Friends, Musicals, Roman Baths, And A Big Pile Of Rocks

My boss from the US was in London on vacation a few weeks ago so we decided to train it up to meet him and his wife. We caught the Eurostar on Thursday night so we could make an early tour the next day, and then planned on meeting him on Saturday for some tourism and a show.

On Friday, we took a long but interesting tour all around southern England. The first stop was Windsor Castle, the Queen's weekend home. It's quite a magnificent place that still looks like an old medieval castle. We walked through the chapel where Henry VIII is buried, as well as several other famous British rulers. Unfortunately the state rooms were closed, so we weren't able to go in there...I've heard they are quite beautiful.

From there it was a 1 1/2 hour drive in the pouring rain to the famous Stonehenge. Just as we approached the site, the clouds parted and we were treated to a nice, dry view of the site. To be honest, it's a big pile of rocks in the middle of a field. This was one of the few times that I've really enjoyed having an audio guide of a place. We learned that the 3000 year old structure was built from stones over 100 miles away. How people at that time could transport 40 ton rocks that distance just blew my mind. We also heard about the many theories of who built them and why...ranging from a timepiece to plant crops to a big practical joke by aliens.

The final stop on the tour was Bath, where a Roman bath house was discovered on top of the only natural hot springs in the UK. Here we roamed around the well restored piece of history, imagining what it was like in Roman times and admiring the amazing architecture and plumbing that the Romans were able to create. We had a little extra time after the tour so we spent some time wandering around the beautiful city. We stopped at Sally Lunn's Buns to pick up the "best bun in the UK" from the bakery in the basement of the oldest house in the city, built in 1482! It's amazing to me how short America's history seems after visiting some of these places. After that, it was a long 2 1/2 hour ride back to London. We were mentally exhausted after the trip, so instead of researching a restaurant we returned to our "favorite" dim-sum spot from our last London trip. Same experience as last time...terrific food, lousy service.

On Saturday we were planning to meet with Chris at 2:00 at the London Eye. We took it easy in the morning, grabbing coffee and making our way to Leicester Square for lunch. After lunch we hopped on the Underground only to find Chris and his wife standing right next to us in the car! What are the odds? So, the four of us made our way to the London Eye. Now, I've been to London two times before this trip, and the only thing I haven't done is the Eye...I'm terrified of heights. But, this time I had convinced myself to give it a shot. So, of course, the giant ferris wheel had broken down just two hours before we arrived. A little bummed, we decided to walk across the river to Westminster Abbey...only to find it closed as well. So, we did the only things left to do in London, hit up a pub! After a couple of pints we retired to our respective hotels to clean up before dinner and a show.

The four of us met up again and enjoyed a nice dinner in the SOHO area, and then cabbed it over to the theater to see Wicked. Chris had found absolutely amazing seats for us, which added to an already wonderful show. After the show, we parted ways quickly as the rain and crowds made it difficult to stand around and chat.

London is always a fun trip, and it was even better to be able to experience it with friends.

Home for Christmas

The stars were aligned for us to have a fantastic trip home at Christmas...we got a direct flight for a great price, NATO was closed so Keith had the time off, and we had friends willing to watch Bailey. The trip itself flew by; there is just no way for us to see everyone we want to see in just a week. My parents were gracious enough to let us crash at their place, and since they are storing our bedroom set in their basement we has a very familiar place to sleep. Possibly the best part of staying at their house was that they are taking care of Pumpkin for us, so we had our furry friend curling up with us most nights. Despite hectic Christmas schedules we were able to coordinate with several people, mostly over lunches and dinners.

On one of our first days, friends had organized a group dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. After a full year being deprived of Mexican food out here, we were quite excited. Several of our friends brought their beautiful new family additions, and we chatted away the evening over margaritas and burritos. Sadly we forgot our camera on this night, so we'll be relying on them to keep us supplied with baby photos. We had three or four other meals with friends, coworkers, and ex-coworkers during the week. Unfortunately there were still many people that we missed due to holiday travel schedules, but it was great to catch up with as many people as we did.

On the 23rd, Keith's mom drove up from Norfolk and stayed with my parents through Christmas. It was really great to be able to have our families together on Christmas. Other than a few shopping trips for some last minute gifts, we took it easy. The whole family took a trip to the church on Christmas Eve to watch our nephew's Christmas play. It was a cute and wonderful version of a Christmas story. Then, on Christmas day we had a blast watching my dad put on every piece of clothing he received...all at the same time. The rest of the day was spent preparing and enjoying the Christmas feast.

We spent our remaining days back home visiting friends when possible. Wendy was kind enough to bring Maya and her mother by a few times, so we got to spend a while with them. It was amazing how much she'd grown already. Our nephew Brandon also stopped by and hung out with us a bit, and we even took a trip to our old home that my brother Tom now owns. He introduced us to Rock Band, and the three of us and his roommate spent the evening playing and singing (apparently poorly as the game told us) away. We were also able to fill another craving with a trip to China Garden in Rosalyn for Dim Sum! It was exactly as we remembered, maybe even better :)

Several people asked us if we noticed anything different now that we've been away for awhile. We were both pretty blown away by the traffic, not that we didn't know it was bad, but it really stood out how crazy the drivers are there. Here, slow traffic truly stays to the right, it is illegal to pass on the right and you can't sit in the left lane, and people follow the traffic rules. I guess I've gotten used to it, that it was a shock to the system to be back with people swerving in and out of lanes, people going 55 in the left lane, and 90 in an exit lane. On a positive note, we loved going to see a movie. It's amazing to have so many theater choices, and movies without all the subtitles on it. I do wish we could add one feature that some of the theaters here have, pre-seating selection. When you buy your tickets you pick your seats, which reduces waiting in lines only to race and elbow others out of the way to save seats for your friends getting popcorn. Nonetheless, it was great to see a movie back home. Another great part about being home was being able to shop on a Sunday! We both needed to run some errands and almost forgot that we could do some of it on Sunday. And who doesn't love a 24 CVS? Ahhh..... the land of Convenience! Our other observation was no big surprise, but we were both pretty overwhelmed with the portions of food! The US really does bigger, sometimes better, but always bigger! It was not hard to feel a little sick after all the meals out with friends.

Anyway, after an uneventful but long flight back to Belgium, we had 5 days to recover from the jet lag and acclimate to the sub-zero temperatures here before Keith went back to work on the 5th. Despite not being able to see everyone that we wanted, it was still a fantastic trip home.