Howdy folks. Just wanted to let you know that pics have been updated through Josh's visit. Unfortunately, I didn't take a ton of pictures while he was in town because we were out and about, doing a serious amount of walking/touristing.
Josh arrived Wednesday after a bit of travel from Italy and we spent the afternoon catching up at one of Matt and my favorite pubs, the Bull. I never get less excited about introducing our visitors to the amazing beer selection in this country. Never. Matt eventually caught up with us after work and we enjoyed a lovely dinner at another fav, Le Mercury.
On Thursday, Josh and I toured Westminister Abbey, the site of the upcoming Royal Wedding. I thought it was enjoyable, but St. Paul's is a thousand times more awesome. Thursday was also the day of the Parliament vote on increasing student tuition, so we found ourselves sort of RIGHT in the middle of a massive protest...however, we were there early in the day and it was still peaceful. After navigating through the protesters and police, we walked along the south bank of the Thames alllllll the way to Tower Bridge. We mapped our walk once we got home - almost 6 miles!! And we felt it. And celebrated with dinner in Chinatown at my new favorite place, Leong's Legends. Best hot and sour soup ever.
Friday's outing started with an amazing lunch at the Kensington Creperie. They served up some seriously awesome savory crepes. After, we walked (just a couple blocks) to the Natural History Museum, which I have been wanting to visit since we arrived. They have this incredible wildlife photography exhibit - it was the best thing I've seen in a very long while. The exhibit had probably 60+ pictures from all over the world. Ahhhh-mazing. The NHM is a place I will absolutely re-visit.
On Saturday, Matt and Josh headed to Emirates for the Arsenal tour I did a couple weeks ago while I ran errands. We met up with our usual London gang for dinner, which was a blast, as usual. I won't bore you with all the details.
In more exciting news, I started my job on Monday. Yes, I am a working girl again. And so far, enjoying it. It's a little overwhelming because no one besides my fellow Project Officer (who also started yesterday) has this job. So this really isn't any official training. Or instructions. Or anything. Just a list of projects. So Katy (other said Project Officer) and I are working on getting our feet wet. I know things will start to make sense and fall into place and I just need to remember I am (yet again) a newbie. Luckily, Katy and all my other co-workers are awesome. And insanely nice. And funny. Oh and have I mentioned I can walk to work? My record is 11 minutes, but I think I can definitely break that time. It's outstanding.
The two of us working does mean that posts may get shorter - maybe we won't bore you with each and every detail of our days/weekends/trips. A friend of ours is currently heading home from spending a year in France and also blogged about her time in a foreign country, but she kept her blog to mostly observations about the French life with some well-edited comments about trips. We may steal her approach (if Kate doesn't mind)...I think it could be better than our current approach. We'll have to see how the blog evolves as our time here continues. I still can't believe how quickly time has passed...and that we're already heading home next week. Sheer madness.
Annnnd I'm officially out of steam. Hope everyone is getting excited for the holidays! We still haven't set plans for our happy hour, but I'll post/email them once we know details.
Cheers!
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Waffles and Frites and Beer, Oh My!
When we first moved here, everyone told us that it barely snows in London and our research on normal fall/winter temps told us that it rarely drops below freezing. Well, last week, it snowed everyday and while it WAS above 32 most of the week, it was FREEZING. Seriously bone-chilling cold. And I think it's because it's that damp-type of cold. All. The. Time. And even though the rest of the country got more of the white stuff, London only got about 1 inch of snow at the most in a day. But this was enough to totally disrupt the city (as we were warned). Trains were delayed or cancelled. Commute times tripled. All for a measly inch.
We started to get a bit worried because we were leaving for Brussels (first Eurostar trip!!) on Saturday morning. And it was unfortunately justified when our train was cancelled Friday night. Luckily, Eurostar is smart. They stopped selling tickets earlier in the week so anyone without a ticket wasn't going to get on a train, meaning less madness at the train station. And people with cancelled trains could come to the station and they'd put you on the first available. So we decided we'd get up and try to get on the early train to Brussels that left London at 7:00am. And got on the train with no problem! We never would've had such good luck (and ease of travel) back in Chicago.
So off we went! The train was super cool. The ride is only 2 hours from London to Brussels; there are a couple of short stops including Lille, France. It was weird to be in 3 countries in the short span of 2 hours. And you go through the Chunnel of course - but you're only in the tunnel for 20 minutes. Madness.
We arrived in Brussels and checked into our hotel. It was snowing like crazy and the sidewalks were a mess, but we bundled up and ventured to the Grand Place (sort of a city center in Brussels). It was really beautiful. A lot of the architecture in Brussels is gothic and just amazing (pics to be posted soon). We stopped in a restaurant for mussels, frites and delicious Belgian beer. I don't really know if I drank much Belgian beer before our trip, but I know that I love it now. We spent the rest of the day wandering the Christmas markets and drinking gluhwein (yum!!). After a short rest in the hotel, we headed to dinner near the Sablon area at a restaurant called Lola. We started the meal with (and I'm not exaggerating) the best oysters I've ever eaten. They were simply outstanding. Next was a soup that our waiter (who spoke some English) couldn't translate from French. My guess is it was a butternut squash-type soup. It was served with what tasted like french onion dip, to be mixed into the soup. It was also awesome. For entrees, Matt had steak frites and I had a chicken dish with a morel mushroom sauce. We skipped out on dessert with the intention on finding gaufres (waffles) somewhere on our way home. We ended up walking back to Grand Place, where we saw the coolest light show projected on to the Grand Place itself, set to Christmas music. It. Was. SO. Cool. Probably the coolest Christmas thing I've ever seen. We watched the show a couple times and then went to a pub on the square for a beer each and then a vin chaud (similar to gluhwein) for me and a Cecemel (type of chocolate) and chantilly for Matt. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped for a gaufre liege - a type of Belgian waffle with the sugar and goodness baked right in, so there's no mess. Yuuuum.
Sunday morning, we got up and headed back to the train station in hopes of catching a train to Brugges (pronounced Brooge), a smaller Belgian city north of Brussels. In Belgium, the Eurostar will honor your ticket to any other location as long as you travel within 24 hours of your original arrival. So, for example, our original arrival was supposed to be at 11:08. We got to the station just in time to catch a 11:05 to Brugges, so free trip for us!! Barely. Brugges also has a lot of gothic architecture like Brussels, but the added feature of canals, similar to Venice, but not as plentiful. It was very beautiful - and the weather was outstanding. The snow had melted and we had sunshine on and off all day. We (again) wandered the Christmas markets and drank gluhwein (noticing a trend?) then headed to a beer pub. A beer pub in Belgium means that they carry hundreds (not an exaggeration) of Belgian beers. We took pictures of everything we drank. I stuck mostly to Christmas beers while Matt tried all sorts of things. The other thing to know about Belgian beers is that they are a much higher alcohol % than other beers. Everything we drank fell between 8-12% alcohol. Yikes. After a couple drinks at the beer pub, we headed back to a market for "street meat" as Matt called it. It was basically a giant bratwurst with onions and sauerkraut...mmmmm. We watched people ice skate while we ate - arguably the worst bunch of ice skaters we've ever seen. People were falling everywhere. We still had 2 or 3 hours before our train back to Brussels so we headed to yet another beer pub (the better of the two) and had a few more beers each. After a quick 50 minute train ride back to Brussels, we crashed at the hotel for the night.
On Monday, we went in search of 1 of the 2 famous frites caravans in Brussels (apparently, the city could be divided over which cavavan makes better frites). Unfortunately, the first one was closed so we headed to the other caravan. The frites there are fried....twice...in beef fat. And quite tasty. I had mine served with the traditional choice of mayonnaise, while Matt chose bicky ketchup (ketchup with indian spices perhaps?). Did I mention yet that these two servings of frites brought our grand total to 5 servings of frites in 3 days? Yep. I am the world's best dietitian. :) However, as I type this, the thought of eating any type of frite or fry or chip makes my stomach churn. Anyway, after the frites, we shopped around, wandered another Christmas market, each ate 1 more gaufre (stomach churning again) and had a couple more Leffe Noels (beers) before heading to the train station to go back home to London.
All in all, it was a really amazing trip. It forced me to use what little French I know (and a learn a little Dutch, since that is what is mostly spoken in Brugges) and I realized that I'd really like to learn French while I'm over here. Once I start work (next Monday, gulp!), I'll get a better idea of how busy I am, but then I'd really like to take a class at one of the local colleges. Knowing more French will make subsequent trips much easier. I also particularly enjoyed Belgium because it was my first new place since we've been here (not counting Bath) - I'd been to both London and Paris before. So I've got another country under my belt now. Yay!!
Today, we are lucky enough to welcome one Josh Johnson into our home for a visit until Sunday. Not sure what we'll do this week, but I imagine we'll have a lot of fun. I need to have a lot of fun and enjoy the remainder of my freedom since as I mentioned earlier, I start my job at Cancer Research UK on Monday. I'm super excited, but super nervous. So fingers crossed for me, folks!
That's all for now. Please mark your calendars for Tuesday December 28 - we're planning to do drinks (happy hour ish) somewhere in the city. Stay tuned for more details!
See you all SOON! Cheers!!
We started to get a bit worried because we were leaving for Brussels (first Eurostar trip!!) on Saturday morning. And it was unfortunately justified when our train was cancelled Friday night. Luckily, Eurostar is smart. They stopped selling tickets earlier in the week so anyone without a ticket wasn't going to get on a train, meaning less madness at the train station. And people with cancelled trains could come to the station and they'd put you on the first available. So we decided we'd get up and try to get on the early train to Brussels that left London at 7:00am. And got on the train with no problem! We never would've had such good luck (and ease of travel) back in Chicago.
So off we went! The train was super cool. The ride is only 2 hours from London to Brussels; there are a couple of short stops including Lille, France. It was weird to be in 3 countries in the short span of 2 hours. And you go through the Chunnel of course - but you're only in the tunnel for 20 minutes. Madness.
We arrived in Brussels and checked into our hotel. It was snowing like crazy and the sidewalks were a mess, but we bundled up and ventured to the Grand Place (sort of a city center in Brussels). It was really beautiful. A lot of the architecture in Brussels is gothic and just amazing (pics to be posted soon). We stopped in a restaurant for mussels, frites and delicious Belgian beer. I don't really know if I drank much Belgian beer before our trip, but I know that I love it now. We spent the rest of the day wandering the Christmas markets and drinking gluhwein (yum!!). After a short rest in the hotel, we headed to dinner near the Sablon area at a restaurant called Lola. We started the meal with (and I'm not exaggerating) the best oysters I've ever eaten. They were simply outstanding. Next was a soup that our waiter (who spoke some English) couldn't translate from French. My guess is it was a butternut squash-type soup. It was served with what tasted like french onion dip, to be mixed into the soup. It was also awesome. For entrees, Matt had steak frites and I had a chicken dish with a morel mushroom sauce. We skipped out on dessert with the intention on finding gaufres (waffles) somewhere on our way home. We ended up walking back to Grand Place, where we saw the coolest light show projected on to the Grand Place itself, set to Christmas music. It. Was. SO. Cool. Probably the coolest Christmas thing I've ever seen. We watched the show a couple times and then went to a pub on the square for a beer each and then a vin chaud (similar to gluhwein) for me and a Cecemel (type of chocolate) and chantilly for Matt. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped for a gaufre liege - a type of Belgian waffle with the sugar and goodness baked right in, so there's no mess. Yuuuum.
Sunday morning, we got up and headed back to the train station in hopes of catching a train to Brugges (pronounced Brooge), a smaller Belgian city north of Brussels. In Belgium, the Eurostar will honor your ticket to any other location as long as you travel within 24 hours of your original arrival. So, for example, our original arrival was supposed to be at 11:08. We got to the station just in time to catch a 11:05 to Brugges, so free trip for us!! Barely. Brugges also has a lot of gothic architecture like Brussels, but the added feature of canals, similar to Venice, but not as plentiful. It was very beautiful - and the weather was outstanding. The snow had melted and we had sunshine on and off all day. We (again) wandered the Christmas markets and drank gluhwein (noticing a trend?) then headed to a beer pub. A beer pub in Belgium means that they carry hundreds (not an exaggeration) of Belgian beers. We took pictures of everything we drank. I stuck mostly to Christmas beers while Matt tried all sorts of things. The other thing to know about Belgian beers is that they are a much higher alcohol % than other beers. Everything we drank fell between 8-12% alcohol. Yikes. After a couple drinks at the beer pub, we headed back to a market for "street meat" as Matt called it. It was basically a giant bratwurst with onions and sauerkraut...mmmmm. We watched people ice skate while we ate - arguably the worst bunch of ice skaters we've ever seen. People were falling everywhere. We still had 2 or 3 hours before our train back to Brussels so we headed to yet another beer pub (the better of the two) and had a few more beers each. After a quick 50 minute train ride back to Brussels, we crashed at the hotel for the night.
On Monday, we went in search of 1 of the 2 famous frites caravans in Brussels (apparently, the city could be divided over which cavavan makes better frites). Unfortunately, the first one was closed so we headed to the other caravan. The frites there are fried....twice...in beef fat. And quite tasty. I had mine served with the traditional choice of mayonnaise, while Matt chose bicky ketchup (ketchup with indian spices perhaps?). Did I mention yet that these two servings of frites brought our grand total to 5 servings of frites in 3 days? Yep. I am the world's best dietitian. :) However, as I type this, the thought of eating any type of frite or fry or chip makes my stomach churn. Anyway, after the frites, we shopped around, wandered another Christmas market, each ate 1 more gaufre (stomach churning again) and had a couple more Leffe Noels (beers) before heading to the train station to go back home to London.
All in all, it was a really amazing trip. It forced me to use what little French I know (and a learn a little Dutch, since that is what is mostly spoken in Brugges) and I realized that I'd really like to learn French while I'm over here. Once I start work (next Monday, gulp!), I'll get a better idea of how busy I am, but then I'd really like to take a class at one of the local colleges. Knowing more French will make subsequent trips much easier. I also particularly enjoyed Belgium because it was my first new place since we've been here (not counting Bath) - I'd been to both London and Paris before. So I've got another country under my belt now. Yay!!
Today, we are lucky enough to welcome one Josh Johnson into our home for a visit until Sunday. Not sure what we'll do this week, but I imagine we'll have a lot of fun. I need to have a lot of fun and enjoy the remainder of my freedom since as I mentioned earlier, I start my job at Cancer Research UK on Monday. I'm super excited, but super nervous. So fingers crossed for me, folks!
That's all for now. Please mark your calendars for Tuesday December 28 - we're planning to do drinks (happy hour ish) somewhere in the city. Stay tuned for more details!
See you all SOON! Cheers!!
Monday, 29 November 2010
Long. Overdue.
I know, I know, I know. We've been atrocious at blogging in a timely manner this month. We promise to improve going forward.
November has gone by incredibly quickly and we've been busy - hence, the lack of blogging. We'll go backwards again to the weekend we celebrated our friend Mike's 30th birthday. The evening started with a really, really awesome dinner at a Moroccan restaurant called Momo. We didn't have to sit on the floor, but we did sit in chairs that were shorter than the norm. I don't remember the name of my dish, but it was lamb and it was delicious. And much to our pleasant surprise, as we were enjoying our mains, the lights of the restaurant dimmed and the music became much louder and there was lots of dancing, clapping, etc from the staff - including a belly-dancer-type. It was really fun. After dinner, we had enough time for 1 drink at a nearby pub before heading to the ICEBAR for our 40 minutes time slot. Yes, 40 minutes. Prior to entering the bar, we thought 40 minutes was way too short. We were wrong. We were ready to go after about 30 minutes. Everything in the bar is made of ice - the walls, the actual bar itself, the cups you drink out of (not the floor, thankfully). You pay an entrance fee that includes a drink once inside the bar and before you walk into the bar area which is kept at a steamy 23 degrees (F), they give you a cloak/cape thing with gloves attached. If you're me, you might also bring leg warmers too (see pics for evidence). We had a wonderful time taking lots of pictures and I licked a lot of walls...because I could! It's ice!! After the ICEBAR, the night ended with drinks and dancing at another bar near Regent Street. And also possibly some yummy Chinese food in Chinatown if you're Matt and me. :)
We spent Sunday recovering from Saturday and watching Arsenal (go Arsenal!) and Chelsea (booooo) football games with Brock - and a bit of the Bears game before trying Vietnamese food for the first time. I cannot believe that it took me moving to London to try Vietnamese food, REAL Chinese food, Turkish food, Indian food...and the list goes on. I'm super in-love with the ethnic food here...I think I've mentioned that before? :) Luckily, we had the chance to frequent our favorite Indian restaurant the following Wednesday because we had visitors who wanted Indian food...
My friend Melissa (from Rush) and her fiance Matt came into London the following Wednesday morning and we took a tour of Emirates Stadium (the Arsenal stadium) - which totally rocked. Matt is a big Arsenal fan and had never taken the tour before. It allowed us a chance to sit in the fancy chairs where the directors sit, a peek at the locker room and my favorite part, an opportunity to sit in another set of fancy and very comfortable chairs down on the field where the manager, team doctor, physiotherapist, etc. sit. Very comfy. We met (my) Matt and Anas (a friend of Matt and Melissa's) at Tiger Spice (note: favorite Indian restaurant) for dinner later that evening. One of these days, we'll try another place, but it's SO GOOD there. Mmmmm.
On Thursday, my Matt headed off to work and Melissa, her Matt and I headed to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was, by far, my favorite place in London yet. We spent 2 hours wandering around and also climbed a total of 532 (ish) steps to take in not 1, but 2 panoramic views of the city. Our leg muscles were literally shaking by the time we got back to ground level. We met Anas for lunch near St. Paul's and then I sent Matt and Melissa back on the train to southeast England where Matt's family is from. Always so fun to have visitors here! For those of you considering a visit, please note you are fed well and we promise a good time.
But to back up for a second - when Matt, Melissa and I were "tubing" back to our flat before their departure, my phone beeped with a voicemail, but the phone number hadn't registered. I figured it was Matt and thought nothing of it...until I checked my voicemail after my visitors headed into the rain and it was the woman who had interviewed me for the job back in October (who told me that I was their second-choice). The gist of her message was that Cancer Research UK had gotten extra funding for a second position and they were offering me the job. AHHHHH! It was serious madness. There was lots of smiling and jumping and no one home to witness my celebration, thankfully. I calmed down enough to call my new boss back and VERY happily accept the position. They wanted me to start at the same time as first choice girl on Monday December 13 (and were fine with me leaving for the states the following week for Christmas - awesome). So as I sit here (finally) blogging, I have 2 weeks of freedom left before I am employed. My title will be Research Projects Officer and from what I know, a lot of my responsibilities will be figured out after starting (there is a laundry list of possible projects), but it will most likely include assisting with clinical trial work. In short, a perfect job for me. I couldn't be more excited. AND they just moved to a new building that happens to be located about 0.6 miles from our flat, which means I will be walking to work. Walking. To. Work. I might start jumping up and down again at any moment. Stay tuned for more details once I start in a couple weeks.
The weekend following the job offer was spent visiting the Tower of London during the day on Saturday - finally saw the crown jewels, wowsa - and then celebrating our friend Nick's birthday at a visually uninspiring, but super-delicious (and authentic!) Italian restaurant down the road, ending the night at this...well...pub/dance club also close to home. They have a normal pub scene in the front of the space and a dance floor with a DJ in the back room...with a floor that has squares that light up. It's a great place for people-watching and one of Nick's fav places - which is why we continued his birthday celebration there. With him donning a spectacular "birthday boy" sash (courtesy of yours truly). Another great night with great friends.
Matt and I slept in the following day and then happily wandered across the street from our flat for a Sunday roast - the best we've had yet. We really are spoiled by our location. It is literally surrounded by good restaurants and fun shopping. And pubs, of course. Anyway, the roast was followed by some Christmas shopping in Covent Garden and yet another amazing dinner in Chinatown. Upon our return to Chicago, I hope I can count on some of you to trek down to Chinatown with me so I can eat proper Chinese food.
I spent the next week literally running around London finding Thanksgiving supplies. I did have time for a quick shopping/lunch date with my friends Theresa and Gemma (and Gemma's adorable 6-month old, Fiona) to wander Northcote Road. But yes, the remainder was filled with turkey-related errands. Because everyone was working Thursday, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday. Sandy came over early Saturday morning so we could start cooking. We stuffed our British turkey and just barely crammed him into the oven. I couldn't find turkey bags, which my family uses to keep the turkey moist, so at my dad's suggestion, we soaked a cloth in butter and covered the turkey. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, the cloth dried out and started to produce this awful burning, non-Thanksgiving-smelling smell so the t-shirt was ditched and we used foil instead. And basted the bird. A lot. While the turkey hung out in the oven, Sandy prepared a broccoli dish and I made my family's traditional carrot casserole. We made mashed potatoes and heated gravy. I had made homemade cranberry sauce earlier in the week and we served it both hot and cold. Given our limited space and supplies, dinner was fantastic. Sandy and I might still be patting ourselves on the back. I also baked a pumpkin pie from scratch (and made pie crust from scratch for the first time!!) which we enjoyed for dessert, along with Belgian chocolates that Brock brought along from his very recent visit to Brussels and Bruges. And we enjoyed a lot of wine. The evening was capped with games of Bananagrams and Trains. While we all missed our families, it was awesome to spend the holiday celebrating with our London gang.
It's hard to believe that Matt and I are headed back to the states in less than 4 weeks. And that we're going on 5 months of residing in London. Crazy. Time has FLOWN. And we still have a lot going on before we head home! We're going to an Arsenal game (my first, Matt's second) on Tuesday. We leave for a weekend trip to Brussels on Saturday (staying through Monday), planning to hit up the Christmas markets, eat frites, mussels, chocolate, waffles and drink Belgian beer. And hoping to head to Bruges for a quick day trip. Cannot wait!! And the best excitement to look forward to? We recently learned that our favorite Josh Johnson is heading to Italy for work for the next 2 weeks and has made the effort to fly back through London so we could spend a few days together here. YEAH!
I think that's about it. I know I promised updated pics last post. Epic fail. Look for updated pics - again, both October and November albums before Wednesday.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
November has gone by incredibly quickly and we've been busy - hence, the lack of blogging. We'll go backwards again to the weekend we celebrated our friend Mike's 30th birthday. The evening started with a really, really awesome dinner at a Moroccan restaurant called Momo. We didn't have to sit on the floor, but we did sit in chairs that were shorter than the norm. I don't remember the name of my dish, but it was lamb and it was delicious. And much to our pleasant surprise, as we were enjoying our mains, the lights of the restaurant dimmed and the music became much louder and there was lots of dancing, clapping, etc from the staff - including a belly-dancer-type. It was really fun. After dinner, we had enough time for 1 drink at a nearby pub before heading to the ICEBAR for our 40 minutes time slot. Yes, 40 minutes. Prior to entering the bar, we thought 40 minutes was way too short. We were wrong. We were ready to go after about 30 minutes. Everything in the bar is made of ice - the walls, the actual bar itself, the cups you drink out of (not the floor, thankfully). You pay an entrance fee that includes a drink once inside the bar and before you walk into the bar area which is kept at a steamy 23 degrees (F), they give you a cloak/cape thing with gloves attached. If you're me, you might also bring leg warmers too (see pics for evidence). We had a wonderful time taking lots of pictures and I licked a lot of walls...because I could! It's ice!! After the ICEBAR, the night ended with drinks and dancing at another bar near Regent Street. And also possibly some yummy Chinese food in Chinatown if you're Matt and me. :)
We spent Sunday recovering from Saturday and watching Arsenal (go Arsenal!) and Chelsea (booooo) football games with Brock - and a bit of the Bears game before trying Vietnamese food for the first time. I cannot believe that it took me moving to London to try Vietnamese food, REAL Chinese food, Turkish food, Indian food...and the list goes on. I'm super in-love with the ethnic food here...I think I've mentioned that before? :) Luckily, we had the chance to frequent our favorite Indian restaurant the following Wednesday because we had visitors who wanted Indian food...
My friend Melissa (from Rush) and her fiance Matt came into London the following Wednesday morning and we took a tour of Emirates Stadium (the Arsenal stadium) - which totally rocked. Matt is a big Arsenal fan and had never taken the tour before. It allowed us a chance to sit in the fancy chairs where the directors sit, a peek at the locker room and my favorite part, an opportunity to sit in another set of fancy and very comfortable chairs down on the field where the manager, team doctor, physiotherapist, etc. sit. Very comfy. We met (my) Matt and Anas (a friend of Matt and Melissa's) at Tiger Spice (note: favorite Indian restaurant) for dinner later that evening. One of these days, we'll try another place, but it's SO GOOD there. Mmmmm.
On Thursday, my Matt headed off to work and Melissa, her Matt and I headed to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was, by far, my favorite place in London yet. We spent 2 hours wandering around and also climbed a total of 532 (ish) steps to take in not 1, but 2 panoramic views of the city. Our leg muscles were literally shaking by the time we got back to ground level. We met Anas for lunch near St. Paul's and then I sent Matt and Melissa back on the train to southeast England where Matt's family is from. Always so fun to have visitors here! For those of you considering a visit, please note you are fed well and we promise a good time.
But to back up for a second - when Matt, Melissa and I were "tubing" back to our flat before their departure, my phone beeped with a voicemail, but the phone number hadn't registered. I figured it was Matt and thought nothing of it...until I checked my voicemail after my visitors headed into the rain and it was the woman who had interviewed me for the job back in October (who told me that I was their second-choice). The gist of her message was that Cancer Research UK had gotten extra funding for a second position and they were offering me the job. AHHHHH! It was serious madness. There was lots of smiling and jumping and no one home to witness my celebration, thankfully. I calmed down enough to call my new boss back and VERY happily accept the position. They wanted me to start at the same time as first choice girl on Monday December 13 (and were fine with me leaving for the states the following week for Christmas - awesome). So as I sit here (finally) blogging, I have 2 weeks of freedom left before I am employed. My title will be Research Projects Officer and from what I know, a lot of my responsibilities will be figured out after starting (there is a laundry list of possible projects), but it will most likely include assisting with clinical trial work. In short, a perfect job for me. I couldn't be more excited. AND they just moved to a new building that happens to be located about 0.6 miles from our flat, which means I will be walking to work. Walking. To. Work. I might start jumping up and down again at any moment. Stay tuned for more details once I start in a couple weeks.
The weekend following the job offer was spent visiting the Tower of London during the day on Saturday - finally saw the crown jewels, wowsa - and then celebrating our friend Nick's birthday at a visually uninspiring, but super-delicious (and authentic!) Italian restaurant down the road, ending the night at this...well...pub/dance club also close to home. They have a normal pub scene in the front of the space and a dance floor with a DJ in the back room...with a floor that has squares that light up. It's a great place for people-watching and one of Nick's fav places - which is why we continued his birthday celebration there. With him donning a spectacular "birthday boy" sash (courtesy of yours truly). Another great night with great friends.
Matt and I slept in the following day and then happily wandered across the street from our flat for a Sunday roast - the best we've had yet. We really are spoiled by our location. It is literally surrounded by good restaurants and fun shopping. And pubs, of course. Anyway, the roast was followed by some Christmas shopping in Covent Garden and yet another amazing dinner in Chinatown. Upon our return to Chicago, I hope I can count on some of you to trek down to Chinatown with me so I can eat proper Chinese food.
I spent the next week literally running around London finding Thanksgiving supplies. I did have time for a quick shopping/lunch date with my friends Theresa and Gemma (and Gemma's adorable 6-month old, Fiona) to wander Northcote Road. But yes, the remainder was filled with turkey-related errands. Because everyone was working Thursday, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday. Sandy came over early Saturday morning so we could start cooking. We stuffed our British turkey and just barely crammed him into the oven. I couldn't find turkey bags, which my family uses to keep the turkey moist, so at my dad's suggestion, we soaked a cloth in butter and covered the turkey. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, the cloth dried out and started to produce this awful burning, non-Thanksgiving-smelling smell so the t-shirt was ditched and we used foil instead. And basted the bird. A lot. While the turkey hung out in the oven, Sandy prepared a broccoli dish and I made my family's traditional carrot casserole. We made mashed potatoes and heated gravy. I had made homemade cranberry sauce earlier in the week and we served it both hot and cold. Given our limited space and supplies, dinner was fantastic. Sandy and I might still be patting ourselves on the back. I also baked a pumpkin pie from scratch (and made pie crust from scratch for the first time!!) which we enjoyed for dessert, along with Belgian chocolates that Brock brought along from his very recent visit to Brussels and Bruges. And we enjoyed a lot of wine. The evening was capped with games of Bananagrams and Trains. While we all missed our families, it was awesome to spend the holiday celebrating with our London gang.
It's hard to believe that Matt and I are headed back to the states in less than 4 weeks. And that we're going on 5 months of residing in London. Crazy. Time has FLOWN. And we still have a lot going on before we head home! We're going to an Arsenal game (my first, Matt's second) on Tuesday. We leave for a weekend trip to Brussels on Saturday (staying through Monday), planning to hit up the Christmas markets, eat frites, mussels, chocolate, waffles and drink Belgian beer. And hoping to head to Bruges for a quick day trip. Cannot wait!! And the best excitement to look forward to? We recently learned that our favorite Josh Johnson is heading to Italy for work for the next 2 weeks and has made the effort to fly back through London so we could spend a few days together here. YEAH!
I think that's about it. I know I promised updated pics last post. Epic fail. Look for updated pics - again, both October and November albums before Wednesday.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Monday, 8 November 2010
Remember, Remember the 5th of November.
We got to celebrate our first Bonfire night/Guy Fawkes' day this weekend. It's a holiday that Matt could certainly shed more historic detail on, but basically, it's a celebration of the failure of a man named Guy Fawkes in his quest to blow up Parliament back in 1605. And they celebrate with fireworks and bonfires...and more fireworks. After I enjoyed a lovely day of shopping on King's Road with Sandy, we met up with friends and headed to Battersea Park for a bonfire and fireworks. We all enjoyed mulled wine and Dutch beer until they lit the bonfire, which was HUGE, and wonderfully warm. Soon after, we watched 20 minutes of fireworks set to music and then joined the masses of people as we tried to exit the park through "single-file" type gates. It was a bit challenging to say the least. Our group of 10 got a bit separated as we made our way across the Thames into Chelsea to a gastropub called the Pig's Ear. But all successfully arrived at the restaurant and we enjoyed an extremely cozy meal complete with 6 bottles of a yummy South African Shiraz (note: I am currently obsessed with South African wines - they are the best!). The night continued with a pint at a pub in Chelsea (who may or may not now be short of 1 Staropramen pint glass) and then those of us from Islington piled into a cab and headed back home.
Matt and I lazy-ed around on Sunday until Sandy, Mike and Nick joined us for the Bears/Bills game (Bears win!!). We enjoyed libations and pizza and capped the night with a mini youtube marathon (they had never seen Handsome Men's Club - my fav!). All in all, another successful weekend.
I know I need to update pictures, which I promise to do this week - look for new pics to be added to the October link and a soon-to-be-added November link. Also on the agenda for the week is a local art/craft fair and hopefully a trip to the Natural History Museum to see an exhibit of wildlife photography. Today is another one of those insanely gray, rainy days in London - I don't know if I'll ever get used to these, but they make me appreciate sunshine more than I ever have before.
Anyway, we're looking forward to a wonderful weekend ahead celebrating Mike's 30th birthday - complete with a visit to the ICEBAR in London. Oh I am just so stoked. Stay tuned for details next week. Oh and my friend Melissa and her fiance Matt are visiting next week as well - hooray for visitors!!!
Hope everyone is well! Cheers!
Matt and I lazy-ed around on Sunday until Sandy, Mike and Nick joined us for the Bears/Bills game (Bears win!!). We enjoyed libations and pizza and capped the night with a mini youtube marathon (they had never seen Handsome Men's Club - my fav!). All in all, another successful weekend.
I know I need to update pictures, which I promise to do this week - look for new pics to be added to the October link and a soon-to-be-added November link. Also on the agenda for the week is a local art/craft fair and hopefully a trip to the Natural History Museum to see an exhibit of wildlife photography. Today is another one of those insanely gray, rainy days in London - I don't know if I'll ever get used to these, but they make me appreciate sunshine more than I ever have before.
Anyway, we're looking forward to a wonderful weekend ahead celebrating Mike's 30th birthday - complete with a visit to the ICEBAR in London. Oh I am just so stoked. Stay tuned for details next week. Oh and my friend Melissa and her fiance Matt are visiting next week as well - hooray for visitors!!!
Hope everyone is well! Cheers!
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
November already??
We cannot BELIEVE it's November already. We've been here for nearly 11 weeks and it's flown by. Makes me think that February 2012 will be here tomorrow so we continue to make the most of our time here...
Last weekend was a bit of a drinking fest and while we had a really great time, Matt and I both agree that our post-college bodies cannot handle 3 solid days of drinking in a row. Friday night was a KPMG happy hour for other secondees - we didn't do much mingling so much as chatting up our Buffalo friends, oh well. Afterward, Matt, Sandy, Mike and myself headed to Chinatown for dinner - to the Friendly Inn where, according to NFT, Londoners go for Chinese - and it was SO good, the best Chinese we've had since we've been here (with the exception of dim sum - but that's a whole different category). Our dinner was further enhanced by a hilarious old Chinese woman that repeatedly told the boys how to treat women. Awesome. By the time we left, the waffle man had packed up for the day, but fear not, we got waffles the next day. And the waffle man officially recognized us. Score.
Saturday, Matt and I got up and headed back to Chinatown for a dim sum lunch. We went back to the same place where Scottie, Sarah and I ate dim sum a few weeks ago because I knew what to order (they don't have pictures on the menu and the descriptions are quite short, which makes it more difficult to have any clue what you're ordering). Mmmmm, it was so good. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a bit obsessed with Chinatown. It's my favorite place to go in the city. But back to the meal, Matt enjoyed dim sum quite a bit and we topped the meal off with the above-mentioned waffles. We spent the afternoon FINALLY getting Matt an Arsenal jersey and wandering up Regent Street.
Saturday night, we headed to a Halloween party that we were invited to by a friend of mine from yoga. The party is the only social gathering her husband's company puts on during the year so they foot the bill. For SIX HOURS OF OPEN BAR (9pm-3am). You can guess how great we felt come Sunday morning. The party was really fun and we made some friends from Canada, Australia and the states. We dressed as an outlet and plug - pictures to be posted soon.
Side note: I often update the pics but forget to mention it in a post so you'll just have to check the folders on the right side of the blog from time to time.
People LOVED our costumes, which made Matt very happy because the costume was his idea, and all night, we had to show people how you could actually insert the plug into the outlet. Yup. Most people in Britain only dress up as "scary" things for Halloween, but our party was full of funny costumes like a character from Fraggle Rock, a shark with human legs coming out of its mouth and a giant weird pink monster thing. We called it a night around 1am and may or may not have grabbed a PJ pizza on the way home.
Sunday morning was rough, but we dragged ourselves out of bed to meet friends for a roast on Baker Street. For those unfamiliar, it's quite common for many pubs to have a "roast" on Sundays, meaning they'll serve beef, chicken, pork and vegetarian roast dishes with lots of yummy roasted vegetables. So 10 of us met up to enjoy delicious food and then we all headed to Wembley Stadium, where the Broncos and 49ers game was. We had a great time enjoying real football...or whatever game the Broncos and 49ers were pretending to play. All in all, one of the best weekends we've had since we've arrived.
Day-to-day life is going well too. Matt's doing well at work and is staying very busy. I had an interview last week for a position with a group called Cancer Research UK, but did not get the job. I got feedback this week and found out I was their second choice. Bah. Oh well, I continue to apply and stay positive. Matt is considering running a half marathon in the spring with Sandy and Mike - it's in Paris! - but is deciding if training can fit into his schedule. I wouldn't argue with another trip to Paris. :)
That's it for now. Hope all is going well back at home. Oh and I'd like to congratulate Lisa and Kevin on the birth of their adorable son, Lucas Ervin!
Cheers!
Last weekend was a bit of a drinking fest and while we had a really great time, Matt and I both agree that our post-college bodies cannot handle 3 solid days of drinking in a row. Friday night was a KPMG happy hour for other secondees - we didn't do much mingling so much as chatting up our Buffalo friends, oh well. Afterward, Matt, Sandy, Mike and myself headed to Chinatown for dinner - to the Friendly Inn where, according to NFT, Londoners go for Chinese - and it was SO good, the best Chinese we've had since we've been here (with the exception of dim sum - but that's a whole different category). Our dinner was further enhanced by a hilarious old Chinese woman that repeatedly told the boys how to treat women. Awesome. By the time we left, the waffle man had packed up for the day, but fear not, we got waffles the next day. And the waffle man officially recognized us. Score.
Saturday, Matt and I got up and headed back to Chinatown for a dim sum lunch. We went back to the same place where Scottie, Sarah and I ate dim sum a few weeks ago because I knew what to order (they don't have pictures on the menu and the descriptions are quite short, which makes it more difficult to have any clue what you're ordering). Mmmmm, it was so good. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a bit obsessed with Chinatown. It's my favorite place to go in the city. But back to the meal, Matt enjoyed dim sum quite a bit and we topped the meal off with the above-mentioned waffles. We spent the afternoon FINALLY getting Matt an Arsenal jersey and wandering up Regent Street.
Saturday night, we headed to a Halloween party that we were invited to by a friend of mine from yoga. The party is the only social gathering her husband's company puts on during the year so they foot the bill. For SIX HOURS OF OPEN BAR (9pm-3am). You can guess how great we felt come Sunday morning. The party was really fun and we made some friends from Canada, Australia and the states. We dressed as an outlet and plug - pictures to be posted soon.
Side note: I often update the pics but forget to mention it in a post so you'll just have to check the folders on the right side of the blog from time to time.
People LOVED our costumes, which made Matt very happy because the costume was his idea, and all night, we had to show people how you could actually insert the plug into the outlet. Yup. Most people in Britain only dress up as "scary" things for Halloween, but our party was full of funny costumes like a character from Fraggle Rock, a shark with human legs coming out of its mouth and a giant weird pink monster thing. We called it a night around 1am and may or may not have grabbed a PJ pizza on the way home.
Sunday morning was rough, but we dragged ourselves out of bed to meet friends for a roast on Baker Street. For those unfamiliar, it's quite common for many pubs to have a "roast" on Sundays, meaning they'll serve beef, chicken, pork and vegetarian roast dishes with lots of yummy roasted vegetables. So 10 of us met up to enjoy delicious food and then we all headed to Wembley Stadium, where the Broncos and 49ers game was. We had a great time enjoying real football...or whatever game the Broncos and 49ers were pretending to play. All in all, one of the best weekends we've had since we've arrived.
Day-to-day life is going well too. Matt's doing well at work and is staying very busy. I had an interview last week for a position with a group called Cancer Research UK, but did not get the job. I got feedback this week and found out I was their second choice. Bah. Oh well, I continue to apply and stay positive. Matt is considering running a half marathon in the spring with Sandy and Mike - it's in Paris! - but is deciding if training can fit into his schedule. I wouldn't argue with another trip to Paris. :)
That's it for now. Hope all is going well back at home. Oh and I'd like to congratulate Lisa and Kevin on the birth of their adorable son, Lucas Ervin!
Cheers!
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Random List
So I've had a lot of random thoughts since arriving in this country, but rarely do they logically fit into a post so here is a list of things that I've decided to share whether they interest my reader or not. :) Plus, I'm curious to reflect back on these thoughts at some point in the future.
Cheers!
- There are a LOT of different types of a British accent; however, I still get excited when I hear a certain "twang" that makes me think for a second that I'm in a Harry Potter movie.
- In some areas of the city (Northcote Road, Islington after 10am), I really think it's required for women to be pregnant or pushing a stroller/pram/pushchair. It's like babies/baby bumps are a hot, new accessory. I, of course, feel happily left out of this trend.
- Some things really are more expensive and it doesn't bother me until it crosses into ridiculously more expensive. For example, I wanted to buy a clear OPI nail polish. At home, this would cost me $6-8. Here it costs 10 GBP, which equals $15. That is just not right.
- I miss Chicago shopping. I do. Mostly Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's. Besides Selfridges (and I guess Harrod's), I am unimpressed in the department store arena. There are a lot of other great stores and boutiques here. But I really miss Nordstrom.
- Because there's no Thanksgiving here (boooooo), they start creating holiday/Christmas displays in the windows and putting up lights sooner. Like 2 weeks ago. I love Christmas, but there is a line.
- Starbucks does not have pumpkin spice lattes here. And they don't sell candy corn. C'mon - autumn totally exists here!! Where is the love?
- I miss Cosmo. A lot. There is a nice man named James with an orange tabby cat named Bob who frequents the entrance to our tube stop in the morning. James is a "musician who has fallen on hard times" so I suppose you could also call him a panhandler. But Bob is the coolest cat on this side of the pond and every time I pass them, I consider stealing him and running for home.
- Are you bored with my list yet? Too bad.
- We are loving it here, but I am missing the following things in my life: Cosmo, family, friends, the Chicago skyline, Target, normal peanut butter (thanks to Sarah and Scottie and a jar of Jif, I am doing ok in this category right now), GOOD Mexican food, those tortilla chips that come in the green bag, normal health care system, Panera, Portillo's, Jimmy Johns...is it sad that it's mostly food-related?
- And here is why we love it here: we live in a very cozy flat in a very amazing location, Le Mercury, Rabieng, Nakhon Thai, Selfridges (namely, the shoe galleries), Chelsea, shopping in Chelsea, pretending to be able to shop in Mayfair, the beer, the pubs, drinking said beer at said pubs with our favorite ex-pats from Chicago and Buffalo, the tube, people-watching, the history, theatre, the Waitrose in Canary Wharf, Borough Market, Tiger Spice, dim sum, special Chinese waffles, the Inbetweeners, the Lion Man, learning how to live in very cool and old city.
Cheers!
Monday, 18 October 2010
Bonjour!
Our weekend in Paris was amazing! We arrived Friday morning and after a couple rides on public transport, we made our way to our hotel in the Louvre district (we were about a 10 minute walk) and dropped off our luggage. We walked to the Louvre and strolled around the Jardin des Tuileries and ate baguette sandwiches (shocking choice for Paris, I know) and just enjoyed the sights of Paris for a little while. Then we headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit and then headed to dinner at Spring, a restaurant also in the Louvre district about 10 minutes from our hotel.
Dinner. Was. Amazing.
Seriously. We've been lucky enough to eat some amazing meals in our lifetime, but this one rates in the top 3, no contest. The owner-chef of Spring, Daniel Rose, is American, but the food is unmistakenly French. And delicious. Spring opened just a few months ago in July (they apparently had another location previously) and the wine bar that we sat in just opened in September. Here is a link for my foodie buddies out there if you want more info for future trips to Paris: http://parisbymouth.com/our-guide-to-paris-spring-restaurant/
I pushed myself to learn as much conversational French as possible before our trip, but was relieved that our waiter spoke good English and the bartender in the wine bar was originally from the UK. The menu was still overwhelming so we literally told the waiter that we were hungry and we were up for anything. What followed was a 8-course meal (including dessert) that was out of this world...Matt and I certainly wouldn't have chosen quite so well and we were happy to have put our meal into our waiter's hands. We started with oysters, which was followed by a course of foie gras with lemon gelee served with rustic warm bread. I had never been a huge fan of foie gras, but after that course, I now understand what the fuss is all about. Next, we had a plate of...well, smoked ham pieces? I am no food writer (clearly evidenced by the last sentence), but I'm not sure how to explain what this dish was besides pieces of smoked ham that they freshly carved off a pig's leg from the bar...little crazy, but yummy! Especially since we had begun to drunk the bottle of red that our waiter paired with our meal. He originally suggested a shiraz, but I think we ended up with a French syrah. We took a picture of the bottle in hopes of tracking down a bottle in the UK. It was (again) one of the best wines we'd ever had; every taste was as good as the first. Sigh. But back to the food. Our fourth course was deep fried squid with what I think were carmelized shallots - so essentially calamari, but so light and crispy and delicious! Next, they served us 2 dishes simultaneously: lamb stew and sauteed mushrooms with pomegranate. The lamb stew was perfect for the season and the pomegranate seeds with the mushrooms was unexpected and a variation I will absolutely try on my own. Our last "dinner" dish (yes, we know - lots of courses - luckily most were modestly-sized, but we weren't sure when we were going to be done because we hadn't ordered any of the food) was a tarte of veal sweetbreads. And not a tarte like you'd eat in the states, but more like a savory pie. It was another very seasonal and cozy dish. The whole meal was actually incredibly cozy. For dessert, we were leaning toward a cheese plate until our waiter told us that we could get a "surprise dessert." It's really the only sweet option and the diners never get to know what it is...so obviously, I wanted that because I love surprises. Good decision. Dessert consisted of peanut ice cream, chocolate ice cream, and creme fraiche topped with chocolate wafers, served with an olive oil ganache. The last item seemed an odd choice to serve with the dessert, but the combination of flavors was outstanding and a perfect way to end our perfect meal. After a very cool tour of the wine cellar below the restaurant (accessed by a staircase from the 17th century), we left around midnight and walked back to the Louvre for a view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower at night. It was incredibly romantic. Especially when I called Colette to tell her about the view. :) But I had to pay homage to my first date in Paris - the lovely Ms. Gallagher.
Saturday morning, we woke up and got ready for our trek over to see Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle. Unfortunately, we had some phone/time/clock issues and realized it was actually an hour later than we thought. That was a bummer, but we continued on. The line at Sainte Chapelle was incredibly long so we took a detour to the Latin Quarter to find a boulangerie that supposedly makes the best baguettes in Paris (Eric Kayser). That also took longer than expected and we ended up splitting a baguette for breakfast/lunch. It was good, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. We walked back to Notre Dame, wandered through and then headed back to Sainte Chapelle, where we stood in line until we realized it was not meant to be because we had to head to our next destination.
I had booked us on a 4-hour bike tour of Paris through a group recommended to me by a friend who used to live in Paris (Paris Charms & Secrets) and we needed to meet our group at 2:30pm in the Place Vendome. Upon arrival to the square, we realized we were smack dab in the middle of the finish line of some crazy car race/drive/something called Peking to Paris. At that point, all we know is that it involved lots of people driving old cars and popping champagne all over the place. And honking. Lots and lots of honking. After further research, we now know it's a "motor challenge" to drive the 14,000+ km from Peking to Paris in just 37 days. Here's the website for more info: http://www.pekingparis.com/. Anyhoooo, our bike guide, Siul, found us and informed us that it would just be us 3 on the tour. Score. What followed was a seriously awesome experience. We rode on electric bikes so effort wasn't really an issue because the bikes essentially drove themselves. However, the tour did require us weaving in and out of busy Paris traffic, which I still cannot believe I did without getting hit by a car, but we got to ride all over the city and see the sights in a way that was really special. Because there was only 3 of us and Siul had some serious connections, we got into places that the public isn't usually allowed, like old churches and a small courtyard that contained some of Paris's most expensive addresses (because he knew the gate code, crazy!). But we would hands down recommend this tour to anyone headed to Paris. It was a really, really amazing experience.
After, we wandered around for awhile trying to find something to eat (remember that a baguette=breakfast and lunch), hoping to find something small because we were planning to go to Le Chateaubriand for dinner around 10pm. Unfortunately, our hunger and exhaustion got the best of us and we ended up happily eating pizza in our pajamas and hitting the hay early. Oh well. Next time, Le Chateaubriand.
Sunday, we got up early (and checked that we were accurately aware of the time) and headed to Sainte Chapelle in hopes of avoiding the long lines - mission accomplished. It was my second trip to Sainte Chapelle and I loved it every bit as much as the first time, despite the renovations of part of the stained glass. It's just a beautiful, beautiful church. After, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and wandered over to the Eiffel Tower so Matt could see it close up. By this point, it was freeeezing outside...somewhere in the neighborhood of low 40s with a nasty wind so we took some quick pictures and got back on the metro. We made a quick stop near the Concorde for a crepe with Nutella (for me) and waffle (for Matt) and then went back to the hotel for our luggage and headed to the airport. All-in-all, it was a really memorable weekend and the perfect way for us to celebrate 2 years of marriage.
The only other news to share is that we will be home for the holidays! We'll be in Chicago Dec 27-30 (and Colorado Dec 23-27) and hope to organize some sort of night out in the city to see as many of you as possible. As much as we're enjoying our time here, we definitely miss home. So yay! Christmas!!
Alright, I'm done typing for now. Time for a gym visit to work off some of those good French eats!
Dinner. Was. Amazing.
Seriously. We've been lucky enough to eat some amazing meals in our lifetime, but this one rates in the top 3, no contest. The owner-chef of Spring, Daniel Rose, is American, but the food is unmistakenly French. And delicious. Spring opened just a few months ago in July (they apparently had another location previously) and the wine bar that we sat in just opened in September. Here is a link for my foodie buddies out there if you want more info for future trips to Paris: http://parisbymouth.com/our-guide-to-paris-spring-restaurant/
I pushed myself to learn as much conversational French as possible before our trip, but was relieved that our waiter spoke good English and the bartender in the wine bar was originally from the UK. The menu was still overwhelming so we literally told the waiter that we were hungry and we were up for anything. What followed was a 8-course meal (including dessert) that was out of this world...Matt and I certainly wouldn't have chosen quite so well and we were happy to have put our meal into our waiter's hands. We started with oysters, which was followed by a course of foie gras with lemon gelee served with rustic warm bread. I had never been a huge fan of foie gras, but after that course, I now understand what the fuss is all about. Next, we had a plate of...well, smoked ham pieces? I am no food writer (clearly evidenced by the last sentence), but I'm not sure how to explain what this dish was besides pieces of smoked ham that they freshly carved off a pig's leg from the bar...little crazy, but yummy! Especially since we had begun to drunk the bottle of red that our waiter paired with our meal. He originally suggested a shiraz, but I think we ended up with a French syrah. We took a picture of the bottle in hopes of tracking down a bottle in the UK. It was (again) one of the best wines we'd ever had; every taste was as good as the first. Sigh. But back to the food. Our fourth course was deep fried squid with what I think were carmelized shallots - so essentially calamari, but so light and crispy and delicious! Next, they served us 2 dishes simultaneously: lamb stew and sauteed mushrooms with pomegranate. The lamb stew was perfect for the season and the pomegranate seeds with the mushrooms was unexpected and a variation I will absolutely try on my own. Our last "dinner" dish (yes, we know - lots of courses - luckily most were modestly-sized, but we weren't sure when we were going to be done because we hadn't ordered any of the food) was a tarte of veal sweetbreads. And not a tarte like you'd eat in the states, but more like a savory pie. It was another very seasonal and cozy dish. The whole meal was actually incredibly cozy. For dessert, we were leaning toward a cheese plate until our waiter told us that we could get a "surprise dessert." It's really the only sweet option and the diners never get to know what it is...so obviously, I wanted that because I love surprises. Good decision. Dessert consisted of peanut ice cream, chocolate ice cream, and creme fraiche topped with chocolate wafers, served with an olive oil ganache. The last item seemed an odd choice to serve with the dessert, but the combination of flavors was outstanding and a perfect way to end our perfect meal. After a very cool tour of the wine cellar below the restaurant (accessed by a staircase from the 17th century), we left around midnight and walked back to the Louvre for a view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower at night. It was incredibly romantic. Especially when I called Colette to tell her about the view. :) But I had to pay homage to my first date in Paris - the lovely Ms. Gallagher.
Saturday morning, we woke up and got ready for our trek over to see Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle. Unfortunately, we had some phone/time/clock issues and realized it was actually an hour later than we thought. That was a bummer, but we continued on. The line at Sainte Chapelle was incredibly long so we took a detour to the Latin Quarter to find a boulangerie that supposedly makes the best baguettes in Paris (Eric Kayser). That also took longer than expected and we ended up splitting a baguette for breakfast/lunch. It was good, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. We walked back to Notre Dame, wandered through and then headed back to Sainte Chapelle, where we stood in line until we realized it was not meant to be because we had to head to our next destination.
I had booked us on a 4-hour bike tour of Paris through a group recommended to me by a friend who used to live in Paris (Paris Charms & Secrets) and we needed to meet our group at 2:30pm in the Place Vendome. Upon arrival to the square, we realized we were smack dab in the middle of the finish line of some crazy car race/drive/something called Peking to Paris. At that point, all we know is that it involved lots of people driving old cars and popping champagne all over the place. And honking. Lots and lots of honking. After further research, we now know it's a "motor challenge" to drive the 14,000+ km from Peking to Paris in just 37 days. Here's the website for more info: http://www.pekingparis.com/. Anyhoooo, our bike guide, Siul, found us and informed us that it would just be us 3 on the tour. Score. What followed was a seriously awesome experience. We rode on electric bikes so effort wasn't really an issue because the bikes essentially drove themselves. However, the tour did require us weaving in and out of busy Paris traffic, which I still cannot believe I did without getting hit by a car, but we got to ride all over the city and see the sights in a way that was really special. Because there was only 3 of us and Siul had some serious connections, we got into places that the public isn't usually allowed, like old churches and a small courtyard that contained some of Paris's most expensive addresses (because he knew the gate code, crazy!). But we would hands down recommend this tour to anyone headed to Paris. It was a really, really amazing experience.
After, we wandered around for awhile trying to find something to eat (remember that a baguette=breakfast and lunch), hoping to find something small because we were planning to go to Le Chateaubriand for dinner around 10pm. Unfortunately, our hunger and exhaustion got the best of us and we ended up happily eating pizza in our pajamas and hitting the hay early. Oh well. Next time, Le Chateaubriand.
Sunday, we got up early (and checked that we were accurately aware of the time) and headed to Sainte Chapelle in hopes of avoiding the long lines - mission accomplished. It was my second trip to Sainte Chapelle and I loved it every bit as much as the first time, despite the renovations of part of the stained glass. It's just a beautiful, beautiful church. After, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and wandered over to the Eiffel Tower so Matt could see it close up. By this point, it was freeeezing outside...somewhere in the neighborhood of low 40s with a nasty wind so we took some quick pictures and got back on the metro. We made a quick stop near the Concorde for a crepe with Nutella (for me) and waffle (for Matt) and then went back to the hotel for our luggage and headed to the airport. All-in-all, it was a really memorable weekend and the perfect way for us to celebrate 2 years of marriage.
The only other news to share is that we will be home for the holidays! We'll be in Chicago Dec 27-30 (and Colorado Dec 23-27) and hope to organize some sort of night out in the city to see as many of you as possible. As much as we're enjoying our time here, we definitely miss home. So yay! Christmas!!
Alright, I'm done typing for now. Time for a gym visit to work off some of those good French eats!
Monday, 11 October 2010
Left, left, past the bikes, Harry Potter
The title of this post will make sense by the end of this post. Promise. :)
Matt and I are celebrating 2 years of marriage today. I honestly cannot believe it's already been two years. Insanity. In two years, we've had a lot of amazing times, but have most certainly learned that a successful marriage requires work and effort. Our best advice? Continue to date each other. Forever.
Matt is taking me out to dinner tonight to a surprise location. Yay! And then we leave for Paris on Friday morning for 3 days. I. cannot. wait. My first trip to Paris with Colette was fun, but Paris wasn't what I expected. This time around, I have very different expectations and a long list of recommendations from a couple folks who've lived in Paris. And not that I didn't love our anniversary trip last year, but I think Paris just might trump Galena. :)
Anyway, enough about that. We had an outstanding time while the Kolmans were in town. We took a day trip to Bath 2 Saturdays ago, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Matt wasn't as big of a fan, but can't win 'em all. We did a 2 hour walking tour of the city, had an amazing Italian lunch (thanks Whit and Kate!), walked/shopped/toured the Roman baths, had dinner at a Bistro where Sarah and I enjoyed some delicious french onion soup and headed back to London on the train.
Last Sunday was another day of sports for us - Arsenal/Chelsea, Ryder Cup, a little football at a pub called Jetlag. A much better choice than our usual trip to Bodeans.
Monday, I met Sarah and Scottie at the Tate Modern. I loved the photography exhibits and enjoyed some of the abstract pieces, but I still have trouble understanding how some things qualify as art. The 3 of us met Matt in Chinatown for dinner and finished the evening with a trip to see Les Miserables. It was fabulous!! Really outstanding voices, great stage production. Loved the rotating stage circle.
I took it easy Tuesday-Thursday while the Kolmans were out exploring England countryside and Paris. I did something to my right foot a couple weeks ago - not sure what, but it might've been the combination of 30 day shredding and not wearing shoes (whoops?). Dr. Colette says it sounds like I pulled a ligament (or something) so I'm supposed to take it easy. It's gotten better (which makes me hopeful that I didn't actually break something), but it's been annoying that I can't walk around for hours without pain. Bah.
Friday, Sarah, Scottie and I met for a lunch of dim sum in Chinatown. It's my new favorite thing to eat! It's basically Chinese steamed appetizers. Our lunch was seriously amazing. After a quick trip for Chinese waffles, we started our Harry Potter tour. We ended up just doing a few things noted in our Rick Steve's book. We started at King's Cross/St. Pancras for a trip to see Platform 9 and 3/4. Rick Steve's directions were...nonexistent, so when we arrived near Platform 9 and saw that we needed to pay to get on to the platform, we were confused and spent a few minutes discussing. I saw a man on the other side of the turnstiles so I went up and said only these words "Excuse me, I have a question..." and without any other words, he immediately said "Left, left, past the bikes, Harry Potter." It was awesome and needless to say, the Kolmans and I were very amused by this. We found our way to Platform 9 and 3/4, which was pretty awesome. It was well-done and not cheesy. We had a lot of fun taking some pictures pretending to run into the wall. Next, we headed to the Borough Market to see a pub where a scene had been filmed and then to Leadenhall Market to see "real life" Diagon Alley. It was a neat little back street, but did not necessarily give the feeling of Diagon Alley. So the highlight of our tour was definitely Platform 9 and 3/4.
We met Matt for dinner at an Indian tapas place in Soho. It was good, but the food wasn't spicy enough for me. If I'm eating Indian food, I expect serious spice. We then headed to see Chicago, which I was super excited for...but expectations were definitely not met. The actor who played Roxie had the same hair as Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie version; Velma was a red head. It was weird. Plus Roxie couldn't dance to save her life, but I suppose somewhat made up for it with her voice. I enjoyed that they tried to make the performance unique, but overall, I was unfortunately disappointed.
Saturday, we met Sarah and Scottie for lunch before their flight back to Chicago at a gastropub called Anchor & Hope. The menu was a little intimidating so I made a safe choice of skatewing with lentils, which was good, but I feel like I could've done better if I would've been more brave. Lucky me - we then met friends for dinner at the Eagle on Saturday night, the gastropub we'd eaten at previously, where I made a very smart choices of pork stew, which was tasty and cozy and autumn-y. Matt ordered a simply amazing steak sandwich. The Eagle is one of our fav places, it's just such a neat atmosphere and has a menu that changes at each meal time. We continued our night with pints at the piano bar in Soho and then ended it at a club-y place called the O Bar (I think?).
Yesterday, we took advantage of our new subscription to NHL Center Ice and watched the Hawks game from Saturday night. I made guacamole and confetti chili and our friend Nick came over and we watched the Bears game from his NFL subscription. What a strange football game, but another Bears win, hooray!
And now you're caught up again! Enjoy your weeks - and congrats to all the marathoners!
Cheers!
Matt and I are celebrating 2 years of marriage today. I honestly cannot believe it's already been two years. Insanity. In two years, we've had a lot of amazing times, but have most certainly learned that a successful marriage requires work and effort. Our best advice? Continue to date each other. Forever.
Matt is taking me out to dinner tonight to a surprise location. Yay! And then we leave for Paris on Friday morning for 3 days. I. cannot. wait. My first trip to Paris with Colette was fun, but Paris wasn't what I expected. This time around, I have very different expectations and a long list of recommendations from a couple folks who've lived in Paris. And not that I didn't love our anniversary trip last year, but I think Paris just might trump Galena. :)
Anyway, enough about that. We had an outstanding time while the Kolmans were in town. We took a day trip to Bath 2 Saturdays ago, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Matt wasn't as big of a fan, but can't win 'em all. We did a 2 hour walking tour of the city, had an amazing Italian lunch (thanks Whit and Kate!), walked/shopped/toured the Roman baths, had dinner at a Bistro where Sarah and I enjoyed some delicious french onion soup and headed back to London on the train.
Last Sunday was another day of sports for us - Arsenal/Chelsea, Ryder Cup, a little football at a pub called Jetlag. A much better choice than our usual trip to Bodeans.
Monday, I met Sarah and Scottie at the Tate Modern. I loved the photography exhibits and enjoyed some of the abstract pieces, but I still have trouble understanding how some things qualify as art. The 3 of us met Matt in Chinatown for dinner and finished the evening with a trip to see Les Miserables. It was fabulous!! Really outstanding voices, great stage production. Loved the rotating stage circle.
I took it easy Tuesday-Thursday while the Kolmans were out exploring England countryside and Paris. I did something to my right foot a couple weeks ago - not sure what, but it might've been the combination of 30 day shredding and not wearing shoes (whoops?). Dr. Colette says it sounds like I pulled a ligament (or something) so I'm supposed to take it easy. It's gotten better (which makes me hopeful that I didn't actually break something), but it's been annoying that I can't walk around for hours without pain. Bah.
Friday, Sarah, Scottie and I met for a lunch of dim sum in Chinatown. It's my new favorite thing to eat! It's basically Chinese steamed appetizers. Our lunch was seriously amazing. After a quick trip for Chinese waffles, we started our Harry Potter tour. We ended up just doing a few things noted in our Rick Steve's book. We started at King's Cross/St. Pancras for a trip to see Platform 9 and 3/4. Rick Steve's directions were...nonexistent, so when we arrived near Platform 9 and saw that we needed to pay to get on to the platform, we were confused and spent a few minutes discussing. I saw a man on the other side of the turnstiles so I went up and said only these words "Excuse me, I have a question..." and without any other words, he immediately said "Left, left, past the bikes, Harry Potter." It was awesome and needless to say, the Kolmans and I were very amused by this. We found our way to Platform 9 and 3/4, which was pretty awesome. It was well-done and not cheesy. We had a lot of fun taking some pictures pretending to run into the wall. Next, we headed to the Borough Market to see a pub where a scene had been filmed and then to Leadenhall Market to see "real life" Diagon Alley. It was a neat little back street, but did not necessarily give the feeling of Diagon Alley. So the highlight of our tour was definitely Platform 9 and 3/4.
We met Matt for dinner at an Indian tapas place in Soho. It was good, but the food wasn't spicy enough for me. If I'm eating Indian food, I expect serious spice. We then headed to see Chicago, which I was super excited for...but expectations were definitely not met. The actor who played Roxie had the same hair as Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie version; Velma was a red head. It was weird. Plus Roxie couldn't dance to save her life, but I suppose somewhat made up for it with her voice. I enjoyed that they tried to make the performance unique, but overall, I was unfortunately disappointed.
Saturday, we met Sarah and Scottie for lunch before their flight back to Chicago at a gastropub called Anchor & Hope. The menu was a little intimidating so I made a safe choice of skatewing with lentils, which was good, but I feel like I could've done better if I would've been more brave. Lucky me - we then met friends for dinner at the Eagle on Saturday night, the gastropub we'd eaten at previously, where I made a very smart choices of pork stew, which was tasty and cozy and autumn-y. Matt ordered a simply amazing steak sandwich. The Eagle is one of our fav places, it's just such a neat atmosphere and has a menu that changes at each meal time. We continued our night with pints at the piano bar in Soho and then ended it at a club-y place called the O Bar (I think?).
Yesterday, we took advantage of our new subscription to NHL Center Ice and watched the Hawks game from Saturday night. I made guacamole and confetti chili and our friend Nick came over and we watched the Bears game from his NFL subscription. What a strange football game, but another Bears win, hooray!
And now you're caught up again! Enjoy your weeks - and congrats to all the marathoners!
Cheers!
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Yes, we're alive.
So our temporary internet stopped this past Friday and we don't get our permanent internet until sometime this coming Monday...so, yes, I've been disconnected from the world. It's been painful. But alas, I come to you from a delightful little cafe around the corner from our place called Mocchacafe. They aren't even judging me for sitting in front of my computer, eyes glued to the screen, for the past 2 hours. I'm afraid this post won't be long because my vision is getting blurry from staring at the screen for too long.
We continue to get settled into our new place. It's really starting to look/feel like home. We hauled a massive load home this past weekend from Ikea - Keibler-style, if you will :). I've put my freakish organizational skills to work and it's really looking homey. Pictures next week, promise.
Our friend Chris was in town last week so we headed to dinner with him on Tuesday to a pub near us called Elk in the Woods. Crazy menu, good food. Chris has something called frikadeller or some version of the word I just attempted to spell. I think it was pork meatballs? Or some kind of meat...ball? It was yummy. I had a board of pea guacamole, pita, beet salsa, feta and some other delicious things. Matt had rabbit paella, which was also good, but nothing to write home about. We ended the night with a Guinness at a local pub, where Chris was able to sample his first REAL Guinness (not the crap they pour in the States), yum!
Saturday, Chris was able to score tickets to the Arsenal/West Brom game. Arsenal hadn't lost in their own stadium to West Brom since the 80s...or something ridiculously long. Unfortunately, Chris and Matt must've been bad luck because Arsenal lost. Oh well. Better luck next time. The Arsenal stadium is only about a 25 minute walk from our place, which is pretty convenient. Matt continues on his search for the perfect Arsenal jersey...
Saturday night, Matt and I went to dinner with our friend Nick at a local Mexican restaurant...possibly the only decent Mexican restaurant in London...called Desperados. It was quite good despite Whit's warnings against Mexican food in London...which we mostly agree with. Desperados did not serve unlimited chips/salsa, but the food we ordered was good and satisfied our Mexican fix for now. However, I'm already planning on a Mexican feast when we come home at Christmas. Be ready El Burrito Mexicano!!! And all the other amazing Mexican restaurants in Chicago. We continued our night at a pub in Soho...after a short stroll through London's red light district (hey, we were curious! Cole - doesn't hold a candle to Paris)...that was apparently a piano bar. While it was crowded and full of seriously drunk people (we weren't quite there), it was really fun. Everyone sang along to the piano and we heard Journey. Enough said.
Hmmm, what else? The Kolmans arrive tonight...otherwise known as our first friends visiting for fun and not work. Hooray!! I'm excited for companions during the work week! We're planning a day trip to Bath on Saturday and other fun outings, including...YES...a Harry Potter walking tour. I CANNOT WAIT. Luckily, I brought my HP shirt that I scored at a Champaign Salvation Army shop so I can be in full HP nerd mode on the tour. You best believe I'll have a picture at platform 9 3/4 to post soon. :)
Some of you have asked about my job search. Well, not that I didn't expect it, but so far, it's been fruitless. Not that I haven't tried, but a dietitian looking for non-dietitian jobs is difficult. That's all I'll say about that for now, except that if anyone has any magical London contacts, I'll be your BFF.
One day Matt will blog and comment on his work over here. From my end, he seems to be doing quite well.
I think that's all for now folks. I am officially starting to go blind from computer-staring syndrome. Time to head out into another glorious gray, raindy London day (FYI, the weather hasn't been bad at all, lots of sunny days to combat the rainy ones and lovely fall temperatures...the scarves have been busted out!).
Cheers!!
We continue to get settled into our new place. It's really starting to look/feel like home. We hauled a massive load home this past weekend from Ikea - Keibler-style, if you will :). I've put my freakish organizational skills to work and it's really looking homey. Pictures next week, promise.
Our friend Chris was in town last week so we headed to dinner with him on Tuesday to a pub near us called Elk in the Woods. Crazy menu, good food. Chris has something called frikadeller or some version of the word I just attempted to spell. I think it was pork meatballs? Or some kind of meat...ball? It was yummy. I had a board of pea guacamole, pita, beet salsa, feta and some other delicious things. Matt had rabbit paella, which was also good, but nothing to write home about. We ended the night with a Guinness at a local pub, where Chris was able to sample his first REAL Guinness (not the crap they pour in the States), yum!
Saturday, Chris was able to score tickets to the Arsenal/West Brom game. Arsenal hadn't lost in their own stadium to West Brom since the 80s...or something ridiculously long. Unfortunately, Chris and Matt must've been bad luck because Arsenal lost. Oh well. Better luck next time. The Arsenal stadium is only about a 25 minute walk from our place, which is pretty convenient. Matt continues on his search for the perfect Arsenal jersey...
Saturday night, Matt and I went to dinner with our friend Nick at a local Mexican restaurant...possibly the only decent Mexican restaurant in London...called Desperados. It was quite good despite Whit's warnings against Mexican food in London...which we mostly agree with. Desperados did not serve unlimited chips/salsa, but the food we ordered was good and satisfied our Mexican fix for now. However, I'm already planning on a Mexican feast when we come home at Christmas. Be ready El Burrito Mexicano!!! And all the other amazing Mexican restaurants in Chicago. We continued our night at a pub in Soho...after a short stroll through London's red light district (hey, we were curious! Cole - doesn't hold a candle to Paris)...that was apparently a piano bar. While it was crowded and full of seriously drunk people (we weren't quite there), it was really fun. Everyone sang along to the piano and we heard Journey. Enough said.
Hmmm, what else? The Kolmans arrive tonight...otherwise known as our first friends visiting for fun and not work. Hooray!! I'm excited for companions during the work week! We're planning a day trip to Bath on Saturday and other fun outings, including...YES...a Harry Potter walking tour. I CANNOT WAIT. Luckily, I brought my HP shirt that I scored at a Champaign Salvation Army shop so I can be in full HP nerd mode on the tour. You best believe I'll have a picture at platform 9 3/4 to post soon. :)
Some of you have asked about my job search. Well, not that I didn't expect it, but so far, it's been fruitless. Not that I haven't tried, but a dietitian looking for non-dietitian jobs is difficult. That's all I'll say about that for now, except that if anyone has any magical London contacts, I'll be your BFF.
One day Matt will blog and comment on his work over here. From my end, he seems to be doing quite well.
I think that's all for now folks. I am officially starting to go blind from computer-staring syndrome. Time to head out into another glorious gray, raindy London day (FYI, the weather hasn't been bad at all, lots of sunny days to combat the rainy ones and lovely fall temperatures...the scarves have been busted out!).
Cheers!!
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Pics!
Just a quick post to let you know that pictures are updated and we have temporary internet at our place for the next 4 days so we'll be able to post at some point this week. I'm also hoping to add more pics so you guys can see what our new place looks like.
Moving weekend wore us out so we're off to bed. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend!
Moving weekend wore us out so we're off to bed. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend!
Saturday, 18 September 2010
MOVING DAY!
We're excited...can you tell? ;) We are mid-moving process - had our walk through the new flat this morning to check that everything was in working order. I'm not sure how it works in Chicago since I never officially rented a place, but the walk through was extremely thorough, which was comforting to us. Only a couple things that require attention - nothing too major thankfully. But the walk through took an hour and a half by the time we got through everything. There was an agent from the lettings office and an independent guy who was our representative (i.e. to make sure we didn't get screwed). The agent walked us through the place and then "our" guy walked through with a recorder noting EVERYTHING. Together, they make a extensive list of the inventory and state of the flat to ensure it's all the same when we move out. Crazy. Enough about that.
So our moving van (basically a big white GMC-type van) arrives in about an hour so we'll start the sad, long process of carrying all our stuff down the hall to the elevator, then outside to the curb, then load it into the van, ride in said van to Islington (our new neighborhood), take everything back out of van and carry up 1.5 flights of stairs. Whew. My back already hurts just thinking about it. But after this, NO MOVING FOR 18 MONTHS!!!!!!!!! We have moved more in the past 13 months than any human ever should. But no complaints because it all brought us to this point. We finally get to start to create our new home in London.
After we dump our stuff and manage a shower, we're heading out with the London gang tonight (if you haven't figured it out yet, London gang = Mike, Sandy, Nick and Brock) in Islington (we'll most likely be able to walk home, gasp!). Tomorrow, we're heading back to Bodean's to watch the Bills/Packers game because Mike and Sandy are Buffalo fans and Brock is a Packers fan...no one's perfect though, right? ;) They are showing the Bears game elsewhere, but we'll manage a week without seeing the game.
Oh and it sounds like we should have internet up and running by Sep 27 or so. I'm hoping to blog again from a coffee shop with wifi, but no promises. Hope you can all hold out until then.
Enjoy your weekends! And a very HAPPY HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY to my favorite brother BJ on Sunday!! Wish we could be there to celebrate!!
Cheers!
So our moving van (basically a big white GMC-type van) arrives in about an hour so we'll start the sad, long process of carrying all our stuff down the hall to the elevator, then outside to the curb, then load it into the van, ride in said van to Islington (our new neighborhood), take everything back out of van and carry up 1.5 flights of stairs. Whew. My back already hurts just thinking about it. But after this, NO MOVING FOR 18 MONTHS!!!!!!!!! We have moved more in the past 13 months than any human ever should. But no complaints because it all brought us to this point. We finally get to start to create our new home in London.
After we dump our stuff and manage a shower, we're heading out with the London gang tonight (if you haven't figured it out yet, London gang = Mike, Sandy, Nick and Brock) in Islington (we'll most likely be able to walk home, gasp!). Tomorrow, we're heading back to Bodean's to watch the Bills/Packers game because Mike and Sandy are Buffalo fans and Brock is a Packers fan...no one's perfect though, right? ;) They are showing the Bears game elsewhere, but we'll manage a week without seeing the game.
Oh and it sounds like we should have internet up and running by Sep 27 or so. I'm hoping to blog again from a coffee shop with wifi, but no promises. Hope you can all hold out until then.
Enjoy your weekends! And a very HAPPY HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY to my favorite brother BJ on Sunday!! Wish we could be there to celebrate!!
Cheers!
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
t-3 days
Only 3 more days in our temporary flat. HOORAY!! There really are no words for our excitement. Tonight, we're heading to pick up a bunch of housewares from a girl who is finishing up her rotation here and then Saturday morning, we head to the new flat for a walk-through and then move our stuff in - YAY! We are still in the stage of trying to figure out what company to go with for internet/cable, but hopefully (fingers crossed!), it doesn't take too long for us to get set up so we can get back to blogging, finally post pictures and regain the ability to skype from my computer. That will be a truly amazing day.
Last weekend was another enjoyable time. Friday was a low-key night, but we headed to dinner for Thai food with our friend, Nick, at a place in Islington which is literally a 30-second walk from where our near place will be. Their Tom Yum Goong soup was tasty, but not as spicy and amazingly delicious at the Thai place in Canary Wharf that we've hit up a couple times. My main dish was a spicy noodle dish with chicken, chilis and peppers and was my favorite Thai entree thus far though - we are really enjoying all the different types of cuisine that are so readily available. We continued our evening at a pub down the road on Upper Street and had a few pints and called it a night. Sunday was, of course, the start of NFL football. Matt had done a bit of research on pubs that might show NFL games so we headed to one called Bodean's that was walking distance from London Bridge. It was apparently started by a guy from KC and served BBQ - not usually something I would sign up for in London, but I do love KC BBQ. We were insanely pleased when the first thing we saw walking into the place was a Hester jersey sitting at the bar and the Bears game on the big screen. We took a spot at the bar and enjoyed Coors Light (yes! they had Coors Light) and soon realized after the 89-yd touchdown run by Forte that we were surrounded by Bears fans - the whole place went nuts. It was SO fun! We made friends with a couple Chicagoans at the bar and learned that we had most likely chosen the best place to find Bears games - score! If only we could find a place that shows Illinois football...and also find a way to make Illinois football worth watching.
London has the pleasure this week of the company of Jilen Bouwer and the three of us headed to dinner last night at a little Italian place near St. Paul's - super tasty. It is insane that since we've arrived, we've pretty much had 1 person in town visiting (for work so far) every day. Crazy. And also really nice. While we are so excited for our adventure in London, we definitely miss home sometimes, especially our favorite orange fuzzy man. I'm so glad we didn't put Cosmo through the trauma of coming to London, but we miss our little guy. And our friends and family. And knowing how everything works. And the US dollar. :) But we really hope that everyone who is able makes the trek over here or is up for meeting us in another European destination.
Alright, time to start packing some stuff up. We'll try to blog once more before Saturday in case internet set-up takes awhile. Happy Wednesday everyone!
Last weekend was another enjoyable time. Friday was a low-key night, but we headed to dinner for Thai food with our friend, Nick, at a place in Islington which is literally a 30-second walk from where our near place will be. Their Tom Yum Goong soup was tasty, but not as spicy and amazingly delicious at the Thai place in Canary Wharf that we've hit up a couple times. My main dish was a spicy noodle dish with chicken, chilis and peppers and was my favorite Thai entree thus far though - we are really enjoying all the different types of cuisine that are so readily available. We continued our evening at a pub down the road on Upper Street and had a few pints and called it a night. Sunday was, of course, the start of NFL football. Matt had done a bit of research on pubs that might show NFL games so we headed to one called Bodean's that was walking distance from London Bridge. It was apparently started by a guy from KC and served BBQ - not usually something I would sign up for in London, but I do love KC BBQ. We were insanely pleased when the first thing we saw walking into the place was a Hester jersey sitting at the bar and the Bears game on the big screen. We took a spot at the bar and enjoyed Coors Light (yes! they had Coors Light) and soon realized after the 89-yd touchdown run by Forte that we were surrounded by Bears fans - the whole place went nuts. It was SO fun! We made friends with a couple Chicagoans at the bar and learned that we had most likely chosen the best place to find Bears games - score! If only we could find a place that shows Illinois football...and also find a way to make Illinois football worth watching.
London has the pleasure this week of the company of Jilen Bouwer and the three of us headed to dinner last night at a little Italian place near St. Paul's - super tasty. It is insane that since we've arrived, we've pretty much had 1 person in town visiting (for work so far) every day. Crazy. And also really nice. While we are so excited for our adventure in London, we definitely miss home sometimes, especially our favorite orange fuzzy man. I'm so glad we didn't put Cosmo through the trauma of coming to London, but we miss our little guy. And our friends and family. And knowing how everything works. And the US dollar. :) But we really hope that everyone who is able makes the trek over here or is up for meeting us in another European destination.
Alright, time to start packing some stuff up. We'll try to blog once more before Saturday in case internet set-up takes awhile. Happy Wednesday everyone!
Thursday, 9 September 2010
9 days and counting...
Well, we are STILL in the middle of paperwork for this flat, but things seem to be progressing nicely and we just found out that we get to move in on September 18! In 9 days!! YES! No more temporary flat. It's a nice enough place to live (you'll get to see pics eventually), but after 3 weeks of being here, we are ready to settle in. Which we can't do here. Because we cannot REALLY unpack. So we've essentially been living out of our suitcases since our arrival (boo). I want to unpack and organize and clean and settle in. Plus our new place is just adorable - tons of character, located over a little clothing shop on a cute street, and a fair amount of storage for a London flat.
This week hasn't been overly exciting. Matt is getting more familiar with what his work role will be and I've been on random exploration adventures, including a lengthy walk through what will be our new neighborhood yesterday. Halfway through, I decided to venture out to the IKEA that was supposedly not too far away. The tube ride was only about 10 minutes, but then there was supposed to be a free shuttle to IKEA because it was essentially suburban where I was. Well, let's just say waiting for the shuttle took considerably longer than expected, but I eventually made it to IKEA. Overall, it was disappointing. I am well aware that IKEA products are not the highest quality, but well, eh. I didn't even buy napkins...and that's saying a lot (right, Abbie?). Oh well. We could definitely get some basic dishes/glasses but not much else. Maybe other UK locations are nicer?
Today, I got an email from the London edition of Daily Candy alerting me to an Orla Kiely sample sale at the Chelsea Old Town Hall. Ummm, YAY! I love Orla Kiely. Love, love, love. As mentioned in a previous post, I've already made the trek to one of her UK stores...I think in the first week we were here. So needless to say, I set out for Chelsea this am. The sale started at 11am, but I arrived around 11:30am. It. was. madness. I'm not kidding. People were walking around with up to 20 bags on one arm. I've never seen anything like it. I made out with a wallet and a make-up bag for 50 GBP, a huge deal. I saw some people with some pretty amazing finds, but I think you had to be there at 10:59am to get the good stuff.
I've also been keeping myself busy trying to decide where Matt and I should celebrate our 2-year anniversary next month. No official decision yet, but we're leaning toward Paris. I mean, it's no Galena, IL (where we celebrated year 1), but I think it would make do. :) If anyone has an recommendations for Paris or other locations, let us know!
Cheers for now!
This week hasn't been overly exciting. Matt is getting more familiar with what his work role will be and I've been on random exploration adventures, including a lengthy walk through what will be our new neighborhood yesterday. Halfway through, I decided to venture out to the IKEA that was supposedly not too far away. The tube ride was only about 10 minutes, but then there was supposed to be a free shuttle to IKEA because it was essentially suburban where I was. Well, let's just say waiting for the shuttle took considerably longer than expected, but I eventually made it to IKEA. Overall, it was disappointing. I am well aware that IKEA products are not the highest quality, but well, eh. I didn't even buy napkins...and that's saying a lot (right, Abbie?). Oh well. We could definitely get some basic dishes/glasses but not much else. Maybe other UK locations are nicer?
Today, I got an email from the London edition of Daily Candy alerting me to an Orla Kiely sample sale at the Chelsea Old Town Hall. Ummm, YAY! I love Orla Kiely. Love, love, love. As mentioned in a previous post, I've already made the trek to one of her UK stores...I think in the first week we were here. So needless to say, I set out for Chelsea this am. The sale started at 11am, but I arrived around 11:30am. It. was. madness. I'm not kidding. People were walking around with up to 20 bags on one arm. I've never seen anything like it. I made out with a wallet and a make-up bag for 50 GBP, a huge deal. I saw some people with some pretty amazing finds, but I think you had to be there at 10:59am to get the good stuff.
I've also been keeping myself busy trying to decide where Matt and I should celebrate our 2-year anniversary next month. No official decision yet, but we're leaning toward Paris. I mean, it's no Galena, IL (where we celebrated year 1), but I think it would make do. :) If anyone has an recommendations for Paris or other locations, let us know!
Cheers for now!
Monday, 6 September 2010
Fifth time's a charm
Hooray! We have an accepted offer on #5!! The landlord responded just this morning and the next steps involve some paperwork, but we will hopefully move in around September 20. Unfortunately, this means more expensive time in our temporary flat, but as long as this goes through, I don't care.
We had another wonderful weekend. You already know about Friday so I'll start with Saturday. Our original plan was to head to Camden market with Annie, but tube closures made the trip ridiculously long so instead, we headed to Sloane Square in search of new shoes for Matt. We happened upon a small market in the square and had a great lunch. Matt tried a pie (I believe made by the Pie Minister? Or some similarly catchy name.) called Porky Pig (again pics to come later) - it was awesome. I've been hesitant of the traditional English pies thus far, but this one was really delicious. I had a Carribean Roti wrap - it had hummus, spicy lentil sauce, tomatoes, avocado and a bunch of other tasty things. We shopped around for a bit - found shoes for Matt at Russell and Bromley and picked up some fun things at a store called Muji. It's one of my new fav. stores - most of the packaging is in Japanese (I think), but it's a sort of container-store-meets-west-elm-meets-a-cute-clothing-store. And relatively cheap - yay!
We then headed to dinner with our London gang of friends - Mike, Sandy, Brock and Annie (our temporary London friend - she'll head home in another week :( ). Sandy had heard about a neat-o Asian restaurant called Inamo. We had to go at 5:15pm because it was the only time available, but the deal is, you get your table for a specific amount of time (we had 1.5 hours). Basically, each seat at the table has a computer built into the tabletop so you use your mouse pad to order everything - drinks, food, etc. It was SO fun. Then they would just bring it to you. I started with spring rolls that were outstanding and then had grilled tiger prawns, which arrived with the heads still on. That was a first. Luckily, they popped right off - I had visions of wrestling with my prawns, trying to decapitate them. After dinner, we headed back to Chinatown to introduce Sandy, Mike and Brock to our favorite Chinese waffles - yum! Next up was pub #1 then pub #2, which was where we parked ourselves for the remainder of the night...and proceeded to have a few too many pints. Whoops. But all in all, it was another great night out in London.
Sunday was spent mostly sleeping, then lazying around the flat and watching Charlie Wilson's War and the Pursuit of Happyness - both great flicks.
I'm off to do a little grocery shopping. Hope everyone back home is enjoying their Labor Day!
We had another wonderful weekend. You already know about Friday so I'll start with Saturday. Our original plan was to head to Camden market with Annie, but tube closures made the trip ridiculously long so instead, we headed to Sloane Square in search of new shoes for Matt. We happened upon a small market in the square and had a great lunch. Matt tried a pie (I believe made by the Pie Minister? Or some similarly catchy name.) called Porky Pig (again pics to come later) - it was awesome. I've been hesitant of the traditional English pies thus far, but this one was really delicious. I had a Carribean Roti wrap - it had hummus, spicy lentil sauce, tomatoes, avocado and a bunch of other tasty things. We shopped around for a bit - found shoes for Matt at Russell and Bromley and picked up some fun things at a store called Muji. It's one of my new fav. stores - most of the packaging is in Japanese (I think), but it's a sort of container-store-meets-west-elm-meets-a-cute-clothing-store. And relatively cheap - yay!
We then headed to dinner with our London gang of friends - Mike, Sandy, Brock and Annie (our temporary London friend - she'll head home in another week :( ). Sandy had heard about a neat-o Asian restaurant called Inamo. We had to go at 5:15pm because it was the only time available, but the deal is, you get your table for a specific amount of time (we had 1.5 hours). Basically, each seat at the table has a computer built into the tabletop so you use your mouse pad to order everything - drinks, food, etc. It was SO fun. Then they would just bring it to you. I started with spring rolls that were outstanding and then had grilled tiger prawns, which arrived with the heads still on. That was a first. Luckily, they popped right off - I had visions of wrestling with my prawns, trying to decapitate them. After dinner, we headed back to Chinatown to introduce Sandy, Mike and Brock to our favorite Chinese waffles - yum! Next up was pub #1 then pub #2, which was where we parked ourselves for the remainder of the night...and proceeded to have a few too many pints. Whoops. But all in all, it was another great night out in London.
Sunday was spent mostly sleeping, then lazying around the flat and watching Charlie Wilson's War and the Pursuit of Happyness - both great flicks.
I'm off to do a little grocery shopping. Hope everyone back home is enjoying their Labor Day!
Friday, 3 September 2010
WCGW
Well, here we go. The acronym WCGW is used in one of our tools at work to document "what could go wrong." We've seen plenty at this point. Today we went out again with Ellen to look at additional properties with the hopes that last night's offer would make the trip irrelevant. Unfortunately, there were not very many new properties added to the market and a few of the most promising ones were let before we had the chance to see them. So we started the day with a short list of only 6 stops, but with hopes that it wouldn't matter.
The first couple near West Ham were terrible. About that time we learned that we had lost our fourth flat we offered on. The landlord accepted a revised offer from the people who had seen it before us. With this background, we saw our third flat of the day, which had a great location a few blocks from Islington Upper Street but required a lot of work. After seeing that garden apartment, we headed to lunch at a pub in Islington and considered whether that flat was our best option and worth settling on even though it was over our planned budget. While it probably goes without saying, we found ourselves quite dejected and had to have a pint with our meals.
During lunch we saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Ellen stopped by the agent's office for our after lunch viewing and, through a personal friend at the agency, learned of another flat in Islington, right off of Upper Street and not even on the market yet. With a stroke of luck we were able to get a showing after lunch. The place was awesome, primarily because of the location. The actual flat isn't as great as the one that had the person fall through the ceiling, but it was more than acceptable (we'll call it #5 going forward).
We saw another flat near Clerkenwell (just south of Islington) with the same agent, that had a pretty awesome kitchen and was off of a cute garden square, but didn't have the location or the space of #5. So we put in our fifth offer (ridiculous) on #5. Of course we couldn't get a quick response. While we are at the asking price and our relocation team thinks we have a 99% shot at it since no one else has been able to see it and it isn't even really "on the market," until we have a signed contract we will continue to sweat it out. This place exceeds our planned budget by a fair amount, but the location is exactly what we wanted and it's a cute flat. We will have no complaints if this goes through.
After the flat searching, we stopped by the Borough Market on the way home. It's a not quite open air market with a fantastic variety of butchers, fishmongers, produce stands, and just about everything else. On Whit's recommendation, we picked up fresh pasta, wild boar tortellini that was made earlier in the day, and brought it home. Quite tasty to say the least and it was comforting to have another home cooked meal rather than a restaurant stop. Jenny and I finally watched District 9 after starting it with Jason months ago. Good, unique flick and worth the watch. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.
We're off to bed soon with hopes that tomorrow will bring confirmation on our offer and the chance to put to rest all of this madness. Hope you're all doing well. Have a great holiday weekend in the States.
Cheers!
The first couple near West Ham were terrible. About that time we learned that we had lost our fourth flat we offered on. The landlord accepted a revised offer from the people who had seen it before us. With this background, we saw our third flat of the day, which had a great location a few blocks from Islington Upper Street but required a lot of work. After seeing that garden apartment, we headed to lunch at a pub in Islington and considered whether that flat was our best option and worth settling on even though it was over our planned budget. While it probably goes without saying, we found ourselves quite dejected and had to have a pint with our meals.
During lunch we saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Ellen stopped by the agent's office for our after lunch viewing and, through a personal friend at the agency, learned of another flat in Islington, right off of Upper Street and not even on the market yet. With a stroke of luck we were able to get a showing after lunch. The place was awesome, primarily because of the location. The actual flat isn't as great as the one that had the person fall through the ceiling, but it was more than acceptable (we'll call it #5 going forward).
We saw another flat near Clerkenwell (just south of Islington) with the same agent, that had a pretty awesome kitchen and was off of a cute garden square, but didn't have the location or the space of #5. So we put in our fifth offer (ridiculous) on #5. Of course we couldn't get a quick response. While we are at the asking price and our relocation team thinks we have a 99% shot at it since no one else has been able to see it and it isn't even really "on the market," until we have a signed contract we will continue to sweat it out. This place exceeds our planned budget by a fair amount, but the location is exactly what we wanted and it's a cute flat. We will have no complaints if this goes through.
After the flat searching, we stopped by the Borough Market on the way home. It's a not quite open air market with a fantastic variety of butchers, fishmongers, produce stands, and just about everything else. On Whit's recommendation, we picked up fresh pasta, wild boar tortellini that was made earlier in the day, and brought it home. Quite tasty to say the least and it was comforting to have another home cooked meal rather than a restaurant stop. Jenny and I finally watched District 9 after starting it with Jason months ago. Good, unique flick and worth the watch. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.
We're off to bed soon with hopes that tomorrow will bring confirmation on our offer and the chance to put to rest all of this madness. Hope you're all doing well. Have a great holiday weekend in the States.
Cheers!
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Week Numero Dos
So it’s been awhile since we’ve posted. Sorry. But I promise we’ve been busy! Grab a beverage, this is not a short post.
So we left off at Saturday. We spent the day in Greenwich, which was a super quick ride for us on the DLR (Docklands Light Rail, an elevated train) from Canary Wharf. The Greenwich market was great, lots of food vendors and craft/clothing/art vendors. We meandered through and then had lunch at the Greenwich Union Brewery, which was a small microbrewery with tasty beer and a friendly bartender who let us try a bunch of the beers – yum!. Afterward, we trekked up to the observatory on the Prime Meridian (and I do mean trek, it’s a serious climb) then wandered through the Queen’s House and the Maritime Museum and finished off our day with a couple of cupcakes from the market. All in all, a lovely way to spend a Saturday.
Sunday was a lazy day. We slept in, browsed through the mall near our flat and then Matt spent the evening with his fantasy football draft and I watched “In Her Shoes.”
Monday was a bank holiday for the UK so Matt had the day off and we spent it on a double decker bus, tourist-style. We met his friend Annie (friend/colleague from KPMG in Chicago) in Piccadilly Circus and rode around seeing the sights. Again, Whit and Kate, you were right – totally worth being “touristy” for. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. We also took a short boat tour in the middle of the bus ride (you got a free boat ride with the ticket price) AND (this was the highlight for me), we rode underneath the foot bridge that’s in a Harry Potter movie!! It’s the bridge where the dementors fly around and make it move and people grab on to the sides…in the beginning of the movie (I can’t remember which one, but I think it’s the one most recently on DVD)…ringing any bells, HP fans? We also saw the school where HP was educated (the actor, not the character…and also Winston Churchill, which was more exciting for Matt and few others) and learned of a pub that he frequents. Yes, I will try to stalk him there. Ok back to the day. After our tour, we ate another meal in Chinatown with Annie and she introduced us to these AMAZINGLY delicious Chinese waffles. Wowsa. I could eat one every day. We took pictures of the waffle-making process and the waffles themselves – stay tuned for those.
On Tuesday, Matt headed to the office for his first day of work. Funnily enough, Tuesday also marked Matt’s 5-year anniversary with KPMG – hard to believe it’s been that long! I’ll let him comment on his time at work in a later post. So back to Tuesday, I headed to an area called Mayfair to wander around. It basically took me through an extremely rich area of town, starting with a stroll down Old/New Bond St – London’s version of Oak/Walton St. – except WAY more out of my price range. I continued my stroll past Berkley Square and the house where Winston Churchill grew up and had a lovely lunch at a little pub called the Only Running Footman. After lunch, I walked past a house where someone important lived because they were patrolling the sidewalks with machine guns – it was crazy!! Maybe it was the Prime Minister? My adventure continued past the US Embassy, a massive, but boring-looking building and ended with a long walk down Oxford St. Needless to say, my dogs were barking by the end of the day. I have yet to figure out how Londoners are able to walk all over in shoes I wouldn’t last 10 minutes in.
On Wednesday, I headed to Sloane Square and Chelsea. And fell deeply in love. Colette, I can’t believe we never ventured to this area when we were in London. I took the tube to the same stop that we did when we walked up Sloane St, but just went in a slightly different direction to Sloane Square/Chelsea. I don’t want to bore everyone with my shopping details, but let’s just say the shopping was fab – my favorite area yet by far. Somehow I wandered around the area for 5 hours (read: again, barking dogs) and stopped mid-day for lunch at a pub called Album. Fun side note, apparently if you head to the Red Cross in Chelsea, you can score some pretty amazing finds because that is where all the rich folks drop off their stuff for charity. I will be stopping by in the near future with my fingers crossed for some couture!
Unfortunately, also on Wednesday, our fears were confirmed. We lost both flats we put offers on last week, including the amazing one off Northcote Rd, bringing our grand total of lost flats to 3. This time, we were closer to getting an accepted offer with the flat off Northcote Rd BUT instead a construction worker decided it would be more fun to fall through the floor of the flat above/the ceiling of the kitchen, rendering the flat un-rentable. AWESOME. We were (and still are) devastated. So, because of that, we had to extend our time at our temporary flat by 1 week and as of now, will be paying half the cost (440p/week! gulp.) and Matt has to take Friday off so that we can go out with Ellen again to look for more places. We are trying desperately to remain positive, but honestly, this process has been a nightmare. Hopefully it’ll all be a distant memory soon. To drown our sorrows a little, we headed to a pub near us called the Gun and had a delicious dinner and 2 big ol’ pints (I had Tiger again and Matt tried Bitburger – yum, love the beer here).
Ok, that catches us up to today. I was super pumped because I was going to FINALLY try bikram yoga for the first time. I’ve had my reservations because I don’t really enjoy being super hot during my workouts, but everyone has raved so much that I had to try it. So I got there early, registered and took a spot in the back corner. They weren’t kidding when they said that people wear little clothing. I couldn’t BELIEVE how little clothing some people were wearing, including a few very hairy men with big beer bellies. ICK. Anyway, the room was hot when I walked in, but definitely bearable. I thought to myself, dude, I can totally handle this heat. Ha. About 5 minutes later, the instructor comes in and informs us that the classroom will start to get very hot. And it did. He also made me move to be next to another newbie in the back row so he could keep an eye on us. Then we started with some breathing exercises and progressed to half moons, chairs and a few other poses. I was feeling atrociously hot and dizzy, but trying to keep it together, but everything kept going white anytime I stood and I quickly realized bikram yoga was absolutely not for me. I longed for my usual hatha or vinyasa in a 72 degree room. Also, I really really did not want to faint in front of everyone (still traumatized from this happening during cheerleading practice when I was a freshman in high school). So I walked out – the instructor told me to try to at least stay in the room – I said no thank you. Once outside, I felt much better but the instructor wanted me to sit for awhile to make sure I was alright. This turned into me sitting for probably 25 minutes – he went back into the class, but I needed to swap out my locker key for my ID being held hostage. Also, I was literally locked in. So I sat. And sat. And sat. I was 100% embarrassed and I just wanted to go home. Finally, he came out and set me free. Ugh, I hate that my experience with bikram was so awful and that I’m a quitter, but I guess now I know that bikram and me were not meant to be.
I came home and Ellen called to tell me that there was a flat she wanted me to see today, especially because it already had 1 offer. So I rushed back out the door and headed to Clapham. The flat was actually a bungalow – very different than anything else we’ve seen, but nice. I’m still not in love with the area like I was with Northcote Rd, but at this point, I guess I need to compromise. It’s still close to a tube stop and to the main street of shops – just not as Southport-y. So we put in an offer, but will most likely not hear anything until tomorrow, when we head out with Ellen again to look at flats. Again. So ready to find a place and start getting settled already!!!!
Whew, that was a long one. We’ll try to post more often from here on out, but we’re having some issues with our internet (Matt’s computer gets it, mine doesn’t and he takes his computer to work) – this also means that pictures may not be posted for awhile, but something to look forward to? Alright time to get dinner started. We’ll keep you all posted!
So we left off at Saturday. We spent the day in Greenwich, which was a super quick ride for us on the DLR (Docklands Light Rail, an elevated train) from Canary Wharf. The Greenwich market was great, lots of food vendors and craft/clothing/art vendors. We meandered through and then had lunch at the Greenwich Union Brewery, which was a small microbrewery with tasty beer and a friendly bartender who let us try a bunch of the beers – yum!. Afterward, we trekked up to the observatory on the Prime Meridian (and I do mean trek, it’s a serious climb) then wandered through the Queen’s House and the Maritime Museum and finished off our day with a couple of cupcakes from the market. All in all, a lovely way to spend a Saturday.
Sunday was a lazy day. We slept in, browsed through the mall near our flat and then Matt spent the evening with his fantasy football draft and I watched “In Her Shoes.”
Monday was a bank holiday for the UK so Matt had the day off and we spent it on a double decker bus, tourist-style. We met his friend Annie (friend/colleague from KPMG in Chicago) in Piccadilly Circus and rode around seeing the sights. Again, Whit and Kate, you were right – totally worth being “touristy” for. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. We also took a short boat tour in the middle of the bus ride (you got a free boat ride with the ticket price) AND (this was the highlight for me), we rode underneath the foot bridge that’s in a Harry Potter movie!! It’s the bridge where the dementors fly around and make it move and people grab on to the sides…in the beginning of the movie (I can’t remember which one, but I think it’s the one most recently on DVD)…ringing any bells, HP fans? We also saw the school where HP was educated (the actor, not the character…and also Winston Churchill, which was more exciting for Matt and few others) and learned of a pub that he frequents. Yes, I will try to stalk him there. Ok back to the day. After our tour, we ate another meal in Chinatown with Annie and she introduced us to these AMAZINGLY delicious Chinese waffles. Wowsa. I could eat one every day. We took pictures of the waffle-making process and the waffles themselves – stay tuned for those.
On Tuesday, Matt headed to the office for his first day of work. Funnily enough, Tuesday also marked Matt’s 5-year anniversary with KPMG – hard to believe it’s been that long! I’ll let him comment on his time at work in a later post. So back to Tuesday, I headed to an area called Mayfair to wander around. It basically took me through an extremely rich area of town, starting with a stroll down Old/New Bond St – London’s version of Oak/Walton St. – except WAY more out of my price range. I continued my stroll past Berkley Square and the house where Winston Churchill grew up and had a lovely lunch at a little pub called the Only Running Footman. After lunch, I walked past a house where someone important lived because they were patrolling the sidewalks with machine guns – it was crazy!! Maybe it was the Prime Minister? My adventure continued past the US Embassy, a massive, but boring-looking building and ended with a long walk down Oxford St. Needless to say, my dogs were barking by the end of the day. I have yet to figure out how Londoners are able to walk all over in shoes I wouldn’t last 10 minutes in.
On Wednesday, I headed to Sloane Square and Chelsea. And fell deeply in love. Colette, I can’t believe we never ventured to this area when we were in London. I took the tube to the same stop that we did when we walked up Sloane St, but just went in a slightly different direction to Sloane Square/Chelsea. I don’t want to bore everyone with my shopping details, but let’s just say the shopping was fab – my favorite area yet by far. Somehow I wandered around the area for 5 hours (read: again, barking dogs) and stopped mid-day for lunch at a pub called Album. Fun side note, apparently if you head to the Red Cross in Chelsea, you can score some pretty amazing finds because that is where all the rich folks drop off their stuff for charity. I will be stopping by in the near future with my fingers crossed for some couture!
Unfortunately, also on Wednesday, our fears were confirmed. We lost both flats we put offers on last week, including the amazing one off Northcote Rd, bringing our grand total of lost flats to 3. This time, we were closer to getting an accepted offer with the flat off Northcote Rd BUT instead a construction worker decided it would be more fun to fall through the floor of the flat above/the ceiling of the kitchen, rendering the flat un-rentable. AWESOME. We were (and still are) devastated. So, because of that, we had to extend our time at our temporary flat by 1 week and as of now, will be paying half the cost (440p/week! gulp.) and Matt has to take Friday off so that we can go out with Ellen again to look for more places. We are trying desperately to remain positive, but honestly, this process has been a nightmare. Hopefully it’ll all be a distant memory soon. To drown our sorrows a little, we headed to a pub near us called the Gun and had a delicious dinner and 2 big ol’ pints (I had Tiger again and Matt tried Bitburger – yum, love the beer here).
Ok, that catches us up to today. I was super pumped because I was going to FINALLY try bikram yoga for the first time. I’ve had my reservations because I don’t really enjoy being super hot during my workouts, but everyone has raved so much that I had to try it. So I got there early, registered and took a spot in the back corner. They weren’t kidding when they said that people wear little clothing. I couldn’t BELIEVE how little clothing some people were wearing, including a few very hairy men with big beer bellies. ICK. Anyway, the room was hot when I walked in, but definitely bearable. I thought to myself, dude, I can totally handle this heat. Ha. About 5 minutes later, the instructor comes in and informs us that the classroom will start to get very hot. And it did. He also made me move to be next to another newbie in the back row so he could keep an eye on us. Then we started with some breathing exercises and progressed to half moons, chairs and a few other poses. I was feeling atrociously hot and dizzy, but trying to keep it together, but everything kept going white anytime I stood and I quickly realized bikram yoga was absolutely not for me. I longed for my usual hatha or vinyasa in a 72 degree room. Also, I really really did not want to faint in front of everyone (still traumatized from this happening during cheerleading practice when I was a freshman in high school). So I walked out – the instructor told me to try to at least stay in the room – I said no thank you. Once outside, I felt much better but the instructor wanted me to sit for awhile to make sure I was alright. This turned into me sitting for probably 25 minutes – he went back into the class, but I needed to swap out my locker key for my ID being held hostage. Also, I was literally locked in. So I sat. And sat. And sat. I was 100% embarrassed and I just wanted to go home. Finally, he came out and set me free. Ugh, I hate that my experience with bikram was so awful and that I’m a quitter, but I guess now I know that bikram and me were not meant to be.
I came home and Ellen called to tell me that there was a flat she wanted me to see today, especially because it already had 1 offer. So I rushed back out the door and headed to Clapham. The flat was actually a bungalow – very different than anything else we’ve seen, but nice. I’m still not in love with the area like I was with Northcote Rd, but at this point, I guess I need to compromise. It’s still close to a tube stop and to the main street of shops – just not as Southport-y. So we put in an offer, but will most likely not hear anything until tomorrow, when we head out with Ellen again to look at flats. Again. So ready to find a place and start getting settled already!!!!
Whew, that was a long one. We’ll try to post more often from here on out, but we’re having some issues with our internet (Matt’s computer gets it, mine doesn’t and he takes his computer to work) – this also means that pictures may not be posted for awhile, but something to look forward to? Alright time to get dinner started. We’ll keep you all posted!
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Flats, Pizza and Pints
We've survived the first week! Though it feels like we've been here much longer than that.
It's been a couple days since our last update, so I'll start from Thursday. Jenny and I headed back out with our "neighbourhood specialist," Ellen, for the second round of flat searching. There were no new entries to the market in Islington for us to see so we explored new areas. We headed to southwest London on our first use of non-tube public transportation and looked at places in Battersea, Clapham, and Balham. When we exited the train, I had to check the timetables to make sure we weren't dealing with times like the Metra. We were relieved to see that they run every 5-7 minutes and almost 24 hours. We could live in this area!
Battersea has a giant park along the Thames, but it doesn't have much more to offer in the areas with available flats. Balham was too far south and felt like a suburb, which it is. But we did love some of the greater Clapham area along Northcote Road. The closest parallel I can draw is to the Southport corridor in Chicago. Lots of great looking, unique restaurants and pubs and boutique shops. We found a flat that's a block off of Northcote road. They're currently renovating the top floor/ loft so it was surrounded by scaffolding and the common area was being painted, but the flat itself was lovely and all of the work is supposed to be done in the next 3 weeks. We'll hold off on describing it in more detail for now.
So we put in an offer, below asking price, and also asked for some of the missing furniture to truly make it a furnished apartment. And then we waited... As of Friday afternoon we learned that the landlord is deciding between our offer and another. Our relocation team made a strong case for us, but we certainly won't be getting a deal on it regardless. We're back to waiting and, given our experience on Tuesday/Wednesday, we're a little nervous at this point. We've exhausted our time out with a specialist and we love the area so this one needs to come through. We'd be a half mile from the nearest train line and the commute to work should be about 45 minutes.
For dinner, we were lazy and didn't want to go anywhere. We broke down and tried out a taste of home, Domino's pizza. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't as good as it is in the States.
On Friday we slept in...again. It's been great to catch up on sleep but very tough to get into any routine. That will all change when work starts next week, I'm sure. We figured out the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) and headed to the Tottenham Court Road area on a recommendation from Ellen for housewares. We found a few cool home stores that we will head back to when we have a place. It also appears to be the technology store section of London.
For dinner we took the tube to the Farringdon stop and saw where Whit and Kate lived (pictures to be posted from Jenny's laptop eventually - having some Internet access issues). We wandered the area in search of The Eagle, a gastro-pub that Whit loved, and found London's "Jewellers Row." With the help of a friendly cabbie, we finally found The Eagle. We arrived a half hour before dinner started so the place was nearly empty. The bar shares space with an open air kitchen and the menu changes twice daily and is written on chalkboard-style panels above the bar. The tables and chairs are an eclectic mix of mismatched old throw-aways, including some that look to be old school chairs. What a cool atmosphere! Jenny fell in love with a new beer, Staropramen, and I joined her after first trying the Eagle IPA, which was okay but not great. By the time we ordered food, the place was packed and people were already waiting for tables. I had an incredible dish - Huevos a la Flamenca - eggs baked in tomato sauce with ham, chorizo, and potatoes. It was fantastic. Jenny's dish was also really good, but not quite as unique as mine. She had polenta crusted plaice with aioli, roasted tomato, and arugula. We'll definitely be heading back again.
Unfortunately they didn't have the dessert we wanted so we headed out and stopped by a couple of pubs on the way to the tube. The first was called the Couch and Tomatoes if you believe Jenny and the Coach and Horses if you're anyone else. At that point in the night, Jenny calling it the Couch and Tomatoes was quite hilarious. We found a quiet corner by the door and chatted a bit. Jenny tried another new beer, a half pint of Leffe, which is probably closest to a Matilda, and I had another London Pride. Ah, dessert! It was fantastic. We split a buttermilk pudding with mini vanilla doughnuts (small, sugared doughnut balls), blackberries, and a raspberry sauce. Oh it was good. We hit one more pub on the walk to the tube, the Hat and Tun, and found a small table by the bar. Jenny had a half pint of a cloudy cider (not sure which one) and I enjoyed another Guinness. A couple of tube transfers later, we were back at the temporary flat a bit tipsy and finished watching "He's Just Not That Into You," which we started the night before. Friday was a great way to close out our first week in London.
Today, the weather is perfect. It's low 60's and sunny. We've really missed the sun with how rainy and chilly it's been this week. Glad the weather turned just in time for the long holiday weekend. We're off to explore Greenwich for some market shopping on the prime meridian. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
It's been a couple days since our last update, so I'll start from Thursday. Jenny and I headed back out with our "neighbourhood specialist," Ellen, for the second round of flat searching. There were no new entries to the market in Islington for us to see so we explored new areas. We headed to southwest London on our first use of non-tube public transportation and looked at places in Battersea, Clapham, and Balham. When we exited the train, I had to check the timetables to make sure we weren't dealing with times like the Metra. We were relieved to see that they run every 5-7 minutes and almost 24 hours. We could live in this area!
Battersea has a giant park along the Thames, but it doesn't have much more to offer in the areas with available flats. Balham was too far south and felt like a suburb, which it is. But we did love some of the greater Clapham area along Northcote Road. The closest parallel I can draw is to the Southport corridor in Chicago. Lots of great looking, unique restaurants and pubs and boutique shops. We found a flat that's a block off of Northcote road. They're currently renovating the top floor/ loft so it was surrounded by scaffolding and the common area was being painted, but the flat itself was lovely and all of the work is supposed to be done in the next 3 weeks. We'll hold off on describing it in more detail for now.
So we put in an offer, below asking price, and also asked for some of the missing furniture to truly make it a furnished apartment. And then we waited... As of Friday afternoon we learned that the landlord is deciding between our offer and another. Our relocation team made a strong case for us, but we certainly won't be getting a deal on it regardless. We're back to waiting and, given our experience on Tuesday/Wednesday, we're a little nervous at this point. We've exhausted our time out with a specialist and we love the area so this one needs to come through. We'd be a half mile from the nearest train line and the commute to work should be about 45 minutes.
For dinner, we were lazy and didn't want to go anywhere. We broke down and tried out a taste of home, Domino's pizza. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't as good as it is in the States.
On Friday we slept in...again. It's been great to catch up on sleep but very tough to get into any routine. That will all change when work starts next week, I'm sure. We figured out the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) and headed to the Tottenham Court Road area on a recommendation from Ellen for housewares. We found a few cool home stores that we will head back to when we have a place. It also appears to be the technology store section of London.
For dinner we took the tube to the Farringdon stop and saw where Whit and Kate lived (pictures to be posted from Jenny's laptop eventually - having some Internet access issues). We wandered the area in search of The Eagle, a gastro-pub that Whit loved, and found London's "Jewellers Row." With the help of a friendly cabbie, we finally found The Eagle. We arrived a half hour before dinner started so the place was nearly empty. The bar shares space with an open air kitchen and the menu changes twice daily and is written on chalkboard-style panels above the bar. The tables and chairs are an eclectic mix of mismatched old throw-aways, including some that look to be old school chairs. What a cool atmosphere! Jenny fell in love with a new beer, Staropramen, and I joined her after first trying the Eagle IPA, which was okay but not great. By the time we ordered food, the place was packed and people were already waiting for tables. I had an incredible dish - Huevos a la Flamenca - eggs baked in tomato sauce with ham, chorizo, and potatoes. It was fantastic. Jenny's dish was also really good, but not quite as unique as mine. She had polenta crusted plaice with aioli, roasted tomato, and arugula. We'll definitely be heading back again.
Unfortunately they didn't have the dessert we wanted so we headed out and stopped by a couple of pubs on the way to the tube. The first was called the Couch and Tomatoes if you believe Jenny and the Coach and Horses if you're anyone else. At that point in the night, Jenny calling it the Couch and Tomatoes was quite hilarious. We found a quiet corner by the door and chatted a bit. Jenny tried another new beer, a half pint of Leffe, which is probably closest to a Matilda, and I had another London Pride. Ah, dessert! It was fantastic. We split a buttermilk pudding with mini vanilla doughnuts (small, sugared doughnut balls), blackberries, and a raspberry sauce. Oh it was good. We hit one more pub on the walk to the tube, the Hat and Tun, and found a small table by the bar. Jenny had a half pint of a cloudy cider (not sure which one) and I enjoyed another Guinness. A couple of tube transfers later, we were back at the temporary flat a bit tipsy and finished watching "He's Just Not That Into You," which we started the night before. Friday was a great way to close out our first week in London.
Today, the weather is perfect. It's low 60's and sunny. We've really missed the sun with how rainy and chilly it's been this week. Glad the weather turned just in time for the long holiday weekend. We're off to explore Greenwich for some market shopping on the prime meridian. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Back to the drawing board...
Unfortunately we started out the day with some bad news - we didn't get our flat that we made the offer on yesterday. Someone else also made an offer and that person was committing to 24 months. Now our search tomorrow will be much more important. We're going to look in the Clapham Old Town area and back in Islington if anything new came on the market. Keep your fingers crossed for us so we don't have to explore the fall back options after exhausting our housing search assistance.
Otherwise the day was great, albeit rainy. We wandered around Harrod's for awhile and enjoyed the unique items for sale like the personal watercraft (check out our picture link). If only I had an extra 80,000 GBP lying around! We had great hummus (again) and chicken schwarma at a Middle Eastern place for lunch. And we wandered through a few other stores while trying to avoid getting soaked. Jenny was ecstatic about checking out the Orla Kiely shop in Covent Garden. So much good stuff in one store. And she claims she fulfilled a lifelong dream.
We also met with our personal banker in Knightsbridge and should have our account opened in the next week. Andy, our personal banker, was a great guy to chat with. We learned that he's going to try water skiing for the first time on Monday. Josh and Scotty will appreciate the fact that it costs 30 GBP for 15 minutes. It could be a costly trip if it takes him awhile to get up on skis!
We met one of my co-workers from Chicago, Annie for dinner in Chinatown at the Four Seasons (not to be confused with the hotel chain). Jenny got a quick pic near one of the street entrances. Despite the rain, it was still a bustling area with lots of great dinner options to explore in the future. The Four Seasons is known for its roast duck and crispy duck and they were both fantastic. We've done a great job of exploring world cuisine so far and I'm sure that will continue indefinitely. Jenny has become a big fan of Tiger beer and I've enjoyed a few Guiness pints already. It still amazes me how much better it is here.
We're going to relax with some British TV and hopefully turn in early so we're well rested for a full day of flat hunting tomorrow. Cheers from the UK!
Otherwise the day was great, albeit rainy. We wandered around Harrod's for awhile and enjoyed the unique items for sale like the personal watercraft (check out our picture link). If only I had an extra 80,000 GBP lying around! We had great hummus (again) and chicken schwarma at a Middle Eastern place for lunch. And we wandered through a few other stores while trying to avoid getting soaked. Jenny was ecstatic about checking out the Orla Kiely shop in Covent Garden. So much good stuff in one store. And she claims she fulfilled a lifelong dream.
We also met with our personal banker in Knightsbridge and should have our account opened in the next week. Andy, our personal banker, was a great guy to chat with. We learned that he's going to try water skiing for the first time on Monday. Josh and Scotty will appreciate the fact that it costs 30 GBP for 15 minutes. It could be a costly trip if it takes him awhile to get up on skis!
We met one of my co-workers from Chicago, Annie for dinner in Chinatown at the Four Seasons (not to be confused with the hotel chain). Jenny got a quick pic near one of the street entrances. Despite the rain, it was still a bustling area with lots of great dinner options to explore in the future. The Four Seasons is known for its roast duck and crispy duck and they were both fantastic. We've done a great job of exploring world cuisine so far and I'm sure that will continue indefinitely. Jenny has become a big fan of Tiger beer and I've enjoyed a few Guiness pints already. It still amazes me how much better it is here.
We're going to relax with some British TV and hopefully turn in early so we're well rested for a full day of flat hunting tomorrow. Cheers from the UK!
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
An epic comeback.
One of my favorite things about London thus far is the fashion. Four words. Stirrup. pants. are. back. YES! My 6th-grade self is stoked. Stirrup pants are everywhere - well, all types of leggings are hugely popular, way more so than in the states, which also excites me - however, I have a special place in my heart for stirrup pants. I have been super-tempted to ask people on the street if I can take their picture to post on the blog to give you all back home a taste of London fashion (which, I realize, may only be exciting for a small handful of our blog-followers) so stay tuned in case I grow the cajones to do so. Other than stirrup pants, pretty much anything goes in London, which I love. People-watching here is pretty awesome and I think I could spend all day taking note of the different styles. No one wears running shoes (we believe you, Whit and Kate) - lots of flats or heels. Layering anything and everything seems to be key, especially since the ever-changing weather here is giving Chicago's crazy weather a run for its money. I have no idea what stores are "cool" to shop at yet, but I have discovered that you can buy expensive things at one of the grocery-like stores; I saw jeans at our local Waitrose for 190 pounds! Also, they sell Uggs there. Too funny. But enough about fashion for now.
Today, we spent time searching for our flat with a lovely woman named Ellen. We looked in the Angel/Islington area (still our favorite by far) as well as Hoxton, White Chapel/Shoreditch (not so much our favorite area: think Bucktown meets the South side). The rental market here is nutty - places go so quickly that if you don't make an offer (yes, offer - you can negotiate your rent to some extent) immediately, you could lose the place. I realize there may be properties like this in Chicago, however, it seems ALL rentals (or lettings, to speak proper English) are subject to this unofficial policy in London. We ended up making an offer on the last place we saw today and should hear back tomorrow if our offer was accepted. We still plan to head out to see more places on Thursday with Ellen so that we have a back-up plan if the first place falls through.
After flat-searching, we came home and went on a quick run in Canary Wharf, which took us from urban to rural, literally. There is a community-sort of farm/garden in the area southeast of our flat in CW, complete with cows, sheep, pigs and llamas - and you can run/walk right through it. We took some pictures and hopefully I'll figure out how to link the blog to Picasa soon so we can share pics.
Time for this girl to put her feet up. Will post again soon, hopefully with good news regarding our flat!
Today, we spent time searching for our flat with a lovely woman named Ellen. We looked in the Angel/Islington area (still our favorite by far) as well as Hoxton, White Chapel/Shoreditch (not so much our favorite area: think Bucktown meets the South side). The rental market here is nutty - places go so quickly that if you don't make an offer (yes, offer - you can negotiate your rent to some extent) immediately, you could lose the place. I realize there may be properties like this in Chicago, however, it seems ALL rentals (or lettings, to speak proper English) are subject to this unofficial policy in London. We ended up making an offer on the last place we saw today and should hear back tomorrow if our offer was accepted. We still plan to head out to see more places on Thursday with Ellen so that we have a back-up plan if the first place falls through.
After flat-searching, we came home and went on a quick run in Canary Wharf, which took us from urban to rural, literally. There is a community-sort of farm/garden in the area southeast of our flat in CW, complete with cows, sheep, pigs and llamas - and you can run/walk right through it. We took some pictures and hopefully I'll figure out how to link the blog to Picasa soon so we can share pics.
Time for this girl to put her feet up. Will post again soon, hopefully with good news regarding our flat!
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Cheerio friends!
Greetings from London, UK! It's still a little hard to believe that we're here...and that we're staying here for awhile. Our trip over on Friday was relatively uneventful - we flew out of Chicago at 9am and arrived at our temporary flat around 1:30am, settled in just a bit and slept until 2pm on Saturday. Our temporary flat is in Canary Wharf, which is walking distance from the KPMG office. We're hoping to only be here for 2 weeks, but given the information we've gotten from our relocation company (read: apartment finders), it sounds like we may be here longer because there is a shortage of immediately available rentals on the market currently.
Yesterday, we explored some of Canary Wharf near our flat, picked up some groceries and then met up with friends of Matt's - Nick, Mike and his wife, Sandy - for drinks at a somewhat shady, albeit lively "Spanish" bar for a few pints, then to a fab little Indian restaurant for dinner and to the Three Greyhounds for more pints after dinner, which is in Soho, what I would equate to our Boystown.
Today, we spent some time wandering through the Clapham and Angel/Islington areas, which are 2 neighborhoods we're considering for our permanent residence. Loved Angel/Islington, not overly impressed by Clapham. We did, however, meet a group of hilarious British gents, who entertained us with some ridiculous stories over lunch at a pub in Clapham. Unfortunately, most are too inappropriate to share on our blog.
So far, we've successfully skyped with my parents and Jason - so nice to be able to see familiar faces, but strange to know that we are so far away from each other. It definitely set in sometime over the Atlantic that we were actually MOVING to London for 18 months. We are feeling more and more comfortable with each little adventure/exploration and expect that after a few weeks, we'll feel much more confident.
I think that's about it for now. We have been terrible about taking pictures so far, but promise to improve and post some pics soon. We miss everyone and hope all is well back in the States!
Yesterday, we explored some of Canary Wharf near our flat, picked up some groceries and then met up with friends of Matt's - Nick, Mike and his wife, Sandy - for drinks at a somewhat shady, albeit lively "Spanish" bar for a few pints, then to a fab little Indian restaurant for dinner and to the Three Greyhounds for more pints after dinner, which is in Soho, what I would equate to our Boystown.
Today, we spent some time wandering through the Clapham and Angel/Islington areas, which are 2 neighborhoods we're considering for our permanent residence. Loved Angel/Islington, not overly impressed by Clapham. We did, however, meet a group of hilarious British gents, who entertained us with some ridiculous stories over lunch at a pub in Clapham. Unfortunately, most are too inappropriate to share on our blog.
So far, we've successfully skyped with my parents and Jason - so nice to be able to see familiar faces, but strange to know that we are so far away from each other. It definitely set in sometime over the Atlantic that we were actually MOVING to London for 18 months. We are feeling more and more comfortable with each little adventure/exploration and expect that after a few weeks, we'll feel much more confident.
I think that's about it for now. We have been terrible about taking pictures so far, but promise to improve and post some pics soon. We miss everyone and hope all is well back in the States!
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