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
