Royalty...First Impressions

The House of Lords

Katie and I spent Friday evening at our B&B where the owner (Annie) cooked us an amazing dinner.  Annie’s boyfriend (Ian) also joined us and the four of us spent the evening eating, drinking wine, discussing cultural differences, etc.  One of the interesting things they were telling us is how large masses of land throughout England are still technically owned by decedents of Lords, who were appointed by the King hundreds of years ago.  These properties were passed down from one generation to another following the death of a Lord.  The new Lord, typically the eldest son in succession, was then the new owner and sovereign ruler of that land.  This process has continued and carries on today….minus of course being the “ruler of the land.”  Interestingly, although a Lord hasn’t had any real political power for a very long time, the distinction actually allowed you to legitimately sit in the House of Lords (the upper house of Parliament) until only a few years ago.

Her Majesty

It was also fascinating to hear their take on the Royal family and the role it currently plays in this country.  Not surprisingly there has been a generational shift away from the blind following of the Queen.  Annie’s children are in their 30’s now and it all seems very unimportant to them.  As Annie put it, “My mother was a pure Royalist, but my son could care less.”  From an economic point of view it seems to be understood that the family, along with all of its lavish castles, Buckingham Palace, etc., is really more of a tourist attraction these days.  “I think they probably pay for themselves,” as Annie stated. 

All of this being said, the royal family continues to host leaders and dignitaries from all over the world, so their role in foreign relations is clearly still one of importance.  I get the sense that the people here continue to look to the Royal family as a source of cultural preservation. Their place is more of tradition than anything else. At the end of the day, no matter where you stand on the issue, you have to appreciate the care that’s gone into preserving the institution.  No matter what role the Royal family plays, their place is the history of this country is undeniable.  In my opinion any institution that was formed around the fall of the Roman Empire but has continued to retain its cultural relevance, at least deserves our respect. 

Last Week Before We Have a Place To Call Our Own

The view outside when I job search each day

So another week has passed.  John has gotten further into his job, which is going really well.  He had a couple of late nights this week, but that is to be expected getting started someplace new.  Everyone at the hospital has been great which makes this transition easier.  
I have had another not-so-great week looking for a job.  I keep hearing about how difficult it is to find a job in this area so that is definitely not reassuring.  But I'm just going to keep moving forward and hopefully something happens and falls into place!  
With that said, I have also had an opportunity to get to know and spend some time with the woman who runs the bed and breakfast (I've definitely had some free time on my hands during the day!).  Annie has been beyond kind and generous to us since we've arrived.  I have been able to have midday tea with her, she took me to the local butchers (where I was able to check out the free roaming peacocks), and she has given me tips and info about life in Cornwall.  Today she was nice enough to take me around Truro to look for bedding, as John and I are moving into our flat on Sunday!  She is even making John and I a chili dinner tonight.  Let's just say that we couldn't have been luckier in our bed and breakfast choice!
As for this weekend, we have some fun stuff happening!  John bought tickets to "The 80's Rocked" for tomorrow night which is taking place at the Truro theatre.  Basically it's a series of bands that cover some of the most popular 80's rock hits.   It will be interesting to see the Brits take on 80's American rock.  I have a feeling it's going to be a blast or horribly bad.  If we have enough drinks beforehand, it should guarantee a fantastic time :-)
Then Sunday afternoon we are finally moving into our place!!!  We are so excited and have been looking forward to this for the past couple of weeks.  It has been great staying at this bed and breakfast, but there is something to be said for having a place of our own.  The landlords, which are a young couple with a baby, have been incredibly nice to us thus far.  John got a text this week from the wife saying she and her husband were putting together any house extras they had for us to use for the upcoming year.  Apparently they have a box filled with dishes, silverware, cookware, etc so we don't have to go out and buy these for only a year stay.  We'll be sure to take and post flat pictures as soon as we can!  

Some of Annie's feathered friends
on her property

We also realize that this will be our first Halloween with trick-or-treaters.  Annie jokingly told me that since we are American and America is known for Halloween, we will have plenty of trick-or-treaters looking for some fantastic candy :-)  I can't wait to see all the fun costumes.  And be sure to send pictures our way of dressed up kids (or adults :-) for Halloween.
Some fun, exciting news on our end is that we just booked Christmas in Prague!!!  We decided that since we won't be able to spend the holidays with family and would probably be bummed just staying home in Truro, we would spend our Christmas with the beautiful distraction that is Prague.  Our plan is to enjoy the Prague Christmas markets and just relax together in this amazing city.  We can't wait!
Now we're off to eat some homemade chili and drink some wine.  Then we are skyping with Becky, Adam, and the kids a little later.  Should be a pretty great night! 


Random Tidbits:
- Everyone here is preparing for Guy Fawkes night which consists of large bonfires and fireworks....more to come on this after we participate in the celebration next weekend
- Christmas stuff is EVERYWHERE!  We are realizing that without a Thanksgiving and less of an emphasis on Halloween, people and the shops here are already preparing for the Christmas holiday
- Yes, we have daylight savings time this weekend as well :-)

Work, Eggs, & Walking...

Well, it's been a few days and we continue to settle in to our new routine.  I have officially started work and it is off to a great start.  This past week was filled with three days of mandatory training which was about three days too long.  Speech therapists are not wired to sit in a lecture hall for 8 hours at a time : )  The end of the week was much better and I have a long list of patients to see first thing Monday morning.  The hospital has been without a head and neck therapist for over a month so although that means the service is a bit backed up with patients, that's what I came here to do...so bring it on : )

The rack of freshly-laid eggs in the kitchen.

Since the house that we are renting won't be available until next weekend, we are currently staying at a Bed & Breakfast a few miles from the hospital.  Being that it is located just outside of town, we are quite cut-off from the rest of civilization out here.  The woman to runs it (Annie) could not be any sweeter and we continue to marvel at her sincere hospitality.  It's basically like we are staying with a family-member who has given us full use of her fridge, kitchen, laundry, etc.  Since she has free range chickens that roam in a fenced area adjacent to the property, the eggs we eat for breakfast were actually laid the day before.  So, the only way it would be fresher is if the chicken actually laid the egg directly into the frying pan, but you get the idea : )  Although we are loving the quiet solitude that comes with this place, we are definitely ready to be living in town where there is much more going on.  My walk to the bus stop in the morning is about a half mile and our walk into town is just over a mile.  Since our feet continue to be our sole means of transportation, we have become quite fond of the various routes and short-cuts that lead into town.

Katie sporting some lovely "Wellies" while hanging up our laundry in the field.

Katie's job search officially began first thing Monday morning.  Thus far, the apparent shortage of jobs in this area has been a bit discouraging, but the search continues.  We continue to joke that as time passes, Katie's standard for the job she is hoping for continues to lower : )  The one thing we do know is that Katie is not one who can sit at home all day.  Every day this week, when I returned home after a long day of training, I was met with "Hi, what do you want to go do?"  So, we are hoping that her restlessness can result in gainful employment, but what exactly it will be is not yet known.

This week was punctuated with a happy hour at a local pub with a few of my new work friends, Gilly and Julie.  Katie and I met up with the two of them as well as Julie's boyfriend for drinks and dinner and had a lot of fun.  Since they were all born and raised in southwest England, they had loads of suggestions for great weekend trips in Europe.    Everyone we meet continues to be incredibly nice and it seems my colleagues are no exception.  I don't think that anyone here will even come close to the speech therapists and audiologists I have called my friends for the past five years, but they seem nice none the less.

The fact that cars can legally park in any direction here...definitely
 a contributing factor to the already confusing driving laws. 

At least the walk into town is filled
with beautiful views of the countryside.

So, as you can see, we continue to adjust and settle into a routine here.  There is an odd sense of familiarity that comes with resuming a regular work schedule.  It's kind of comforting in a way to get back to doing familiar work in such an unfamiliar place.  At the end of the day the fact that I love what I am doing and the fact that the people we meet have been exceptionally welcoming certainly makes all of this easier than we expected.  We miss all of our friends and family but Katie and I both look forward to having you all visit : )

Cell phones and such....

We wanted to share some information about cell phones now that we have that whole situation figured out.  John and I now each have out own phones and phone plans.  Since we have not lived here over three years, we don't qualify for monthly plans, but have what they call "pay as you go" plans.  With these plans, we are able to make both local and international calls and texts.  If you receive a call or text from us, it should not cost you anything.  Where it gets tricky is if you would like to call or text us back.  What we are finding is that each U.S. cell phone company and individual plan is different.  So if you are ever interested in calling or texting us, it would probably make the most sense for you to contact your cell company and ask how international calls and texts work.  Does it cost extra?  Do you need to add international services to your plan?  Before we moved here and were making lots of calls to the UK, we were able to add international calling to our Sprint plans for only $5 extra a month, plus something like 7 cents a minute.  But again, it will all depend on your plan and cell company.
We also understand that for most, it would probably not make sense to take these steps to keep in contact over the phone and we totally understand that!  We always have skype, email, and we can always call you!  But we did want to at least give everyone as much information as possible about this so everyone can make their own decision.
If you are ever interested in giving one of us a call, the process is pretty easy once you do it a time or two.   To call a UK number, start by dialing 01144.  Then drop the first 0 from any UK number (all UK numbers start with 0).
John's number is: 07570036364 (You would dial 011447570036364)
Katie's number is: 07587199262 (You would dial 011447587199262)
If you have any questions about this, let us know and we can help get things figured out.

You Can Do a Lot of Living in 10 Days!

View of St. Agnes from the Tippy Tappy

John on his way down the Tippy Tappy

It's been a couple of days, so lots to catch up on!  Since we had all of our housing in place, we have been lucky enough to have the past couple of days to just feel like we're on vacation again.  Friday morning we took a bus ride to a northern coastal town of St. Agnes.  We got off the bus, and already had no idea where we were going.  Lucky enough, we ran into a couple of locals who pointed us in the right direction.  We walked down a path (known by one local as following the "tippy tappy") to the beach.  After doing some exploring, we popped into a seaside cafe for a pint and some tea.  It was here where we met a really nice local bartender and his girlfriend from New York.  They both gave us some great advice and also suggested we take a scenic hike along the coast to the next coastal town of Perranporth.  Seeing as we had all the time in the world, we took them up on the suggestion and are so glad we did.  On this four mile path, we were met with some breathtaking views.  We knew we hit Perranporth when we came over a hill and were met with a long sandy beach filled with dozens of surfers riding the waves into shore.  Pretty brave of them considering if was only 55 degrees out!  There is not a wetsuit thick enough :-)  

ALF and Brite made an appearance today :-)

By this point, the sun was starting to go down and it was getting colder.  We went into town to catch a bus back to Truro when we realized that we had made it just in time to catch the last bus out of town....a very close call.  So we sat outside freezing (to be sure we didn't miss the bus) and finally made the trip back to Truro.  

St. Agnes Beach

Hike to Perranporth

Look, sandy beaches ahead!

We decided to spend yesterday fully focusing on and spending time in Truro.  We checked out a potential gym (which John thinks looks like the gym Rocky trained in :-)  We then went to a teahouse called Charlotte's to have our first experience with Cornish Cream Tea.  We sat overlooking downtown Truro and were served English tea along with homemade scones on which you spread clotted cream and fresh strawberry jam....my heaven!  Last night John and I decided to have a nice sit down meal at an Italian restaurant in Truro.  The food was amazing as well as the atmosphere.  Overall, a relaxing and wonderful day.

Truro Downtown during Cream Tea

Cream Tea at Charlotte's Tea House

This morning we packed up and checked out of our B&B that we have stayed in for the past week (goodbye big bed :-( goodbye crappy internet :-)  A taxi drove us to our new "home" that we'll be staying at for the next two weeks until our flat is ready to move into.  The Laurel's B&B is situated out in the Truro countryside and is run by a sweet lady named Annie who made us a pot of tea and served us fresh chocolate chunk bread as soon as we walked in....not a bad welcome!  We got unpacked (for real, we actually unpacked all of our suitcases this time around) and then Annie took us on a short walk that John can take to the hospital in the morning.  From there, we headed in to town and both finally picked up our permanent phones (we will blog more on this topic later).  We then did our first official grocery shopping run at Tesco which is a relief, we can't eat out anymore (Annie is letting us use her fridge here).  We also were able to chat with Kevin and Kaite Jo online, which was really nice!  
Now we are off to have some down time, especially since John officially starts work tomorrow and I start my job hunting.  Wish us luck!

Another Great Day in Truro !!!

(John)

Today was another great day in Truro.  Today was the first day of many where I stepped through the front doors of the Royal Cornwall Hospital.  I don’t start work until Monday so the purpose of today’s visit was simply to meet the rest of the speech and medical staff.  The hospital building itself was built in 1999 so everything was very up-to-date.  My new director, Margaret is incredibly nice and is clearly a well-respected advocate for speech throughout the hospital.  They have been a bit short-staffed for the past month so everywhere we went I was met with quite the reception.  Apparently this new “male  speech therapist from America” has been “the source of great speculation” for the past few weeks.  The head and neck team is in serious need of an SLP, or as they call it here, a SALT (Speech And Language Therapist).  The great part about today is that I began getting my first look into what health care is like here in the UK.  In an attempt to keep my writing as accurate as possible, I will hold off on blogging about my initial impressions until I have actually started working.  Overall, the staff at the hospital seems amazing and I am excited to get started next week. 

Random Tidbits…

Katie and I continue to be constant observers of this new culture that we are living in.  There seems to be an underlying “politeness” about the people we continue to encounter, regardless of their age.  This was never more apparent than during this morning’s bus ride, when we witnessed one teen and young-adult after another quickly spring from their seat and offer it to the new elderly rider who had just stepped on to the bus…so wonderful to see such a great gesture of respect from this younger generation.  Listen to me talk like I am some wise old elder : )  Just a great thing to see regardless of what country you are in.  

Another example of this politeness is the fact that everywhere we go, it is SO quiet.  Not a cold, sterile sort of quiet—just the respectful tone of people being unobtrusive.

We finally had time to do some much-needed laundry this afternoon.  Unlike Laundromats in the States the local “Launderette” here in Truro has a full time staff person from whom you buy your detergent and who takes your money before she starts the washing machines for you.  An unnecessary but, nice touch.

We also had our first movie experience today.  There is a local theater right down the road from our B&B so this being a cold evening; we decided to do what we love to do most.  (FYI…”Our Town” with Ben Affleck = Fantastic). Anyway, when we bought our popcorn, we were given the choice of “sweet” or “salty.”  There was also a huge display of candy bins, each with their own scoop (like in a candy shop) where you could fill a bag to bring in to the theater with you.  But the ultimate surprise was that our new local movie theater has COTTON CANDY !!!....or “Cotton Floss” as it’s called here.  For those of you who know Katie best, you can only imagine the look on her face when this was realized.

The last thing I want to comment on is my first impressions of what seems to drive a small part of this local economy.  Truro is only a town of about 25,000 people that relies heavily on tourism during the summer months.  This morning as we were walking streets filled with countless shops and restaurants, I couldn’t keep from wondering how so many of these businesses are able to keep their doors open, especially during the winter months.  I have never been in a place where the people are so clearly dependent on the small business owner for their daily needs.  And then it hit me; there is no Super Target or Super Wal-Mart where everyone goes to get EVERYTHING they need.  If your child needs a uniform for school, you go to “The Uniform Shop” on Lemon Street.  If your watch stops working, you walk down to Princes Street to “Watch Repair & Co.” (Yes these are actually shops : ) )

This made me think of Katie’s dad Tom, the quintessential small business owner whose years of hard work and focus on customer service, have earned him the respect of so many.  He would do well in a town like this.

We are starting to really see that it is these things that set a cultural tone for a town like Truro...and therein lies its charm. 

Lots of Good News!

Katie
So much has happened since we last blogged!  We woke up Tuesday morning from a phone call from the landlords of the flat we looked at and loved the night before.  They wanted to call and let us know that they decided on letting us the flat!!!!  How absolutely exciting.  It is in a great location (a 6 minute bus ride to John's work, right next to the train station, a short walk to downtown) and is the perfect size and price.  They are also the only landlords that had a let available over six months, they will let it to us for as long as we're here!  The only downside is that we can't move in until around November 1st.  So we spent most of today calling to find a place to stay for two weeks.  It took us around five hours of calling around, but we eventually found a b&b that is right down the hill from the hospital and is for the amount that we were hoping.  So in regards to our future living situations, things are looking up!


Even though we decided on getting the place yesterday morning, we still wanted to check out the other two viewings we had set up for the day.  The one in the morning was tiny and gross, no thanks.  And we had an experience right out of a movie in viewing the second one yesterday afternoon.  John and I took a short train ride from Truro to a countryside stop called Perranwell.  We must have taken a wrong turn and ended up in the tiniest downtown where we stopped at the post office to ask directions.  The postal worker gave us perfect directions and then proceeded to tell us she was best friends with the woman who owned the property and we should tell her "hi" when we got there :-)  When we started walking in the right direction, a car pulled up next to us, which were the estate agent and the owner of the property who went out looking for us when they heard we were lost.  You gotta love small towns.  They gave us a ride  to the property, which was literally right out of a story book.  It was in the middle of the English countryside and we drove up a small dirt road to a huge farm house and a newly converted guest house.  The guest house was an adorable two bedroom cottage with a huge backyard that looked over the horse stables and had a wood burning fireplace.  After looking at the place, the owner Allison asked us if we would like to stay for tea and shortbread.  We proceeded to spend the next hour with Allison, her teenage daughter, and the estate agent sitting in Allison's backyard drinking tea with the sun shining down on us looking out at the beautiful Cornish hills.  Such a wonderful experience!  They were all so kind to us.  Once it was time to go, the estate agent offered us a ride back into Turuo and we had a lovely conversation with her on the way back.   When we got back in to Truro, John and I just looked at each other and laughed at what we had just experienced.  So cool.


After talking it over, we decided that even though the place would have been a spectacular place to live, it just wasn't as good of a fit as the other place.  We would only be able to stay in this cottage for six months and it would have been difficult in the country without a vehicle.  But if anyone wants a traditional English countryside experience when you visit, we will be sure to book this cottage!

As for the rest of today, we spent some more time downtown, and ate our first Cornish pasty.  They were amazing, and huge!  We have been told that the best Cornish pasty is a source of contention for the Cornish so it's a good thing we will have time to form our own opinion : )  Otherwise, we are now back in our room and may even watch an episode of Grey's to relax and unwind.  John goes to the hospital in the morning to have an introduction meeting with his coworkers, and then we have the rest of the day to do what we like.  Who knows what we'll end up doing (though tomorrow should include doing laundry....let's see how that goes!).  
Until then....
                                                                                                         Random Tidbits:

- The Brits love them some "Friends"  It seems to be on all hours of the day on one channel or another
- John forgot how much he loves the show Mr. Bean....great comedy at its finest
- John is very happy to find that they air John Stewart here for his daily dose of satire :)
- It's going to take some getting used to everything closing so early!  I felt so American when I said to John "it just doesn't make sense that everything closes the same time people finish up work"
- I had my first conversation with Grandpa on the phone and had no problems....yay!
                                                                                         

We've Made It To Truro!

After a great few days in London, we finally made it to Truro yesterday afternoon, the city where John's hospital is located.  We are staying at an adorable bed and breakfast at the top of a hill overlooking Truro.  Since we are booked here for the entire week and have the large task in front of us of finding a place to live, we took advantage of having the rest of Sunday to explore this beautiful town.  How to describe Truro?!  It's a town filled with character and so far, some very wonderful people.  The downtown streets are filled with endless rows of shops and restaurants.  It became obvious very quickly why so many English are drawn to this area for holiday.  Last night we had dinner at a local restaurant and then spent the rest of the evening scouring the papers for possible places to live.  We knew we had some work cut out for us this week!

Welcome to Truro!

The view into town, a few steps from our B&B

Today began with a delicious breakfast at our B&B and we both quickly got down to business calling estate agents, talking with John's recruiter, dealing with banking, etc.  Our first flat "viewing" was a 20 minute train ride in the coastal town of Falmouth which is just south of Truro.  The property itself was far too expensive for what we saw, but then realized why the large price tag when we left and walked five minutes down a wooded path and were met with a breathtaking view of the coast.  We spent the afternoon strolling along the path that wraps around that coastal area of Falmouth, eating lunch at a seaside cafe and checking out the shops in the downtown.

Not a bad picture considering the adorable 80 year old woman taking this informed us afterwards that we were a blur when she was taking the picture because she didn't have her glasses on :-)

We then headed back to Truro for a flat viewing tonight.  We both fell in love with the quaint flat we were shown, but are cautiously optimistic as the landlords have multiple interested parties.  Keep your fingers crossed as it is in a perfect location for us (a 6 minute bus ride to John's work, right down the street from downtown Truro and within eyesight of the train station).  Seems that we'll find out a yes or no in the next day or two.

We made the final trek back to our B&B and I don't think I have ever walked so much in one day in my life.....let's just say we're beyond exhausted!  Tomorrow looks like it will be another beautiful day in Truro and we have two more viewings and are also going to check out the area where John's work is at. Now, it's off to relax and then head to bed!

Random tidbits:

- I'm almost afraid to write this, but we haven't had a single drop of rain since we arrived in England.  On the contrary, our days have been filled with 70 degree weather and nothing but sunshine.  Not a bad way to start things off

My two favorite things....shopping and penny slots!
Both in downtown Falmouth!

- A popular after dinner dessert, which seems to be everywhere, is a waffle with belgian chocolate sauce, ice cream or whip cream, and strawberries.....heaven!  Do you think because it's a waffle it would be appropriate to eat for breakfast? :-)

- When walking by the Truro Starbucks, we couldn't believe that it's only open until 5:30pm during the week and closes even earlier on the weekend

Cheers...from ALF & Rainbow Brite

Greetings From England,

 ALF: You may be wondering why we are suddenly writing on John and Katie’s Blog.  Well, it’s kind of a long story, but if you insist we’ll tell it.  My name is ALF.  You may remember me from the popular 80’s sitcom, “ALF.”

Rainbow Brite: And my name is Rainbow. You may remember me from the popular 80’s cartoon “Rainbow Brite.” 

ALF: Since NBC never actually finished filming the series finale of ALF, you all must be wondering what really happened to me.  The truth is, instead of returning back to Melmac after the show was cancelled, I actually decided to go backpacking through Europe…you know, see the sights before returning to my home planet. 

Fortunately for me, there was a travel abroad program in Hollywood exclusively for washed up TV stars from the 80’s.  It was actually through that program that I met Rainbow Brite here.  Aside from the brightly colored boots, she was actually the most normal person on my flight.  Much better than Scott Baio, Kurt Cameron and that lady named Tutti.  

Anyway the rest, as they say is history.  Rainbow and I became fast friends and have decided to travel Europe together.  We both thought this was a great plan until we landed in London a few days ago and realized how difficult it is to get around.  I mean, have you seen how short our legs are?!?!?  Originally we were going to just ride around on Rainbow’s horse (StarBrite) but we couldn’t get her through customs.  I’ll let Rainbow tell the rest of the story.

Rainbow Brite: If you are wondering what has happened to me since my show was cancelled, it has been a rocky road.  Three kids, two divorces and a short stint in rehab later, I am now getting my act together and plan to write a book about my life after fame.  It will be called “Rainbow Bright….the not so Bright Years.”  Anyway, I am hoping to take many pictures of my travels here in Europe to include in this book.   Meeting John & Katie is not a very long story but it is definitely the best thing to have happened to us yet.  ALF and I had been walking all day to see this old clock called “Big Ben.”  Wanting to document our trip for my book, I asked these two Americans (John & Katie) to take our picture in front of it.  

Our first picture in front of Big Ben

      

John & Katie knew immediately who we were and were actually both quite star-struck.  To make a long story short, we got to talking and John and Katie have agreed to take us along with them as they travel throughout England and the rest of Europe.  How lucky for us!!!  The only tricky part is that they don’t have a lot of extra room in their suitcase…have you seen how many pairs of shoes Katie packed?  How she thinks she needs the same pair of boots in brown AND black is beyond me, but who I am to judge…I've worn the same rainbow-colored boots for almost 30 years.

Anyway, ALF and I are really excited to be traveling with John and Katie and plan to share many more of our pictures with you on their Blog.  Anything else you want to add ALF?

ALF: I just wanted to let everyone know that I haven’t changed much since the early 90’s.  I still love cats and miss Willy, Kate, Lynn and Brian terribly, but John and Katie do seem nice enough, so I’m thinking this won’t be so bad.  We look forward to writing again soon.

Sincerely,

ALF & Rainbow Brite

        

This is us in front of Buckingham Palace where the Queen lives

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Last full day in London Town

Katie
We had a pretty fantastic last day in London!  We slept in and then made our way to the play Wicked.  We had around an hour of panic once we realized that we were at the wrong theatre! We found ourselves somewhat lost without phones or internet to figure out where to go, but found and asked a very nice man who led us there.  Luckily the real theatre was only a few tube stops away....we made it just in time!  The play itself was amazing!  So glad we went!

Afterwards, we stopped at Buckingham Palace and then took a walk around the Marble Arch area.  We ended up eating dinner at an English pub where John and I had our first beers!  How I have missed Strongbow!

We are now back at our hotel and getting packed up for our train ride to Truro in the morning.  Hopefully the baby shower for Kaite Jo is going well, we have thought about you all at the shower a couple of times today :-)  John has also been thinking of the Badgers often throughout the day and was happy to see they beat the Gophers.  Tomorrow will be a day full of travel and getting settled in a new town.  Then the search for a home begins!  More upates to come...


Aunt Jane ------> You'll be pleased to know that these are everywhere :-)

Some Pictures Thus Far

Whoah luggage!  But we made it!

View from our hotel room

Some chill time today

Big Ben!

Again :-)

Random Tidbits....

Some random tidbits that we have picked up in the short amount of time being here:

- No joke, there really are red buses and black taxis everywhere!
- Taking the tube is so incredibly easy and wonderful -

-I have never heard the term "brilliant" as much as I have here
- 70 degrees and sunny for the first few days...not bad
- Fashion trend for women is black tights and black leggings...they're everywhere!
- At John's training, he learned that the UK CPR guidelines are slightly different than those of the American Red Cross.
- When reading the local newspapers, there seems to be a very different take on the recent heightened European alert versus what we were hearing in the US.  They are describing the recent heightened alert "unwarranted" by the US and without proper evidence.  It is being called a political ploy due to US midterm elections coming up and to justify the (as they call, "unpopular") US war in Afghanistan.

We Made It!

-Katie
It's Friday afternoon and I am sitting in a park in London not far from the London Eye while John is doing some training through his recruiter for his new job.  Today is sunny (gasp) and in the 70's, not a bad start.  It's hard to believe we were preparing to leave Minneapolis less than 48 hours ago!  A person can do a lot of living in that amount of time. 

So far, things have gone smoothly.  John's parents and brother were there to send us off on Wednesday afternoon.  Our check-in at the airport was a non-issue, they even let us check our 5th pack for free....saved us $120!  The flights were all on-time and easy.  We found our amazing hotel in London without a problem and made it to the US Embassy to register as well as stop at the Embassy's IRS office and ask tax questions (ahhhh!  Something I'm not looking forward to....anyone know someone who does international taxes?!?!).  By this point yesterday, we were beyond exhausted seeing as we each got a total of 1-2 hours of sleep on the plane the night before.  But we knew we had to stay up for awhile longer.  So we took a walk through Hyde Park and ate at a cafe by our hotel.  By 7pm (London time), we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer and fell asleep.  We both woke up around midnight and couldn't fall back asleep for a couple of hours (dang time difference).  We finally caught a couple more hours of shut eye before we were up and going at 9.

We began the morning with a full English breakfast at our hotel and stopped at John's recruitment agency office this morning.  We have started looking into temporary phone plans to hold us over until we get permanent phone plans.  We found out we can't get permanent plans until we have both a UK bank account as well as a permanent UK address.  So here we come temp phones!  John has training all afternoon, which brings me back to here....a lovely park where I can write my thoughts and do some people-watching.  Not bad for a Friday afternoon.  And who knows what the rest of the day will bring....