Just South of Heaven

I always feel like a broken record when I sit down to blog about our latest trip or adventure that we have taken because every place and experience has been so unique and exhilarating.  Each and every day for the last 2 years has been something new and different, and the desire for exploration only increases as you see and discover more.  There are hundreds of more countries that we want to see and thousands of cities that we still yearn to encounter, but I am positive that we just uncovered the most beautiful place on earth.  The Maldives is a chain of Islands in Asia in the beautiful blue waters of the Indian Ocean.  It is actually only 1 of 2 100% Islamic countries, the other being Saudi Arabia.  There are more than 1700 islands that make up the Maldives of which only about 200 are inhabited.  It has long been a place coveted by scuba divers because of the extensive coral reefs, lagoons, and rare species of fish.  It is not the easiest place to get to, especially from the US, but if you should ever add one more place to your bucket list, this is it.  It is beyond paradise and probably lies somewhere just south of heaven.

We flew 8 hours overnight from London to Dubai.  We flew on the Airbus A380 for the first time.  It is the absolute behemoth of the skies seating around 800 passengers over 2 wide body decks and has a bar and spa on the upper level.  After a short layover in Dubai, we then flew 4 hours Southwest over the Arabian Sea, skirting the edge of India and finally setting down in Male, the capital of the Maldives.  From Male, you either board a boat or seaplane to be ferried to specific islands.  Luckily, the island where we were staying, Emboodhu Finolhu, was just 10km south of Male, so a quick 30 minute speedboat ride.  Essentially, each of these small islands is occupied by a single hotel or resort.  We did extensive research about where to stay and ended up choosing the luxury Indian hotel chain called Taj Exotica.  There were 64 villas and bungalows spread across the island, so they can accommodate about 120 people and they have around 200 staff.  It is incredible because even at the busiest times of the day at the pool or restaurants, you might only see 10-20 other people.  The island actually sits in the 2^nd largest lagoon in the world as well, so you could walk out into the ocean 400-500 yards from any point on the island.  It was awesome.  There are no cars or roads on the island, just a few sand pathways cut out between palm trees for golf carts carrying luggage or supplies.  You are completely encapsulated in a posh island oasis.

We had such an amazing 8 days on the island.  It was one of the most relaxing and lovely holidays that we have ever taken.  The staff was there for your every want, the food was incredible and every meal was made to order.  We snorkeled all around the island, plunging in right off our of deck most days, and we took an excursion one day where they led us to a number of beautiful reefs and 2 completely uninhabited islands.  Our 2^nd night there, we selected a wine tasting dinner where the resort had chosen a winery in New Zealand, Craggy Range, to educate us on their various wines and pair them with 5 magnificent courses.  We spent most days lounging by the infinity pool taking in the spectacular views of the majestic blues and reminiscing about the last 2 unfathomable years.  We were so lucky to have had the chance to discover such an exotic and tranquil place and hopefully we can return one day to live it another time.

We have embarked on our final week as 2 Yanks in London.  It is so unbelievable to be bringing this part of our lives to a close, but so thankful for everything that we have seen and experienced.  The movers come on Friday to pack us up and ship our memories back to the States.  We begin the next chapter on Saturday when we land in Dallas and are so looking forward to seeing our families and friends over the holidays.  It has been so much fun for us to capture all of our stories, sights, and experiences within this blog and thanks so much to our faithful followers.  We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Years with your families and loved ones and we look forward to seeing you all in due time.

A final word from me to my ultimate travel and life companion.  Annie, thanks so much for making these 2 years as special as they have been and I can’t wait to see what our future has in store for us.

Signing off one final time from London, CHEERS and HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

Kevin                    

Luxembourg and our final weeks

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone and a special happy birthday week to Ann, "Senior," and Joe.  It is still baffling to me that 3 out of the 7 immediate Berenz family members have the same birth date.  The Senior Director is quite excited for her day, but definitely struggling with 35;)  There is usually a week or two delay before she reads the blog, so I am safe from that comment for the time being!!  We kicked off her b-day festivities with a dinner at The Square in Mayfair last night.  It was delicious.  Ann had a Dorset crab lasagne with a cappuccino and champagne foam shell as an app followed by John Dory and I had the most amazing Foie Gras with a crab apple glaze followed by a loin of venison with pumpkin, chestnuts and currants.  The food was spectacular and it was a fantastic way to end a nice weekend and kick off the b-day celebrations.

Ann arrived back in London on Saturday morning after spending last week in Dallas for work.  Since the boss was away for the week and my daily to-do lists were put temporarily on hold in her absence, I planned a little 4 day solo adventure to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (world's only remaining country ruled by a Duke).  If you are not familiar, Luxembourg is a small country (pop - 500K) landlocked between Belgium, France, and Germany.  If you are familiar with banking, you will know that it is well known for being one of the most popular tax havens and has the 2nd largest GDP in the world.  There is a great deal of wealthy individuals there, but to my complete surprise, it was so laid back and unpretentious.  My cousins had studied abroad there during college, so I had heard many great things from them, and it has been on my list to see before leaving.  This was the perfect opportunity to do just that.  It was a complete gem and quickly jumped up on my list as one of the most picturesque places in Europe, especially Luxembourg City, the capital.  I arrived last Saturday afternoon in Lux City.  They have 3 official languages in Luxembourg, Luxembourgish, French, and German, and luckily I did not have to rely too heavily on my uncultivated French as most people also spoke English.  My description will hardly do justice, but topographically, it is such a unique city.  The city lies on a plateau and is separated into several different levels.  The city centre sits high above two gorges, The Grund, where two rivers converge into this beautiful valley.  There are several different bridges and viaducts that connect the various parts of the city.  I pretty much covered the entire Grund and City Centre in about 3 hours, so it is very navigable.  There is also no better way to experience a city and all of its culture than partaking in a pub crawl, so I of course had to undertake that heavy burden!!  I started at Scott's pub that sits down in the Grund, right next to the river.  From there, I trekked back up to the top of the plateau and discovered many of the fine drinking establishments that the city centre had to offer, including the Art Cafe, Cafe Beim Renart, and Cafe Urban.  Pizza is very popular in Lux, so I stopped at a Pizzeria Bacchus for dinner.  I had a prosciutto y funghi pizza that was outstanding.  After dinner, I returned to the hotel to regroup for my night time shenanigans.  I had heard that Le Royal Hotel had a great piano bar, so I thought that I would start there.  Well, let me tell you, I felt like I had arrived at a funeral that no one else showed up for.  I am not even sure that the pianist had a pulse.  After leaving there, I ventured back into the city centre and found the spot.  If you know me, I tend to migrate towards hole in the wall bars, and at The Colony, I struck gold.  I ended up making friends with the bartender and several patrons and spent the rest of the night there.  CLASSIC.  My goal for Sunday was to trek to the north of Luxembourg, in the Ardennes, and find Vianden Castle.  After two buses and a train, I finally made it to Vianden and was completely struck by the beauty of this village and the castle that sat high above the river valley.  It is heralded as one of Europe's largest and most impressive medieval castles, and I completely agree.  It was absolutely breathtaking and well worth the trip.  I spent the better part of the day there and then made my way back down to Lux City.  Sunday evening led to another pub crawl and meeting more Luxembourg friends.  After a little bit of a rough and late start on Monday, I travelled just outside of the city to Hamm to find the American Military Cemetery.  Most of the US soldiers buried here fought in the Battle of the Bulge, in the Ardennes, and it is also the resting place of General George Patton.  What an incredibly surreal experience.  I am a history enthusiast and this was an awesome education.  I am a huge fan of Band of Brothers as well, and five of the soldiers are buried there.  It was very humbling for me.  I am so glad that I made the short trip to Luxembourg.  I wish that Ann could have been there to experience it with me, but luckily, I was able to fend for myself pretty well!!

Unbelievably, this coming weekend is our last weekend as residents in London.  It is all coming to an end so quickly.  We have much to do with our move, but we are trying to take advantage of each and every minute that we are here.  We are looking forward to our 2nd annual Thanksgiving dinner with some American friends at Ffiona's on Thursday evening.  Next Tuesday, we are taking Ann's London team and their spouses out for dinner, so we are excited for that.  Most thrilling, however, is that we leave a week from Friday for the Maldives, the chain of islands in the Indian Ocean.  It is a complete dream vacation.  We are staying on a tiny island in one of those huts that sits above the water.  It is going to be so relaxing, a great time to reflect on the amazing chapter in our life that is closing, and we can mentally prepare for our homecoming and getting repatriated in Dallas.  We return to London on the 9th of December to await the movers and tie up all loose ends here in the UK.  Our official departure and ending to Two Yanks in London happens on December 15th.  We are so excited to see our families and friends though, celebrate the holidays, and be reunited with the best 4 legged friend anyone can have.  I just hope that he remembers us:)

Happy birthday to my beautiful, caring, intelligent, and courageous wife.  Without you, none of this would have been possible, and even if it was, it would have never been the same.

Love
Kevin                   

Fondy Homecoming, Wedding, and the Big "D"

Hiya Everyone,

My sincerest apologies for my month long absence from the blogosphere.  We got back to London a week ago yesterday from our incredibly fun but exhausting 2 weeks in the States.  It seems as though my temporary retirement has enabled the Sr. Director to multiply my household obligations and I am more busy now than when I was working full time.  This is definitely a case of Taxation without Representation.  Ironically, that was the motto used by the original American colonies when they revolted against the British empire!!

It was so great to be back in the States.  We spent the first couple of days in Fondy hanging out with the Berenz and Mongin clan and we were so lucky to get some quality time with Max.  We took him shopping with us one day as you can see from his modeling photo below!!  My intention was to have a much easier first night than when I arrived last summer in Wisconsin, but we all know that is not really in my DNA.  After a mind-blowing pizza experience at Joe's Fox Hut, we took it to Main Street for a night of shenanigans.  I have to give a shout out to the "Outlaws."  Chad, Shawna, Jobina, Cathy, and I took the family down in a skeeball tourney at Googles.  It was a devastating blow, and they are still feeling their defeat today.  The night does get a little hazy after that (thanks to the Claymakers), but I do recall Chad, Joe, and I's WWE showdown in Chad's basement at about 3am.  In fact, my tailbone finally does not hurt when I sit down.  On Sunday, we had a Packer party at the Mongin's house with all of the finest of Cathy's tailgating delicacies.  We bummed around on Monday with Max and then Senior, Cath, Ann and I had a delicious steak dinner at home on Monday night.  Before we knew it, Thursday had arrived and we were all preparing to head to Kohler for the wedding festivities.  I do have to mention that Chad and I out outdueled Senior and Junior on the golf course on Thursday morning.  They thought that they were untouchable, so it was a sweet sweet victory.  What an amazing wedding that Jeff and Jobina had planned.  It had only been in the making for 16 years to the day:)  They got married in a small clearing near the American Club in Kohler overlooking the Sheboygan River.  It was a pristine Fall day and the leaves were beautiful.  They said their vows in front of about 30 people and had an awesome sit down dinner in a quaint log cabin nestled back in the woods.  They were a stunning bride and groom and the day was perfect.  I was finally introduced to the renowned "Uncle Gary," so that was a real treat as well.  After the wedding and saying our goodbyes to the newlyweds as they departed for Jamaica, the rest of us headed to Sheboygan to stay at Blue Harbour.  Jeff and Cathy rented a great condo for all of us on Lake Michigan.  It was a lovely way to wrap up our time in Wisconsin.  BTW, I never thought the day would come, but Tom Berenz confessed his love for the Republican party;)!!!!  

The 2nd week of our trip took us to Dallas for our house hunting adventure.  Ann has spent a little time there for work, but basically, we are complete newbies to the city.  We luckily have some great resources at our disposal through Ann's company and a few connections there that were instrumental in helping us plan.  We stayed at a beautiful hotel in uptown called The Stoneleigh.  It is in a fantastic location near McKinney Ave, which is a cool street with restaurants, bars and a free trolley that runs end to end.  On Sunday afternoon, we walked a good portion of McKinney Ave, and then got in the car and drove out to an area called Lakewood that we had heard a lot about.  We had an incredible Tex-Mex dinner that night at a restaurant called La Duni near the Knox/Henderson area, very close to SMU's campus in Highland Park.  We shared a spicy chorizo queso app and then both had enchiladas.  There is a good possibility that I might turn into a Mexican after living in Dallas because that is how much I love Mexican food and how often that I will be consuming it.  Monday was a work day for Ann and I had some interviews at JCP's head offices in Plano.  Monday night, we had another great dinner at a restaurant in Uptown called Ocean Prime.  Instead of serving bread, they serve white truffle and parmesan popcorn.  This stuff was like crack.  Tuesday was the first of 2 days that we spent with a relocation agent.  Even though our desire is to probably live in a more established neighborhood in the city, we were interested in seeing what kind of homes you could get for your money in the burbs.  We got a pretty thorough tour of Plano, Frisco, and McKinney, which are all north of the city.  We officially got our welcome to the land of strip malls.  This is true for all of Dallas.  Obviously, we are a little bit skewed at this point since we live in the heart of London and don't own a car.  We walk everywhere, including the grocery store, so this was somewhat of a shock to our system!!  It was great though to see what is possible in the land of suburbia.  Tuesday night, we had dinner with Ann's boss and his wife.  They chose this quaint little French restaurant called Rise, coincidentally in a strip mall, that served savory and sweet soufflés.  Ann had a crab meat soufflé and I had a southwest chicken soufflé and then we shared their special pumpkin soufflé for dessert.  These soufflés are so light and delicious.  It will definitely be one of our favorites.  Wednesday, we spent the 2nd day with the relo agent.  This day was dedicated to neighborhoods and homes in the actual city of Dallas.  While we did not necessarily find any homes that wowed us, we discovered some fantastic neighborhoods where we can now focus our search.  On Thursday, my parents flew down to Dallas to see us.  It had been a full year since we had seen them.  The 4 of us had such a blast.  Thursday night, we had reservations at a restaurant called Stephan Pyles.  It was s southwestern menu, and while I highly enjoyed out little gazpacho sampler platter, the rest of the dinner was just ok.  Friday, we had a great lunch at Mi Cocina in Highland Park Village(the brisket tacos were sick!!) and then drove through some of the neighborhoods that we had targeted potential houses.  Friday night, we had an amazing dining experience at a restaurant called Mansion on Turtle Creek.  This place is so unique and the food was spectacular.  We all split the Dover Sole, and it was absolutely brilliant.  Saturday, we toured a few more neighborhoods and also drove through downtown, past Dealey Plaza and the Book Depository.  Saturday night, we had reservations at a steak house called Al Biernat's.  While the steak was absolutely incredible, the ambience was just ok and paled in comparison to our experience on Friday evening.  My dry aged New york Strip Steak just melted in my mouth though.  We said goodbye to my parents on Sunday morning as they headed back to St. Louis, and we started our lengthy journey back to London.

After being in Dallas, we both recognized and discussed that our transition back might be a bit harder than we have anticipated.  We have such a unique lifestyle here in the fact that we can walk everywhere and we have so many cultures, resources, and cuisines at our fingertips.  We are absolutely thrilled about Dallas, but it will be a change.  We are excited for the next challenge though and are so looking forward to getting settled in a house, meeting hopefully some great people, discovering a new city, and starting the next phase of our life.

I guess that is about it.  Ann has been working like crazy the last week.  Fortunately or unfortunately, we had tickets to the Rams v Patriots game at Wembley on Sunday night.  Despite the Rams getting completely killed, we still had an awesome time and it was a great experience to see a NFL game here.  We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend ahead in London before we embark on our crazy last 5 weeks as 2 yanks in London.  We hope that everyone is doing well.  For those on the East Coast, we hope that you have not been badly affected by Sandy and we just want to wish everyone a very Happy Halloween.

Cheers
Kevin