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.