Disclaimer

I just wanted to explain one thing about my posts.

I will spend so long writing my blog and laying out the pictures and the descriptions under the pictures, etc, and then when I click on the "publish post" button it all changes. There are spaces where I had no spaces. Spaces I did want are now deleted. The descriptions under each picture are no longer centered. It's a mess. So then I will edit the post again and change these mistakes, click publish post, and then, again! New spaces, deleted spaces. A mess. So, I try to make it look nice. I do, but it just doesn't work. If any other fellow blogger out there has advice on how to avoid this, it will be much appreciated. Until then, I apologize for the weird layouts.

Pictures!

The hardest things about not having internet is that it makes it so much harder to remember all of the fun things we do that I want to tell you all about. We have done so much the past couple of weeks, so I'm going to use this post mostly to give you some pictures and a brief synopsis of what we're doing with our time.

Bath:

Such a charming town. I've only included a couple of pictures just of the actual baths, but the town offers a lot more. The baths are the highlight though, and I have limited space for pictures.

London:

Comedy show at a pub. Didn't understand a lot of the local political and entertainment jokes, but still a good time.

Oxfod/Cambridge boat race: Very fun! Basically college students use the excuse of seeing two boats row past them for 30 seconds as their excuse to party all day. So good people watching and lots of live music. Oxford won.

Ice cream sundaes at Harrod's ice cream parlor. Yum. Also was finally able to explore Harrod's. A different kind of yum.

Twilight DVD night with the girls. A very different kind of yum...

National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery with new friends. Love the Portrait Gallery, will go back many times.

Cabinet War Rooms/Churchill Museum: A must-see. Adam's favorite so far. I will probably have to drag my dad out of here if my parents visit us.

Protests/G20/Political leaders: A really fun time to be in the city! I assume they're talking about this on the news at home. Saturday we saw the giant protest parade -- basically, anyone who wanted to complain about something joined to make one huge group (like 30,000 I think... don't quote me on that) and paraded by the parliament buildings. We've seen a couple of very top secret looking caravans drive past us at various times, and....... I saw the queen!!!! Yesterday I met up with a couple of people to play around London, and the parade for the Mexican president was in progress. We decided to watch, and we saw the queen in her big pink hat drive by! So exciting!! We left before we saw the Mexican president.

So that's a very brief summary of the many things we're seeing and doing. Now for the fun part:

IRELAND

This was our wonderful B&B. (The little car on the far left was our set of wheels. Before we lost the hubcap.)

The Cliffs Moher aka "The Cliffs of Insanity"

It was really cold and windy

Funny cows are always a hit with us. This one loved Adam. Also notice all the stone walls, green pastures, and the edge of the Atlantic.

Crosses at Clonmacnoise

Old building barely hanging on at Clonmacnoise

At the Guiness Factory in Dublin

Very talented bartenders

St. Paterick's Cathdedral and park

Probably the most disturbing mural in Belfast. I could do a whole post of pictures/stories on these murals alone.

Giant wall separating opposing neighborhoods

We signed the wall. I'll take it as a good thing that Adam looks extremely unnatural holding that gun. Oh and our cab driver made us do this pose.

BATH

LONDON Tower of London. See what I mean by more of a community, not so much a giant tower?

Tower Bridge

Yeoman Warder. These are the guys that live at the tower with their wives. They're also the tour guides.

Oxford/Cambridge boat race. So much ado for those two little row boats. Notice the fleet following them? I mean SO much ado.

One picture of the protests. I wish I could have captured better just how many people there were and how many issues they were representing.

I hope this helped to fill you in on everything here. I planned on taking pictures of our flat, but I didn't feel like picking it up for the pictures, so maybe next time I'll have that for you!

Quit playing games with my heart, cable guy

Bad news on the internet front... basically the deal here with cable and internet is that, first they have to install your cable (which as previously mentioned took much longer than it was supposed to). Then, a week later they call you to verify something and turn on your phone line (?) and then within a week they mail your modem. A little weird, but that's okay, we were prepared. Well a week later they didn't call us, so we called them. Now they've told us that maybe next week or the week after, tough to say really, we should get a letter from them which should lead to them sending out a technician to test our phone line, and then a week or so later they should mail the modem to us.

Now, I don't know if anything I just said made any sense. Most likely it didn't because we are thoroughly confused by the whole thing. All we know is that we may have internet for the last half of our short stay in London. I'm not getting my hopes up though. This cable company has broken my heart for the last time. I'm moving on. I just don't know what to quite yet...

In other news it's been a great week here. The sunshine I talked about in my last post is STILL here. It's so wonderful. I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum yesterday in SHORT sleeves. It felt so nice. One weird thing about Londoners is it seems like they're so used to really crappy weather that they're really slow to believe that it actually is quite nice outside. Before we moved here I thought I would be the Texas girl way overdressed for the weather, but yesterday that was not the case. I saw so many people still bundled up in wool coats and knit scarves wrapped 5 times around up to their noses. And I got the weird looks from them. I started to get paranoid. I mean they're actually from here... what do they know that I don't... So I don't know. Londoners are strange.

I did learn that the V&A is my kind of museum though! I only did a small portion of it (the part that Adam probably wouldn't enjoy) and spent 3 1/2 hours there. They have a whole room showing the changes in clothing from about the 1700's until now. It had every genre of clothing. i.e. evening wear, day wear, sports wear, under wear, wedding dresses. I loved it. After the fashion room I went to the British galleries, which are 2 floors covering all aspects of British culture from 1500 to 1900. I'm talking ALL aspects. Furniture, food/drink/entertaining, shopping... I mean, everything. I don't know if everyone would enjoy this as much as me, but I thought it was fascinating. For example, I spent 10 minutes staring at a small glass case showing the needlework that a girl did from age 8-13. It was amazing. It has the oldest sampler in good condition in the whole world (I recognize that only sounds cool to Donna, Renay, Beth, Anna, and Haley). So anyway, like I said, not everyone's thing. But I'll take Martha's needlework over the Venus de Milo any day.

Today we saw the Tower of London, and Adam had his first afternoon tea (my first tea in London). The Tower was not at all what I was expecting, but still an interesting tour. I'd never seen it, but if you've always envisioned one giant tower full of prison cells and bones everywhere, that's not it. It's like a little walled in community (people actually live there) with one squatty "tower" in the middle. Still, it was an entertaining tour and definitely something worth doing in London, but I would have appreciated a bit more gore.

Afternoon tea was so nice! We went with another couple that a friend of Adam's set us up with and had a great time. It was in Hyde Park, overlooking the Kensington Palace grounds, on a beautifully sunny afternoon. Lovely. And, bonus, Adam found the tea enjoyable! Tomorrow we're planning on going to Bath, assuming the weather stays nice...

Ireland!

I LOVE Ireland. Love it. It is just as beautiful as I always imagined it would be and the people are wonderful! Just like Paris, it was a whirlwind of a trip, but I am definitely not done with Ireland. I can't wait to go back!

Our plane left on Thursday night. We took Ryanair, which, prior to moving to London we thought was a great thing. Just as easy as Southwest but with much cooler destinations. It is not. After we booked our flight, we were inundated with horror stories about the Ryanair staff, and all the times people weren't allowed on the plane, etc. So we were nervous, but we made it! And we still don't know how. It's a long story, and I won't go into detail here, but we ended up in the same circumstances that people before us had been in, and they didn't make their flight. But somehow or another they allowed us through. Granted one girl yelled us and her coworker for helping us, but oh well. She shouldn't go through life so angry.

So anyway, we flew into Shannon, which is kind of southwest Ireland. That night we stayed in the most perfect B&B. The house and room and dining room were all so cute and full of antiques. The family that runs it is fantastic and really pretty good cooks! We loved it, but we forgot to take a lot of pictures of it. I wish I had so you could see how perfect all of it was. It was a great way to kick off our trip!

The next day was the driving day. On the wrong side of the road. In a tiny little car. I didn't even try. Adam did great though! No wrecks! But we did lose a hubcap... we're pretty sure that it was messed up before we got the car though. At least that's what we told the rental agency! We started by driving to the Cliffs of Moher. These are the cliffs that were the "cliffs of insanity" in The Princess Bride, so naturally this was the thing I was most excited about seeing in Ireland. I spent a while trying to figure out just which part of the cliffs were used in the film, and I also decided I found the place where Inigo waited on Wesley for their sword fight. (I recognize that the fight was filmed somewhere different altogether because that setup in the movie looks very fake, but that's okay. I was having fun.) After the cliffs we drove through all the way through the midlands into Dublin, about a 4 hour drive. It was so wonderful! Everything is just so green, and instead of fences they have those stone walls all over. So beautiful. We made some stops along the way, including Clonmacnoise, which is basically the remains of a really really old monastery. It was neat to see the old buildings and high crosses, but it was extremely cold and windy, so I feel like we probably didn't appreciate that like we should have.

We stayed 2 nights in Dublin, and spent Saturday with some people that Adam works with who were also there to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. We started with the Guiness factory, which is actually a really well done tour. And I will admit, Guiness is not so bad in Ireland. It's not my fave or anything, but I did have a few pints while I was there and enjoyed them thoroughly... So after the beer tasting, we made the natural progression to tour St. Patricks cathedral and Christ Church. We also saw Dublin Castle, which was surprisingly enjoyable because they still had a lot of the medieval furniture set up, and overall it was just preserved well. I always like to see all the old furniture and learn why things were designed the way they were. Saturday night was just fighting the Patty's Day crowds at all the pubs. There were a ton of American college students because it's spring break, and flights are really cheap right now, so that kind of took away from some of the Irish pub feeling. And the non-American group I was with liked to give me a hard time every time they heard a drunk American saying stupid things loudly. But I didn't let that get to me. I'm still proud of my country thank you very much.

Sunday morning we took the train to Belfast in Northern Ireland to do the tour that we were kind of anxious about. Basically, they have a taxi service which employs only knowledgeable, "unbiased" cab drivers to take you around the catholic and protestant neighborhoods. Our driver was just okay, that was the only downside. The tour was fascinating, but we were definitely able to identify our driver's true feelings on the whole thing. But oh well. We saw all the murals, and I think it was even more interesting to go at this time because everything just felt so tense. Maybe it always does, but the driver said the atmosphere was much more tense, and that the neighborhoods, which appeared dead to us, usually had a lot more people walking around. However I didn't like it when he told us that taxi drivers were to be on high alert, since in the past a lot more of them got shot just because they were easy targets. He assured us not to worry, "they're just aiming for the driver." But we made it out!

After our few short hours in Belfast, we headed back to the airport and went home! It was such a wonderful trip. I really can't wait to go back. Especially if it's warmer weather!

Here in London all is well. The weather has been about 60 degrees and sunny the past three days! That changes everything. More people are out and about and in good moods, it's wonderful! However the weatherman said "but don't put away your winter woolies just yet..." Haha, I love listening to the weather here, they say the weirdest things. So I guess the warm weather isn't here for good just yet, but I plan on soaking it up as much as I can for now! (by sitting in a Whole Foods playing on the internet?? oh well)

I did get really homesick this morning, though. On their version of The Today Show, their chef is doing a tour of America, tasting all kinds of American cuisine. Today he was in Texas. Now, I've been okay as far as cravings for food from home go. I've really not been at that "if-I-don't-get-chips-and-salsa-right-this-minute-I-will..." point at all. This morning, though, I watched him eat enchiladas from Mi Tierra in San Antonio, and real true BBQ in Houston (which he kept calling "who-ston"). Man oh man, what I wouldn't give for some Desperado's enchiladas and Skipper Cox brisket... And then just seeing pictures of Texas and hearing Texans talk... it really did make me homesick. But that's okay. I will make it. And I have cable now, yay! Which means internet is about a week away, yay yay! So then I'll be to talk to everyone from home and life will be great!

This weekend I think we may take a day trip to somewhere around here, like maybe Bath or something. We'll just have to see how the weather is! We have a lot of pictures from Ireland that I haven't put on my computer yet. As soon as I do I will share some! Hope all is well at home, and that y'all are experiencing some beautiful spring weather also!

Catch-Up

I am so sorry for the delay in posts. But really, can you blame me? If you had to walk 15 minutes in cold and wet to pay for 2 hours of internet, during which time you're catching up on all your emails and TV downloads and etc. how often would you post? So I do feel bad, but honestly, don't expect any better for the next few weeks. And be thankful for your little luxuries in life such as internet and cable and a dishwasher.

Now that that's out of the way... things here really are good (despite no TV, internet, and dishwasher). We've been in our place now for a few weeks, and have had a maintenance person over each week. But I think we're finally getting the little kinks (such as the toilet not flushing... eek) worked out. Tomorrow the cable person is supposed to come and install our satellite dish. So we could potentially have hundreds of channels and tivo after tomorrow and feel back to our normal 21st century selves! I'm not going to get my hopes up, though. We've already had the cable guys out once before... Our building can only get satellite tv, we don't have access to the digital kind in our area. And, the previous tenant already had the dish installed and left the cable box, so I was thinking, great, this should be simple. Nothing that involves service in London is simple. I'm not trying to hate; I'm very grateful for this opportunity and am having a great time. But they stink at helping their residents with any issue that would make one feel more comfortable here in London... so, apparently the dish we currently have installed is facing 2 average sized trees, and the guys told me that when those trees bloom, we won't be able to get reception. So of course I thought, well, the guy here before me was watching TV. And they said, that is unexplainable. And I said, so, how am I able to hold a tiny GPS in my hand and it manages to get reception no problem, regardless of trees. And they said, well, it's not the trees, per se, but the moisture that they trees hold that will cause the interference. And I said, really? I live in one of the wettest cities in the world. Forget the trees, what about the moisture that is ALWAYS falling from the sky?? They laughed awkwardly and changed the subject.

So, the next step is to install a dish on the roof, which is only accessible through the very top flat. So I had ask that tenant if the cable guys can trample around in her apartment tomorrow. She said only if she's home. So, the cable people will call and give me an 8 hour time frame in which they will be here tomorrow, and I just have to pray that it will coincide with the short time she's at home. So keep your fingers crossed everyone!

In happier news, Paris was wonderful! The city really is so beautiful. I went into it expecting it to feel a lot like London, as far as building architecture goes and all, but something about Paris just feels more elegant than here. And the food is incredible! I found that at every restaurant I would order something, and when it came out it did not look like how I had imagined it would or wanted it to be. So I would be disappointed, and then I would try it... and every time, without fail it was one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth. They're just really good with flavors there!

We pretty much were on the go all weekend! We did the "chunnel" train thing on Friday, which we were excited about trying. But it was dark so we could never tell if we were underwater or whatnot, so in the end it was just like a really long, but more comfortable, tube ride. Coming home, though, we got first class tickets, which is totally worth it if you ride the EuroStar. Let me tell you, the wine really runneth over. They insist you keep drinking the whole time. It's great. I love the European attitude toward alcohol! :)

But anyway, so on Saturday we got up early and walked to the Museum D'Orsay, which was recommended to us by many people as easier to manage and just as enjoyable as the Louvre. After a couple of hours there we walked around more and saw the place where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned, and an absolutely stunning chapel (I can't remember the name right now, I forgot to bring my Paris book with all the names to Whole Foods, oops. I'll update later after I find the names), and then Notre Dame. This is where our camera ran out of batteries, and we argued our whole way through Notre Dame because I was in charge of packing and forgot to pack extra batteries or the charger. So, most people may find it hard to argue in Paris at all, and we managed to do it in the biggest sanctuary there. In hindsight we both think that's hilarious. So then we bought a really shady charger from a really shady tourist shop, but so far it's worked for us!

Saturday evening we did a boat tour down the Seine, and then had dinner overlooking the Eiffel Tower. On Sunday we started with Louvre, and just saw the highlights. The place is massive, and we aren't huge art fanatics, so we were only allowing ourselves a couple of hours there. We got to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo and some other famous ones, but most of the paintings I recognized weren't currently there. That was kind of disappointing, because it is surprisingly surreal to look at the original copy of a piece of art that you've seen hundreds of prints of all your life, and I would have liked to have seen more, such as "Starry Night" and others like that. But that's okay! After that we head to the Arc de Triumph and walked all the stairs up and down it! No elevator for us! (Only because we didn't know there was an elevator when we started) Then we headed to Montmarte, which is supposed to be the most charming neighborhood in Paris. This is where the cafe that Amelie worked in (in the movie of the same name) is located. And it is a cute little place! It's also where they have the big square full of artists trying to paint you. It was fun, we walked around there for a couple of hours, then headed back to the Eiffel Tower for sunset, then took our first class train ride back home !

Inside the main hall in Museum D'Orsay

Inside the incredible chapel whose name I can't remembered. You are completely encircled by those stained glass walls.

Inside the Notre Dame. A service was going on while we were there. We felt slightly bad about taking pictures, but not bad enough.
The back side of the Notre Dame. I figured you are familiar enough the front side, and I think this is a pretty picture.

Outside the Louvre. That's right, we're those people.

In the starewell in the Arc de Triumph. Please notice what a long way down it is.

Adam being artistic with the shutter speed and the lights.

So pretty and sparkly!

There are just so many picture and not enough computer power to post on here! Maybe sometime later I'll post more! This weekend we are headed to Ireland for St. Patty's, so that should be fun! Part of our trip does include Northern Ireland, though, so naturally I'm a little anxious because we are going for the purpose of touring the opposing neighborhoods and all that, so the current news headlines have made me a little nervous. So we'll see how that goes. If it goes badly, blame Rick and Mindy Logsdon for really talking up this tour! :)