Beds and Breakfasts

Hey Hey! This is Mark, and I'm finally getting in the swing of posting, too. Thanks for all of the comments posted on the blog! We love checking into the blog and reading them! Please feel free to communicate with us this way. We always check and read them. Some of the posts are going to be pretty out of order, because we see alot of things between internet opportunities, but hopefully you can suss out the order in which we are doing things. I wanted first to post some stuff from the first two weeks of our trip, which included London, Brighton, visiting Sally and Russell, and Amsterdam.

We have been staying in B & B's mostly, or small hotels that are run like B & B's. We have tried to get en suite rooms (which means 'with an attached bathroom' I've only recently learned) where we can afford it. Mostly these places are in really homey and fun old buildings. asenath enjoying a civilized cup of tea at our hotel in london
Nevermind the decor, this was a pretty nice place! After London we stayed with Sally and Russell in Brighton, and they have a really great place just a block from the English Channel. It is in one of the "mews" which were originally the stables and housing for the grooms and drivers of the rich Londoners who came by horse and carriage for holiday in Brighton in days gone by. The rich holidayers stayed in places facing the sea, of course, and the mews are strung along the beach behind the sea-facing buildings. Hence the great location. Now these places have been coverted into very nice homes. Unfortunately, I don't think I have a picture of their place, but here is one of Russell and Sally and Asenath by the seaside in Brighton the day we arrived in Brighton. Sally and Russell have been great and so hospitable! I don't know what we'd have done without them!

As for the B & B's, we stayed in a rather raucous, bustling little hotel our first night in Amsterdam, called "My Home." It was nice and cheap, but they could only put us up for a night, which is just as well, as the walls were so thin that whenever anyone opened a door anywhere on our floor, I though they had come into our room. Needless to say, I was leaping out of bed and pulling out my switchblade about every 15 minutes all night long. Just kidding. I don't even own a switchblade. Don't need one.
Feelin' good in that picture. Here is a picture of Asenath enjoying a (slightly) less civilized cup of tea at the Hotel My Home. After our night at My Home, we moved out onto the Damrak, which is the main street in downtown Amsterdam to the enigmatically named "Hotel Manofa." Nice place, right in the thick of it, but reasonably quiet.

(Did I mention that the weather was beautiful in Amsterdam? Look at that blue sky! For those of you who have been to that fair city, you know that such meteorological luck is quite remarkable.) Sadly, no pictures of the inside of Hotel Manofa are known to exist.

But, this brings me to one of my favourite things about our trip, which is the "breakfast" half of "bed and breakfast." In the UK, breakfast always refers to what is called an "English Breakfast." This consists invariably of the following menu options: orange juice, tea or coffee, cereal (corn flakes, wheatabix, or muesli), toast (white or brown), eggs, 2 'rashers' of bacon, sausage, and baked beans. Some places also offer: fried tomatoes (we say to-MAY-toes; they say to-MAH-toes), mushrooms (infrequently), fried bread (exactly what is sounds like) and black pudding (whose name hides its dark constiuent: it is made with blood). WARNING: The following pictures depict breakfast in a graphic manner and may not be suitable for all viewers (especially our vegetarian friends).

start 'er off with a bit o' oj

toast, cereal, and coffee.

beans!?

asenath is amused with her english breakfast

asenath is no longer amused with her english breakfast

We were holding up rather well with our invariable morning diet (while in Amsterdam we were able to opt for the "Continental Breakfast," which is more like a light lunch) but we reached a low point at the Red Lion Inn in Avebury, where, feeling perhaps a bit too adventurous, I ordered the Black Pudding (I'm still not sure what I was thinking). I can only assume that if one has grown up eating it, it isn't too bad. For us it was a complete disaster: I have been dining more or less alone at breakfast since that fateful morning...Asenath has been completely demoralized. She longs for fresh vegetables. Toast, however, has remained a popular option:

(I think this is what Asenath might look like as a mom.)

It's kind of silly to post about breakfast considering all the other stuff we've been doing and seeing, but I couldn't resist. Now that its out of the way, I'll be able to get on to more picturesque topics. But, here are a few more culinary moments from our travels.

the burough market in london is the place for all kinds of gourmet foods

we put together a wonderful little picnic in St. James's Park out front of Buckingham Palace!

this Salt Beef Sandwich seemed like a great idea at the time, but isn't that always how it goes? yes, those yellowish streaks are generous ribbons of fat

chicken tikka in london

steak and ale pie in london. pretty tasty, but i didn't feel so well afterward. (we got on the bus to amsterdam right after these two photos were taken)

sharing a couple of Le Chouffe's with Victoria Beckham in Amsterdam. Le Chouffe is (I am told) a sour beer from from Belgium. It is my absolute new favorite, so keep yer eyes peeled for it!

Asenath's sandwich here in Amsterdam was better than mine (not pictured). I only managed to steal a little bite of hers.

Actually, our accomodation has been great! I am still managing with breakfast and people are so nice over here. We haven't had too much trouble finding places where we wanted to stay even though it is high season. We are currently in the very charming and beautiful coastal town of Aberytswyth in Wales. We have been on a Welsh adventure the last few days, but that is a whole 'nother story. We'll try to get caught up on our posts over the next few days.

Much love to everyone!
Mark