Saturday - Monday 26-28 August 2006

Monday was our first Bank Holiday. Basically it’s a day off without commemorating anything (like Memorial or Labor Day), and if they’re going to give us a day off, we’re gonna take it!!

We flew up to Edinburgh, Scotland for the long weekend away. It would have been more of a “romantic” weekend had Amy not booked the Ricky and Lucy Ricardo Honeymoon Suite complete with matching twin beds. This was also our first attempt at flying after the attempted terrorist actions a few weeks earlier. We allowed 3 hours, but were at the gate in half that. Times like this I’m glad Amy is a British Airways Gold Flyer which gets us into the BA Lounge.

Within Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-in-burrah for you Yanks) we walked the Royal Mile (actually a mile and a quarter) and toured both the Palace at Holyrood House (the Queen’s Scottish residence) and the foreboding Edinburgh Castle high up on its craggy perch. Within the castle we viewed the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Scone. My favorite was the ruins of the Abbey at Holyrood. The Edinburgh Festival was still going on so the streets were full of people and street performers. Sunday we took a Highlands bus tour that took us for an all day 300+ mile look at the Scottish countryside. With the heather in full bloom and weather somewhat ominous we got an excellent treat of the natural side of the country plus a stop for a whiskey tasting. Our tour guide spun tales of Robert the Bruce, William Wallace (the TRUE story) and Rob Roy. Glencoe was by far my favourite area, but we were also treated to a bonus drive-by of Doune Castle which was featured in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

In the middle of all that we managed to take a boat cruise on Loch Ness. Come on!!!! What’s a trip to Scotland with out taking a chance at seeing Nessie??

Friday 18 August 2006

Amy’s friend Dana-Leigh told us that if we try to schedule trips around the British weather that we’d never get to see anything. With that in mind, and a forecast of potential downpours, we packed up umbrellas and ponchos and took a day trip out to Bath along with stops at Windsor Castle and Stonehenge.

Compared to the other Royal palaces we’ve visited I was disappointed with Windsor, but it was still impressive. The best part was the Albert Memorial Chapel. Shame photos weren't allowed.

This was my second visit to Stonehenge, but Amy’s first. My first guide gave me far more insight to Stonehenge than today’s so, of course, I filled Amy in on the more interesting tidbits of information (none of which included alien intervention). However, we were treated to what I jokingly referred to as a Druid initiation. A couple of adults draped in burlap with animal skull sceptres were parading around the stones with several school aged children banging on drums and playing a recorder. Just a very odd sight that wasn’t in the tour brochure.

The Georgian spa city of Bath was something else. All the buildings (by law) are constructed of limestone with no brick ever to be used. We toured the site of the original Roman Baths (fed by the only hot mineral spring in England) dating back to the 1st century, and briefly walked through Bath Abbey with its fan faulted ceiling and flying buttress construction. Amy and I decided that we are definitely coming back to spend a weekend getaway here.

We missed most of the rain today as the downpours occurred while intransit between sites. The ominous clouds only added to the mystery of Stonehenge. I have already found the website for the Bath Spa and will keep it in mind for a weekend escape. The bus tours don't offer much time in each location, but they are great for giving the overview and highlights.

Earlier this week I went with a friend to see the musical Mary Poppins. Elizabeth and I had a wonderful night out and had really great seats at the show. I had forgotten most of the story, but did remember a few of the songs! Yes - we were singing along by the end.

Sunday 13 August 2006

Hear ye, hear ye… This weekend has officially been designated for rest and relaxation. Good choice too as the weather has changed a bit. We’ve made a concentrated effort not to stereotype, but this is what I had envisioned London weather being like. This weekend the temperatures haven’t exceeded 18 degrees C (~64 degrees F) with overcast skies and occasional drizzle.

The cooler temperatures have allowed us to keep most of the windows closed which has worked out well in shielding us from the antics of the 3:00 AM singing vagrant we’ve had outside our building this past week.

A much needed rest weekend as things have been quite busy and stressful at work lately.

A different twist on Ray's earlier posting, but here are things that I'm missing from home:
Family visits
Grandma's cooking
Bunko (and all the associated girlfriends)
Friday night movies and dinner with the ladies across town
Downtown lunches with friends
Neighborhood get togethers with the Pearland gang
Specs (somewhat related to the above)
Barnes and Noble
Pappasitos
Massages

Thursday 10 August 2006

Today British police personnel thwarted a potential terrorist plot to place explosives on commercial airplanes departing from London. We can only be thankful that the kids made it home before all this happened.

On a lighter note.

Things I’ve grown accustomed to that I’ll miss when we leave:

Having a doorman that sends me off on my work day with a “Cheers” every morning.

Cuban cigars.

Things I haven’t grown accustomed to:

Men wearing capri length pants.

Thursday 3 Aug 2006

After arriving back from Amsterdam, Doug and I decided to take in The Great British Beer Festival. Ales galore, with far too many beers and not enough time (but we did try!!). Really didn’t come away with a favourite, but I am disappointed with the IPA’s here. Among the people in the crowd, we actually saw a guy in a cheesehead hat. Boy, did that made me whimsical for home…... –sniff-

Tuesday/Wednesday 1-2 Aug 2006

The kids and I are off to Amsterdam (Amy has to work, sucks for her). The weather had it in for us as cooler temperatures set in with occasional showers throughout our visit. We were pleasantly surprised with how “English” friendly this European city was and had no troubles finding our way around.

We dodged these showers during our bicycle tour of the city and a trip out along the Amstel dike to visit an actual windmill and a cheese and wooden shoe factory. The tour guide on this bike ride was probably the most entertaining of any I’ve had since our arrival. Stuart was informative and his use of the language captured the true spirit of the lifestyle in Amsterdam. Not sure about his advice about mushrooms and The Van Gogh Museum though.

We walked through the Rijksmuseum and viewed several of the classic masterpieces of the Dutch artists. One of the things we came away with was the idea that Rembrandt tried to indict a murderer within his painting De Nachtwacht (The Night Watch), a Dutch version of The DaVinci Code if you will. Doug and I plan on researching this further.

Our walk through the Red Light District was dampened by, well…. Rain, as it poured when we were there. We did get the gist of the area though taking in all the “sights” that it had to offer.

One evening we enjoyed dinner on a canal side table and even sampled the local fare for lunch as we tried Pannekoeken (Dutch pancakes). They weren’t bad. Picture an omelette with pancake batter instead of eggs.