Worcester

On the Wednesday before Christmas, with mom at work, dad and I went to Worcester to continue his sushi education. We got there a little early and went to the Cathedral for a wonder around. It is a beautiful place and really interesting.

I did geek out a little at a couple of the tombs (which is an odd thing to say). The first was of Prince Arthur, who was Henry VIII's older brother. He was married to Katherine of Aragon, but died shortly after the wedding and apparently before they consummated the marriage. Henry VIII then went on to marry her and used the fact that she had been married to his brother as the main reason to annul the marriage 26 yrs later so he could marry Ann Boleyn. If this kid had lived and become King of England, the world may have been a very different place these days.

Prince Arthurs tomb.

The second was that of King John. He was the youngest son of Henry II, brother to King Richard the Lion Heart and the King John from the stories of Robin Hood. This guy was a nasty little man and resulted the Magna Carta, a list of rights the King and the people, signed in 1215. This was the first time a king was held reasonable his actions and to his people. (He really annoyed his lords, doing things like giving away their lands when he wanted to,  in one case stealing and marrying on of their fiancés, as well as forcing many of the wives to sleep with him and upping taxes to pay for his fun. So he had it coming.) 

He died of dissentry and broke as he lost all his money and the crown jewels in a river he was trying to cross running from his enemies. As far as I know it was the only time the French actually successfully invaded England - they were invited by the English who asked the French prince to take the English throne and get rid of John. They really didn't like him!

As soon as he died, the English stood behind his infant son as King and sent the French back home.

King John's tomb

Around the cloisters of the cathedral, there was a Christmas competition of local businesses and schools. We wondered around and cast our vote before heading for Sushi.

My favourite.

From egg boxes.

Second favourite - a rubber duck tree.

We went to Yo! Sushi for lunch and Dad continued his sushi education. I like I have him hooked!

Dads First Sushi

I went home last weekend for a long weekend (it has taken me a while to get my photos transferred from my phone to computer due to technical issues). On Friday, after a trip to the dentists and taking my car for its MOT (happily we both passed with no problems), Dad and I got the train into Birmingham city centre.

The main purpose was for Dad to try his first sushi. (Mom won't but she was at work anyway.) So after some shopping and a look around the city centre which has changed a lot since I was last there, we headed to the Arcadian area and found selected one of the Japanese restaurants I have googled.

Dad very much liked the warm sake.

Cheers!

Pretty sake.

We ordered a sushi and sashimi boat which lots of different options (and some extra grilled eel as it's my favourite).

I also forgot it would be the first time he used chopsticks! But he got the hang of them really quickly, much quicker than I did the first 5 times I used them! 

Unsure....

... nope, he likes!

We enjoyed a lot of sushi and sat finishing the sake until they basically kicked us out. We went for a walk to walk it all off. The around around the Arcadian is lovely. 

Dad had heard of a new fad that he wanted to try, cheese tea. Unfortunately all the places google maps came up with sold cheese and tea but not cheese tea. (I did google this and it is a real thing.) We walked all over the city centre looking for it before giving up and settling for a boring coffee instead. We got back a bit late - Mom was wondering where we had gone. But it was really nice spending the day with Dad. And I think he'll be having sushi again (he's already trying to figure out hick of his friends he can introduce it to).

Around Teddington

This week I had a few days off between jobs. I will admit I spent most of the days doing very little. Lots of naps and chilling out. The weather wasn't as great as it could have been but Wednesday was nice and I figured I should get out of the house for something other than food shopping. A friend had mentioned a nice Japanese restaurant in Teddington, about 15 mins away on the bus. And it was very nice! Best sushi and sashimi I have had in a few years. For desert I got sorbet and a plum wine which was much more elaborate than I expected.

Plum wine

The thing on top is not a giant olive or weird looking gerkin as I originally thought but a plum which has been marinating in the booze. It was very tasty but not the easy to drink.
After a few hours sitting the restaurant (interrupted by a very weird guy coming in asking odd questions and having to be shown the door), I walk over to the lock and along the river to Kingston, the same walk in the opposite direction along the river I have walk previously.

Teddington Lock

The canal

Baby geese!

Today was my first day at the new job. There is a lot to take in and is going to take quite a while to get through it all. But so far, so good. And I get home early! :)

San Francisco

We didn't sleep very well Friday night so got up a little later than planned and found a Denny's for breakfast. After looking into parking in San Francisco we decided we weren't that rich ($9 a hr seemed the usual), and found that there is free parking at the BART train stations and it is only a ~$10 round trip. Prefect. We got in at about noon and walked over to the wharf. They had some great markets on along the way. 

Alpaca wool. So soft!

 There were also lots of street performers out. They were better than the ones in San Diego as they were more original. This guy was our favorite. He had all these peace signs out and was just happy drumming away!

Peace drummer.

 One thing I wanted to do was ride the trolleys. But the queues were so long, it wasn't worth the wait. Still I did manage to get a photo.

San Francisco trolley

After getting some bits at the markets we walked along the front to Pier 39, famous mainly for the sea lions. We found a cruise that went around the bay, the bridge and Alcatraz. So we got to see a lot without having to walk too far!

Pier 39

San Francisco skyline

Golden Gate bridge

Bridge close up 

There really is a lot of fog!

 There were lots of kite surfers (I think that's what you call them). It looked a lot of fun. Though a few came a little too close to the boat at times.

Kite surfing

 We sailed around Alcatraz. It would be fun to visit but we didn't have much time and you have to book weeks in advance. The cruise had a narrator but there were a lot of people on the boat and it was really windy so we didn't hear most of it.

Alcatraz

Housing block 

Run down

 We got a good look at the sea lions on the way back into the harbor.

Sea lions.

After the cruise, I had to get a hot drink. (Rachel thought it was very funny and British that my first thought was a cup of tea. But the wind was really cold on the boat!)
Rachel really wanted to find the parrots (they got loose years ago and someone fed them and they spread wild in a few parts of the city). We found the first street and nothing. So we had to go up Telegraph Hill. It was a big hill. :-( But eventually we did manage to find a parrot. There was another somewhere but we couldn't see him.

Passion flower 

Parrot

The walk up the stairs was actually very pretty with some nice views and pretty flowers.

Stairs up 

Nearly there

One of the best things about San Francisco I think is the architecture. I love the differences in the building. They are all difference colors and shapes. It's very cheerful. (If you have ever seen Charmed, I love that house!)

love the buildings

 We wanted to go to Golden Gate Park (oddly no where near Golden Gate Bridge) but needed a stop first. We found a great little bar with live jazz/blues/country music and stopped for a rest and cold glass of wine/beer.

Jazz band

 We ended up getting a taxi to the park. We just couldn't face walking it and the bus system is very confusing. The park is nice, and home to the Science academy. Unfortunately we have very bad timing. Everything had just shut.

Golden Gate park

 We really wanted to go to the Japanese Tea Gardens. But they shut at 6pm. The doors were cool!

Tea garden doors

 There were some interesting/questionable statues in the park.

Lady sphinx?

Not idea what the kid is doing or why no one has any clothes on.

 We found the lily pond and it was under construction! :-( But the conservatory of flowers garden (there was a private event on in the actual conservatory - our timing sucked!) was very pretty.

Colorful

Conservatory gardens 

Clock

 We needed up at our sushi restaurant very early! We were so cold!  But as we were there early we went next door for a hot sake while waiting for our table. Great way to warm up. :-)

Lots of sake choices

Thanks to Groupon we had a voucher for $70 worth of sushi! So we indulged in a sushi feast. One of the main rolls was a snow crab and soft shell crab roll, which was enormous! It was really not elegant to eat but very tasty.We ate a LOT of sushi. It was amazing

Spider roll

 And then the highlight of San Francisco. Opposite the sushi restaurant was a dessert lounge. It's like a cocktail bar and they do sell cocktails but they also sell desserts! It was amazing! There should be one of these in every city and town across the planet. It's a brilliant idea. They also had a bunch of board games you can borrow and play. Seriously. These should be everywhere. I would happily spent many nights here!

Desert