Home Sweet Home

Despite a passport snafu at the airport (whew was that close!), we returned to Seattle just in time for the election and Halloween, which I was extra excited about since it's one of my favorite holidays and they don't really do much to celebrate in London.

We've been back for about six weeks now and in many ways it feels like we never left. It's amazing how quickly you fall right back into your old patterns...work, gym, grocery store, repeat. Mostly I find it comforting but sometimes I forget that we even left which is a bit odd. Between moving, unpacking, and preparing for the holidays we haven't had much time to experience much culture shock, but I imagine mid-January that should hit a bit.

Hanging out with our Seattle friends and family has to be one of the best things about being back - we really missed everyone. Also, the comforts of being in our house are great. It's been a lot of drama to get there, and after three weeks of drop cloths and ladders, the painters still aren't done, but it will be worth it in the end. The convenience of our lives here is really nice especially during the winter - hoping in our car, letting Morgan outside without a 30 minute round trip walk to the church, etc.

Not surprisingly, we miss things about London too. Firstly, we miss our dear friends John and Sarah who just had their first baby, Levi. We are pretty good about staying in touch and hopefully they'll be back in Seattle by the end of the year. We also miss our daily trips to the fantastic parks and the village living. I miss the diversity, energy and excitement of the city and having everything on our doorstep.

Once the holidays are over, we'll get going on our plans to explore the Northwest as we realize that people travel from all over to come here too and we haven't seen that much of it really.

We feel extremely privileged to have had this experience. While our timing couldn't have been better in a lot of ways, it was really hard at times, and certainly wasn't as glamorous as we expected going into it. However we've had many amazing experiences and met some wonderful people. It gave us a chance to gain a different perspective on the world and definitely broadened our viewpoint. We were honored to have so many visitors and the unique experiences and fun times that we'll never forget. All in all, we will reflect fondly on these 18 months and a grateful for the opportunity.

This is likely our last post on this blog, but I've started a new blog and this one has a slightly different editorial bent, but should you be interested here it is http://www.highheeledcontessa.blogspot.com/

The Last Hurrah

For our last trip before heading back to the US, we wanted to either go to Budapest, Northern Spain, Greece or Northern Italy. After much hang wringing over weather (we couldn't stomach another Croatia situation) with less than 7 days to go, we found some good flights that weren't exorbitant to Budapest and Italy.

The Parliament Building

Budapest is a city with great architecture - I am glad we went but probably won't go out of our way to return. If you find your self in the area, it's a great weekend spot. We hit all the major sights on foot in both Buda which is separated by Pest by the Danube (which by the way, didn't look remotely blue). This included the Margaret and Chain bridges, the Basilica of St. Stephen, the spectacular Parliment building and we took the funicular to the Royal Palace. The weather really cooperated for us - lucky for me as I refused to believe summer was over and didn't bring a coat. Budapest is also famous for their baths but the best (cleanest) one wasn't co-ed, so we didn't end up going. Outside of goulash, we found the food to be pretty mediocre but we did like the Cafe Kor and the new Four Seasons is worth getting a drink at to take in the architecture and the chic atmosphere.

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Greg and his goulash

After a long weekend in Budapest we headed to Italy...by way of London - not the most direct route but the price was right. We arrived in Bologna and drove up to Piedmont the next morning. We arrived in Alba just in time for lunch and had a fantastic first meal in Italy at Osteria dell'Arco (its tucked away off the main square). It was truffle season and took full advantage of it starting with tajarin tartufo. After wondering the streets of Alba and taking in the truffle festival, we headed to our hotel La Villa. This is run by a very friendly English couple and their two children. They do a great job striking the balance between being helpful and chatty without crossing the line of being intrusive. We had dinner one night at the hotel at a large communal table with most of the other guests at the hotel, and while the food wasn't amazing, it was a really fun experience and a night we'll always remember. The accommodations were exactly what we wanted, very nice, but not so nice it felt stuffy - it was a very relaxing spot. Also, Greg was happy to have a treadmill and we did have a few good rounds of ping pong. We highly recommend this spot.

La Villa

Greg was nearly attacked by "Deputy Dog" in Barbaresco



Greg in his cool new shades

The scenery in this area was amazing. All the grapevines were decorated in fall colors as though someone took a paint brush and painted the hill sides in gold, red and orange. This part of Italy is home to the Slow Food movement and we spent afternoons in Barbaresco (the town smells of wine!) with a great lunch at Vineria del Barolo, Nieve with another memorable meal at La Luna Nel Pozzo, and Monforte D'Alba -all are lovely.

The highlight of the trip was a truffle hunting expedition with Rocky the truffle hunting dog. While our bounty was small, three grape size truffles, it was a beautiful morning and Rocky was such a hard worker and a great doggie fix as we were missing Morgan.

After gorging ourselves with truffles, great wine, and pasta (all a bit surreal as the world financial markets were crashing around us) we headed down to Rada for more gastronomic good times. While we loved Piedmont, Tuscany remains our favorite and it was great to return once last time before heading back to the US. Based on the state of the world, it might be a long, long time before we are able to return so we feel very fortunate to have one last wonderful trip.

Iceland - Prebankruptcy (theirs not ours..,yet!)

Greg and I had both heard great things about Reykjavik, Iceland from a number of sources. It made our list quite awhile ago, but we waited until August to go to hit the best weather. And it worked...but we went in late August and had great weather, but and sadly, one of the islands highlights, Puffins, depart in mid August. Bummer - guess we'll have to go again some day. Now that the country has gone bankrupt, we might be able to get a deal.

A few interesting notes on Iceland. First, they had one of the first female presidents in the world from 1980-1996. Second, they had prohibition until the mid 80's. Third, it's an island so it's fairly expensive, but no worse than London by our account. Fourth, Icelanders drink more coffee per capita than anywhere in the world.

Reykjavik is an easy weekend trip from London - 2.5 hours on Iceland Air and you are in the home of Bjork. We stayed at the Hilton (again had to take advantage of the HP discount so went with a chain), it was good but was not walking distance to downtown. We had a car, so it was fine.

After breakfast at Kaffitar (the Starbucks of Iceland - good spot that we ate at every morning), we spent the first day shopping as there is a surprising about of great fashion and shops in Reykiovich where I found my new favorite designer Sparksmannsspjarir - I could throw out my entire wardrobe and wear nothing but their label. We stopped for lunch a great spot called Geyser ended up there the following night for dinner and would highly recommend it.

The next day we hit the countryside and did the famous Golden Circle drive which was a great way to see the very interesting geology and topography of Iceland. We made a stop a the Pingvellir National Park where you can see the edge of the North American continental plate and played an important role in Icelandic political history. Then we were off to see a few geysers and hot pools. We ended the trip with a stop at Gullfoss or Golden Falls which were pretty spectacular and made the whole drive worth it.

Cool Looking Icelandic Horses

I talked Greg into a whale watching boat trip on day three. We really lucked out on the weather and supposedly saw all five species of whales, but I don't think its an excursion either of us would recommend....unless the puffins are in town. Interestingly, we did see whale on a few menus around town. Iceland decided to lift the ban on commercial whaling in 2006 but it has been a pretty divisive issue between country and city folk.

The Icelandic Look

We wrapped up our last day with a leisurely morning and then hit the famous Blue Lagoon on our way out to the airport. The less you know about it, the cooler it is so I will just let the photos do all the talking.

All in all, a nice trip. Unless you are an uber outdoors man (Huey definition - enjoy multi day hikes with camping), I wouldn't recommend more than a long weekend. But if you can get there fairly easily, it's worth a stop - Iceland air use to run 48 hour stop overs on their transatlantic flights.

We brought Mogan back a toy puffin

Things NOT to say while in the UK

Needless to say I've said a few things in our time here, in particular at the office, that don't mean the same thing to the English is as the do at home. Fortuatley, the English have a great sense of humor and my colleagues are always amused and never offended by my gaffs.

Here are a few of them to avoid should you find yourself on this side of the pond. I will let you use your imagination on what they mean...

- Fender bender

- Double fisting, as in carrying two drinks at once (something the English do a lot of)

- 'That's a big box'

- Right up your/my alley

- Trumped, as in 'he was trumped by his opponets' supirior play'

- The verb 'to toss' any way

- Khaki pants

- Fanny or fanny pack

- Knob

- Never hold up two fingers - palm out (like the peace symbol) is okay, but never do it with your palm facing you...basically the way americans would indicate they wanted two of something.

Historic Hampton Court

Being a fan of all things Tudor, a trip to Hampton Court was a must before we left.

This was one of the many castles various Monarchs escaped to when Plague outbreaks would occur. Cardinal Wolsey built the castle but when he got on King Henry VIII's (the one who be-headed Anne Boleyn) bad side when he requested a divorce, Henry took the castle for his own, and Henry's wife Catherine Howard still haunts the castle to this day. Various monarchs occupied the castle since then including William and Mary, each one adding a new layer of architecture leaving it looking a bit of a jumbled mess all together, but one beautiful on it's own. It also has tremendous gardens including a maze.

We Spotted King Henry On the Grounds

Preparing the King's Feast

Fun in the Maze

Scotland Golf Wrapup

Finally got my act together and finished up the entry about golfing in Scotland. I just added it to the prior entry, so go here http://hueyuk.blogspot.com/2008/04/scotland-golf-day-2.html if you're interested in a couple thousand more words and lots of photos about the adventure.

London Sights

Our time here in London is quickly coming to an end, and I've realized there are quite a few London sights I have yet to see. At the top of my list was the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral. Greg had no interest in typical touristy stuff, so my friend/colleague Jim (and tried & true Londoner) was kind enough to spend the day with me seeing the sights.

First stop was the Tower of London. We arrived right when it opened and there was no line. I highly recommend the guided tour with a yeomen as you can enter the chapel where many famous English are buried including Anne Boleyn. Other sites are the crown jewels, the axe and spot where Anne and many others were beheaded, and a great display of armour. We also were lucky enough to see a re-inacted fight between to knights.

After a pub lunch, we headed to St. Paul's. This is the London equivalent to St. Peter's in Rome and is were Prince Charles and Lady Diana were married. We first climbed the more than 300 steps to the top where there is a great view of the city. After a brief look around the main floor we decided it was time to meet Greg for cocktails at the secret 5th floor cocktail lounge at Waterstones in Piccadilly where many drinks were had by all.

A Proper Exit

Today I saw a hearse with big open windows in the back and inside was a wicker coffin - think a really nice picnic basket but much bigger. It struck me as very English, but also had such a simple elegance to it. When I asked a few colleagues about it, they also said it's very green/environmental.

This seems like the perfect way for Martha Stewart to exit this world...

Yes, they really say that! - English as a Foreign Language

One great source of intrigue living here is the language. That old quote that goes something like 'two countries separated by a common language' couldn't be more accurate. It has been really fun learning all the terms they use so I thought I'd start a list.

Our Top Ten List
Vest - tank top
Pants - underwear
Jumper - sweater
Snog - kiss
Pulled - to hook up with someone
Bespoke - means custom or tailored
Pudding - dessert
Squash - juice
Binned - to dump someone/break up with them or to throw something in the trash
More some - tasty, meaning you always want more

Dog Related
Can I stroke your dog instead of can I pet your dog?
Does she molt instead of does she shed?
Morgan is a "cross" between a poodle and a retriever not a mix or half and half.
Lead - Leash

Funny Ones You Know - Blimey, crickey, shag, cheers
Irish terms that both the English and the Irish use - malarkey, shenanigans, hooligans


Food Related

Aubergine - eggplant
Corgette - zucchini
Rocket - arugala
Chips – fries
Crisps - chips

Less Funny, but Good to Know
Clever - intelligent/smart. they would not say "she's very smart" meaning intelligent.
Smart - as in "smart dress required". we might say fancy or nice.
Fancy - to take a liking to or desire as in "fancy a snog"
Nice - they use it more like Americans would use good as in "the food there is really nice"
Spanner in the works - A wrench in the plans
Tatty - Worn out, as in tattered
You ask for the bill not the check
Am I winding you up - Am I making you mad/fooling you?
Are you having a laugh? - Are you kidding?
Taking the piss - busting chops basically (seems like kind of a crass term, but everyone uses it all the time here)
Want a top up? - re-fill
Loads – lots
Car park - parking lot
Boot - car trunk
Bonnet - car hood
Estate - station wagon
Dear me - Charlie Brown would say "good grief"
Lay in - sleep in
Zed - zee, last letter of the alphabet
Full stop - period, the punctuation mark
Chase - track down or follow up
Knackered - exhausted
Take away - to go, as in food
Corker -exciting game
Straight away - right away
Pavements/footpath - sidewalk
Posh - upscale
Diary - calendar
Gutted - devastated
Dodgy - sketchy
You alright? - How are you?
Bin - trash
Knickers - underwear
Anti clockwise - counter clockwise
Sacked, as in "that is a sackable offense" - fired
Dog's breakfast - a mess. "he made a dog's breakfast out of that one"

Cross - angry
Fortnight - Two weeks or biweekly
Oye - hey
Bloke - guy
Lad - frat boy type guy
Mingy - ugly
Wee – small
Queue - line
Useful - good for sports, as in "that was a useful shot on the 18th hole"
Alight - disembark

Lorry - Truck
Ta - Short for Thanks
Peckish -Hungry but in a snacky sort of way
I can’t be bothered – too lazy or cool to be do something
As you do - this is a tough one to explain, basically its a sarcastic way of saying "don't we all". As in, "Jane is having lunch with the Queen to day, as you do"
When you put a check in the box, it means yes, but an X in a box means no
The measure the weight of people in stone, but food in grams. There are 14lbs to stone - and 14 is an awkward nubmer to calculate quickly.
Also, the 1st floor of a building is the ground floor, so here, the 2nd floor is called the 1st floor.

Disgusto-rama

Today I saw a man get off the tube and he had a roach on his back. I swear it wasn't my imagination - a number of people on the car were smirking and pointing as he got off. This is pretty much my own personal version of hell.

A number of disgusting incidents have presented themselves over the last week the details of which will only be revealed in person and a minimum of 90 days after they have occurred and I am ready to laugh at them.

I am soooo ready to get back to bright, shiny Seattle!

Those Batty English

Blame Greg for the groaner headline, but seriously how can this type of thing happen?? I'd like to say only in England, but I am pretty sure this could have happend in the US too.



Teenager finds baby bat in her bra

By Laura Clout Last Updated: 1:47PM BST 08 Jul 2008



A teenager was stunned to find that a baby bat had been curled up inside her bra for five hours - as she was wearing it.

Miss Hawkins said the bat looked 'very snug' inside her bra.Abbie Hawkins, a hotel receptionist, thought her mobile phone was ringing when she felt vibrations coming from her clothes.But she later discovered the tiny creature tucked away in the padded pocket of her underwear.


As staff and colleagues crowded around, Miss Hawkins, 19, produced the frightened bat, which was the size of her hand. She said: "Once I realised it was a bat I was shocked, but then I felt quite sorry for it really."It looked very snug in there and I thought how mean I was for disturbing it."Miss Hawkins said she got dressed at 7.30am and arrived for work at the Holiday Inn Norwich North, near Norwich International Airport without noticing anything unusual.
"When I was driving to work I felt a slight vibration but I thought it was just my mobile phone in my jacket pocket," she said.


It was not until her lunch break, at midday when she felt a strange movement inside her bra, which had been hanging on her washing line the previous night."I plucked up the courage to investigate and I pulled out a little baby bat. I just lost my breath when I saw it and I did not know what it was at first," she said.The teenager's general manager freed the bat in the hotel garden."I keep thinking how could I have not known it was there?" Miss Hawkins said. "I will certainly be checking my bras every morning from now on."


Jaime Eastham, of the Bat Conservation Trust, said they had never heard of a bat being found in a bra before.But she said the animals roost anywhere that appears dark and safe.

10 Years of Wedded Bliss

Neither of us can believe that we've been married for ten years. Okay, maybe not every moment has been blissful, but overall, we've had a great time in these ten years. Looking back at it, it feels like we got married very young, especially given that most of our friends have gotten married in the last 3 years or so, but after dating for 6 years it felt like the time was right. Nonetheless, we are both really thankful that we've grown together over the years instead of apart!

So as this big milestone approached and having all of Europe in our backyard, there was a lot of pressure to put together a momentous trip to mark the occasion. We discussed it and researched and researched, consulted with others, went to the book store, spent countless hours on Fodors and Tripadvisor and in the end Greg recommended we head to Puglia, Italy. This was on our list for some time, but we weren't sure if it could beat our Tuscany trips. Also, we felt that we might get bored being in one place for ten days, so we decided to start the trip in the Champagne region of France. It was a place I've been wanting to see for a while and seemed a great place to kick off a celebratory trip.

We flew from London to Paris (cheaper than a one way ticket on the Eurostar), picked up a car and were in Epernay in time for lunch. Epernay was larger than we imagined and was surprisingly empty of tourists...we actually found this to be the case most of the trip. I am not sure if this due to the weak dollar, the global recession or both, but it was a bit odd to have it so quiet.

In the afternoon, we toured the Moet Chandon house and caves, which was fascinating and highly recommended. Napoleon was a close friend of the family and would always make a run though Epernay on his way to major battles to stock up on champagne so he could celebrate with champers when he was victorious. The caves are dug out of the chalk ground that naturally occurs in the area and maintains a constant temperature and humidity making it a perfect spot to age bubbly. Their oldest bottle was from the late 1800s and they have more than 10 million bottles in stock. These caves (nearly twenty miles of them belong to Moet Chandon and several hundred all together if you include the other champagne houses of Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot, Piper, etc.) were instrumental during WWI, as entire cities moved underground to avoid the bombing. Reims (the largest city in the region and on the front throughout the war) was bombed for more than 1000 days straight and nearly every building was destroyed including most of the Cathedral of Reims - the place where kings of France were crowned.

Okay, enough of the history lesson. The area is beautiful, full of vineyards, old French chateaus, castles, and forests. We stayed at Chateau d'Etoges which was built in the 17th century and we loved its moat, swans, ducks, chickens and garden. The staff were very friendly and had a great restaurant, delicious breakfast, but they need to update their rooms to match the rest of the inn. Overall, it was a great start to the trip, but would probably recommend spending only one full day and night there (or even a day trip from Paris is pretty easy to manage) since there is only so much champagne one can taste in a day - even for me!

We didn't really have much of a plan for day three. All we knew is we needed to be at the Holiday Inn at Orly (posh, I know, but there weren't really any great options near the airport...actually, it was surprisingly new and clean) at the end of the day for our flight the next day to Napoli. Greg had never been to the beaches at Normandy and I remember going when I was a kid and thinking it was pretty cool, so we headed west. We were just outside of Paris at around lunch time and decided lunch at our favorite Bistrot Vivienne was in order. Driving in Paris was challenging, but parking in Paris was impossible! We made it, but it took much longer than we imagined. After a satisfying lunch, we hit the road and got to the beaches at around 6pm....when everything closed. We'll just have to go back one day, but we saw Omaha Beach and the drive was lovely. After dinner in Caen, we hit the road back to Paris. Despite not looking that far in the map, it was a long day in the car.

An uneventful flight got us to Napoli where we picked up the car and drove to what I like to call the stiletto heel of the boot, Puglia. Unfortunately, this meant another three hour drive (there weren't any great flights to Bari, a much closer airport) but it was more than worth it in the end. The landscape was full of farmland and olive groves. It was extremely windy and there were a few field fires - one that caused a very serious accident only a few cars in front of us and was a good reminder to both of us that life can change in an instant.

We arrived in the coastal town of Fasano and at the spectacular Massaria Torre Maizza at last. We were not disappointed, which was such a relief after all that planning. Greg is a fantastic job of finding a perfect spot to spend the rest of our trip. I can't say enough great things about this hotel. The service was impeccable, the food was amazing, the pool and bar were both relaxing and hip, and the rooms were luxurious and had a unique, un-hotel like athstetic. We were in heaven.

Our days were filled will spectacular breakfasts with nearly 40 plus options of gorgeous fruit, cheese, meat, pasties, etc and lots of much needed pool time. At night we headed into neighboring towns for dinner and would recommend Osteria La Madonnia in Ostuni for a great meal and celebrated the official day with dinner at Osteria Sotto L'Arco in Brindisi (be sure to ask for their one outside table looking over the plaza).

Puglia is actually responsible for something like 80% of Italy's pasta, olive oil and much of its produce, so you can imagine the food here is amazing. While not yet famous for their wines, the are gaining popularity. We tried a few of the Primitivos (similar to Zinfandels) and a Negroamaro which is much subtler and delicious. I also tried a delicious after dinner drink made of almonds (think a jordan almond in a glass) called latte della mandorla that I must fine a recipe for as it was amazing.

We could really only tear ourselves away from the pool for one day (the sun wasn't out in the morning) and headed into Alberobello which is famous for it's trullo style of house. It turns out that these clever Apulians knew the only home owners had to pay taxes, so they built a type of house that could be easily dismantled when the tax man came - they look like they would be pretty hard to take apart to me, but what do I know? Should you find yourself in this town, you must lunch at La Cantina towards the church off the main plaza. Here you will feel like you are at the owners home and enjoy a delicious meal.

It was an outstanding trip - our best yet!