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
                                 

  

Farewell Final Visitors and Apple

Two significant chapters of our London book close for us this week as we get closer to the start of the sequel, "2 Yanks in Dallas" and our repatriation to the USA.  It is hard to believe that 2 years ago right now, we were planning our relocation to London and looking forward to what the 2 years ahead might hold.  Without a doubt, these 2 years have been an education in life and of the world that far exceeded my first 31 years.  We have been ridiculously lucky to have travelled and seen as much as we have.  We have also grown so much together because beyond all of the great trips that you have seen pics of and read about, Ann and I have pushed each other to succeed in immersing ourselves and adapting to every new culture, place, and communication divide that we encountered both professionally and personally.  It was very hard to be away from family and friends at times, but we did it together, and overcame so many challenges along the way.  We will have thousands of pictures and stories to share with whomever wants to look or listen, but for the two of us, we will have the experiences that unfortunately words and photos do little to capture and no one beyond ourselves will understand.  That is what makes our move back home hard and special at the same time:)

For the first chapter closing this week, we said goodbye last Sunday to what I believe will be our last visitors to London, Nick and Jen Garlie, our extraordinary friends from the Twin Cities.  Every visitor has asked us if we are tired of being tour guides and showing people the same things over and over.  In short, I hope that I never have to give another tour again, but for us, it was not about seeing the same sights, it was about seeing our visitors reactions when they saw these things for the first time.  That was worth standing on the Westminster Bridge over the River Thames staring back at the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben for the 100th time!!!  Nick and Jen were no exception.  They were Europe Virgins as well, which makes it even more exciting.  They arrived late last Saturday night, so their official tour kicked off on Sunday.  After a stop at Ottolenghi for scones, croissants, pastries and coffee, we spent the morning walking through Green Park past Buckingham and then through St. James Park towards Westminster.  After crossing the aforementioned Westminster Bridge, we worked our way south to The Imperial War Museum.  Ann and I are not huge museum fans, but this place was beyond imagination.  We had been waiting to go to coincide with visitors, and this worked perfectly.  I will be going back to spend more time there before we leave.  After that, we taxied up to Borough Market and had a few apps and a glass of wine.  We crossed back over the Thames, walked through Covent Garden and stopped at the Cork and Bottle in Soho for another glass of wine.  We had dinner that evening at Zaika, our favourite Indian restaurant, and enjoyed watching the Garlies have their first Indian experience.  Ann sadly had to leave early Monday morning for Normandy, France for work, and the three of us were certainly not high on her list as we stayed up until 3:30am laughing and talking far too loudly!!!  Nick and Jen spent Monday and Tuesday discovering London and they left early Wednesday morning for 2 days in Paris.  Ann returned from her work trip on Thursday night and Nick and Jen returned on Friday evening.  That night, we had a fantastic meal at Maggie Jones, which is a little Kensington haunt that serves game and classic English dishes.  Saturday, Nick and Jen took the must see guided tour of the Houses of Parliament and Ann and I met them after to continue the London circuit.  We ended up back in Borough Market for lunch and then hopped on the Tube and headed west to Notting Hill and Portobello Road.  We had so much fun walking Portobello and for our first time too, we found the little bookstore that Hugh Grant owns in the movie "Notting Hill."(pic of Ann and I below is from across the street from the shop).  From there, we stopped at Kensington Wine bar where for the first time in my life, I think that I was accused of nursing a drink!!!  We had our final dinner together at our favourite Lebanese restaurant around the corner from our flat.  Nick and Jen, we had such a blast and are so happy that you all made the trip across the pond to see us.  We know that it was hard being away from Eli and Zoe, but we are so grateful that you took the leap and pushed yourselves to see so many things and try so many new cuisines (safe to say that Jen is not a fan of lamb!!!).

The other chapter that closes for me this week is Apple.  When we found out that we were in fact coming to London and that I would be leaving Target, I was a slight bit apprehensive about how this might impact my career progression and what position that I would find.  I was so fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to work for Apple here in London.  It has been such an unbelievable experience for me personally and professionally.  The chance to work for the most recognised company in the world in such a global environment and have exposure to our entire European business has been brilliant.  I have loved recruiting for our 34 stores in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales and especially managing an agency team of 14 talent sourcers in Warsaw, Poland.  That was by far the most fulfilling for me.  With sadness and excitement, tomorrow is my last day at Apple.  I am sad that there are no ideal opportunities back in Dallas with Apple, but super excited to discover what new challenge lies ahead for me.  I have learned so much here and have made some outstanding friends.  Most excitingly, and eliciting a great deal of jealousy from the Sr. Director, I am temporarily retired as of tomorrow!!!!  I will be taking the lead on our relocation back to the States, serving as an even more dedicated executive assistant to the Duchess of Fondy, assuming more responsibility as house husband, and continuing to travel the world!!!

I suppose that is about it for me from a cool and rainy London.  We fly back to the States for 2 weeks next Saturday for Jeff and Jobina's wedding in WI and a week long house hunting trip to Dallas.  It has been 14 months since I have set foot on US soil, and I am so stoked.  I am going to get to meet my nephew Max for the first time, and I can't wait to see my parents when they fly down to Dallas to spend a weekend with us there.

Cheers
Kevin                                  

            

Ciao a Tutti

The US will always be home for us, but Italia could easily be our adopted country.  I think that it was finally Wednesday last week when blood was once again coursing through my veins instead of wine and cheese.  At the height of my gluttony, I even ate gelato 3 times in one day, including breakfast.  Italy is truly a place to indulge in everything fine in life…food, wine, food, wine and ravishing landscapes that were brilliantly captured by our Japanese contingent (Sayuri aka Ann and Yoshi aka Patrick).  Susie and I made fun of them a lot darting around with multiple cameras, but we are so thankful that they were able to capture our unforgettable 10 days.  The Kings hardly need an introduction, but they are our tree hugging, ACLU card-carrying friends from Minneapolis!!!  Sadly, I informed them that after our move to Texas, they will no longer be suitable friends.  After their visit a year ago to London and Ireland, we began planning the 2012 Knapp-King Reunion in Italy.  We hashed out a rough itinerary and then each couple was responsible for planning our respective halves of the trip.  When travelling in Europe, especially Italy by car, there can be many things that can go askew, but for the amount of travelling that we did, it was one of the most uncomplicated trips that I have taken.  It always helps when there are others in the car to lighten the mood when you are lost or yelling at your spouse for their backseat driving or questionable navigation skills!!  In retrospect, we probably packed in a little too much, but there is not one regret (besides Genova).  I will do my best to recount the best, the worst, and the many highlights from our adventure:

-       Day 1 – Bologna - We had an fantastic first meal at Vicolo Colombina including a ridiculous Salami platter as an appetizer.

-       Day 2 – Santarcangelo - Susie has recently re-connected with the Italian side of her family and they invited us to visit them in their hometown where her parents had visited many years ago.  We were welcomed with unspeakable generosity.  Her cousins, Gastone and Valentino, who are close to our age, and their friend Nicola (THE INTERPRETER) welcomed us into their home for a traditional Italian lunch and to meet the extended family, gave us a tour of Santarcangelo and the nearby Republic of San Marino, and treated us to an amazing meal on Saturday night.  There are many highlights, but the unforgettable one has to do with Nicola, our new friend and interpreter.  Nicola was awesome and certainly made our interaction with everyone so much easier.  He also had the whole “good looking Italian” thing going on for himself.  Anyway, we are out at a bar after dinner with Gastone, Valentino, and Nicola and we were planning to maybe hit the beach before we left the next day.  Nicola mentioned that he might not wear his speedo, and out of nowhere, Ann and Susie, in unison, said, “No, no, you can wear your speedo.”  CLASSIC!!!

-       Day 3 – Florence – We arrived in Florence on Sunday afternoon.  Patrick did a fantastic job of negotiating the windy roads through the mountainous national park as well as the one-way streets of Florence.  The first highlight was definitely getting pulled over by the Caribinieri as we are trying to return the car by way of the largest pedestrian walk in Florence.  They were not amused that we were driving down this street amidst thousands of people, but were understanding once we explained where we were coming from!!  The rest of Sunday proceeded seamlessly as we made our way around the Duomo, visited the Accademia and Michelangelo’s David, and had a really fun dinner.  We decided to hit an Italian Club after dinner.  We ended up roped off inside their “VIP” section, which consisted of 2 couches and 2 tables, but apparently plenty of space for Susie to invite some new friends who I had to entertain!!  The final highlight of the night was me getting pickpocketed on our way home at about 2am.  In all of my travels, I have amazingly never fallen victim, but these little Italians bastards caught me off guard and I was the sacrificial lamb.  Luckily, I realized it within about 2 or 3 minutes, and we were able to cancel all of my cards.  Sadly, I lost my driver’s license, some pride, and most meaningful to me, my last Clemson Student IDL

-       Day 4 - Florence – After waking up with considerable hangovers and the complete realization that I had in fact no wallet, we recovered quickly to continue to discover Florence.  The highlight of the day was definitely our dinner, probably our best in Italy.  We encountered a restaurant called La Giostra.  We were all introduced to a new cheese called Burrata, which is essentially a mozzarella cheese shell stuffed with cream.  They served it with drizzled honey, and let me just say that it was food ecstasy.  The entire dinner was incredible and was a great way to end our time in Florence.

-       Day 5 – Genova and The Cinque Terre – We picked up the compact diesel “Benz” in Florence and made our way from Tuscany to Liguria, all along the Mediterranean Coast and the Cinque Terre.  The Cinque Terre literally means “Five Hills” and is composed of five villages along the coast.  The Villages are accessible by road, train, and can also be reached by hiking trails, which are amazing.  We had a fantastic lunch in the first village called Riomaggiore.  At this point, I will take full responsibility for my planning screw up.  I had booked us into a hotel in Genova for 2 nights, which was a huge disappointment, and not nearly as close to the Cinque Terre as I had thought.  We spent one night in Genova, which by the way, we had the best pizza of the trip, and we were able to find a hotel in the village of Vernazza on the Cinque Terre for the 2^nd next night.  Thanks to Ann and Susie for the last minute research and making this happen.

-       Day 6 – Vernazza and Corniglia, Cinque Terre – We left Genova early that morning in the “Benz” and made our way back to the Cinque Terre.  The mountain drive along the Cinque Terre has endless captivating views.  We negotiated treacherously narrow and winding mountain roads to the village of Vernazza, but made it in one piece.  The village had sadly been devastated last year by floods.  The destruction is still evident in the roads and upper village, but the seaside was untouched and is extraordinarily breathtaking.  The highlight of the day was our hike from Vernazza to Corniglia where we had lunch and swam in the sea.  It was an awesome adventure.  It was pretty warm and the hike was fairly challenging, but it is absolutely the way to experience the Cinque Terre and all of its dramatic views high above the sea.

-       Day 7 – Bergamo – We sadly awoke in Vernazza to find that Susie had fallen victim to food poisoning from dinner the night before.  She was definitely down for the count.  I do have to mention this incredible pastry shop that Ann, Patrick, and I found for breakfast that morning in Vernazza though.  It was called Il Pirata, a Sicilian bakery just below our hotel.  We had some of the best pastries that I have ever tasted and Patrick and I both had this amazing watermelon slushy.  After breakfast, we managed to get Susie to the car and headed towards Bergamo.  We stopped for lunch in a small town called Cremona, which happened to be the home of the violin.  We left poor Susie in the car while the three of us walked around and grabbed a quick Panini.  We pulled into Bergamo in the late afternoon and in my mind, discovered one of the gems of our trip.  Bergamo is an ancient Roman city that sits just northeast of Milan in the foothills of the Alps and surrounded by vineyards.  The view from our balconies in our B&B was of grape vineyards.  It was awesome.  Ann, Patrick, and I ventured through the extremely quaint old town in the afternoon and had a fantastic dinner at a local place Trattoria La Colombina.  Bergamo was a complete surprise for me.

-       Day 8 and Day 9 – Lake Como -  With Susie back in action, the fearless foursome were again at full strength and pumped for the final push to Lake Como.  It is hard to describe in words the beauty and majesticness of this stunning part of Italy.  Como di Lago is a glacial lake dotted with aristocratic and pastel painted villages, palaces and ornate villas sitting at the base of snowcapped mountains.  We stayed in Mennagio and hopped back and forth by car and ferry between Bellagio, Varenna, and Tremezzo.  We found one of the coolest wine bars in Bellagio called Cava Turacciolo and one in Tremezzo called Cantina Follie.  We also found the best gelato that we had in Italy in Menaggio.  It was an awesome end to the trip.  We were somewhat disappointed that we did not get an invitation for dinner at George’s villa, but after Ann and Susie’s performance around “Speedo Nic,” Patrick and I would have been fearful of their behavior!!!

10 days, 4 Regions, 7 Cities, 2 Cars, 1 Wallet and many shared hotel rooms and bathrooms later, The Kings and The Knapps emerged unscathed and full of the most exquisite pasta, pizza, gelato, compari, wine, and a plethora of memories to last a lifetime.  Thanks to all of my travel companions for their patience, courage, laughter, love, and of course to Patrick for his proficient use of the Spanish language.  Perhaps next trip we will choose a country where that will actually be useful!!!  Patrick and Susie, we are so lucky to have you all as friends, and we can’t wait to see you on the next Knapp-King adventure.

As I am quite tired of writing, and I probably lost you all as readers long ago, I am going to wrap this up.   We have fully recovered from Italy and are looking forward to a last couple of busy months in London.  Ann is flying to Moscow this week for work and we are so excited to have our good friends Nick and Jenny Garlie arrive next weekend from St Paul to spend a week here in London and Paris.

Ciao Amore!!

Kevin

Olympics, Celebrities, Visitors, and The Big Decision

Hi Everyone,

Wow, what a last month it has been.  One of the added bonuses when we made the decision to move to London was obviously being here for the Olympics.  At the time, it was just this distant event that would eventually besiege this city.  Now that we are fully recovered from our Olympic hangovers, it is unfathomable that we are looking at it in the past.  As a Londoner, there was a lot of apprehension building towards the start of the Games.  Would the already fragile Tube be able to handle the additional influx of tourists?  What would the impact be to our commuting times into Central London?  After one of the rainiest summers to date, would the shit English weather continue?  Would the cynical and unexciteable Brits be able to pull off this dazzling world spectacle?  Our view was obviously slightly skewed by the British Media, however, as a foreigner in one of the busiest cities in the world amidst Olympic games, the environment and the weather was absolutely spectacular, the execution of the events was flawless, the British Gamesmakers and volunteers exhibited an uncharacteristic charm and even giddiness, and the USA kicked some ass.  I have always been a fan of the Olympics, the spirit, the nationalism, and the competition, but after having lived the Olympics for 16 straight days, I am an Olympic junkie.  Ann and I were so fortunate to be able to attend a few events and take part in some different festivities around London.  We watched the Women's Triathlon from various points in Hyde Park.  We got tickets to the Heineken House, which is Holland's Country Olympic venue.  Every country sets up their own house/venue in an olympic city and has parties and different events for their own Olympians and citizens.  We had tickets to the Men's and Women's Semi-Finals for Beach Volleyball.  In my opinion, it was one of the coolest venues in London situated on the Horse Parade Grounds in St. James Park with Westminster looming in the background.  Unfortunately, it was one of the very few nights that it rained, but we were cheering on the US Women's team, drinking beer, and not caring at all that we were soaked.  We also toured the Russian Village to get a preview of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.  This last Saturday, we had the Bronze Medal game for Women's Indoor volleyball in which Japan beat Korea.  Yes, it would have been more fun to see the US play, but just being a part of it was such a thrill.  From the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony, everything for Ann and I was a highlight.  We fully immersed ourselves in the environment and spirit and carried the stars and striped proudly around the city.  It is sad that it is now behind us, but perhaps Sochi, Rio, or Pyeongchang is calling our name!!!

In other news unrelated to the Olympics, I had one of my best celebrity sightings last week just outside of our flat.  I was working from home one day and decided to run to the grocery store to grab a few things.  As I was coming down the stairs from our flat, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, and their 2 kids were walking right up Kensington Church Walk.  Sadly, I was too tongue tied to say anything.

In the midst of all of the Olympic excitement, we were also thrilled to have our good friends John and Erin Koeln spend a long weekend with us.  They bravely descended on London last Thursday as they had gotten tickets for the Gold Medal Football Match (Mexico v Brazil).  Cheers to the Grandparents Gallagher and Koeln as well for taking Connor and Landon, their twin 1 year old boys, so that John and Erin could adventure through Europe!!  We had such a blast this last weekend.  We had a really fun dinner out on Friday night at Beach Blanket Babylon and then at the Prince of Wales where Sheddy (John's nickname and alter ego) and I were able to catch up on some missing shot time.  Saturday, after each of us had attended our respective Olympic events, we had dinner at a little gastropub near our flat called Brittania and ended up somehow amassing quite a tab.  The 2 bottles of wine, 10 Guinness, and multiple shots may have contributed to that a bit.  Don't worry, we did eat too!!!  We bid them farewell on Sunday as they were headed on their 2nd leg of the trip to Ireland before finishing up in Spain.  John and Erin, thanks for coming to visit and we can't wait to meet the boys when we return to the States.

If you have not already read the articles in Forbes, Fortune, WSJ, The Fondy Reporter or the many other publications that the Senior Director frequently appears in, the big MOVE decision has been made.  We will be relocating from London to Dallas towards the end of this year.  The timing is up in the air as we are still waiting on Buckingham palace to confirm the date of our Royal Send-off and my new cowboy boots to arrive in the mail, but we will definitely be Stateside by Christmas.  It was a very complex and thoroughly discussed decision process.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, we would love to get back to the Midwest eventually, but the best move for us now both personally and professionally is Dallas.  More details to come, and while we are continuing to enjoy every minute of this experience, we are both starting to look forward to returning to a normal life.  It is going to be so great to have space again, have our dog Jack back, and be closer to family and friends.

Finally, a little look ahead.  Ann has to make a quick trip to Minneapolis this coming week.  She flies in Sunday evening and back out again Wednesday evening.  Most excitingly, we leave next Friday to spend 10 days in Italy with our friends Patrick and Susie King!!!  We have been planning this trip since they visited us last year at this time and are so looking forward it.  We are starting in Tuscany, driving across to the Cinque Terre, and finishing on Lake Como.  There will be pics and stories to come.

Cheers from quiet and once again rainy London!!!
Kevin              

                

Trish Takes London Town

Hi Blog Faithful,

We are officially 7 Days, 7 Hours, and 20 minutes away from the Opening Ceremonies.  The mood in London this past week has been quite festive as the Olympic Teams have been arriving, the official 2012 Olympic BMWs have been zipping around the city in their dedicated Olympic only traffic lanes, and the Senior Director has been wrapping up her rigorous training regimen for the Solo Synchronised Swimming event.  She has been lucky it has been such a rainy summer and there have been some ample sized puddles around our flat because she was getting a little carried away with some of her "Flamingos" in our bathtub.  She may in fact be the first Olympic medal hopeful from Fondy.

We were so thrilled 2 weeks ago to have our friend Trish visit us from San Francisco for a week.  We had an awesome time seeing and doing some things that we still had not yet done, and most importantly, just getting to spend time with her.  We finally had the quintessential English afternoon tea experience at Browns Hotel in Mayfair on Sunday.  Browns was opened in 1837 and its tea room is attributed as the spot where Rudyard Kipling penned several of his novels and was the inspiration for Agatha Christie's "At Bertram's Hotel." It was a brilliant experience.  Since Wimbledon was still happening, we chose the Wimbledon inspired theme which started with a glass of Rose champagne and then was followed by a choice of tea, strawberries and cream, warm scones and strawberry preserves, a bottomless assortment of finger sandwiches, and a variety of cakes and tarts.  We were all glad for our self-guided London walking tour after that meal.  Sunday also brought on a bit of the Sunday-Funday by accident.  We decided on our way home to stop by a recommended wine bar in SOHO, Cork & Bottle, for a glass of wine at about 4:30.  At 8:30, after about 5 or 6 glasses of wine, we finally made it to a cab to get us home.  Monday morning was a little rough for those of us with work, but what a fun night that we had.  On Tuesday night, we had the best Indian food that I have ever had thanks to a recommendation from Trish's friend in San Fran for a restaurant in Whitechapel called Tayyabs.  It was phenomenal.  On Wednesday, we also had another new dining experience at The Troubador Cafe in Earl's Court.  Being another place that had been highly recommended to us, The Troubador is the last of the traditional coffee houses in London that opened in 1954 and has been host to a number of infamous musical acts including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Jimmi Hendrix, and countless others.  The ambiance and environment was fantastic.  Friday night, Trish's last night, we went and saw "Billy Elliot" at the Victoria Palace Theatre.  I have enjoyed every musical and play that we have seen here in London, and this one certainly did not disappoint.  TP, we have so many great memories from our week together.  Thanks for making the trip across the US and the pond to come and see us.  We are looking forward to our trip out to San Fran when we are back and settled in the homeland.

We hope that everyone has a good weekend.  It is, of course, the British Open this weekend at Royal Lytham, so let's hope for some good old typical links playing conditions in Northwest England.  Safe travels and safe partying to the Knapp family who are embarking on the annual beach vacation starting tomorrow in Watercolor.  We wish that we could be there.  I am relieved that "Officer Oliver" will be there to keep everyone in check.  Finally, a fair warning to all of the London Underground operators, bus drivers, taxi drivers, and rickshaw drivers in London.  Ann has an after work social event this evening, so please be on alert for the Synchronised Swimming Sensation from Fondy as she may in fact need a lift home.            

Midsummer in Sweden

Happy belated 4th of July.  There was not much mention of our independence here in England, of course, but I was quick to remind my English co-workers that it was the day that we defeated those Brit "Wankers."  I also told the Frenchie on my team that I am pretty sure that is the last war that they actually showed up to fight.  She takes my French jokes pretty well.

I am finally getting around to documenting our fantastic trip to Gothenburg, Sweden to see Ann's cousin Derek and the Swedish Diener contingent for the Midsummer festival two weekends ago.  Thank you so much to Derek, Elisa, Noelle, Linnea, and most importantly Hansy Baby and Terttu (Elisa's Parents) for being incredible hosts and inviting us to stay in their beautiful summer cottage by the sea.  Our pictures really do little to capture the serenity and tranquility of the West Coast of Sweden.  It is every bit as remote and beautiful as you can imagine.  The "Wet Coast" moniker unfortunately held true that weekend, but the rain did not stop any of the festivities.  Elisa's brother was visiting from Australia, so he had invited some Aussie friends as well as a few of his Swedish friends, so it was quite a party.  Everyone was so kind and welcoming.  Upon our late evening arrival on Friday, we were greeted with the first of many shots of Swedish Snaps.  As we came to find out later in the weekend as well, we were treated to a most memorable Midsummer serenade by Hansy Baby on the accordion.  Apparently, this is incredibly rare and Ann and I were so lucky to have been witness.  That really set the tone for the evening as the Snaps and beers continued to flow.  At one point, as we were commenting on all of the different nations being represented at the Bjorkland Midsummer's party, we all sang each of our national anthems (Sweden, Australia, Canada, and the US).  It was highly entertaining.  I was truly in my element as well because there is nothing that I enjoy more than sipping cocktails and having good random conversations all night long.  I was proud to be the last one standing and when I went to bed at 4am, not only had the sun never set, but it could have still been about 8 in the evening.  Saturday morning, Ann and I took an awesome walk out along the coast and over the rocky shores.  The surroundings were just so extraordinary.  After a big breakfast, we loaded up in a 4 car (Volvo of course!!) caravan and headed north to a small fishing village called Smogen.  It is this quaint summer town on the Swedish Coast.  It is known for its long wooden piers filled with shops and restaurants in these old fishing huts.  We had a fantastic fresh seafood lunch.  We spent the afternoon walking around there and then came back to the cottage for a BBQ.  On Sunday, Elisa's parents were so kind to watch the girls, so Derek and Elisa drove us in to Gothenburg to discover the city itself.  We had so much fun walking around and had a remarkable lunch.  We still had yet to sample the local delicacy, pickled herring, and it was well worth the wait.  Most importantly, we enjoyed so much just getting to spend some time with Derek and Elisa.  When we are all back in Fond du Lac for some occasion or another, it is hard to spend an extended period of time with anyone, so it was so nice for the 4 of us just to hang out.  We are hoping that they are able to make a quick weekend trip down to London before we head back to the States.  Derek has promised that he will sport his "bass" sweatshirt all weekend and Elisa promises a lot of "flipping," whatever that means;)!!!!!  Ann and I really hope that we can return to Sweden one day because it is a beautiful country.

Cheers
Kevin          

The Dalmatian Coast

"What a beaut Clark."  Cousin Eddie said it best, and I could not find a more fitting expression to aptly summarise our trip to Croatia.  We had an amazing trip.  If you have never seen pictures or experienced it for yourself, it is one of the most dramatic and undeveloped coastlines that I have ever seen.  The Dalmatian Coast gets its name from the Dinaric alps that run North to South along the Adriatic Sea.  The contrast of light and colour between the striking grey mountain range and the ultra blue glow of the Adriatic Sea is astounding.  We rented a car and drove from Split in the North to Dubrovnik in the South, all along this mountainous coastal highway, and the panoramas were beyond description.  The Croatian people were super kind and almost everyone was proficient in English.  It is amazing to think that this country and people were consumed by a brutal civil war and just gained their independence in the mid 90's.  If you recall the Croatian War in which they fought for their independence from Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, and also the name Slobodan Milosevic, you have an idea of the atrocities that these people have endured.  They are super nationalistic and so proud to share their country and experiences with others.  Many people have also asked about the food.  It is predominantly seafood based of course, but there is also a significant Italian influence considering that the East Coast of Italy lies just about 200 miles across the Adriatic.  The Adriatic is not really known for its traditional fish, but the squid and octopus were fantastic.

Sadly, Ann had a wicked cold most of the trip, but she was a real trooper.  Even though we stayed in 4 different places over the course of 10 days, we felt like we discovered a ton and also had several days of just sun and relaxation.  Here are the highlights:

Day 1 - Split
- Hiked up to Marjan, a hill on the peninsula of the city with brilliant views back over Split, the surrounding islands, and the mountains.
- Stopped at Cafe Vidilica, sitting high above the city with a full panoramic view, and had our first Ozujsko, Croatian Lager
- Pub crawl through Old Town

Day 2 - Split
- Beach Day and discovering all of the different swimming coves along the coast.
- Drinks and dinner in Narodni Trg(People's Square) followed by an after dinner drink on the Riva(Sea Promenade) watching the sunset.

Day 3 - Split to Hvar Island
- Wow, this island was amazing.  We stayed at the Amfora Grand Hotel on Hvar(see pic below from our hotel lobby)
- Afternoon with cocktails by the pool
- Evening cocktails in Trg Stjepana (main square in Hvar) and a fantastic dinner at Dalmatino on their sidewalk cafe

Day 4 - Hvar
- Morning hike through Old Town Hvar and up to the Roman Fortress built in the early 1500's that sits high above the harbour
- Afternoon by the pool
- Dinner at this recommended Croatian Tapas style restaurant called Konoba Menego.  The atmosphere was awesome, but the food was terrible.  Don't get the drunken figs.  This was also about the height of Ann's illness, and she decided that a large amount of the homemade wine might do the trick.  It did something alright;)  Dinner was followed by a stop at a bar/club near the port where "Wedding Ann" made a brief appearance before the inevitable brick walls brought her to her Berenz halt!!

Day 5 - Hvar to Split to Makarska
- We ferried back to Split and rented a car to journey down the coast towards Dubrovnik with an overnight stop in a small village called Makarska.
- We stayed in a beautiful hotel right in the harbour and had a wonderful dinner about 3 feet from the water.
- Best sunset of the trip in Makarska

Day 6 - Makarska to Dubrovnik
- Hotel Kazbek was where it was at (see pool pic below).  Ann did an outstanding job of finding this place.  There were about 20 rooms and it was almost completely empty.  We basically had the hotel and often times, the pool to ourselves.
- Cocktails by the pool in the afternoon
- We stayed in for dinner that night in the hotel restaurant

Day 7 - Dubrovnik (BEST DAY OF THE TRIP)
- We had arranged a boat excursion through our hotel to visit 3 different islands off of the coast of Dubrovnik.  It turns out, it was just the 2 of us.  The hotel had its own boat and we had a Captain and a First Mate completely at our disposal.
(1) Kolocep - small Island filled with Pine and Karob trees.  We spent about 30-45 minutes walking around the island.
(2) Lopud - Sunj Beach, one of the only sandy beaches in all of the Adriatic.  We anchored in the cove and Ann and I swam in to the beach.  It was awesome.  There was a little beach cafe there as well that had been set up for the boaters and Island hoppers.
(3) Sipan - Island discovered in the middle ages where the Dubrovnik nobility kept their summer homes.  As part of our excursion, we were told there was lunch, but really had no clue what that entailed.  It was amazing.  We had an awesome lunch overlooking the bay at this quaint little hotel called Hotel Bozica (chocolate soufflé was ridiculous).
- Finally, we had them take us out to the bay in front of Old Town Dubrovnik to experience it from the sea.  It was breathtaking.
- We had dinner and drinks in Old Town.  We had one of our best meals of the trip that night at a little Restaurant called Konoba Dalmatino.  We had already fallen in love that week with a Dalmatian Chardonnay called Posip, so a bottle (maybe 2!!) of that paired with a Black Ink Risotto and a whole grilled Sea Bass.  WOW.

Day 8 - Dubrovnik
- Pool day and Kevin's introduction to Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele!!!
- Cave Bar and Hotel - our hotel had recommended searching out this bar that had been built inside a Cave and it was incredible.

Day 9 (last Day) - Dubrovnik
- Hotel Lapad - When we had booked Hotel Kazbek, we did not fully understand where it was located in relation to Old Town Dubrovnik.  Since we were leaving early on Sunday morning, we decided to book a hotel for the last night closer to the city and ultimately closer to the airport.  It was closer alright, by about 100 yards!!  It gave us a pretty good laugh, and it was nice to have a change of scenery for the last day.
- Wall Tour of Old Town - you can walk the entire perimeter of Old Town along its fortress walls, and it affords the best views of the city.

It was an unforgettable 10 days in Croatia.  It was great to fully disconnect from work and finally rid ourselves of our "English Rose" colouring.  I wish that Ann could have felt better, but she did not let it slow her down at all.  We had a ton of laughs, so many memories made, and thousands of images forever imprinted on our minds.  We hope to see you again Croatia.

That is about all that I have for today.  Ann has been in Frankfurt for work this week and we are off to Sweden tomorrow for the weekend.  Ann's cousin Derek, his wife Elisa, and their 2 little girls live in Gothenburg.  They have very kindly invited us up to stay at Elisa's family's summer cottage on the North Sea and take part in the big midsummer party in Sweden, which is centered around the summer solstice.  We are so excited.