Day 108: Holiday

Thursday is now gone which means that in 2 1/2 months I will be one extremely happy person! Now...off to Spain (possibly Portugal and Morocco) for a few days. Yay for three day weekends! I'll update when I get back, but until then I leave you with a few pictures that represent the love for Lady Gaga:

This one was spotted at RAF Mildenhall, UK

This one, in Balad, Iraq

Mediteranean Cruise Part 2

Tueday 20 April:
We arrived at Santorini, another Greek island, at 1 pm. Benjamin and I really enjoyed Santorini, much more than Corfu.

These pictures are hilarious to me - we probably have 20 pictures that look just like this because it was just too darn windy!! The view was breathtaking though.

Our tour guide was adament that we take a picture like this! I think it turned out great - I loved all the bright blue doors and windows everywhere!

Another look at the architecture and streets!

After exploring Santorini, we got to eat some authentic Greek food! It was all very delicious.

We also had to get dessert - I had the amazing baklava and Benjamin had a heavenly chocolate brownie cake with gelato!

It's all Greek to us!

Mediterranean Cruise Part 1

Whew...Benjamin and I finally made it back from a week long wonderful relaxing vacation!

Friday 16 April:
We had planned on flying out on the Friday April 16th, however, due to volcano ash in the sky our flight was cancelled and we had to immediately rethink how we were going to get to Italy for our cruise. We thought quickly and try to get a train from London to Paris and then Paris to Venice. Most of the trains were completely booked and the Eurostar was way too expensive. We decided we were going to have to drive - that's a cross-continent trip, 16 hours of driving time, 1000+ miles. If we wanted to go on our vacation, it was the only choice. We got a rental car and zoomed to Venice. We left around 2 pm on Friday and drove all the way until 5 am on Saturday. In all the hustle, we forget to mention that we needed an automatic car for the trip but it was too late, I had been roped in to driving a STICK SHIFT car. I can't drive a manual but I ended up driving, somehow, in the middle of France. It was horrible and I was so tense when I got done with my portion. I'm happy to say I only cried once! HAHA. Benjamin didn't want to stop driving until we got to Venice but we were extremely exhausted by 5 am. We ended up sleeping in the car for one hour in a Switzerland gas station parking lot. I've never slept in a car but I will say it was extremely comfortable or maybe I was too tired to notice.

The best part of driving was we got to see the beautiful Swiss Alps!

Saturday 17 April:
We got up at 6 am and started going again. We got through Switzerland and into Venice and were finally on the ship by 2 pm. We pretty much crashed as soon as we got to our room. We woke for dinner and everyone on the ship was buzzing about the change in schedule. The captain decided that we were going to stay docked on more day, skip Turkey and wait for passengers that weren't on the ship yet. This did not go over well with the passengers already on board - petitions were being sent around, people were complaining.

Sunday 18 April:
Benjamin and I thought we would be able to see more of Venice but we found out we were sailing. Thank goodness for those people for complained because that night the captain changed his mind and were began sailing towards Greece by 8 am! We spent this day on the ship, naps were in order as we were still trying to get back on track.

Monday 19 April:
We arrived at the island of Corfu, Greece at 9 am. Here are a few pictures at Corfu.

 outlook from the Monastery

Benjamin with a statue of  Achilles at the Achillion Palace

The Achillion Place was a summer house built in 1890 for Austria's Empress Elizabeth. 

Outside the palace

In Corfu town

Weekend in Amsterdam

This past weekend, Benjamin and I had a day off on Friday and decided to go to Amsterday for the weekend. We left on Thursday night and came back home on Sunday. The first thing we did on Saturday was go to the Keukenhof Gardens. This is what the website had to say about the gardens, "An unprecedented wealth of spectacular floral displays planted in endless varieties, alternated with beautiful works of art. Keukenhof is unique, world famous and has been one of the most popular destinations in the Netherlands for many years now. And it has been photographed millions of times, more than any other location. The same also applies to the surrounding bulb fields as well, of course."

Afterwards we went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was amazing!

After the tour, we went to Anne Frank's House. It was a very moving experience.

 

Later that night, we saw an improv comedy show called Boom Chicago. It was freaking hilarious!! If we ever go back to Amsterdam, we will go see another show here.

Me "reading" Dutch:

Here a "coffeshop" that sells "coffee" and by coffee I mean marijuana. This is apparently the most famous coffeeshop in Amsterdam., also seen in the movie Ocean's 12.

Scotland Trip

I just booked our New Years Eve trip to Scotland!! We booked our tickets through ITT(Information Tickets and Travel) on RAF Lakenheath. You pay for the trip and they do all the rest!
I got our information for Scotland off the ITT website:

Details:
New Year at Edinburgh's Hogmanay "the world's best New Year celebration"
Currency: Bring pounds for spending money on this trip.

Departures:
December 29 (4-day tour) <- We are doing the four day trip! December 30 (3-day tour)
December 30 (3-day tour)

Tuesday/Wednesday
We depart from local pickup points early morning and travel northwards by executive coach to Bonny Scotland, with comfort stops en-route. We arrive at our hotel late afternoon, where there's time to relax, freshen up and get ready for a fantastic evening where you can join us for an optional meal. (4-day tour only)

Wednesday
(4-day tour only)After breakfast, spend the day in the city of Edinburgh or join our optional day tour to Stirling Castle and the Trossachs.(Both tours)This evening there is an optional Traditional Scottish Evening that includes a meal, wine, pipers, singers, dancers and much merriment!

New Year's Eve
After a hearty Scottish breakfast, join our optional panoramic tour of Edinburgh. The tour concludes at Edinburgh Castle (admission not included). The afternoon is free for you to explore this fascinating cosmopolitan city, famous for its shops and hospitality. It's New Year's Eve or "Hogmanay" when Scottish hospitality comes to the fore and the night comes to life. Spend your night anywhere in Rose Street, the Grassmarket or the Royal Mile and you can be assured of a warm welcome. At midnight, the Scots gather at the Trone Church on the Royal Mile to hear the bells ringing in the New Year. Others gather in Princes Street to watch the fireworks over the Castle.

Final Day
After a late breakfast, we load our luggage aboard the coach and return south. We arrive back at our drop off points, early in the evening with wonderful memories of Hogmanay in Edinburgh.

Sounds good to us!!

Pumpkin Time

I love autumn because that means I can go overboard with pumpkins! I love making pumpkin cookies, cakes, bread, cheesecake, pudding, you name it I've probably made it. Benjamin gets pretty excited about all the pumpkin goodies I make. Last year was the first year that I can remember carving pumpkins and I can't wait to do it again this year. Maybe it won't take 2 hours to do! To my delight, I found these lovely bars in the commissary! Thank you Kashi! 

 

I am going to be on the search for some more recipes this year.  Autumn just feels different in England. It actually feels like it is supposed to, not horribly hot like in Texas or North Carolina. It actually feels like a season change oh and by the way, it is starting to get darker over here a lot earlier than we were used to. I got to take down the sheet we had hanging up over the window. We had a sheet up, so the sun wouldn't be so bright in the mornings when the sun would come up at 4 in the morning. I've heard pretty soon that it will be completely dark by 4:00 pm!! I just can't imagine that!!

In other news, we bought Beatles Rockband a few days ago. It's really awesome! I'm learning a lot of songs, that I didn't even know they sang. It has several clips of audio before and after you play a song. Sometimes they talk about cheese and marmite sandwiches, which we all know is a Ploughmans or maybe just Benjamin and I know that, other times it's more serious commentary about the song. It's pretty epic playing the game and knowing that we live in England. I really want to go to Liverpool at some point and I'm sure we will. I want a picture on Abbey Road, even if Benjamin thinks I can't!

We also got our Scotland book from Amazon.co.uk today! We are getting ready for our New Years trip and fell in love with the dk travel books. Thanks mom for getting us hooked, the London book is wonderful and we've used it every time we go.

 

London

Update time!

We had a three day weekend, for the third week in a row! Benjamin and I decided to go to London. This was our second time going to London since we've been in the UK. Our friend Jordan who we met at tech school in Texas was always going to be in London so it just made since to go! This time we did not take the train. We drove to Epping, which is about 1.5 hours away. Epping is one of the first stops for the Underground. A short ride to the right stop and we were on our way to the hotel.

Benjamin wanted to go to the Imperial War Museum. It was very interesting and I learned a lot of things, especially about WWI and II. Benjamin was very happy in his element. We spent most of the day at the museum. We ate at the cafe inside the museum and had scones! Scones are perfectly amazing. Fruity type biscuits with clotted cream in the middle with jam :) Lovely!

We checked out the cheap(er) tickets for West End shows. They have ticket offices which sell West End tickets for less on the day of the show. With a little coaxing from myself and Jordan, Benjamin gave in and bought us tickets for Wicked! The tickets were 37 pounds a piece, so about 60 dollars. Not too bad, considering the cheap tickets in New York were closer to 150 dollars. Wicked was amazing!!!!!!!!

Playing around before the show begins!

Getting ready to go inside!

While waiting for the show to start, Benjamin and I went into a book store. We found some books to help you study to become a British citizen. This picture is my favorite from the whole trip. Benjamin is looking at the British Citizenship Test and Obama is looking on thinking, "NOOO...Don't do it......"

The next day we visited the Queen's Gallery, the Royal Mews, State rooms, and Buckingham Palace. The Queen's Gallery is a permanent space dedicated to changing exhibitions of items from the Royal Collection, the wide-ranging collection of art and treasures held in trust by The Queen for the Nation. We saw french porcelain, famous works of art, armor, furniture, and jewelry. We could not take pictures in the Queen's Gallery. The Royal Mews is the stable of the British royal family. It houses the State vehicles, both horse drawn carriages and motor cars, used for coronations, State Visits, royal weddings, the State opening of Parliament and official engagements. We also saw some royal horses!

The State Rooms had an exhibition of dresses, jewels, photographs and gifts presented to the Queen by people of the Commonwealth. The exhibition represents six regions of the Commonwealth: Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, The Caribbean and Central America, Asia (including India), Island Peoples and Pacific Realms. The dresses she wore were absolutely stunning! . The exhibit I mentioned above was my favorite part. The rest of the State Rooms were breathtakingly beautiful and lavishly furnished. It was definitely fit for a queen :) We couldn't take pictures in the State Rooms. We also got to see the changing the guard. It was a pretty awesome experience. There were people everywhere so it was hard to see at times. We are going to go back in the winter, when there won't be as many visitors!

Here is Benjamin in front of Buckingham Palace.

Beautiful isn't it? This is Buckingham Palace!

We met Jordan for some Lebanese food and a cute little place. After dinner and dessert, we headed back to Epping and then drove home! What a great weekend.

In other news, Benjamin started gradate school on Monday at Norwich University. How exciting! I should be starting in January as long as they get the Miller's Analogy Test up and running on RAF Mildenhall!

Canterbury

The next stop on our weekend getaway was Canterbury. 

The first thing we did was go to a Canterbury Tales exhibit. It was interesting and we got to hear a few tales. The exhibit took you back to 14th century Canterbury and introduced you to "characters" from Canterbury Tales. The characters were animatronic figures and you listened to an audio guide that led you through the tales.

Inside the exhibit:

We also visited a book store and Benjamin bought a WWII British pamphlet on updated air war against Germany published in 1942.  He was very happy about this.

The next stop was a river tour of Canterbury on the River Stour. 

We passed under the 12th century Eastbridge Hospital and King's Bridge (1134) and saw some industrial buildings from the medieval period. We also saw the Dominican priories which were built by the Blackfrairs in the 14th century these led into a peaceful garden area. 

The last thing we saw was the infamous ducking stool. They used these as ways to punish wicked wives or to determine if you were a witch. You know the story, if you survive the torture...you are a witch and they burn you. If you don't survive...you were not a witch but you died anyway. There families were given a guaranteed by the church that their loved one was certainly in heaven and they apologized for essential messing up and killing an innocent person. 

Another view of the historic river tour:

We also visit the Canterbury Cathedral. The Cathedral's history dates back to 597 AD. In 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the Cathedral. Ever since, the Cathedral has attracted thousands of pilgrims, as told famously in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Inside the cathedral:

Next Stop: 

Back to London! 4-6 Sept

Kent

The first stop on our trip was Outback Steakhouse! I was thrilled when I found out this restaurant existed in the UK! Same menu, same decor...it was awesome. This seems petty but in the grand scheme of things, we're going to be three years here and it's nice to know this is available. It took a while to get here but only because we did not have a GPS. Apparently we had been going the wrong way and it took 20 minutes of driving in the wrong direction before we could find a place to turn around. The UK highway system is very different than the US system. There aren't really any overpasses here. In the states you could just get off at the next exit, zip across and start heading in the right direction. Not here!

What you are about to see is NOT Outback food. This is what a traditional British breakfast looks like:

Eggs, hash browns, bacon (it looks like ham), sausage (their sausage is amazing! It's very creamy and just melts in your mouth), and baked beans...yuck! At least there aren't any mushy peas on the plate. We ate this on Saturday morning before heading out to Hever Castle and the Chartwell House.

This first stop of the day was Hever Castle. This is the birthplace and home of Anne Boleyn. It is definitely my favorite castle so far. The gardens were breathtaking!

Stairs leading up to the gardens

A mini waterfall!

Hever Castle:

Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside Hever Castle.

No castle visit would be complete with a jousting tournament 

The second stop for the day was Chartwell House. Again, no photography allowed inside.

(If you can't read the sign)

Chartwell - home of Sir Winston Churchill was bought and presented to the nation in 1947 by a group of his friends and admirers who names are recorded here in gratitude by the National Trust.

Back of the house, much prettier view than the front:

Here is Benjamin overlooking the grounds of Winston Churchill's home:

Benjamin standing in the same spot as Winston:

 

Check back later for pictures of Canterbury! My internet is being foolish!