Paris

About a month ago, Jonathan was sent to Paris to "work" at the air show so I decided to tag along for a cheap trip. The airshow was pretty amazing, as far as airshows go. Lots of European fighters, jumbo airliners and missle displays. While Jonathan and the other air crew members worked at the show, I spent my time wondering around the streets of Paris...

Ah, Paris. A beautiful city full of charming side walk vendors, pastry shops, art...and Parisians. I have been to Paris 4 times in my life (and yes, I am a travel snob). Out of all the amazing places to see in Europe, I am a little sad and embarassed to admit how many times I have been to Paris. Don't get me wrong, Paris is pretty neat and probably on most peoples "must see" list of Europe. That being said, the atmosphere in Paris, in my own opinion, (read: the people) is snobby, condescending and a bit stick-up-the-rear-ish (for lack of a better term). Despite that, I had a great time wondering the city. I walked past almost all of the major sites including Notre Dame, The Louvre, Champs de Elysses, and the Arc de Triumph. One of the funnier moments of my trip occured when I was sitting at a cafe eavesdropping on an American couples' conversation. Like many Americans that travel Europe, this couple came equipped with two fanny packs, a large camera, and lack of an INSIDE voice (aka. they talk REAL loud). While discussing the sights they wanted to see during the day, the wife said to the husband "I really can wait to see the Louvre" (Pronounced LEW-VREY). Lucky for me, because I was watching this all unfold, the waiter had just walked over to the table to take their lunch order when this was said. His face crumpled when she asked him where the "LEW-VREY" was in relation to the cafe....pretty sure they got a free side of saliva with their French Onion soup. HA. Ah, Americans. Gotta love us.

One of the highlights of the trip was going to the Moulin Rouge for a show. Categorized as a Cabaret, the Moulin Rouge show is like a really bad version of a Broadway musical (in French). The dancing was a bit so-so, the costumes a bit, uh, lacking in material, and the Shetland ponies were just scary. BUT, it was really fun to sit inside the Moulin Rouge and it was an experience I will always remember.

All in all, our trip to Paris was pretty awesome. There is something to be said about being able to "hop on" a train from your town and arrive in Paris a couple of hours later.

Death by Toaster?

English summers are the time of year when the temperatures tip the scale in the mid 70's, British chavs walk around with little to no clothing on, and when spiders decide to invade.  The spiders here can be MONSTERS.  During the summer months, we keep the windows open to get some fresh air in our un-airconditioned house allowing spiders to freely roam into our territory.  Jonathan being the nice, and somewhat granola-ey person that he is, likes to let the spiders we find in our house live.  He especially likes the daddy-long-legs because, according to him, they eat other spiders and are awesome.  I on the other hand perfer that anything in our house that is living and uninvited should meet my can of Raid and take a little water slide ride down the toilet. (Uninvited house guests beware.)  The only problem is that I am a big sissy when it comes to picking spiders up and I either have to a) use a whole roll of paper towel to ensure that the spider does not come back to life and jump of me or (the more likely choice) b) soak the offender in a puddle of Raid and leave it until Jonathan comes home from work.  Jonathan loves that.  Well this morning, I opened the toaster to make some toast and found a spider crushed between the door and the toaster where it met its "warm" death. 

 

 My can of Raid was spared, but I was so disgusted that a spider somehow crawled INTO my toaster I couldn't eat my toast.  At least my can of Raid was spared for another day.  

Amanda!

One of my oldest friends, Amanda, made the trek out to England to visit me this past April. Since she would only be here for about 4 days, we decided to stay local and check out London, Cambridge and Bury. It was awesome to catch up with Amanda, and I really enjoyed seeing some new things in London. Some of the highlights:

-Sushi (yum)-Touring Westminster Cathedral--chatting up the head of cathedral "security" and getting to meet the Dean of the Cathedral

-Riding the bus around London. Usually we take the Tube (which is underground). It was really neat to sit on the second level of the bus and watch the city go by...

-Taking a running tour around Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. We not only got a nice hour jog in, but we also got to see some of the best sights in London. Below is Amanda's excellent attempt of a self portrait in front of the Palace for your viewing pleasure.

After London, Amanda and I spent a day wandering around Cambridge. We peaked into a bunch of the college campuses and made our way around the River Cam. On Amanda's final day in England, we spent the day in Bury walking through the market and the abbey gardens. I realized that I sometimes take for granted that I live in such a cute and charming little town. I also realized that I have not posted pictures of Bury...so I've put some of those up too.
All in all, I had a great time hanging out with Amanda and being a tourist in England.

Fjord-tastic.

Jonathan and I just got back from an awesome 3 day trip to Haugesund, Norway. Having taken many gastronomic-centered trips around Europe in the past, Jonathan and I were really looking forward to an active, outdoorsy type vacation. We got our money's worth on this one. Despite some cold, rainy weather on the first two days of our trip, we still made the most of our time in Norway and went on lots of "walks" and hikes in Haugesund, Karmoy and Etne.

Karmoy is an island in Norway, and the location of the airport where RyanAir's worst pilot decided to "slam" our plane onto the runway (my fear of flying is now greater, thanks to him). It was a safe landing, just a very rough one. Even Jonathan made a comment about it. Anyways, Karmoy is absolutely beautiful and the home of the Vikings (you know, the guys that pillaged England and stirred up the gene pool a bit). We were able to walk around Viking ruins on Karmoy on a very rainy and cold day...despite the rain we still had a great time.

<---Avaldsnes (on Karmoy). Where the Vikings lived.

On our second day in Norway, Jonathan and I drove all the way around Karmoy making stops at various beaches and taking a walk through a fjord in the center of the island. It was still pretty rainy and cold, which ruined our plans to rent bikes, but the day still was pretty awesome! While we were hiking on Karmoy I asked Jonathan what kind of wildlife Norway had...somehow my mom has rubbed off on me and I feared that we would be attacked by a bear or some sort of wilderbeast. Jonathan, however, told me we were probably pretty safe and wouldn't see any large, dangerous animals on our hike. Well-he was WRONG. Check out this monster of a slug....next time I am bringing a flare gun (just to be on the safe side).

<----- Biggest slug EVER!

We finished our second day with a nice hike in the mountains in north Haugesund. The hike was pretty easy, but offered beautiful views of Haugesund.

<-----Haugesund is behind/below us

Our third day in Norway was definitely our favorite (and the weather was absolutely gorgeous). Jonathan and I planned a nice little drive to Etne; home of Norway's 5th tallest waterfall-Langfoss. The drive to Etne was a great start to the day. Jonathan had a lot of fun driving on the winding roads that followed along the fjords (I had a lot of fun being a back seat driver). After parking at Langfoss, we met a friendly Norwegian woman who showed us where the trail began so that we could hike to the top of the waterfall (which is some 600+ meters high).

The hike was beautiful. We spent about 6 hours hiking up the waterfall and around the backside of the fjord. We were the only tourists hiking the waterfall that day as tourist season starts in June in Norway.

After seeing how beautiful southwest Norway is, I wonder why in the world the Vikings would ever want to leave their home to come to England.

Best Birthday, Ever.

May 9th 2009 was an awesome day.  Jonathan came home from a business trip on my b-day.  Pretty cool present if I do say so myself.  Shanna took some awesome pictures of the return (thanks!).  

Espana.

I recently returned home from a trip to Spain with my friend Holly. After three years of high school Spanish (two of which were in a school in El Paso, TX-also known as "Mexico") you would think I would have NO problem in a Spanish speaking country. Wrong. Way wrong. Well, I will give myself some credit-I was able to understand about 60-70% of the Spanish I heard, but I learned that I no speakie the Spanish very well. And by not very well I mean that many Spaniards probably confused me with a mute and/or thought my IQ was much lower than it actually is (not that its too high to start with). Luckily Holly had just finished a two week immersion course and I used her as my Spanish interpreter for the trip! Woohoo!

I spent my first couple of days in Madrid. Our hotel was super charming--I thought that the cross dressing prostitutes lining the street by our hotel was a special touch! (don't worry, mom, we were safe). Seriously though, very charming hotel (Hostal Adriano)-highly recommended. Madrid is a pretty cool city and the tapas are yummy...and super if you are working on a muffin top. Holly and I spent our days wondering the city and eating. We pretty much ate all the time. Breakfast was followed by a three course "menu del dia" lunch which was followed by a large dinner or Tapas. Fantastic! Also-I think the Spaniards might have the best cafe con leche that I have ever had. Speaking of building a muffin top-Madrid is known for its Churros with Chocolate. This has to have been the most decadently delicious snack I have ever had. When you order this tasty treat, you get a mug FULL of melted chocolate and way more churros than you can possibly eat. My stomach still hurts from eating all that chocolate...so worth it.

After Madrid, we boarded the bus to head to a town named Segovia. This is a very charming town with a fairy-tale-esque castle, a Roman aqueduct and many winding medival streets. We stayed in a hotel called Los Linajes which was very nice, but has not been redecorated since 1950. The room came complete with a sitting room with a gold coffee table and white pleather couch--Klassy! Holly got some insider info from a couple of American students studying abroad who told her that Oso Blanco (a bar in town) had THE best sangria in all of Spain. After seeing the sights of Segovia, Holly and I walked circles around the town until we found Oso Blanco. Oso Blanco must have been designed at the same time as Los Linajes because it was a total blast from the past-and completely perfect. We ordered the Sangria (which, lucky for us, only comes in 1 liter) and the first taste was heavenly. To our surprise the bartender supplied us with some free "tapas" meant to bring out the flavors of the Sangria. Who knew that corn nuts, peanuts and gummy sharks were the perfect accompaniment to fantastic Spanish drinks!? Also on the tapas menu was another tasty "treat" called Murros. Murros, as it turns out, is cow lips. Holly is adventurous and tried them...and ate the whole plate to the astonishment of all the locals in the pub. I stuck with the gummy sharks...

<---The Aqueduct in Segovia

The country side of Segovia---->

After Segovia we headed to Toledo. Toledo has a LOT of churches, monasteries and convents. Toledo also has many of the famous works by El Greco...an artist from the 1400's. Holly and I had a great time wandering the city. In following the theme of this blog (food), Toledo is known for its Marzipan. Marzipan is a delicious mix of sugar, almond paste and honey. Yum. I am definitely impressed with the food in Spain! Our hotel in Toledo had a roof top terrace that overlooked the city--Holly and I spent the better part of an afternoon drinking a bottle of Spanish wine and reading our books--it was the perfect last day of our vacation.

I highly recommend Spain to anyone who hasn't yet been. Make sure to order some Murros and gummy sharks with your Sangria!

Nuts and Bolts, Nuts and Bolts, I got screwed...

This past Saturday I learned a very important lesson...well two lessons actually.

1. Curbs should be avoided at all times while driving. Stupid curbs. I not only slammed into a curb on Saturday night, but I also popped TWO tires in the process. TWO. So, my plans to go to Cambridge for Chinese and movies didn't happen. What did happen was that I spent 2 hours hemming and hawing over what to do...do I change one tire, do I leave my car, do I set my car on fire...?? Stupid, stupid curbs.

2. I learned the importance of buying new tires when your old ones are worn. *Please see learning point one for explanation.*

I have 4 brand new tires on my car now...and I have to say, they look pretty classy. The rims, however, are another story. It looks like some sort of rabid animal chewed all the way around the outer edge of my rims. Oh well. Luckily my car sustained little damage...what was damaged was my ego. I have always prided myself on being a very safe driver (minus ONE speeding ticket when I was going 90 in a 55..."I was going down a hill, officer"). Ever since moving to England, my pride has taken some pretty tough hits. The first incident occured last Janaury when a deer decided to jump out in front of my car on a foggy, British b-road. That deer had some springs in its legs, because instead of a dent in the front of my car, I somehow have the imprint of a deer butt on the top of my hood. Not sure how that happened, but I'm pretty sure its annoying. The next incident was between me and a low lying wooden fence. While my car did get a couple of scratches on it, I'm pretty sure the fence was worse. So, maybe thats one point Erin, zero points fence?

So, now that I have hit a deer, run into a wooden fence, and popped two tires, I am afraid that I can no longer pride myself on driving skills. But-I was able to change my tire and that counts for something, right?