A Piece of Cake

I made this cake for a friend's baby shower, and I thought it was pretty cute! Cutting and eating the cake didn't seem entirely humane, but it was yummy! Here's what was left of it.

Chateaux de la Loire

Last Thursday we drove down to the Loire Valley in France to see the gorgeous chateaux the Valley boasts. We saw SO MANY incredible chateaux (there are over 300 in the Valley), so for the sake of space (and not getting boring) I'm going to just highlight the 4 we spent the most time admiring. We got home late Sunday night.

Chenonceau

This was the one I was most excited to visit, and it was gorgeous! In July and August they rent boats you can row under the arches; but the still May water made for a great photo! Below is the other side of the castle.

Catherine de Medici ruled France from Chenonceau after the death of her husband King Henri II.

Villandry

Villandry is famous for its extensive and amazing gardens. Above are the vegetable gardens, and below are just some of the ornamental gardens. These photos only represent a fraction of Villandry's gardens!

Chambord

Chambord is the largest and most famous of the Loire Valley chateaux. It was built by Francois I (in the 1500s) more as a symbol of his power than as a residence, and it's impressive! Below is a photo of the famous double helix staircase in the center of the castle keep. It was reputedly devised by Leonardo da Vinci, who was friends with Francois I.

We got to explore the elaborate roof on Chambord, which was really cool. I think it makes the castle look really top-heavy, but it's beautiful.

d'Azay-le-Rideau

Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau is in the family of Loire Valley chateaux that are fairy tale-like. It must be the pointed turrets. We really liked this chateau.

Wimpole Hall

Saturday we visited Wimpole Hall, the largest working estate in Cambridgeshire, which was built in 1643, switched ownership lots of times over the centuries, and was actually used as a home until Elsie Bambridge died in the 1970s. (Interestingly, Mrs. Bambridge was the daughter of Rudyard Kipling.) The above photo is the front of the Hall, and the below photo is the back, from the parterre.

Our tour guide told us a hilarious story about Mrs. Bambridge, who lived as a widow in the house for 30 years after her husband died. Apparently Wimpole Hall was along a main thoroughfare, and she hated all the traffic in front of her house. One time a family stopped on her lawn for a picnic (without her consent), and Mrs. Bambridge, annoyed, copied their license plate number. She used that number to locate the family and drove her Rolls Royce to their house and began to picnic in their garden!

Eurovision results

We had a good time watching Eurovision tonight, but the really insane acts were few and far between. I really enjoyed the act that won (by a landslide), which was from Norway. The performer, Alexander Rybak, actually wrote the music and lyrics too.

Jade did a great job and finished 5th, which is a fantastic showing for the UK.

Dedicated to Joel, here's the Albanian entry. The performer and song were actually pretty good, but the random masked green man was bizarre.

Eurovision

(This post is dedicated to Emily and Joel who shared our first Eurovision experience with us last year. We wish you guys were here again for it this year!)

Last May when we were in Scotland we happened to turn the TV on and get totally absorbed in something called Eurovision. Basically what happens is that each country in the European Broadcasting Union enters a brand-new song, usually in (sometimes broken) English, to perform at an annual contest. Citizens of each country get to vote--just not for their own country's entry. The contest has been held every year since 1956.

We laughed our heads off at some of the acts (which took "over the top" to new heights) and also at the voting. Russia won last year, basically because all of the eastern European countries voted for them. You can watch that video below, which includes an appearance by world-champion Russian figure skater Eugeni Pluschenko. (Note: We actually heard last year's winning song on the radio a few months after Eurovision.) We still laugh our heads off every time we watch this video; I think you'll enjoy it.


Sadly, the UK finished dead last in the competition last year. The abysmal showings for the UK in the last few years inspired none other than the legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote this year's song and staged a contest on BBC to choose the performer. We watched the competition, which was called Your Country Needs You, and was decided on viewer votes, American Idol-style. Below you can watch the music video with the composer's song and the Your Country Needs You winner, Jade. (She has a fantastic voice and is beautiful, but we're not in love with the song...We're just hoping for better than last place!) Andrew Lloyd Webber is in the video too; he's playing the piano.

We're excited for Eurovision this week, with semifinals Tuesday and Thursday and finals Saturday. Mostly we're looking forward to over-the-top performances and crazy voting, but we'll also be rooting for Jade. If you're interested, the finals start Saturday at 11 a.m. Alaska time, 1 p.m. Mountain time, 2 p.m. Central time and 3 p.m. Eastern time, 8 p.m. Greenwich time. I think you can watch here. We'll post results and maybe more videos after the competition.

Interestingly, Eurovision has featured some notable acts throughout the years. ABBA actually got their start playing "Waterloo" on Eurovision in 1974, winning that year and using it as a springboard for their success. Celine Dion won the competition for Switzerland in 1988.

Oxburgh Hall

Saturday we visited Oxburgh Hall, a castle-like manor house in the Norfolk countryside. The house is surrounded by a moat--very cool! Queens and Kings (like Elizabeth I and James I) have stayed at the house, and the Bedingfield family still lives in part of the house after 500 years! Also on display at the house are several embroideries done by Mary Queen of Scots. (Below: I'm standing in one of the towers on the roof.)

Our favorite part of the tour was the priest's hole in the King's quarters where Catholic priests could be hidden during the tumultuous years when Catholicism was prohibited. We crawled into the tiny hole that was the King's toilet (not joking) and into the room hidden behind the wall. It was a bit freaky crawling into (and back out of) the small hole (especially knowing what has also traveled through that hole), but it was really cool! Below, Jacob is checking out some of the moat-maintenance equipment.

We also visited Grime's Graves, a prehistoric (Bronze Age) flint mine near where we live. We were able to descend through the heavily cratered grassy landscape into one of the excavated shafts. No photos, but kinda cool.

Ickworth House

Friday we visited Ickworth House and Gardens. As you can see above, the house is very interesting, with a big rotunda in the middle flanked by 2 wings. We really enjoyed the gorgeous gardens (in spite of a very chilly wind), and there were some great paintings in the house by Titian, Velázquez and Gainsborough. Below: a shot of the orangery (which is in the west wing of the house) taken from a field of bluebells in the Spring Garden. (Did you know that 70% of all the world's bluebells are in Great Britain?)

Lavenham

Lavenham is a famous medieval town in our region of England. In medieval times Lavenham was in the top 20 wealthiest towns in England, primarily due to its prominence in the wool trade. During its time of prosperity (15th Century), residents built lots of these adorable timber-framed houses.

Above is the Guildhall of Corpus Christi, which was built in 1530. In our tour Friday we learned that Jane Taylor, who wrote the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," actually lived in the Lavenham Guildhall.

Below is the "crooked cottage." It's just another example of the great architecture we enjoyed in Lavenham.

The Graduate

Jacob is finished with the work for his Master's degree, and it's such a RELIEF! He tells me we can't celebrate the accomplishment quite yet because he doesn't have his grades. But I'm so proud of him, and I hope you all join me in congratulating him on this huge accomplishment!!

Signs again

We've continued to collect photos of signs we think are funny. Instead of leaving our comments about the signs, we want to hear yours. If you have a comment about one of these signs, post it in the comments section!