Thanksgiving in London

We spent an a-typical Thanksgiving in London. How ironic is it that the Pilgrims left England for the States...and us Americans head back there for Thanksgiving?!!

Hard Rock Cafe got it's start right here in London. We weren't big Hard Rock fans...until we moved to Germany. Then, we were fans of any good American food we could find!No turkey and dressing for us on Thanksgiving this year. The burgers were quite yummy though.
Then, we were off to explore. Above you can see Big Ben on an overcast British day. Below is me with one of the largest Ferris Wheel's in the world...the London Eye.

But the MAIN EVENT for Thanksgiving was to see WICKED!

Here we are in front of the theater... ready to be dazzled by Elphaba! This is our second time to see Wicked in the Apollo Victoria Theater (Can you tell we enjoyed it?). It's a wicked show indeed!Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is...

Then on Friday, we meandered all over town...but I don't seem to have pics from our daytime endeavors (How is that?). For dinner on Friday evening, we went to Harrods for High Tea.Shopping in Harrods is an ultimate shoppers experience (and I DO love to shop). Since we are on a budget, I made peace with induldging through looking only. (Plus, my sister just brought me a cool Harrods bag after her trip in October.) I was doing SO good at keeping my promise not to buy anything...that is, until we past through the pet section. I found this chicken...it's hillarious, dressed in boxer shorts and all. But what sold me on it was that it made the exact cocka-doodle-do sound that Dixie LOVES. (Yes, she is spoiled.) Her last chicken croaked because she played with it too long and hard. So, we splurged....and Dixie had a Harrods suprise in her stocking when she got home from the kennel.

Here we are just getting started on our High Tea. We made sure we got our money's worth though...and as picky of an eater as I am, I made them bring me only the sandwiches I liked. :) The scones were to die for! We both felt sick afterward. After dinner, it was off to another show. Billy Elliot is well respected on the West End (it sells out almost every show). Quite honestly, we didn't see what all the fuss was about. We knew it couldn't measure up to Wicked...but it didn't even make it onto our radar of "decent." Save your money...rent the movie instead. Jason's only sight-seeing request was for us to find the Ice Bar. The concierge at our hotel offered to give us a beer and the key to the garden. That didn't cut it for Jason. He likes the idea of everything being made of ice. It's gimmicky...and cool all at the same times.You're only allowed to stay in the Ice Bar for 40 minutes. So, as everyone else was changing out of their capes, I got a few pics of the bar minus all the people.

Then on Saturday, we took the train out to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

All time is measured from this point. We were actually standing in GMT.Jason straddles the Prime Meridian. Half of him is in the eastern hemisphere, the other half in the western hemisphere. How many people can say they have been in both the eastern and western hemisphere at the exact same time?And here you see the Prime Meridian. It's pretty cool...but it puts a damper on the speech I give my students every year... "The Equator and Prime Meridian are IMAGINARY lines..."

Being somewhat of a perfectionist, I had to set my watch by the official Greenwich clock.

Here we are on the Prime Meridian.On our way back from Greenwich, we made a stop along the Thames River. Here you see the Tower Bridge in the background. We splurged for one last show on the West End...a matinee showing of Mamma Mia. Wicked is still our favorite. But Mamma Mia is FANTASTIC! The whole theater was entranced....and yes, we did all join in singing from time to time. (Notice the sign outside the theater says "House Full," every seat was taken. I'm not a betting person, but I'd bet money that every person in the theater was glad they were there.

As if we hadn't already crammed enough sight seeing into one day...we decided to head down to the Big Ben/London Eye area. What I didn't realize is that Jason had never been on the London Eye. So, we decided to take it for a spin.

Here's our bubble. We're getting ready to ride! It takes 35 minutes to make the journey around the wheel.

My favorite part of all our sight seeing is taking photos. It was quite difficult to get any good photos because the bubbles we were in had water on them...so of course that's what the camera wanted to focus on. I did manage to get a few cool shots anyway.

Here we are in our bubble in mid-flight (British Airways is the sponsor...so they tell you to enjoy your flight.)

You can see one of the London Eye bubbles with the Thames River and the local area below.

That bubble is looking down on our bubble. (I'm not really sure that British Airways and the London Eye would appreciate me calling these units a bubble...but that's what they look like.)

A view of Big Ben and Parliment from the London Eye

A view of the Thames River and surrounding area from up above in the London Eye.

After our "flight" we walked down to Parliment and Big Ben. Here we are with a night shot of us in front of Big Ben. Can you tell we were cold???

And the last pic of the trip is me standing across the street from Big Ben. It's quite beautiful all lit up at night.

London turned out to be the perfect Thanksgiving for us in 2008!

Of course we are thankful for all the typical things:

1. Forgiveness from Jesus

2. That God's mercies are new every morning

3. A wonderful marriage

4. The best dog in the world

5. Great family

6. Great friends

7. Good jobs

8. Being American citizens- blessed freedom!

But we also have to admit that we are so immensly greatful that we have had the priviledge of traveling the world. It's made us that much more convinced that the big bang theory is crap. The kind of beauty we've seen throughout Europe isn't just shear luck...it is only possible through a divine God who is amazingly creative!

Dixie wants to be a lapdog...

So this is how exciting our weekends get now-a-days. We were ready to watch Survivor, and Dixie decided that her bed or the floor were not good enough. So, she hopped up in the chair with Jason....all 65 pounds of her. She has always wanted to be a lapdog! She just doesn't understand how big she is.

As you can see, Jason was the first to drift off. Dixie is still just enjoying being in a lap.
But it didn't take Dixie much longer. So, I watched Survivor while Dixie and Jason took a nap (a very uncomfortable nap, I might add!)

Kathy and Chris come to visit!

Kathy and Chris came for a whirlwind visit in October. I was so tickled to get to give them a glimpse of where we live. First stop was Burg Nanstein. The local castle ruins sit up on the hill above Landstuhl.

Behind Kat and Chris you can see Landstuhl.

Kathy has been one of my best friends since college (I don't even want to admit how long ago that was...I refuse to get older!).

Evelyn and Mike came with Kathy and Chris. (Evelyn is one of Kat's friends from high school.) Before coming to my neck of the woods, the 4 of them had quite the adventure in Prague.

The six of us (Chris, Kat, Jason, Amy, Evelyn, and Mike) enjoyed dinner at another castle that is close by, Burg Lichtenburg.

Bad Durkheim Wine Fest

The Savannah Air National Guard sent Uncle Ashley over here for a few weeks in September. (Yes, I am a little behind on posts...trying to get caught up though!) We enjoyed spending a weekend with him. Bad Durkheim is known for having the biggest wine fest in the world (Germans LOVE their festivals!). Basically, it is the same idea as Octoberfest, but with wine instead of beer. So, we headed to wine country one Saturday.

Amy, Jason, Uncle Ashley, and April all in a wine tent. (Notice that Jason and I are wearing red and black...it was a Georgia football Saturday...and we were showing our pride!)

Here April and I are showing off our fine German wine. It really is some of the BEST wine. (Take a look at April's MUG of wine...while I have a normal size wine glass.)Jason and Uncle Ashley stuck with a good German beer (also some of the best in the world).Here April is posing in front of the grape vines with her large cup of white wine in one hand and a bottle of new wine in the other. April enjoyed the wine fest! :)And here is me and my hunny in front of the grapes that make this fest possible.

Our German House

So, my dear friend Ginger has been bugging me for a long time now...wanting to see pics of our house in Germany. I actually took most of these pics this summer when my house was all nice and clean right before Maree and Christian came to visit. So most of these pics have just been sitting on my computer, waiting to be posted. (Pictures of my house seem boring in comparison to the Alps or France!) There are a few pictures that I just took while Kathy and Chris were here though (as the pumpkins attest to)...visitors seem to be the best motivator! :)

Here's the front of our house. It use to be an old farm house. The attached house (you can see the driveway to the left of our house) used to be the barn. Thankfully, it doesn't smell like a barn any longer.

First thing you see when you walk in our house...although, the sun isn't usually so bright that it glares off the stairs. This is our entry way.
Entering our kitchen is like stepping into a time machine and heading back to the 70's. YES, the tile IS orange and brown. Who ever thought that orange and brown tile was a good idea???Having owned a house before...one thing I took for granted was my kitchen. You see in America we build kitchens INTO our houses. NOT THE CASE in Germany. After we moved in, I started trying to unpack all our dishes and pots & pans. Well, since there are no cabinets, there is no where to put anything! Germans buy kitchen units, and take them with them when they move...no joke. So, we improvised and bought some storage cabinets to make due. We were not interested in buying a kitchen! (The stove and fridge are loaners from the base.)This is our dining room. We have loved having big dinners in here...I'm not sure exactly how many people we have fit in here for Easter or Christmas...but it's a lot!Another quirk of German houses...they don't waste plumbing pipes. We have 2 bathrooms side by side. This one is just a water closet.This one is a full bath...tub and all!We have a wonderfully large living room. It is great for entertaining! When we first moved in, it was a big space with a few things in it. My hobby while in Europe has been collecting antiques. So, it isn't so sparse anymore. Notice the fan in the corner...yes, it does get hot here...and no, we do not have air conditioning. And by the way, fans don't really cut it in 95 degree heat! Of course, that was this summer...now it is snowing here.Here's our office/computer room. It's also Jason's "man room." He has airplanes, airplane pics, and hockey pucks throughout the room.And our spare bedroom (we have been fortunate enough to put it to good use with many visitors!).
Now, we're heading upstairs Our laundry room is right at the top of the stairs. (it is so nice to have a laundry room upstairs!)And since Germany doesn't have closets in the houses, all the stuff that would be stuffed in a closet is in our junk room/extra bedroom. Our bedroom is upstairs too. Before we moved to Germany, I remember people asking me if we would be able to fit a king size bed in our bedroom since European houses are so small. Well, see for yourself...We are also fortunate to have a bathroom in our master bedroom (for some reason, that isn't common in German houses). Below you can see part of our bathroom. It has a shower in it also. We have a total of 4 bathrooms in our house...sounds great in theory...but it's actually a pain to keep 4 bathrooms clean!And the thing I just might miss most about our house...my walk-in closet. Actually, it's another bedroom. But since we don't need any more bedrooms, it is serves as our catch-all. It may not be a "Carrie Bradshaw closet"...but it works for me!The real reason we picked this house though is because of the backyard. I was determined to find a house with a fenced in yard for Dixie. That isn't easy to come by here. But we did find it. The yard isn't huge, but it is big enough for Dixie to chase squirrels in. She hasn't caught one yet (she caught loads of them in Georgia), but she has caught a bird. (She thinks they are interactive play toys.)I don't have much of a green thumb, but I was super proud of my flowers this year. There were more flowers than weeds (which is a big accomplishment for me).

OK Ginger...challenge completed. :) I actually posted pictures of our German house before we head to Japan.