Rowan post-bath. He looks like a little stock-broker, no?
Rowan delights in a bedtime story, while the naughty kitty has to stand in the corner.
Froggy says hello...
Rowan on the swing in our back yard. He doesn't need the little toddler swings anymore and has amazing control on these things.
Rowan helps out with the laundry.
After all this, Rowan takes a bow. And yes, his hair is getting a little crazy. Eventually we'll get it cut but it's quite adorable now.
Rowan's 2nd birthday was met with much candle blowing, many kinds of desserts, and various toys (despite the fact that we asked attendees at the party not to bring any).
Rowan blows out the candles. He's quite good at it, too.
His friend, Ian, looks on with immense curiosity as Rowan delves into his first REAL piece of chocolate cake (he's never had it, or wanted it before).
So what's different? How did Rowan change as a result of this trip? I guess a more relevant question is, how did Rowan do travelling from place to place for 6 weeks? In a word, great. He was very well-behaved, and even enjoyed the idea of going to a new place (he would always get excited about getting into the car and driving off somewhere). He learned how to chase birds, how to entertain himself without too many books or toys around, and how to sit at the table properly while eating. I think his memory got better, too. I would read stories to him that I've had to memorize, since we didn't have the original books with us, and I'd tell him to "press play" and touch my head, after which I'd recite the books verbatim. He got so used to hearing the books a certain way that I'm convinced that he's memorized them, too, providing occasional corrections when my recitation went astray. And of course, like all travellers through Europe and the UK who come home after a month and a half, his hair grew very long.
Here's a great photo in the act of chasing pigeons. He gets very excited when there's a crowd of them and runs off in every direction shrieking shamelessly. After a while, the birds got wise and found a new place to congregate...but Rowan will find them. Oh, yes...he will find them.
Rowan eats ice cream. Notice, however, that the bottom of the cone is missing. Remember that Rowan doesn't like the ice cream part so much ("Too cold!"), and only goes for the cone. I do think that there's a love-hate relationship with ice cream--it's cold, but sweet and milky. What to do, what to do...
While in London, we caught up with an old college friend of Winnie's named Anthony, and his wife...Winnie (Winnie's a common Hong Kong name). They invited us over for dinner at their flat, where Rowan watched his first movie ever (or at least some of it)--the Princess and the Frog, a movie that proves once again that Disney's racial stereotyping is far from over. The film is also ruined by the fact that it contains several utterly forgettable songs. Still, I have never seen Rowan sit so still, except when he's reading The Little Engine that Could.
At the Tate Britain, Rowan contemplates art, in this case, a decommissioned British fighter plane inverted and carefully placed on the floor. A companion to this featured a Harrier jump jet trussed up like a side of beef from the roof, nose down. Aside from the technical feat of getting the planes inside, assembling them and arranging them in the gallery, I'm still scratching my head a little.
Rowan conks out in the Turner gallery, with a beautiful Turner painting serving as a backdrop to Rowan's crazy hair and Mama's watchful gaze. Poetry...
The White Tower, the keep built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century. It houses a collection of armor and weapons from the Tudor period (including several pieces worn by Henry VIII himself, I think)--neat.
The Tower Bridge. Also neat.
In the lobby of our hotel, Winnie's friends and all the rest of us gather around for a beer and a big candle blowing festival. Rowan loves to blow out candles (you should see him in the cathedrals trying to blow out all the votive candles), and he will do almost anything to have the opportunity to do so. We have a video of him singing three songs in a row, blowing out one candle after each one. At first I was worried about this being an early form of pyromania, then I remembered that he's more interested in putting the fire out rather than starting it.
Rowan on the train again. He always gets his own seat, and ALWAYS gets alot of attention from others.
Our final day in London found us back at the British Museum, and found Rowan chasing after pigeons one last time (you see, there just aren't that many pigeons in Bloomington). He ran so much that day that he actually threw up a little bit--we had to tell him to slow down, drink water, stop chasing the birds. Rowan answered with: "Jook tzai, jook tzai!"
We stayed in London for one whole week and soaked in as much as we could during that time. Winnie, sick of English food and looking to be cleansed of meat, grease and fat (tasty, tasty fat) decided that we were going to have ethnic food from now one, meaning Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese and...Italian. I understand--there's only so much fried toast and sausage that one can eat at any given time (or is there...) Above, Rowan and Baba stand in front of the Thames, with Big Ben and Parliament in the background. Rowan's range of movement is limited, but he tries like hell to look in every direction possible.
The famous London Bridge, where various enemy heads were posted--literally. Of course, it doesn't look anything like it did in its heyday, and underwent several incarnations before the present one.
Big Freakin' Ben, named after politician and civil engineer Benjamin Hall. It's very tall--that's about all one can say about it. Actually, it's the bell that's named Ben, not the tower.
Rowan rides the underground for the first time, and is a bit wary of the whole thing. Before long, he was out the door of the hotel saying, "Catch the train! Catch the choo choo!"
Rowan and Mama behold the tea. Rowan is prepared to stir the living hell out of it, but Mama has other plans.
Ah, one of our favorite places in London, the British Museum. The English were extremely good at plundering and stealing, so much so that they have an amazing collection there: Massive friezes from the Assyrian Empire (ca 700 AD), prehistoric stone tools from over 1.5 million years ago, the Rosetta Stone (the fucking Rosetta Stone!), one of the statues from Easter Island...and the list goes on. Rowan, however, liked it for the steps, endless, limitless steps.
Rowan beholds an Assyrian lion. "Roooooaaar," he says.
Rowan waiting in the Euston Tube Station. He acquired the habit of putting his fingers in his ears when the trains come since, in his words, "Too loud!"
The Millennium Footbridge, leading directly from Tate Modern to St. Paul's Cathedral. Why that is so, I have no idea, but if you want to look at some Pollock and then cleanse yourself of the sins of modern art, I suppose this is the route you'd take. Right next to the Tate Modern is the old Globe Theater, which puts on lots of Shakespeare. Hurray!
We bought Rowan a little tiny dolphin in the Cotswolds, and he likes to feed it small wildflowers. In this photo, Daddy is carefully placing the flower in the dolphins mouth while Rowan waits patiently. "Ummm! Yummy flower!" says Rowan.
Well, folks, we're almost finished with our tour. Only two places left--the northern city of York, and the southern capital, London (formerly Londinium). After our arrival at York, the first place we stopped at was York Minster, the largest cathedral (it's not really a minster after all) in Northern Europe and a fascinating example of multiple architectural styles coming together (the present cathedral was built over a period of about 250 years). It was right about this time that we started wearing Rowan and not pushing him around in the stroller. With no stroller for him to push around (for indeed, he was doing most of the pushing), Rowan began chasing pigeons with reckless abandon, especially since the birds never really flew that far away unless they just couldn't stand this crazy little shrieking boy chasing after them any more.
Rowan took his second swim in his short life thus far. The water was fairly cold (despite it being supposedly heated), and he developed a small fever shortly after. The blue truck you see was acquired at a shoe store in Kelso, Scotland. Rowan had outgrown his new shoes that he had been wearing for only a month, so we were forced to buy him new ones. The only thing that would get him to wear the new shoes is if the store owner parted with this little blue truck that used to belong to her now grown-up son. We made him walk in the shoes despite fierce protests, and every day after that, he wore them without incident.
On a street in front of York Minster, we manage to get another family shot. Rowan points to the minster, knocking Mama in the face. The blue truck is still a favorite companion. To our immediate left (not shown) is a statue of the emperor Constantine, who was crowned emperor in the 4th century not far from where we were standing, and later proclaimed religious tolerance for all Christians (after years and years of persecution). Constantine supposedly saw the Chi-Rho symbol in the sky with the phrase "in hoc signo vinces" splashed across at the battle of Milvian Bridge. He instructed all his soldiers to carve the symbol into their shields and won the battle, or so the story goes.
York Minster from the west, displaying the perpendicular style. The minster was built atop a Roman fort, which was then replaced by an old Anglo-Saxon church where King Edwin of Northumberland converted to Christianity in order to wed Aethelburgh and so gain control over more land. Later, a Norman church was built over both of these, expanding over time, and so began the construction of the present church over the next three centuries.
Another view of the minster at dusk.
Inside York Minster are beautiful examples of medieval architecture, including the original 12th century stained glass of the northern window, the largest surviving example (I think) in the world. Above, Rowan poses near the eastern part of the church with his little pink wooden tractor in the foreground. We bought the tractor from an old grandpa in Shrewsbury who makes them by hand--although many colors were available, Rowan insisted on the pink one. At home, he insists on his diapers being pink whenever possible.
Rowan stirs Daddy's cappuccino with slow, steady deliberation.
Rowan does his St. Francis impression on the steps of Clifford's Tower, a Norman citadel built during the time of William the Conqueror.
Rowan is disturbed by his dirty and demands that they be cleaned, oblivious to the ice cream on his face.
Mama and Rowan in the Shambles (an old street with leaning, Tudor-style buildings and quaint store-fronts), the place that a couple hundred years ago was lined entirely with butcher shops.
One of my all-time favorite pictures on this trip. Rowan works his mojo on a thoroughly entranced waitress at a cafe just opposite the minster. What is he saying to her? No, seriously, if anyone has any good captions let me know.
One of our final stops in York, the Railway Museum. We thought it would be great for Rowan to see a variety of REAL trains up close and personal. He had a fever at this point and was generally tired so he wasn't quite in the mood to see all of this, but he did have a pretty good time. The museum was probably the only free thing in York.
We worked our way steadily down to Durham, stopping briefly at beautiful Alnwick Castle (pronounced "annick"), which served as Hogwarts (plus some CGI) for the first two Harry Potter films. It happens to be surrounded by some gorgeous landscape--hills, a winding river, dark green forests--that are not evident in the photo above, unfortunately. Rowan, for his part, admired the castle for its vast fields populated by small, chaseable birds.
We settled in a great little hotel and restaurant just on the outskirts of the small college town of Durham, known primarily for its hilltop cathedral (shown below), and for its not too shabby university. Winnie snapped this miraculous picture of Rowan sitting still for 3 seconds and looking surprisingly mature. Great lighting, too, no?
Durham Cathedral (you can see Rowan walking toward it) is remarkable not just for its size, but for the fact that, in all the wars, battles and skirmishes between the English and the Scots in Northumberland, it managed NOT to be destroyed. Indeed, it temporarily housed Scottish prisoners for a short time. It also happens to be the final resting place of two very important early British Christians, St. Cuthbert (already mentioned) and Venerable Bede. The latter you may know as the first person to provide a history of early Christianity in Britain, and so is one of the most important sources of information for that time period between the Roman exodus and the Anglo-Saxon influx.
Rowan and Baba in silhouette outside Durham Cathedral.
Durham has a little river running through it called the River Wear, and one can rent rowboats for a mere 10 pounds (about $15). I was less than enthusiastic about it because I knew who would be doing all the work. Nevertheless we strapped Rowan into a life vest, I rolled up my sleeves and tried to remember how to row. It's harder than it looks, especially going straight.
Rowan was not very enthusiastic about the whole thing and looks particularly nervous in this picture (sorry about the mixture of tenses). He felt too encumbered by the vest, so we took it off. He was very glad to be rid of the boat some 45 minutes later, as was I. Winnie loved it.
Lindisfarne Island is only a few miles from Bamburgh and the site of the now ruined Lindisfarne Abbey, where St. Cuthbert lived for a short time and served as bishop for two years. The island, however, is connected by a road...at low tide. Above is a great picture of the road to Lindisfarne being gradually submerged. When the tide goes out, all this water will be gone for a number of hours. We took refuge in a nearby farm and restaurant while we waited for the tides to change.
The arches of Lindisfarne Abbey, supposedly made by the same architect of Durham cathedral to the south (more on that later).
Rowan sits on a stone in a picture-perfect pose, holding his school bus and wearing his mushroom bib. It was a very hot, sunny day that day, so we slathered him in sunblock (which he despises) and made him wear his hat (which he insists upon whenever it's too sunny).
Lindisfarne is also home to yet another castle called...Lindisfarne Castle. You can see it in the background here, with Rowan trying to get away from Mama so he can play with the rocks on the beach.
Rowan once more insists upon the rocks, and we're obliged to let him go. Beyond the wall to the left, there are sheep (even though you can't see them).
We decided to let Rowan do something that HE would enjoy, so we opted to take this tiny steam train tour of Etal Castle, and let Rowan ride on a "real" train. Here, he looks out the window while his bottom lip points at a nearby cow.
Mama and Rowan at Etal Castle, one of the numerous abandoned castles throughout Northumberland that fell into ruin. Rowan eats some strawberries while Daddy takes a look around the place.
The return trip--Rowan has had enough and needs a nap. Winnie is trying hard not to be bothered by the stench of burning coal.
Back at Bamburgh for one more day, we go to the beach, where Rowan decides to plop down in the wet sand, pants and all, and start digging. We also get our feet wet in the North Sea, but with all the jellyfish in the area we had to keep a watchful eye. Rowan is still a bit disturbed by his dirty feet, but a quick rinse in the salt water takes care of that.