The big Christmas trip of 2006 took us to Malta. We spent about 5 days there between the 21st and 26th. While I had certainly heard of Malta before, I didn't know where it was or what there was to do there, but it fit our criteria of places to visit while we are here. Places we wouldn't be able to visit easily once we are back in Seattle. Malta is a tiny island south of Scicily in the Mediterranean. It is at the same latitude as Northern Africa. To get there we flew to Rome, for an eight hour layover, then on to Malta the next day. The weather in Malta was nice, about 60 degrees each day. Not hot, but certainly comfortable.
We stayed in a hotel in the city of St. Julians a small area on the outskirts of Valetta, the capitol. The entire island was small and could be crossed in 30 minutes or so. Malta is beautiful with lots of buildings and fortresses that date back to the 1300's. There were actually some ruins on the island that predate the pyramids in egypt by 1000 years. Wandering around, the architecture, was amazing and we did lots of wandering.
As for culture and the people, the island was interesting because the two languages are Malti, a derivation of Arabic and English. As a former english colony, everyone spoke english and there were lots of brits throughout the island. Disappointing, to say the least.
We have been avid fans of the Lonely Planet tour guide series and now have an impressive bookshelf full in London, but we were not in sync with the writer of the Malta/Goza version. The restaurant and hotel recommendations were generally not very good.
The benefit of staying in a largely English town though was that there was a good movie theater. As everyone knows, we love movies, so we hit the 16 screen multiplex pretty hard. I think we saw five movies in four days including: Holidays, Prestige, Deja Vu, Deck the Halls and Night at the Museum. We would have watched more, but the line on Christmas night was too long...for our third movie of the day.
The other highlight of the trip was walking through an old area of town and seeing a stage set-up in the middle of a square (really just a big intersection), where lots of kids dressed in Christmas costumes would get up and sing. Most would sing one Christmas song and one contemporary cheesy ballad. We enjoyed sitting at a table, drinking a couple of beers and getting in the Christmas spirit.
We also figured we should go to Christmas Eve Mass since we were in such a predominantly catholic country and we had passed so many beautiful churches. So we asked around and the hotel receptionist told us to go to a church a couple of blocks away because they would have a good "Christmas" mass, though it would be in Malti. We had dinner at another mediocre restaurant and made our way to the church. Of all the beautiful churches of Malta, we went to the 1963 version of ugly. It started out well with a live reenactment of the birth of Jesus that was quite festive so we had hope. Then once the sermon by the alter boy and girl was over, it all went downhill. Even though the service was in Malti, we remembered clearly why we don't go to mass. Oh well, we tried.
All in all, a disappointment, but better than sitting at home. Plus, I think we needed the disappointment and time to relax before heading to Italy for part two of the trip.
I hope everyone had a great holiday break.
Ted
Photos
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Happy Holidays
Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I've been in Seattle for the last two weeks for a project at MS. It was a whirlwind...literally. Most of you probably live in Seattle and know all about it, but for those that don't it was amazing. Massive trees down all over town, power out for a million people. I think some people still don't have power a week later. I stayed with Cimp and a giant 100 foot tall cedar next door to his started leaning precipitously towards his house as a result of the storm. I think it was removed yesterday as a result. Thank goodness the house next door held it down.
Other excitement in Seattle was that I got in a little fender bender in my rental car. Completely not paying attention I rear-ended the guy in front of me. Nothing major, but a nice impression of a trailer hitch in the hood of the Impala. No damage to his truck luckily. Thank goodness for Diners Club insurance.
Erin and I are taking off for our next adventure later tonight. We're headed to Rome tonight followed by Malta tomorrow until the 26th. We'll be in Rome again on the 26th and then drive up to meet my Dad, Tracey and Abby in Umbria. We leave from Venice back to London on the 5th. Should be a blast.
I hope everyone has a great holiday! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and see you next year!! More posts and pictures soon.
Ted
Other excitement in Seattle was that I got in a little fender bender in my rental car. Completely not paying attention I rear-ended the guy in front of me. Nothing major, but a nice impression of a trailer hitch in the hood of the Impala. No damage to his truck luckily. Thank goodness for Diners Club insurance.
Erin and I are taking off for our next adventure later tonight. We're headed to Rome tonight followed by Malta tomorrow until the 26th. We'll be in Rome again on the 26th and then drive up to meet my Dad, Tracey and Abby in Umbria. We leave from Venice back to London on the 5th. Should be a blast.
I hope everyone has a great holiday! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and see you next year!! More posts and pictures soon.
Ted
Friday, November 24, 2006
Iceland
The european adventure continues. Last weekend we trekked up to Iceland! Why Iceland? As you probably know, our goal is to go travel to one country a month while we are living in London. Secondly, we want to try to get to some off the beaten path places that would be particularly hard to get to from Seattle. Iceland made the list. When researching it, we saw tons of links to the fact that it is all powered by geothermal hot springs and that there are some great pools and spas. Sounds perfect for mid-November.
It was a jam-packed weekend and here are the details. We rushed out the door on Thursday night, planning to meet Honor at the airport. She thought we were cutting it too close, which we were, as usual. The plane, of course, was late. We landed in Reykjavik at a little after midnight. Once we got our bags, minus one of Honor's that was delayed, we went out to look for a taxi. After midnight, no taxis, but we saw everyone queuing (that's standing in line for you non-euros) for a bus, we decided to as well. We huddled near the door to the bus freezing our asses off. It was probably about -10 below celcius during the day. (about 15 F) So I'm guessing it was -20 below with a howling wind that reinforced that we were in Iceland. We jammed on to the bus, and made it our hotel room by about 3am. Time for a quick nap before getting on a tour bus at 8:30am.
On friday we took the Golden Circle tour around Iceland. We learned all kinds of interesting facts. First, the entire population of Iceland is 300K and 180K in Rejkyavik. Very small. only 1% of Iceland is covered by trees. All of the buildings are heated and hot water via geothermal sources. The water in the shower smelled a little of sulfur. The cold water has been proven the purest in the world and tasted fantastic out of every tap. And everything was so expensive it made London seem cheap. Enough facts for now...We went to the first ever named geyser (named "geyser") apparently all others are named after this one. I've got a good video (which I will work on uploading) of Erin and Honor watching it explode and then posing for a picture. It's pretty funny. We also saw a beautiful, mostly frozen, waterfall. Again, we were in iceland and everything was covered in about two inches of ice, including each of the pebbles in the parking lot. It was too cold to appreciate for long, but the pictures are great. Time for another fact...Did you know that the oldest continuously standing parliament in the world is from Iceland? It is. We saw the site where it started in 930. We were also able to drive from the European geologic (techtonic?) plate to the North American plate. I thought that was cool. Great tour, other than being cold, there was not a cloud in the sky.
When we got back to the hotel, we decided that we should go check out a local swimming pool before having dinner since we may not get another chance. Since Honor lost the bag with her new swimsuit in it, we had to go on an emergency swimsuit shopping trip. I know it's bad for women to try on swimsuits, but it's worse being a man going with two women to try them on. Fortunately, the stores were closing so function sped up the process.
The pool Laugardalslaug is used by locals and has some interesting protocols. First you must not wear shoes into the locker room. We each got yelled at. You must shower before using the pool. You must clean four key areas (complete with diagram) pits, crotch, feet, head. You must not wear a swimsuit in the shower. You must bring your own towel. Which none of us did. Drip dry-ing in Iceland is not fun. After washing thoroughly you run barefoot, outside, where it is dark and about -10 to a big hot tub. Once in, very relaxing. After talking to a local we discover there are four other pools about 100 yards away, either by swimming through a colder pool, or walking. The sides of the pool have salt on them so you won't slip. But salt hurts. We ran to the pools before completely freezing to the pavement. Each additional "hot pot" hotter than the last. Each fit about 10 people and each was full. Surprising for a Friday night at the local pool. Very relaxing. After a time in the steam we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
On our way to the restaurant the cab driver talked about the Sugarcubes show that night. She was surprised we weren't going there since everyone else was. We told her that we had tickets to the saturday night show. That surprised her as she could swear there was only one show....and we could swear we had tickets for Saturday. Turned the cab around, back to the hotel to check and sure enough the tickets were for Friday. Another cab and off to the show, who needs dinner. They had $10 cans of beer at the show (and they sold them in singles or 10 packs) and $10 glasses of box wine. For those of you who don't know the Sugarcubes, they are Bjorks band. Bjork is the most famous Icelandic export ever. How cool to see her in Rejkyavik. Jealous? It was a great show. We missed the opening act, but at least we didn't miss the entire show.
We heard the nightlife in Rejkyavik started around midnight, and it was only 11:30 and we hadn't eaten yet. We found a cab and went to a place for Tapas. Good spanish food late at night is always a treat, especially in Iceland. From there we went to an Irish bar. So worldly. The highlight of the Irish bar was a local Icelandic couple we sat with. The guy was a funny drunk who acted like Borat the whole time once he found out we were Americans. We were talking about what the locals drink and she said you have to get "ljakdsfj" with "aksdjflkdsa" Needless to say I didn't understand either, so she went to the bar and ordered for us. A round of shots, but fortunately they didn't have the "hakarl"to go with them. The shots were called "Brennivin". They were pretty good though. We were lucky they didn't have shark. I read about it before we left and the local delicacy is shark that putrifies buried in the sand for six months and is then eaten. The girl corrected me when I was telling Erin and Honor what I read. She said, "no, no, no....first everyone pees on the shark, then we bury it for six months..." Whew, close one. At about 3 we wimped out and went home. Enough activity for day 1.
Day Two.
As you can imagine we were tired from Day one. Saturday we were scheduled to go to the Blue Lagoon. A giant hot springs located in the middle of a lava field about 45 minutes in the middle of nowhere. It was fantastic. Same rules as the first pool, but this time we paid for towels! Basically a massive four foot deep hot tub, probably the size of four football fields. Plus some cool silica mud that everyone put on their faces for a mask. Pretty funny site. The funniest site was the life guards who wore full space man suits with moon boots, hooded coat, goggles, gator around their neck and face, massive gloves. Still that cold. And we were just in swimsuits. Again, fantasic experience...everyone should get to do it.
After the blue lagoon and a nap we were determined to go to dinner and stay out late. We went to the same place we were supposed to go on Friday. Tvier Fiskar (two fishes). The service wasn't that great, but the food was good. I went out on a limb (much to the chagrin of Erin) and ate the only endangered species on the menu....whale. It looked and tasted mostly like beef. I don't need to have it again, and I do feel a little guilty for eating it, but I'm glad I tried it.
As we were eating dinner it started snowing. The first hint of weather after two days of beautiful cold sunshine. After dinner we walked to the central nightlife area and went to a nice looking bar for a couple of drinks. We were all tired, and didn't expect it to be a big night. We were in Reykjavik though with nightlife all night, so we decided to go to one more bar to find men to hit on Honor. It didn't take long. We were all having fun, dancing and carousing and before we knew it the lights were on and we were being told to leave...it was 5am. When we got outside there was a foot of snow on the ground. So we went with everyone else to the taxi stand. We were about 300 people deep in the line. As we stood there, the snow continued to fall, everyone in line looked like snow men with about three inches of snow on peoples coats and heads. Few people dressed for a snow storm, or even for cold for that matter. The snowmen look was almost comical (of course I forgot the camera that night). Comical until we had been standing there for 45 minutes and had only seen about 5 taxis go by. We decided to walk with the guy standing next to us, who happened to be in town to perform as a contortionist, Rubberboy, at the midget basketball tournament in town. I kid you not. So while walking the mile or two home in a foot of snow at 6am, we listed to him tell us stories about how he is the world's greatest contortionist. Ordinarily, I might find that annoying, but it was a great way to pass the time on my frigid walk. Hysterical at the time. I did just go check out his site, it's pretty amazing. He was too cold to amaze us on the walk home.
We got back to the hotel at about 6:45am. Time to sleep in until our flight at 4:30....but wait now, there's more. We arranged for massage appointments at 10am. How hard could it be to wake up just to go downstairs and sleep for another hour, maybe not the best use of our time, but I think we had all been looking forward to a massage for weeks...we weren't gonna miss it.
At 1pm we went to check out and find a ride to the airport. The people at the hotel said the buses were delayed so we should catch the next one that comes, which happened to arrive just as we were about to get some food. No rest for the weary, we can eat at the airport anyway. We pile on the bus, it gets fully loaded up and we're off. Before we get out of the parking lot the bus gets stuck in the snow....in the parking lot. My dream of getting snowed in and not being able to go home almost came true. The bus driver actually asked us all to get out of the bus to help push...a bus. When we got to the back of the bus, we found that we first needed to move a car that was six inches away from getting nailed by the bus. Eight of us lifted the car out of the way. Then he said push the bus up the hill. Needless to say that wasn't happening. We were all smart enough to know that was a bad idea. Finally a snow plow drove by and pulled the bus out of the parking lot.
We made it to the airport. Stood in line forever and were offered to get bumped in exchange for a hotel room (at our same hotel which was nice) and free flight back to Iceland to leave the next day. The one time I have a big meeting the next day I get the offer. Damn. Then since they were oversold, we couldn't sit next to each other on the plane. Erin and Honor got business class seats, while I got a middle seat in the back. Totally unfair.
Oh well, we made it home and survived Iceland. Had a great time and it was fun to remember it all again writing this. Sorry it's so long, hope you enjoyed it.
Ted
It was a jam-packed weekend and here are the details. We rushed out the door on Thursday night, planning to meet Honor at the airport. She thought we were cutting it too close, which we were, as usual. The plane, of course, was late. We landed in Reykjavik at a little after midnight. Once we got our bags, minus one of Honor's that was delayed, we went out to look for a taxi. After midnight, no taxis, but we saw everyone queuing (that's standing in line for you non-euros) for a bus, we decided to as well. We huddled near the door to the bus freezing our asses off. It was probably about -10 below celcius during the day. (about 15 F) So I'm guessing it was -20 below with a howling wind that reinforced that we were in Iceland. We jammed on to the bus, and made it our hotel room by about 3am. Time for a quick nap before getting on a tour bus at 8:30am.
On friday we took the Golden Circle tour around Iceland. We learned all kinds of interesting facts. First, the entire population of Iceland is 300K and 180K in Rejkyavik. Very small. only 1% of Iceland is covered by trees. All of the buildings are heated and hot water via geothermal sources. The water in the shower smelled a little of sulfur. The cold water has been proven the purest in the world and tasted fantastic out of every tap. And everything was so expensive it made London seem cheap. Enough facts for now...We went to the first ever named geyser (named "geyser") apparently all others are named after this one. I've got a good video (which I will work on uploading) of Erin and Honor watching it explode and then posing for a picture. It's pretty funny. We also saw a beautiful, mostly frozen, waterfall. Again, we were in iceland and everything was covered in about two inches of ice, including each of the pebbles in the parking lot. It was too cold to appreciate for long, but the pictures are great. Time for another fact...Did you know that the oldest continuously standing parliament in the world is from Iceland? It is. We saw the site where it started in 930. We were also able to drive from the European geologic (techtonic?) plate to the North American plate. I thought that was cool. Great tour, other than being cold, there was not a cloud in the sky.
When we got back to the hotel, we decided that we should go check out a local swimming pool before having dinner since we may not get another chance. Since Honor lost the bag with her new swimsuit in it, we had to go on an emergency swimsuit shopping trip. I know it's bad for women to try on swimsuits, but it's worse being a man going with two women to try them on. Fortunately, the stores were closing so function sped up the process.
The pool Laugardalslaug is used by locals and has some interesting protocols. First you must not wear shoes into the locker room. We each got yelled at. You must shower before using the pool. You must clean four key areas (complete with diagram) pits, crotch, feet, head. You must not wear a swimsuit in the shower. You must bring your own towel. Which none of us did. Drip dry-ing in Iceland is not fun. After washing thoroughly you run barefoot, outside, where it is dark and about -10 to a big hot tub. Once in, very relaxing. After talking to a local we discover there are four other pools about 100 yards away, either by swimming through a colder pool, or walking. The sides of the pool have salt on them so you won't slip. But salt hurts. We ran to the pools before completely freezing to the pavement. Each additional "hot pot" hotter than the last. Each fit about 10 people and each was full. Surprising for a Friday night at the local pool. Very relaxing. After a time in the steam we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
On our way to the restaurant the cab driver talked about the Sugarcubes show that night. She was surprised we weren't going there since everyone else was. We told her that we had tickets to the saturday night show. That surprised her as she could swear there was only one show....and we could swear we had tickets for Saturday. Turned the cab around, back to the hotel to check and sure enough the tickets were for Friday. Another cab and off to the show, who needs dinner. They had $10 cans of beer at the show (and they sold them in singles or 10 packs) and $10 glasses of box wine. For those of you who don't know the Sugarcubes, they are Bjorks band. Bjork is the most famous Icelandic export ever. How cool to see her in Rejkyavik. Jealous? It was a great show. We missed the opening act, but at least we didn't miss the entire show.
We heard the nightlife in Rejkyavik started around midnight, and it was only 11:30 and we hadn't eaten yet. We found a cab and went to a place for Tapas. Good spanish food late at night is always a treat, especially in Iceland. From there we went to an Irish bar. So worldly. The highlight of the Irish bar was a local Icelandic couple we sat with. The guy was a funny drunk who acted like Borat the whole time once he found out we were Americans. We were talking about what the locals drink and she said you have to get "ljakdsfj" with "aksdjflkdsa" Needless to say I didn't understand either, so she went to the bar and ordered for us. A round of shots, but fortunately they didn't have the "hakarl"to go with them. The shots were called "Brennivin". They were pretty good though. We were lucky they didn't have shark. I read about it before we left and the local delicacy is shark that putrifies buried in the sand for six months and is then eaten. The girl corrected me when I was telling Erin and Honor what I read. She said, "no, no, no....first everyone pees on the shark, then we bury it for six months..." Whew, close one. At about 3 we wimped out and went home. Enough activity for day 1.
Day Two.
As you can imagine we were tired from Day one. Saturday we were scheduled to go to the Blue Lagoon. A giant hot springs located in the middle of a lava field about 45 minutes in the middle of nowhere. It was fantastic. Same rules as the first pool, but this time we paid for towels! Basically a massive four foot deep hot tub, probably the size of four football fields. Plus some cool silica mud that everyone put on their faces for a mask. Pretty funny site. The funniest site was the life guards who wore full space man suits with moon boots, hooded coat, goggles, gator around their neck and face, massive gloves. Still that cold. And we were just in swimsuits. Again, fantasic experience...everyone should get to do it.
After the blue lagoon and a nap we were determined to go to dinner and stay out late. We went to the same place we were supposed to go on Friday. Tvier Fiskar (two fishes). The service wasn't that great, but the food was good. I went out on a limb (much to the chagrin of Erin) and ate the only endangered species on the menu....whale. It looked and tasted mostly like beef. I don't need to have it again, and I do feel a little guilty for eating it, but I'm glad I tried it.
As we were eating dinner it started snowing. The first hint of weather after two days of beautiful cold sunshine. After dinner we walked to the central nightlife area and went to a nice looking bar for a couple of drinks. We were all tired, and didn't expect it to be a big night. We were in Reykjavik though with nightlife all night, so we decided to go to one more bar to find men to hit on Honor. It didn't take long. We were all having fun, dancing and carousing and before we knew it the lights were on and we were being told to leave...it was 5am. When we got outside there was a foot of snow on the ground. So we went with everyone else to the taxi stand. We were about 300 people deep in the line. As we stood there, the snow continued to fall, everyone in line looked like snow men with about three inches of snow on peoples coats and heads. Few people dressed for a snow storm, or even for cold for that matter. The snowmen look was almost comical (of course I forgot the camera that night). Comical until we had been standing there for 45 minutes and had only seen about 5 taxis go by. We decided to walk with the guy standing next to us, who happened to be in town to perform as a contortionist, Rubberboy, at the midget basketball tournament in town. I kid you not. So while walking the mile or two home in a foot of snow at 6am, we listed to him tell us stories about how he is the world's greatest contortionist. Ordinarily, I might find that annoying, but it was a great way to pass the time on my frigid walk. Hysterical at the time. I did just go check out his site, it's pretty amazing. He was too cold to amaze us on the walk home.
We got back to the hotel at about 6:45am. Time to sleep in until our flight at 4:30....but wait now, there's more. We arranged for massage appointments at 10am. How hard could it be to wake up just to go downstairs and sleep for another hour, maybe not the best use of our time, but I think we had all been looking forward to a massage for weeks...we weren't gonna miss it.
At 1pm we went to check out and find a ride to the airport. The people at the hotel said the buses were delayed so we should catch the next one that comes, which happened to arrive just as we were about to get some food. No rest for the weary, we can eat at the airport anyway. We pile on the bus, it gets fully loaded up and we're off. Before we get out of the parking lot the bus gets stuck in the snow....in the parking lot. My dream of getting snowed in and not being able to go home almost came true. The bus driver actually asked us all to get out of the bus to help push...a bus. When we got to the back of the bus, we found that we first needed to move a car that was six inches away from getting nailed by the bus. Eight of us lifted the car out of the way. Then he said push the bus up the hill. Needless to say that wasn't happening. We were all smart enough to know that was a bad idea. Finally a snow plow drove by and pulled the bus out of the parking lot.
We made it to the airport. Stood in line forever and were offered to get bumped in exchange for a hotel room (at our same hotel which was nice) and free flight back to Iceland to leave the next day. The one time I have a big meeting the next day I get the offer. Damn. Then since they were oversold, we couldn't sit next to each other on the plane. Erin and Honor got business class seats, while I got a middle seat in the back. Totally unfair.
Oh well, we made it home and survived Iceland. Had a great time and it was fun to remember it all again writing this. Sorry it's so long, hope you enjoyed it.
Ted
Monday, November 06, 2006
Halloween
Even though we weren't in Seattle for Halloween, we couldn't let such a great excuse for party get away from us. We hosted our annual Halloween party in London on the 28th. It is interesting here, because Halloween is not a big holiday. There aren't bags of candy on all of the shelves or costumes and decorations in all the windows. Some people balked at the idea of having to wear costumes when we proposed the event, but in the end, everyone came and loved it.
Every year we try to think of something fun and current to dress as. I don't think I'll ever top my bird flu costume from last year though. This year I decided to go as a prominent Kazahkstani journalist, Borat...high five! I talked Erin into going as Olive from Little Miss Sunshine. I think the costumes were great...Erin didn't like that not too many had seen Little Miss Sunshine yet. Other highlights included the complete cast of the Wizard of Oz, a few super heros and a guy with a scary mask. Everyone partied like rock stars until late in the night. Even Jim our COO and his wife left at 4:30am!!
The other challenge of hosting a party is getting provisions. It's challenging enough in Seattle to drive around to the grocery store, the liquor store, the costume store, but here we have to walk to each place. I know, it's good for me.
Check out the pictures...
Ted
Every year we try to think of something fun and current to dress as. I don't think I'll ever top my bird flu costume from last year though. This year I decided to go as a prominent Kazahkstani journalist, Borat...high five! I talked Erin into going as Olive from Little Miss Sunshine. I think the costumes were great...Erin didn't like that not too many had seen Little Miss Sunshine yet. Other highlights included the complete cast of the Wizard of Oz, a few super heros and a guy with a scary mask. Everyone partied like rock stars until late in the night. Even Jim our COO and his wife left at 4:30am!!
The other challenge of hosting a party is getting provisions. It's challenging enough in Seattle to drive around to the grocery store, the liquor store, the costume store, but here we have to walk to each place. I know, it's good for me.
Check out the pictures...
Ted
Monday, October 23, 2006
To Berlin or not to Berlin
After the company away day and dinner on Thursday night, Erin and I started packing our bags at 11pm to get ready for our 6:25am flight to Berlin. After 3 hours of sleep the alarm went off at 3:30 and Dick, Erin and I were off to get in a cab at 3:45am to Liverpool Station. We safely arrived at Liverpool by 4:15, plenty of time to get on the 4:25am train to Stansted airport. After arriving at Stansted, we got our boarding cards and proceeded to security. The line was one of the longest I'd ever seen...snaking throughout the airport, but we were relatively close to the front of the middle...should be fine. After waiting in security for an unbearable 60 minutes, we made it to the gate at 6:27am for our 6:25am flight. Huffing and puffing with about 12 other people who ran from the tram to the gate, we all saw the plane pulling away from the gate. Missed the flight by mere seconds, even though we did everything right to get there on time...no oversleeping, no stopping for coffee perfect early morning trip. After getting back through security the opposite way and going to "customer service" Ha! We were told that there was another flight Saturday morning at the same 6:25am and we could buy new tickets for 200 pounds each. Afterall "we cannot be responsible for the airport security...we don't have to defend our policy to give no refunds...we're Ryan Air". And, we will never be flying Ryan Air again.
Completely exhausted, angry, deflated, confused...we sat in the airport contemplating what to do next. We looked at all of the airlines and found no flights to Berlin for less than 200 pounds. We decided it would be kinda stupid to pay another $1500 for us all to go to Berlin. Rather than going home to go back to bed we figured we were already packed, so we may as well go somewhere. So we walked over to Budget car rental and rented a car. Why not take a tour of the English countryside....plus I can now learn how to drive on the left side of the road.
Our first stop was Cambridge, a mere 30 minutes from Stanted airport. We figured we could stop there and get a book on England, have breakfast and coffee and plot our course. Cambridge was certainly a beautiful town with all of the colleges of the university. We were fortunate that despite the rain on the drive up, the skies opened up and we enjoyed a beautiful mid-day in Cambridge. I even pulled my best impression of my dad by managing to get a quick nap in in the middle of the bookstore and again on the punts on the canal behind all of the buildings.
With my two short naps, I was ready to go. Next stop Stratford on Avon, home of the Bard. Erin worked the books and phones and found a new hotel for us to stay in. We arrived in Stratford aroung 5pm and all felt that if we napped before dinner we were done for the night. Instead we checked into the White Swan in, an inn since before the Americas were founded (1450), right in the middle of town. We had a hard time finding it though because it was in the center of a town carnival with rides galore. After dinner, we rode the bumper cars about five times, all three of us laughing like 5 year olds as we slammed into each other. Dick and I also went on a ride that was a small steel cage hooked to two bungy cords stretched 100 feet in the air that shot the cage straight up like a cannon. Erin took a video which I will figure out how to attach. It was a blast...
After a solid 12 hours of sleep, we toured Stratford on the common double decker tour bus, and toured the birthplace of Shakespeare. Next we were back in the car to figure out where to go next. First stop was the Warwick Castle. This was an amazing midevil castle run by the Tausaud's so the castle was filled with wax figures. I thought it was a little weird with the figures, but it was a very cool castle. One of the highlights was a giant Trebuchet set-up out on the lawn where we got to witness them shoot a flaming ball about 1/4 mile. We'll try to attach the video of that as well.
Next stop was the Cotswolds. We piled back in our right hand drive car and started cruising around the Cotswolds (english for cute little towns in idyllic settings). We stayed in the tiny town of Witney at a great little hotel. While we were checking in the restaurant looked fantastic so we all went up to rest for a minute before heading down to eat. Unfortunately, the restaurant was booked solid until 10:15p (it was about 7 now). But they gave us a few recommendations in town (english, thai and Indian). First stop english, booked. Next thai...booked. next indian...booked. There were only about 5 restaurants in town, all booked solid. Just before we were to settle on the "American Pizza/chicken/kabob" house, we went down one more street. There we found a hotel with a dining room...and a few open tables. The service was absolutely horrible, and fortunately they overheard me talking about it. Midway through we got the most attentive service and they redeemed their previously long-lost tip.
Sunday was spent touring Oxford. Another beautiful college town with very old buildings, many featured in Harry Potter books. I loved seeing the pub that has been open since 1242. We all really liked Oxford but agree with everyone who said Cambridge is nicer. It is. After Oxford we went to Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill. Unbelievable. Definitely one of the nicest palaces we've ever been to. The rooms were amazing, it was in great shape...Beautiful.
The last adventure of the weekend was figuring out how to navigate small english towns to take "backroads" to Stansted to return the car. We'd heard so many horror stories about driving back through London, that we did what we could to avoid it. Unfortunately our map was terrible, but we had a good adventure of it all.
All-in-all a fantastic weekend...but now we need to plan another trip to Berlin. And apologize to Mary Core and her friend (who we were to meet there) who did get to enjoy Berlin.
Ted
Completely exhausted, angry, deflated, confused...we sat in the airport contemplating what to do next. We looked at all of the airlines and found no flights to Berlin for less than 200 pounds. We decided it would be kinda stupid to pay another $1500 for us all to go to Berlin. Rather than going home to go back to bed we figured we were already packed, so we may as well go somewhere. So we walked over to Budget car rental and rented a car. Why not take a tour of the English countryside....plus I can now learn how to drive on the left side of the road.
Our first stop was Cambridge, a mere 30 minutes from Stanted airport. We figured we could stop there and get a book on England, have breakfast and coffee and plot our course. Cambridge was certainly a beautiful town with all of the colleges of the university. We were fortunate that despite the rain on the drive up, the skies opened up and we enjoyed a beautiful mid-day in Cambridge. I even pulled my best impression of my dad by managing to get a quick nap in in the middle of the bookstore and again on the punts on the canal behind all of the buildings.
With my two short naps, I was ready to go. Next stop Stratford on Avon, home of the Bard. Erin worked the books and phones and found a new hotel for us to stay in. We arrived in Stratford aroung 5pm and all felt that if we napped before dinner we were done for the night. Instead we checked into the White Swan in, an inn since before the Americas were founded (1450), right in the middle of town. We had a hard time finding it though because it was in the center of a town carnival with rides galore. After dinner, we rode the bumper cars about five times, all three of us laughing like 5 year olds as we slammed into each other. Dick and I also went on a ride that was a small steel cage hooked to two bungy cords stretched 100 feet in the air that shot the cage straight up like a cannon. Erin took a video which I will figure out how to attach. It was a blast...
After a solid 12 hours of sleep, we toured Stratford on the common double decker tour bus, and toured the birthplace of Shakespeare. Next we were back in the car to figure out where to go next. First stop was the Warwick Castle. This was an amazing midevil castle run by the Tausaud's so the castle was filled with wax figures. I thought it was a little weird with the figures, but it was a very cool castle. One of the highlights was a giant Trebuchet set-up out on the lawn where we got to witness them shoot a flaming ball about 1/4 mile. We'll try to attach the video of that as well.
Next stop was the Cotswolds. We piled back in our right hand drive car and started cruising around the Cotswolds (english for cute little towns in idyllic settings). We stayed in the tiny town of Witney at a great little hotel. While we were checking in the restaurant looked fantastic so we all went up to rest for a minute before heading down to eat. Unfortunately, the restaurant was booked solid until 10:15p (it was about 7 now). But they gave us a few recommendations in town (english, thai and Indian). First stop english, booked. Next thai...booked. next indian...booked. There were only about 5 restaurants in town, all booked solid. Just before we were to settle on the "American Pizza/chicken/kabob" house, we went down one more street. There we found a hotel with a dining room...and a few open tables. The service was absolutely horrible, and fortunately they overheard me talking about it. Midway through we got the most attentive service and they redeemed their previously long-lost tip.
Sunday was spent touring Oxford. Another beautiful college town with very old buildings, many featured in Harry Potter books. I loved seeing the pub that has been open since 1242. We all really liked Oxford but agree with everyone who said Cambridge is nicer. It is. After Oxford we went to Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill. Unbelievable. Definitely one of the nicest palaces we've ever been to. The rooms were amazing, it was in great shape...Beautiful.
The last adventure of the weekend was figuring out how to navigate small english towns to take "backroads" to Stansted to return the car. We'd heard so many horror stories about driving back through London, that we did what we could to avoid it. Unfortunately our map was terrible, but we had a good adventure of it all.
All-in-all a fantastic weekend...but now we need to plan another trip to Berlin. And apologize to Mary Core and her friend (who we were to meet there) who did get to enjoy Berlin.
Ted
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Lots of company
Finally Amy Faber emailed me today to demand an update to the blog...and ask what happened to the pictures. Amy, this update's for you.
We've been busy with visitors for the last few weeks. The day after Brian left Kevin and Katie Davis from Hitachi spent the night here on their return to Seattle from France. The next day my Mom and her friend Linda arrived.
We had a great visit with them including a big tour of our favorite spots in London. They learned how to use the Nespresso maker, ate shwarmas, went to the flower market, saw a play, rode the big bus around london...ate more...walked more. One of the highlights was dropping in on a little Yemeni place for dinner. You may be surprised, but that was my first Yemeni restuarant experience. The other surprise was that Erin, Ma and Linda were the only three women in the entire restaurant that was packed with Yemeni's. Linda coined it "No Womeni, Yemeni" (which sounds funny if you say it quickly). It was really great to have them here. Always great to get a little dose of home and make sure your mother knows where you live.
Not long after all of them left, Erin's dad Dick arrived in London. He arrived on Thursday last week. The highlight of the trip so far was that we all went and saw Spamalot on Saturday. For those of you who don't know, it is based on Monty Python's Holy Grail. It was fantastic from start to finish. The star of the show was Tim Curry (of Rocky Horror Picture Show fame). See it if you get the chance.
The next big adventure is this weekend when the three of us get on a 6:05am flight (from Stansted; a couple of hours by tube and train away) to Berlin. I can't wait, I've wanted to go to Berlin for a long time. It will be fun to have Dick along too who hasn't been to Berlin since 1959...I bet it's changed...
We're now planning our next big adventure as well. November's big trip is going to be to Iceland! I know what you're thinking, "Iceland in November?" Reykjavik is actually home to countless hot springs and spas. We see it as a restful place to relax, eat and drink... Admit it, it sounds nice. Here is a link to the Blue Lagoon which convinced us to go.
As you can see, I've also updated the photos. I hope you like. If you read all this, drop me a line, or add a comment. It's fun to know who's reading. I do have a site tracker and can see the city of people visiting and how they found the page. The best so far was someone who googled "Kirsten Nesholm" and found our page. Kirsten, you have a stalker!!
Look forward to talking more soon,
Ted
We've been busy with visitors for the last few weeks. The day after Brian left Kevin and Katie Davis from Hitachi spent the night here on their return to Seattle from France. The next day my Mom and her friend Linda arrived.
We had a great visit with them including a big tour of our favorite spots in London. They learned how to use the Nespresso maker, ate shwarmas, went to the flower market, saw a play, rode the big bus around london...ate more...walked more. One of the highlights was dropping in on a little Yemeni place for dinner. You may be surprised, but that was my first Yemeni restuarant experience. The other surprise was that Erin, Ma and Linda were the only three women in the entire restaurant that was packed with Yemeni's. Linda coined it "No Womeni, Yemeni" (which sounds funny if you say it quickly). It was really great to have them here. Always great to get a little dose of home and make sure your mother knows where you live.
Not long after all of them left, Erin's dad Dick arrived in London. He arrived on Thursday last week. The highlight of the trip so far was that we all went and saw Spamalot on Saturday. For those of you who don't know, it is based on Monty Python's Holy Grail. It was fantastic from start to finish. The star of the show was Tim Curry (of Rocky Horror Picture Show fame). See it if you get the chance.
The next big adventure is this weekend when the three of us get on a 6:05am flight (from Stansted; a couple of hours by tube and train away) to Berlin. I can't wait, I've wanted to go to Berlin for a long time. It will be fun to have Dick along too who hasn't been to Berlin since 1959...I bet it's changed...
We're now planning our next big adventure as well. November's big trip is going to be to Iceland! I know what you're thinking, "Iceland in November?" Reykjavik is actually home to countless hot springs and spas. We see it as a restful place to relax, eat and drink... Admit it, it sounds nice. Here is a link to the Blue Lagoon which convinced us to go.
As you can see, I've also updated the photos. I hope you like. If you read all this, drop me a line, or add a comment. It's fun to know who's reading. I do have a site tracker and can see the city of people visiting and how they found the page. The best so far was someone who googled "Kirsten Nesholm" and found our page. Kirsten, you have a stalker!!
Look forward to talking more soon,
Ted
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Scotland
This past weekend we went to Scotland and it was fantastic. Cimp, Erin and I flew out to Edinburgh on Wednesday night after work. After arriving late, we went out for a late night pint and met a bombed local who told us we needed to go to the Trussochs and Borders....at least 27 different times. It became the running joke for the rest of the trip.
On Thursday, the three of us drove to St. Andrews so that Cimp and I could get our name on the list to play golf on Friday. Unfortunately, the Old Course was closed for a tournament, but we were able to get our name down for Friday on the New Course. Turns out the new course was established in 1895! The entire time we were there on Thursday it rained. We were dedicated to playing on Friday, so we spent the afternoon looking at all of the local golf shops for rain gear. I decided to wait until Friday to buy rain gear since it was so expensive.
After leaving St. Andrews, we wanted to try to play 9 holes on Thursday to help justify why Erin and I shipped our clubs. We went to a small course about 10 miles south of St. Andrews called Anstruther. When we got out of the car in the empty parking lot that held 10 cars at most, we weren't sure what the round would be like. The course did hug the coast though, so we had high hopes. After paying our 12 pound green fee we set off. The course was simply spectacular. It hugged the coast, had a castle/turret on the second hole (that served as a backstop for my approach). It continued to go up and down near the water, one spectacular hole after another. We had amazing time. Even better, it didn't rain a drop during our two hours on the course! On the drive home the skies opened up and rained all night long.
Cimp and I decided we would get up early to play St. Andrews. We were prepared for a wet day on such a famous course. When we left the hotel, there were only high thin clouds. We were both too nervous to jinx ourselves so neither of us discussed the weather for the entire 1 1/2 hour drive...but it kept getting sunnier. As we were about 10 miles from the course, we could see the entire coast absolutely socked in by big clouds. Of course it would rain. After putting on eight layers, winter cap in the bag, a little sunscreen just in case, we set off. It didn't rain a drop! In fact it was about 75 degrees and we were mad we weren't wearing shorts. My biggest problem was what to use to wipe the sweat off of my head.
The day was absolutely fantastic. We played St. Andrews...hard, rolling fairways, littered with pot bunkers and gorse on the sides. There wasn't a range near by though, so we went off cold. At least that's what I'm attributing to my 122. Cimp shot 88. Would have been better but an eagle putt that turned into a birdie putt...then a par putt, then a.... Needless to say the next drive didn't help.
We drove back to Edinburgh to meet up with Erin and Honor (who flew in Friday for the weekend). We toured Edinburgh on Friday afternoon, went out for a great dinner and hit a couple of local pubs. On Saturday...it rained.
Saturday we toured the Edinburgh castle before loading into the rental car for our Erin-guided tour of Scotland. Cimp quickly got the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road...he only ran over the curb a few times. It was nice to have a driver and a tour guide.
We went to the town of Perth and visited the Scone Castle and grounds. We then rented a couple of rooms in a local B&B. Cimp and me in one room, Erin and Honor in the other. It was a debate about how to split them up. One had it's own bathroom, but only one bed. The other had a bed and a day-bed, but no bathroom, it was shared in the hall. Cimp and I had the no bathroom. Apparently Erin and Honor's room was 200 degrees and they didn't share a bed well...I slept great, not what they wanted to hear.
On a recommendation from the host of the B&B, Saturday night we went to a local restaurant that we think was the predecessor of Chile's or TGIF with memorabilia on the walls. OUr hopes were low, but it was great. We followed that with a couple of pubs and dancing. There was a guy at one club who looked just like Jack Black, but danced like Michael Jackson. He was amazing and created a great time.
On Sunday we got up to head for Aberdeen where Erin, Honor and I left Cimp on his own. On the way we took an amazing drive through Scottish mountains and ski areas that were gorgeous. On a stroke of luck we were near Balmoral Castle, but were running late so decided not to stop. When we were driving by though we saw a bunch of people on the side of the road with several police officers. In the middle of nowhere. So of course we parked the car and went to see what the fuss was about. The Queen was across the street in church and was about to drive down the road to the castle where she was staying. We stood there for two minutes and there she was in her Rolls Royce waving to us all. Very cool.
The next stop on the Erin tour of Scotland was the Dunottar Castle on the coast near Stonehaven, south of Aberdeen. This was an amazing castle surrounded by water on three sides. Truly breathtaking.
After Dunottar, Cimp left us at the airport in Aberdeen before heading off for a couple of more days of golfing famous Scottish courses. I've been jealous back at work this week knowing the fun he's having. He gets back in London tonight before headed home to Seattle on Saturday.
Scotland was fantastic...I look forward to going back soon.
Ted
On Thursday, the three of us drove to St. Andrews so that Cimp and I could get our name on the list to play golf on Friday. Unfortunately, the Old Course was closed for a tournament, but we were able to get our name down for Friday on the New Course. Turns out the new course was established in 1895! The entire time we were there on Thursday it rained. We were dedicated to playing on Friday, so we spent the afternoon looking at all of the local golf shops for rain gear. I decided to wait until Friday to buy rain gear since it was so expensive.
After leaving St. Andrews, we wanted to try to play 9 holes on Thursday to help justify why Erin and I shipped our clubs. We went to a small course about 10 miles south of St. Andrews called Anstruther. When we got out of the car in the empty parking lot that held 10 cars at most, we weren't sure what the round would be like. The course did hug the coast though, so we had high hopes. After paying our 12 pound green fee we set off. The course was simply spectacular. It hugged the coast, had a castle/turret on the second hole (that served as a backstop for my approach). It continued to go up and down near the water, one spectacular hole after another. We had amazing time. Even better, it didn't rain a drop during our two hours on the course! On the drive home the skies opened up and rained all night long.
Cimp and I decided we would get up early to play St. Andrews. We were prepared for a wet day on such a famous course. When we left the hotel, there were only high thin clouds. We were both too nervous to jinx ourselves so neither of us discussed the weather for the entire 1 1/2 hour drive...but it kept getting sunnier. As we were about 10 miles from the course, we could see the entire coast absolutely socked in by big clouds. Of course it would rain. After putting on eight layers, winter cap in the bag, a little sunscreen just in case, we set off. It didn't rain a drop! In fact it was about 75 degrees and we were mad we weren't wearing shorts. My biggest problem was what to use to wipe the sweat off of my head.
The day was absolutely fantastic. We played St. Andrews...hard, rolling fairways, littered with pot bunkers and gorse on the sides. There wasn't a range near by though, so we went off cold. At least that's what I'm attributing to my 122. Cimp shot 88. Would have been better but an eagle putt that turned into a birdie putt...then a par putt, then a.... Needless to say the next drive didn't help.
We drove back to Edinburgh to meet up with Erin and Honor (who flew in Friday for the weekend). We toured Edinburgh on Friday afternoon, went out for a great dinner and hit a couple of local pubs. On Saturday...it rained.
Saturday we toured the Edinburgh castle before loading into the rental car for our Erin-guided tour of Scotland. Cimp quickly got the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road...he only ran over the curb a few times. It was nice to have a driver and a tour guide.
We went to the town of Perth and visited the Scone Castle and grounds. We then rented a couple of rooms in a local B&B. Cimp and me in one room, Erin and Honor in the other. It was a debate about how to split them up. One had it's own bathroom, but only one bed. The other had a bed and a day-bed, but no bathroom, it was shared in the hall. Cimp and I had the no bathroom. Apparently Erin and Honor's room was 200 degrees and they didn't share a bed well...I slept great, not what they wanted to hear.
On a recommendation from the host of the B&B, Saturday night we went to a local restaurant that we think was the predecessor of Chile's or TGIF with memorabilia on the walls. OUr hopes were low, but it was great. We followed that with a couple of pubs and dancing. There was a guy at one club who looked just like Jack Black, but danced like Michael Jackson. He was amazing and created a great time.
On Sunday we got up to head for Aberdeen where Erin, Honor and I left Cimp on his own. On the way we took an amazing drive through Scottish mountains and ski areas that were gorgeous. On a stroke of luck we were near Balmoral Castle, but were running late so decided not to stop. When we were driving by though we saw a bunch of people on the side of the road with several police officers. In the middle of nowhere. So of course we parked the car and went to see what the fuss was about. The Queen was across the street in church and was about to drive down the road to the castle where she was staying. We stood there for two minutes and there she was in her Rolls Royce waving to us all. Very cool.
The next stop on the Erin tour of Scotland was the Dunottar Castle on the coast near Stonehaven, south of Aberdeen. This was an amazing castle surrounded by water on three sides. Truly breathtaking.
After Dunottar, Cimp left us at the airport in Aberdeen before heading off for a couple of more days of golfing famous Scottish courses. I've been jealous back at work this week knowing the fun he's having. He gets back in London tonight before headed home to Seattle on Saturday.
Scotland was fantastic...I look forward to going back soon.
Ted
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Wicked
Last night we saw something truly worth writing home about. We went to see Wicked. Anyone coming to London should consider seeing it. It was amazingly done with great costumes, creative storyline and amazing performances. The absolute highlight was the star of the show was Idina Menzel the wicked witch of the west. She won a Tony award for her performance in the show in New York. She absolutely knocked our socks off.
We were able to see the show with Cimp, Jen Bradshaw and her two friends from Seattle. Unfortunately all of our friends recently arrived from Seattle and were suffering from jet lag. Good thing the show was so good to keep them all from having an expensive nap.
Cimp, Erin and I are off to Scotland tonight for a few days of golf and touring. More to come soon.
Ted
We were able to see the show with Cimp, Jen Bradshaw and her two friends from Seattle. Unfortunately all of our friends recently arrived from Seattle and were suffering from jet lag. Good thing the show was so good to keep them all from having an expensive nap.
Cimp, Erin and I are off to Scotland tonight for a few days of golf and touring. More to come soon.
Ted
Thursday, September 07, 2006
New photo feature
Check out the cool new photo feature on the right. Fancy, huh? I'll add more there when we get them.
I'm not sure how it all works, but you can hover over a picture and get the title and then click on a photo for more options.
Let me know if there is other cool stuff I should add. I think there is a way you can subscribe to the blog so that when I post something, you get an email. I'll look into that next...
I'm not sure how it all works, but you can hover over a picture and get the title and then click on a photo for more options.
Let me know if there is other cool stuff I should add. I think there is a way you can subscribe to the blog so that when I post something, you get an email. I'll look into that next...
Bavaria
This past weekend Erin and I spent a long weekend cruising around Bavaria. Erin had to be in Munich for meetings this week, so I went along on Friday afternoon to spend the weekend with her and see a little of southern Germany. It was fantastic...one of the best trips we've had.
We started in Munich on Friday. We wandered around town, ate dinner at a traditional bavarian restaurant. In an effort at being brave I ate pork knuckles. Good, tasted like pork. After that we went to the requisite Hofbrauhaus for enormous beers. Not sure if it was the knuckles or the enormous beer, but it was a bit of a rough night....had to be the knuckles.
On Saturday we rented a car. We drove south on the autobahn to a small town called Bad Tolz. The autobahn was amazing. Our sporty little Fiat shook and rattled along at about 80 mph and we were passed like we were standing still by BMWs, Mercedes, Fords, Porsches...fun to watch. Would have been more fun to be a real car...look for the picture of the little fiat.
Bad Tolz was a very cute little town in the middle of the mountains. Bad means spa and we're never ones to turn down a spa. This one was a little different. The Alpamare spa was really a water park. It featured a few hot pools outside, but also had very fun water slides, a wave pool and a very cool surfing pool. It was fantastic running around like kids with a bunch of kids. Being in the middle of Germany no fear of running into anyone we knew. Fantastic.
The next day we did a day of castles. Both of the castles we saw were built by King Ludwig II who was quite the eccentric. He liked to model everything after Wagner operas. One was the Linderhof built in the middle of knowwhere and modeled on Versailles. The second was Neuschwanstein the model for the Disney Sleeping Beauty castle. It was amazingly nestled in the mountains and it was one castle you really need to work for. There was quite the straight uphill hike to get to it. Seemed even harder after all that work on water slides the day before.
On our way to Neuschwanstein, we got to drive through the tip of Austria, in the alps, as well. It was gorgeous. We've talked about going skiing sometime this winter, and the trip through the alps confirmed that we'll be back in the alps once the snow starts.
We started in Munich on Friday. We wandered around town, ate dinner at a traditional bavarian restaurant. In an effort at being brave I ate pork knuckles. Good, tasted like pork. After that we went to the requisite Hofbrauhaus for enormous beers. Not sure if it was the knuckles or the enormous beer, but it was a bit of a rough night....had to be the knuckles.
On Saturday we rented a car. We drove south on the autobahn to a small town called Bad Tolz. The autobahn was amazing. Our sporty little Fiat shook and rattled along at about 80 mph and we were passed like we were standing still by BMWs, Mercedes, Fords, Porsches...fun to watch. Would have been more fun to be a real car...look for the picture of the little fiat.
Bad Tolz was a very cute little town in the middle of the mountains. Bad means spa and we're never ones to turn down a spa. This one was a little different. The Alpamare spa was really a water park. It featured a few hot pools outside, but also had very fun water slides, a wave pool and a very cool surfing pool. It was fantastic running around like kids with a bunch of kids. Being in the middle of Germany no fear of running into anyone we knew. Fantastic.
The next day we did a day of castles. Both of the castles we saw were built by King Ludwig II who was quite the eccentric. He liked to model everything after Wagner operas. One was the Linderhof built in the middle of knowwhere and modeled on Versailles. The second was Neuschwanstein the model for the Disney Sleeping Beauty castle. It was amazingly nestled in the mountains and it was one castle you really need to work for. There was quite the straight uphill hike to get to it. Seemed even harder after all that work on water slides the day before.
On our way to Neuschwanstein, we got to drive through the tip of Austria, in the alps, as well. It was gorgeous. We've talked about going skiing sometime this winter, and the trip through the alps confirmed that we'll be back in the alps once the snow starts.
Notting Hill Carnival
Sorry for the delays in updates...I know, common theme. So much activity, I've been a little delayed.
Erin's cousin Scott and his girlfriend Reut were in town over the bank holiday weekend (the week before US Labor Day). We had a great time wandering through Camden Market and throughout London. Scott and Reut (pronouced Ray oot) live in Amsterdam, though Scott is getting ready to move to Palo Alto to begin his PhD program at Stanford. We are very impressed. Our only hope is that he can finish and explain to us what computational linguistics is.
While they were in town we went to the Notting Hill Carnival which was not far from our house. The carnival is carribean themed and typically attracts about a million people to the Notting Hill neighborhood. Everyone at work who's been said that it is something we should go to once... It was fun, but a million people is a zoo. One of the most amazing things is that there were no trash cans at all, but tons of trash. I know there aren't a lot of trash cans in a lot of places due to terrorism bomb fears. I'm not sure if that is the same reason as no trash cans there, but I am assuming so. The other amazing feature was the sound systems that were everywhere. Bob Marley was cranking at full volume from massive semi-trucks loaded with speakers surrounded by dancers in full costume.
Unfortunately Scott and Reut couldn't handle the noise and crowd, but Jen, Erin and I drank rum punch, ate jerk chicken and danced the night away. Tons of fun, and some great pictures to prove it.
While it was fun, I think I got my one trip in...not high on the priority list for future years.
Ted
Erin's cousin Scott and his girlfriend Reut were in town over the bank holiday weekend (the week before US Labor Day). We had a great time wandering through Camden Market and throughout London. Scott and Reut (pronouced Ray oot) live in Amsterdam, though Scott is getting ready to move to Palo Alto to begin his PhD program at Stanford. We are very impressed. Our only hope is that he can finish and explain to us what computational linguistics is.
While they were in town we went to the Notting Hill Carnival which was not far from our house. The carnival is carribean themed and typically attracts about a million people to the Notting Hill neighborhood. Everyone at work who's been said that it is something we should go to once... It was fun, but a million people is a zoo. One of the most amazing things is that there were no trash cans at all, but tons of trash. I know there aren't a lot of trash cans in a lot of places due to terrorism bomb fears. I'm not sure if that is the same reason as no trash cans there, but I am assuming so. The other amazing feature was the sound systems that were everywhere. Bob Marley was cranking at full volume from massive semi-trucks loaded with speakers surrounded by dancers in full costume.
Unfortunately Scott and Reut couldn't handle the noise and crowd, but Jen, Erin and I drank rum punch, ate jerk chicken and danced the night away. Tons of fun, and some great pictures to prove it.
While it was fun, I think I got my one trip in...not high on the priority list for future years.
Ted
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Blog upgrade
I upgraded the blog today to a new version from Blogger. I'm not sure what that means yet, except that I finally saw that I need to "approve" comments, no wonder none showed up. All of the comments are now listed.
Be on the lookout for other changes. I am trying to figure out how to make it send you updates when it is updated...I'm still learning.
Ted
Be on the lookout for other changes. I am trying to figure out how to make it send you updates when it is updated...I'm still learning.
Ted
Bath
This past weekend, we decided we need to see more of the UK, more day trips. We decided to go to Bath, which is about a 90 minute train ride west of London. It was fantastic.
The key feature of Bath is that it is the site of Roman baths from about 2000 years ago. We went on a tour of the original roman baths, and it was amazing to see something that old. The most amazing things about the site for me were the fact that original pool has a lead liner, two inches thick, to protect ground water from entering the bath. Still water tight...2000 years later. The other was a story about how they lined one pool with concrete...but that with the fall of the Roman empire, the formula for concrete was lost for 1000 years. Doesn't sound like a "hot" technology, but amazingly interesting...at least to me. The last point of interest was that the Roman bath was covered over by houses for 1300 years, to be discovered again in the 18th century. Now that it has been excavated, it looks like it could easily be converted into a working bath now. It was amazing.
Not only were the Roman baths amazing, but Bath itself was a very lovely little town. Bath is a very cute town, great restaurants and a ton of shopping. We also went to a modern day spa/steam place, Thermae Spa - a very relaxing way to start a daytrip. I highly recommend a daytrip to Bath for anyone coming to visit. Stonehenge is also near by, although we didn't make it there.
The key feature of Bath is that it is the site of Roman baths from about 2000 years ago. We went on a tour of the original roman baths, and it was amazing to see something that old. The most amazing things about the site for me were the fact that original pool has a lead liner, two inches thick, to protect ground water from entering the bath. Still water tight...2000 years later. The other was a story about how they lined one pool with concrete...but that with the fall of the Roman empire, the formula for concrete was lost for 1000 years. Doesn't sound like a "hot" technology, but amazingly interesting...at least to me. The last point of interest was that the Roman bath was covered over by houses for 1300 years, to be discovered again in the 18th century. Now that it has been excavated, it looks like it could easily be converted into a working bath now. It was amazing.
Not only were the Roman baths amazing, but Bath itself was a very lovely little town. Bath is a very cute town, great restaurants and a ton of shopping. We also went to a modern day spa/steam place, Thermae Spa - a very relaxing way to start a daytrip. I highly recommend a daytrip to Bath for anyone coming to visit. Stonehenge is also near by, although we didn't make it there.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Material Girl
Erin's dream came true last night. We went to see Madonna's concert here in London. I'll save all the details for her to retell, but it was a pretty amazing spectacle. It was actually her birthday yesterday...she's 48! She performed at a pretty high energy level for almost 2 hours.
Like any big show, there were lulls, and a big finish in the end. The best part to me was seeing all of the dancers/acrobats, they were pretty amazing. I also liked seeing how Madonna would try to shock the crowd. Is coming out on a giant crucifix with a thorn wreath controversial? I think the only thing really controversial was that someone would be surprised by anything she would do.
All in all, a great show. Not sure it was really worth the outrageous price, but good.
Like any big show, there were lulls, and a big finish in the end. The best part to me was seeing all of the dancers/acrobats, they were pretty amazing. I also liked seeing how Madonna would try to shock the crowd. Is coming out on a giant crucifix with a thorn wreath controversial? I think the only thing really controversial was that someone would be surprised by anything she would do.
All in all, a great show. Not sure it was really worth the outrageous price, but good.
Riding a bike can be dangerous
My newest pleasure in London is riding my new bike around. After shopping in the US and planning to bring one back, I finally realized they were just as cheap in the UK. I bought a new Trek commuter bike. It's pretty nice for a basic, cheap bike...all black, with a rear rack and panier bag. Very practical for riding to work, which I do almost everyday. Better to get sweaty on the bike rather than just standing in the tube. Plus, it's fun to ride through Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace, around Trafalgar Square and up to work. Probably about 25 minutes each way - a little bit faster than taking the tube door to door.
I had my first minor accident yesterday though. After Erin said goodbye and told me to be careful, I pulled the door closed and pinched my finger. (If you've been to our place, you'll remember (or will see eventually) that there is no doorknob. You need to reach your hand inside the mail slot and pull.) I started riding and realized my finger was bleeding. I looked at it and realized the pinch in the mail slot cut my finger nail in half...about halfway down my nail. It's pretty gross.
But, I guess that could really be a tube injury as well. I guess I better focus my safety search on gloves rather than a helmet.
I had my first minor accident yesterday though. After Erin said goodbye and told me to be careful, I pulled the door closed and pinched my finger. (If you've been to our place, you'll remember (or will see eventually) that there is no doorknob. You need to reach your hand inside the mail slot and pull.) I started riding and realized my finger was bleeding. I looked at it and realized the pinch in the mail slot cut my finger nail in half...about halfway down my nail. It's pretty gross.
But, I guess that could really be a tube injury as well. I guess I better focus my safety search on gloves rather than a helmet.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Many visitors
We have had a ton of visitors recently. It's amazing how central London is to the rest of the world and how people find their way to our little Mew.
Kirsten Nesholm stayed with us for a weekend after she roughed it in the south of France for a couple of weeks on her summer vacation. We had a great time wandering around, eating great food, and she and Erin hit the shopping districts pretty hard. Here's a picture of her and Erin.
We also had the good fortune to have Erin's friend, Karen Nachbar, from Cornell in town on business with Morgan Stanley, and is a total foodie (though she thinks that is a derogatory term, but I don't understand why) and made reservations at quite possibly the best restaurant we've ever been to,The Fat Duck....definitely the priciest. It was phenomenal. We actually had Smoked Bacon and Egg Ice Cream ...very good and sardine sorbet...interesting... We're eating a lot of Mac and cheese to make up for the bill though.
After she left, Kirk Johnson, a former Hitachio, now a big cheese at Jobster.com, was here for work as well. We met up at a gastropub in Chelsea. More great food and a couple of Guiness to make sure he could get over the jet lag....
And last, but not least, Kurt Weber from Seattle was in town, also in for Microsoft work. We hit the town on Friday and Saturday nights. After a long week, Erin and I begged out leaving Kurt and Eddie at the bar at about 1am on Friday night (Saturday morning). We saw Kurt again on Saturday and he regaled us with stories involving Polish supermodels, after hour clubs and 6am finishes...and I actually believe him. He had to check out of his hotel early and after I left my phone off inadvertantly on Saturday he wandered over and quickly invited himself to take a nap before doing anything else.
It's been great to see everyone here. We're slow on the visitors for awhile...but feel free to look at the calendar at the bottom of the page for updates on future arrivals.
Ted
Kirsten Nesholm stayed with us for a weekend after she roughed it in the south of France for a couple of weeks on her summer vacation. We had a great time wandering around, eating great food, and she and Erin hit the shopping districts pretty hard. Here's a picture of her and Erin.
We also had the good fortune to have Erin's friend, Karen Nachbar, from Cornell in town on business with Morgan Stanley, and is a total foodie (though she thinks that is a derogatory term, but I don't understand why) and made reservations at quite possibly the best restaurant we've ever been to,The Fat Duck....definitely the priciest. It was phenomenal. We actually had Smoked Bacon and Egg Ice Cream ...very good and sardine sorbet...interesting... We're eating a lot of Mac and cheese to make up for the bill though.
After she left, Kirk Johnson, a former Hitachio, now a big cheese at Jobster.com, was here for work as well. We met up at a gastropub in Chelsea. More great food and a couple of Guiness to make sure he could get over the jet lag....
And last, but not least, Kurt Weber from Seattle was in town, also in for Microsoft work. We hit the town on Friday and Saturday nights. After a long week, Erin and I begged out leaving Kurt and Eddie at the bar at about 1am on Friday night (Saturday morning). We saw Kurt again on Saturday and he regaled us with stories involving Polish supermodels, after hour clubs and 6am finishes...and I actually believe him. He had to check out of his hotel early and after I left my phone off inadvertantly on Saturday he wandered over and quickly invited himself to take a nap before doing anything else.
It's been great to see everyone here. We're slow on the visitors for awhile...but feel free to look at the calendar at the bottom of the page for updates on future arrivals.
Ted
Monday, August 07, 2006
Praha
This weekend’s big adventure took us to Prague. I was very excited about going after all of the wonderful things I’d heard about it. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. I definitely thought Prague had beautiful architecture; the buildings, churches, bridges were all amazing. I think the weather didn’t help my impression much because it was cool, grey and rainy all three days. I guess I thought Prague would be hipper than it turned out to be.
I spent a lot of time wandering around wondering what it is that makes a city seem cool or interesting to me. I’ve certainly thought about the contribution of architecture to coolness, but that must not be it, because there isn’t much architecture better than Prague.
The conclusion I came too is that a cool city is defined by the people who live there and what they are up to. I guess it’s why I (and everyone else) love college towns. There is generally such vibrancy and youth that it infects the rest of the town. I could still feel the impacts of being a former communist state and what it must have been like to live there through the cold war and the soviet occupation. There still wasn’t a lot of new going on there, other than tourist trap restaurants and more caricature artist than the county fair. Even though we saw the castle, the gothic churches in the main square, the old jewish cemetery, I left each of them thinking, where is the soul and the culture? Did it go away with the communists? I have, however, started reading more about Prague to see what I’ve missed. I’ve been reading the Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, It is definitely helping to add another dimension to something I missed in Prague.
It could just be my own ignorance about the cool, hip, soulful and cultural things in Prague, but it made me like London a little bit more. When we got off of the train near our flat, Erin stated how boring the buildings were compared to Prague, but I noticed the hustle and bustle of the city. In that first block I found that I think I like London better than Prague. Who woulda thought?
In other travel news, Erin and I forgot to bring the camera…again. I don’t know why we can’t remember to take it places. We purchased disposable camera number two. It’s hard enough for us to download pictures from our camera when we do take it, but to develop film and then scan them into the computer, you’ll have to see Prague pictures when you come to visit.
Ted
I spent a lot of time wandering around wondering what it is that makes a city seem cool or interesting to me. I’ve certainly thought about the contribution of architecture to coolness, but that must not be it, because there isn’t much architecture better than Prague.
The conclusion I came too is that a cool city is defined by the people who live there and what they are up to. I guess it’s why I (and everyone else) love college towns. There is generally such vibrancy and youth that it infects the rest of the town. I could still feel the impacts of being a former communist state and what it must have been like to live there through the cold war and the soviet occupation. There still wasn’t a lot of new going on there, other than tourist trap restaurants and more caricature artist than the county fair. Even though we saw the castle, the gothic churches in the main square, the old jewish cemetery, I left each of them thinking, where is the soul and the culture? Did it go away with the communists? I have, however, started reading more about Prague to see what I’ve missed. I’ve been reading the Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, It is definitely helping to add another dimension to something I missed in Prague.
It could just be my own ignorance about the cool, hip, soulful and cultural things in Prague, but it made me like London a little bit more. When we got off of the train near our flat, Erin stated how boring the buildings were compared to Prague, but I noticed the hustle and bustle of the city. In that first block I found that I think I like London better than Prague. Who woulda thought?
In other travel news, Erin and I forgot to bring the camera…again. I don’t know why we can’t remember to take it places. We purchased disposable camera number two. It’s hard enough for us to download pictures from our camera when we do take it, but to develop film and then scan them into the computer, you’ll have to see Prague pictures when you come to visit.
Ted
Sunday, July 30, 2006
What we've been up to
Other than the pics I put up today, it's been awhile since we've checked in. We've been busy. We had a great trip back to the US. We had to return to get our work permits finalized. So we are no longer "on vacation" while in London - we are official workers.
We spent four days in NYC visiting Erin's college friends and celebrating the coming birth of Cindy and Shamil's first kid. It was a great time seeing everyone, meeting Laurel's boyfriend Mark and generally having fun. Mark, Shamil and I avoided most of the baby shower stuff since Shamil hooked us up with tickets to a taping of Conan O'Brian and then a trip to the Bronx for a Yankee game. We were also lucky to stay in Greenwich Village at an apartment of a friend of Cindy's who was out of town. So cool to hang out in NYC for a few days, even though it was so hot outside.
After NYC we went to Seattle for a week. It was a little weird to drive by our house and stay at Brian's house a couple of blocks away, but it was great to be back in Seattle. It definitely felt like home. We had an extremely busy week of work, meetings, dinners, catching up with friends etc. The highlights included meeting Kirk and Jen's new arrival Zoey, hanging out at Brian's house including a weekend BBQ he hosted for us, a great dinner at Jen Wells' house in the garden with other Hitachios, hanging out at the Morris house and meeting new arrivals Elle Tindall and Bailey Morris. We spent Saturday morning with Dick and went to our house to "check-in" on Heather and Atria. They are doing a phenomenal job taking care of our house. Best renters we could have possibly gotten. Atria recently made screens for the windows and asked if it would be okay to strip and refinish the doors between the dining room and sun room....absolutely! Thanks Atria. Oh, and I also bought a new suit. Now I can really fit in in London.
Now we're back in London and officially over the jet lag. While I loved being home in Seattle, it reinforced how important it is for us to take full advantage of the time we have in Europe. To take advantage of the slow business time in August we've booked plans to go to Prague next weekend for a long weekend and are nailing down plans to go to Scotland with Cimp when he is in town in September. Golf and distillery tours, plus all the historical sites Erin will make us go to :) will be a blast. I also finally bought a bike. A week back in the sweltering tube made biking to work and elsewhere seem mandatory.
Sorry for the posting delays. I know some people would prefer briefer posts more often, so I'll try.
Ted
We spent four days in NYC visiting Erin's college friends and celebrating the coming birth of Cindy and Shamil's first kid. It was a great time seeing everyone, meeting Laurel's boyfriend Mark and generally having fun. Mark, Shamil and I avoided most of the baby shower stuff since Shamil hooked us up with tickets to a taping of Conan O'Brian and then a trip to the Bronx for a Yankee game. We were also lucky to stay in Greenwich Village at an apartment of a friend of Cindy's who was out of town. So cool to hang out in NYC for a few days, even though it was so hot outside.
After NYC we went to Seattle for a week. It was a little weird to drive by our house and stay at Brian's house a couple of blocks away, but it was great to be back in Seattle. It definitely felt like home. We had an extremely busy week of work, meetings, dinners, catching up with friends etc. The highlights included meeting Kirk and Jen's new arrival Zoey, hanging out at Brian's house including a weekend BBQ he hosted for us, a great dinner at Jen Wells' house in the garden with other Hitachios, hanging out at the Morris house and meeting new arrivals Elle Tindall and Bailey Morris. We spent Saturday morning with Dick and went to our house to "check-in" on Heather and Atria. They are doing a phenomenal job taking care of our house. Best renters we could have possibly gotten. Atria recently made screens for the windows and asked if it would be okay to strip and refinish the doors between the dining room and sun room....absolutely! Thanks Atria. Oh, and I also bought a new suit. Now I can really fit in in London.
Now we're back in London and officially over the jet lag. While I loved being home in Seattle, it reinforced how important it is for us to take full advantage of the time we have in Europe. To take advantage of the slow business time in August we've booked plans to go to Prague next weekend for a long weekend and are nailing down plans to go to Scotland with Cimp when he is in town in September. Golf and distillery tours, plus all the historical sites Erin will make us go to :) will be a blast. I also finally bought a bike. A week back in the sweltering tube made biking to work and elsewhere seem mandatory.
Sorry for the posting delays. I know some people would prefer briefer posts more often, so I'll try.
Ted
How about pictures?
Well, I guess my stall post didn't work. Here are the often requested pictures.
Erin and Ted on the Isle of Wight
Erin and Honor Smith (our Hitachi friend) at the Osbourne house on the Isle of Wight
Here come the Wimbledon photos. First David Han, Erin, Ted and David's friend Stephanie with our queing cards as we enter.
This is Maria Sharapova in practice round. It was cool how close we could get to the practice rounds. I know you may think this is kind of a lame picture, but you need it for the next one. Remember the orange shirt.
Now here is the famous picture of me and Maria Sharapova! I know you're jealous. Really, that's her, see the orange shirt in the background. Thanks to Erin for indulging me with this special remembrance of Wimbledon.
Erin, David and I enjoying the time honored tradition of breakfast at Wimbledon. Actually it was at 4pm during a rain delay. I have to admit that strawberries and cream is a bit overrated.
One more of the two of us at Wimbledon.
More pics to come soon....
Erin and Ted on the Isle of Wight
Erin and Honor Smith (our Hitachi friend) at the Osbourne house on the Isle of Wight
Here come the Wimbledon photos. First David Han, Erin, Ted and David's friend Stephanie with our queing cards as we enter.
This is Maria Sharapova in practice round. It was cool how close we could get to the practice rounds. I know you may think this is kind of a lame picture, but you need it for the next one. Remember the orange shirt.
Now here is the famous picture of me and Maria Sharapova! I know you're jealous. Really, that's her, see the orange shirt in the background. Thanks to Erin for indulging me with this special remembrance of Wimbledon.
Erin, David and I enjoying the time honored tradition of breakfast at Wimbledon. Actually it was at 4pm during a rain delay. I have to admit that strawberries and cream is a bit overrated.
One more of the two of us at Wimbledon.
More pics to come soon....
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Is this thing on?
We returned yesterday from a week and a half in the US (more later). I will also attach pictures soon as I finally found a way to get them off of my camera.
I really enjoyed talking to people while in the US who said they had been reading the blog. I was sure a couple of people were, but I can't really tell. You could, however, leave me a comment in the comment section. Right below each post is a place to comment (others can read it as well). Or you could send me an email, ted_corbett@hotmail.com. It would be interesting to know who actually looks at this. So if you're looking now, take a minute to post a comment and let's see who's actually reading this. I also appreciate ideas about what I should write about too. I've been told, for example, that I'm very detailed...I think that means shorten it up. Will do.
Ted
I really enjoyed talking to people while in the US who said they had been reading the blog. I was sure a couple of people were, but I can't really tell. You could, however, leave me a comment in the comment section. Right below each post is a place to comment (others can read it as well). Or you could send me an email, ted_corbett@hotmail.com. It would be interesting to know who actually looks at this. So if you're looking now, take a minute to post a comment and let's see who's actually reading this. I also appreciate ideas about what I should write about too. I've been told, for example, that I'm very detailed...I think that means shorten it up. Will do.
Ted
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