bubble and squeak.

That's British for "fried leftovers," people, and that's what we're starting with this time around. By way of mediocre explanation, the video files produced by our camera are these stupid little proprietary-format things which I can't download for myself, and must rely on my technologically advanced husband to fetch for me...and so, usually, I forget about them until long, long after the fact. Which brings us to today's videos: a selection from the Chienbäse parade in Liestal, back in March. We'll then proceed to a brief account of our April trips to London and Rapperswil with Mike's mom, and I'll try to keep it relatively short and readable. Surprise!! (But don't get used to that. It takes too much effort.)

But first, the videos. (Turn your sound down, kids. It's always weirdly loud.)

Ooh, this must be a new Blogger feature: in my browser it's sorta already playing this without sound. Go figure. Anyway, this is just a brief glimpse of my favorite (and by far the scariest) fire wagon of the parade: the one where they stacked the wood so that the fire was shooting out the sides. At the very end, you can see all of the people huddled behind the cart, trying to survive the heat from this thing. This would never fly in the US, and I love it so much. Yay for lax safety regulations! Thanks, Europe!

Post-parade, one of the bands continuing to march around the city. For some reason, these guys made me think instantly of Devo. Just with fifes and drums.

Ohhh, so much going on here. Please note that 1) the guy in the middle leading the band (whom you can just barely see) was wearing a giant skull head while they were marching, then removed it when the band stopped to reveal skull makeup underneath; 2) there are blue lights inside both the bass drums (center) and the Sousaphones (left); and 3) how many freaking people are still here, post-parade, at something like 10:00 at night. How very un-Swiss (and, frankly, delightful) of them. I really dig these weird little festivals...it's so fun to see everyone deviate from the traditional early-to-bed, nothing-open-past-6:00 lifestyle! And anything involving Gugge music is all right with me. (Plus...festival food. Yummmmmm.)

Next up was one of our favorite biannual events: the chili degustation at Heuberger. Man, is that always a good afternoon. Our tendency is to buy a bottle of white wine and sample all of the hot sauces. (Who needs the mild ones??) We seem to spend a little more money there each time we go, but it's entirely worth it all.

Mmmmm, so many spicy things... (Although the best sauces there are by far Herr Heuberger's own in-house blends. Sooooo tasty.)

Heh.

Right, then, on to Rapperswil! Which is less than an hour down the lake from us by train, but where we'd never really spent any time. And, to be fair, we really only spent a couple of hours there this time, but sheesh...what a gorgeous and fantastic little town. Mike's mother Ruth came to visit back in April, and after we'd gone to church on Easter Sunday, the three of us hopped on a ferry and headed south down the lake (...yet another thing we'd never done: take the fancy ferry anywhere). For a Sunday, Rapperswil was hopping.

Our ferry for the afternoon. We ate lunch on board and had a tremendously nice waiter (as well as a bottle of Zürich rosé that was surprisingly good).

One of the many lovely views from the ferry. Soooo clear that day!

Did I mention that Rapperswil has its own castle?

Not to mention some fantastic medieval-ish buildings and a lovely waterfront square lined with cafes.

The castle itself, which, oddly enough, houses the Polish National Museum (which has a history almost as tumultuous as Poland itself; you should read about it). It's a lovely museum, albeit quite small, since 95% of the collections were lost during WWII, as they'd been transferred back to Poland.

View from the tower of the castle, which hosts art exhibits.

After we'd shown Ruth around a bit in Zürich, after her successful solo pilgrimage south into the mountains, and after a tremendous dinner at Chäsalp (in which we ate no fewer than three pots of fondue--one traditional, one with mustard and green peppercorns, and one with chili), we all packed up and headed to London for a long weekend. Whereupon I discovered that I'd forgotten to bring the real camera, so apologies. Yet more phone photos approaching.

Mike found us a cozy little flat near Waterloo Station, and as we were making our way into the center, we happened past the Borough Market, which is gorgeous and colorful and bustling and full of food stalls and right next to Southwark Cathedral. So. Very. Jealous.

The view from behind the market.

Next, off to the Tower of London! Which I don't think I've seen since 2000. Here, the White Tower  (originally built by William the Conqueror in the early 11th century [!!], and somewhat modified over ensuing centuries, but only a little) on the left; and the 19th-century Waterloo Barracks, which hold the Crown Jewels (which, of course, one cannot photograph) on the right.

Tower Bridge from inside the Tower of London. It's almost too much.

The Queen's House, built sometime around 1530-1540, and one of the very few half-timbered structures remaining after the Great Fire. (Complete with genuine fuzzy-hatted guard. He looked completely fake until he marched around a bit.)

The most interesting place at the Tower, in my opinion: the 13th-century Beauchamp Tower, which was used as a prison for important persons...several of whom, during the 16th and 17th centuries, spent enough time there to carve some seriously elaborate graffiti into the walls. This one's from John Dudley, 1553-1554.

Thomas Peverel, 1570.

After visiting the Tower, we had a tremendous dinner at The Laughing Gravy, which was a darling (and surprisingly affordable, although that may be the Zürich in me talking) little place near our apartment, and whose menu I genuinely wanted to eat in its entirety. We started with a Scotch egg with pork belly; then Mike had venison Wellington, Ruth had guinea fowl, and I had mac-and-cheese with spring veggies; and we finished by splitting the blueberry cheesecake (which came with tiny lime-infused donuts, holy smokes) and a chocolate-cashew-peanut-salted caramel delight (their menu calls it "salted caramel fudge and shortbread filled chocolate cylinder with a cashew nut cluster and peanut emulsion"). People, if you're in the neighborhood, eat there. 

Day two started with a visit to the Globe Theater, wherein we weren't allowed to take photos, and so naturally, I forgot to take them outside as well. (Blast.) We did get to sit inside for about 20 minutes, though, to watch a rehearsal of Hamlet being performed by a traveling theater company that's aiming to visit every country in the world over two years. It was only a technical rehearsal for staging and such, but the whole setting was absolutely captivating, and I could have watched them all day. Really incredible.

After the Globe, we headed around the corner to see what the Rose Theater had to offer, and it turned out to be an archaeological ruin that isn't even visible; in fact, it's currently more-or-less located in the basement of a modern building. The Rose's foundations and footprint have been preserved under concrete since their modern rediscovery in 1989, and while there exist grand plans to excavate and build a glass floor over the area where the original stage was (so as to allow for modern performances over the original footprint), currently, the Rose's outline is only visible as a red string of rope lighting. However. When we arrived, we discovered a truly passionate community of actors and volunteers raising money for the theater, performing on a tiny wooden stage next to the (invisible) ruins, and generally being very nice, welcoming, interesting people. My mother-in-law, who has a degree in theater, got to get on stage with one of the performers and do a little Shakespeare at the Rose. We were quite proud of her. 

As it was a bit dim in there, and this was from Mike's phone, the photo is quite terrible, but that's Ruth on the left, and you can see the red rope lights in the background. 

After the theater was afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason's Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. Ridiculously exquisite little pastries and finger sandwiches and cakes and scones abound. Expensive, but lovely and fun. (And you won't need to have dinner, if you go in the late afternoon, 'cause they keep bringing stuff until you tell them to stop. Holy smokes, was that a lot of tiny foods.)

Saw this on the way to tea. Someone, somewhere, had a sense of humor about this construction zone.

Took a quick spin past Big Ben...I'd forgotten how ginormous that thing is!

Over to Trafalgar Square which really is quite grand...

...and, for some reason, had a giant purple rooster in it. Fantastic.

The view from Waterloo Bridge on our walk home. Love this city.

Day three was supposed to begin with breakfast at The Wolseley, but they had some sort of giant malfunction in which they lost both electricity and water (hooray for underground construction work!), and so we ended up eating just down the street at Richoux, which was also lovely and tasty. And then headed to the Museum of London for the Cheapside Hoard exhibit, which was phenomenal, and also un-photographable. Thankfully, the rest of their collections were pretty great as well.* 

Among many, many other things, they had this delightful (most likely replica, 'cause it wasn't labeled) penny-farthing bicycle in their Victorian Walk exhibit.

Also the Lord Mayor's Coach, from 1757, still used in the annual Lord Mayor's Show. (Sheesh. Talk about quality construction.)

And with that, we had just enough time to collect our things and head to the airport for the flight back. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but every visit to London is well, well worth it.

What I'm reading: it's been so very long since last I checked in that I'll just skip ahead to what I'm reading right now. I've only recently discovered Sloane Crosley, an essayist whose writing is mostly hilarious/uncomfortable, and sometimes poignant. She's delightful. I tore through I Was Told There'd Be Cake, and am now most of the way through How Did You Get This Number. Only wish there were more.

What we're watching: caught the second Thor movie a night or two ago, and it was relatively meh. Actually better than I was expecting, given the reviews, but still. Does it really justify a third...? Also recently finished watching True Detective, which started out really strongly as a somewhat existential (but still super entertaining) slow-boiler, but kept gaining momentum and ended up being one of the creepiest things I've ever seen. As in, if you are easily creeped out, averse to violence, and/or have an overactive imagination, as I am and am and have, don't do it. I had trouble sleeping for at least 3 nights. And the ending was pretty brutal. Speaking of which...we continue to follow Game of Thrones because it's terribly addictive, although I hate how there's never really any hope in sight there, unless you're hoping they kill off all of the good characters to whom you've become attached. Ugh. 

What we're cooking: not much, lately, as it's finally barbecue weather and we have generous friends. I did manage to whip up some chicken fajitas this week, based on this recipe...although, of course, I had to add Tapatio to the marinade. MORE HEAT, PEOPLE. Get with the program.

Ohhhh, so very much more to tell you about, but I am going to start making an effort to keep these posts to reasonable lengths. Which might mean--emphasis might--that they'll come a little more frequently, although I doubt it. The laziness really is overwhelming.

Next up: more food talk and Mike's surprise birthday trip. 

*On a side note, when I spent a semester studying in London towards the end of college, I had an internship at the Museum of London. I spent actual weeks scanning and cataloging Victorian valentine cards from the Jonathan King collection, which you can find on the museum's website by searching for "valentine" or "Jonathan King." That type of museum work turned out not to be for me, but the museum itself will always provoke a sort of sentimental sigh-reaction in me. (Plus, they really do have amazing collections [here's a wee sample...], and even a portion of the original Londinium Roman wall. Yeah.)