Happy Thanksgiving from Ely Cathedral

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We spent our Thanksgiving eve at the world famous Ely Cathedral where Alicia and a friend participated in the service choir. Very cool.

Check out this cake-

Alicia has been making cakes for a while now. She's really good, but doesn't seem to want to pursue it for some reason. This is her latest creation, it's a birthday cake for our friends daughter's first birthday:

It's pumpkin time

I can't find the photos of our carved pumpkins. We joined some friends for a chance to pick out some pumpkins though. It was cold, because it was England.

Alicia turns 29... for the rest of her life

For Alicia's birthday, we drove up to Windsor castle and got stuck in traffic because of a police chase. The castle is still in use by the Queen today. It's huge. The castle grounds are broke up into a few parts, the first being the tower which overlooks everything for miles.

Next is a row of housing and the famous St Georges Chapel. The Chapel tour has some interesting history to it, but unfortunately there's no photography inside. Below is the chapel on the left.

Then there's the Quadrangle courtyard. Yeah, it's a square with a fancy name.

Part of the castle tour takes you inside to look through the rooms which are still decorated and some are used today. There's some cool stuff in there. My favorite was the foyer surrounded by various suites of armor, swords and guns. My least favorite was the china room dedicated to the royal plates, bowls and cups. There is also a replica dollhouse of the castle that was a birthday gift to the queen. It features working items, including plumbing, and items that were state of the art when created such as vacuums. It's not your ordinary dollhouse.

We concluded our trip with a birthday dinner at a Greek restaurant. Neither one of us had ever eaten Greek food. It's delicious.

Yes, we did attend the Robin Hood festival

August celebrates the annual Robin Hood festival up in Nottingham. Sherwood Forrest isn't as big or exciting as you may think, and most of the giant trees are gone. But that doesn't stop the brits from putting on a fun filled day of falconry, archery and of course a fight between Robin Hood himself and the Sheriff.

Remember me? A visit from family - Debbie and Savannah

In July we got our first, and who knows - maybe our last, visit from family. Alicia's sister Debbie and niece Savannah trekked across the pond to say hey. We took a road trip to Edelweiss which is a resort in the Bavarian alps.

First stop - Reims, France. Ok, so I won't say that I like France as a whole, but I did like Paris and I do like Reims. This first shot is a cathedral in Reims. It's pretty fantastic display of what can be built when inspired by God. That's what the sign said anyway. But really, if it doesn't impress you, then you must be blind.

Reims is the champagne capital of the world. I've never really drank champagne. Only after our trip to Italy did Alicia and I start to enjoy wine like we do. So, Alicia booked us for a champagne tour. The french used to dig out these enormous caverns into the ground to store the champagne and are still used today. I won't be drinking champagne every day, but I won't be turning down any free glasses either.



After Reims, we stopped in Germany to see the hospital where Debbie was born. We ate some authentic German food, that's right Schnitzel! Amazing! And then off to the resort. The Bavarian alps are simply incredible, much like that of Switzerland and Austria. The river that ran along the main highway was an emerald green color and was crystal clear. As soon as we got home from the trip, I looked up what it would cost to buy a vacation home there. It's doable. Not now, but maybe a bit later in life.



We also visited a lake.

This is Neuschwanstein, its the castle that Disney knocked off in their movies. Look familiar?

We popped into Austria for an afternoon to eat some lunch. English is taught as a secondary language up through the sixth grade. Guess where I'm moving in the event of necessity?

This kind fella dressed in traditional Austrian garb was getting ready to play a concert and let us take a photo op.

One of the best parts of our trip was to Partnach Gorge. It's a natural gorge with a river running through it, lined with walkways and sporadic waterfalls surrounded by the alps.

On the way home, we took a cruise down the Rhine river. The Rhine has great scenery. There are castles and cascading vinyards everywhere.

Part of the cruise included a stop off for lunch and German wine tasting. Our host for the wine tasting was large jovial man, and he taught us the finer points of wine tasting. The most important point being to drink plenty of it.

We also got some time to tourist ourselves around one of Germany's most famous shopping towns. The people here were not very nice, so they didn't get any of our money. There was also a lift we took to see over the whole area.

Following our cruise down the Rhine was our last layover of the trip, in Bruges. There's a lot of great architecture in Bruges and the city is filled with watered canals that offer tours of the city. Pretty cool. Stopping off here gave us the opportunity to meet up with our nephew Aarons' mother-in-law and eat some overpriced food.

Happy 30-th to me!!!

For my 30th birthday Alicia and I went to Ireland with our friends, the Richardsons, J and Natalie. We flew into Dublin, rented a car and stayed in an apartment. We got there late and got lost cause somebody didn't remember to grab the directions. But after driving around the same block about 20 times we found our spot.

We hit up the Guinness brewery for a tour, tasting and lunch. I got to taste the extra stout. It's amazing and cannot be purchased in the US.

Alicia booked us for a special dinner at the Jameson Whiskey distillery for a fun night of food, booze, music, dancing and singing. Actually, the dancing was left to some wonderfully quick footed Irish ladies and a guy who performed some traditional dances, and a couple of schmucks who couldn't get out of it, I was one of them. Happy birthday to me.


We also got outside of Dublin for a bit and visited the tallest waterfall they've got to offer. If you've been to waterfalls in the states, this isn't going to impress you much. But it was nice to see.

Alicia tried out for X-Factor

X-Factor is the british - American Idol. It's huge over here, but their ratings are nothing like the American version. Alicia and her friend decided to try out and I came along for support. We expected to stand in a huge line and wait forever, but we ended up getting a pretty good spot. The first couple hours were all about shooting footage for the show, so the whole crowd had to partake in some phony excitement - yelling, cheering, holding banners. Once we got inside, it was more of the same. There is a slight possibility that I can be seen during this part if it doesn't get cut out because of where I was sitting. The auditions went quickly. Unfortunately Alicia and her friend did not make the cut. Maybe next time.

Trip to Wales

Back in March of 09, we took a road trip up to Wales with our friends the Garries. There is a distinctive environmental difference between England and Wales. Basically England is barren without much natural character and Wales is beautiful, much like Northern California - only cold.

On the coast, we found this mound of earth with the softest grass ever felt by man. This thing was like a sponge. When you stepped you sank down a good couple of inches.

Before the trip, Keith (Garrie) and I did a bit of research. We thought there would be Puffin everywhere, there wasn't. But we did find one. Below is our crowning achievement from the Puffin hunt.

Here's a shot of the Wales coast where we hiked around for an afternoon.

Trip to Dover Castle and the White Cliffs

Last weekend we took a trip with our friends the Garries to Dover Castle and the White Cliffs of Dover. We borrowed a van from Alicia's work and piled in for short road trip. Dover is at the Southeast tip of the island and where we have ferried across to France on a few occasions.

We began our exploration at the Castle. Dover Castle is probably best known for it's use during World War II. It held significant importance in fighting against the German invasion and was the home of Admiral Ramsey who mastermind Operation Dynamo otherwise known as the miracle of Dunkirk. There are three levels of underground tunnels which were used for a hospital and of course secret military planning. The tour of the tunnels started with a display of a wartime scenario of an injured soldier who needed medical attention and afterward the military operation rooms throughout. Pretty cool stuff.

After the tunnels we went to check out the castle itself but it was closed for maintenance or something. So we walked around the castle walls looking at cannons and views and then the chapel and Roman lighthouse which dates back to 1 A.D.

The White Cliffs of Dover are just down the street from the castle and can be found by walking some easy trails for a few minutes. Not much to say about them, but they look cool.

Trip to Paris

First things first. It was a great trip and we have very few complaints. So, to the country of France, or at least the Parisians, you have earned a truce. That doesn't mean we're (America) gonna come bailing you out of any wars in the near future, but it does mean i'll go easy on the French jokes for a while.

The city of Paris is magnificently built. It has beautiful buildings and architecture mixed in with a ton of semi-fascinating history. The way the city is put together is fairly traditional European in that it surrounds the paramount church, Notre Dame cathedral, however over the past few hundreds of years it has expanded considerably.

Our first night was spent in a very Parisian restaurant, small and packed with tables making it next to impossible not to say something to your neighbor at least once, very French. We were blessed with some light entertainment which included two men, one with an accordion and the other with a guitar playing mostly French love songs with a splash of good 'ol rock & roll to keep it upbeat. The two men did a great job including the patrons of the restaurant in their show. They demonstrated a great sense of humor with a hint of perversion. This wasn't our first time in France, but it was our first opportunity at traditional French cooking which of course included escargo. If you want to know what that was like, you'll have to ask Alicia.









After our meal we were taken on a bus ride tour of Paris by night where our guides weaved us through the streets pointing out buildings and explaining their historical significance. One thing the Parisians have done a great job of is keeping some of their architecture in tact by revamping retro buildings for modern usage. Their oldest buildings have been rehabilitated as museums, hotels and government buildings, which keeps them in use and open to the public.

On day two we continued our bus ride tour tracing much of the same route as the night before but also included some new routes and stops for taking pictures. Still to this day many of Napoleons markings can be found throughout the city on arches, bridges and monuments. We stopped at a military parade ground where they have a monument to peace, go figure. It was a place for some photos of the Eiffel tower. The tower itself is very grand when your standing under it. It stands almost one thousand feet tall and was built by Gustave Eiffel, a bridge engineer, around 1889. Many people of his day though it was hideous and fled the city in protest (that worked). It's definitely unique and nothing is more fitting in Paris than a giant phallus seen by the entire city. After the tower we grabbed a bite to eat in a restaurant before heading into the Louvre Museum. The Louvre was originally the royal palace of Phillip II and was expanded many times over again into the building that we know today. It's huge! Our guide told us that if you spent one minute on each item in the Louvre, it would take you a month to see everything. We had only a couple hours, so we checked out the top ten: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and a bunch of others... It would be great to go back when we have more time.

This was Valentines Day so once everyone was ready, we went back to the hotel and freshened up for dinner at another Parisian restaurant. No snails this time, but we did try some Foie Gras (fattened duck liver pate) which wasn't too bad. There were no perverted musicians to entertain us though, so we had to entertain ourselves and each other, oh well. After dinner we were treated to a boat cruise of the river Seine.

On our final day we headed to Le Sacre-Coeur which is a roman catholic basilica that overlooks Paris. Around the corner is Artist Square where you can purchase some local paintings or have your portrait sketched for a small fee.

When all is said and done, Paris is a great big city that would take a lot more time than two and a half days to explore, but the time we did spend was well spent. The food was good (except the rhum cake) and the people were nice and i'm sure we'll go back soon.

Afghan-Games '09?

Skateboarding in the U.S. was often a sign of rebellion from the status quo, with close ties to alternative music and an appearance that Ronald MacDonald would hesitate to hire. So is it possible that this same activity that unites so many of our youths could also be as beneficial to the youths of Afghanistan?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/sports/othersports/26skate.html

Best of the Bushisms (CNN Video)

This video is awesome. I miss him already.

Is this the end of London? OMG!

"London buckles under worst snow in 18 years"

"Britons are shaking their heads at how 8 inches ground one of the world's busiest cities to a halt."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0204/p07s02-woeu.html

...It's just a bit of snow, right?

Snow, snow, snow

Here's a view out my front door window. They say it's the worst snowstorm in years. What a bunch of little girls!

Happy New Year, if you're Chinese

Yesterday we went down to London for the Chinese New Year celebration. It was of course held in "Chinatown" and was packed full of people. Not cool. It was freezing cold, snowing on and off all day. We wanted to see the dancing dragon but the crowd was so big we couldn't see anything, but went back later and got to see it doing it's thing. The highlight was the firework finale. Aside from the cold it was a pretty good trip.

Italy

On the way to Italy we went through France (they can keep it), Belgium (mini-France) and then we stayed the first night in Switzerland. Amazing! They should film every "save the earth" commercial in Switz. I especially like this photo because it makes it look like I was backpacking through Europe, we rode a bus.

Italy is dirty. It's true. Not all of Italy, but certainly the tourist areas. I think our favorite place in Italy was Assisi. It's a monastery town up in the hills, and it's clean. We also saw Venice, Rome, Florence, and Pisa.

Stonehenge

The marketing director for the Discovery Channel deserves a raise. I've watched those hour long shows on this pile of rocks, who hasn't? But that's all it is, really.

Bath

The tour in Bath was really good. It was free and it was all about the history of the city. There were some old buildings and a lot of shops. I didn't care for Bath, but of course the wife liked it.

Lands End

If you need an explanation of "Lands End", then I don't know what to tell you... not much there really. There's some tourist shops and a farm.

We learn to surf

You have to laugh at the irony, right? I mean, two people from the great state of Cali have to move to England to learn how to surf? It was awesome, and we will be back. Oh yes, we will be back.

Minack Theatre

The Minack is an outdoor theatre set on the coast of England. It was a cool idea, but once it started raining, we left.

Trip to Eden

Welcome to Eden. Eden is a couple of bio-spheres out in the middle of nowhere, nowhere on the south west of England, each one housing a different environment. The first is a rain forest and the other is a desert. There's also a bunch of other stuff like a zip-line, tons of plant life to walkabout, a stage and more. Cool place, definitely worth checking out.