Since our trip to Austria, it’s been pretty status quo here in jolly ole London. We’ve been working, hitting the gym, trying to train the dog (to be decent…we’ve given up on going for “good”), and trying to watch as much March Madness as UK television and slingbox will allow! We have done a few “London Walks” lately to continue our education of this amazing old city. “London Walks” are two-hour tours given by licensed city guides and you can choose topics that cover virtually all aspects of London’s history. They take you to different parts of the city and show you where cool old things happened that we would never have known otherwise.
We decided to take advantage of the four-day Easter Weekend and visit Bath. What a great city! It is a really relaxed, quaint, and very well preserved city. We took a 1.5-hour train ride to get there and were amazed the beautiful English countryside. We took a guided tour of Bath (and got snowed on!) and found out lots of important facts about how things used to be in the 17th and 18th centuries when the city was most fashionable. One of which was that they used to hang the toilets from the back of each floor of the houses. And occasionally when people would go to the “loo,” those rooms would crash to the ground and fall on the people walking below in the street. And as our guide told this story, the rest of our tour group gasped and grimaced. Of course, Scott and I were giggling like school kids and taking pictures. These are the essential facts that we remember about Bath!
We spent part of one day at the Bath Thermae Spa where we “took the waters” meaning that we swam in the natural spring waters and actually drank some from the spring too which was really warm and was full of minerals. Scott really enjoyed it as you can see by the pictures to the right. A few years ago, the Spas were totally redone and they have really new and beautiful facilities with a rooftop spa, aromatherapy steam rooms, etc. Although somehow I couldn’t escape the feeling that we weren’t doing things quite the same way as they did in Victorian times. Call me crazy, but floating on a blue noodle in the spring waters somehow just didn’t fit.
We also took an afternoon trip out to Stonehenge. On the way, our tour stopped to see the village of Lacock, which is one of the best-preserved places in England. The village only has about 4 streets and most of the houses there have never been renovated. Because of this, it is used by lots of film production companies and was featured in the Harry Potter movies. The day that we chose to go to Stonehenge was the coldest, windiest, and snowiest day I can remember ever experiencing in England. I was glad that they didn’t let us get too close to the stones because there was a good chance that they could have blown over on us. It’s an amazing site and it’s crazy to think about the people that made it. Thousands of years ago, before the wheel was invented, these people brought these stones – some of which weighed a few tons - to Stonehenge from hundreds of miles away! Truly an incredible feat. However because of the cold and wind, at one point, while listening to the audio guide which basically tells you that they have no idea why the stones are there, I think I may have muttered something like “This is stupid. I hate Stonehenge.” But as soon as I got back on the heated tour bus I was really pumped that we had seen it. It really was very cool to see, but if I were you, I’d wait until summertime.
Big plans in the weeks coming up for my Acupuncture course. That’s right, I’ll be taking Chinese needles into my own two hands and looking for volunteers for my “case study” in order to get my Acupuncture license. I can hear the footsteps of everyone running towards my doorstep right now…or are those footsteps running away? In any case, I think it’ll be interesting. Scott will let you know what he thinks after I’m done practicing on him!
Hope everyone had a great Easter! Go Heels!!!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
what to say?
so, katie is at class and she's made the mistake of letting me know how to log-in to this piece.
for an update on the recent goings on: i've been a bit under the weather, but seem to be rallying nicely here 5-6 days later. we've started to assemble a nice little crew here in london, all americans save our 1 english friend, matt, who is always quite the trooper. sandy johnston, chad and iman, ricky paugh, george and kristen, and naturally, matt and joanne make for some very good group dinner nights. though there is no golden corral for us to attend, we've found other good choices.
we've taken it fairly easy since our great ski adventure, but i think that the most likely upcoming trips are: bath/stonehenge, canary islands, moscow...but it's always a work in progress.
we've officially been here for a year now, and i think we're both to the point where we've adjusted quite nicely. were it not for our respective jobs, i think we'd be having a fantastic time! the jobs are just a bit difficult currently, due to crappy patients and market conditions for katie and i respectively.
otherwise, katie is coming up on her 2.5yr anniversary of being the luckiest girl on earth, muscle magazine should be giving me a call any day now for their cover story, bruno has managed to survive multiple near life-ending occurances, and our friends seem to be single-handedly trying to re-populate the whole of the US through a rather aggressive population increase program (baby ben - fred and jocelyn's new kid - gave us a call on skype the other night and then abrubtly fell to pieces when he realized it was time to eat...but watching fred try to control the little fella was priceless).
for an update on the recent goings on: i've been a bit under the weather, but seem to be rallying nicely here 5-6 days later. we've started to assemble a nice little crew here in london, all americans save our 1 english friend, matt, who is always quite the trooper. sandy johnston, chad and iman, ricky paugh, george and kristen, and naturally, matt and joanne make for some very good group dinner nights. though there is no golden corral for us to attend, we've found other good choices.
we've taken it fairly easy since our great ski adventure, but i think that the most likely upcoming trips are: bath/stonehenge, canary islands, moscow...but it's always a work in progress.
we've officially been here for a year now, and i think we're both to the point where we've adjusted quite nicely. were it not for our respective jobs, i think we'd be having a fantastic time! the jobs are just a bit difficult currently, due to crappy patients and market conditions for katie and i respectively.
otherwise, katie is coming up on her 2.5yr anniversary of being the luckiest girl on earth, muscle magazine should be giving me a call any day now for their cover story, bruno has managed to survive multiple near life-ending occurances, and our friends seem to be single-handedly trying to re-populate the whole of the US through a rather aggressive population increase program (baby ben - fred and jocelyn's new kid - gave us a call on skype the other night and then abrubtly fell to pieces when he realized it was time to eat...but watching fred try to control the little fella was priceless).
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Happy Valentine’s Day!
So we’re a little belated on the Valentine’s Day thing but what are ya gonna do?
Since our last post (which has been over a month – so sorry Bill and Jen – you are way better bloggers than we could ever dream of being), we’ve been doing a lot of traveling. I flew back to the States for a week to visit with my BU friends in celebration of Jen and Eric’s wedding. It was a beautiful winter wonderland wedding – just what Jen wanted! It was so great to see Jen and Eric and all the other BU kids. Everyone is leading such successful lives now– and just think, our only source of income used to be picking up change off the street on our walk to school! Anyway, the wedding was so much fun – like we never left grad school!
While I was gone, Scott and Bruno went on a long hike with our friends, JoAnn and Matt. Out of the middle of no where, they came across a fox hunt with about 50 hunting dogs, 7 riders on horseback, and one guy with a bugle to direct it all. Needless to say, Bruno went nutso - barking like a crazy man. But when Scott put him on the ground, he was able to fully appreciate the size of all the other aminals and immediately became scared to death and burrowed into the ground to hide. Very cool experience…you just don’t see that kind of thing in Charlotte, North Carolina!
When I got back to London, we spent one rockin’ Friday night at the British Museum. I know, sometimes we can get pretty wild and crazy. We had 10:30pm tickets to see the Terracotta Army exhibit which has been so popular that the museum has extended their hours until midnight to accommodate all the interest. And even at that time on a Friday night, it was absolutely packed! The Terracotta Army was built by The First Emperor of China in preparation for his death because he wanted to rule the world in the afterlife. So he built thousands of life size terracotta (clay) soldiers, horses, chariots, etc to protect him after death. Each one is unique and so intricate. About 30 pieces of the army were brought to London for the exhibit. It was such a cool thing to see and we learned that The First Emperor was a genius…but also slightly crazy…and definitely a little power hungry. So if you’re ever in Xi’an, China, we highly recommend that you see the real thing!
Scott has been traveling a lot with business – Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Copenhagen – and was actually in New York over Valentine’s Day. So Bruno and I celebrated in style with a first rate meal consisting of doggie kibble and veggie burgers. Scott truly was jealous that he was not in London to partake in the festivities! However, over the weekend, we got to really celebrate Valentine’s Day and went skiing in the Alps. We flew into Munich, Germany and then rented a car to drive on the Autobahn into Bad Hofgastein. Right now you’re thinking, Bad what? It is about half way between Innsbruck and Salzburg, Austria, close to the German border. It was absolutely beautiful – straight out of “The Sound of Music.” We went to a ski area called Ski Amade which is actually made up of about 8 different ski resorts so there a million different runs from which to choose. It was an awesome trip and the skiing was amazing.
Well, to clarify, it would have been amazing if we were actually good skiers. But alas, we are not. I am the slowest skier on the face of the earth and was definitely the worst skier on the whole of the Alps. That’s right, at one point, the “kinder ski school” came racing past me and almost knocked me over. Lucky for Scott, he is exponentially better than I am. He was super sweet and stayed behind me on all the slopes. At first I thought that I had married a loving man who really cared about me enough to follow me down the mountain to make sure I didn’t get hurt. Then, he told me the truth – that he actually liked staying behind me because he was having more fun laughing at me when I fell than he was actually skiing. Why am I not surprised? At one point, I fell and my right ski hit me in the back of the head, then I slid half way down the mountain face first, then I couldn’t get up and had to just wiggle my way around for about 5 minutes until I got situated. Hilarious! I am also pretty sure that I busted a bursa on my left hip from falling so much. It didn’t matter though. We stayed on the “Easy Piste” runs the whole weekend and had a ton of fun. And after we were exhausted from skiing each day, we would head back to the hotel and enjoy all the “apres ski” spa services – they had a ton different hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, pools, and aromatherapy rock grottos that we could use for free. It was easily the best part of the trip!
Since our last post (which has been over a month – so sorry Bill and Jen – you are way better bloggers than we could ever dream of being), we’ve been doing a lot of traveling. I flew back to the States for a week to visit with my BU friends in celebration of Jen and Eric’s wedding. It was a beautiful winter wonderland wedding – just what Jen wanted! It was so great to see Jen and Eric and all the other BU kids. Everyone is leading such successful lives now– and just think, our only source of income used to be picking up change off the street on our walk to school! Anyway, the wedding was so much fun – like we never left grad school!
While I was gone, Scott and Bruno went on a long hike with our friends, JoAnn and Matt. Out of the middle of no where, they came across a fox hunt with about 50 hunting dogs, 7 riders on horseback, and one guy with a bugle to direct it all. Needless to say, Bruno went nutso - barking like a crazy man. But when Scott put him on the ground, he was able to fully appreciate the size of all the other aminals and immediately became scared to death and burrowed into the ground to hide. Very cool experience…you just don’t see that kind of thing in Charlotte, North Carolina!
When I got back to London, we spent one rockin’ Friday night at the British Museum. I know, sometimes we can get pretty wild and crazy. We had 10:30pm tickets to see the Terracotta Army exhibit which has been so popular that the museum has extended their hours until midnight to accommodate all the interest. And even at that time on a Friday night, it was absolutely packed! The Terracotta Army was built by The First Emperor of China in preparation for his death because he wanted to rule the world in the afterlife. So he built thousands of life size terracotta (clay) soldiers, horses, chariots, etc to protect him after death. Each one is unique and so intricate. About 30 pieces of the army were brought to London for the exhibit. It was such a cool thing to see and we learned that The First Emperor was a genius…but also slightly crazy…and definitely a little power hungry. So if you’re ever in Xi’an, China, we highly recommend that you see the real thing!
Scott has been traveling a lot with business – Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Copenhagen – and was actually in New York over Valentine’s Day. So Bruno and I celebrated in style with a first rate meal consisting of doggie kibble and veggie burgers. Scott truly was jealous that he was not in London to partake in the festivities! However, over the weekend, we got to really celebrate Valentine’s Day and went skiing in the Alps. We flew into Munich, Germany and then rented a car to drive on the Autobahn into Bad Hofgastein. Right now you’re thinking, Bad what? It is about half way between Innsbruck and Salzburg, Austria, close to the German border. It was absolutely beautiful – straight out of “The Sound of Music.” We went to a ski area called Ski Amade which is actually made up of about 8 different ski resorts so there a million different runs from which to choose. It was an awesome trip and the skiing was amazing.
Well, to clarify, it would have been amazing if we were actually good skiers. But alas, we are not. I am the slowest skier on the face of the earth and was definitely the worst skier on the whole of the Alps. That’s right, at one point, the “kinder ski school” came racing past me and almost knocked me over. Lucky for Scott, he is exponentially better than I am. He was super sweet and stayed behind me on all the slopes. At first I thought that I had married a loving man who really cared about me enough to follow me down the mountain to make sure I didn’t get hurt. Then, he told me the truth – that he actually liked staying behind me because he was having more fun laughing at me when I fell than he was actually skiing. Why am I not surprised? At one point, I fell and my right ski hit me in the back of the head, then I slid half way down the mountain face first, then I couldn’t get up and had to just wiggle my way around for about 5 minutes until I got situated. Hilarious! I am also pretty sure that I busted a bursa on my left hip from falling so much. It didn’t matter though. We stayed on the “Easy Piste” runs the whole weekend and had a ton of fun. And after we were exhausted from skiing each day, we would head back to the hotel and enjoy all the “apres ski” spa services – they had a ton different hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, pools, and aromatherapy rock grottos that we could use for free. It was easily the best part of the trip!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Happy New Year!!!
Scott and I hope that 2008 has been treating you all well thus far! We started off 2008 with a wonderful dinner at Matt and JoAnn’s flat and then walked up to see the fireworks over Big Ben. It was absolutely perfect because we got to see all the festivities and still managed to stay away from the crowds. There were about eight of us celebrating with champagne while they shot fireworks off the London eye and lit up Parliament and the Thames. A great start to the New Year!
We got to go to our first Chelsea football game last week. It was so much fun! Chelsea football (soccer) fans are absolutely crazy! It was a really exciting game against Everton (another very good team) and Chelsea ended up winning with a goal in the last few minutes. However, we would have been thoroughly entertained by the crowd even if the actual athletics had been terrible! The fans have all of these clever little songs they sing and as they get more drunk, they add in more and more curse words. There are songs to berate the other team (such as a simple little diddy called “You are sh*t”) or the referee (“The referee is a wanker”) or to brag about how good Chelsea is (“Chelsea’s the best so f*ck all the rest”). Hilarious!
For our January trip, we decided we’d head to Brussels. Why Brussels you ask? Actually, no reason other than it is close and we could get there by train. So off we went! We saw all the sights that Brussels is famous for including The Grand Place (the square in the center of the city with a beautiful town hall and buildings tipped in gold leaf), The Sablon (another smaller square with amazing pastry shops and a chocolate shop that looked more like Tiffany’s than somewhere to eat), the Atomium (a huge iron and steel structure that was built for the 1958 International Exhibition to represent an atom magnified 165 billion times), and the Manneken Pis (a statue of a little boy peeing that the city dresses up in little outfits…random, I know). We (read Katie) sampled cheery flavored beer and lots of yummy Belgian chocolate.
Just in case anyone is thinking of making a trip to Brussles, here are a few tips for you.
#1: Although they did invent them, Belgium really doesn’t pride themselves on Belgium waffles so don’t get too excited about finding them there. Quite disappointing.
#2: French fries (“frites”) were actually invented in Belgium, not France, and the people there really do pride themselves on that. So get ready because they come with everything!
#3: The northwest side of town really isn’t the most morally sound part of Brussels. Not knowing this little tid bit, we stayed at an adorable little Bed and Breakfast there. It was really a great place even though we had to fight our way past the transvestite prostitutes to get into the door. Nice choice, Scott.
We got to go to our first Chelsea football game last week. It was so much fun! Chelsea football (soccer) fans are absolutely crazy! It was a really exciting game against Everton (another very good team) and Chelsea ended up winning with a goal in the last few minutes. However, we would have been thoroughly entertained by the crowd even if the actual athletics had been terrible! The fans have all of these clever little songs they sing and as they get more drunk, they add in more and more curse words. There are songs to berate the other team (such as a simple little diddy called “You are sh*t”) or the referee (“The referee is a wanker”) or to brag about how good Chelsea is (“Chelsea’s the best so f*ck all the rest”). Hilarious!
For our January trip, we decided we’d head to Brussels. Why Brussels you ask? Actually, no reason other than it is close and we could get there by train. So off we went! We saw all the sights that Brussels is famous for including The Grand Place (the square in the center of the city with a beautiful town hall and buildings tipped in gold leaf), The Sablon (another smaller square with amazing pastry shops and a chocolate shop that looked more like Tiffany’s than somewhere to eat), the Atomium (a huge iron and steel structure that was built for the 1958 International Exhibition to represent an atom magnified 165 billion times), and the Manneken Pis (a statue of a little boy peeing that the city dresses up in little outfits…random, I know). We (read Katie) sampled cheery flavored beer and lots of yummy Belgian chocolate.
Just in case anyone is thinking of making a trip to Brussles, here are a few tips for you.
#1: Although they did invent them, Belgium really doesn’t pride themselves on Belgium waffles so don’t get too excited about finding them there. Quite disappointing.
#2: French fries (“frites”) were actually invented in Belgium, not France, and the people there really do pride themselves on that. So get ready because they come with everything!
#3: The northwest side of town really isn’t the most morally sound part of Brussels. Not knowing this little tid bit, we stayed at an adorable little Bed and Breakfast there. It was really a great place even though we had to fight our way past the transvestite prostitutes to get into the door. Nice choice, Scott.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Happy Holidays!
In order to start off the Christmas season, we journeyed to York with our friends Matt and JoAnn. That’s right, we took Bruno to his homeland. However, I am not sure that he could recognize anything from his heritage because it was chucking down rain the entire weekend. At one point, I had to wrap him in my jacket because he had gotten so cold and wet that he didn’t even have the energy to shake any more. We made the best of the weather and toured as many things inside that we could. We saw the York Minster (the largest Medieval Gothic cathedral north of the Alps), walked along the city wall and down The Shambles, shopped the York Christmas markets, and ate lunch at Betty’s (the best tea and scones I’ve ever had). Bruno even visited the Yorkshire Terrier Pub!
Just in case you missed our Christmas card this year, we put a little picture of Santa Bruno to continue spreading Christmas cheer! Scott and I just returned from the States where we spent two whole weeks! It was wonderful to be home and to celebrate Christmas with our family and friends. We started our trip home with a Christmas party with all of our Charlotte friends plus a ton of chili and pizza. We were even able to catch three home UNC basketball games while we were there! Thanks for all the tickets, Coach and for all the food, Bub! There’s nothing like a Carolina Basketball game squeezed in between homemade waffles and the Angus Barn. Go Heels…and Go Commodores!
We had a pre-Christmas get together with Mike (Katie’s brother), his wife, Cara, and their little girl, Lindsay, who is 3. Lindsay was hilarious opening all of her presents and then trying to open everyone else’s! She would open something and want to play with it immediately. Then, she would open another one and totally forget about the one before! So much fun to see a kiddo so happy at Christmas time!
We had a blast in Asheville over Christmas. We toured the Biltmore House when it was all decorated, ate enough barbeque and sweet tea to sink a ship, and laughed at Scott's facial hair experiments. Scott has been growing a beard since Thanksgiving and over the Christmas holidays, he cut little bits of it off each day. The most disgusting, yet hilarious, stage was the mustache (featured to the right). Real glad that he's back to normal now.
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Wolford, Williams, and Jones families over at Granny and Granddaddy’s house in Mills River. After all the presents were opened, we stuffed our faces with wonderful home cooked Christmas dinner and then realized just how gluttonous we all had been! But somehow still managed to stuff our faces with another piece of Aunt Sandy’s red velvet cake!
So now we’re looking towards the New Year and hoping to get started planning trips to Africa, the Canary Islands, and Germany. Although Scott and I aren’t big on New Year’s resolutions, we think it should be everyone’s resolution to come visit us here in London as soon as possible! Happy New Year!
Just in case you missed our Christmas card this year, we put a little picture of Santa Bruno to continue spreading Christmas cheer! Scott and I just returned from the States where we spent two whole weeks! It was wonderful to be home and to celebrate Christmas with our family and friends. We started our trip home with a Christmas party with all of our Charlotte friends plus a ton of chili and pizza. We were even able to catch three home UNC basketball games while we were there! Thanks for all the tickets, Coach and for all the food, Bub! There’s nothing like a Carolina Basketball game squeezed in between homemade waffles and the Angus Barn. Go Heels…and Go Commodores!
We had a pre-Christmas get together with Mike (Katie’s brother), his wife, Cara, and their little girl, Lindsay, who is 3. Lindsay was hilarious opening all of her presents and then trying to open everyone else’s! She would open something and want to play with it immediately. Then, she would open another one and totally forget about the one before! So much fun to see a kiddo so happy at Christmas time!
We had a blast in Asheville over Christmas. We toured the Biltmore House when it was all decorated, ate enough barbeque and sweet tea to sink a ship, and laughed at Scott's facial hair experiments. Scott has been growing a beard since Thanksgiving and over the Christmas holidays, he cut little bits of it off each day. The most disgusting, yet hilarious, stage was the mustache (featured to the right). Real glad that he's back to normal now.
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Wolford, Williams, and Jones families over at Granny and Granddaddy’s house in Mills River. After all the presents were opened, we stuffed our faces with wonderful home cooked Christmas dinner and then realized just how gluttonous we all had been! But somehow still managed to stuff our faces with another piece of Aunt Sandy’s red velvet cake!
So now we’re looking towards the New Year and hoping to get started planning trips to Africa, the Canary Islands, and Germany. Although Scott and I aren’t big on New Year’s resolutions, we think it should be everyone’s resolution to come visit us here in London as soon as possible! Happy New Year!
Monday, December 3, 2007
What does London have against Thanksgiving?
Over the week of Thanksgiving, Charlie came to visit us in London. I finally convinced one of our visitors that I am, indeed, a more interesting tour guide than those on the Big Red Bus tours, and Charlie let me lead him all around the London sites and give him all the historical color that I knew. I think that he definitely got his money's worth (i.e. my tours come free as long as you buy me a Starbucks coffee when I get cold). However, I do remember Charlie asking a question and my response was "Hmmm. I really don't know the answer to that. I think I have reached the limit of my London knowledge." Sorry Charlie! And, by the way, you should have seen the reunion between Bruno and Charlie (who was Bruno's Daddy for the first 3 months that we were in London). Let's just say there was a lot of tail wagging and face licking!
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Charlie, Scott, and I took the Eurostar train from London to Paris (in the Chunnel). We spent the day in Paris and then took another train to Bayeux, France. After a bit of a battle to find Scott something to eat (someone should tell that boy that there is no Papa John's in France), we spent the night in an adorable little hotel in the smallest town that I have visited in Europe thus far. Bayeux even gives Mills River a run for it's money! Anyway, we got picked up the next morning by the most petite little French woman you have ever seen and she took us on a tour of the Normandy/D-Day beaches. For such a little woman, she packed a ton of information into her little head! She talked basically 8 hours nonstop about the history of all of the Normandy beaches, landings, battles, and World War II in general. It was so interesting to hear how the French people (especially those who have lived in Normandy) continue to honor the US soldiers who freed their country and the world from the Nazi regime. It was easily one of our favorite things that we have done here so far. All of us had Grandfathers who fought in World War II but Grandpa Wolford landed on Utah beach a few days after D-Day. And I am the first Wolford that has visited there since he fought! My Dad and Uncle Glenn game me lots of information on his regimental history. It blows me away that he fought on such a terrifying landscape and he survived a war that is so important to all of our lives and freedom. So this year for Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for all of the men and women who fought for our country and our freedom!
After Normandy, we headed back to Paris and spent another day touring around. After being only 2 hours away from it for almost 9 months now, I finally saw the Eiffel Tower!!! It was awesome! We rode all the way to the top - it felt like an amusement park ride. It was probably -50 degrees at the top and the wind was about 100 mph, but it was totally worth it. The view was amazing. We also got to see The Louvre, The Arc d'Triomphe, The Champs Elysees, and Notre Dame. Paris was absolutely beautiful and I'll definitely be going back to visit again soon. We also got to visit with Coach Holladay's daughter, Heather, and her husband David. They have the best flat in Paris and a full view of the Eiffel Tower right out their window! They are our new best friends!!!
Once we got back to London, we had to say goodbye to Charlie. Then we went in search of a turkey. Apparently, London has something against Americans celebrating Thanksgiving because the only turkey that we could find in this city was a 19 lb bird that cost almost $200! So, for Thanksgiving dinner this year, we had "Baby Turkeys". Although most butchers would classify these "Baby Turkeys" as, in fact, chickens, we convinced ourselves that there really isn't much difference in the taste of the two birds when roasted Thanksgiving style! I don't know if we convinced our guests or not! We had a few other Americans and our best English friend, Matt, over to the house and had a the best make-shift Thanksgiving dinner that this flat has ever seen!
Two weeks ago, we also experienced our first Premiership football game (AKA soccer). We saw Fulham play at home vs Blackburn. It was a fun to hear all the fans chanting Fulham on to a win. Then last week, we were finally able to see our first Vanderbilt and Carolina games on television (or slingbox more specifically). So great to see our teams doing so well this year! We'll be sure to cheer loud enough for you to hear over the pond(don't think it will be a problem for me).
We are now starting to experience Christmas shopping season in London. We started our Christmas shopping last weekend on Oxford Street which is a huge outdoor shopping district that is chocked full of tacky Christmas decorations. So of course I love it! There were about a million other Londoners out with us to enjoy the decorations, fake snow, window displays, fireworks, and the street being shut down to cars. It was a little stimulus overload but really fun all the same. Who knew London could be so pretty in the winter time?!
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Charlie, Scott, and I took the Eurostar train from London to Paris (in the Chunnel). We spent the day in Paris and then took another train to Bayeux, France. After a bit of a battle to find Scott something to eat (someone should tell that boy that there is no Papa John's in France), we spent the night in an adorable little hotel in the smallest town that I have visited in Europe thus far. Bayeux even gives Mills River a run for it's money! Anyway, we got picked up the next morning by the most petite little French woman you have ever seen and she took us on a tour of the Normandy/D-Day beaches. For such a little woman, she packed a ton of information into her little head! She talked basically 8 hours nonstop about the history of all of the Normandy beaches, landings, battles, and World War II in general. It was so interesting to hear how the French people (especially those who have lived in Normandy) continue to honor the US soldiers who freed their country and the world from the Nazi regime. It was easily one of our favorite things that we have done here so far. All of us had Grandfathers who fought in World War II but Grandpa Wolford landed on Utah beach a few days after D-Day. And I am the first Wolford that has visited there since he fought! My Dad and Uncle Glenn game me lots of information on his regimental history. It blows me away that he fought on such a terrifying landscape and he survived a war that is so important to all of our lives and freedom. So this year for Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for all of the men and women who fought for our country and our freedom!
After Normandy, we headed back to Paris and spent another day touring around. After being only 2 hours away from it for almost 9 months now, I finally saw the Eiffel Tower!!! It was awesome! We rode all the way to the top - it felt like an amusement park ride. It was probably -50 degrees at the top and the wind was about 100 mph, but it was totally worth it. The view was amazing. We also got to see The Louvre, The Arc d'Triomphe, The Champs Elysees, and Notre Dame. Paris was absolutely beautiful and I'll definitely be going back to visit again soon. We also got to visit with Coach Holladay's daughter, Heather, and her husband David. They have the best flat in Paris and a full view of the Eiffel Tower right out their window! They are our new best friends!!!
Once we got back to London, we had to say goodbye to Charlie. Then we went in search of a turkey. Apparently, London has something against Americans celebrating Thanksgiving because the only turkey that we could find in this city was a 19 lb bird that cost almost $200! So, for Thanksgiving dinner this year, we had "Baby Turkeys". Although most butchers would classify these "Baby Turkeys" as, in fact, chickens, we convinced ourselves that there really isn't much difference in the taste of the two birds when roasted Thanksgiving style! I don't know if we convinced our guests or not! We had a few other Americans and our best English friend, Matt, over to the house and had a the best make-shift Thanksgiving dinner that this flat has ever seen!
Two weeks ago, we also experienced our first Premiership football game (AKA soccer). We saw Fulham play at home vs Blackburn. It was a fun to hear all the fans chanting Fulham on to a win. Then last week, we were finally able to see our first Vanderbilt and Carolina games on television (or slingbox more specifically). So great to see our teams doing so well this year! We'll be sure to cheer loud enough for you to hear over the pond(don't think it will be a problem for me).
We are now starting to experience Christmas shopping season in London. We started our Christmas shopping last weekend on Oxford Street which is a huge outdoor shopping district that is chocked full of tacky Christmas decorations. So of course I love it! There were about a million other Londoners out with us to enjoy the decorations, fake snow, window displays, fireworks, and the street being shut down to cars. It was a little stimulus overload but really fun all the same. Who knew London could be so pretty in the winter time?!
Monday, November 12, 2007
November update
Since we last blogged, we have been pretty busy people! In mid-October, we traveled to Monte Carlo, Monaco. Scott had a business conference there (poor thing) and it just so happened that his lovely wife rode his coattails out there too! From London, we took an airplane to Nice and then traveled via helicopter into Monte Carlo...you know, how the movie stars do it. And even though it was slightly scary...okay, super scary (I think my knuckles are still white), it was absolutely fantastic and the scenery was stunning. Dad, you would be so proud, we walked along the path of the Formula 1 Grand Prix - very cool. We also oohed and aahed as rich people drove their cars out of the hulls of their amazing yachts, laid out at the rooftop pool, gambled in the posh casinos, and even came home with an extra 9 Euro. When Scott and I got married, I never saw myself sitting next to him and a bunch of French people in an American-style sports bar in Monaco cheering for England's Rugby team to win the world cup finals! Crazy!
After a wonderful trip to Monte Carlo, Scott returned to London to bring home the bacon (i.e. dredge through the drowning finance world thanks to the US sub-prime crisis) and I flew to North Carolina for Jess' wedding (Katie's best friend). It was such a fun and beautiful wedding! The leaves in Asheville were ideal for her fall wedding outside on the top of Crest Mountain. Jess looked beautiful, Jimmy cried, the cake was awesome, and the dancing was even better! It was great to see Jess and so many good friends from college like Danielle and her adorable little Madison. And it was great to see Jess and Jimmy have such a great start to their life together. Definitely in the running for wedding of the year! Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Luke!!!
Scott's Mom, Bub, came to London with her good friend, Judi Seagroves, for a little visit. We took the Big Bus tour around London, saw "Wicked" The Musical (appropriate for "Wicked Wanda"), visited Windsor Castle and saw the largest dollhouse in the world, and ate a lot of ethnic foods - not so sure that Bub loved the Indian food! Although they don't really celebrate Halloween in the UK, there were a few kids around the neighborhood and Bruno, of course, was in full Henry VIII costume. Bub even sang him a rendition of his song! It was so great to have them here and we hope that they come back very soon!
Recently, we have seen more fireworks than we do in the US on the 4th of July! There have been celebrations for Guy Fawkes' Day all around London. Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament in 1605 and failed and now they celebrate with bonfires and fireworks every year. Although I doubt Americans would celebrate some random guy trying to blow up the White House, we have really enjoyed the festivities!
We went to the Lord Mayor's Show this past weekend for even more fireworks. There was a huge parade with all the Beef Eaters and Horse Guards. (The Lord Mayor is the Mayor of the City of London, i.e. the square mile which is now home to the financial district where Scott works, who is appointed by a council versus the Mayor of metro London who is elected democratically.) At any rate, he puts on a good show. :)
It is really starting to get cold here (like 40's all day today!) and it now gets dark at 4:30 but, we're still having an amazing time traveling all around Europe. Our next stops are Paris and Normandy with Charlie over Thanksgiving...so stay tuned.
After a wonderful trip to Monte Carlo, Scott returned to London to bring home the bacon (i.e. dredge through the drowning finance world thanks to the US sub-prime crisis) and I flew to North Carolina for Jess' wedding (Katie's best friend). It was such a fun and beautiful wedding! The leaves in Asheville were ideal for her fall wedding outside on the top of Crest Mountain. Jess looked beautiful, Jimmy cried, the cake was awesome, and the dancing was even better! It was great to see Jess and so many good friends from college like Danielle and her adorable little Madison. And it was great to see Jess and Jimmy have such a great start to their life together. Definitely in the running for wedding of the year! Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Luke!!!
Scott's Mom, Bub, came to London with her good friend, Judi Seagroves, for a little visit. We took the Big Bus tour around London, saw "Wicked" The Musical (appropriate for "Wicked Wanda"), visited Windsor Castle and saw the largest dollhouse in the world, and ate a lot of ethnic foods - not so sure that Bub loved the Indian food! Although they don't really celebrate Halloween in the UK, there were a few kids around the neighborhood and Bruno, of course, was in full Henry VIII costume. Bub even sang him a rendition of his song! It was so great to have them here and we hope that they come back very soon!
Recently, we have seen more fireworks than we do in the US on the 4th of July! There have been celebrations for Guy Fawkes' Day all around London. Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament in 1605 and failed and now they celebrate with bonfires and fireworks every year. Although I doubt Americans would celebrate some random guy trying to blow up the White House, we have really enjoyed the festivities!
We went to the Lord Mayor's Show this past weekend for even more fireworks. There was a huge parade with all the Beef Eaters and Horse Guards. (The Lord Mayor is the Mayor of the City of London, i.e. the square mile which is now home to the financial district where Scott works, who is appointed by a council versus the Mayor of metro London who is elected democratically.) At any rate, he puts on a good show. :)
It is really starting to get cold here (like 40's all day today!) and it now gets dark at 4:30 but, we're still having an amazing time traveling all around Europe. Our next stops are Paris and Normandy with Charlie over Thanksgiving...so stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
