Rainbows, traffic lights, and the New Civil Religion

Last updated on: July 13, 2016 at 1:30 pm By Jane the Actuary

Here’s a picture from our walk around Munich yesterday. Yes, that’s a Gay Pride crosswalk — also available in Amsterdam and elsewhere in Europe. Also all over Europe? Rainbows. No, I don’t have any pictures to share. But: rainbow “zebra stripes” at the crosswalk in Antwerp. Rainbow flags everywhere you turn around in London, including government buildings (including, among others, the Canadian consulate flying the Canadian and a rainbow flag) and office buildings, and, when I went into the office... Read more

Augsburg

Last updated on: July 13, 2016 at 12:01 am By Jane the Actuary

Next stop: Augsburg. Given that this is my husband’s hometown, this part of the visit was heavily tilted towards visiting his family, and less a matter of tourism. On Thursday, however, we made a detour, adding (according to google when we mapped it out) 1 ½ hours onto the drive by stopping in Strasbourg along the way. It is, indeed, a magical thing to be able to just program the GPS to go to Strasbourg, city center, look for parking... Read more

Bloggy request: the parish nurse?

Last updated on: July 10, 2016 at 1:21 pm By Jane the Actuary

Does your parish have a “parish nurse”? If so, here’s a quick request: could you please tell exactly what she does? I’ve never been entirely clear on the job of the parish nurse at my own parish and, beyond that, at what the job entails elsewhere, besides. Many thanks! Read more

Mosel Valley

Last updated on: July 10, 2016 at 12:30 pm By Jane the Actuary

Onward to Germany! Our first stop was Winningen, a small town on the Moselle River just outside of Koblenz. We arrived there on Friday, after a stop in Antwerp, intended as a lunchtime stop, only moderately out-of-the-way but an opportunity for the kids to have visited another country. We didn’t see an awful lot in Antwerp, but parked just outside the city center, visited the impressive cathedral, ate doners for lunch, and continued on our way – and got trapped... Read more

The Netherlands

Last updated on: June 30, 2016 at 2:07 pm By Jane the Actuary

Now we’re in the Netherlands. (Again, pics and links to come.) It’s a funky country – bikes everywhere. Here’s what we’ve been up to here. Saturday was a roller coaster of a day. We had a flight at 8:30 in the morning, on Ryan Air, which flies out of a small airport on the outskirts of London, so we had to allow plenty of travel time. Happily there was an express train at reasonable cost, though annoyingly, the tube station... Read more

London, Part 2

Last updated on: June 30, 2016 at 1:56 pm By Jane the Actuary

So as it turns out, the internet connection in London was already very slow for uploading pictures, and now we’re in the Netherlands anyway, where the connection is even slower. So I’m going to write a few things down now, and then upload the relevant pictures (and add relevant links) later on, and will try to make this reasonably interesting for readers as well as just myself. As you recall, I’ve been touring London with the boys while my husband... Read more

What I saw at the Brexit

Last updated on: June 24, 2016 at 1:21 pm By Jane the Actuary

Well, not much, to be honest, by which I mean this: the agenda for the morning was a tour of the Houses of Parliament. An audio tour, because it was half the price of a guided tour (when taking into account the fact that kids were free for the audio tour); we finished up just in time to eat yet another sandwich in yet another museum/attraction cafe for lunch, then explored the area. I really expected there to be a... Read more

So, Brexit it is

Last updated on: June 24, 2016 at 1:09 am By Jane the Actuary

So you all in the U.S. went to bed knowing the result of the Brexit referendum. I’m just waking up and seeing the news. Three thoughts: First, the exit polls, or their nearest equivalent, “day-of” polls, were off — showing Remain would squeak by a few percentage points, when it’s Leave by an equally small percentage, 52% to 48%. Either result is close. Either result shows that there’s no national consensus; one would expect that a vote of such profound importance... Read more

Some London observations

Last updated on: June 23, 2016 at 4:14 pm By Jane the Actuary

Let me start by saying that my starting point as far as finances is to look at the pound prices as if they were in dollars. Yes, the pound is really worth $1.50 or thereabouts, but I figure it’s the only way to avoid freaking out at prices. Looked at in that way, restaurant meals are decently priced, even if not so if truly converting to dollars. Observation 1: London is chock-full of sandwich shops. Pret a Manger, EAT., and... Read more

The female bridge experience: a London photoessay

Last updated on: June 23, 2016 at 3:23 pm By Jane the Actuary

Still planning on uploading more pictures from our sightseeing so far, but here’s a quick little post while waiting for the results of the big referendum. On Saturday we went to the Tower Bridge Experience, an opportunity to go up to the top of Tower Bridge and walk across, then go to the Victorian engine rooms, and, then, at the exit, just before the gift shop, view a small art exhibition, in this case entitled “Building Bridges: The Female Experience.” No,... Read more