England Christmas 2016 - Warwick Castle

Every trip to England, Warwick Castle is on my wishlist. We drive past it on the route to Cadbury World, which we have visited many times, but never seem to make it to Warwick Castle. This trip, we made a detour on our way home from Cadbury World and spent the afternoon at Warwick Castle.

Warwick Castle is amazing, but unfortunately, we didn't visit under ideal conditions. We arrived late in the day, when so many of the tours, shows, and demonstrations were unavailable. I was especially disappointed to miss the Birds of Prey show. Additionally, the interior of the castle was closing early, due to a wedding, so we were rushed through. I could have easily spent triple the amount of time we had, exploring the inside of the castle. I would have loved to have taken a proper tour. Being winter, it was very chilly, and as a family, we were tired from spending the morning at Cadbury World. We were also crashing from our sugar rush (the chocolate freebies are plentiful at Cadbury World) and in desperate need for "real food."

Although Cadbury World and Warwick Castle are located near each other, they should not be combined in a single day of touring. Warwick Castle deserves more than the two hours we gave it, and we should have arrived much earlier in the day. We also should have spent the night on site, they have multiple types of facilities, including glamping in a medieval themed village. I'm not a fan of roughing it, but I suspect that glamping could be my speed. Hopefully we will return for a visit during a future summer vacation.

England has a lot of castles and Warwick Castle is one of the more traditional, "fairytale looking" castles. It's nearly a thousand years old and in great shape. One of the positives about arriving late in the day, is Dan was able to take amazing afternoon and sunset pictures.

This is one of the largest trebuchets in the world. This medieval weaponry, used in sieges, is a recreation, not an original. Warwick Castle has trebuchet demonstrations, which of course we missed.

Now this is an unusual sign.

Warwick Castle has a very cool hedge maze. It's called the Horrible Histories Maze, and as the name implies, it's themed to terrible historical events, such as World War Two, the plague, and medieval torture. This is going to sound strange, but it's a family friendly maze. and the "Horrible Histories" are told with a blend of factual information and comedy. It's clever and fun.

Our quick breeze through the castle interiors, led us through the grand hall, where we learned that Warwick Castle has one of the best displays of equine armour. Who knew? We also saw the dining hall, bedrooms, parlors, a chapel, et...many of the exhibits included creepy, life-like mannequins that alternatively freaked-out and fascinated the kids.

Speaking of interiors, Warwick Castle is run by Merlin Entertainment, the people responsible for The Dungeon in London, an immersive walk-through attraction that I'm far too chicken to visit. At Warwick Castle they also have a dungeon, with live actors. It's an additional fee with a timed entry and not suitable for kids under ten. Even though Zoe and Felix are both under ten, I think they'd likely be more brave than their stepmom!

I'm going to close with my favorite pictures. Dan took these by the river, when the light was just perfect.

Christmas in England 2016

Dan and I took a red-eye flight to arrive in England on Christmas day. We were utterly exhausted, but had a wonderful Christmas dinner with family at Dan's sister's ( Ali) house. This was my first time experiencing Christmas in England, and although many aspects were similar to the traditions that I was raised with in America, there were some notable differences.

Ali made a delicious roast dinner. Growing up, my mom would make the exact same meal for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. Not only was the meal exactly the same for both holidays, it was exactly the same every single year. We ate turkey, stuffing ( Mom argued that it was called dressing, same argument every year), fruit salad with Cool Whip, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, yeast dinner rolls, and candied yams. Christmas dinner in England, had turkey and corn, but the rest was different: roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, carrots, brussel sprouts, broccoli, sausages, stuffing formed in balls, gravy, and bread sauce. About a week before we visited, I saw a Facebook post regarding bread sauce, and how people outside of England, have no idea what bread sauce is. I was clueless. I can now report that it is a savory, slightly sweet, thick sauce made from bread, milk and seasonings. I can't say it was my favorite part of the meal, but it was tasty and definitely something different.

Before we ate, I was taught the proper way to open a Christmas cracker ( crossed your arms and reach opposite arms over to your neighbor's cracker, creating a circle, pulling all at once) and we wore our paper crowns and read our jokes. My American Christmas dinners were informal, in that it was okay to wear shorts and flip-flops, but they lacked the silliness and fun of having the jokes and crowns.

In America, we always had pie for dessert, always pumpkin and cherry. Ali made her amazing triffle ( multiple layers of boozy and chocolaty yumminess), but we were too full from dinner to eat it, so it was saved for later in the week. Dan and I were so sleepy from our long flight, that we fell asleep on the couch after dinner.

Christmas pudding is also a traditional dessert, it's a fruity, boozy cake that is made months, even a year in advance, and is served with brandy butter. Dan has ordered this from England and we have eaten it in America. It's rich and decadent. Also traditional, is this version of a fruit cake covered with marzipan that my mother-in-law made. I'm not a fan of marzipan, so I didn't try it, but isn't it pretty? I love the look of marzipan fruit.

I'm not sure if this is necessarily traditional for the holidays, but we drank this sparkling pear drink with a cute name and logo: BabyCham. It was sweet and delicious. The picture didn't turn out, but it is served in specific Babycham glasses with a gold rim.

Our traditional Christmas also included my first Pantomine show, a gift from the Higgin's family! As much as I've studied theater, I really wasn't sure what defined a Pantomime, and I was eager to find out. I was warned that it would be a highly audience participatory experience, and that I'd better participate or I'd risk getting singled-out by the cast. I was a little nervous and perhaps over-zealous in my participation as a result. No way was I getting picked on!

The show was a twist on the classic fairytale, Cinderella.

The venue is the Corn Exchange ( where a long time ago, corn was actually exchanged, but the historic building is now a performing arts center) located in the middle of Newbury's high street.

Here is a picture of the stage.

From what I can tell from watching the show and speaking with my British relatives, here are some things that are key to a Pantomime show.

1. Audience participation: lots of audience participation. The characters speak directly to the audience, you cheer the heroes, boo the villains, clap, sing-along, perhaps even dance. The audience is part of the show, including the characters approaching audience members for questions and non-participation. Watch out!

2. Men in drag. In Cinderella, the ugly step-sisters were played by men. This also includes completely over-the-top, outrageous costumes to match their outrageous behavior.

3. Songs. Cinderella included original songs and new lyrics for songs that everyone knows like pop hits.

4. Along with the audience participation, a call-back line. This has been very popular with my step-kids, we now say it to them when we Skype and they shout back the response. In Cinderella every time the servant character would say "Fancy a Tuttle?" the audience would yell back, "Don't forget your trumpet." This occurred a lot during the performance.

5. Theater Magic/spectacle, such as low-level pyrotechnic effects when the fairy godmother made Cinderella's pumpkin and dress.

6. Humor that is sometimes slightly naughty and sometimes completely groan-worthy. The show is very much for the whole family, as the adult humor would go over the heads of most of the kids in the audience. Our group had a wide-range of ages, from 7- mid 70's and everyone enjoyed the show.

7. Disco ball. Okay, I don't actually know that a disco ball is at every pantomime, but it should be. What in life isn't made better by the addition of a disco ball?

I throughly loved the pantomime and the next time we go to England for Christmas, I hope we will go again. It's a holiday tradition that I would look forward to keeping.

This has nothing to do with Christmas, but I came across this picture Wilf, the Higgin's family dog. He is the cutest, most lovable, good-natured dog in the world and this picture is too adorable not to share. As we spent much of our holiday at my sister-in-law's house ( thanks for hosting us Higgins!), we couldn't help but take a million pictures of Wilf. This is my favorite.

Winter Holiday 2015/2016 - EPCOT Again

It was back to EPCOT for our final theme park day of the trip. We used fast passes for Mission Space, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth, but the bulk of this visit was spent in The World Showcase. On our previous visit, we went counter-clockwise, visiting Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Morocco. This time, we went clockwise, starting with Mexico.

Inside Mexico's pyramid is the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride. The Gran Fiesta Tour is a ride similar to the Magic Kingdom's It's a Small World. It's a bit dated and cheesy, even with a refurbishment that now includes The Three Cabelleros, but it's a must-do every trip.

Norway, with its grass covered houses and trolls, is one of my favorite pavilions. I have Norwegian ancestors, so I'm kind of obligated to love this pavilion. It was a bit of a construction zone, as they were turning the Maelstrom ride into Frozen Ever After. We perused the gift shop, where we found a jar of lingonberry jam with the same name as my Swedish stepson, Felix. Also perfume designer, Geir Ness was visiting. Many years ago, I bought a bottle of Laila: The Essence of Norway, and Ness signed the bottle for me. I think he must live in Florida, because every time I visit, he's at EPCOT making an appearance. Laila is a lovely fragrance, and after discovering it at EPCOT, I've since learned that I can purchase it at my local Nordstrom.

China, with its colorful archway, blue pagoda, and manicured gardens, is one of the prettiest pavilions.

Germany has one of my favorite dining options, The Biergarten, where you can pretend you're at Oktoberfest, dining on schnitzel and beer, while doing the chicken dance.

A few pictures looking across the lagoon towards Future World.

By the time we reached Italy, we were desperate for lunch. Our idea of not making dining reservations and keeping it flexible, was working against us. Even though the holiday crowds had died down, the restaurants were mostly booked up. We discovered that Tutto Gusto, the wine cellar in Italy, does not take advanced reservations, and although they were busy, we were able to get a table. The food was amazing. We splashed out with an antipasti starter, a wine sampler, lasagna for mains, and two desserts. It was so good, that we took the kids back in the summer. I highly recommend Tutto Gusto!

In the middle of the World Showcase stands the United States Pavilion. Housed in the colonial style building is The American Adventure, a show which utilizes animatronics and film to explain the history of America. At the risk of sounding sentimental, I always find it to be a bit of an emotional experience. It's beautifully done. Make sure to arrive early to see the mini-museum, and to hear The Voices of Liberty, an a'cappella group that performs before the show.

Japan has the best shopping, I'm not just talking about my love for all things Sanrio, although the Sanrio offerings are significant. I could get lost for days in the Mitsukoshi Department Store. They also have an amazing teppanyaki restaurant, and a cool museum, that had an exhibit on Japan's cute culture. I think she is no longer works at EPCOT, but they used to have a woman who sculpted animals out of candy. It was amazing! She was so talented and could really make any animal. Look her up on Youtube!

We finally made it to Morocco, where we had ended our first visit to The World Showcase.

We had a special surprise as my friend, Carrie and her husband, Dave, were also visiting WDW. I knew Carrie in high school and we also worked together at Universal Studios Hollywood. I had not seen her in many years and we had not met each others spouses. It was pouring rain, but we talked for hours. We were so excited over catching up, that we didn't even take a picture together! Dan and I had to leave by the late afternoon, to get to the airport and return our rental car, otherwise I'm sure we would have hung out all night.

A finally EPCOT picture...this was taken by a cast member when we were near Norway, but it's my favorite, so I wanted to save it for last. It was sad to end our trip, but knowing we were returning in the summer, we converted our multi-day tickets into Annual Passes. It's always easier to leave, when you know you'll soon return.