Happy Memorial Day Weekend,
It is sadly not a holiday for us over here today, but I suppose that we are probably not in a position to complain too much about days off. We do have 2 days off next week for the Queen's Jubilee. As I have said, I am going to struggle going back to the US and only getting 2 or 3 weeks vacation. We hope that you are enjoying your weekends with friends and family. It was a beautiful weekend here in London, maybe one of the best since we have lived here. We spent so much time outside this weekend. To be honest, we were looking so cadaverous that we could have been mistaken for Brits:) We would have been giving my brother-in-law, Michael a.k.a "Fish Stick" a run for the pasty prize. The downside, however, of warm weather in London, is the fact that no one has AC here, so there are some warm nights of sleep and some terribly uncomfortable Tube commutes. Weather is very temporary over here though as it is supposed to be in the 50s again by this weekend.
We had a couple highlights this weekend. We were shocked on Friday night to be able to get some more Olympic tickets. We ended up getting both the semi-final Beach V-ball matches for Men's and Women's, so really excited about that. The other highlight was the Chelsea Flower Show. If you have never heard about it, Chelsea hosts the one of the world's largest flower shows every year on the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital. The first show took place in 1862. It takes place over 6 days every May and there were over 550 exhibitors from all over the world this year displaying everything from avante-gard show gardens to almost any trade-stand imaginable. It requires almost 6 weeks to set the entire show up. It is amazing. We were lucky enough to get tickets to attend on Saturday and it was fantastic. It will definitely be something that we will remember from our time in London.
We had such a great end to the weekend too. After a Sunday filled with activity and hours in the sun, we sat and enjoyed a beer sitting outside on the terrace of our building of flats. It was just a great moment still soaking up the warm sun and enjoying a cold Blue Moon with Ann. It was my first American beer in a long time too, and it was delicious. We have just about 3.5 days of work left this week, and then we are on Holiday. We are leaving Friday morning for 10 days in Croatia. It is going to be a phenomenal trip and a nice combination of some adventure and sight seeing as well as Island hopping and complete relaxation. I am sure that we will have some hilarious stories and hopefully brilliant pictures from our latest excursion.
Cheers
Kevin
Maldives
Monday, 28 May 2012
Friday, 18 May 2012
Weekend in the Cotswolds
Hiya Everyone,
Before even moving to England, we had heard people speak of the beauty of the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are a range of hills in Midwest England that span about 90 miles. The word Cotswold literally means sheep enclosure. The postcard-esque villages and towns brilliantly capture the quintessential English Countryside. Two weekends ago, we had a 3 day Bank Holiday weekend and decided to spend 2 nights in the Cotswolds near a town called Cheltenham. We found a beautiful old horse ground and estate, turned girls school, and finally renovated into a luxury hotel called Ellenborough Park(see picture above). It was amazing. I do want to preface that we do not normally pamper ourselves like you are going to hear, but this was our 2 year anniversary present to each other, albeit about a month after our actual anniversary:) We booked ourselves this great weekend package that included 2 nights stay, breakfast, lunch one day, dinner one night in their formal dining room and the other night in their brasserie, and a 25 minute massage for each of us. I could have moved in forever!!
We left London on Saturday morning and took the train to Cheltenham and then a short taxi ride to Ellenborough. We took a little tour of the place, including the wine cellar and "Boot Room." The Boot room was full of wellies and proper footwear and clothing for walking, hiking, shooting, horseback riding, and polo. We then had a great lunch in the Brasserie. On our tour, we discovered the outdoor pool, which was open year around because it was heated to 92 degrees, so we went swimming after lunch. We had booked our massages for that afternoon, so we went and sat in the hot-tub, sauna, and steam room before our appointments. I know, as you can see, it was a pretty rough day;) We managed to get ourselves ready for the evening after that and had a glass of wine at the bar and then had a pre dinner cocktail and appetiser in this beautiful room called the Great Hall. After dinner, we headed to the bar where we met our new best friend for our stay there, Seth, the Mixologist/Bar-tender!! We gave him Carte blanche with making our drinks, and he did not disappoint. He made Ann a ridiculous chocolate martini and he also made one of the best Singapore Slings that I have ever had. There also happened to be a wedding there in a private ballroom on that Saturday night, but to my incredible disappointment even after a few chocolate martinis, Ann would not let me crash the wedding. It would have made the weekend complete.
While it rained most of the day on Saturday, we were greeted with a beautiful day on Sunday. After a good English breakfast, we laced up the trainers for our hike up Cleeve Hill. In retrospect, after clogging through mud the whole way up the hill and side stepping sheep and cow shit, we should have stopped by the damn "Boot" room and gotten ourselves some proper wellies for the hike. Shame on the novices!!! Anyway, our hotel sat right at the base of the highest point in the Cotswolds, Cleeve Hill. We had scoped it out on Saturday and knew that would be our mission on Sunday. While I can assure you that it was no ascent up Everest, given the dehydration from over-indulging the night before, the 1100 foot climb through mud and brush was no small feat. I kept turning around to look for my sherpa, but all I kept seeing was the Sr. Director. I was pretty sure I already knew the answer if I asked her to carry me up the hill!!! We actually had so much fun climbing up to the top though and stopping at various points to enjoy the views of the rolling hills. As we got closer to the top, we encountered countless flocks of sheep. It was absolutely breathtaking at the top to look back down at the countryside. We also discovered a golf course at the very peak, which was awesome. We continued walking and slowly made our way back down through the hills and into a small village called Bishops Cleeve where we wandered down a narrow pathway to find a small church from the 12th century. It was magnificent. If I had just seen that, my weekend would have been complete. We had a late lunch on Sunday afternoon and then another swim in the pool to soak our aches and pains from our morning adventure. Sunday evening, we had a few cocktails in the bar with our friend Seth, and then a light dinner in the Brasserie. It was the end to a spectacular weekend of luxury and relaxation, and most importantly, it was a great way to celebrate our 2nd anniversary.
The last two weeks have been pretty low key for us. It was so fun to talk to our moms and families last Sunday for Mother's Day. Ann had a short trip last week to Paris and she makes a quick jaunt to Madrid this coming week. We were so excited to get to have dinner this last Sunday night with one of my friends and former co-workers from Target. Erin Abbott has been in London this week visiting. She and I also got to have lunch yesterday. I definitely miss many of my Target friends and it was so great to catch up. Congrats to my brother-in-law Tom as he graduates from Madison this afternoon with his second Masters in Fine Arts. Welcome to the real world Professor!!!
Cheerio
Kevin
Before even moving to England, we had heard people speak of the beauty of the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are a range of hills in Midwest England that span about 90 miles. The word Cotswold literally means sheep enclosure. The postcard-esque villages and towns brilliantly capture the quintessential English Countryside. Two weekends ago, we had a 3 day Bank Holiday weekend and decided to spend 2 nights in the Cotswolds near a town called Cheltenham. We found a beautiful old horse ground and estate, turned girls school, and finally renovated into a luxury hotel called Ellenborough Park(see picture above). It was amazing. I do want to preface that we do not normally pamper ourselves like you are going to hear, but this was our 2 year anniversary present to each other, albeit about a month after our actual anniversary:) We booked ourselves this great weekend package that included 2 nights stay, breakfast, lunch one day, dinner one night in their formal dining room and the other night in their brasserie, and a 25 minute massage for each of us. I could have moved in forever!!
We left London on Saturday morning and took the train to Cheltenham and then a short taxi ride to Ellenborough. We took a little tour of the place, including the wine cellar and "Boot Room." The Boot room was full of wellies and proper footwear and clothing for walking, hiking, shooting, horseback riding, and polo. We then had a great lunch in the Brasserie. On our tour, we discovered the outdoor pool, which was open year around because it was heated to 92 degrees, so we went swimming after lunch. We had booked our massages for that afternoon, so we went and sat in the hot-tub, sauna, and steam room before our appointments. I know, as you can see, it was a pretty rough day;) We managed to get ourselves ready for the evening after that and had a glass of wine at the bar and then had a pre dinner cocktail and appetiser in this beautiful room called the Great Hall. After dinner, we headed to the bar where we met our new best friend for our stay there, Seth, the Mixologist/Bar-tender!! We gave him Carte blanche with making our drinks, and he did not disappoint. He made Ann a ridiculous chocolate martini and he also made one of the best Singapore Slings that I have ever had. There also happened to be a wedding there in a private ballroom on that Saturday night, but to my incredible disappointment even after a few chocolate martinis, Ann would not let me crash the wedding. It would have made the weekend complete.
While it rained most of the day on Saturday, we were greeted with a beautiful day on Sunday. After a good English breakfast, we laced up the trainers for our hike up Cleeve Hill. In retrospect, after clogging through mud the whole way up the hill and side stepping sheep and cow shit, we should have stopped by the damn "Boot" room and gotten ourselves some proper wellies for the hike. Shame on the novices!!! Anyway, our hotel sat right at the base of the highest point in the Cotswolds, Cleeve Hill. We had scoped it out on Saturday and knew that would be our mission on Sunday. While I can assure you that it was no ascent up Everest, given the dehydration from over-indulging the night before, the 1100 foot climb through mud and brush was no small feat. I kept turning around to look for my sherpa, but all I kept seeing was the Sr. Director. I was pretty sure I already knew the answer if I asked her to carry me up the hill!!! We actually had so much fun climbing up to the top though and stopping at various points to enjoy the views of the rolling hills. As we got closer to the top, we encountered countless flocks of sheep. It was absolutely breathtaking at the top to look back down at the countryside. We also discovered a golf course at the very peak, which was awesome. We continued walking and slowly made our way back down through the hills and into a small village called Bishops Cleeve where we wandered down a narrow pathway to find a small church from the 12th century. It was magnificent. If I had just seen that, my weekend would have been complete. We had a late lunch on Sunday afternoon and then another swim in the pool to soak our aches and pains from our morning adventure. Sunday evening, we had a few cocktails in the bar with our friend Seth, and then a light dinner in the Brasserie. It was the end to a spectacular weekend of luxury and relaxation, and most importantly, it was a great way to celebrate our 2nd anniversary.
The last two weeks have been pretty low key for us. It was so fun to talk to our moms and families last Sunday for Mother's Day. Ann had a short trip last week to Paris and she makes a quick jaunt to Madrid this coming week. We were so excited to get to have dinner this last Sunday night with one of my friends and former co-workers from Target. Erin Abbott has been in London this week visiting. She and I also got to have lunch yesterday. I definitely miss many of my Target friends and it was so great to catch up. Congrats to my brother-in-law Tom as he graduates from Madison this afternoon with his second Masters in Fine Arts. Welcome to the real world Professor!!!
Cheerio
Kevin
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Awkward Co-Worker Moment
Hi Everyone,
It turns out that there are still some UK English words that I am not familiar with because I am confident that I would have remembered this one. One of my co-workers, who also happens to be French but was educated in England, turned to me yesterday and asked me if she could borrow a rubber. After receiving a blank stare from me for a second and then an uproar of laughter, her face turned bright red as she realised what the translation was in US English. The word "Rubber" means "Eraser" here in England. I am still laughing about it today.
Cheers!!
It turns out that there are still some UK English words that I am not familiar with because I am confident that I would have remembered this one. One of my co-workers, who also happens to be French but was educated in England, turned to me yesterday and asked me if she could borrow a rubber. After receiving a blank stare from me for a second and then an uproar of laughter, her face turned bright red as she realised what the translation was in US English. The word "Rubber" means "Eraser" here in England. I am still laughing about it today.
Cheers!!
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