Martin and Tara's Euro-Travel Blog

Charming little England

2006-07-02T02:47:00.000-07:00

These are some of the charming sights we took in on our tour of Wiltsire.

Photos of Bath

2006-07-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

These are some photos of the wonderful city of Bath, possibly still my favourite destination in our trip so far.

Irish photos

2006-07-02T02:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of photos of Ireland. The first is a grocery store in Belfast that is in an old cathedral or something. I thought it was cool. The second is Martin and Leigh doing their favourite joint activity, laughing until they cry. And the third is from a museum in Newgrange, where they have discovered some protohistoric structures, from about the same period as stonehenge. These are some of the symbols found on and around the structures. Archeologists think they may have been the beginning of written language. Maybe you have some ideas what they mean.

Me and Oscar

2006-07-02T02:11:00.000-07:00

This is me chatting with Oscar Wilde in Dublin.

winding down

2006-06-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

Well, our soujourn in mainland europe is winding down, and tomorrow we fly from Nimes in the south of France, north to Belgium, where we have a night to spend before flying on to Scotland to meet up with the family. Congratulations to anyone who is still reading this, I must admit its not been the most reliable news service. however, you'll be glad to note that we're still alive and coherent. Provence has not been half bad, though we've spent progressively more time in our hotel rooms reading books and watching the World Cup (for you north Americans thats a small competition involving a round leather ball and only one commercial break). Its quite tiring being on holiday you know. Everyday has its delightful moments though. today in the train station I overheard the girls sitting next to me speaking chinese, so I ofered to help them with their mapreqding in my thick Beijing accent. They were a little surprised, and laughed continually for "' seconds. I was counting. It turned out, from our lengthy and most refresing conversation, that one of them was from TEDA, the small city where Tara had worked in china; and where we had met. they had both studied at the same university I went to in Beijing, and now they live in Manchester, England (studying linguistics, as Tara did) and one of them goes to Bahai devotional gatherings. so, sometimes we have more in common with random stangers than we think. I gave them my CD and email address, hopefully they'll keep in touch, as surely our meeting wasn't an accident.
Today in nimes we went to the best preserved Roman temple and amphitheatre inthe world, and watched a truly rubbish 3D movie about the remarkably unheroic "Heroes of Nimes", featuring fight scenes choreographed and acted by the local bridge club. Anyway, we had some bad chinese food from a giant take-away, which was the only we could find. French restaurants don't serve food on Sunday apparently....
Still, England won their match and are through to the quarter finals, so life is good. I don't have to feel bad about supporting England, because Scotland arent playing:)
ah, the cool rainy weather of Scotland awaits us....

2006-06-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems that photographic attempt was not a success, so I will leave off the photos until I have time to do them properly.
We are in Provence, as you may have gathered. They really should just hang a big sign over the whole region saying "welcome to Tara Land." The markets are huge and even locals shop with baskets - it's not just for the tourists to feel quaint. The bread and cheese is abudnant and cheap, and everything is yellow - good yelow. So far Avignon is my favourite, though that may just be because it was cloudy while we were there, which abated the heat a little. It is actually a bit hot for me here, but then there is the great wonder of the siesta.
Let me tell you a bit about the fun and follies of our sojourn in France while I have time. Firstly let me say internet cafes are not easy to find around here, which is the reason for our poor upkeep of this blog. If you are reading this, we thank you for your loyalty. Anyway, Martin has updated you on our journey from Morocco, which became quite comic in its tragedy, leg by leg. I had a very nice time in the Paris region, catching up with Chen Mei and seeing the sights, but my favourite part was definitely Disneyland. That's right, on our culturally edifying backpacking travels, we spent a day in Eurodisney. I make no excuses, however blasphemous it may seem. I always said I wanted to go to disneyland on my honeymoon.
In fact, I have become what many would consider quite blasphemous on this trip, doing things like buying packaged food and eating at McDonalds al in the face of fresh local cuisine. And although I have ceased eating meat for the present, I will say, I do love McDonalds. I have determined that it is the ultimate traveler's haven. When you have been on the road a long time, you want something familiar, predictable, and clean, where you know the protocal, and donùt wonder about foreign tipping practices. Plus it's cheap. So there you go. I am a convert after all.
I have been thinking a lot about my life as a world citizen on this trip. I have learned a few things, and there are still more things I cannot get my head around. A lot of things that seem cliche have challenged me. For example, being in Morocco, I saw so many people whose entire existence was so very different from mine, that I couldn't imagine how God keeps them all in mind. It is such a trite thing to say we are all human, but it is quite another to see the wrinkly, bent, smelly beggar in the tiny cobbled corner of the sweltering Medina alleyway, and feel a kinship for him because we are all one human family.
Another thing is that my life is really easy. I may think, oh law school is so stressful, etc. etc. but I have seen people eeking out an existence selling packets of tissues for a dime on the street because there is no other living to be had, or ex-farmers who sold everything to make a go of it in the city, who now can only get work stoking the fires to heat the water for the public baths, sometimes on days when it is 45° outside.
I have thought a lot about culture and appreciation. I am Canadian, I have determined, and that is great. I love Canada. I love Provence too, but I am not French and never will be. If I don't love Morocco, does that make me a bad person? I know it means I am not cool, because it's cool to love Morocco like it's cool to love Damien Rice, but somehow musical taste is different from having the type of character that can love in spyte of difficulty. I have determined that culture is like personality. Some things are good, some bad, but youùve got to focus on the positive, and appreciation is a virtue. But, that doesn't mean I have to be best friends with everybody, and I don't have to live overseas to be an appreciator of diversity. If I will never be French, I will certainly never be Moroccan, so I can remember the hospitality and the mosaics and not fret that I couldn't get past the smell and the heat enough to fall in love with it.
But enough philosophizing. Let me tell you what we have been up to. We have stayed in some very charming hotels. Last night was the best so far, except for its lack of swimming pool. This morning we visited to hugest market ever, here in Arles, known as the soul of Provence. Marseille was dirty and smelly and populated mostly with Moroccans, so that was interesting. The funny part is that we took the train there, to stay just one night, as a launching pad for Provence. We were heading to Avignon the next day first thing. It turns out the train stopped in Avignon on its way to Marseille, and Avignon was charming and beautiful, and less expensive. So that was a waste of time and money on trains and hotels, but not too much. Just enough to laugh about. We ate McDonalds on the waterfont among a vast array of local cafes and restaurants. It was great.
In Avignon we rode a ferris wheel and wandered the pretty streets. I've had about enough of wandering around and looking at things now. I recommend staying in one town if you come to Provence. Midieval villages abound here, and they really all look the same. Each is as charming as the other, so you aren't missing anything. We visited some very ancient Roman ruins in St Remy. It was a whole abandoned town that had beome buried and was only dicovered in 1921 or something like that. Now we are in Arles, and tomorrow we head to Nimes for our last night in Provence. We go to Brussels for one night on our way to Scotland, and then about a week later we go home. I will be ready for home by then.

A couple of little photos

2006-06-21T02:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I am trying to upload two pictures of me and Martin sitting outside a pizza shop here in the Avignon-les-villes neuve (Avignon's new town, built in the 12th century, as opposed to the old town, built in the 5th).

Provence awaits...

2006-06-19T00:59:00.001-07:00

HI! So much has happened since our last posting, it would be impossible to convey all o fit. Our last night in morocco was spent in Tanger, at the home of a family we'd met on the train when we first arrived...we couldn't communicate very clearly, as the mother and son we met could speak no english, and just a little french, however they did share their lunch with us and insist that we call them and come to stay next time we were in Tanger. so we did! They were very pleased. One of the many brothers, named Karim, speaks good English, and looked after us for the evening. We were in need of some looking after, having been on the hottest train ride in history. the air conditioners cut out halfway through the trip, and we sat, crammed into a compartment with 8 other people who only spoke arabic...all dabbing themselves with tissues to keep from sweating all over each other. We had some fun though. The young lady who was most directly squashed against me, kept showing me her wedding ring, as if to assure me she wasn't being keen...many jokes seemed to be exchanged at our expense, and I sang "O flower of Scotland" for them, to rapturous applause.
Anyway, Tanger was lovely, the cool sea breeze quite a relief after 12 days in sweltering Fes. It was great to stay with a local family, and get an insight into the Arab world and Islamic culture. People get up to do their prayers in the middle of the living room whilst everyone keeps on chatting or watching TV alongside, which I found quite bizzare. The men all kiss each other on both cheeks as a greeting, which is nice, but I made the mistake of kissing the mother (thinking old ladies would be treated as such), but was subtly urged not to repeat the mistake when the sister in law was presented to us, with her gorgeous, month-old baby, who, upon seeing us, wore a startled expression rather like someone who'd just been hit on the arm by a random old woman with a stick.
the next morning took us to Seville, the ancient capital of Moorish Spain, by way of a very late, excruciatingly slow and heavingly unsettled ferry crossing, which got us into Spain at 3pm, as opposed to our scheduled 10:30am. It turned out that banks in Spain close at 2pm, and banks are the only places that will accept travellers cheques, so we were rather regretting our financial choices...
Nevertheless, we got the bus to Seville, and 3 hours later we were in, to my not inexperienced eyes, the most beautiful city in the world. No-one had told me this, so we had only planned to stay one night, merely enroute to France. This aspect of our planning we also came to regret. Tara commented on the architecture, saying: Its just like Morrocco, only way better!
Indeed, its very like Morrocco, in terms of having beautiful old winding streets with beautiful tiled entranceways and fountains, covered with mosaics, geometric and calligraphic designs. Only in Seville, they're not also covered with stray cats, heaps of donkey excrement, and piles of rubbish. Having arrived so late, we only saw it at night, but thats when Spanish towns come alive, so it was perfect. The glistening river is flanked by glorious churches and palaces, and only 2 ugly concrete block hotels. We sat at a riverside cafe, and, amusingly, had turkish kebabs and falafel for dinner. We left absurdly early in the morning to fly to Bergamo, Italy, where we were also staying just one day, leaving that very evening for Paris.
Our afternon in Bergamo, in the foothills of the Alps, was enchanting. An ancient walled city (little more than a village by modern standards), it overlooks the industrial modern town, which we didn't bother with. Instead we strolled about its medieval cobbled streets, drinking from gothic fountians, climbed the old church tower, breathed deeply of the fresh mountain air infused with the scent of flowers from the hundred window boxes on every street, treated ourselved to the freshes, most delicious pizza and pasta at a charming old restaurant, and sat in the town square soaking up the afternoon sun with espressos and gelati.
And now, after another amusingly chaotic journey, we're in Fontainebleau, outside of Paris, admiring the Chateaus and enjoying the hospitality of Chen Mei and James, old freinds of Tara's from her time in china. We only recently learned that they were living in France (they move around a lot with James' work for Schlumberger) and so we decided we'd rather stay at their very affordable lodgings and enjoy the sights of Paris and some friendly company, rather than carve an inescapable hole of debt by staying on the Italian riviera as planned, getting severe sunburn, and being constantly flummoxed by our inabilaty to speak the local language...
Its been lovely, and today we're off to Marseille on the Train Grand Vitesse (TGV), which takes just 3 hours to traverse the entire country. From there we shall potter about in provence for a week, before heading back to Scotland for our Family reunion party.
Now, thats quite enough writing for one morning, I'm off to pack!
Martin

Salam Aleikum

2006-06-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

We have sorely neglected you over the past week, so I
will try to make up for it with a particularly witty and fascinating
entry. We have been writing lots of postcards though; with any luck,
youùll recieve them before our next summer holiday. So, part of the
reason for our absence is the fact that we've both been rather under
the weather...literally, I think the intense heat has been doing funny
things to us. The suspect hygeine practices (which we've been unable
to avoid in our enthusiasm for authentic tastes and meagre prices) may
also have something to do with it. However, today we're feeling very
well having taken a long siesta in the afternoon and avoided the worst
of the heat.
Tara has become a vegetarian, at least for the purposes of this trip,
which seemed like a good idea to me today as I searched for an excuse
to refuse a bite of the sheep's head sandwich which Gino (our trusty
guide) seemed so keen for me to try.
In other news, which you may already know, Tara was offered a job at a
law firm today, which she delightedly accepted...its at the firm she
interviewed with on the day we left for Europe....its very good news,
and will certainly help us enjoy our trip more exceedingly.
The other day, after mulling over endless cups of mint tea, we decided
to invest our excess credit in some wonderfully beautiful carpets,
handmade in Fes using traditional persian technique, all natural dyes
and gorgeous designs. Our research indicates that we should make a
healthy profit on them at auction in Canada; that is unless our
friends and relatives don't force us into handing them over at a
discount!
The music festival has been fun, though we've only been to selected
events. Tonight was a real highlight, a free concert in a big square
by the beautiful blue gate to the old city...we were some of the first
to arrive, not really sure what to expect, but progressively the
locals ( who mostly cant afford to attend the other concerts) turned
out in their thousands... the second band seemed to be very popular in
Morocco, as there was a great deal of singing along. We found
ourselves sitting on a long stone step, snuggled up to a bunch of
middle-aged local women in their headscarves, who bought us syrupy
pastries filled with rice, asked me to marry their daughters (in full
view and earshot of my 'first' wife) and giggled at my dancing. Their
were lots of young kids there, amusing us greatly with their
antics...one boy of about 18 months, dancing in his daddy's arms, was
joyously slapping his poor fathers face in time to the music:)
Its time to go, so, check in soon for new and fascinating tales

Moroccan Mint

2006-06-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

This computer is too slow to upload pictures. They will have to wait. Also, this is a french keyboard and it is very strange. Please excuse any profusion of errors. We are in Morocco. They drink lots of mint tea and are very friendly. I don't know what I expected it to be like, but it is a lot like China. We are in Fes having lots of adventures. For example, today a crazy lady hit me with a stick. And I ,ean relly smacked me with it, while yelling what I took to be obscenities at me in Arabic. It stung for about an hour. But what could I do? She was crazy, and old.
We have been staying at a decent hotel since we got here. When I say decent, I of course ,ean a scummy hole in the wall that would be shut down by the authorities if we were in Canada, but it is cheap and relqtively secure and clean. It belongs to the friend of the uncle of a guy we met on the train named Karim. Everyone is named Karim. His uncle leads a second life in America and speaks good English. He has been showing us around. I think he might be a sort of Moroccan Godfather, but I don't know for sure. I think he is helping us out just to have something to do. He does import/export and has been advising us in our bargaining.
Before coming to Fes we spent a night in Tanger. The guest house we stayed in was an absolute palace, but the people were really pushy and we got ripped off for dinner. Oh well, even ,ajor rip off in Morocco is pretty mild in Canadian terms.
Fes is a midieval walled city with tiny alleys and donkeys insteqd of cars. It is a city famous for its handicrafts, and so far we have seen the tannery, the clayworks, the weavery and the rug co-op.Things are not as cheap as in China, but bargaining is more pleasant. It's like they want to show you hospitality as much as sell you something. But they are still keen salespeople.
The music festival starts tomorrow, and there will likely be floods of foreigners.
I will tell you all about it later, but now it's time for bed, even if the city is just coming to life at this hour.

Escaping Eire

2006-05-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

Its our last night in Ireland, and its been a lovely week. we had 2 days in Dublin exploring the city, including sharing a romantic 3-course meal in a charming pub overlooking the cobblestone streets of the old town. We then visited Val Permberton-Piggott, a Baha'i friend from Edmonton, who got married the day before us last summer, also on Vancouver island. She lives with her Irish husband Peter, in Drogheda, an hour north of Dublin. Their house was the best hotel we've stayed in so far...so we stayed 2 nights instead of one:) It was refreshing to stay somewhere so peaceful and comfy, after more hectic times in Dublin and Edinburgh.
They took us around the sights of the area, including the old neolithic tombs, which have an amazing visitors centre and museum. Peter told us he and his mates used to jump off the tombs on their bikes when they were kids, before anyone knew what they were...Drogheda is also where the famous Battle of the Boyne took place between William of Orange and James II of Britain. So we really brushed up on our history too. Another highlight was going to a Baha'i children's class, singing some songs witht the kids and then having a game of football on the lawn. I was thrashed by a 5 year-old called Simon.
Now we've just returned to Dublin after 2 days in Belfast with Leigh Byrne, an extremely tall, funny and likeable chap we both spent some time with in China (though I know hime much better than Tara does). We stayed in his student pad, reminisced on China, met lots of the local Baha'is, ate lots of chips, played charades well into the night, which led to some rather comprimising situations when trying to act out "The Naked Gun" and something that sounds like "importance", for "the importance of being earnest". He's quite a practical joker, and though he didn't get us this time, he enjoyed telling us about the time he put chicken stock into the shower head before his flat-mate woke up, and he went to work smelling of soup!
Well, thats about all there is to report for now, except that we're extremely excited about Morocco, and that Ireland is well-worth a visit, even for the little we've seen. Air Zoom do very cheap flights to Dublin and Belfast from major canadian cities, for any of our friends back home who fancy a quick escapade.
Tara will post some more pictures soon, we promise...

The Emerald Isle

2006-05-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

And so we have arrived in Dublin. There was some confusion about what might happen here, since we couldn't get hold of any of our potential hosts before leaving. The Rushdy's have not been answering their phone all week, and Leigh actually lives in Belfast. Just now we have managed to reach Val, and we are going to go see her tomorrow. That will be lots of fun I think. So far Dublin is quite great, for a kind of dirty, noisy city. It is quite international, and very friendly. So far three different people have stopped to ask us if we need help finding anything. They don't seem to hate tourists here so much as in England.
This afternoon we passed through a wicked market street. It had tonnes of produce vendors and all was really cheap, like a market ought to be. I haven't taken many pictures of it yet, but I will do. We bought a new cable for the camera, so I can upload pictures from the camer. It is taking forever though, because our camera has such high resolution. I will finish the job maybe tomorrow, when I am at Val's and not at an internet cafe where it costs money.
We are staying in hostels right now, which is the first time we have had to pay for accommodation since we left, and it is relatively inexpensive. It is feeling like we are actually on holiday now. We have no commitments and no objectives except to have fun. It's great!

Lost in Translation

2006-05-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, our camera cable is missing, so I will not be able to post pictures until we can replace it. But I can let you know about our adventures of late. We are currently in Edinbrugh, Scotland, http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/heritage/ - where it is cold and wet, as it was in England for the last week. We got here early yesterday morning, and have been visiting with Martin's family. We are staying with his sister Elena and her son Caelen, who was the ring bearer at our wedding. He has been keeping us quite amused. This afternoon, for example, he hung himself over the arm of the sofa and remarked, "look, I'm jacket."
He also pronounces vowels like the English guy in Allo Allo, if you know what that means. "Good Moaning" and all that. I asked him how old he would be on his upcoming birthday, and he literally replied "feeaoer" which apparently meant "four." I had to ask him to repeat himself it was so amusing. And he repeated it just the same.
Last week we spent a couple of days in Southampton, http://www.vrsouthampton.co.uk/ - with Claire, who decorated the cake at our wedding. She insisted on paying for everything and on giving us her bed. It was actually during this time that we had the highlight of our trip so far, even surpassing Bath, http://www.cityofbath.co.uk/ in its significance, for we visited the actual home of Jane Austen. http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk/ It is preserved as a wonderful little museum, and I thought my little heart would not survive the excitement. It was in a very tiny village with thatch-roofed cottages and everything.
Prior to that we were in Nottingham, http://www.emnet.co.uk/CityofNottingham/. We did visit the castle there, http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/360/where_to_go/castle/index.shtml - which had some cool exhibits, but is not really a castle at all. The castle was demolished centuries ago and replaced with a sort of mansion. While in Nottingham we stayed with Martin's childhood friend Michael, who also gave us his bed. Single people are so deferrent to couples who are their guests I find. Elena has also given us her bed.
I have decided to be a vegetarian since about a week ago. Though I did eat meat at a barbecue in Oakham, because we had told our hosts previously that we did eat meat.
In Oakham, (sorry, no website) we stayed with Martin's best friend Tim, who likes harmonizing to show tunes, and singing Disney songs, and is quite lovely. He sang Martin's songs to himself the whole time we were there and insisted Martin sing his old songs so that he could harmonize to them. It was wonderful. We saw the whole town (took about ten minutes), including Martin's old house, and watched the FA Cup final. I fell asleep for that, but it was a good game.
I have been mentally setting up all my friends with the people I have met here. However, I am very alive to the realities of transatlantic set-ups.
But I haven't even mentioned the West country yet. We stayed a few days in Somerset, http://www.somersetgateway.com/ - which is beautiful. We visited Wells Cathedral wellscathedral.org.uk, and went on a tour which took us to Stone Henge http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/ and Avebury, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-avebury/ and castle combe, http://www.castle-combe.com/ and Lacock village, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-lacockabbeyvillage.htm - which is where parts of both Harry Potter and Pride and Prejudice were filmed. That was a really great tour. It was one of two sunny days we have had so far. The other sunny day was the next day, when we went ot Bath. We visited the Jane Austen centre there too, http://www.janeausten.co.uk/ - which was interesting, but not as good as the house one.
People ask a lot of questions about Canada. I mostly tell them it is very big. People also ask me if I like Britain. I mostly tell them it is very charming. And it is. We have had fish and chips a few times, and cream tea once, in Bath. And today I rode on the upstairs of a double decker bus, which was pretty cool. I really wish I could post pictures because the visuals add so much. Hopefully I will be able to soon. And I hope the websites are also interesting.
Talk to you soon.

The West Country

2006-05-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't much time right now, but wanted to tell you a little about what we have been up to. We have been in the West country a couple of days, and I just love it. Everyone must love it. It is charming, and fashionable, and friendly, and beautiful and warm..... We have had much fish and chips and cornish pasties, and even a deep fried mars bar, which I didn't like but Martin really likes. Today we went on a tour around the countryside, visiting such spots as stonehenge and the down where Pride and Prejudice was filmed!!!!!! Be still my beating heart. Presently, I am sitting in a cafe in BATH!!!!! It is so fantastic, I think I might faint. Tomorrow we will go to Martin's hometown, Oakham, after a day in Bath, going to the baths, of course, and to the Jane Austen centre. It is the most beautiful city. Truly. I will post photos soon, when I get a chance.

london calling

2006-05-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a heck of a day, lots of walking and eating. We walked along Gracechurch St. ("In what part of London is Gracechurch Street? In Cheapside?) and through a charming Victorian Marketplace in the City. Met up with Poppy for luch, and at Tara's request went for fisha nd chips at a lovely pub, where we ate FAR too much, and so proceeded to walk about 10 miles to ease our condition. Our ramblings took us to St. Pauls Cathedral, where the old woman feeds the birds in Mary Poppins. There we attended evensong, complete with an angelic boys choir, and thought provoking sermons delivered by extremely sombre-looking priests. We also took in Covent Garden, from the opening scene of "My Fair Lady", visited the Globe Theatre, and vainly attempted to go to a performance, not realizing that we were looking at the schedule for June, and that actually there were no shows today...instead we went out to a gig on Brick Lane, where every 5 metres a young PAkistani guy would invite us into a restaurant, tempting us with special offers. One particular guy beckoned us in to his "vunerful restronn", sounding like the genuine article. When we told him we'd already eaten, he said "alright then mate" in a thick London brogue! cheeky devil...
Our real triumph of the day though was visiting St Pancras Train Station and discovering the mysterious and magical Platform 9 and three quarters...we have the pictures to prove it! So, now we're mightily exhausted and hitting the sack. More tomorrow, as we head to the West Country.

2006-05-08T03:37:00.000-07:00

A charming building near Albert Hall and the Museum of Natural History, where we might spend this rainy afternoon. It is close to where the reflection meeting was yesterday.

2006-05-08T03:33:00.000-07:00

Martin with Poppy and Liam (Cam's would-be best friend) who showed us to the delicious Vegan indian food.

2006-05-08T03:30:00.000-07:00

This is at the reflection gathering in London. Poppy is the one in the brown pants singing.

2006-05-08T03:27:00.000-07:00

This is at the wedding reception. Our host, Manijeh is in the red top, beyond Martin's huge head.

2006-05-08T02:45:00.000-07:00

This is Victoria Station, in London, where John "Ernest" Worthing was left as an infant.

London Town

2006-05-08T02:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it is a rainy day in London. This should be no surprise, but apparently it is quite a novelty these days, sort of a drought or something going on here. So Martin is recording music in the next room. We are staying with our friend Poppy in North London. We went to a reflection meeting yesterday, met up with some cool folks, went for vegan Indian buffet. Everything looks Jane Austen. I love it. I'm trying not to convert everything into dollars so I won't have a heart attack at what things cost.
We arrived on Friday afternoon, spent the rest of the day in transit getting to Essex, stayed with some lovely folks called Vince and Manijeh. Apparently Vince is from New Zealand. He lived there the same time as us, and we probably went to the same classes at summer school! And Laura, Manijeh is apparently one of Neda Neyestani's best friends. You probably met her at that wedding in the Bahamas.
The next day we drove to Sussex (about two and a half hours, maybe three) for a wedding reception, and the next day we came into London, and here we are. Everyone is very nice, and eager to hear how we are all doing in the colonies. I actually met one guy who knew of the Oilers. That was pretty impressive actually. They don't really have ice here, so hockey is right out.
I will post what good pictures I have, if I can figure out how to do that. Martin and I are both terrible at taking remembering to take pictures. I guess we are too used to film, and not wanting to waste it. I hope we will get over it quickly and have lots of visuals to supplement our memories.
Enjoy!