Rino and Beth's UK Adventure: 11/01/2006

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Home leave #2

A little turkey and a wedding... and a belated birthday cake for Beth.

Where's the cake?

Jeff and Laura's wedding

Beth with Katia and Sean in the Heath's new house... it was also Sean's birthday. Their kitchen is bigger than our entire flat.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Coming home for T-Day

Beth and I will be on our way home for Thanksgiving tonight. We're looking forward to seeing our families and spending the holiday with them. I can't wait to be greeted by the dingy site of Terminal 8 at JFK - American Airlines' embarrassing way of welcoming people to the US. But hey, the tickets were on points so I can't complain too much.

Word of the day:

"Tomaaaahhtoe"

Someone ordered a Tomaaaahhtoe and cheese sandwich the other day. I think it means tomato.

Friday, November 17, 2006

A little out of order but...

... these things were too cool to not mention. Last Saturday, Rino worked most of the day. In order to avoid a boring day at home, I booked tickets to see the DaVinci exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was amazing to see his sketches and notebooks up close. While he was a great artist, he was equally as passionate a scientist and mathemetician. Amazing.

After that, our friends Jeremy and Katy decided that we should spend the afternoon being scared in the London Dungeon. I didn't know what to expect, but it was a lot of fun. It takes you all through the gruesome history of London, from The Plague and the Great Fire, to torture chambers, Sweeny Todd and Jack the Ripper. Family fun :)

It was a good day, toped off by meeting some new friends for some great pizza, wine and company.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

The chief arrives tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Paris Part Deux

Rino had to work on Monday, so I spent my day wandering about Paris, enjoying the sites. Here are some pix from my journey.

This little guy thought I was going to share my croissant and cappuccino with him.
They were brazen little birds... happy to perch on your table, your cup, or you in order to receive a treat. Notice his posse behind him? They were giving me the eye...

After a 1.5 hr walk I finally made it to the Picasso Museum. It was fantastic! Apparently Picasso's estate wanted to avoid inheritance tax, so they gave the city first pick of his life's work. tax evasion at it's best. His widow later donate more pieces. It was set in a gorgeous house, and the works spanned his entire life.

Cool graffitti. Pacman rules.

One of the 2 last remaining windmills in Montmarte. We tried to find it on our last trip, and didn't... this time I had a better map!

Sacre Coeur. Otherwise known as the "stairmaster." If you've been there, you know what I mean. I had to force myself to eat a chocolate-filled crepe as nurishment before the climb! :)

Terrible picture, but Van Gogh lived here for a few years. I feel so cultured now. Haha.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

We finally made it to Paris... we were supposed to go on Friday morning but did not get here until this morning... a little something called WORK kept us from going there... but, work is also the reason we're here. I have a meeting tomorrow in Paris and we decided to make a weekend of it. Well, I guess it's not really a weekend now... just a few hours. We'll take what we can get.

Beth being Beth in front of the River Seine

Beth being Beth in front of the Eiffel Tower. And a light pole.

Self pose in front of the Arc de Triumph.

Dusk shot along the river

Dramatic dusk shot of Notre Dame

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Today's word of the day:

"Choker"

It means full

Sunday, November 05, 2006

We had a ball Friday night... literally.

Beth and I attended a 'Bonfire Ball' on Friday night for the group that I work in at PwC. It was held at the Royal Courts of Justice. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Courts_of_Justice) The court is a real operating court house... but definitely much nicer than any court I had ever seen - Think St. Patrick's Cathedral. I overheard someone saying that "If I was on trial for murder, this would not be a bad place to spend my last days." The court becomes a venue at night for parties, balls, and banquets.