a week-long headache. I feel like people in the Sadlers Wells books are always going off to convalesce in Switzerland and this had much the same feel…..I was regaining my strength through See bathing, not quite in Switzerland but certainly within sight of it.

In terms of practicalities, there were a few ways of getting into the water. There was a small pebble beach or an even smaller sandy one but the main ways were either down the concrete steps or along the metal pier into the deeper water. Not that the water got very deep, even at the end of the pier – I think Reuben could still touch the bottom all the way out there. I was slightly out of depth by the floating platforms but most of the way along I could still stand up. Non-swimmers had to stay within the roped off bit, so that’s where Eva hung out but she was quite happy. She could duck down and be up to her neck in cool water without having to cross the line.

It was a very happy place to hang out. As the temperature crept up, it did get very busy but nothing compared to Southend on a hot day. There was shade under the trees and Monster Slush on hand to cool us down. Plus there were all the facilities you need, like little changing huts and showers. And such a bargain too!

In some ways, it was good that we were forced to stay in Friedrichshafen longer than expected because it gave us a good chunk of time away from travelling, except for the bit where we had to drag our luggage around with us for a few hours. We got our laundry done, we lived very cheaply off pasta and potatoes and salami for a few days and we regrouped for the final bit of the trip that would take us homewards. But that is yet another post.

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Stuttgart with a Teenager

Posted on August 28, 2024 by katese11

If you’ve read my last post, you’ll know that we had a very soggy day in Paris, followed by some nice bread and a train to Stuttgart. Well, first there was a bit of hanging around Gare de L’Est as our train was delayed by 20 minutes. We killed some time by looking around Pylones, which I’m sure used to be Octopus in the UK, and Hema. The latter was probably a tactical error because they had a whole display of sage green stationery, which is Eva’s favourite colour at the moment. I was lucky to get away from there with my bank balance intact.

I was worried about the four-hour train journey from Paris to Stuttgart but it went by quite quickly. We sat around a table again and played a couple of rounds of Exploding Kittens while we watched the scenery roll by.

As France turned into Germany, the skies grew greyer and I started to wonder if the rain was following us from Paris.

Spoiler: it was.

We got to Stuttgart with a sense of deja vu – or whatever the equivalent is in German. It was only drizzling for now but it didn’t look like it was going to improve any time soon. Still, at least we were prepared this time.

There was also a certain amount of chaos around the Hauptbahnhof as it was in the middle of a massive building site. So we tried following the U-Bahn signs through a very long tunnel and ended up in a biergarten by the planetarium, which seemed to be unrelated to the U-Bahn station at the Hbf that we were aiming for. We would eventually find it but not just yet. These signs did nothing to convince us that we were on the right track:

“You want an U-Bahn station? I got a totally legit one, right here….”

We eventually found the Staatsgalerie station and had yet more fumbling around on foreign ticket machines, trying to work out what zones we needed a ticket for. Stuttgart is a lot more affordable than Paris and we got a Gruppeticket for around 16 Euro for the day. We only needed Zone 1 but it took a little while to work that out because the map with the zones on it doesn’t also have all the stations on it. Eventually though, we had a tiny and loseable bit of card that allowed us to get the U-Bahn to Schloss-/Johannesstraße and from there it was just a few minutes’ walk to our hotel, Hotel Hansa.

As with every new country we went to, there were challenges in crossing the road and now the train tracks but we reminded the kids to look all ways at all times and only cross on a green man. I’ve always had it in my head that jaywalking is illegal in Germany and I’ve no idea whether that’s actually true or not but I wasn’t taking any risks.

We managed to check into our hotel without slipping into English too much – the only word I didn’t get was “make-up” but don’t ask why that came up in conversation. We dumped our bags and then went in search of whatever meal we were on now. It had been a while since breakfast but I don’t think we had lunch so it was linner I suppose?

It was, of course, still raining.

We walked from the hotel as it wasn’t far from the centre but it was far enough that my shoes – which hadn’t really dried out from Paris – were soaked again.

Along the way, we stumbled upon my friend’s favourite record shop and also the CVJM, which caused Eva to burst out into song. I don’t need to tell you which song but you can guess.

I knew there was a Fünf Männer in Stuttgart but I think we all needed to eat somewhere different for once. So after some soggy wandering around, we found a different American chain restaurant to eat at – Pizza Hut.

Don’t judge me. There will be actual German food along before you know it.

Once again, it was a relief to be somewhere warm and dry and thanks to the international menu, everyone managed to order their own meal in mostly-German. The Kellnerinen seemed a bit frantic as the restaurant filled up as there were only a few of them but we weren’t in any hurry. There was some confusion at the end because I couldn’t remember the word for “tip” and was trying to work out whether the Rechnung was mit oder ohne service, which I swore was “Bedienung” but that didn’t seem to be ringing any bells. Eventually I just used “tip” and apparently it was ohne, so I’m glad I checked. If anyone can enlighten me on whether German bills include it or not, I’ll know for next time. As it was, we just left a trail of Euro notes behind us wherever we went.

My soggy feet were hurting so once we’d finished we went to the nearest U-Bahn station, which was Stadtmitte. Here was another one of those liminal places Eva likes so much:

The next morning my intention was to get hotel breakfast with Reuben and then maybe go for a walk while Nathan and Eva slowly woke up to have theirs. But when I went to the kids’ room, Eva was bright and awake so the three of us went to breakfast together while Nathan snoozed.

It involved more tricky German at the front desk but we managed fine and were able to feast on bread, fruit and (for the carnivores) three types of sausage. I wasn’t quite German enough to go for the pickled onions at breakfast time but I did consider it.

And then Roo and I went for a walk to see a bit more of the neighbourhood and enjoy the first sunshine we’d seen since leaving London. We walked to Johanneskirche, which was set by a beautiful lake, and then dipped through the closed S-Bahn station towards the edge of the Karlshöhe, which was a massive and very hilly park. There were a lot of closed S-Bahn stations – possibly because of the works going on around the station – but bear that in mind if you ever visit. Luckily, the U-Bahn and the buses go pretty much anywhere you need to go. Also, there are lines on the pavement showing you the way to the rail replacement bus if you do need the S-Bahn route. Walthamstow could do with those the next time the Chingford branch is closed.

Karlshöhe was pretty, even if we didn’t stray too far into it. We found a couple of playgrounds and this owl, which looked suspiciously like Duo was keeping an eye on us. I know he likes to make sure I practise German every day but I *swear* I was. I was in Germany, Duo. Please don’t hurt my family!

Talking of my family, it was probably time to get back to the rest of them especially as Nathan hadn’t had any breakfast. We picked up some snacks at a kiosk and got ready to check out of the hotel.

Our next train wasn’t until late afternoon, so we had the whole day to explore Stuttgart. We could have left the luggage at the hotel but there didn’t seem to be loads of space so instead I booked a drop off at a dry cleaners’ near the station through Nannybag. That bit went absolutely fine and the staff were very friendly. We had a few issues getting there on the U-Bahn as we were standing in someone’s way with our suitcases and he told us off for being stupid tourists. I forget it’s Monday morning and some people were probably on their way to work but there wasn’t really anywhere else to stand with all the luggage. Ah well, good luck if you’re ever on the Victoria line in rush hour, angry man.

We also missed the Hbf stop again as we were on the wrong line and ended up once more in Staatsgalerie which was quite a walk to the dry cleaners. Once we got there, we realised that the Hbf station was exactly where we needed to be. Excitingly, we had been on the U2 Bahn, which looked like it stopped at the Hbf on the map but didn’t seem to IRL. I had inadvertently made the train wait for me while I was on the other platform buying the ticket for the day so in the frenzy of crossing the tracks and two roads (at the green man) I didn’t really check where it went. I wasn’t expecting the driver to wait for me to do all that but as the rest of the family had been on the right platform with their suitcases, he obviously worked out that we were together. Ah, I’m starting to remember why the angry man might have been angry at us. It’s starting to make sense now.

Anyway, we made it to the Stadtzentrum, dropped our bags off and were ready to explore. Of course, that was the point at which I realised I couldn’t find the ticket anywhere. Yes, that same ticket I’d just delayed a whole train of people for. That’s awkward. Eventually we just gave up and I bought another one, taking in another closed S-Bahn station on the way. Another liminal space and this one might make for a good album cover for Eva some day.

We were finally ready to explore and this is probably the bit where I’ll lose you all because the bit of Stuttgart I wanted to explore was very specific to me. My grandmother lived in Stuttgart before she had to leave Germany and I was super keen to see the house she lived in. I won’t tell you where exactly the house was but it was up on the hillside overlooking the city and we had to get a bus to get up there. Once again, we tripped up on some small matter of public transport etiquette (pressing a button to open the doors maybe?) but we got to where we needed to and enjoyed some spectacular views on the way.

Once we got off the bus, we got momentarily distracted by a very fluffy and friendly white dog who demanded cuddles (“Ist sie freundlich?” I asked the owner, who gave the kind of resigned smile that suggested that yes, this dog was friendly to absolutely everyone). Then we walked down the hill a bit and, happily, found the official Aussichtspunkt. It was pretty impressive:

We also saw red squirrels and tiny lizards in the gardens around there, which was very exciting:

Then we walked back to the bus stop and stopped for refreshments at Katz der Bäcker. Nathan had a coffee and the rest of us had cold drinks because yes, it was still sunny at this point. Reuben had a pretzel, Eva had a slice of Käsekuchen and Nathan and I had pastries which were called something like Himbeer-Streusel-Plunder. They were all super good.

After that we still had a few hours left before our train so I pressed on to see if we could do just a little more family history stuff. I had a great-great-great-grandfather buried in one of the city cemeteries and I fancied going to find him and say hello. It may not have been a popular choice with the kids but I promised them Fünf Männer and the Lego Store afterwards so they agreed to get back on the U-Bahn to Pragfriedhof.

Long story short, we did not find him as the Jewish bit of the cemetery was locked and there was no obvious way in. But there are worse places to spend a sunny afternoon than a shady, grassy, calm place and I appreciated the kids’ willingness to wander round it with me. Plus we found a little playground to hang out in. It was a little incongruous – the shiny new park next to the ancient graveyard but yknow, it’s a symbol of how life goes on.

As promised, I let them get burgers and browse Lego after all that solemnity. I slightly miscalculated how long Königstraße was – having finally located the Hbf station, we emerged and started walking down the street confidently before realising we didn’t recognise any of it. I’d sworn Fünf Männer was right next to Primark and McDonalds but turns out there might be more than one of those in Königstraße. It was about a mile’s walk in the end and I only really twigged when we walked through this giant Schlossplatz halfway down:

Anyway, we had our first German french fries – and this time we were allowed refillable drinks again – and then browsed the Lego for a while before popping to Hema for snacks and only a small amount of stationery. As previously mentioned, I felt lucky to get away without buying Eva the whole shop. Also, weren’t we here in the last post?

We got the U-Bahn back from Stadtmitte to Hbf, for once ending up where we intended. The luggage pick up from the dry cleaners was all smooth and then it was just a small matter of finding where the actual station was, in among the building works.

We joined a mass of people trudging through the tunnel, which had signs, optimistically saying that it was “Zwei Minuten!” to the trains. Underneath, people had added their own annotations, such as “Fünf mit Gepäcke” and other, less polite remarks. About halfway down there was a Jehovah’s Witnesses stand, as if they were counting on people giving up the will to live and looking for any kind of salvation by that point. They were probably doing a roaring trade.

Eventually, we did emerge but there was nowhere to sit in the reduced capacity station and it was unclear where our train might go from because the screens only had space for a few departures on it and ours wasn’t on there. I checked all the screens on the individual platforms and couldn’t see it on any of them either. There was a train that would take us straight to Friedrichshafen – we were booked to change at Ulm – but I spoke to an official who told us in no uncertain terms that we couldn’t take that one. Though she also told me that ours would be going from Platform 15. We found Platform 15 and, sure enough, our train was listed on that screen. I’m not sure how I missed it on my first sweep through. It was also running ten minutes late, which was going to make our 13-minute change in Ulm very tight indeed. We found a little shelter to sit in, a long way down the platform and waited tensely for the minutes to tick by while watching the direct train pull away. Reuben almost tried to get on that one,thanks to a small misunderstanding, but luckily he didn’t.

This was a train we didn’t have booked seats on and it was a bit confusing to work out which tables were reserved for “gold-klasse” passengers and which seats were free to sit in. We ended up sitting half a carriage away from each other, which was fine except that we had a group ticket. I sent Nathan the pdf through WhatsApp and he was able to explain to the ticket inspector that he had a Frau “over there” before she visited us and I was able to explain in a bit more detail. She understood and accepted our tickets so it was all good. Unlike another passenger who we overheard being told he had 40 days to pay his fine.

It was around 45 minutes to Ulm and I spent most of it watching the departures to see whether our connection was also running late. It seemed that we would be coming into Ulm at the same platform as we’d be leaving from – Platform 2 – so surely that meant we were ahead of the connection? I was almost certain that the connection was also coming from Stuttgart, just following us a little way behind.

At some point around then, one of the water bottles in the bag I was carrying started to drip on my foot. I was wearing flip flops, not my soggy trainers, but once again my feet were wet.

At Ulm we leapt off the train and quickly realised that Platform 2 had different sectors and that our next train was already there. I can’t find anything on the internet that supports the idea that Platform 2 at Ulm had two sides to it but I swear it did. We were in Ulm for around a minute before jumping, wet-footed onto the Friedrichshafen train and sitting down with a massive sigh of relief.

And so onwards to the next bit of our holiday. But that is definitely another post….

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Paris with a Teenager

Posted on August 26, 2024 by katese11

This might be one of many posts about our recent holiday but also, I’m quite tired as a result of our recent holiday so forgive me if they don’t materialise. In fact, this might be just a series of one which says “baguettezzzzzzzzzzzz” as I fall asleep on the keyboard

We started our Paris trip in the unglamourous surrounds of the Premier Inn, Euston Road. My logic had been that we needed to catch the Eurostar earlyish in the morning and, once again, the Chingford line was not functioning. With a choice between a Premier Inn stay or the rail replacement bus in a hurry, I chose the former but I may not have chosen well. The windows were open because the aircon didn’t work and the noise from the Rocket pub opposite didn’t make for a peaceful night’s sleep. I think Nathan and I went there on his Monopoly stag crawl in 2002 but I don’t remember any of us loudly singing football chants at midnight. Ah well.

So it was a groggy and grouchy family traipsing through St Pancras in search of adventure. We’d had the Premier Inn breakfast but Eva had got into trouble with the staff for dropping her hash browns so that hadn’t helped with the general atmosphere. Then we got shouted at by a passport official for following the exact instructions his colleague had just given us and all of this while I was clutching Eva’s half-drunk mango bubble frappe because there was nowhere in the security queue to dispose of it. So it went through the X-ray machine in a special cup holder and then I threw it away just before the boarding lounge. Eurostar travel is *less* stressful than going through an airport but I sometimes think they’re trying to emulate that Stansted pre-holiday feeling.

Once we were actually aboard the Eurostar, all seemed calm. We had table seats so could Nathan and Roo could play “Tinny Dungeons” and Eva could draw or read or eat snacks. All very civilised. The two hours zipped by and we started seeing the outskirts of Paris. I’d decided not to go to Pret at St Pancras because I had my hands full already and Roo had suggested there might be a Pret in Paris, given it was a French word. I mocked him for this because I didn’t think the French would really get behind a brand often referred to as just “Ready”. But what was the very first thing we saw as we disembarked?

I stand corrected. I am pret to admit my teenager knows more than I do.

What none of us knew about was the ticketing system for the Paris metro. This was to be a theme throughout our travels but the machines at Gare du Nord were particularly crowded and we were just four of the hundreds of hapless tourists trying to figure this out. A bit of retroactive research suggests that some of the normal options for travel were unavailable or were inflated in price because of the Olympics, even though we were visiting in the gap between the Olympics and the Paralympics. Either way, I ended up buying a small stash of single-trip tickets at 4 Euros each before later crumbling and buying the day passes at 16 Euros each, which adds up to a pricey 64 Euros for our family. And no clarity on whether that’s a day ticket like a calendar date or a 24-hour period. Either way it cost a lot but luckily I still had enough single use tickets for the Sunday morning anyway so everything got used, even if we paid above the odds for it. Everyone at the station seemed similarly confused about the options and the queue when a Eurostar had just come in was a bit scary.

Once we had the tickets, it was a relatively straightforward question of negotiating the ticket gates and the trains with our luggage and finding our way to our hostel in Montmatre. We were a bit early for check in but could leave our suitcases in the luggage room and that made a massive difference. At this point, it was raining lightly but Nathan didn’t think about taking his coat out of his suitcase and onwards with him. Remember that. Reuben hadn’t packed a coat at all. I’d grabbed a thin waterproof when we were leaving home and had Eva’s raincoat with us but had forgotten my cardigan and had panic bought a replacement at Fat Face in St Pancras. We were not the best prepared for any weather events, having left London in glorious sunshine.

You know what’s coming. You can probably tell from the umbrella in the picture above. Yup, weather event. But more on that later.

The boys had tickets for the Eiffel Tower at 17:30 and it was about 13:30 when we left the hostel, suitcase-free. We had some time to kill but surely that wouldn’t be hard, right? We’d already located the bibliotheque, scourge of many a GCSE student’s spoken exam, but there were a few more exciting things to find. So we headed back to the Metro, bought those day passes, and caught the train towards Notre Dame.

First though, a quick fuelling stop at this petite eaterie I believe they call “Cinq Hommes”:

It took us a while to find it in the increasingly soggy streets while my Google Maps struggled with a wet screen and uncertain phone coverage. But this branch was right next to Fontaine des Innocents and also near but not inside the Westfield mall. No, not the one in Stratford. The Cinq Hommes experience is reassuringly familiar, for tweens who need that reassurance, but there are no refillable drinks in France so you have to juggle QR codes as well as drinks fountains. Also, the fries come in a silver tray. It was a good use of having learnt those complicated French numbers though, so I could listen out to “Deux cent soixante cinq” when it was called.

After we left, it became increasingly apparent that the rain was no longer light, even in the City of Light. Eva claimed to not want her raincoat, so Reuben borrowed it and we ducked into a tourist shop to buy umbrellas and this rather fetching poncho:

Fed and re-enforced against the weather, we were ready to do some standing around looking at the cathedral. Obviously, Notre Dame is not currently open to the public but it’s still very impressive from the outside. There are steps opposite the front so you can climb up and see what’s behind the hoardings. Just watch your step as it can be slippery in the rain.

Wait, it’s raining? I hadn’t noticed.

I do love this photo of Roo and I looking at Notre Dame while Eva channels a grumpy Parisian who doesn’t know us:

We had been outside for a while so it was a relief to dive back into the Metro for some temporary warmth and dryness. We were heading towards the Eiffel Tower but it didn’t take very long and we still had around an hour to kill before the boys went up. Eva and I would then need to hang out for another 90 minutes or so until they came back down. When I imagined all of this, we were lounging in the sunshine in the gardens around the Tower. The reality was a little different. Not only was there no sunshine but there was also a shortage of garden, given that part of it was fenced off for the Olympics and the bit underneath the Tower was behind security gates. I later found out that it was free to get into this bit and so we could have gone through but we found that out a bit too late. Still, enjoy this photo of Reuben doing his classic “I fell” gag:

So as the rain intensified, we ran into the nearest cafe where we paid eyebrow-raising tourist prices for a coffee but dagnam, that was the best tasting coffee I’ve ever had. I think it was just because we were somewhere cosy while las pluie battante battered on outside. The staff were friendly and spoke English to us even though we attempted a bit of French. The decor was pretty and Reuben had a very sticky crepe that gave him the strength he’d need for the climb ahead.

Then we said au revoir to the boys and went to find something to occupy ourselves. We were quite tired by this point, having not slept much and schlepped all over Paris. So somewhere with a lot of space to sit down would be ideal. Which is how Eva and I found ourselves in Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, watching videos of tribal rituals in the soothing semi-darkness.

It was mildly unsettling, as experiences go. So late on in the day, the museum was empty and some of the artefacts were a bit terrifying. It was what Eva would describe as a liminal space and, sure enough, there was a mention of liminality on one of the videos:

But it was warm, and no one bothered us if we just sat on one of the many seating shelves and rested. Most of the exhibits were around the cultures of traditional societies of Africa, Asia, Oceania & the Americas but then there was a small exhibition about black superheroes that had an X-Men ’97 Storm action figure. It was a little incongruous but nicely familiar in a space that was a bit otherworldly:

Now I think about it, maybe that little action figure was the one controlling the weather. In which case, she and I need to have words.

If you’re wondering how Nathan and Roo got on at the tower, here’s a couple of photos:

I’d booked them a guided tour without really meaning to but apparently it was very entertaining. I’d also booked them stair climbing tickets instead of the lifts but they managed it OK and I think they’ve forgiven me. If you’re wondering why Eva and I didn’t go, then see any post where Eva has to deal with either heights or steps or both. That’s how come we ended up hanging out with this guy instead:

We were due to meet up again at 19:00 and that’s the same time as the museum closed. We stayed as late as we could, taking advantage of the facilities and browsing the bookshop, but I’m mildly phobic about being locked in a museum overnight so we left with a bit of time before it closed. A quick visit to a shop for chocolat and a baguette brought us up to the meeting time, with only a small delay to get the most Parisian of photos. Eva already owned the beret but once we added the baguette, it seemed essential to pose in front of the Tower with both.

This next bit is mildly painful, as the tour de la tour overran and the boys were still up on the 2nd floor while Eva and I were waiting for them at the bottom. My phone coverage was still patchy due to my network being conflicted as to whether I allowed roaming or not (spoiler: I did). So we couldn’t really stray far from the meeting point because I didn’t know if I could contact Nathan or not. And even if the network behaved, my battery was running low and I didn’t have my powerbank with me. We could have gone back to the hostel but that would have meant leaving the boys to tackle the Paris metro on their own and that didn’t seem fair. So we picked a spot by the exit of the Tower and we waited. Eva found a dryish patch of ground under a tree and sat there to eat her baguette. It was, of course, still raining.

All this was fine – not ideal but manageable. The chocolate helped. Eventually I sat down next to Eva, on the damp-but-not-soaking ground and it wasn’t long after that that we got apprehended by the armed gendarmes. They politely asked in English if everything was OK and I replied in English as this didn’t seem like a great time to stretch my French. They requested that we move from our tree-sheltered and sit on a bench as this would be “a better seat”. I didn’t want to argue too much with a man with a gun but the bench was really very wet, and there was a giant muddy puddle where our feet would go…..so I didn’t sit there. But neither we continue sitting under the tree. Instead, we stood awkwardly by the exit until the boys emerged. I’d managed to get hold of Nathan after a few failed calls and so they left the tour early and headed for the lifts. It was 19:45 by the time they got down, so the tour really was overrunning quite badly and Eva and I were keen to move on after our brush with the law. Once we were reunited and on our way back to the metro station, I reminded Nathan that I knew a song about gendarmes but it didn’t seem like a great time to sing it. He agreed.

I was so glad to get back to the hostel and finally check in. We had booked a family room with four bunks in one space but were charmed to find something more like a suite, with a kids room around the corner from the adult room. The toilet and shower/sink were in two separate rooms, both off the adult room so there was a bit of shuffling around during the night but after sitting on the damp ground, it was luxurious. The toilet seat may have been cracked and have a step down that was bound to trip us up but like the Four Yorkshiremen, it were home to us.

The next morning, we had hostel breakfast which looked basic from the picture and the 7 Euro charge. When we picked up our trays of nothing but condiments, I feared for a second that it was really very microscopic but then our table was given a pot of four pastries and four hunks of bread. Again, I might just have been grateful for small luxuries but that bread was amazing. I didn’t even need the condiments, other than the butter. We got a coffee each from the machine, which was an extra 1.50 Euro each, to be paid at check-out after some confusion about whether it was included or not. Then we were ready to face the next step of our journey, which was a long train ride to Stuttgart. But more on that in another post.

Almost exactly a week later, we were back in Paris and this time the sun shone. Now, THIS was the Paris you see in the movies. What’s more, we already had Metro tickets in hand, having spent our spare Swiss Francs on them on board the train from Zurich. Yeah, there are a few posts missing in the middle here. We were only en Paris for a few hours before our Eurostar home so had booked left luggage at Mobile Store, near Gare du Nord. Every time I booked a random luggage storage place, my family had concerns but this guy could not have been friendlier and was from Bangladesh, so spoke English to us. It was very straightforward and we retrieved the bags just before heading home.

That left us once again suitcase- and fancy-free in Paris. And once again we went to Five Guys, this time the one in the station. The big draw here was being able to order at a kiosk, although it was a bit confusing when picking up drinks cups, and by now we kinda understood the QR code system. There were no toilets, so we had to use the ones downstairs in Gare du Nord at a Euro a pop. Let’s skim over the stressful aspects of that bit and go straight to our destination for the afternoon – Musée d’Orsay.

Eva had wanted to go to the Catacombs but see my previous comment re Eva’s dislike of steps – 120 steps to get out of the Catacombs seemed like it might be pushing the boundaries of what she could cope with and it would have been an expensive gamble. So when I spotted a discount on Musée d’Orsay tickets through Booking.com, I floated it to the kids. Roo knows about Van Gogh from both Art and Doctor Who so he was bought in and Eva will probably end up doing Art GCSE so it’s good for her to see these things too.

First off, the building is beautiful. It’s an old train station and I do love a bit of station architecture. Also, the collection is super-impressive and there are plenty of paintings that even someone as ignorant as I am can recognise. True, there was one Monet that I looked at for ages wondering where I knew it from before Eva reminded me that it was on a mug in our kitchen:

But there were also some very famous works in there, especially on the 5th floor where the Van Gogh room is:

I mean, I remember having to sketch this in Year 7 art class when we were looking at perspective so it’s pretty cool to see IRL:

The Monet room is equally awe-inspiring:

And on the 5th floor, there was also a roof terrace with some quite incredible views over Paris:

One of my favourites was this painting by Frédéric Bazille, called “Family Reunion”. I mean, there’s a tricky family dynamic right there, isn’t there?

And there were some incredible sculptures, like this “Gates to Hell”:

Meanwhile, Eva was busy spotting all the paintings of cats there were painted by people who seem to have never seen a cat before:

And both kids loved this polar bear sculpture:

In fact, Roo was the most enthusiastic and didn’t want to leave until he’d seen everything. I think we may have missed a few rooms but we were pretty exhausted and my plan to stop for a break in the cafe was thwarted by the queue going into the cafe. So instead, we pressed on to see a few more rooms and sadly never found the temporary exhibition about dogs. It’s been a year since Eva and I last went to see an exhibition about dogs so we’re overdue for a refresher.

After all that culture, we needed a sit down and the Jardin des Tuileries across the river looked ideal. As with the gardens at the Eiffel Tower, a lot of it was fenced off for the Olympics so seating was a bit scarce. Still, we found a bench and a kiosk selling ice cream so had a quick break and a pot of mango sorbet. I wanted to walk eastwards to the nearest Metro station and take in the outside of the Louvre on the way but the fences blocked our path so it was back across the bridge for us. Again, lovely views:

And from there not much else to tell. It’s difficult to buy a fresh baguette in the vicinity of Gare du Nord on a Sunday evening but the family made do with whatever I could buy in the Monop shop and then the Eurostar lounge once we’d gone through security.

I also had a heart-stopping moment when I witnessed someone dropping their suitcase in the gap when boarding the train. Nathan tells me that a fellow passenger just stuck his arm down to get it back. I don’t know why I gasped so…whether I was worried that it would delay us or just feeling extreme empathy for the person who dropped it but it’s fine, it all worked out well. The trip back was then perfectly smooth – we had a table again so feasted on my hastily assembled picnic.

London was cold and now we’re back home and facing the looming prospect of September. But before then, I need to fill in the gap (not with a suitcase) and tell you all about the bit between Paris and Paris. Hopefully it’ll make me sound like less of a British tourist monoglot than these bits. But maybe it won’t be today….

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Dopamine Land – 03/08/24

Posted on August 3, 2024 by katese11

I seem to have a bit of a curse at the moment where I’m writing about things no one will soon be able to go to. As soon as I reviewed Fox in a Box, they announced they were closing. I went to a Club de Fromage daytime party shortly before they revealed that they were stopping everything *except* the daytime parties. And now I’ve finally got round to going to Dopamine Land just a week before the doors shut forever. Still, if you’re at a loose end in the next week or so you know where to go!

Dopamine Land is just next door to Accidentally Wes Anderson so the nearest tube is South Kensington. We have a well-worn route to South Ken that unfortunately wasn’t viable today, due to both the Overground and the Piccadilly Line having closures. So instead it was a bus to Walthamstow, tube to Victoria and then an awkward change on an overcrowded Circle and District line platform. I stand by what I said about Victoria station being full of tourists who have no idea where they’re going.

Still, I’d accounted for at least some of these complications and left time for things to go wrong, especially in light of the patchy buses and lack of trains we’ve suffered for weeks now. So we got to South Ken with a clear hour to spare and decided to hang out in a Pret that’s considerably larger than the Petit one inside the station.

If you haven’t heard yet, the Pret subscription is changing in September so don’t worry – this non-stop advertising will soon cease. Pret and I have decided to see other people. A conscious uncoupling, if you will.

While having coffee, I started thinking about the logistics of being in a ball pool when neither Eva nor I had socks on and whether we’d be told off. So I nipped back across the road and managed to secure two pairs of socks from Cards Galore in the station arcade at a reasonable-ish price. Plus, they have Highland Cows on which is a bonus.

All of which preparation brings us to Dopamine Land itself. You’re greeted several times as you go through – once in reception then once in this room full of neon frames:

This is a bit of a holding area where you can put bags into the cloakroom and use the loo (through the bar area but you’re told not to get too distracted by it) and then sent through to the experience itself once the group in front has moved on. As a starting point, it can feel a bit too curated like you’re going to be monitored at every stage but everyone is friendly so it’s not a problem. The first room is a timed experience – one of only two – so that’s why the first part is carefully managed but there’s a lot more freedom to wander at your own pace after that first room.

The first room is quite special though, and it’s the one which appears on all the posters. You can see why:

You can also see why it’s timed once you’re in there as it’s a very small, enclosed space and could get claustrophobic once those doors are shut. The time went by very quickly but we got a few photos:

Next up was the musical squares room. We didn’t quite work out how the music was working but basically you jump on squares as they light up to create a tapestry of sound and light. It’s fun although quite dark so none of my photos really worked. This one does look kinda like a 90s music video though:

It is quite a full-on sensory experience so some people might find it overwhelming but Eva was fine, even with her noise sensitivity. The corridors in between are also quite dark and the neon, combined with the ambient noise, gives it a bit of an eerie Stranger Things vibe. That’s not a bad thing but it might be worth keeping younger kids close if they’re easily spooked.

From there, a couple more rooms that were a bit more low-key so a bit of breather after two quite intense ones. The writing room is getting really quite full up now so it was hard to find a blank space to add to and I must have leant on the wall at one point because I seem to have writing on my arm.

Nathan climbed on the stool and wrote on the ceiling – I’m not sure whether that was the intention but other people had clearly done it before him.

Reuben wrote “The Game” of course but you sadly can’t really make it out. Luckily, it’s been immortalised in lego and on a bracelet this week so we won’t forget those words too easily. Eva also wrote it on the sand in Margate but that might have been washed away by now.

The other room was the lucid dreaming room but that was a tad underwhelming – just some mirrors and video and I wasn’t quite sure how to interact with them. I might well have missed something.

We’d caught up with the group in front in the writing room and the group behind ours had caught up with us so there was a bit of a bottleneck going in to the ball pool area. The idea is that you go to the story cave first – which has fridge poetry and shadow puppets – and then the waiting area to take your shoes off. With a few groups going in different directions there was a bit of confusion and the possibility that the family coming up behind us might overtake. Credit to the guy in charge of that area though – he sorted us all out and everyone went to the ball pool and then the fire lantern room in order. We shared the ball pool with the group of two behind us but that was fine…there was plenty of room.

I didn’t get many pictures as I didn’t want to lose my phone in the balls but you get the idea. We lost Eva under the balls a few times but we recovered her in time to get back to the waiting room.

Then we chilled out for quite a long time in the fire lantern room. It’s spacious and calming and there are lots of mats to lie down on so we did just that. It’s the kind of play facility I longed for when the kids were little….”now children, here’s a room where we all lie down and do nothing. It says we have to on the wall”.

Again, my pictures are pretty ropey because it was so dark but it was a nice, relaxing experience. As was the next room – the forest:

We hung out there for a while until it got a bit crowded and we moved on to the final room before the bar area…the Pillow Fight room. This is quite a shocker after two nice calm rooms…the lights are flashing and there is “Set You Free” by N-Trance on repeat. I think this juxtaposition of quiet and loud is deliberate and meant to get you used to the transition back to the real world. Or maybe it’s just meant to put you in an aggressive mood for pillow fighting, which must have worked cause we ganged up on Nathan and beat him to the floor, Lord of the Flies-style.

And then we went for a lovely bubble tea in the bar area. You really do go through the full range of happiness-related emotions in this place. Happiness at sitting in a nice room and sipping on passionfruit and blackberry bubble tea (or Coke for the boys) just after the happiness of getting your aggression out by walloping each other with pillows.

There are a few more photo opportunities in the bar area as well, while you enjoy your drinks so of course we took them all.

The experience takes around an hour plus time at the bar, so it was about half past four by the time we were ready to leave. Ridiculously early  – in my opinion – for dinner so I suggested a short walk to a different branch of Five Guys. This might be because the South Ken branch is always crowded but also just to spin the day out a bit longer before we had to tackle the homeward journey.

So we set off up Queen’s Gate and found the newly renovated Wildlife Garden at the Natural History Museum. At least, I think it’s newly reopened – it was closed off when we were there in January. I’d hoped we could wander along the path and it would take out a bit of the route but the north end doesn’t link back up to the street so we had to retrace our steps.

Still, it was a very pretty and soothing diversion and it’s amazing how wild it feels considering it’s right in the middle of London. There was also a dog statue on top of one of the buildings:

We took a similar diversion at the top of Queens Gate, to walk west through Kensington Gardens instead of along the road. We saw a dog fountain on the way, which Eva had to stop and pet:

And a rainbow of plants, including a very goth front row:

We also saw a trapeze training school which was impressive but terrifying looking. Eva was not overly keen to sign up and I can’t say I blame her but kudos to the students – we stopped to watch one trapeze trainee and she had mad skillz. I didn’t get a photo of her in action but you can trust me on this one.

Fearful of having to double back again, I cut back to the road way too early – just by the coffee kiosk – when we could have walked through right up to the end of the gardens. Eva had clocked by this point that the short walk was longer than I’d made it sound but luckily we were now in sight of Kensington High Street and I could assure her that Five Guys was within reach. I was a little distressed to find out that my old branch of Clarks was now an Itsu but I guess times change and sushi might be more popular than sandals now. If only someone had thought to combine them and open up a sushoeshop.

Luckily, I was not wrong about Five Guys. And they even had their very own rainbow to greet us with:

Despite some confusion at Kensington High Street tube (where *do* you get the District line towards Upminster from?) we had a smooth journey back, with Vic line spookily quiet for a Saturday afternoon and the bus turning up after a fashion at Walthamstow. A successful day out!

Dopamine Land is open until 11th August. For tickets and more info, click here

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“Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder” at Ambassadors Theatre – 17/07/24

Posted on July 20, 2024 by katese11

Now, there’s no starker realisation that the toddler years are over than when you take your baby girl to see a show and she is laughing uproariously at a well-placed F-bomb in the first scene. There are many well-placed F-bombs in this show, including one that’s backlit and giant as part of a hashtag so I would emphasis the age rating – 12+ – and gently nudge anyone who’s after proper toddler content towards Tales From the Shed or Little Angel Theatre.

That disclaimer out of the way, I’ll go for another, which is that I booked this on a whim because I could not get the trailer song out of my head. So I gave in to advertising and hoped it would stop me singing it. Spoiler: It did not.

So I really wasn’t expecting much. Our seats were £20 each and advertised as “restricted view” so I wasn’t even sure whether we would see anything. I told Eva that, given it was a show about a podcast, then we could always just listen to it like a podcast and not worry too much. As it turned out, we could see most of the action apart from one rather vital bit towards the end but we did have to lean back a bit and look up. If we looked straight ahead, this would be our view:

We were also right by the speakers, so some bits were a little loud but there were advantages too. A surprise character in the second half popped up almost in front of us  – I won’t spoil the surprise by saying who the character was but Eva described their outfit as “iconic”. And we got a few stray winks off the lead actors plus a cardigan pocket full of confetti. That’s pretty much the front-row-for twenty-quid experience….a crick in the neck but a few souvenirs too. And legroom! All balances out.

If you haven’t seen the trailer and aren’t familiar with the concept of the show, it’s about two best friends who have a true crime podcast and aspire to become “true crime famous”. But then they become embroiled in a real-life murder and have to solve it before their own lives are in danger. If you think this sounds a bit like “Only Murders in the Building”, then you’d be right. I’m not sure which came first but the basic concepts and dynamics are very similar. However, where OMITB is very NYC, KASSAM is KUH. That’s Kingston-Upon-Hull or just Hull for the fans. In fact, it’s so Hull that there’s a chance that tourists might not be offended by the swearing because they don’t have any idea that it’s a swear word. Thanks to going to university in Reading with Roast Dinners in London, I am more than familiar with Hull-tinged swearing. And yes, I was very pleased when Kathy of Kathy and Stella revealed that she also went to Reading Uni, even if her experience wasn’t too positive.

Not as excited as I was to see her “Once More With Feeling” mug though. There were three references to Buffy in the show and all of them made me happy but that more than anything.

I know I’m focusing on the small details before I get to the big picture – mugs, accents, outfits – but isn’t that the forensic way? Look at the small details and build up an intelligence picture. We’ll get there.

First though, a few of the themes….at its heart, this is a show about female friendship. You know that any pair of friends who swear undying devotion to each other at the start of a show are gonna fall out about halfway through (just in time for the third coconut) and then make up by the end. That happens here, and it’s a fairly predictable arc about growing up, growing apart and finding a new way to relate. But that’s all fine…from that familiar trope, layers of character and murder-based humour are piled on to make it into something new. When Kathy sings that “if I didn’t have you, I’d die” she mimes someone disembowelling her in gruesome fashion. Stella, the less emotional one, is more non committal about the whole thing and wraps her sentimentality up with a sneaky Rickroll.

Another theme is neurodiversity. In the same song, Stella says “I hated pretty much everyone/’Til I found someone who hated everyone too”. They’re outcasts and nerds – Kathy the flower child and Stella the rock chick – but they’ve found each other and a way to channel that nerdiness into something productive. They have anxiety (Kathy) and dyspraxia (Stella), both of which Eva strongly relates to and it’s good to see some positive representation…..acknowledging the struggles of anxiety but not overdramatising it.

The third theme is the fickleness of pop culture, which is also explored in another of Eva’s favourite murder musicals – “Chicago”. Kathy and Stella start out as fangirls themselves before discovering that their idol isn’t all she’s cracked up to be….and later they briefly become the celebrities themselves. It’s a show that’s made for the internet age, where everything is polarised and turns around quickly. The aforementioned giant hashtag illustrates that nicely and it’s summed up in the song “Approval of Strangers” where Stella sings “From this point I can’t see any danger/in rooting all my self esteem/To the approval of strangers”

But I’m aware that all of this makes it sound very earnest, which it really really isn’t. It’s all handled a bit tongue-in-cheek with lots of sly winks to the audience and fourth wall breaking. The dance numbers are gloriously over-the-top, with the theme song performed in spinning office chairs that come dangerously close to the edge of the stage when you’re sitting just in front of it. A storyline that looks like it’s turning into a love story takes an abrupt turn when Kathy falls in love with the morgue itself, not the man in it, and celebrates atop an autopsy trolley. I’m glad that love story didn’t go anywhere because the actor was also playing Kathy’s mum so it was all getting a bit Oedipal.

The props were similarly over-the-top with not just the confetti but also those giant foam fingers you get at American sports games but they’re all holding murder weapons. There’s crackling energy throughout, even though the seven actors are frantically multi-tasking and constantly diving off the stage only to come back seconds later as a different character. There are red herrings galore and the final reveal – which was the key moment we couldn’t quite see from our seats – was less important than all the build up around it. And, of course, the inevitable escape after it. They’ve been preparing for a hostage situation all their lives, don’t ya know?

Eva laughed a LOT and was quoting it all the way home. She’s now developed what I believe the young folks call a headcanon but we don’t need to go into that. I didn’t see anyone else there in the tween age range but it was a school night so more young people might want to go now it’s school holidays. As long as you don’t mind the swearing, it’s perfect for your nerdy tweens – joyous, funny, modern but with a classic whodunnit theme. See you next murder!

“Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder” is on at the Ambassadors Theatre until 14th September. For tickets and more info, click here

No disclaimer needed as I paid for this one. All opinions remain honest and my own though.

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This is London…with a teenager

Posted on July 13, 2024 by katese11

This is the shocking post you’ve all been waiting for. This blog turns 13 today, on 13th July and in honour of that milestone, I am renaming the blog once and for all.

Welcome to….London With a Teenager

The mathematically-inclined among you will have figured out the reason for this dramatic change. If I had a toddler in July 2011 then it kinda stands to reason that I now inexplicably have a giant GCSE student. And an almost-as-giant tween coming up to take the mantle in a year or so.

It’s not like I haven’t dropped some hints over recent years. Things like sword fighting and escape rooms aren’t classic toddler activities and I can’t remember the last time either of my kids set foot in a sandpit. I still love a paddling pool on a hot day though.

So that’s my way of saying that nothing’s really changing except for the header image and a new URL that basically just points back to the old one. Thank you to all my loyal readers – I know a lot of you now also have secondary-school aged kids so do stick around. There might be something to help wit all those long summer weeks that are stretching ahead of us….

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“Much Ado About Nothing” by East London Shakespeare Festival – 08/07/24

Posted on July 8, 2024 by katese11

This is our third visit to an ELSF production in Highams Park. The first year was “Twelfth Night” in blazing sunshine, to the point that we were having to create shade for the kids to sit in:

Last year was “Romeo and Juliet” and it was a little damp around the edges:

What would it be this year? As we sat on the train home from church, watching the torrential rain, I wasn’t feeling optimistic. Neither was I as I dashed home to grab umbrellas and camping chairs while Roo babysat my halloumi fries in V’s Burgers. But we were hardened Shakespeare goers and Eva is now a part of the ELSF youth theatre so we were determined to be supportive, whatever the weather.

The unlikely outcome is that the rain stopped on the way up to the lake and only resumed at the curtain call. I know! I wasn’t expecting that either. We didn’t have anything that would prepare us for hot weather  – no suncream or cold drinks – yet here we were in sun-soaked Messina, as promised by the promotional material. I must admit I had said a few times I was expecting it to be soaked-soaked than sun-soaked but in answer to Beatrice, yes I will eat my word. Here’s how it looked just before the start of the show:

And apart from a few light spots of rain during the first wedding scene, the sun carried on throughout. We did not use the umbrellas and we did need cold drinks in the interval. I take it all back.

© YIODA NICHOLAOU

So with the skies clearing and the technical issues sorted, what happened next? What went down in Sunny Messina? Well, ELSF productions always take a few liberties with the Bard so there was an opening sequence in an airport that might not have been in the original and there were a few comedy asides that were added in to give it a bit more of a contemporary feel. Oh, and the dance sequences to Dua Lipa and “Mambo Italiano”. The Dua Lipa song is one we dance to in Dance Fitness and someone from my class was there on the front row so we were tempted to jump and add our own moves but you’ll be pleased to know we resisted. Someone next to me did get drafted in to the one-line role of the Sexton though, to much applause.

© YIODA NICHOLAOU

Contemporary costumes and songs aside, it’s actually pretty faithful to the text. Nearly all the dialogue is pure Shakespeare, delivered in a way that makes it accessible and relatable. The bantz between Beatrice and Benedick in the opening scene is up there as some of Shakespeare’s snappiest dialogue, rivalling the Hermia and Helena fight in the speed-punning event. Ursula Early as Beatrice and Kieran Garland as Benedick do not disappoint and you can really feel the tension between them. I will say at this point that I’m never convinced by the prospect of B&B as a long-term couple….it’s all very well to have an enemies to friends trope but I feel like the events of the play don’t really alter Leonato’s prediction that “if they were but a week married, they would talk themselves mad”.  Still, the love-hate dynamic makes for an entertaining show.

© YIODA NICHOLAOU

I always think it’s a bit futile nitpicking Shakespeare but this plot more than any makes no sense at all. The motivation of Don John to mess with Claudio and Hero is cloudy at best and without that drama, there really would be very little plot at all. But that’s fine and all part of the experience of watching a Shakespeare comedy. You have to accept that all siblings look identical, all Friars suggest faking your own death and all long lost families will eventually be reunited. Then you can relax and just enjoy the ridiculousness of it all.

Speaking of Claudio and Hero, I must give a shout out to Isambard Rawbone and Londiwe Mthembu who played the couple with tenderness and wide-eyed innocence. Neither character gets huge amounts of depth in the script so there isn’t much to work with but Hero was a joy to watch throughout and Claudio suitably lovelorn apart from that bit where he inexplicably decides to publicly humiliate her. Dang, I said I wasn’t going to nitpick didn’t I?

© YIODA NICHOLAOU

You’ll notice the sunshiny palate in all of these cast photos, which gave the production the feeling of summer even if the sun itself hadn’t done us the courtesy of rocking up. Deck chairs, cocktails and even a swimming pool added to the holiday vibe. Don’t ask how they made Benedick swim but it was a hilarious highlight. Thinking about it, it might have been a river instead of a pool but still, it was an impressive feat to recreate in the park.

© YIODA NICHOLAOU

Physical comedy was an important part of the show, especially as there is so much of the plot that involves people hiding while other people pretend not to have seen them. That opens up all kinds of possibilities with hatches, bushes and watering cans and ELSF took every opportunity going, even involving the audience in asking to help them hide. This makes it visual enough for the smaller members of the audience to enjoy, while not detracting from the plot in any way. It must be exhausting to perform such a physical show so many times over a weekend but the actors showed no signs of flagging. Maybe they were powered by the sunshine.

© YIODA NICHOLAOU

Aside from the two main couples, there were four other actors – Alistair Brown as Don John and the Friar, Lauren Hendricks as Don Pedro  and Margaret, Natasha Mula as Conrade, Messenger and Ursula and Paul Willcocks as Leonato and Borachio. The four other actors were also doubling up in the scenes with the Watch so everyone was working pretty hard, especially with the multiple costume changes and a green room that’s basically just a tree. Lauren Hendricks also sang most of the linking songs and did so beautifully. Sigh no more, ladies. It did take me a while to realise that they’d gender-swapped Don Pedro’s character as I just assumed it was a girl playing the part of a man  – coming from a girls’ school, I always had to play the men’s parts. My Year 8 Shylock was legendary. But after a few references to Don John’s sister wooing Hero confused me, I finally clocked. It did work in terms of the plot but I’m clearly not that quick. Like Snug, I am slow of study.

The ensemble worked well together, switching between all those parts seamlessly and bursting into a hip hop rap every now and then just to shake things up a bit. The airport scene at the beginning paid off at the end when the final scene between Benedick and Beatrice became a Richard Curtis-esque dash to the airport. In the script, I seem to remember Beatrice is just kinda standing there and Benedick takes her mask off….but this was much more fun.

And fun is what this production is all about. It’s not to be taken too seriously – it’s Shakespeare for the bawdy masses, just as the original performances would have been. The audience were politely sipping Prosecco rather than jugs of ale but it’s the same vibe. I always regret not taking a full picnic as the people next to us had but there’s always next year. Fingers crossed they’ll be lucky with the weather again.

Of course, by the time we were walking home via the ice cream van it was raining again. But what else do you expect in the London summer? As Will himself said: “The spring, the summer, the childing autumn, angry winter, change their wonted liveries, and the mazed world, by their increase, now knows not which is which”

But I call this season ice cream and umbrellas season:

“Much Ado About Nothing” continues to tour through July and into August. Click here for tickets and more info. No disclaimer needed as I paid for the tickets but all opinions remain honest and my own.

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Fox in a Box Escape Rooms – 16/06/24

Posted on July 6, 2024 by katese11

It’s taken me a little while to write this one up because, really, what can you say about escape rooms? You can’t give away too much otherwise they’ll find you and lock you up for real. But I’ll try to give you a flavour of the experience as best I can.

First though, the flavour of lunch. You can’t lock three teenage boys and a tween girl up in a room without feeding them first. Roo wanted to try Grab Burger, which was at Dalston Junction, just opposite the escape room. Sadly it was closed so we walked up to Honest Burger near Dalston Kingsland. It wasn’t super quick service but the staff were really friendly and we had time to kill so that was fine. And the burgers were good  – I had the Dalston special, which came with a little pot of jerk gravy. I could have done with a nap after all that food but no, onwards.

We still had a little time to kill before we went in, so we hung out in Dalston Curve Garden, which was heaving on a sunny day (remember those? We had about three of them in June). We found a small table and enough chairs to have some of Roo’s birthday cake and relax while the teens hit each other with sticks. Standard stuff.

Then it was time to go and get locked up. We’ve been past Fox in a Box many times but it doesn’t look big enough to have three separate escape rooms inside. Turns out that you don’t need much space for prison cells. There are three options of games to play and we’d chosen “Prison Break” which was meant to be Intermediate difficulty. There’s no formal age limit but under 14s need to be accompanied by an adult.

I can tell you that we spent some time trying to solve a tanagram puzzle in the lobby and the fights over that made me think we were doomed. There are also lockers and loos while you wait so leave some time to get yourself sorted before the experience begins. There’s also the Wall of Shame, which we assumed we’d end up on.

Then you are ushered through the portal and into the prison. The six of us were split into two cells by the very serious prison officer and from there we were on our own….albeit with a few handy hints from a mysterious voice.

I won’t tell you too much about the experience except to say remember the principle of Mise-en-scène – everything in an escape room is there for a reason, even if the reason for some things is to act as a red herring and throw you off the scent. There was a fair bit of a lateral thinking needed and even a bit of maths but the mysterious voice kept us on track and we managed to escape with a full nine minutes left on the clock. Given we utterly failed last time we did an escape room, I’m pretty pleased with that result. We celebrated with juice from the nearby Co-Op and sent the spare teens packing.

So a fun afternoon out, if a little on the pricey side. It lasts 90 minutes so definitely good to have lunch and a bit of chill out time before going in. It was the right kind of challenging for teenagers and their increasingly brainfogged parents. The orange t-shirts were a nice touch and we got sent team photos for no extra cost. The staff were all super helpful – when not in character – and it felt like everything had been considered in making it a smooth experience. Plus, we won so no Wall of Shame this time! Maybe we’ll be back to try out some of the other rooms….

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out) | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

LWAT is 800! A Guide to Leaving London

Posted on July 3, 2024 by katese11

I mean, not permanently..what the heck kinda move do you think this is for an anniversary post? Though I do have a bit of a blogchange coming up which will surprise and shock you all. But that’s still a week or so away, so watch this space.

No, I’m talking about leaving London for a weekend or maybe a short break using one of our eight glorious railway termini. Yes, that’s the link to the 800th post. It’s a bit lame but it came to me as I was on my way to Leeds at the weekend, which slightly doing anything more practical for the 800th post. Eva and I travelled about 400 miles in total so if you times it by the two of us, I guess that’s 800 miles covered. But more relevantly, we got to hang out in Kings Cross for a while which is one of the eight I’ll be covering. I know the Monopoly board tells you there are only four but Monopoly lies to you. In so many ways.

We’re starting at the North-West corner though, with:

Paddington

Where is it? Nearish Central London, nearish to Hyde Park on one side and Little Venice on the other.

Where can you get to? Wales! Which used to be handy for nephron exchanges before half of them moved up here. Reading, which I used frequently when I lived there and Nathan was in London. Various other places along the M4 corridor like Bath and Bristol and places in the West Country, like Plymouth and Penzance.

Have I blogged about it? It’s popped up a few times.  We passed through last October between the Rickroll tunnels and candy floss the size of Eva’s head. And we picked up special packages there in 2017 before walking through Hyde Park to the Royal Albert Hall. We also went there on Nathan’s birthday in 2022, mainly to try out the new (at the time) Elizabeth Line.

Is there a Pret? Yes

Is there a Five Guys in the vicinity? Noooo, doesn’t seem that way

Any special features? Everyone loves petting the statue of Paddington, don’t they? He’s moved around a bit but photos on Google Maps from last month suggest he’s still there and up for selfie opportunities. This picture of mine was from quite some years ago though.

What’s the overall vibe? Big, echoey, confusing tube interchanges…it’s basically three or four stations in one. Nice roof.

 

Then moving East to:

Marylebone

Where is it? Kinda near Regents Park but not really close to anywhere

Where can you get to? Birmingham and Oxford mainly, with stops along the way in the Chilterns. Eva and I went there to get our connection to Stratford-Upon-Avon last year, changing at Leamington Spa

Have I blogged about it? Yes, on that visit in 2023 but also on our Monopoly jaunt for the 500th post (which was a lot more effort than this post)

Is there a Pret? Yes and this was post-subscription so of course I went there. Even though it’s really hard to balance coffee and suitcases

Is there a Five Guys in the vicinity? It looks like there’s one on Baker Street but it’s a rare Central London branch that we haven’t blessed with our presence.

Any special features? As mentioned above, it’s a Monopoly square so that makes it special but also it has a tiny version of Bicester Village in the middle of the concourse.

What’s the overall vibe? Super-cute, retro, redbrick. Half the appeal of going to Stratford-Upon-Avon was the chance to catch a train from here.

And again to:

Euston

Where is it? Very Central London, right on the Euston Road. Not near anywhere pretty but handy for UCL and museums like the Wellcome Collection.

Where can you get to? All the biggies of the North and the Midlands – Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool as well as a bunch of places in North-West London that are basically the Bakerloo Line. I also took my niece there to eat Burger King chips one night a few weeks ago because of…complications. We sat in cinema-style seating and watched the stressed-out passengers trying to catch the last train. I also caught the train to Manchester on a work trip there a few months ago and it was an underwhelming experience

Have I blogged about it? It certainly featured in this post, about one of the most surreal moments of my life. We also visited on mine and Roo’s big adventure to see the Cbeebies panto in 2014. Apparently we also visited in 2013 on our way to Southport but I have very little recollection of this. And even further back, in the very first month of the blog, it featured in this classic post.

Is there a Pret? Yes and it’s really crowded and stressful….there’s a one-way system and nowhere to sit.

Is there a Five Guys in the vicinity? Not super near, no

Any special features? Well, there’s the way that you now have to leave the station to get into the tube which really confuses people like me. And I think there’s a street food market outside but I’m not sure whether that’s permanent or a pop-up.

What’s the overall vibe? Shed-like, hectic, full of commuters and people who seem a bit cross. Apparently it used to be beautiful but the frontage was all torn down in the 60s.

Even further East to:

Kings Cross

Where is it? Near Euston really but with easy access from Islington

Where can you get to? The North – we were there just a few days ago for our trip to Leeds. But you can go even further than Leeds to places like Newcastle and Edinburgh. Plus of course Paris and Brussels from the neighbouring St Pancras.

Have I blogged about it? A surprising amount, yes. Firstly in 2011 before all the redevelopment when it was just a claustrophobic glorified waiting room. Then two years later when I seemed amazed at all the changes and we visited the the Camley Street Natural Park. Then various posts about the fountains, the canal and ukulele busking there last Christmas. Plus a very special trip there on Eva’s 9 3/4 birthday

Is there a Pret? I think there are about three and at least one has decent seating even if the queuing system is chaotic.

Is there a Five Guys in the vicinity? Yes, and we went there both ways on the Yorkshire trip last weekend. Saturday AND Sunday fries

Any special features? I love the roof. I really cannot stop taking pictures of it every time we’re there. I know I’m sad. But it is a thing of beauty. Plus, a fun kids area in the waiting room and a birdcage with a swing it in just outside

And of course THE tourist attraction  – a bit of wall with a trolley sticking out of it and adjoining gift shop. Not to be missed!

What’s the overall vibe? I would never have said this in 2011 but it’s pretty chilled out. Having Granary Square to hang out in before your train makes all the difference as you can watch the boats on the canal. Also the interior is relatively spacious even when it’s crowded and there are a nice range of eateries (Leon and a mini-Giraffe). A definite favourite.

South a bit and East again to:

Liverpool Street

Where is it? Just on the line between the City of London and the start of East London. Handy for the City but also close to Spitalfields and Brick Lane

Where can you get to? Mainly Essex and Cambridgeshire destinations, with a quick link to the seaside. Plus all the Overground lines to Cheshunt, Enfield and Chingford.

Have I blogged about it? Yes, which seems weird seeing as I walk through it hundreds of times a year. so it’s a bit like blogging about our local Tesco. But we lingered back in 2021 on our way to Adventure Island and of course we went there on the Monopoly day. And I took a bunch of English class students for lunch there after the Lord Mayor’s Parade.

Is there a Pret? Yes – at least three in easy reach and I’m a regular at two of them. I know all the staff. Don’t judge me.

Is there a Five Guys in the vicinity? Yes. Weirdly narrow stairs but nice and spacious upstairs

Any special features? The Kindertransport statue is always kinda moving, even when there are pigeons perched on all the children’s heads. There was an episode of “The Piano” being filmed there when I walked through the other day but I suspect a lot of the stations will have that same claim to fame.

Plus there’s that weird rusty brown obelisk thing at the Elizabeth Line end that doesn’t seem to serve any purpose.

What’s the overall vibe? A confusing mix of commuters and tourists heading for the Stansted Express. Both groups get very tetchy with each other when there’s a queue at the gates. The station concourse is spaciousish but you’ll probably still walk into someone if you don’t look where you’re going.

Heading South to:

London Bridge

Where is it? Just south of the river, opposite the City

Where can you get to? Kent mostly – I think I went there on the way to Orpington and Herne Bay but I don’t think I’ve caught a train from there in years. There’s also the Thameslink to Luton in the opposite direction to where you’d expect a South London station to connect to.

Have I blogged about it? I’ve blogged about the surrounding area a lot but I’m not sure the station itself has ever come up much. the trip to Orpington and back in a morning is referenced in this post but nothing about the station. There are lots of posts about trips to the Globe and the Tate Modern, which are both in the vicinity and this trip last year to Delight in Borough Yards

Is there a Pret? Yes but Eva was sick in it in 2015 so we can never go back

Is there a Five Guys in the vicinity? No but there are so many nice places to eat in Borough Market that even Eva can accept the lack of fries.

Any special features? That giant Shard thing is quite a feature but it would really eat into your schedule if you were in a rush to get a train and wanted to go view the loo with a view. Obviously the view from the bridge itself is pretty special and I can spend ages there taking pictures of Tower Bridge and the City. The incredibly steep steps coming off the bridge are special in their own way too and there are often random statues along the embankment there.

At one point, I swear the station was missing a Platform 7 – with signs to Platforms 1-6 and 8-14 (Guess which platform we needed?) That’s pretty special.

What’s the overall vibe? Very commutery and hectic but with the river nearby for a welcome breather.

Heading back West again to:

Waterloo

Where is it? Also just south of the river but further west – opposite Westminster and near our old Kennington haunts

Where can you get to? Why yes, I HAVE been waiting for thirty years for someone to ask me to recite all the stops between Winchester and Weymouth. What, you don’t want me to? Fine. I’ll just say it’s heading towards my own home turf of Hampshire plus the seaside delights of Dorset and the slightly less delightful delights of Portsmouth. Also handy for Surrey and if you’re insane, you can get the train to Reading from here instead of going from Paddington. But don’t blame me if you age a decade on that train.

Have I blogged about it? I’ve blogged a million times about the South Bank and stuff to do a mere stone’s throw from the station…it remains one of my favourite places to hang out even if we don’t live just down the road anymore. I’m sure I’ve mentioned the station itself before, like in this trip to Feltham in 2015 and a more recent meet up in 2021 when we had relatives coming up from Hampshire. And we saw the naked bike ride. Don’t click on that link expecting pictures tho.

Is there a Pret? Yes but you have to go up a flight of stairs to get in, which isn’t fun with luggage and would be completely impassable for a wheelchair or a buggy

Is there a Five Guys in the vicinity? No, they seem a bit sparse south of the river.

Any special features? The view as you come into Waterloo never gets old – there is something so very London about glimpsing the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye as you pull in. There’s a whole new bit of the station that I haven’t explored yet so that might throw up some interesting features. And the clock that you meet people under is pretty iconic if you come from Hampshire. Also, do check out the graffiti tunnel if you have time before your train.

What’s the overall vibe? A fair amount of commuters rushing around but prone to flash mobs and people giving away free ice creams, which cheers things up a bit. The stepfree access is a bit out of the way but works once you know where you’re going. 

And back over the river to:

Victoria

Where is it? Central London, near Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park

Where can you get to? More seaside! Sussex destinations like Brighton and Littlehampton as well as less glamorous Kentish spots like Gravesend. We’ve picked relatives up from the coach station a few times too, but it’s not super close to the train station.

Have I blogged about it? Not really and I’ve only passed through it when I was childfree, I think…on my way to Worthing in 2022. It also gets a mention in this very stressful post from 2013. But we wandered around the area lots when we lived in South London and could walk to places like the secret paddling pool of Pimlico. 

Is there a Pret? Yes, a couple and I’m sure I’ve been to at least one but I can’t remember much about it

Is there a Five Guys in the vicinity? Apparently so! But we haven’t been there…we don’t seem to go to Victoria very often

Any special features? Didn’t a baby get left in a handbag somewhere around here?

What’s the overall vibe? Super touristy, with all the attractions nearby and the Gatwick Express. No one has any idea of what they’re doing so you will almost certainly trip over a suitcase if you’re not careful. Or maybe a handbag.

 

So I know after reading 2,400 words about train stations you’re desperate to know how I rank these eight. Well, wait no longer:

#8 Euston – just so lacking in character theseadays

#7 London Bridge – sorry, you’re just not that useful and the station itself has nothing much to recommend it

#6 Victoria – crowded and I just don’t seem to have used it often enough to love it

#5 Paddington – useful but an awkward trek from everywhere we’ve ever lived

#4 Liverpool Street – not the most aesthetically pleasing but super useful and has its charms

#3 Waterloo – this may be mainly nostalgic but also it has the South Bank right outside

#2 Marylebone – such a small and niche station has no right to score so high but have you seen it? So cute and twee and takes you to other places that are also cute and twee

#1 Kings Cross – some great destinations, the best outside space and that showstopper of a roof. A deserving winner!

 

Posted in What I suppose you'd call "tips"....? | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Club de Fromage Daytime Party – 22/06/24

Posted on June 23, 2024 by katese11

I know – I’m getting adventurous in my middle age. Not content with Disco 2000ing in the evenings every few months, I’ve now taken to over 30s daytime clubbing at Scala. Wild times indeed.

And in that spirit, we started the afternoon with a nice margarita from Sons and Daughters in Granary Square. In case you hadn’t worked it out by now, this was a childfree excursion. My kids might be ageing rapidly but last I checked neither of them were quite in the over 30s bracket yet. So we started almost as we meant to go on – I must admit, getting trapped on the wrong side of a cycle race wasn’t in the plan.

But we found a way out via a kind of footbridge over the track and we were free to go party.

I haven’t been to Scala in years. The last time may have been in 2002 when Bob and I were promoting Scooby Doo the move there. I know a photo exists but sadly I can’t find it anywhere. I also remember going to see Gorillaz there in 2001ish and both times I thought it was a huge space. When we walked in yesterday, all of us thought it seemed tiny compared to what we remembered but maybe we’ve just grown.

It being 3PM, the dancefloor took a little while to get going but when they played “Crash” by the Primitives I decided I might as well go for it. It’s not like I’m a stranger to starting a dancefloor. And seeing as the playlist promised “Pop” and “Cheese”, I wasn’t sure how many danceable songs there would be.

Turns out, quite a few. We were on the dancefloor solidly all afternoon, with only the necessary bar and toilet breaks. Some of the music did fall into an indie girl’s nightmare playlist – the kind of songs that were used to torture me in the student union at the turn of the century. I couldn’t quite bring myself to dance to Steps, Ricky Martin or the Spice Girls but the full-on cheese of the decade before that is just fine by me. So we wailed along to Bonnie Tyler and quick stepped to Footloose with no shame at all. And there were plenty of songs that were in the rock and indie genre too. Bob remarked that Kurt Cobain would not be overly happy to be classed as “cheese” but I guess he doesn’t get an opinion.

But no one goes to Club de Fromage for the groundbreaking playlist. It’s all the extras – confetti cannons, balloons, limbo competitions – that make it a fun night. Or afternoon, in this case. And the four Club de Fromage dancers were what kept the party moving. Whether they were dressed as grannies doing the splits, football fans tossing out giant balls into the crowd or rock chicks with mullets and inflatable guitars they did everything with a grin on their faces and a sense of fun that was pretty infectious. My favourite was the one in the wedding dress, who constantly looked like she was living her best life.

So yes, three middle-aged mothers survived an afternoon’s clubbing with only a small amount of backache to show for it. Staggering out into the slightly jarring sunlight, we took refuge in the nearby Pizza Union for dinner and some frozen mojitos. Rock and roll, indeed!

If you want to see what it was all about, have a look at my video on YouTube here:

No disclaimer needed cause I paid for this one but for more info, click here

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