Our Second Christmas

Christmas Day is over for another year - it seems to have crept up on us this year but thinking about it - it does that every year. Harry, had the week off work and so he did the shopping for us and some organisation for our trip home in April and I cycled to work in reasonably warm and dry conditions. I went to the Doctor's for some antibiotics, as the dentist said it wasn't a tooth causing me pain but could be a sinus infection. But the next day, Christmas Eve I went back to the dentist as my filling was half out, and then back to the Doctors as the antibiotics he had prescribed me would, according to the pharmacist, make me blister and miserable if I was in direct sunlight (the Doctor had never asked if I was going on holiday and remarked when I returned that there isn't normally a problem in England!!). In the evening we went to the Christmas Eve service at the Salvation Army where a 10 piece brass band played Christmas Carols quietly, children played and we watched a video, pulled christmas crackers and was asked 'What do you hope for at Christmas?' (Easy question - to hear some familiar voices of those I love). We then drove off to pick up Rebecca from the bus station (her text arrived 24 hours later to tell us she was on the bus - probably followed Santa around the world). Christmas morning we made our dessert offerings - the first time we had baked cakes and pavlova since we have been here - they turned out quite well even if we say so ourselves -and Harry invented a piping tool with a plastic bag to make the lamingtons look good.

After opening our presents and a breakfast of croissants we looked out and saw some blue sky (it was reasonably warm but still chilly but for winter quite good) and so we wandered off to the Common to take some photos (thinking we might have missed the blue sky - but there was still some). So, after a nice leisurely morning we drove to Chris and her family for Christmas lunch - turkey and all the trimmings, a walk (Ben tried out his new bike), pressies, games (eg charades), Christmas pudding and our desserts. We had a lovely English Christmas and felt honoured to be invited into someone else's home on a special day.

Boxing Day - there was not a cloud in the sky and so we decided to take a wander through the woodland at Woodchester House. We had been to the House before, but not the gardens and had a nice few hours walking on the sunny side of the hill, looking at the 5 little dams, searching for the rare breed of pig that like living in the Woodlands, passed some very hairy cows, watched the dappled sheep that came towards me to have their photo taken.

Rome at Christmas Time

We have been to our first Christmas pantomime -they seem to be a very English thing to do. Every city, or town seems to have one over Christmas - Cilla Black is starring in one in Birmingham and we had Mickey Rooney in ours. It was a lot of fun and it is true what they say that they are for all ages as little ones enjoy it and we were old enough to get the adult humour. In front of us there were little ones dressed up as Cinderella and they danced in the aisles as we laughed and sang along. At one point we were squirted with water pistols (to the music of Mission Impossible), had toilet rolls thrown at us (the gift on the 5th day of Christmas) and somehow this was all entwined with the story of Cinderella that we all know and love. When we told people that we were going (and some could not understand our excitement) they said 'oh no you aren't' and after a while we realised we were meant to say 'oh yes we are' and then they would say 'oh no you aren't' and we would say 'oh yes we are' ... We were quite well practised by the time we got to the night.

Then we went to Rome for the weekend. It took us 10 hours from leaving work to get to our hotel in Rome - this might seem like a long time for a 2 hour flight and it was!! Anyway, on the bus trip into the centre of the city we watched with amazement, opened mouths and startled expressions as the bus driver negotiated his way through traffic (after a while we began to relax and the occassional laugh escaped our mouths). Where 2 lanes were marked on the road you could guarantee there were 4 lanes of traffic, where a driver left a space between his car and the one in front - it was filled by a scooter or a smart car or a very brave cyclist. We decided that all drivers seemed to aspire to be in the next remake of the Italian Job. We got around Rome using a mixture of public transport (we bought a Roma card which gave us unlimited travel on the public transport system - underground, buses and trams - and free entry into lots of places), the hop on hop off bus (which took us to 14 different places of interest but didn't really tell us much about them) and leg power (which took us to lots of places - we learnt to cross roads like Italians - look straight ahead, not to the left or the right, saunter across as though you have all day. If you stand uncertainly at the edge of the crossing, like we did at first, drivers ignore you. If you act like an Italian the car will probably slow down just enough to let you across but in most cases will swerve to go round you. And we weren't fooled after a few crossings we learnt that green lights for pedestrians means that there is a red light for a car to go through and we ran!! It hardly seems surprising that the Easyjet magazine had this to say about Rome

"why not see the city by scooter and avoid overcrowded buses and the limited metro system...You just need a drivers licence, sharp senses and nerves of steel!"

The transport system did seem quite effective in the busy city, we only saw one set of polizia sweeping up after an accident and there were little electric buses that take about 16 people along the not so popular routes and electric vans everywhere selling expensive ice-creams, drinks and paninis. And if you drive a car you can park it almost anywhere!!

The week before Christmas was busy for locals Christmas shopping, but few tourists were about and with beautiful weather (we couldn't resist sitting and soaking up the sun on occasions) we saw most of Rome with no queues. I think we were lucky as there was some evidence of wetter days preceding with lots of puddles and flood marks on some of the buildings and rubbish in trees near the river. I was looking forward to seeing Rome at Christmas time, sort of expecting lots of lights, but except for a few Christmas trees and a couple of lit streets and shops there wasn't much in terms of a light show. We did see a Father Christmas at a Piazza and some nativity scenes which Rome specialises in (I think they run tours of 14 different nativity scenes - and we were lucky enough to see 4). It some how felt right for the city to celebrate Christmas this way.

The blue skies gave us ample opportunities for seeing Rome at it's best as we climbed to the top of the Colosseum and other high spots to look across roof tops to the snow covered mountains, to the lower hills and across the River Tiber. And in the evening we stumbled across (well we were in a bus going somewhere and I said 'that looks interesting let's get off' as I sometimes do) the market at the Piazzo Novona - it was early evening and the Romans were doing their Christmas shopping and I was taking photos of the Caballeria and Santa and his reindeer. Interesting that the markets are quite different in countries. In the UK markets sell lots of clothes, books, christmas decorations and teatowels, while in France it is mainly cheeses, bread, mushrooms, olives, books and handbags while in Rome it was little ornaments, miniature water fountains, sweets, little houses made from bison board, nativity scenes, witches on broom sticks and shoes.

So, we packed quite a few things into our 2 days in Rome. We first stopped at the Colosseum - one of those 'must sees' - as it is about 2000 years and although a ruin in quite remarkable condition for a ruin. We wandered inside (no queue) and thought about this stone architectural feat that housed 87,000 spectators while they watched gladiator combats, navy battles, wild animal hunts and more tamer events. After a while the crowd preferred tamer sports and entertainment which I was pleased to hear as knowing that cruel events had taken place took some of the fascination out of it for me.

I did enjoy wandering through the Palatino. Park like surroundings, lots of trees and heaps and heaps of Roman ruins - thankfully some of them still standing. We walked through the Roman village picturing daily life and understanding some of the hardships that these people must have had (in another part of Rome we did see some housing built for the poor - and it looked a bit like council housing today except only a couple of storeys high and I did wonder that if we gave the poor homes they could be proud of would we have a different society today).

We visited Tiber Island linked to the rest of Rome by two bridges and which now has a hospital filling about half of the island. It used to be a quarantine station and earlier still than that home for really bad criminals. The legend says that Tiber Island was formed by angry Romans throwing Tarquinius Superbus (510BC) into the river and dirt and silt built the island around where he was thrown. We wandered through the hospital (trying to find a loo but with no success), and then across the bridge noticing that at some point the river must have been a lot higher - as the water mark went a long way up the hospital (did not quite reach the windows), and there was a lot of rubbish caught in the leafless trees.

We had time to see the Trevi fountain before wandering back to the train station to pick up our bags. It was designed in 1643 just after the completion of the Barberini Palace (the fountain backs onto one of the walls). In earlier days, and thankfully not now, the dead were laid in front of the fountain and at the call of the town crier the people of the town would come to claim their family members. Not sure if the legend is related to the earlier events but if you stand with your back to the fountain and throw in a coin legend has it that you will return to the city one day. We took a video of us throwing a Polish Ztolety and a UK 5 pence into the fountain and wondered if foreign currency counted - only time will tell. There is no point putting the video on the blog as only the lower part of Harry manage to get filmed.

Castle S.Angelo was rather an impressive circular building that we could see from the Cupola of the Basilica - so off we went to explore on the second morning. It was built as a family home in about 123AD for Emperor Hadrian (the same Hadrian that built Hadrians wall between Scotland and England. The map showing the Roman Empire showed that the wall marked the end of the Roman influence ie Scotland and a little bit of central Wales never succumbed). The castle has played a major part in Roman history including a dungeon, prison, residence and a tunnel provided a secret escape route for the Pope to flee the Vatican if necessary.

St Pietro Basilica is hard to describe. It is steeped in Pope tradition a bit like England is steeped in royal tradition. The Basilica was built above the tomb of the Apostle Peter who died around 60AD. Inside, is a wonder of paintings, statues, mosaics all about the history of the Popes, rather than focussed solely on Christianity. In fact we took a photo of a stone tablet labelling all Popes from S Petrvs 76 AD to the present day Pope - a perfect thing to memorise for that pub quiz. We climbed to the top of the Basilica (the cupola- about 500 steps - it actually felt like we were climbing on the outside of a huge cup as we went round and round and round). There was a magnificent view of the city and of the Vatican (couldn't visit so only looked at the little city from on high) and then we wandered through the building that houses all the tombs of the Popes under the Basilica (I thought it must be nice for them to be buried somewhere really special with all the familiar things around them and knowing that they were with people of similar beliefs).

The Vatican looked a bit like a fortress, but had some lovely gardens around it. Not sure if the Pope was in but we waved anyway.

Abbeys and Horses

Friday night was Harry's work Christmas meal at a hotel that recently went into receivership. Thankfully they were trying to trade themselves out of their financial dilemma but with £8 for a glass of house wine - they may need to rethink their tactics!! We did enjoy seeing Harry's workmates and their partners again - he has such a nice team to work with and all their partners are friendly and nice to chat to. (One couple is heading to NZ for a fortnight as their daughter is visiting our little country. They're hiring a camper van in Auckland and heading to Rotorua and then down to the South Island - I asked them to wave to Wellington for us). So, we ate ourselves through a Christmas dinner and danced all night to songs that included My Sharona.
Saturday we drove to Lacock Abbey and enjoyed having a look around at the abbey and the little village. The abbey is medieval, founded in the early 13th century by Ela (the daughter of the Earl of Salisbury) who was married to one of the illegitimate sons of Henry II. One of the Earl's claims to fame was that he was a witness to the Magna Carta. To protect it during the war (can't remember which one) the Magna Carta was hidden under the floor of the abbey (can't remember when they retrieved it either). During the reign of Henry XIII the nuns who lived and ran the abbey (the woman were from good, wealthy families - those from poor backgrounds had no need to join an abbey because there was always plenty of work to do on the farms and in the house) were told to leave and it was gifted by the king to a guy called Sharington who made it into a country house. The Abbey was used as a school for city children relocated from the city during the second world war and then later still as a location for films such as Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice and The Other Boleyn Girl (so more movies to watch). We had a great time making Caramello a little broom stick (with a Christmas theme) and took photos of him practicing his game of Quiddich in the cloisters and out in the garden. Some people did not see the humour in this activity but we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

A few generations later the abbey was passed down to William Henry Fox Talbot - we found out that he was not only a botanist and scientist but best known as the inventor of the first photography (technical way of saying this was in the mid 1830's he discovered the 'negative/positive photographic process'). The museum had a number of his first photos and excerpts from a diary which he kept from a child as well as school reports and letters to his Mum. I wondered what he would have thought of digital photography as he at one stage said something like 'that his developments were only the beginning of something special - rather than the end'. One of William's descendants in 1944 gave the abbey to the National Trust - and because most of the village was also owned by them - all but a few buildings are now owned by the National Trust (which I found fascinating - I did think that given old King Henry had taken the Abbey from the nuns perhaps it had finally been given back to its rightful owners - the community). The museum also had an exhibition from the Lewis Carroll's story 'Alice in Wonderland'. I had forgotten how 'imaginative' the story was and didn't realise that Alice was based on a little girl living at the time. The exhibition was a scan of a number of the 19th century pictures and then using Adobe Photoshop recreated on landscapes with as many as 60 images layered on top of each other.

The grounds of the abbey were quite mystical, on the cloudy wintry day and surrounded by flood waters. (Lots of very heavy rain down south and people again flooded from their homes before they had been repaired from the earlier floods).


We wandered through the village, into the pub to have a coffee, the bakery to buy carrot cake, boutique shops to have a look and marvelled at the thought that this had all been gifted to the country. The village had a lovely ford (flooded from the recent downpours). None of the houses had front gardens - they all opened straight on to the street which was probably a sign of the times.

On the way home we went to Bath to have a look at the Christmas markets (but they had finished the week before). We settled into the Sally Lunn restaurant for a early bird dinner and enjoyed vegetable soup and main courses (one of the nicest meals we have had since coming to the UK). The house is the oldest building apparently in Bath - and it is where the recipe to the Sally Lunn was found hidden in a wall panel many years before. Sally was, according to one story, the daughter of a pastry cook in Bath who used to make the bready bun. There are a variety of recipes for the bun and who knows which one was discovered in the hidden cupboard.



Sunday was a glorious day, so after preparing dinner (friends are coming tonight - we have been invited to their place for Christmas dinner - and we are taking lamingtons - they have never heard of them. So, again I googled and discovered that these little gems are the invention of Australians and were first used as a way of using stale bread - so there will be a touch of kiwi and Aussie at an English home during Christmas Day) we decided to drive out to the Wiltshire White Horse at Westbury. There are a lot of these horses, scattered throughout the Wiltshire district and others. But the Westbury horse is the oldest and situated high on a hill overlooking the valley and the Westbury concrete factory. Many years before the horse there was a Iron Age hillfort called Bratton Camp. There has been a white horse on the site for at least three hundred years or so and just as many stories about why they were decorate the hillside. This particular one, was restored in the late 1800's and had just undergone another repair job (the shape is now made of concrete slabs rather than the original limestone of the area which is a bit disappointing but understandable as it reduces the maintenance costs). Given that the horse is now concrete there is a certain irony that it looks over a local cement factory in what would have been once a panoramic view. It was icy up there on the hills and even with all our winter gear on we didn't stay long but retreated to the car for a cup of tea and to watch the paragliders and model planes from a warm seat.

By the way, if there is anyone out there who reads our blog regularly and you feel like adding a Christmas comment I would love to hear from you.