Hey Blogees,
I am apologising in advance because I just have so much to share today. It was somewhat bittersweet for us to welcome and say goodbye to our last official guests of the year. Yes, as most everyone has asked, it does get tiring and we have seen things multiple times, but for us, every visitor has introduced us to so many fun and different experiences. This is such an opportunity for us to be here and we absolutely have encouraged family and friends to take advantage of that. Yes, we are working and have to continue with our day to day lives, but we have been given this 2 year window to experience as much as possible, and part of that is being able to share this with the people we care most about.
Alright, enough seriousness and I should crack on with the more important details of our last guests, Nick and Jen Dinham. Nick and Jen are awesome friends from my days in Chicago. They arrived a week ago Thursday and stayed with us until last Monday, and my hangover lasted equally as long. As far as touring, we sent them out on their own for the most part. They covered more ground in 4 days than I think most people would cover in 2 weeks. They walked so much that I think that they almost looked malnourished when we sent them home. On their first night, we took them for their first North African meal at Pasha where they were exposed to the truly underwhelming form of British customer service!! It was, however, great food. Friday, we had a booking at a highly recommended restaurant in Notting Hill called "Bumpkin." See, if you have a perverse sense of humour like the 4 of us, you are laughing right now because you just made the same connection to something very similar sounding to bumpkin. If not, please disregard, or "look it up Chris," but do so at your own peril. For those of you that are asking why I continue saying "Look it up Chris," here is that story. Since Ann and I are wannabe "Millennial's" and rely exclusively on the technology in our hands to find immediate answers, we constantly say look it up to each other. If you recall a rap duo in the early 90's called Kriss Kross, you will remember one of their popular lyrics was "Warm it up Chris." Well, after Nick and Jen commented on how often we say look it up, the term "Look it up Chris" was adapted to our situation and adopted possibly for ever. When Ann and I finally get to meet Nick and Jen's 1 year old daughter Sidney, I am holding out hope that those will be her first words to me. We can all hope at least. Back to the story.... the food and ambiance at Bumpkin was incredible and we will definitely be back there again. Saturday brought a lovely pub crawl through Hampstead, Belsize Park, and Camden, and we ended meeting up with some of Nick and Jen's friends that were randomly in town that same weekend. Since Sunday was also the Sr. Director's birthday, there was a lot of celebrating happening all weekend long. I have to give props to Ann because she was quite a trooper that weekend as she powered through a pretty nasty cold on top of all of the festivities. Unfortunately for her though on Saturday, the afternoon pub crawl with multiple shots took quite a toll and we had to send her home early on Saturday evening. The three of us were quite jealous of her on Sunday morning though as she was experiencing nowhere near the level of pain that we were. After a delicious breakfast at Cafe Phillies, we were recovered and ready to take on the day. We took the train out to Wimbledon. That was our first time out there as well and it was so much fun. Beyond the tennis center itself, which was incredible despite not getting to actually see any of the main courts, there was a quaint High Street in Wimbledon and some beautiful green spaces that we ventured through. We wrapped up Sunday with a leisurely stroll down Portobello Road in Notting Hill and then had dinner at our favourite Lebanese restaurant. Nick and Jen, thanks so much for making the trip across the pond to see us. It was an awesome weekend and we love our plan to meet for a weekend once a year when we return to the states. You all left us with some amazing memories.
We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. It was very strange to work last Thursday, but we were rewarded with a delicious turkey dinner at a little restaurant near our flat called Ffiona's. It is a well known place for American Expats for a traditional Thanksgiving meal, and it did not disappoint. We had an awesome dinner with our friend Beth and another one of her American friends, and we were able to end the night with talking to each of our families. While we were eating, we were getting live updates on the Packers from Joe in Fondy as well, so it was almost like being at home. We enjoyed a super relaxing weekend and bought a few x-mas decorations to liven up our flat a bit. Since we will be here for x-mas, we had to make it feel as much as home as possible. We will post some pics of our decorated flat as well as around London because the x-mas decorations over here are incredible.
The next two weekends for us are actually here in London with no plans!!! We did book flights to Nuremberg, Germany the weekend before x-mas to check out the much talked about German Christmas Markets. Even more exciting, Ann's little brother Joe is coming to spend 3 weeks of his x-mas break with us and he arrives just a few days before x-mas. It will be so great to have him here with us for the holidays. We also just booked tickets for the 3 of us to spend New Years weekend in Basel, Switzerland and Colmar, France. We can't wait to have that time with Joe. One final note and the biggest excitement of all, Ann's sister Jane is 3cm dilated and 70% effaced, so there is going to be a new baby in Fondy for x-mas. We are so sad that we are going to miss the birth, but we can't wait to meet the Little Mongin!!!!
Happy Almost December
Kevin and Ann
Maldives
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Paying The Toll in London
Hey Everyone,
Bloody hell, it is just one week from Thanksgiving. Sadly, we will be giving thanks at work, but we will be thinking of you all eating copious amounts of turkey. We have made a booking for a restaurant near our flat that serves a Thanksgiving dinner for American Expats, so we will have a little touch of home luckily.
Not to lesson the impact of previous visitors or increase expectations for future ones, but we just had some pretty stellar house guests here in London. My good friend Tim and incredibly charming and ORGANISED girlfriend Roberta came to visit from DC. Tim and I are friends and fraternity brothers from the finest institution in South Carolina. They now live and work in DC. We were lucky to have them come and stay with us. They arrived in London a week ago last Thursday, coincidentally, on my birthday. Stage right, enter "Paying the Toll." This was a little expression that Tim started back in the day at Clemson. It was priceless hearing Tim, in his finest drunken Georgia accent, telling pledges that they had to pay the toll, basically drink another beer or 12. Anyway, it was suggested by another one of our Clemson friends, Al, the day that they arrived that I was to pay the toll for my birthday, and believe me, all four of us paid the toll last weekend!!! It was such a fun weekend. We had some great meals, plenty of pints, and a ton of laughs. We were yelled at by our neighbour who was covered only by the sheet on his bed. In his thick English brogue, he said to us, "It is not a matter of time, but a matter of going inside." This was in response to us being way too loud outside of our flat and telling him that we were leaving in a minute. On Saturday, we toured the House of Parliament, which was incredible. It was awesome to see the House of Lords and the House of Commons, where all of the government's parliamentary action takes place. We also visited the Churchill War Rooms. This was essentially a bunker near Westminster where Churchill and his war cabinet ran the government when Germany was bombing London during WWII. They have now turned in into a museum to celebrate Winston Churchill. On sunday, Tim and Roberta left London and headed to France for the week. They spent a couple of days in Paris and then rented a car and drove out to Versailles and then continued on to the Beaches of Normandy. From there, they drove south through Brittany and ended up in Bordeaux. Their pics were incredible and certainly inspired Ann and I to make that trip. They returned to London this last Friday and we had a great final meal on Friday night before they headed back to DC on Saturday. Tim and Roberta, thank you so much for coming to see us in London. We had so much fun. We can't wait for our next world adventure together.
It is a busy week here in London. The Senior Director has all of her direct reports in from Europe and the Middle East. It is also a big week in the Berenz Family as this coming Sunday is the birthday of Senior, Ann, and Joe (BIG 21 THIS YEAR!!!). All of the guys are headed to Green Bay for the Packer game on Sunday and then a night out in GB. I wish that I could be there to make sure that Joe is properly welcomed to legal drinking!!! The last time that I was in Green Bay though for a Packers game, Ann and I passed out in the hallway of the wrong hotel. Apparently, we paid way too much in tolls that day. Most excitingly for us in London this week though is the arrival on Thursday of Nick and Jen Dinham. They are incredible friends of mine from Chicago and we are so excited that they have decided to spend a long weekend with us in London. It is their first trip away from their precious one year old daughter Sidney, so we will do our best to keep them from being homesick!!!
We hope that everyone is doing well. Just another quick reminder to everyone that if you are considering a trip next year to London to visit, our calendar is booking up quickly. Please remember that the Olympics will be taking place in London between July and August, and that would be a very expensive and non-ideal time to visit.
Cheers
Kevin and Ann
Bloody hell, it is just one week from Thanksgiving. Sadly, we will be giving thanks at work, but we will be thinking of you all eating copious amounts of turkey. We have made a booking for a restaurant near our flat that serves a Thanksgiving dinner for American Expats, so we will have a little touch of home luckily.
Not to lesson the impact of previous visitors or increase expectations for future ones, but we just had some pretty stellar house guests here in London. My good friend Tim and incredibly charming and ORGANISED girlfriend Roberta came to visit from DC. Tim and I are friends and fraternity brothers from the finest institution in South Carolina. They now live and work in DC. We were lucky to have them come and stay with us. They arrived in London a week ago last Thursday, coincidentally, on my birthday. Stage right, enter "Paying the Toll." This was a little expression that Tim started back in the day at Clemson. It was priceless hearing Tim, in his finest drunken Georgia accent, telling pledges that they had to pay the toll, basically drink another beer or 12. Anyway, it was suggested by another one of our Clemson friends, Al, the day that they arrived that I was to pay the toll for my birthday, and believe me, all four of us paid the toll last weekend!!! It was such a fun weekend. We had some great meals, plenty of pints, and a ton of laughs. We were yelled at by our neighbour who was covered only by the sheet on his bed. In his thick English brogue, he said to us, "It is not a matter of time, but a matter of going inside." This was in response to us being way too loud outside of our flat and telling him that we were leaving in a minute. On Saturday, we toured the House of Parliament, which was incredible. It was awesome to see the House of Lords and the House of Commons, where all of the government's parliamentary action takes place. We also visited the Churchill War Rooms. This was essentially a bunker near Westminster where Churchill and his war cabinet ran the government when Germany was bombing London during WWII. They have now turned in into a museum to celebrate Winston Churchill. On sunday, Tim and Roberta left London and headed to France for the week. They spent a couple of days in Paris and then rented a car and drove out to Versailles and then continued on to the Beaches of Normandy. From there, they drove south through Brittany and ended up in Bordeaux. Their pics were incredible and certainly inspired Ann and I to make that trip. They returned to London this last Friday and we had a great final meal on Friday night before they headed back to DC on Saturday. Tim and Roberta, thank you so much for coming to see us in London. We had so much fun. We can't wait for our next world adventure together.
It is a busy week here in London. The Senior Director has all of her direct reports in from Europe and the Middle East. It is also a big week in the Berenz Family as this coming Sunday is the birthday of Senior, Ann, and Joe (BIG 21 THIS YEAR!!!). All of the guys are headed to Green Bay for the Packer game on Sunday and then a night out in GB. I wish that I could be there to make sure that Joe is properly welcomed to legal drinking!!! The last time that I was in Green Bay though for a Packers game, Ann and I passed out in the hallway of the wrong hotel. Apparently, we paid way too much in tolls that day. Most excitingly for us in London this week though is the arrival on Thursday of Nick and Jen Dinham. They are incredible friends of mine from Chicago and we are so excited that they have decided to spend a long weekend with us in London. It is their first trip away from their precious one year old daughter Sidney, so we will do our best to keep them from being homesick!!!
We hope that everyone is doing well. Just another quick reminder to everyone that if you are considering a trip next year to London to visit, our calendar is booking up quickly. Please remember that the Olympics will be taking place in London between July and August, and that would be a very expensive and non-ideal time to visit.
Cheers
Kevin and Ann
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
In-Laws in London
We were so thrilled to have Ann's parents spend the last almost 2 weeks with us. We sadly sent them back to Fondy on Monday morning. I am not sure if we were as sad to see them go though as the London pubs. The Prince of Wales is going to see a significant decrease in week on week sales compared to last week!! I am incredibly lucky because whenever someone says anything about their in-laws, it usually has some kind of negative connotation, but for me, it is like my 2nd parents. They are so kind, genuine, and unbelievably gracious guests (Chad, I just took back No. 1 Son-in-Law). On top of that, they are just plain fun. We had so many laughs and fun experiences the last 2 weeks. I know that for mother and daughter too, it was nice to not have that umbilical chord stretched so far for a few days.
Their trip started off with such a bang. As I told you in a previous post, they had tea with the Queen their first afternoon in London. Since Senior did such an incredible job getting the Queen's Rolls Royce back in Royal Parade shape after her fender bender, the Queen and Prince Charles insisted on coming by our flat the next week for tea. It actually worked out well because they stopped by here on their way to Kensington Palace to check on Kate and Wills baby making progress. As you can see from the picture above, it was quite an honor for us to have such Royalty in our kitchen.
Another of the highlights was definitely our trip to Bruges. I sadly did not arrive until Saturday morning because I caught a much later train out of London and had to spend the night in Brussels. When I arrived bright and early though, their slow movements and bloodshot eyes were a good indication that they got themselves acquainted with Belgium beer the night before!!! We had so much fun walking through the beautiful streets of Bruges, sampling Belgian Waffles, Muscles and Frites, Chocolates, and of course the finest beers on the planet. Last week, back in London, Senior and Cathy covered just about every inch of the city. They also made a quick day trip to Cambridge and were incredibly lucky to have good weather everywhere they went. It was great for us because they toured all day while we were working and then we could all have dinner together at night. Thursday was another highlight as we got tickets to see Jersey Boys. We had a great dinner in Soho before taking in the show. If you have not seen Jersey Boys, I would highly recommend it. I was a little tentative going in, but I knew every single song and the story line was fantastic. As you also saw from a previous post as well, we had dinner in one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants on Friday night. I think that it may have had a little bit to do with the wine, but father and daughter got a little lippy towards Cathy and I. Now I know exactly where that stubbornness comes from and what Cathy and I have to deal with all of the time;) Sunday was a brilliant last day as we took the tube up to an area called Hampstead and hit a couple of really classic pubs and enjoyed the fall weather.
Senior and Cathy, thank you so much for coming to visit, for all of the memories and experiences that we created and had together, and for all of the meals, beers, bottles of wine, and most importantly, laughs. It was an experience that Ann and I will never forget.
As I write this, the flat is back in tip top shape and ready for our next visitors to arrive first thing tomorrow morning. I should be profiting off of this Bed and Breakfast somehow!!! We are so excited to have my good friend and fraternity brother from Clemson, Tim, and his much better half, Roberta visit. They are here with us this weekend before heading on to France next week. Well, Ann has cooked me dinner for maybe the 2nd time since we have been in London, so I better wrap this up and eat before it gets cold!!! She is going to hurt me for that comment. We hope that everyone is well. We miss you and love you all as always.
Kevin and Ann
Their trip started off with such a bang. As I told you in a previous post, they had tea with the Queen their first afternoon in London. Since Senior did such an incredible job getting the Queen's Rolls Royce back in Royal Parade shape after her fender bender, the Queen and Prince Charles insisted on coming by our flat the next week for tea. It actually worked out well because they stopped by here on their way to Kensington Palace to check on Kate and Wills baby making progress. As you can see from the picture above, it was quite an honor for us to have such Royalty in our kitchen.
Another of the highlights was definitely our trip to Bruges. I sadly did not arrive until Saturday morning because I caught a much later train out of London and had to spend the night in Brussels. When I arrived bright and early though, their slow movements and bloodshot eyes were a good indication that they got themselves acquainted with Belgium beer the night before!!! We had so much fun walking through the beautiful streets of Bruges, sampling Belgian Waffles, Muscles and Frites, Chocolates, and of course the finest beers on the planet. Last week, back in London, Senior and Cathy covered just about every inch of the city. They also made a quick day trip to Cambridge and were incredibly lucky to have good weather everywhere they went. It was great for us because they toured all day while we were working and then we could all have dinner together at night. Thursday was another highlight as we got tickets to see Jersey Boys. We had a great dinner in Soho before taking in the show. If you have not seen Jersey Boys, I would highly recommend it. I was a little tentative going in, but I knew every single song and the story line was fantastic. As you also saw from a previous post as well, we had dinner in one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants on Friday night. I think that it may have had a little bit to do with the wine, but father and daughter got a little lippy towards Cathy and I. Now I know exactly where that stubbornness comes from and what Cathy and I have to deal with all of the time;) Sunday was a brilliant last day as we took the tube up to an area called Hampstead and hit a couple of really classic pubs and enjoyed the fall weather.
Senior and Cathy, thank you so much for coming to visit, for all of the memories and experiences that we created and had together, and for all of the meals, beers, bottles of wine, and most importantly, laughs. It was an experience that Ann and I will never forget.
As I write this, the flat is back in tip top shape and ready for our next visitors to arrive first thing tomorrow morning. I should be profiting off of this Bed and Breakfast somehow!!! We are so excited to have my good friend and fraternity brother from Clemson, Tim, and his much better half, Roberta visit. They are here with us this weekend before heading on to France next week. Well, Ann has cooked me dinner for maybe the 2nd time since we have been in London, so I better wrap this up and eat before it gets cold!!! She is going to hurt me for that comment. We hope that everyone is well. We miss you and love you all as always.
Kevin and Ann
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