London Calling

Two Weeks in Tokyo

2011-05-23T14:04:00.000+01:00

After two months in the States, Tess and I have finally made the move to Japan. At the end of April, Brian essentially came over to pick us up. We reunited in Cooperstown, and then spent 10 days saying "hi" to friends and family. We saw Tess's great granny and celebrated my brother's 40th in Brooklyn. Although rushed, it was a fantastic farewell, and I left feeling sad, but enthusiastic about the adventure that lay ahead.

After the 12 hour flight we got a car to our corporate housing in Tokyo. I was immediately struck by how quaint and village-like it felt in our new neighborhood (near Roppongi Hills). The street was buzzing with open air coffeehouses, fruit and veg stands, tiny noodle houses, sushi bars, and yakitori stands. I had braced myself for soaring skyscrapers and unfriendly urban busy-ness, and although the big buildings do exist, this was nothing like what I expected.

The first day or two was a bit of a wash. We managed some grocery shopping, and some strolls through the neighborhood to the swings, but everything else was swept away by jetlag. The flat that Brian had chosen before he came to the States had unfortunately fallen through, so early the first week I was asked to go out with our real estate agent. She showed me three places in this neighborhood (which I already knew I loved - not only for it's village feel, but also for it's expat community, and for Brian's ability to walk to work in under 15 minutes). I could have moved in to any of the three places, but ended up choosing ours for it's proximity to the park and overall layout. We'll be moving in at the end of this week, and I can't wait to start settling in. Living out of suitcases for 2 1/2 months is getting old!

Brian and I are trying our best to get out and see things. So far, we went to the biggest design fair in Asia, explored the crazy shopping area that us "gaijin" (westerners) have seen on films, eaten delicious food, and toasted weiss beer at Tokyo's Oktoberfest (...yes, in May!). English is very rarely spoken, but we are managing. Next week we hope to start language classes, but until then it is a lot of pointing and smiling. I try to buy one mystery food a day, and so far I have found most "pleasantly edible". We are enjoying the amazingly cheap sushi and avoiding the cantaloupes (they average about 17 quid/25 dollars).

Brian feels aftershocks every second or third day, but I have only felt one, and that was yesterday. To me it felt like someone was very gently, and very rhythmically trying to shake me out of bed. It lasted about 20 seconds and, if it had been turbulence on a plane, I don't think it would have warranted the pilot to turn on the fasten seat belt sign. In fact, even our nearly empty, mini hotel-size shampoo bottle didn't topple over. That said, the earthquake was later reported as a 5.8 on the Richter scale, and only 70 miles from Tokyo. It definitely made me a touch anxious, but again, not much more than the background nerves that I get with turbulence. It was cool when it started, but after 10 seconds I really wanted it to stop.

At certain moments this all feels overwhelming, but ironically I am finding the transition easier than my move to London. So far, it seems, that the westerners really look out for one another. I have already had playdates, coffee dates, offers to take me to baby stores, and recommendations for babysitters. Yesterday we had brunch with 5 couples and their kids from all over the world, and tomorrow I am heading out for a girl's night out. We have also befriended a very nice Japanese couple who seem to love chatting in English, and have gone so far out of their way to help us ... including driving us to IKEA, and patiently helping us with four hours of shopping.

It is certainly unfamiliar, and I definitely feel far from home, but there is an overall feeling of warmth and welcomeness. In addition to the expat community, I honestly think the Japanese are happy to have us here ... perhaps even more so after the earthquake and tsunami. So, two weeks in, and I'm feeling really happy.

I hope you all are well. We miss you much!

Everyone and Their Dog

2011-03-24T02:37:00.000Z

If you are reading this, it is likely because you received my mass email. Apologies for the lack of warm fuzziness with this approach, but it seemed the best way to reach out.

As my friend Oona pointed out … “everyone and their dog” is asking about our plans to move to Japan. It’s a slight exaggeration, but still a good name for our first blog entry in four years.

Two Fridays ago the three of us woke up (in London) to the awful news of the Japanese earthquake and resultant tsunami. Suddenly the plans we had been working on for three months to move to Japan were in question. We were meant to be saying our final farewells as Brian headed out that night. He was bound for Australia for a one-week meeting before he moved to Japan.

Just 24 hours earlier Brian was hand couriering our passports between the US and Japanese embassies. We desperately wanted everything sorted, and were at our wits’ end with the long and drawn out process. We never imagined that we would later be thankful for every single day that those damn visas were delayed.

In the end, Brian did head out to Sydney that night … not knowing if/when he/we would move to Japan.

Originally we had planned for Brian to head to Tokyo while Tess and I visited friends and family in the USA. He would move in to corporate housing and start apartment hunting. Once settled, I would join him in early April. Brian’s mom and dad were going to help us with the move, spend some time in Tokyo, and then head to Australia and New Zealand to travel.

Now, everything is on hold. After one week in Australia, Brian decided to stay put. The Google office in Tokyo remains open, but very quiet. Many Japanese have moved to a temporary office based out of a hotel in Osaka, and most ex-pats have taken a chartered flight and are now working out of their San Francisco office.

In the meantime, Brian will continue to work in Australia for at least another two weeks. His goal is to get to Tokyo as soon as he can, but we are very realistic and cautious about this decision. Obviously there are endless concerns and worries. (I’m sure I don’t need to outline them all here.) We are exploring lots of options, and will keep you updated via this blog.

In the meantime, my mother and her husband are spoiling Tess and me. We are basking in the Atlanta sun, and I’m enjoying the extra help and yummy cooking.

We are sad to be apart, but even more distraught for the Japanese people.

Hoping you and yours are well.

-Kirsten

2 months?

2009-04-08T20:18:00.003+01:00

Oops, sorry for the absence. Got a big update on Australia, and will get around to it at some point, until then, you'll just have to know that it was great, a truly life changing trip.

As an interim update the annual Boatrace was held 2 weeks ago, how great is it that something so broadly name can only refer to one thing, THE Boatrace. The annual Thames rowing race between Oxford and Cambridge. 4 1/2 miles starting from our little borough of Putney and winding along the river and ending in Mortlake. This was the 155th rowing of the event which began way back in 1829, the story is fascinating, check it out

We along with a few hundred thousan of our closest friends lined the river (outside of a pub, ahem) to watch this baby kick-off. Cambridge jumped out to an early lead only to be overtaken and outpaced by the Oxford eights. The atmosphere was great, as atmospheres generated by people, esp. college students drinking all day are (for reference see Boston: Patriot's Day, Munich: Oktoberfest, New Orleans: Mardi Gras).

If you ever have a chance to be in London for The Boatrace watching it from the shores of Putney are the best place to be, just outside the Duke's Head. The bigscreen tv set up across the river allows you to not only see the start but watch the entirety of the race unfold.

So congrats to Oxford, though they still trail Cambridge 79-75 in the alltime standings. Imagine, 155 years of history and for all intents and purposes it's been an even split. I guess future toffs will continue to support this race to determine once and for all which uni is the dominant one. As for me, I say Oxford is the best, that is until next year...

Let it snow...

2009-02-09T21:42:00.007Z

For most of you snow isn't a cause for excitement. Well, when you live in London and less than an inch of snow wreaks havoc on the city, 6 inches is a blizzard.

Snow is a truly magical thing, it reduces adults to children and brings a smile to all our faces. At first we doubted the meteorologists who don't exactly have the best record for predicting the weather here (or anywhere for that matter).

So as we were getting ready to head to bed on Sunday and prepare for another week the snow began to fall. After a few hours there was a generous coating; we like many people popped outside to get pictures of this rare but wonderful event:

Sweet.

But of course we expected the snow to taper off to a rain and be a slushy mess by morning. So

after watching the Steelers jump out to an early Superbowl lead it was to bed with fingers crossed but prepared for normalcy to ensue, or would it...

And there you go, London gets hit

with the most snow they've had

in 20 yrs. It's about time because

we NE'ers were missing the fluffy

white stuff.

Lest we get used to it, now it's cold and rainy again. I guess the only cure is a trip down under...

Morning chuckle and Christmas updates

2008-12-30T09:41:00.002Z

From one of the travel e-newsletters I receive, the top cities to visit for 2009:

1) Washington DC

2) Cape Town

3) Vilnius

4) Milwaukee

Book your travel early...

Had some visitors over the Christmas period, we tried our best to make them feel as if the UK was their home. So Kirsten and I took Mads and Martyn to Royal Albert Hall for a night of caroling by the London Mozart Symphony Orchestra and Choir. Aside from the encouragement for the whole audience to sing it was a special experience in a beautiful venue. Befitting our social standing we were in the 2nd tier in a private box, directly facing the stage, the Royal box was just below us.

Finally we spent Boxing Day and post-Boxing Day with the Gowars. It was two days of over satiation of food and wine, mixed in between were some long walks through the woods, a stop in a classic English pub (Barley Mow) and general lazing around watching sport and playing board games. A very nice way to spend a few days extending the Christmas spirit.

Joyeux Noel

2008-12-23T20:53:00.002Z

Just another post from your friendly multi-lingual bloggers...

Last Thursday we treated ourselves during this holiday season by taking Thursday off and Eurostarring it down to Lille. We'd heard that it had the best Christmas market in Europe, how can you pass that up?

We arrived in Lille at 10:30 after a lovely first class train ride - the Hennigans ride in style! Skies were overcast but we were undettered as the Christmas spirit runneth over. After a wander around to orient ourselves we went straight for the big obvious central Christmas market...and wandered...and wandered...and wandered. Now Lille ain't a big place so it was a case of covering the same ground repeatedly looking in vain for the "best Christmas market in Europe". Finally we found it! All 30 stalls of it. Needless to say this did not speak well for the rest of Europe's Christmas markets. Despite the underwhelming nature of the market we enjoyed the short time we spent in it. The mulled wine was delicious (according to the K-dawg), the raclette was a nice surprise and well worth it, and the rest of the swag stalls provided some amusing sights - especially the Canadian stalls selling Montreal Canadiens jerseys, red flannel shirts and maple syrup.

Mercifully Lille is a pretty little city of 220,000 people. The Citadelle, which the Pentagon is based on, is surrounded by a huge park and a lovely place to wander around for a while. We weren't able to go into the actual grounds as there are still over 1,000 soldiers based there, rumour is they haven't come out since 1943 (ha! - that one never gets old). We were able to wander into the soldier's entrance and get a nice picture of the ornate main gate.

On our way back into the heart of the city we passed the Lille zoo and spent about 30 minutes watching the monkeys from a hill overlooking their pen. Funny little creatures and oh so cute.

We spent the next several hours checking out all that Lille had to offer. The neat shops and restaurants of the cobbled and winding roads of the Old Town, a look into the past at the Hospice Comtessa, the Vielle Bourse (though there were no chess matches going on), and who could miss the biggest book store in continental Europe.

We finished up our trip with a ride on the Ferris Wheel set-up specially for the Christmas season, it provided lovely views over Lille at night - although it did take a little while to choke down the nervousness as the thing creaked all the way round.

So the reco is - go to Lille, but don't worry about hitting the "best Christmas market in Europe".

Sleigh bells ring...

2008-12-15T20:32:00.002Z

That's us, and that's our Christmas tree. Ho ho ho, merry Christmas.

London --> Philly --> Phoenix --> Cabo San Lucas --> San Francisco --> London

2008-11-16T21:01:00.003Z

Whew!

After a whirlwind trip over the past week we're back in London. We've experienced pre-dawn taxi rides in London and Philly, near freezing temperatures in Philly, stunningly perfect weather in Cabo and finally characteristically overcast and drizzling London. So what have we learned in the past 7 days? Let's do a quick recap:

10) 29 hours of air time in 1 week - nothing when compared to the reward of seeing so many friends and family

9) Philly's food - yeah it still rocks. Roast pork w/ sharp provolone and broccoli rabe - check! Geno's wiz wit, wit Hughes - check! Shrimp pil pil, octopus and a Greek from Dmitri's - check!

8) United airlines - you're going to pay, I hope to call down the wrath of the internet on you bumbling muppets

7) Fall foliage in November along the 95 corridor - sorry Europe, you can't compete on this one

6) US Airways - paying for water? No in-flight entertainment on a 5 hour flight? Might as well fly the plane myself - I'll get to you when I'm done with United.

5) Taco Cantina - a hidden jewel in the heart of Cabo - beware of the green sauce it will work you

4) Big brother + baja buggies at 50 mph - only if you fancy spending 15 minutes strapped into a flipped car

3) People to thank at your wedding - your parents, her parents and her - your best friend's brother probably should come some ways down the list

2) Land's End - what a way to spend a few hours, stay out of the surf on the Pacific side and watch out for the rocks with teeth - just ask Kirsten

1) Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Francis Peter Reeves III - may their union be as long and beautiful as the beaches of Cabo

The land of $14 beer

2008-11-01T12:26:00.001Z

In the interest of full disclosure this trip occurred in August - I am clearly shit at keeping this blog thing up to date. Read on anyway...

Now, despite the title of this post it actually will be a very positive one.

Kirsten's brother came over for another European adventure, loyal readers may remember Jason from such trips as Portugal and numerous London visits. This time saw us jetting off to Norway. Scandanavia has always been high on my list of places to check out while we're here so we settled on the fjords of Norvay. The only note of caution we went with was that it was going to be expensive, since we were coming from 2 of the most expensive cities in the world, NYC and London, how bad could it really be...

Pardon me a moment while I choke on the memory of the cost. All the rumours are true,

Norway, and likely Scandanavia, is incredibly expensive, but to be honest, the beauty of the country goes a long way to soothing that burn.

We started off in Oslo where we had less than 24 hours to explore the city and get our introduction to the land of the midnight sun. We started off with a light lunch at the Grand Cafe, the very place where Henrik Ibsen enjoyed a beer and aqua vite everyday at his regular table. It's a great people watching spot and the interior decor evokes memories of the intellectuals and artists that used to frequent the joint. I like to think that the 3 American intellectuals who sat in the cafe that day would have fit right in during the late 19th century with Ibby and the rest. Our exploration of the city took us to the traditional village which was designed to show what life was like in Oslo and Norway hundreds of years ago, I thought it was some bizarre cross between a Wild West town and M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. After a thoroughly educational walkabout we did what you do when in the land of the Vikings, we checked out the oldest surviving Viking ships from the 15 somethings. They were uncovered from their funereal mounds in the early 20th century and the museum was literally built around them. A very impressive museum building, high vaulted white stucco walls, 3 of the arms

completely empty except for a Viking ship, with the 4th arm filled with displays of the items found in the ships. After getting our cultural fill we hopped back on the water taxi and went in search of that famous Norwegian beer (ahem!) and some eats.

Ja identified the young hip area of Oslo so off we went. There were a fair few cafes along the street and we popped into one for a little well deserved liquid refreshment. This particular place, Bistro Brocante, was selected because it seemed cool and there were a bunch of suitably Norwegian looking people outside, oh, and there was an available table. The food looked fantastic, so after a walk around the block to see what else was on offer we ended up back at the same place, this time inside the small but charming restaurant with black and white checkered floor for our French meal. It was only due to my extensive knowledge of French that we were able to order, after all, why wouldn't the menu in Oslo be in French? Much to our delight the food was excellent and we passed a lovely evening in a classic French bistro in the middle of Scandanavia.

As much fun as Oslo was we were excited to set off the next morning on our train ride (Norway

in a Nutshell) west, clear across the Norwegian landscape. Our train left at 8 AM and would take us out past the suburban sprawl of Oslo into the countryside and fjord land. After a few hours and some impressive sights flying by (glaciers, snowcapped peaks, waterfalls) we were deposited in Myrdal, atop a mountain with the scenic, and old, Flamsbana railway descending several hundred feet to the town of Flam at the point of the Aurlandsfjord, one of the longest (204 km) and deepest (1,300 m) fjords in Norway.

In a word - WOW. What a stunning setting, one of the most beautiful places I have been fortunate enough to experience. Flam isn't so much of a town as a few buildings catering to the

cruise ships and train loads of tourists that are dropped of throughout the high season.

Thankfully we were there at the very end of the season so were not inundated with too many tourists. Upon arrival we dropped our stuff at our self-catering apartment and immediately headed out for a 4-hour kayak and hike (guided of course). We set out in double kayaks for about an hour paddle. At least it should have been but unfortunately not everyone in our party had kayaked before, or actually experienced the great outdoors from their home bases in Singapore (think pillsbury dough boy and his mini gf) or Brooklyn (all they were missing was the traditional Hasidic garb). We landed the kayaks and began a hike up to a lovely but very very very cold waterfall. How did we know it was cold? Well, because Jason and I jumped in it of course. Much like polar bear jumps it was refreshing and reinvigorated us for the hike back down the mountain (with a side trip to jump in a little pool - also cold). After reaching the boats our guide treated us to a well earned snack of caviar on multi-grain wafers accompanied by watery tea. It was the perfect way to reenergise ahead of the 45 minute kayak paddle back to Flam. As this was a town catering to tourists and we were at the end of the season there wasn't a whole lot of evening activity, we made the best of it though. There was an excellent brewery where we sampled 4-5 different styles - Alt, ale, lager, stout, wheat - that were incredibly good considering the remote outpost we were in, either that or it could have been the 4 hours of vigorous exercise in the clean crisp Norwegian air. We dined on some reindeer patties at the local greasy spoon - but at that point food was for routine purposes only rather than out of necessity.

The next day we set out on the ferry through the fjords on our way to Bergen where we would spend a couple of days. The green mountains rose sharply on either side of us often broken up by cascading waterfalls of the still melting winter snows and ebbing mountain tarns. Rather than settle for an uninterrupted ride to the next port where we would catch our bus we took a couple hour side trip to Undredal to sample some of their famous (?) brown cheese. We were about the only people in this small town but we did happen upon a cafe that did a brown cheese sampler platter along with a narrative of the history of the cheese and the town/region we were in. The cheese is actually carmelised whey, so not technically cheese, but good nonetheless. It is one of those local delicacies that is best remembered rather than trying to recreate the taste sensation back home, this can be seen just by opening our fridge and seeing the untouched block of brown cheese that we brought home with us. Aside from the brown cheese and tiny church (20 people max if that) there wasn't a whole lot to do, plus we had to make sure to catch the last ferry, otherwise we would be up shit fjord without a kayak. The only way to get the ferry was to turn on the rotating orange police light that would signal to the ferrymaster to pull into the dock, it was anxious waiting hoping that the pilot had good eyes or wasn't in a hurry to get to his final stop - thus stranding us. It all worked out and we got onboard looking like travelling rock stars as the entire boat was peering at us over the railing to see who were these three people that caused the ferry to make this unscheduled stop.

Fast forward through the remainder of the ferry ride to the bus ride to the train ride and finally into Bergen about 9PM. Unfortunately when we got into Bergen it was pouring, thankfully the owner of the flat we rented picked us up at the train station, truly door to door service. After dropping our bags we went out in search of this very cool bar we had read about called Pingvin, they were rumoured to serve very good authentic food in a hipster environment, perfect for us foreign hipsters looking for some real Norwegian eats. We were concerned about wandering around in the rain looking for this place but set out undeterred. We walked out the door of the apartment building went about 15 feet and loked left and right to try an decide which was the best way to go - lo and behld there was Pingvin in all its glory, that my friends is what the Brits call a result. Unfortunately the food was running out since we got in so late but we stuck around for a few of their finest Norwegian ale and a little bit of conversation with the decidely Norwegian bar staff (ahem). One of these barkeeps recommended a place just down the road for some quality reindeer and after all that's what we were on the hunt for. So, despite the rainy conditions we not only found our hip local hangout but we got ourselves some delicious reindeer steaks with a lovely berry sauce over the top. Welcome to Bergen Kirsten, Jason and Brian.

We were up the next morning brght and early (well sort of). The sun was shining and we set out to experience all that Bergen had to offer since we really only had one day to take it all in. Off we went to find the "best coffee shop" in Bergen as voted by some hipster magazine or other. Being a non-coffee drinker I was of course ecstatic to find an incredible hot chocolate. The place lived up to its billing as a top shop with quality barristas, so with our bellies full of hot drink off we went for our first Norwegian hike. Skipping the Furnicular we let the power of our feet take us to the top of the mountain (big hill?) and beyond. Once at the top with all the rosy faced rotund tourists we kept going. Through the woods, past the mountain lakes, and up the next mountain - we just kept going. The air was crisp, the views fantastic, I am reasonably sure we could have kept going all the way back to Oslo - but then hunger set in, and we had just the place in mind. What took us 3 hours to climb up took only an hour to get back down again, destination: Bergen Fish Market. If this fish was any fresher we would have had to catch it ourselves (whoa! thank you folks I'll be here all week). After our hunger inducing hike we set about scaring up a variety of seafood - peel-n-eat-shrimp, tuna, and whale. Yes, that's right whale. Now before you tree huggers start bombarding me with your hate mail, Norway is one of the very few countries allowed to hunt whales, they're not allowed to export it but they are allowed to eat it. Probably a god thing it can't be exported because it is very good, much like a very nice piece of steak with a slight sea taste. Mmmmm, would almost be worth the trip back to Bergen for some whale.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around Bergen checking out churches and other touristy things of note, it was a bit of a half effort since we were all still glowing from our hike and fish-fest. There may have been a nap as well. For our final meal in Bergen we took a recommendation from a Serbian, a highly dubious prospect at the best of times. However, the restaurant was quite good (as evidenced by the prices) and the fact we were the only 3 diners . It was nice to have the restaurant to ourselves as we recounted the details of our trip. After a night cap at our favourite Penguin bar we turned in and effectively closed the chapter on our Norwegian adventure.

Jason carried on for a few extra days while Kirsten and I flew back to Oslo and then home to London very much looking forward to the next time we would find ourselves in Norway.

Welcome Cameron

2008-10-19T21:11:00.002+01:00

Our very dear friends Dina and Jon welcomed their first daughter Cameron Grace to the world at 8:30 AM on Saturday the 18th of October. The only disappointing thing about the birth is that it didn't happen 5 days later, in which case I had it on good authority the baby would have been known as Brian or Brianna, oh well, you can't win them all.

We had the good fortune to meet little Cameron today and she is exquisite. While she didn't do anything more than sleep with the occassional stretch, she is a beautiful baby and well deserved for one of our favourite couples.

As an added bonus they asked Kirsten to be the godmother. What a special honour for Kirsten, a great thing for Jon and Dina to do, and a very lucky little Cameron indeed to have such a wonderful person to provide guidance throughout her life.

What a weekend, sometimes you don't need to travel very far to have a fantastic adventure or start a wonderful journey.

She's your Queen*

2008-10-17T16:52:00.002+01:00

*For reference please see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1llNqINuuv8

So one of the perks of being a Google employee, in addition to the free food, is getting some pretty cool opportunities such as being part of a Guinness Book of World Records record (you loyal reader have no idea what I'm talking about as it will be revealed in a much delayed-post).

Anyway, yesterday saw the one and only Queen of England grace our glorious hallways to celebrate the partnership YouTube has with the royals as well as some of the various charitable things we apparently collaborate on, never forget, it's all about the kids.

Anyway, she was escorted around the offices in a nice little green get-up while Prince Phillip trailed behind her making beelines down rows of desks to ask (interrogate?) random people what they were doing. All in all a very amusing and interesting day in the life of this Googler. Check it our here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalChannel

What else can I add to make you forgive me for being so crap at posting? Hmmm, how about the Sox staving off elimination in an unbelievable comeback last night? Let's hope they can do it 2 more times. And my favourite quote is from Bill Simmons about the Jason Bay/Manny Ramirez trade "I can't look at Bay and not think of Manny. At least not yet. Bay is like the dutiful, pretty second wife who does everything right … and yet, I can't stop thinking about the soul-wrenching tramp who married me first and broke my heart. "

And that as Publius would say is all I have to say about that.

Sleep well mes amis.

Slacking

2008-09-30T21:47:00.001+01:00

I know, I'm in one of those down times when updates are few and no-between. It's only because I am thinking about them sooo much and want them to be perfect.

Updates to come include Norway, Rhodes with Google and a trip to Jersey for a wedding.

Stay tuned (and patient) dear readers.

Is there a nurse in the house?

2008-08-20T17:19:00.002+01:00

There is now. After a ridiculous 15 months and heaps of bureaucratic incompetence (redundant?) the lovely young Kirsten is officially recognised in the UK as a licensed nurse.

It's a good thing there's not a shortage of nurses in this country or else this story would really be silly...

Stay tuned for the Adventures of Nurse Hennigan in Norway (G-rated sickos!)

I see Cretans

2008-07-31T21:49:00.004+01:00

Despite the spate of good summer weather we've had in London (relatively speaking), Kirsten and I decided to do it one better and head to Crete for a few days.

We rented a villa on the western side of the island near Chania where we anticipated spending 5 relaxing days in the sun. We were not disappointed. We were treated to 5 straight days of cloudless skies and 90+ degrees. Thankfully we had a lovely pool all to ourselves when the heat got to be too much - all that exertion of sitting around reading really takes it out of you.

As an added bonus our friends Jon and Dina were able to make the trip to get a little downtime before moving into their dream house. A little bit of Crete goes a long way.

Really not a whole lot to report from Crete unless you want to hear about all the sitting around, drinking cold drinks, eating lovely homemade food, frequent dips in the pool, early evening swims in the sea and all the other boring things we got up to.

Two of the interesting bits were when Kirsten and I took the rental car and drove along a winding cliff side road to go to a "secluded" beach called Elafonisi. With a steep drop off on one side and herds of goats wandering around the road it was a pretty nerve racking drive. Just a few examples...

The secluded beach had a parking lot filled with tour buses, apparently the secret is out. Nevertheless, we found a couple of beach chairs under a big beach umbrella and spent a lovely few hours ... you guessed it ... reading and soaking up some rays (or the shade in the case of someone who got really sunburned within the first 30 minutes on the first day...ahem!). The charm of Elafonisi was that a portion of the land was cut off form the mainland by what had been referred to as a lagoon. You got to this island by wading through 50 ft. or so of knee high water. As there were no umbrellas to hide from the sun we stayed on the mainland.

Our 2nd to last night in Crete we went to the harbor in Chania for some dinner. We figured we might as well get our hands on some octopus or other seafood, Greek salad and other Grecian delicacies. We got some really nice pictures, but none on our camera so you'll have to picture it in your mind's eye. Dinner was alright and we decided to finish it up with some Ouzo, after all this was Greece. It would have been nice if it had stopped there but the proprietor liked us so much (can you blame him really?) brought over a round of raki. If you've never had you aren't missing anything. We were considering bringing a bottle back to help remove some paint from a few of our walls...

All in all, a very nice trip to rediscover what a proper summer is supposed to be like. Maybe next time when we go back we'll try and get out of the villa a bit more and find out what else this lvoely little island in the middle of the Med has to offer. Until then we'll always have the sun.

Banish - ed

2008-07-18T12:40:00.002+01:00

Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Well, last night Kirsten and I know where he was. He and Juliet were on stage in Regent's Park at the Open Air Theatre.

Each summer a series of Shakespeare's plays are put on as well as one non-Shakespeare play. An open air theatre in London? With the weather it may sound like a bad idea and I guess if it actually had rained we would have agreed. however we were fortunate to get cloudy skies that created a brilliant colourful backdrop as the sun set.

This particular performance was Romeo and Juliet in 50's style (I thought that's what West Side Story was???), except the script was all original Bill.

We grabbed a bite to eat before the performance but the food on offer did look good. But there was something very nice about watching Shakespeare under the night sky in an intimate venue with a nice bottle of red wine.

Truly how Will was meant to be enjoyed.

Now it's off to Crete, for some well deserved fun and sun after a week of celebration for 2 years of marriage.

What a final

2008-07-08T21:45:00.002+01:00

too bad we missed it. So apparently the 2008 men's Wimbledon final is considered one of the best tennis matches ever played (it seems like we have one of those every few years). We watched the first two sets and anticipated as did the rest of the tennis watching world that Nadal was going to finally unseat Rog in impressive fashion. I guess it was impressive in that he endured a 5 set marathon but it wasn't for Kirsten and I to watch, we had bigger and better things to do. We had a date with Dolly Parton.

We were lucky enough to have found a couple of tickets to the final Dolly Parton show at the O2 on the final night of her 4 week European tour and we were there for her.

Before the show we popped down to Greenwich to check it out and grab some dinner at one of the out of the way pubs that surround the area. We took pictures at the Prime Meridian being all east and west at the same time. If it hadn't been for the steady downpour it would have been pretty sweet. We'll be back Greenwich, oh yes, we'll be back.

Let me say it loud and clear, Dolly rocks! She's 60 something years old, her face has more plastic than Mr. Potato Head, her sequin outfits are blinding but the woman still has a set (ahem) of pipes. She sang a mix of her classics (Jolene, 9 to 5, Thank God I'm a Country Girl, I Will Always Love You) with some of her newer material but what made the concert so special was her conversations with the crowd between songs. So in addition to belting out the tunes she kept everyone laughing with her personal anecdotes about where she was from and the origin of the songs. Interesting little factoid: Jolene was based on the town tramp from her little town in Tennessee and Dolly wanted to grow up to be just like her.

Other highlights were her throw back gospel tunes and a cappella songs with members of the band, sounded like something straight out of "O Brother Where Art Thou".

The only damper on the day was that the Jubilee line was closed for maintenance works. If you aren't from London or haven't been to a show at the O2 recently let me tell you a little something about getting to the O2, there is only one public transportation stop, and it's on the Jubilee line. Of course there are buses and Thames boats, but they take a dog's age to get back to central London and after a show you get the distinct pleasure of having your personal space violated by about 20 people, simultaneously. However, despite the transportation woe nothing could dim the glow of a wonderful performance from Dolly.

Pimms, Strawberries and Cream and grunting

2008-06-29T12:35:00.002+01:00

As summer has finally arrived here (4 days of sun in a row!) in old Blighty so has come the highlight of the British tennis season, Wimbledon.

Tickets are sold out months in advance but several hundred tickets are released each night for the following day's action. My buddy Pat was able to secure 2 tickets for Thursday for Centre Court; not too bad at all.

The day was full of sun and the tennis line up looked spectacular. We were fortunate to see Venus beat the UK #1, followed by local favourite (Scotsman?) Andy Murray destroy a hapless Belgian. Half the fun of Wimbledon is wandering around courts 3 and higher where you tend to be no more than a few feet from the players, it gives a totally different perspective on the speed of the game, size of the courts, and impressively sculpted physiques of the female players (scary really). Caught a bunch of former world #2 Tommy Haas' match, he would go on to get worked by Rafa on Saturday. Supported perennially disappointing top US man James Blake look awful in losing his first set, decent in winning the second, before returning to form and crashing out of Wimbledon in the 2nd round.

As Kirsten was not able to attend during the day I put the Wimbledon traditions on hold, so fingers crossed we'll get back next week for some Pimm's and lemonade and strawberries and cream.

I am still aware that the Italy post has not yet been completed. I would like to promise a masterpiece but in reality it is a study in procrastination. Until then...

Fire up the Flux Capacitor

2008-06-15T11:43:00.004+01:00

Back to the Future has been on the telly pretty consistently here over the past couple of weeks, so I figured what better way to catch-up on some long overdue posts (though not Italy, that one is still in the works - and really long).

Marathon #5. The 13th of April was a day Kirsten had circled on the calendar for 3 months. She was entered into and had been training for the London Marathon. As the dutiful husband I was supporting her by extolling her virtue at the pub, sleeping in on weekends so that I would be well rested when she got back from her 10-15 mile runs, and generally ensuring that the yin/yang of our combined weight remained consistent as she shed pounds on her strict mileage regimen. For the first time (!) she actually trained for a marathon as opposed to the previous times in Philly or Boston when she decide to run as a spontaneous decision (I know, she's just not right in the head). Her goal was an unbelievable 3:40 and all her training was designed to achieve that. We spent the week before the marathon in Italy so she could run the Tuscan hills and focus on her target time. K's sister, Arden, flew in for the weekend and we organised a travelling contingent of supporters to follow Kirsten around the 26.2 mile course. Those hardy souls included Jon, Dina, Martyn, Christian (who got his own workout in), Bethany, Clair, Nick, and briefly Clara, Mike and Bas. Arden and I set out early with an ambitious goal of seeing Kirsten at 5 spots along the course. The plan got scuppered almost from the start partly due to naive planning and partly due to poor public transport. While we managed to see the Masai Warriors at our 1st stop we missed Kirsten, and spent the next hour + playing catch-up. As if to compound the growing anger I felt the rain set in to really rub in the grim reality that I might not see her at any point during the race or best case scenario half way through. Due to the wonders of modern technology we did stay in contact as Kirsten kept calling us from her mobile to tell us where she was. So let's put this in perspective - here's this woman in the midst of a 26 mile run (8:30/mile pace) calling us with updates on how she was getting on and generally chatting!!! Truly a freak of nature.

After meeting up with the calming influence of Jon, Dina, Martyn and Christian we revised our plan and made it over to Canary Wharf to see Kirsten 2-3 times in the space of 30 minutes, finally we were getting somewhere and supporting our girl as she was on the back half of the marathon miles. The last time we saw her, a few miles from the finish, resulted from a true team effort. An all out sprint from the tube station down to the course just as Kirsten came by, at that point I am reasonably sure that we were all more winded than the woman who had already completed 22 miles.

From there we shot down to the finish line, or as near as we could get, to meet up with our triumphant marathoner, in a steadily increasing and cold downpour. We found her among the limping, bloody nippled and generally miserable looking masses. Kirsten was smiling and relaxed, if I hadn't seen her do the run myself I wouldn't have believed she had just run a marathon.

We bundled her up, covered her with umbrellas and headed home so she could take a well deserved shower. After a bit of a rest our friend Stef hosted a post-marathon lunch at her recently opened, and fabulous, cafe on Clapham Common - Schmidt's (plug!). It was a treat for all of us.

Jump ahead one month and it was off to the States for me to see the littlest one get his diploma. So off to the Big Easy, New Orleans, for a 3-day trip. Kirsten was excused from duty due to the cost of the flights and the quick turnaround, besides someone has to pay the bills. The trip was filled with the standard New Orleans fare - oysters, Abita beer, seafood, Bourbon St. (LaFitte's - Mark?) and the list goes on and on. Of course the reason I was there was to see young Mr. Hennigan get his diploma - and get announced as magna cum laude (!!!) - at least there is one in the family. It was good to see the whole family, especially since none of them have made it over to visit in London as yet (ahem!). Other than that it was nice to be reminded of what that big bright warm thing in the sky is. But as it goes just as the body was getting adjusted to the time difference it was time to hop back on a plane, go transatlantic, land at Gatwick and head straight into work...what a reward.

Watch this space, Italy is on its way.

Big shout out to TM and MA (and Publius), loyal readers even during the slow (very slow) times.

So we went to Switzerland...

2008-06-12T21:07:00.002+01:00

...and it was closed.

Skipping a few updates (I know, I know), I'm going to catch-up by starting with our most recent trip and working backwards. Think of it as your own personal time machine.

So the K-dawg really wanted to check out Switzerland to see what it was all about. We set about booking our trip and couldn't understand why there weren't any available hotel rooms in Geneva on Saturday. It was only after we came to terms with our UK-centric view of Europe that the answer hit us - Euro 2008. This is the quadrennial football (soccer) tournament held in Europe. The reason this major tournament (behind only the World Cup and possibly the Olympics) slipped our mind is that none of the island countries made this year's tourney; no England, no Wales, no Scotland and sadly no Republic of Ireland.

In the end we managed to find a room a few kilometers outside of the city - in France. We rented a car anyway and spent our time cruising all over the southwest of Switzerland, the French speaking bit. It's a good thing the scenery, food and company were good because there was limited interaction with the locals since we couldn't find them.

On Saturday when we got in we popped over the border to our hotel to drop our stuff off and immediately set out for the other side of Lake Geneva to see what we could see. So back over the border we went and drove along the lake, destination - Lausanne, for some eats. Unfortunately by the time we got there the lunch hour had passed so most places were closed; not to mention most stores shut for the day and most people apparently MIA. Lucky for us we found a pizza joint, just across from the train station, hey desperate times call for desperate measures. After lunch and carefully avoiding the horde of Turkish football fans (See Galatasaray "Hell) we made our way to the spa town of Yverdon-les-Bains. We figured we might as well drop into the baths and soak away what ailed us (still not sure what that is). Rolling up to the Central-Spa centre (without bathing suits or towels), I got my first chance to put my extensive French speaking capabilities to the test. After waiting in line I managed to get out something along the lines of do you sell bathing suits. Now you all know I am a physical specimen, but even I have my limits. Maybe it's because I'm an American or maybe it's just because I never miss an opportunity to mock those that are fond of wearing the ultimate in Euro men's beachwear - the banana hammock; but there was no way I was spending 40 euros to parade around in the man thong. So instead we had a coke and a coffee and plotted our next move. We popped around the lake to Neuchatel, had a quick tour around, watched some of the Switzerland match and then back in the car to find a dinner spot in Yverdon. Dinner was another adventure, why is it that in every French speaking country (except France) no one seems to speak any English, thanks god for pointing and elementary knowledge of "French words that might appear on a menu". We ended up having a lovely meal of steak frites with only a few miscommunications - Yes we would like whatever you just said (Bread). What a first day.

We knew Sunday was going to be a quiet day in Switzerland, I mean after Saturday what more could we expect from the quietest day in the known world? We checked out Divonne which was the nearest town to our hotel in France. Surprise, surprise, we found a Sunday market with all manner of wonderful foods - cheese, breads, oysters, fruits, veg and on and on; it was a bit like Borough Market (as those that have been to visit us would know - ahem Hennigans). On from Divonne we crossed the border back into Switzerland, went through Geneva and then along the southside of the lake into ... wait for it ... France, destination Evian. Sadly, Evian was closed and the only place we could find for lunch was a ... wait for it ... pizza joint. Lunch was alright but in a shout out to Publius I had some foie gras. On our way out of town we sampled some of the namesake wares of the town, a couple bottles of the finest water money can buy. Funny thing, it tasted just like the stuff you get in the states. Hmmmm. Having enough of France we shot back over the border to Switzerland and what would be our fondest stop - Gruyeres - as in the cheese. Our first stop was the cheese making factory where we had a lovely audio tour (of a closed factory) hosted by an English speaking cow named Cherry, riiiight. At least we got a sample of 3 different aged cheeses on our way out, I recommend the 10 month, c'est magnifique. Next on our list was dinner and the finest fondue that Gruyere had to offer. The town is actually quite small but very quaint. It is clearly built on the tourist trade but was charming nonetheless. We hunkered down at a patio restaurant and caught a few rays (did I forget to mention this was the first sign of sun we'd seen?). With French skills honed to perfection by this point we ordered up some Gruyere fondue with potatoes, bread, dried beef, cornichons and cocktail onions (?) and stuffed our faces until all the cheese was gone; damn it was good. Apres paying l'addition it was back in the car, over the border, a night cap at the hotel bar while catching the last few minutes of Germany v. Poland. What a day. Only a half day more to enjoy our little trip to Suisse.

Monday, Monday. We only had a half day left before our flight back to sunny London (it was actually 80+ and sunny). We did a whirlwind tour of some of the cities hot spots. The Ile de Rousseau, St. Peter's Cathedral, the flower clock of the Jardin Anglais and the tallest water fountain in the world. We had a nice little lunch at the Hotel de Ville Cafe, which came off a recommendation from K's cousin Lindsay, and it was good. On our way back to the airport we had the coup de grace, a chocolate and banana crepe on the lakeside. What a wonderful way to end the trip.

For Boston, for Boston...

2008-04-13T08:59:00.005+01:00

Been awhile since there's been an update, so consider this a teaser.

Sleep well all of you out there as the college hockey universe has righted itself. The mighty Boston College Eagles are the 2008 national champions. I knew that tuition would pay-off. As an added bonus the Sox beat the Yanks, another good night in the best city in American sports.

Updates on the way:
--Easter weekend in Dusseldorf Germany (actually below)
--Weeklong trip to Italy (Rome, Tuscany and Florence)

and perhaps most important of all a recap of Kirsten's running of the London marathon today. It's 9AM and we're off to follow her around the course and cheer her on...

Frohe Oster!

2008-03-25T20:44:00.005Z

Unlike the slave drivers in the US, Easter found those of us residing in the UK with a very well deserved 4-day weekend. We decided to get out of London and go visit Kirsten's cousins just outside Dusseldorf. This would mark our triumphant return to Germany after a summer trip to Bavaria.

The weekend turned out to be one filled with food, oh the food, some nice German beer and wine and lots of rest. The weather seemed to follow us from London though and Friday was marked by hail/sleet/rain. We stayed around the Piepers' house in Neuss and settled in, not a bad place to settle into. The day was filled with reading, consuming lots of food from Waltraud. She has got the whole food thing down, little did we realise that by the end of the weekend we would be ready to enter a competitive food eating contest such was the size of our stomachs. Both Kirsten and I would have been well rested had someone decided not to stay up until 2AM drinking Warsteiner with the two Pieper boys.

Saturday saw more inclement weather which was really unfortunate since Kirsten was training for the London marathon and had to run 6 miles. After a rather large breakfast (this is actually a theme for the weekend) and some time to digest, Kirsten set off on her run. Upon her return we went into Dusseldorf to see the sights, despite the weather. With Fabian as our tour guide we wandered around the streets and ended up at an outdoor market. In an effort to get out of the rain we settled in for a lunch of spinach and potato stew with sliced frankfurter and a thick pea soup with ...sliced frankfurter on top. This was of course washed down with the local Dussledorf brew, a dark and hoppy concoction that warmed the body on a crappy weather day. We checked out the Rhein and then headed back for the comfort of the house. We settled in and decorated a few eggs, 5 dozen!, and played some table tennis (I let her win, really I did...twice). The Germans have a very cool product for decorating eggs which involves placing a small amount of dye in a gloved hand and rolling the egg around to create swirls and speckles, sure beats dropping in dye and letting sit. That evening we decided to take in some local cuisine in Dusseldorf. We went to one of the finest sushi places in the city. Apparently Dusseldorf has a business cooperative with Japan, in general this means nothing but that it provided us a chance to get some real nice sushi in Dusseldorf. The young 'uns in the group finished off the evening at a Köln Brauhaus, but the Alt beer was good so it made it ok that we were drinking the rival city's beer in Dusseldorf.

Sunday, ah Easter Sunday, [insert your own personal thought here on Easter]. The day saw us wake to a sumptuous breakfast spread, the focus of which was of course Easter eggs. Since we're adults we skipped the hunt and moved right into the cracking and consuming. There's nothing like a hard boiled egg with spicy mustard and/or horseradish, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Towards the end of breakfast it felt like a scene right out of Cool Hand Luke. Whereas my natural inclination was to sit around and let all the blood in my body go to my belly to digest, somebody had to train for the marathon. Because I am a dutiful husband and we guilted Gereon into showing us a route (we were on bikes), there were three who embarked on a 10 mile tour, a 10 mile tour...The run/ride took us into the woods of Neuss, out along the Rhein with Dusseldorf across the way, over the wrong side of the tracks and back to Neuss finishing back at the house having traversed 10.01 miles - Gereon must have an odometer in his head! Shortly after we got back the rain/sleet/hail started again. We feasted on a lunch of venison roast, kartofel kanoodle, red cabbage and some apple thing (clearly our German is exemplary). Rather than sit around and waste what was the best weather so far the kids all hopped in the car and went to Köln. As Gereon is at uni there he would serve as our tour guide. In addition to wandering the streets we climbed the steps to the impressive and sky line dominating Köln cathedral. As with many of the sights in various cities we go check out this was under construction so our view included the finest German scaffolding around. Just as it started to hail (!) we tucked into one of the oldest brauhaus' for some of the local Alt beer and snacky-poos. Aside from shattering a glass on the floor (and leaving Gereon to apologise for the silly American) it was like stepping back in time to a smoke filled room with long tables of patrons talking loudly and eating ridiculous plates of meats. Saying our goodbyes to Köln we piled back in the car for the hour long ride back to Neuss...and what should we do when we get back? Have dinner of course. I weighed myself after the 3 1/2 days in Germany and realised I had put on about 10 pounds, thank goodness Kirsten is running for the two of us.

Since Monday was also a holiday we had a leisurely day before our flight back to London. We got in a few final games of ping pong, had a swim in the indoor pool and finished off some of the leftover eggs and other lunch bits from the previous days. All in all it was a fantastic trip, quite different from our normal frenetic sight seeing pace. I'm pretty sure we'll go back, once our stomachs return to a normal size.

Updates on our Italy trip and Kirsten's marathon to follow in a few days...

Scalliwags be damned!

2008-02-25T20:43:00.003Z

A certain person who shall remain anonymous (since I rather enjoy being married to her) left her bag on the train this morning. Thankfully she only left her wallet, iPod and mobile (cellphone) in it. Already this wasn't shaping up to be a good day.

Imagine my surprise when my phone rang on my way to work and on the other end was a husky voice, not the one I've known for the last 6 years. It was one of the last few honest people around. It seems he picked up the bag at its final stop (after it had gone into London and back out again) and started dialing people randomly to find out whose bag it was.

So rest assured loyal blog followers, the bag has been returned to its rightful owner with not a thing missing. The hero of this story, Nicky, refused any sort of reward. I wonder if he'll feel happy about that once he realises Kirsten stole his wallet when she picked up the bag...

Cultural learnings

2008-02-17T21:15:00.003Z

So Man U has a Korean player named Ji-Sung Park, one of the more amusing chants by home supporters in a match against Newcastle, "Park, Park, Where-ever you may be, You eat dogs in your home country, But it could be worse -You could be a scouse, Eating rats in your council house" US sports could really do with some inventive chants to spice things up.

Kirsten's father and his friend Alexandra were in town for a visit a few weeks back. We've had enough visitors at this point that we are solid tour guides, and we always try and make each visit a unique one. So in addition to eating at the Polish-Mexican restaurant (1/2 the menu is Polish food, the other 1/2 is Mexican) and spending a few hours wandering through Borough Market amongst our other activities Kirsten booked tickets to Mama Mia. Unfortunately I couldn't make it due to a friend's birthday party so I missed out on a musical based on the soothing sounds of Abba. Well, maybe next time...

Other than that I spent 3 days in Dublin for a work conference, which turned out to be more of a team bonding trip than a work conference. There may have been a few pints of Guinness had by all. I learned another of life's lessons, staying up until 4 in the morning two days running is no longer as easy as it once was; the old body doesn't quite bounce back like it used to. Despite not having a lot of free time to tour around Dublin, the city is still a beautiful place to visit with a wonderful vibe.

Also had my first visit to Scotland, Edinburgh to be exact. It was only an overnight but I saw enough to want to go back. The castle dominates the city and I'd like to see it up close, rather than from a mile away in a taxi to and from the airport. One piece of advice if you're travelling to Edinburgh from London, don't do it on a day where fog is expected. Spending 4+ hours in the airport isn't very enjoyable, and it certainly isn't enjoyable when it happens on both ends of the trip.

And that's all I have to say about that. We're in the midst of planning our spring travels so this blog can get back to being a record of our travel and not necessarily the random events of day to day life in London Town.

Congrats to Jon and Dina, nicer people there aren't.

Still here...

2008-01-31T21:09:00.000Z

So we've had some "complaints" about the lack of updates. This has been a result of the holiday season coupled with me changing jobs, so I offer my sincerest apologies to those of you who've had to fill the void with much more exciting things such as the ongoing primaries, the dominance of the Boston sports scene and the ever changing weather. So what has happened since Kirsten's birthday and our Fat Duck weekend? Summary below, enjoy...

Dubai Rugby 7s weekend. I and several friends jetted off to Dubai to spend some time taking in the sights of Dubai and some international 7s rugby. While not one of my favorites cities it was an interesting adventure. Having never been in a Muslim city I began to appreciate my inherent expectations of western cities. That being said, Dubai is apparently one of the most lenient Muslim cities in the Arab world. The amount of building occurring is tremendous, it will be interesting to return in a few years simply for to see the difference. And oh by the way, the rugby was great. 2 full days of 8AM to 6PM rugby matches in the full hot desert sun while consuming a not insignificant volume of Heineken. It was kind of like a bachelor party except all but a few of the gentlemen were committed, while all of the gentlemen deserve to be committed.

For the christmas season Kirsten and I decided to hang around London and just relax, so sadly no trip to the British Virgin Islands this year. Although, after spending two days (christmas and boxing day) sitting around in our pajamas, drinking champagne, and eating olives, cheese and a lovely filet mignon. The other reason we decided to stay around London was that Kirsten's sister Arden was getting married in Boston on the 5th, so off we went on New Year's Day back to the states for a wedding and some retail therapy. The wedding was a lovely affair in a bipolar Boston (-10 one day, 50+ a couple days later. We truly put the exchange rate and post-holiday sales to good use as we doubled our wardrobes, seriously, 20GBP Kenneth Cole shoes? How could you not. After Boston Kirsten had to fly back for work. As I was between jobs I had the luxury of a few extra days to pop down to Philly to reacclimate myself to the adopted home town and as a special bonus spend a quiet day (pizza and TV) with the brothers Hennigan before flying back to London Town 2008.

As I sit typing I am fighting off the after effects of a 3-day work conference in Dublin. Having been at the job for only a few weeks it was nice to get out of the office and really get to know people on a personal level. While I didn't get to see many sites in Dublin this trip, save for the inside of many pubs and clubs, it'll definitely be a place Kirsten and I will go back to. Should you visit in the interim, a good restaurant is Brasserie Sixty6 and a good pint of Guinness can be found at the Stag's Head. If you're looking for the Thing Mote you'll be disappointed to now that it has closed and been replaced by a plastic chain pub...and so goes the march of time. Finally a word of advice when coming to Europe and presenting to an international audience, using the term "global" in reference to an organisation that has offices in "California, Colorado, New York, and Dublin" doesn't quite cut it. And that's one to grow on...

Kirsten's father is heading into town tomorrow for a few days so the next post shouldn't be too far behind; but if it is I know I'll get some "friendly" reminders.

The Fat Duck Weekend

2007-12-31T16:54:00.000Z

And from our guest blogger...

A few years before we got married Brian started talking about a chef by the name of Heston Blumenthal and his restaurant called The Fat Duck. In 2005 it was named “The Best Restaurant in the World”. Our Philly friends gave us a hefty gift certificate as a wedding present. When we moved to London we got excited to finally cash it in. Unfortunately it took Brian five months of calling before we were able to slot in a Saturday night reservation. Ironically it fell on the weekend after my 30th birthday.

In addition to the sumptuous meal that awaited us our friend Paul graciously got us a gift voucher to Cliveden House. So not only would we dine in one of the finest restaurants in the world we would also be staying in one of the most exquisite hotels we’d ever been in, it was kind of like staying at Versailles.

Brian and I both figured that the only way to take on the Fat Duck was to let it take us. We agreed that we would order the tasting menu and try anything that was put in front of us. At a few points throughout the evening I may have regretted our pact, but in the end I would recommend anyone to do the same.

Menus were placed in front of us but after five minutes we were ready to go. Our only decision was whether to have a 95 pound or 165 pound wine pairing. We chose to have one of each

…and so it began.

Within a minute or two a woman wheeled a trolley to our table. She had a silver canister in one hand and a spoon in the other. On the trolley sat a black bowl steaming like a witch’s kettle. She explained that she was going to tempt our appetites by increasing the saliva in our mouth. She squirted a dollop of vodka-infused lime mousse on to the spoon and dropped it in to a kettle of nitrous oxide. She let it roll around for about thirty seconds and explained that it would have a texture similar to a soft meringue. When it was on the plate she dusted it with a green tea powder. As we put it in our mouth she spritzed a lemon aromatherapy spray over our heads. Delightfully citrusy and fresh. And indeed, it jump started our salivary glands.

The amuse-bouche continued with a raw oyster on the half shell with passion fruit jelly and a lavender sprig. Along with the oyster was a pommery grain mustard ice cream swimming in red cabbage gazpacho, and jelly of quail in langoustine cream with a parfait of foie gras.

After the amuse-bouche we had what I would later determine was my favorite course. A waiter brought a rectangular shallow box over to our table. It was essentially a planter that was growing moss. On top of the moss sat two mini plastic boxes. Now, everyone knows the Listerine tabs – right? They are those weird blue plasticy strips that you set on your tongue and wait for them to melt in to a slimy but minty mush. Right? Our boxes weren’t blue, but with that in mind, the waiter instructed us to pick up our little boxes and place the brown strip on our tongue. It tasted like hickory smoke. We were then instructed to eat a little piece of toast that had a truffle pate’. As the waiter left he poured hot water on our moss planter. There must have been dry ice buried beneath the moss because within seconds our entire table was engulfed in fog. Think mystical fairies in an enchanted forest. Weird, but extremely cool!

Our next course after the extended amuse-bouche was snail porridge with Joselito ham and shaved fennel. It was an odd green/grey color. Not fab to look at, but definitely tasty. If you called it escargot with oat pilaf it probably could sell anywhere.

In the scheme of things our second course was a little boring… traditional foie gras with almond fluid gel, cherry and chamomile. The tartness of the cherry had a nice ability to cut through the fatty texture of the liver. Different from any foie gras I had had before but again, a little boring.

Our third course was one that we had heard about prior to our trip. On the menu it simply said “sound of the sea”. The waiter brought over a platter with two conch shells. Nestled inside were two ipods. Two other waiters then came to serve our course. The food was sitting on a clear glass box. Inside the box was a bed of sand. On top of the glass there was what looked like sea foam washing up on to the beach. Dumbfounded, we again looked to our waiter for some instruction. “Put the ear pieces in to your ears, and listen to the music while you enjoy your course. I’ll be back in a few minutes to explain what you have eaten.” We just nodded our heads and agreed. I ate with only a vague idea of what I was putting in to my mouth. There was definitely some sort of seaweed and some sort of raw shellfish. I felt like I was snarfing salt water. We later found out that the sea spray was actually foam made from oyster juice. The oyster foam ran in to a raw oyster and several raw clams. The “sand” was toasted tapioca that had been finely chopped.

Now, the fourth course was the only one I couldn’t stomach. It was a piece of poached salmon that had been cut in to a perfectly symmetrical cube. It was covered with a liquorice jelly. It was perfectly smooth and black. Next to it were artichokes and a vanilla mayonnaise. I had a bite but just couldn’t manage a second. I was surprised to see Brian munching along as if it were a Philly cheesesteak. “Do you actually like this?!?!?!?” His response was “no, but I’m paying a shit-load to eat it so I’m going to lick every plate clean!!!”

Fair enough.

Course number five was a ballotine of Anjou pigeon with black pudding. For me, this was another course that if it was presented with another name it could probably be a crowd pleaser. Maybe “wild game foul with traditional british sausage”? Overall I thought it was tasty and a welcome reprieve from the black slimy liquorice salmon.

And so, the main savory dishes came to an end.

Next we were met with an interlude of hot and iced tea. The first thing that would come to mind is two glasses – right? Wrong! We were served a single glass of liquid. On one side of the glass they had poured a hot earl grey tea on the other side they had poured a slightly thicker icy earl grey tea. The two teas didn’t mix until you poured them in to your mouth. It was a strange but pleasant sensation and an excellent example of high school chemistry.

Next we were served a miniature cone with homemade ginger ice cream. Then what was described on the menu as a pine sherbet fountain. Neither Brian nor I could imagine what this might be. The waiters brought over a large plate on which two little paper pouches with small straws sat. After a quick shrug we picked them up and tuck a toke. Our mouths were filled with an effervescent dry spray that tasted like a combo of tart sugar and pine sol. It reminded me of the dipsticks of my youth where I would get a white candy wand that I could lick and dip in to various flavors of sugar.

The pine fountain led nicely in to the next dessert which was mango and Douglas fir puree with lychee, mango, and blackcurrant sorbet.

Next the waitress came over and explained that we were going to move in to breakfast.

Whatever, lady. Nothing can surprise us now!

We were served two cereal bowls, a pitcher of milk, and two mini boxes of cereal. Now most of you will think fruit loops, cheerios, honeycombs, … something like that – right? Nope. Parsnip cereal. Kind of tastey actually. Wouldn’t mind having it again.

Our last proper dish was arguably Heston Blumenthal’s most famous dish. Just like at the beginning of the meal, the crazy nitrous oxide bird wheeled over her cart. We were in store for the famous nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream! She picked up an egg from an egg carton and told us that it was a special egg that already had bacon inside. She cracked it and dropped it in to the pot of nitrous oxide. She scrambled it quickly and served it up. Not my favorite but Brian was again out to get his money’s worth. I’m not sure exactly how to describe it. Eggy rather than creamy consistency. Oh, and along side they served a piece of bacon that had been sliced and candied.

The waiters then introduced us to our last course. They placed little picture frames in front of us. In the frame was a map of the US and Great Britain. A few locations had stars. Stuck to the frames were little gummy candies. The waiter explained that they were whiskey wine gums. Each candy was made from a different type of whiskey and they were attached to the appropriate place on the map. The Jack Daniels gummy was therefore stuck to the frame on top of Kentucky.

After a quick cheese and port course we were then served some petit fours with our bill. Crikey ! Good thing there was a lovely gift certificate to help us along.

For those of you who may have an interest, the wines included:

-2005 Iphofer Kronsberg Silvaner Spatlese Trocken
-2006 Chateauneuf Du Pape, Domaine De Beaurenard, Rhone Valley
-2005 Vouvray, Moelleux, Le Bouchet, F. Chidane
-Rashiku Junmai-Sake, Yamatogawa
-2002 Magari Ca’Marcanda, Gaja, Tuscany
-2001 Chateau Neuf Du Pape Reserve, Chateau Rayas
-2003 Schneiderberger Riesling Eiswein, Weinviertel
-Hermitage, Vin De Paille, M. Chapoutier

Plus some Champagne to start and some Port with our cheese.

Pure gluttony all the way. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

Deep thought for the day...

2007-12-11T15:02:00.000Z

Sent to me via IM, but something we should all really consider:

"Who says hip hop artists can't be crafty in between recording sessions and popping a cap in a west coast artist's ass?"

---Anonymous

Another satisfied customer(s)...well sort of

2007-11-14T21:41:00.000Z

Hill/Zola - 6, Hennigan - 0

Char and Stuart have just left us after a week stay. That would mean Kirsten's entire family has been to visit us (Jason 2x), my loving family is throwing up the big fat donut. I'm not offended, they love me, really they do, seriously, I don't have any doubts whatsoever, none at all, nope, none...Anyway, I digress.

We filled Char and Stuart's time with the many wonders of this lovely city we now call home. While they didn't get the full Hennigan Walking Tour we did hit several of the high points.

Saturday we hit our favorite market, Borough. We spent several hours sizing up our food options and of course plenty of time enjoying the food on offer. Among our many conquests were cheese on potatoes with gherkins, cheese sandwiches, oysters, brownies, shallots and the list goes on. We of course finished up the day with a pint at the local pub where our friend Stef met us. It's not quite the same on a cold and overcast day but lovely just the same.

We stopped in at the Tate Modern to see the infamous "crack" installation and take in some of the pieces of work decorating the walls. Char is a big modern art fan, while I, well let's just say I don't have quite the same appreciation. When we came out of the Tate we were treated to the annual Lord Mayor's fireworks show over Waterloo bridge, the Brits do seem to love their fireworks. Our takeaway from the fireworks is not to try and get to Waterloo station after the end of the fireworks, surprisingly thousands of people had the same idea and what is normally a 10 minute walk took an interminable 45 minutes...

Sunday we went out to Windsor to tour the castle. Kirsten and I have been out to Windsor a number of times but had not yet visited the castle. On this overcast day we would get our first opportunity and as luck would have it the Queen was in, unfortunately she was otherwise engaged and could not join us for lunch. We spent a couple of hours wandering through the nearly deserted castle, not having to wait in lines made it a much more pleasurable experience. We took in the famous Queen Mary's doll house which is quite impressive, never intended to be a play toy it was a gift to the Queen from her cousin. The state rooms were equally impressive as we were regaled with stories of near and distant history that occurred in the very rooms we were strolling through. Unfortunately St. George's Chapel was closed to tours as it was a Sunday but that's ok, you too can check it out online...We finished our day at Windsor by heading across the street to a pub and having a few pints and a bite to eat. Sure it was in the heart of touristland, but it was warm, the beer was cold and the Sunday roast was decent.

Returning back to Putney we decided to try out a new Thai place...we would come to regret this, some more than others. The place held so much promise, it was just round the corner from our flat, had an associated Thai supermarket next door and smacked of authenticity. We sampled the veggie Pad Thai, Massaman lamb, Chicken cashew and Chicken Suki Yaki. Walking out of the place we all were pretty pleased with the meal and Kirsten and I were looking forward to many more meals there in the months to come. Thoughts like that came to a crashing end the next morning when I got a call at the office from Stuart...who had been experiencing the worst of food poisoning. It would lay him up until Wednesday, the day he and Char were heading home. Initially we thought it was an isolated incident until Char, Kirsten and I went to a South African restaurant that night - and about midway through the meal I had to concentrate all my effort on not bringing dinner back up. It's a shame really because it's one of the best places we've been to eat in Putney, and where else are we going to get such delicacies as kudu steak, springbok, chakalaka and bobotie. So if you're counting at home that's South Africa 1 Thailand 0.

Tuesday we hit the Hill family pub in Parsons Green, the White Horse. If you're in the know you can call it the Sloaney Pony. It is rumoured to have the best fish and chips and so far we haven't been disappointed. Sadly this was the one thing Stuart was looking forward to but he was still laid up at home. Kirsten and Char were happy to report that it was indeed a good fish and chip.

And that brought Char and Stuart's trip to a close. The next morning they flew back home and Kirsten and I began gearing up for someone's birthday...

Random Updates

2007-11-08T11:42:00.000Z

or "Bringing the blog up to date". Let's take a moment to give the old pat on the back to keeping the blog updated (relatively) for over a year.

I attended the first regular season NFL game held outside of North America on the 28th of October. Now many of the newspapers over here proclaimed this as the first regular season game ever held outside of the US, but as fans of American football can tell you the Cards and 49ers played in Mexico City in 2005. Nevertheless it was an historic event and I was there. After having flown in that morning from Boston (a little something called the World Series was going on), I expected to be exhausted, but thanks to a sleeping pill I arrived UK-side bright eyed and bushy tailed.

We had lunch with some friends and then headed up to Wembley for the game. The stadium re-opened within the past year and is very impressive. Although they need to sort out the turf as it simply got chewed up, it's a good thing there isn't a football match here until the end of November.

Overall the game was dull. The Dolphins suck (like really bad) and the Giants are boring to watch (and the excelled in boredom in this game). The game did have a distinctly American feel to it which was nice, it made it especially interesting to see how the Brits in the crowd responded. Considering the biggest cheers throughout the game were reserved for the cheerleaders I think you can imagine that it was more of a novelty than an actual sporting affair.

What else...

It's official, Kirsten is now recognised as a proficient English writer by the Nursing Association in the UK. We're all very proud of her. Clearly those Ivy's are just interested in graduation rates.

Char (K's mom) and Stuart are coming to town for a week (actually I am writing this from home as I expect them any minute). So there will be more updates to follow and hopefully some more satisfied customers of the Hennigan tour of London.

I think that about covers it. Until the next post...

In Prague, in 1968, there lived a young doctor named Tomas...

2007-11-06T20:50:00.000Z

The anticipation in the run up to Brian's birthday was unbearable. The only thing that made it tolerable was knowing that we would be spending 3 days in Prague. We've heard great things about it from everyone who's been, now it was our time, up there it was their time, down here it was our time, our time.

We'll spare you the travel details, but it bore a remarkable likeness to our experiences getting to and from other European destinations. However once we got to Prague it was all we had hoped and been lead to believe.

It being a birthday trip Kirsten booked us into a very nice hotel in the Jewish Quarter a short walk away from all the sights that we would take in over the next couple of days. We started by enjoying a nice French meal next to the hotel as we planned our next stop.

When you visit Prague the most dominating feature and most touristed is Prague Castle. We made sure to spend some time over two days walking around the grounds of the Castle. Unfortunately, we missed the inside of St. Vitus Cathedral which dominates the skyline of Prague, somehow spending 2-3 hours of our holiday time waiting in line just didn't seem worth it. Regardless of missing the Cathedral we enjoyed the other aspects such as Golden Lane, St. George's Basilica and the dungeon. One of the other "recommendations" for Prague Castle is the changing of the guard. Similar to in London these guys stand completely still for hours at a time while crowds of tourists flow by them, many of them trying to get these guys to laugh. Clearly we are a more high brow sort and therefore would never lower ourselves to take such pictures...

Some of our other highlights during our three days:

Meeting up with Brian's work colleagues Richard and Von out for drinks. Unfortunately this caused us to miss the Rugby World Cup final, but since England didn't win we weren't subjected to a bunch of Brits moaning in the Czech Republic. Richard is Dutch and couldn't care less about sport and Von is American and doesn't realise there is a sport beyond Dallas Cowboys football. Oh well.

We spent a lot of time criss-crossing St. Charles Bridge, the most famous and romantic of all the bridges over the Vltava River, flanked by its two prominent tower gates. Who would have figured that as the happy couple (us) would get caught in the middle of the bridge during a sleet/hail storm. All the more reason to hurry back to the hotel for a hot shower and then a nice meal out. We managed to find a "pizzeria" that served some traditional Czech fare; duck breast with potato dumplings and goulash.

One of the hotel highlights was the Zen City Spa. As an extra surprise Kirsten booked sessions. For a full hour we had a couple of Thai women bordering on assault as they worked our muscles, bones and flesh. Massage, Thai women, Czech Republic, ummmm, it was an experience. We came out of it still married and having not violated any vows, and feeling very refreshed. By the way, "disposable underwear"? who knew.

We also hit the faux Eiffel Tower (it was a long hike up the hillside), Hall of Mirrors, the Old Town City Hall including its very antique clock, and the very German beer hall called U Fleku

Overall, a wonderful place and can't wait until we get the chance to go back. Anyone fancy a trip to London and then a pop-over to the Czech Republic? We're always here.

2 Brians, 1 London

2007-11-06T20:21:00.000Z

The weekend of 13/14 October we had our first visitor at our new flat in Putney. Former colleague and constant friend Brian stopped in on London during the Krick European Tour 2007.

This would Brian's first trip to Europe and in an effort to make it as enjoyable as possible the airlines obliged by losing his luggage. By the time he made it to London from Scotland he'd been wearing the same clothes for 4 days, lucky him.

After a shower and a change of clothes on Saturday he was feeling refreshed and looked like a new man, as a matter of fact he looked like me, clearly the clothes make the man.

Kirsten and I had a colleague (or two's) wedding Saturday night so we left Brian to his own devices. While he was sampling the wonders of the pubs in Putney we spent the evening dancing to rock music with a bunch of Scotsmen in kilts (remember this line for future posts). It must be said that the reception really didn't start until 9PM, this may have had something to do with the fact that England was playing France in the semifinals of the Rugby World Cup. The entire male population at the wedding and the majority of the women sat in the back of the hall watching the match projected onto a wall. Thankfully England won, there was much rejoicing followed by a wedding fireworks spectacular (nice touch Rob!) and then plenty of drinks, dancing and late night bacon sandwiches...mmmmm, bacon sandwiches.

Sunday saw Brian giving Brian the 2nd instance (could be 3rd or 4th) of the Hennigan London Walking Tour. It was slightly expanded this time to include Piccadilly Circus (and an Indian lunch) but unfortunately missed out on Borough Market as it was Sunday. That being said, it was a nice day and can count another satisfied customer. The service has evolved as well as it now includes a photographer to prove "you were here".

Thankfully Brian's clothes finally caught up with him in Amsterdam, just in time to get searched on the way out...

People, with so many satisfied customers you are really running out of excuses to stop on in.

Red Sox win! Red Sox win!

2007-10-29T21:44:00.000Z

I never thought I would see a Red Sox World Series Championship in my life time, I guess I was right...I've now seen two!

I can honestly say we won.

Evidence: the Hennigan brothers attended game 2 of the 2004 World Series which the Sox won on their way to a sweep. The Hennigan brothers (1 in spirit) attended game 2 of the 2007 World Series which the Sox won on their way to, you guessed it, a sweep.

People, can it be any clearer???

Many thanks to Ortiz, Manny, Schill, Pap, Tek, et al. 2 World Series in 4 years? Imagine what it must be like to be a 10 year old and actually expect this level of success with such regularity.

2 more updates to follow. One: our trip to Prague which was amazing. Two: other random bits including an NFL game and another happy Hennigan London tour recipient.

May you all sleep well under the banner of another Red Sox World Championship.

Miss us?

2007-10-09T22:21:00.001+01:00

Bueller? Bueller?

So it's been awhile since we posted and it may seem like a lot has been going on, and in some respects it has, just not so sure the great sweaty masses will find it so.

Our primary activity in Sept/Oct was moving our location. We moved from hip Islington to low-key trendy Putney. If you're familiar with London at all you will know this amounts to treason of the highest degree; but you know what...we love it.

Putney suits us much better. Sure we don't have the 2 BRs and 2 Bathrooms but for all that convenience the guest accommodation was only used a handful of times, AHEM!!! (you get a pass Ja).

So now we're down here in quiet leafy Putney and it has felt more like home than Islington ever did. So why don't you all come home? Don't you want to go home?

Besides moving and settling in we've been trying to enjoy our non-work lives. Brian's been playing squash with a friend every weekend (and he's good!). Kirsten's been living the good life in our garden.

We went to a Turkish-British wedding a couple of weeks back. Let's just say if that was a sign of international relations then it'll take a long time for those two sides to come together. All in all it was a lot of fun and we learned some new wedding traditions, maybe for our next one.

Anyway, K-dawg is taking me to a secret location for my birthday in a couple of weeks so we'll have more to report then. Please note that all the birthday gifts you've surely sent may be delayed due to an ongoing Royal Mail strike. Yes, I'm sure that's the reason for the big delays...

Toro!!!

2007-09-16T21:21:00.000+01:00

We understand these posts are becoming less and less frequent, we're working on that, having an interesting life isn't easy, but we owe it you...

Last week Kirsten's brother Jason came to visit for a week. He's the first 2-time visitor (who isn't a British national) - so congrats Jason. He also will be the last guest to use the 2nd bedroom in Islington, as of today we are south London residents, but more on that later.

Last Wednesday Kirsten, Ja and I headed over to Portugal for 3 days. We had our homebase in Lisbon but rented a car so that we could expand our circle of experience. For some reason I get to be the designated driver in Europe, this doesn't mean being sober (although that is one of the qualifications) rather it's a case of testing my mettle cruising the streets and trying to interpret the road signs in foreign countries. Thankfully Ja is an excellent navigator and managed to get us everywhere we wanted to go and allow me to focus on driving (I only ran one EZ Pass toll booth and a few red lights).

The highlights of our trip:
>>Bull fighting - by luck we were there and walking out of our hotel (right across the street from the arena) on the night of a bull fight. We woke Kirsten up and grabbed 3 seats about 4 rows off the floor. It was an amazing experience. There were 2 parts. Firstly one of three horsemen came out and stabbed the bull in the shoulders while avoiding getting upended (they cut off the bulls pointy horns so it was a bit cheap). After they were done there were two teams who were competing, or so it seemed. In what is an animal rights activist's dream, one member of the team would have to approach the bull and get as close as possible before the bull decided to charge. This insane individual would then need to grab the bull around the head and hold on for dear life until his team members swarmed the bull and prevented it from continuing to pound the poor skinny Portugese man hanging on for dear life. We were very glad to not have to witness the bull being killed in the ring, which is more common in some other country's bull fighting. (I have since learned that the bulls were killed in private once they left the arena - there goes the decent feelings we had leaving the arena).

>>Food - Portugal does seafood very well. It factored into everyone of our meals during the course of the trip. The last day we were desperate for something other than fish, but it was hard to find a suitable alternative. Thankfully the grilled sea bass, cod, etc. was excellent so please don't shed any tears for us. One of the unique features of a Portugese meal is the table apps. The restauranteur will bring out olives, bread and cheese (sometimes other items such as sardine pate and fish roe salad). If you have any of it, you bought it. They charge by the selection and often tourists are confused by the extra charge on their bill. Thankfully we are sophisticated world travelers and were not thrown off by this. Jason and Kirsten were very pleased to learn the international sign for "Can we have the bill, please?" It is something I excel at and would be more than happy to teach anyone, guaranteed 100% effective no matter where you are in the world.

>>Atlantic Coast - For most people reading this the Atlantic Coast is that which borders the East Coast of the US. This was the first time I had the pleasure of experiencing the Atlantic Coast on the West Coast (of Europe). The water is just as cold, but the beaches are gorgeous. We took time out from one of our trips to have a post lunch dip. Once you get over the initial shock of the cold water it's really refreshing. Unforunately, you never get over the initial shock of naked people, who should not be naked in public places. I consider myself very accepting, but there are limits.

>>Port - Portugal is after all the land of Port, even though it's a British invention. We visited the House of Port in Lisbon and tried several different types of port (white, tawny, ruby, 20, 30, 40 yr old). We are truly conniseurs now. We also visited one of the largest and most well known wineries in Portugal, Jose Maria de Fonseca. Of course we may have picked up a couple of bottles to mark the occassion, perhaps we'll share with the next visitors - book your trips now.

>>Fado - not the Irish pub chain but a traditional form of music. It's music of longing and sorrow and we were lucky enough (touristic enough?) to find a restaurant in the Barrio Alto that served good food and had three excellent Fado singers to entertain us throughout the meal. In hindsight the food wasn't that great but one of the singers was outstanding so it made it all worth it.

We'll be uploading pictures into our photo gallery soon so drop an email (or comment to the blog) and we'll pass them on. It could take a couple of weeks since we need to get re-connected in our new flat and considering how long it took the first time we should be set-up sometime next spring...

So enjoy this last post from Hennigan outpost North London. When next you hear from us we'll be South Londoners, in most people's eyes that switch is treasonous, oh well.

Sleep well fair readers.

I wanna be your...

2007-08-27T00:42:00.000+01:00

So we are in the midst of a bank holiday weekend. As bad as the summer has been weather-wise, this 3-day weekend has been 2 for 2 so far. Fingers crossed it does the trifecta.

It started off on Friday night at the O2 Dome, formerly the Millennium Dome. We went to see this small act called Prince. I'd heard of the guy, but apparently Kirsten is a bit fanatical about him. It's always good to know that this pint size individual ranks #1 on my wife's list, and I'm pretty sure 2-9 as well.

Skeptical as I was, to hard to argue with a high energy show when sitting in the front row. That's right, his smallness was less than 20 feet from us for the majority of the show. I was barely able to contain myself, Kirsten wasn't much better. He played all 4 of the songs I knew and a whole suite of the songs she knew...shocker.

For such a small man from Minnesota he does put on a good show, and the pants he wore showed off his "cute little butt". I am clearly going to have to watch his Purpleness. It was a great start to a long weekend, so what if your wife occasionally dreams of a short gender bending rock icon...

Kew Gardens and south of the river

2007-08-21T20:37:00.000+01:00

Islington is the least green borough of London, in case you were wondering. That makes it difficult to enjoy the few really nice days we've had this summer.
Trivia question: what is the rainiest May-July since the UK began keeping records in 1760?
Trivia answer: 2007 (worst summer in 250 years and here we are - recognise !^%#)

On one recent nice weekend we headed down to Kew Gardens to enjoy a day out. Kew is a very nice botanical garden that runs along the river in the south. We spent several hours wandering around the various sections of the gardens.

I particularly enjoyed the pepper house, which had peppers from around the world - the smaller the pepper, the hotter it is - note to self, avoid the small ones.

We made sure to enjoy an ice cream as we took in the Pagoda, Minka House (a traditional Japanese wood house), the Olive exhibit, and various other green houses featuring cacti and other tropical plants.

This world heritage site is truly one of the most relaxing places in London and we'll be sure to go back...

...especially when we move to Putney, which is south of the river. If you've read this far you become one of the luck few, an insider, a person in the know, part of the wink wink nod nod crowd. We are moving south of river for a number of reasons - cheaper, more green space, along the river and closer to our friends (aside from you all of course). So with that said, come on over, we'd love to host a bbq in your honor in our new big back garden. hope to see you soon, the autumn/winter can't be much worse than the summer. Ah the UK.

Croatia Pictures added to previous post - 8/8

2007-08-08T20:44:00.000+01:00

If you aren't able to access the flickr account just drop me an email or post a comment and I'll send them directly.

Hvala, Hrvatska!

2007-08-06T21:46:00.000+01:00

Ok, so it's been a long time since the last update. It's been summer, work's been busy, we've had a lot going on, choose your excuse. But we all know what they say about excuses...

So as many of you may know by now we went to Croatia for our anniversary/honeymoon. The trip and place can easily be summed up in one word, WOW.

Croatia is an amazing place and is now certainly at the top of our most favorite places visited, to be honest neither of us expects it to be unseated, it was just that good. The words will not do it justice but I will link to pics here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8394484@N07/sets/72157601307218294/ - once I've uploaded them to flickr).

Summary for the ADHD sufferers amongst you: a 7-day, 8-night cruise up and down the Dalmation cost with 26 others (on a boat that had a max capacity of 50).

We landed in Split on Fri night, dropped our stuff off and had a wander around the Diocletian Palace. Our boat didn't leave until Saturday so we had a little time for sightseeing the night before. Our hotel was built into the Palace walls so we were well positioned to meander about the narrow alleys and discover the bars, restaurants and shops scattered throughout. We found a lovely little pizza place that we would end up visiting 2 more times before we departed this beautiful place. Anxious for what the next day would bring we called it an early night (after a few of Crotia's finest local brew of course) and went back to get a good night's sleep.

The pictures honestly tell a better story than a blog entry ever could, so here was our itinerary followed by some of the highlights. It's worth noting that between each stop for the night we found a cove for the daily swim...

Split (7th July) -> Makarska -> Sipan -> Dubrovnik -> Korcula -> Mljet -> Hvar -> Split (13th July)

Makarska - the Croatian Riviera (???) - most notably this is where we met up with the boat after taking advantage of an offer for a white water rafting trip. Really it was just a 3km paddle down a river with some fast moving water every now and again, but at least we got a work out.

Sipan - a quiet little fishing village inlet with a top notch hotel. We decided this would be our anniversary dinner and splurged. The outdoor restaurant was a gorgeous little setting and we were the only ones there 90% of the time. Kirsten had the cuttle fish in squid ink risotto (go on girl!) and I dined on the much safer lobster (had for the price of a 12-lb. Maine lobster - out of season - in the Arctic). We enjoyed a local bottle of red and the retired back to the ship for a good night's rest. It's worth noting here that the rest of the ship tended to be Aussies and Kiwis and they were usually up for a late night. We were the old souls on the boat, in bed before everyone else, up at breakfast in the morning, and generally shunning the group activities - hey it was all about us.

Dubrovnik - what a special place. We walked around the entire palace wall which offered some stunning views of the entire city and out over the bay. The water was sparkling blue in the hot Croatian sun. Sadly we didn't bring our suits so missed the opp to do some cliff diving from the outer edges of the wall on the seaside. We stopped into a museum and were fascinated by a picture frame hanging on the wall with a big hole in it. Apparently during the war (12 years ago) a missile went through that very spot. As if that wasn't amazing enough, across the room was the dent it made in the opposite wall and lo and behold there was the missile sitting idly on the ground, right where it fell 12 years ago...we quickly exited. From the top of the wall you could see the tile roofs, the red ones had been replaced since the war, the browner ones were undamaged - only 25% of them were brown. In the evening we joined some of the Aussie girls for some drinks at a new 5-star hotel as the sun was setting and then headed into town for a romantic dinner of spaghetti Milanese and Bolognese. We finished up the evening by having a night cap at a bar on the sea facing outside of the walls, our table just a few feet from a 30-foot drop to the water.

Korcula - this town juts out into a channel and gets the full impact of the wind being funneled through it. The windward side had waves smashing against the concrete wall while the leeward side just had a slight breeze passing over. There was an amazing fruit and vegetable market where we picked up a week's supply of various things for the equivalent of a few dollars (half that in pounds). Dinner consisted of pizza (ahem) and then another early night. Apparently we missed the late night party that our boat-mates hosted - oh well...

Mljet - the national park with two "lakes" in the center. We joined several of our boat mates, rented bikes and pedaled around the island down to the lakes. After missing a short cut sign and pretending like we were in Le Tour, we made our way down to the lakes for a swim. The lakes emptied out into the sea so they must have been Croatian lakes, nevertheless we took the time for a swim in a couple of places and then made our way back to the boat to shower and dine, on what else - pizza.

Hvar - the trendy spot where celebs often go. This would have been our night to go out on the town and indeed we planned to, except we came back to the boat for a rest before meeting up with the others and never did see the nightlife. During the day though we hiked up to the castle on the hill with some tremendous views over the harbor. We passed a little Croatian tapas bar on the way up that we planned on coming back to for dinner. It was one of the best and most unique meals we had. The restaurant was under a pergola with halved wine vats serving as tables. Dinner consisted of meats, cheeses, olives and some very nice Croatian table wine - who needs to go out until all hours and do shots wearing a WWII soldier's helmet...

Split - we returned to Split for the final evening on the boat. As such we got roped into playing some drinking games with the rest of the passengers, let's just say it's been a long time since I played "circle of death" - and there's a reason for that. From what Kirsten tells me about the rest of the evening, we returned to our original pizza place, wandered around for a few hours and then someone came back to the boat and passed, who says I'm not a romantic?

Saturday saw us all disembarking to catch flights or trains at various times. Ours was later in the evening so we had the whole afternoon to relax and enjoy some more time in Split. Aside from the minor inconvenience of tripping and falling off the boat and into the harbor with several bags we spent a low key day reminiscing about the wonderful trip and laying about in our final moments of sunshine.

After that it was back to London, experiencing the rainiest May-July since they began keeping records in 1766 - no wonder the pilgrims left.

More updates to come, that's it for now.

Please hold...

2007-07-05T19:33:00.000+01:00

Has it really been over a month since the last post??? Are we running the risk of becoming boring??? Doh!

Work has interfered with any interesting stuff so it actually has been a pretty slow month. I was in Arizona for a week (way way way too hot) and then Kirsten and I met up in Philly for a short break for family stuff.

And now? Well I'm glad you asked. We are departing tomorrow for our 1 yr. anniversary trip. Many of you know where we're going, I am hesitant to write it here lest Kirsten read the blog before we leave. Although one of my work colleagues almost blew the surprise about 15 minutes ago while I was on speaker phone with her...

Anyway, it will be a great trip, we are both looking forward to it, and after the weather London has had recently (not to mention other explosive episodes) it will be fantastic to get away, just the two of us with not a care in the world, except which island is next on our itinerary.

Until all is revealed in the next post...

54 years and counting...

2007-06-10T16:54:00.000+01:00

It's been a slow week and we've been a bit remiss about updating the blog in a timely manner. So on the 2nd of June, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated the 54th anniversary of her coronation. In merry olde England this is referred to as, surprise, surprise, Coronation Day.

Kirsten had to work so I got to play tourist all by my lonesome. Much as I love the Queen (one of the conditions for residing in London) the real draw to the celebration was the promise of a 41 gun (cannon) salute. I'm a man of simple pleasures.

Buckingham Palace was closed off and packed with tourists and loyal subjects. It was a gorgeous hot and sunny day to be sitting around the perimeter of the palace waiting for the festivities to begin. After about 30-45 minutes a couple who had been sitting next to me for awhile leaned over and asked what everyone was waiting for (themselves included). I wondered how many other people in the crows we're simply waiting around because there was a crowd, classic!

Things kicked off around 1 with the parade of the The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery pulling the cannons behind them. The cannons made a militaristic cadence as the wheels rumbled along the cobblestones surrounding Buckingham Palace. The horsemen were followed by a band composed of literally hundreds of Queen's Guards, the ones with the tall furry black hats. Check out the pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8394484@N07/sets/72157600335208596/
(these were taken on my mobile so the quality is not very good)

After all of the celebrants made into the area in front of Buckingham Palace the festivities transferred over to Green Park. The Royal Horse Artillery charged in and quickly set-up the cannons, 8 in all. After a some yelling and final organisation the commandant (?) began giving the order to fire. Moments of total silence were punctuated by the deafening boom of the cannons. As you can probably gather from the photos my position was in front of and within a hundred yards of several of the guns, it was pretty intimidating. What if it went down like Brandon Lee and I got a squib load? Anyway, after the first few rounds the silence in between the firings was filled with screaming babies, it created a very interesting orchestra of sounds. Finally 41 shots later the horses galloped back in, the guns were replaced onto their carts and off they went.

I decided to get out of the sun and walk back home, having witnessed another little piece of Britannia. Although I might add, I made the effort to show up at Coronation Day, you would think the Queen could have returned the favor, she was a no show...

Ich bein ein Munchinlander

2007-06-07T21:41:00.000+01:00

So this one comes a few weeks after we were in Bavaria and Munich specifically, better late than never right? Right???

On the evening of Thursday the 24th we shot off to Munich for some general tourist activity as well as celebrating the wedding of Kirsten's cousin Korbinian to his long time girlfriend/fiancee Anna.

We were supposed to be met at the airport for a ride into the city, unfortunately due to some confusion we were left to our own devices (at 11PM). Being the resourceful mo fos that we are, we hopped on the S-Bahn (train) and ventured into the city to a stop Kirsten recognised as being one near where her cousin lived. Amazingly when we got off the train we were met by Kirsten's father and her cousin Gereon. A pretty impressive start to our trip to Germany...navigating into the heart of the city at midnight with limited to no German skills between us. Hennigan rules!

Friday was a wonderful day in Munich, sunny and 30 degrees (80+ Fahrenheit). We set off on a walking tour of the Old Town, both North and South. Wandering along the Isar River we passed the Maximilianeum home to the Bavarian Parliament. From there we headed up Maximilianstrasse towards the Residenz, although we wouldn't get there until Monday. Instead we decided to head to the outdoor Viktualienmarkt, it would be an ominous decision...

After wandering around the market for a little while and purchasing a bag of cherries we grabbed a litre of beer and sat down at a beer garden to relax. Seated at our communal table was an elderly Spanish gentleman, 2 Japanese tourists and a German woman. Kirsten offered the old guy some cherries which he politely declined. Not 5 minutes later the man slumped over apparently asleep (remember I said ominous?). Kirsten caught the guy so he didn't fall over onto the floor and it became apparent that he was not sleeping but completely passed out, in the scary "Did this guy just have a stroke" kind of way. As neither of us spoke any German, we were lucky that the German woman immediately sprang into action and got help. The paramedics arrived and pulled the guy to the ground, ripped his shirt of and began administering chest compressions. How dare this guy start our Bavarian holiday off by dying in front of us? Obviously he didn't, it appears he was extremely dehydrated and once they got the IV in him he began to perk up. Tragedy averted.

After this little incident we spent the rest of the afternoon perambulating around town, checking out the Asamkirche, Michaelskirche, Peterskirche, Frauenkirche (lots of churches), Marienplatz, the dancing clock of Neues Rathaus, and various other sights to behold. Rather than try and upload photos we've now started to post photos on Flickr, check out the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8394484@N07/sets/72157600286096472/ This includes photos from our entire trip, but we'll get to the rest later. Kirsten and I were on our own for dinner and went to a well known (touristy) restaurant where we enjoyed a large starter of meat followed by a main course of more meat, washed down with several liters of beer. All of this lovely fair was served by a very intimidating German woman dressed in a dirndl...yikes.

On Saturday we headed down to Starnberger See which was the scene of the wedding. Anna and Korbinian looked amazing and got a gorgeous day for the beginning of their married lives together. After the ceremony we went back to the hotel hosting the reception. An interlude of champagne and wedding cake (which is traditional I'm told) was followed by an hour and a half break for rest before the big festivities. Kirsten slept, I enjoyed a lovely Weissebier and listened to some good old American country music (I do love this bar) on the trusty iPod.

The reception was a lot of fun. Some of us didn't make it to bed until after 6 (AM!) because they were hanging out with the groom's brother, younger brother. The speeches were great and got a lot of laughs, we couldn't understand a damn word so made sure to laugh when everyone else did. Kirsten's father even got up and made a speech...in German, based on all the hugs he received I think it went well. After dinner the liters of beer came out, the DJ kicked in and the party started. It's a good thing I'm married because I think there are some older German women who will fondly remember their dances with ol' Twinkle Toes Hennigan. One very cool thing Anna and Korbinian did was a wedding painting. Everyone got a square of a famous painting and painted it on a blank canvas, the output was/is their 1st piece of art as husband and wife and a unique memento from their wedding day, with a little bit of all their guests involved. Did I mention staying up until 6AM? Yup, no good wedding should end when the band stops, rather when the sun comes up and so of course I obliged...forgetting of course that Kirsten and I were heading into the Bavarian Alps with Kirsten's father the following morning, or rather that morning, in just a few hours...

After the traditional wedding breakfast the next morning we hopped in the car and sped through the back roads of the Bavarian countryside towards Neuschwanstein, a fairy tale castle built by a crazy King. We stopped off at Wieskirche, a lovely church in the fields or as the guide book puts it so eloquently "probably the finest Rococo church in the world", you architects out there can explain Rococo to me later. After a brief stop, long enough for a pretzel, we continued on our way to our intended destination. We knew we were heading into the heart of the tourist-ville, but the draw of the castle and hunting lodge was too much. We parked the car and hoofed up to Schloss Hohenschwangau, King Ludwig's old hunting lodge. We took a quick tour and saw a bunch of old stuff. Our real target was further up the mountain, Neuschwanstein, the castle that was the model for the Disney World castle, for all you Mickey-philes out there. Kirsten and I walked up the hill (a 20 minute hike crazily labelled as a 40 minute hike - must be for all the fat tourists), along the way we passed horse dung so covered with flies that it looked like a pulsating black pile, it was all I could do to keep Kirsten from touching it! We decided not to wait in line for a tour of the castle, but walked around the perimeter and into the courtyard. The castle is nestled high up on a mountain, it's got amazing views both up the mountain and down across the valley. Needless to say the walk down was easier than the trek up. Having done it all we climbed back into the car for the drive (very fast drive on the autobahn) back to Munich. We got back early enough to have dinner with Anna, Korbian, Fabian, Christiane, Gereon and a few others at a lovely little brauhaus. With the weather finally taking a turn for the worst we forced ourselves to have an after dinner drink at a happening little night spot, before winding up a very long day back at casa de Fabian et Christiane. And still we had one more day to go...

We had a night flight back to London on Monday so we were able to squeeze in a few last sights. Having missed the Residenz, so Kirsten could try and kill elderly Spanish men with cherries, we headed there first. It was formerly the home of the Wittelsbach dynasty and contains almost 700 years of history. The highlight was the Antiquarium a vast ceremonial hall, and the outdoor Grottenhoff, a grotto made completely out of shells. Unfortunately the Cuvillies-Theater was closed for refurbishment until 2008, so I guess we'll have to go back when it re-opens. Walking around a 700 year-old palace works up a thirst (and hunger) something fierce. Where does one satisfy such a thirst? At one of the most famous brauhaus's in Munich, the HofBrauhaus. We found a table for our entire party and proceeded to enjoy some brau and Weisse-sausage (that's Germ-English). It was a wonderful way to end up our trip to Munich, even if it is the most famous tourist spot there.

We bade goodbye to our German friends and Kirsten's father and jumped on the S-Bahn back to the airport for the short journey back to London. It was a packed trip and thus a long entry. Hope you enjoyed it vicariously as much as we enjoyed Munchen.

Taste of Bengal

2007-05-20T21:39:00.000+01:00

or as Kirsten suggested this post be called "Follow the yellow Brick Lane" (I like mine better but we'll let the readers decide).

It is worth mentioning that there is a new link along the right hand side, as I now officially work for the Microsoft corporation I thought I should represent.

Today we had no set plans so decided to have a bit of a lie-in and then head over to one of our favorite spots, Spitalfield's Market. Rather than just do the same old same old walk through we went a bit further afield from the market and checked out Brick Lane and the area surrounding it. We were well rewarded.

Brick Lane is the heart of the Bengal community in London (big shout out to Imran). It is lined with restaurants, cloth shops and localised (yes I spelled that with an s) supermarkets. After taking the street in we selected one restaurant and sat down to a very filling 2 hour lunch, it's what you do on a sunny Sunday in London. To be honest I'm not sure what the difference is between Indian and Bengali food, but it was good.

After lunch we strolled up Brick Lane past all the fashion shops and individuals selling random wares, some of sellers looked as if they just emptied out a closet and put the stuff on the sidewalk. Needless to say we didn't buy anything. What we didn't find were the Jewish bagel shops that one of my clients promised were there, I guess we'll have to go back at some point, oh well. There's also a S. African BBQ place connected to an outdoor beer garden, somehow I don't think it will be very long until I find myself there, perhaps when one of my brothers comes to visit (ahem).

There is also an indoor market just off Brick Lane. It's like a smaller version of Spitalfield's - various ethnic food stalls and "up and coming designers". Again, we didn't buy anything, but we've got our eyes on some stuff.

Still waddling from our Bengali lunch we wandered back towards Spitalfield's for a quick run through. A lot of it is under work so the layout was different than we're used to, but it was just an obligatory visit anyway.

And on home we went, to nap on the couches, make some dinner, watch the Red Sox beat-up on the Braves and start to switch to work mode.

We'll always have Paris

2007-05-15T21:48:00.000+01:00

So now we're back in lovely, overcast rainy London and Paris seems like a distant memory. We really enjoyed our time there and look forward to going back to dive deeper into the many sights that we took in.

Saturday we slept in so that we could enjoy Paris and the long walk ahead of us in a well rested state. We started off in Le Marais, a cool little area north of the river. It's an area with lots of small side streets, cafes and boutiques. There is a very strong Jewish influence in the area so there were lots of delicious eats on offer. We settled into one cafe that was a proper Jewish deli and had a pastrami and pickle sandwich on a poppy seed and a sample platter of baba ganoush, spinach and cheese, cous cous salad and tzatziki. The woman at the counter was kind of enough to tolerate Brian's french although she did ask if she could speak in English since she was tired of repeating herself - although after a few sentences she clearly realised that she was in the presence of someone who spent several years under the tutelage of Mme. Kelleher.

After lunch we wandered around the area and met up with our friend from London Stef (nice to have contacts the world over) and her friend from Lyon, Sasha. After making plans to meet for dinner we set-off on our tour of London's sites. We started by wandering by the Pompidou Centre on our way to see St. Eustache, a stunning Gothic church. Brian wanted to check out the Tour de Jean Sans Peur (a tower built to protect a royal from assassination - without fear indeed!) - unfortunately it seems they have taken this tourist attraction down for the summer, that or we weren't able to find it...

Next stop on the tour was Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame. Due to the crowds and our packed agenda we did a quick run through the flower and plant market (feel free to skip this one on your next visit to Paris) and then checked out Notre Dame. As you would expect it was mobbed, so we took some pics and walked around the outside getting some nice views of the spires, flying buttresses, and many gargoyles. Our one last adventure on Ile de la Cite was walking all the way out to the point of the island, where the Seine splits and watched the bateau mouches running up and down the river. Crossing back to the north side of the river via the Pont de Neuf (one of the oldest and most romantic bridges in Paris) the husband took his wife in his arms and planted one on her - when in Paris and all that.

Mere mortals would have stopped after having already taken in so much in an afternoon, not us. We only had a weekend and there was much to do. We walked through the arches of the Louvre towards the IM Pei designed pyramid (now Da Vinci code famous). The courtyard and building were impressive, with people everywhere, fountains running and a lone duck floating in one pool and posing for pictures. After a short sit down we continued on into the Tuileries which literally runs right up to the Louvre. This enormous par land of rolling slopes, sculpted shrubs and fountains with children sailing toy boats was a wonderful way to end up our tour of the north bank.

We hopped on the metro at Place de la Concorde and shot up to Montmarte to check out one of the least recognised images of Paris but one of the most skyline dominating, Sacre Couer, we popped in and were lucky to catch the end of a choir service by the nuns which really brought the church to life. Finally finished with our tourist duties we found some outdoor seating in the Place du Tertre for some well deserved drinks amidst the portraitists; while waiting for Stef and Sasha to join us for dinner.

The end of the evening brought a fabulous meal at a "local" spot discovered by Stef followed by several aperitifs at a bar with live music. Brian proceeded to make a lot of friends at the bar even though the topic of conversation turned to politics. Apparently the Parisians appreciate a guy who's brother finds Segolene Royal "foxy" - it's like a secret hand shake. Obviously it was well into the evening so the intrepid couple hopped into a taxi and made their way home set on using all the time that remained to get the most out of Paris.

Our train back to London wasn't until 9 at night so we got some sleep and made our way out to Versailles. It is important to note that Kirsten had the brilliant idea to get crepes (chocolate and banana for her, ham and cheese for him) to ward off the creeping hangovers (we only had a few, seriously, no really, not kidding here...). Arriving at Versailles on a blue sky beautiful day (foreshadowing) we walked up to the Palace and entered for an audio guided tour. It is an incredible place, enormous and lushly decorated throughout. It's nice to know that during times of financial crisis they were able to melt down some chairs for sale of the materials - god forbid they should have to lay off the gardener! About mid-way through the tour we looked out the window and saw a terrific storm of wind and rain, a good thing we decided to do the indoor part first. After finishing with seeing how the other half lived we went outside to explore the absolutely enormous garden grounds and other "estates" on the property. There are 1,700 working fountains at Versailles and we must have seen the all of them. We got some nice pictures (damn blog won't let me post them) throughout to remind us of our time at Versailles (5 hours). Our favorite learning was that you had the main palace, the king's mistress' house, and the Queen's retreat - everyone wins I guess.

We were both ready to head back to London after a marathon tour of Paris. So we made out (that should be "our" - thank you for pointing that out anonymous commenter) way back to the city, picked up our bags and jumped on the first class (high rolling don't you know) carriage back to our adopted home. The trip really rejuvenated us and re-infected us with the travel bug, now if only Kirsten would stop treating it with anti-biotics...

Bon chance Publius

2007-05-11T23:20:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to my big brother for earning his degree in architecture. Believe me when I tell you he earned it. As far as I'm concerned he's the Roger Clemens of architecture school, without the $28m salary...so far.

This is a first for the blog in that it's being updated almost as soon as the events are happening. Kirsten and I are in Paris for the weekend and we spent a wonderful afternoon getting our paws into the City of Lights.

I came down for work on Thursday and Kirsten arrived today. After polishing off the last of my responsibilities we headed out for a stroll down the Champs Elysees (as you do). So after taking in L'Arc de Triomphe and sauntering down France's most famous street we took a reggie on FDR blvd. and crossed the Seine. Seeing both sides of the river and the traffic going up and down it makes one realise what special property a river can be in a city (for the opposite see Philly). As one of my favorite things in any city is to visit the tallest structure and take in the city, we made our way over to Le Tour Eiffel to see how long the line was.

We'd been warned that waiting in line could be several hours. Thankfully at 7PM the only significant hold up was all the people jumping the queue because they had dinner reservations at the restaurant on the 1st level. After an hour we finally we made it to the top (after 2 elevator rides) and was it ever impressive. To think from one spot we could see Notre Dame, L'Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Sacre Coeur, Place de la Concorde and so many other sites that are so well known. The only down side was London weather followed us to Paris so the clouds, wind and rain made standing at the top of the tower a little less than enjoyable/romantic.

After finally reaching the ground again (30 minutes) we took the Metro to the Saint-Germain area to find some eats. We found some back roads lined with place after place; passing up such global favs as Japanese, Italian and Greek we settled on a lovely corner French bar/bistro. Kirsten was in search of steak frites and I had to celebrate someones graduation by eating his favorite treat. Polishing of a bottle of wine, foie gras, steak frites and filet de canard we were well satisfied with our first hours in Paris.

Now back at the hotel we head to bed ready to use the whole day to further explore what is a most enjoyable city (and practice the language a little more).

8 Germans and 2 Americans go to dinner

2007-05-07T16:37:00.000+01:00

So we've discovered another slice of English life that is delicious...a proper British pie shop. To be honest it's actually a pub with a (tiny) pie restaurant upstairs, best of all it's just around the corner from Brian's office.

We had our first pie experience there with Brian's workmate, Stef, and 7 of her German friends. The company was good even if we couldn't understand the conversation all the time, it was especially distressing when Kirsten joined in, leaving Brian feeling as if he was in a restaurant in Germany. Although, good prep for the end of May when we head to Munich for a wedding.

The pies on offer included Steak and Guinness, Chicken, Gammon and Leek, as well as daily specials such as Fisherman's pie. They're all made on site and it is quite a refined experience, considering the tiny pub is just down the stairs. Add this to the growing list of places that are on the Hennigan Tour of London.

I want to go home with the Armadillo

2007-04-23T21:11:00.000+01:00

Big congratulations to Paul Walcutt and his brand new fiancee Kady Simkins. Paul has finally put the various rumors about himself to bed.

If any of you have seen the way Paul lights up when with Kady you know that these two are made for each other.

Congrats guys, we've already booked our plane tickets.

I see crazy people...

2007-04-23T21:00:00.000+01:00

Spent a good weekend with the Flaizes 14/15 April. They are colleagues from Philly who bid for the prime opportunity to spend 2 days and nights at Casa Hennigan. William had never been to London in a tourist capacity, so blessed with another gorgeous nice day I treated them to the 2 hour walking Hennigan London sights tour. I highly recommend this tour which has been hailed as "A revelation" by the NY Times, "The best most comprehensive London sightseeing tour EVER!" from TimeOut magazine, and the accolades go on and on...

After a relatively quiet week London again experienced a wonderful weekend of weather, you all should really check this place out, it's right up there with the Caribbean. Sunday 22 April was the running of the London marathon. 23 degrees is ideal weather conditions for watching the marathon, however a bit hot to be running. Kirsten and I spent several hours watch people cruise/struggle/gasp/limp by. What compels someone to run 26 miles is a bit beyond my comprehension (editor's note: Kirsten has run several marathons) hence the title of this thread, that and the fact the Flaizes are loco.

When we tired of the crowds and yelling encouragement to runners including Gordon Ramsay ("Go on Gordo!!!") we headed up to Hyde Park to commune with nature and spend a little down time together. We finished up the day with a relaxing pint in SoHo and then returned home to get a good night's sleep before facing another week...

Time Zone hopping or How I learned to abuse my body

2007-04-14T12:36:00.000+01:00

The end of March through Easter was a test of the endurance of the human body for me.

First leg of the trip was a direct flight from London to Las Vegas for the Avenue A Razorfish annual client summit, so after 11 hours in the air sitting in the middle seat we arrived in Vegas in the middle of the afternoon, or so the clocks said, our bodies said it was nearer midnight. With events scheduled that evening there was no chance for sleep, so by the time we turned in that night we'd been on the go for 27 hours - ugh.

For those who have never had the pleasure of attending an AARF client summit you have to understand that sleep is low on the list of priorities, especially when you're in Vegas. So after only 10 hours of sleep across the 4 days in Vegas I hopped back on a plane to London. This time I got upgraded and an aisle seat, finally some recognition! So after only an eight hour flight filled with champagne and other treats I arrived in London on Sunday, with a day of work looming on Monday.

3 days later on Thursday Kirsten and I hopped on flights out of London to Florida for the wedding celebration of our friends Cate and Imran. Despite the total confusion that my body was experiencing the long Easter wedding weekend was phenomenal. The weather was gorgeous, we had no responsibilities (at least I didn't, Kirsten was a bridesmaid so she had an agenda), and we were staying at this little place called the Ritz. So while Kirsten did whatever it is that bridesmaids do I treated myself to a massage at the spa, drinks by the pool and caught up on some good ol' 'merican TV. The wedding ceremony took place on the beach and was beautiful, the party afterwards was loads of fun as well. The only thing that would have made the evening perfect is if BC had been able to bring the NCAA Hockey Championship home to Chestnut Hill, unfortunately it will spend the next year in Flint, Michigan, I mean come on, Flint vs. Chestnut Hill??? [Editor's note: East Lansing - Flint - East Lansing - Flint - Chestnut Hill over either of them]

While I boarded a flight back to London on Sunday, Kirsten continued west to Atlanta to visit her mother and gran. So as I sit here writing this we are less than 24 hours from being reunited (and it feels so good) and putting any serious travel plans on hold until out bodies re-acclimate.

We have guests this weekend so there should be plenty of updates...if they ever wake up!

Eltham Palace

2007-04-14T12:06:00.000+01:00

The English Rose was in town the weekend of 24/25 March, so we took the opportunity to take a short drive to a most impressive residence Eltham Palace.

The Palace is 700 years old, surrounded by a moat and is one of the finest examples of Art Deco style. It's a very strange thing to walk from the Great Hall which evokes feelings of being in a medieval hall where turkey legs are eaten whole and mead consumed by the goblet, to the room with intricately carved wood paneling and white leather chairs straight out of the 30's to the lemur cage on the first floor (I kid you not).

Through the wonders of the internet you too can experience Eltham Palace by visiting: http://www.elthampalace.org.uk/ and clicking into the Explore Now section. While this will give you a sense of the palace it really is a place that must be visited, so make it happen cap'n.

Perhaps the best part of the adventure was hitting a local pub for a few pints and lunch afterwards. The day was finished off back at Mads and Martyn's flat with a visit to their local and then take away from one of the best Indian restaurants we've found, mmmmmm curry.

Kirsten trumps Snoop

2007-03-24T14:06:00.000Z

We definitely sympathise with Snoop...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070324/ap_en_mu/people_snoop_dogg

We Have a Visa!!!! and other updates

2007-03-22T13:49:00.000Z

After weeks of worrying and some "official" bad news Kirsten received her long-term Visa yesterday. This means she can now stay in the country for another 5 years, unless of course I leave (the country or otherwise)...

So it's joy in the Hennigan household these days, travel throughout Europe can't be far behind.

A couple of other updates:

Last Friday Kirsten's collaborating physician from Philly, David Iddeden (sp?) popped into London to visit us and took us out to a top meal at Petrus, one of Gordon Ramsay's finest. The 8 course tasting menu with champagne to start, wine to partner and Port to finish was truly a memorable experience. We told him he should come visit more often...

Monday we hit the Carling Academy with Mads (getting her Brit on), Martyn and a few others. Carling Academy is a small music venue just down the road from our flat. The performance was the Alabama 3 (theme song to the Sopranos) opening for the Tennessee 3 (former back-up to the one and only Johnny Cash). Aside from the talking to I had to give a particularly disinterested concert-goer, it was a good night of punk country and classic Cash tunes. Something about a room full of Brits jumping up and down and singing Ring of Fire at the top of their lungs just warms the heart.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

2007-03-17T18:21:00.000Z

Ah the 17th of March, and a Saturday to boot. 2 new posts below so check them out. And for a recap to get us current:

--Due to the Scots inability to keep the French from crossing the goal line and the Italians late try against the Irish, France won the 6 Nations Rubgy Tourney on points for the second year in a row. Hopefully the World Cup will be more friendly for the Irish lads.

--Another gorgeous day in London, perfect for Paddy's Day. We took the opportunity to walk from our flat to Borough Market. Definitely a healthy walk (without a map) and we saw many sights we normally wouldn't. Don't look know but this is starting to feel like a familiar place...

--Tonight it's off to the Hemingfors Arms to have some pints of Guinness and take in some live Irish music. The craic should be good. The company will be outstanding, we'll have a Kerryman (did you know there are 2 types of Irishmen?), a Belle and a Nicolas and about a hundred imbibing Irish folk.

There, it's done. We are officially up to date with the blog. May the adventures continue...

We got culture yes we do, we got culture how 'bout you?

2007-03-17T18:12:00.000Z

Monday saw the run of activities continue, as well as the good weather.

The Almeida Theatre which is just behind our flat just kicked off a new performance. After being extremely pleased with the first offering "There Came a Gypsy Riding", and being offered discounted tickets, we took in the new show "Dying For It".

The cover art made us believe that it was some sort of half puppet/ half human play, but we were pleasantly surprised to find it was all-human, all the time.

Rather than write my own recap, here is the summation as stolen from the Almeida's website,

"When his last hope for self-respect disappears, Semyon decides to take his own life. But word gets out and he finds himself inundated with sympathetic visitors - begging him to die on their behalf. Suddenly, he’s an important man, and on the night of his proposed suicide, events spiral to a gloriously funny climax.

Dying For It is the world premiere of a new play inspired by Erdman’s celebrated satirical comedy. Moira Buffini is best known for her brilliant comedy Dinner at the National Theatre and the West End.

So far we're 2 for 2 with plays at the Almeida, a definite must for any visitors to Chez Hennigan in Islington.

One of the neat things about being so close to the theatre is walking down the street to work or for dinner and bumping into the actors and actresses, it's our own little slice of culture heaven, come into the light one and all...

Sunday with Charlie

2007-03-17T18:02:00.000Z

Brian's buddy Wayne and his fiancee Claire are the proud parents of a 7 week-old baby boy, Charlie Tritton.

On Sunday 11 March, we wandered about Islington for a couple of hours. The weather was gorgeous and is starting to demonstrate what a wonderful place this is to be in the spring and summer. We hopped a train out to Windsor in the early afternoon and spent a few hours among the hordes of tourists (damn foreigners!) walking by all the shops in the shadow of Windsor Castle.

After a fruitless effort to find the perfect gold shoes for Kirsten to compliment her bridesmaid gown (for our friend Cate's impending wedding) we decided to treat each other to the perfect Sunday afternoon activity...

So while Kirsten enjoyed a pedicure, Brian sat in a pub and watched England beat France in the 6 Nations Rugby tournament, thereby keeping Ireland's hopes of a championship alive, at least for another week.

We finally made it over to Wayne and Claire's and our first meeting with little Charlie. I'll say this for the kid, he's got one set of lungs on him! We each took turns holding him, it is possible he liked Kirsten better, not that you can blame him. After baby time was over we decided to let Wayne and Claire resume normal activities without the added distraction of 2 childless Americans with no real responsibilities...

Before leaving Windsor we hit up a new sushi place on the high street, our first proper Sunday sushi dinner since the States, and it was very good. The host was very welcoming and provided us with glasses of plum wine to finish off our meal. With that we hopped the train back to London, belly's full and cheeks aglow from the sun and drinks absorbed throughout the day.

We could definitely get used to this sunny lazy weekend activities, here's hoping that the trend continues...

Kicking it in March

2007-03-17T12:27:00.000Z

So everyother weekend or so Kirsten has to work either Saturday or Sunday. This gives me the opportunity to sleep in and then spend the day in the nearest pub watching football, rugby or god forbid cricket. I guess I could always go into the office and use the time productively, but that generally sounds like the worst idea ever.

Last Saturday (10 March) while Kirsten was working, I convinced Martyn to accompany me to Cambridgeshire for the East Anglia Food Festival, billed as the largest food fair in England. It was quite the adventure getting there, and finding that the "largest food fair" in England comprised 80 stalls. If one were to speculate at the Brits cuisine based on the food fair you would be convinced their diets consisted of sausage, cheese, olive oil, beer, wine and poultry...oh wait, that is their diet. Some of the highlights (aside from being in the middle of nowhere and costing us 20 pounds to get their from the train station):
>>The St. Peter's Brewery - quality beers in very unique bottles. Check out the website (www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk), they have a limited distribution to the US. I also found they have a pub just down the road from us, so make sure we go there on your visit. The Honey Porter is fantastic.
>>River House Smoked Salmon (www.riverhousesmokedsalmon.co.uk) - I like smoked salmon normally, this stuff was phenomenal.
>>Agnes and Joe (www.agnesandjoe.co.uk) - Awesome curry, brought out beads of sweat on my forehead, but really nice flavor. It didn't hurt that the woman was wearing a Red Sox hat, I told her the curry was a "wicked pissah", she told me to f^&* off, oh well...

Some of the places that Martyn and I avoided were the Diaper Poultry Stall (I think a re-brand might be in order), Bhaji Man (he scared me), The Story of Pork (scintillating) and several others that just looked odd.

After Martyn and I made it back to London, I picked Kirsten up and we met up with fellow ex-pats, Pat and Amy for a lovely dinner down Charlotte St. Lots of good restaurants to choose from.

On Sunday Kirsten and I went out to Windsor, but that's for the next blog entry...

Enough already

2007-03-08T21:52:00.000Z

Yeah, yeah, yeah...so we took a month off from the blog, we have lives to lead people!

The lovely Mrs. has written 2 new blog entries. Consider yourselves caught up.

Publius jr. indeed.

Cotswolds Make Me Horny.

2007-03-08T21:33:00.000Z

Brian told me I couldn't use this title, but hey - it's my blog entry right??? The runner-up title was "Liz Hurley's Lovely Wedding!!!"

Let me explain... Last week we both were feeling a little down. Life can be stressful sometimes you know? We knew that an escape from the city would be just what the nurse practitioner ordered. Both of our passports are tied up in Visa World so we had to stay in the United Kingdom. I emailed some friends for suggestions and started looking in to the Cotswolds.

The Cotswolds are a grouping of small hills that lie about 100 miles west of London. We read that they were known for their quaint villages and abundant hiking trails that span between Oxford and Bath. I was looking for something that was full of fresh air and not too touristy. We found a small town called Broadway and started looking at B&Bs.

And that's how we met Dick and Jane. They own and run the lovely Lowerfield Farm, located about two miles from the center of town. After submitting an internet request, Richard (his name's not really Dick) immediately called us at home. We booked a room and he agreed to pick us up at the train station on Saturday morning. He arrived with tweed trousers, a V-neck sweater and a cap. A true old English gentleman. We hopped in his car and he immediately started in about local history, his farm, and his heritage. I knew then that we had picked the perfect weekend reprieve. We learned that his farm supplies enough wheat for 50 million loaves of Warburton bread (probably the equivalent of Freihoffer's in the states).

When we arrived at the farm we were greeted by Maisie and Molly. Two very friendly, gorgeous labs. We were told that Maisie was particularly good for pheasant hunting. We were shown our room and given a cup of tea. After a nice chat with Dick (I mean Richard) and Jane we hopped back in the car and headed to Broadway. We strolled through town, checked out a 14th century church, and hiked two miles up to a lookout tower. (see pics)

We headed down from the tower around 3:30 and noticed a helicopter overhead. We assumed it must be the one-and-only Sir Elton John heading to Liz Hurley's wedding just 15 miles from Broadway. As we continued our stroll through town, we kept on the lookout for anyone famous. No luck.

Around 6pm we headed to another town called Chipping Camden for dinner. We ended up at a cozy Italian place with a bottle of wine.

All in all it was a perfect break from London.

On Sunday morning we woke up to rattling windows, heavy rain, and fierce wind. Hiking seemed to be out. We went downstairs for a full English farm breakfast and started discussing alternative plans. Turned out that Dick and Jane were driving in to London. They offered to drive us home but we weren't quite ready to end our weekend away. We asked them to drop us off in Oxford instead. The weather was still too crappy to walk around so we headed to an old pub called the Turf Tavern. It had a tented outdoor space with benches and an open fire pit. Brian read his newspaper and I settled in to my book.

A few hours later we decided to get a train back to London.

Both of us started this week feeling refreshed. So, perhaps it shouldn't be "Cotswolds Make Me Horny" but "Cotswolds Make Me Feel Human Again."

Papa Hill Makes a Visit

2007-03-08T21:31:00.000Z

After a long break (and some convincing from Brian) I am finally taking a turn at writing for our blog.

So, here it goes.

My dad arrived on Wednesday the 14th of February for a week long visit. We missed Thanksgiving and Christmas with him so we were excited to have him here. Our Valentine's celebrations weren't too glamorous, but we did manage to open a bottle of champagne with the lasagna that I had made ahead of time.

Both Brian and I had to work on Thursday and Friday so Dad entertained himself with a trip to the British Museum and a double decker bus tour through London. During those two days Brian was on a marathon for work. By Friday night he was laid up in bed with a fever, sweats, and a relentless cough. Dad and I love him dearly, but the party had to go on. On Friday night we headed to Shepherd's Market for dinner at the famous Polish/Mexican place. It's true! You really can have borscht and a burrito!

On Saturday we left Brian home with some Lemsip and headed to Borough Market to check out all of the amazing food stalls. We bought stinky cheese and sniffed all of the yummy breads and pastries. I led him by the "freak show" stall where they have sharks and eels on ice beds and bleeding rabbit and deer carcasses for sale. After an hour or so we meandered along the Thames and stopped in the Tate Modern to check out their slide exhibit and use the loo. From there we crossed the Millenium Bridge and headed to St. Paul's Cathedral. Afterwards we were ready for a little sitdown and a cup of tea.

Our friends Jordie and Kim were in town visiting an old friend of Jordie's. We had originally planned on meeting them for dinner but with Brian's condition we shortened it to a few pints at an organic gastro pub.

On Sunday I was back to work, so Brian and Dad traveled the 800 yards to tuck in at our "local" for an afternoon football match. We had planned to then head to Hampstead Heath for a traditional Sunday roast but the trains weren't running. Damn weekend "engineering work". We ordered takeout for Brian and headed to a restaurant in Islington instead.

We scheduled the Imperial War Museum for Monday. The Basement and 1st Floor cover World Wars 1 and 2. From there you move upstairs to Genocide and the Holocaust. Holy smokes! Not exactly a cheery pick-me-up. But nonetheless, very interesting and worth the trip. Just bring your snot rag and valium.

After a stop at home, we headed down to SoHo to one of our favorite chain restaurants - Wagamamas. Yum, yum, and more yum. My preference is one of their noodle dishes (#44 Chicken Udon Noodle) but Brian goes for a soup (#21 Chicken Raman). Dad enjoyed his food, but I'm not sure that he was sold on the uber modern cafeteria-style that they have going on. From their we headed to see Chicago. Wow! Those people can dance, and they have FIERCE bodies! The singing was fair to good, but the dancing was outrageous. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. Now I want to rent the movie to see Queen Latifah in the roll of Mama.

For Dad's last day we decided to get out of the city. He had never been to Oxford (and neither had I) so first thing Tuesday morning we hopped on a train. Having been to Cambridge, I knew that a walking tour can be very informative and fun. We arrived around 11, had a snack, and signed up for the 1 o'clock tour. Our guide was very informative and according to dad, "cute". She led us through a few colleges and showed us various points of interest - e.g. where Lewis Carroll supposedly got inspiration for characters in Alice in Wonderland. Our tour guide also pointed out the oldest pub in the city. We took note, and returned after the tour. A few pints later and we were ready to return to London.

On Wednesday morning we bid farewell and helped him in to a black cab heading to Paddington Station. Not only did Dad manage to escape one of the biggest snow storms that upstate New York has ever seen (4 feet!) but I think he also had a fab trip to London Town.

Anyone else care to visit?????

There Came a Gypsy Riding

2007-02-01T23:00:00.000Z

Now, we don't claim to be theatre aficionados, however we were both knocked over (almost literally) by the play we saw on Monday. Perhaps a little background...

Out of our bedroom window there is the Almeida Theatre. We've been planning to go for quite some time and finally made the effort. A new show opened January 11th called There Came a Gypsy Riding (http://www.almeida.co.uk/production_details/production_details.aspx?code=8). It of course appealed to Brian since it's about a modern day Irish family from Dublin spending the weekend at their cottage in the west.

We showed up a few minutes after it began, but didn't miss much. The theatre is very intimate and you feel like a part of the performance. There were 5 actors and you could feel their performances. It was emotionally draining for the audience and more so for the cast. When they came out for their curtain call there were no smiles on their faces, just looks of exhaustion.

If you get a chance when you're in London (before 3 March) or if the play makes it to the states we highly recommend it. Parents be warned, it's a great play but will evoke strong emotions.

And the winner is...

2007-01-29T22:39:00.000Z

We received several "applications" to participate in the next Hennigan carribbean holiday. We had one person bow out due to family obligations and an A-Team reference which was very close. However, the winner posted the following:

"A familiar face to the entire Hennigan clan, I should be the person to be selected to attend the “Christmas Caribbean Sailing Adventure” because of my charm, amiable nature, and suntanning ability!

I am quiet, spatially efficient, can swim, don’t get sea sick, and can stay up late, drink and be fun when required. I also am clean and orderly (read: not a slob). I also use indoor voice outside.

If you choose me I will ensure that I will be the perfect holiday guest. I have spent many vacations and holidays with friends, parents of friends, and friends of the friends’ parents."

Well thought out and on point. The final decision unfortunately rests in the hands of 2. Results will be posted November 2007...

Higher Education

2007-01-28T11:51:00.000Z

It's been a pretty slow weekend. Kirsten worked on Saturday and I have been laid up with some sort of chest congestion. While she worked I watched 3-4 episodes of The Unit and then Man U beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup 4th round behind 2 goals from the missing link, Wayne Rooney.

We did go out to dinner last night in Notting Hill to celebrate 5 years together, nice low key meal in a cool gastro-pub.

Since this update is a bit weak, let me tell you about last Sunday when we went to Cambridge to get our culture on.

Cambridge is a town that has been around for a long time, as our tour guide said, it was there long before the university, which was founded in the 15th century. Cambridge University is actually comprised of 30+ colleges, each the result of a single donor. So if you have a spare 30 million+ quid lying around you can have your very own college at Cambridge, just think Hyde college (Essex represent), Walcutt College (for budding and bulging comedic actors) and the Aronson College (specialising in British linguistics of course!).

The King's College chapel was magnificent. It's ceiling is fan vaulted which is the latest example from the classic gothic period. The building as a whole is a mish mash of architectural styles, owing to the fact that each King would fund its development and some weren't as forthcoming with the cash - damn inflation. Another interesting fact about the chapel is that during WWII all the stained glass windows were removed to prevent their destruction by the Luftwaffe. It took 3 months to take each individual pane of glass out and bury it, and 3 years to put it all back together again after the war.

History lesson over. It was a bitter cold day up in Cambridge so after the 2 hour tour, the 2 hour tour, we found a pub and tucked in to watch Arsenal v. Man U. The Hennigan household is divided when it comes to football. The Mrs. supports the Gunners (Arsenal) and the Mr. supports the Red Devils (Manchester United). Unfortunately on this day the Mrs. and her squad would be smiled upon as Arsenal scored in the 83rd and 92nd minute to win 2-1.

That's it for now. Hope everyone is well.

I don't remember Bert and Ernie quite that way...

2007-01-25T19:12:00.000Z

So last Wednesday Kirsten and I decided to get out and take in some culturfication. London has so much to offer in terms of theatre from original plays at the Old Vic (Kevin Spacey creative director) to Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre. With so much to choose from we went to see Avenue Q - an American musical that is basically the R-rated version of Sesame Street.

It was a pretty amusing production but I think I still prefer the good ol originals of Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster and Oscar. Although imaging cookie monster addicted to internet porn is something to ponder.

We wound up our theatre evening at Wagamama's which if you are an avid reader of this blog you might assume that is the only place we eat, you wouldn't be far off. Actually, we had several 2 for 1 vouchers that we made every effort to use. Sadly the voucher period is over so we're back to paying full price. If Kirsten would only learn to enjoy kebabs we could both eat dinner for a fiver every night of the week, just because it's late-night post-pub fare doesn't mean it can't form the cornerstone of a well balanced diet (meat, yogurt, lettuce, tomato, onion, pita).

I won't give up, I got her to eat cheesesteaks in Philly (Mmmmm cheesesteaks) so I now turn my attention to kebabs.

Next update: our weekend at the British Museum and Cambridge.

Hennigan Wired!!!

2007-01-13T18:41:00.000Z

The Hennigan household is now wired and this is the first post made from the convenience of our charming little flat. This should mean more frequent updates to satisfy the near constant call for more information from our friends, family, and "associates".

Kirsten's aunt and uncle are over from Cooperstown re-discovering London. They have been tremendous flatmates and filled their days (and ours) with more voyages of Discovery.

Today we spent a couple of hours wandering through the Cabinet War Rooms (http://cwr.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00f00k). As you wander through the well preserved rooms where Churchill and his staff spent days, weeks and months during WWII you gain a real appreciation for what was going on during those times. The recently added Churchill museum provides a wealth of information on the man and the times when he cemented his legacy.

Tonight we head to one of our favorite nosheries Wagamama and then if everyone is feeling up for it, we'll pop into the Hemingford Arms for some traditional Irish music, it promises to be some good craic.

Refreshed, re-energized, resuscitated and re-ady for 2007

2007-01-02T13:25:00.000Z

And so begins another year.

I must say, 2006 went out on a high note. We spent the final 10 days of the year soaking up the atmosphere in the British Virgin Islands - Jost van Dyke, Tortolla, Virgin Gorda, Cooper Island, Norman Island and Anegada.

Our days consisted of the following - relax in the sun, enjoy cold beer (usually Red Stripe or Carib), swim in the warm clear water, eat tropical meals. You really can't beat it. We are now accepting requests for participation next year. Please email me no more than 100 words why you think you should join us next year. I'll post the favorites, winner will be notified in October/November.

The trip had some notable occurences:
-Kirsten joining Sean and Brian for a late night dive from the top of a pirate ship (see pic of the ship -->)
-Kirsten's first snorkeling experience and seeing a big sea turtle
-"Kids" dinner during a raging rain storm (adults to concerned about getting wet on the dinghy ride in)
-Christmas morning bloody mary's and full american breakfast (thanks mom!)
-Getting sparse new reports (the death of Brian's birth president, James Brown getting called to his last gig)
-Leaving the Hennigan mark at the highest point in Pirates, and adding some sand to some Canadians food (see pic of the restaurant -->)
-Seeing the final few minutes of the BC v. Navy bowl game in the Antigua airport (visit this airport and read about this game and you'll understand just how amazing this occurence was)

More pictures to come later, still have to battle with British public services to get home broadband access, ah, it's good to be back.

Happy New Year to all.

Christmas trees, presents, and beaches...

2006-12-20T16:13:00.000Z

After an intense 2-3 months we have earned a well deserved break, and where better to kick up our heels and relax with a bottle or two of Red Stripe but the Caribbean.

So at 6AM tomorrow morning your favorite ex-pats will take the following journey...
--1 hour to Heathrow airport
--3 hours waiting for flight
--10 hour flight
--4 hour layover
--3 hour flight
--10 days doing not a damn thing except relaxing
in a place not all that different from this...

Just like Warner Wolf (who?), let's look at the top stories from the past 2-3 months. Let's go to the video tape...

10. Eating Ghanian food in London Fields market, hot cider in Borough market, olives in Spitafield's market...
9. Becoming proficient at the 2 finger salute - and learning where it comes from
8. Finally getting TV (after 2 months) and watching the Bears clinch home-field advantage
7. Blind dates with other ex-pat couples
6. Creating a home
5. Learning that we need to avoid the spicy Thai place down the road
4. The ongoing search to find our local
3. First European trip to Ireland - the mother land (at least for one of us)
2. First Thanksgiving as Mr. and Mrs. and in the UK - Turkey and stuffing with the Hill siblings
1. Re-uniting after 5 weeks apart (not a chapter in the newlywed book)

Until 2007 we remain, your favorite ex-pats. Happy Christmas, have a safe and merry new year.

--Brian and Kirsten

2 BR, 1 BA, Great View, Price just reduced...

2006-12-07T17:03:00.000Z

Ummm, this is only supposed to happen in areas desnely populated with trailer parks...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6217898.stm
(not sure how long that link will work)

November 18/19 - Weekend 2 of 4 to update...

2006-12-07T11:02:00.000Z

A job?!?!?!?!? Doesn’t marriage = bride immediately quits job, stays at home, and becomes a lady of leisure? Unfortunately, not in 2006. Ho hum. Yes indeedy, Kirsten had her first job interview in almost 4 ½ years. Frustrated and fed up with her quest to get her nursing licenses sorted before 2007, she decided to rejoin the world of retail. (At holiday time nonetheless.) On Friday, she dressed in her new jumper and a smart pair of trousers before heading to an interview with the HR director for a small retail company called Oliver Bonas. After ranting and raving about how customer service is far superior in America, she was offered a full-time job. Go figure. A start date was set for after Thanksgiving.

On Saturday we broke out our trusty tour book and searched for another guided city walk. The page that we chose took us back to Chelsea for a stroll through the Royal Hospital grounds and Battersea Park. Due to some “engineering work” on the tube, we had to get off one stop early and make our way to Sloane Square. Here we headed south towards the grounds of the Royal Hospital. As far as we understand it, the term “hospital” is actually a misnomer. Instead, “retirement home” may be more appropriate. It is home to several hundred pensioners who once served in the military. (“Pensioner” simply refers to anyone over the age of 65.) These folks are perhaps best known for their military-esque red topcoats and caps. We had the pleasure of greeting a pensioner in traditional garb while we strolled through the grounds. The Royal Hospital is also famous for hosting the annual Chelsea Flower Show. Brian quickly jotted down the dates for May, 2007. We all know how he appreciates a good rose display - especially when they are well-conditioned.

From the Royal Hospital we walked across the Thames and entered Battersea Park. Our first notable landmark was the Peace Pagoda. It was built in 1985 by Buddhist nuns and monks. We’re not exactly sure why they built it (aside from the obvious symbolism), but apparently we’re not alone. The folks who wrote our tour book barely commented on it and there weren’t any markers to be found. Just a big ol’ gold Buddha on a stage with some oranges placed as an offering. Nonetheless it was neat-o. From there we meandered in to the center of the park where various groups were engaging in afternoon sport. Kirsten was particularly excited to stop at a field hockey game. Even though it was Kirsten who spent nearly a decade committed to this sport, it was Brian who needed to be pried away from the game. Hmmm – sweaty high school girls in skirts bent over with sticks.

Our next stop in Battersea was the Old English Garden. It was cute and well-manicured, but more importantly it was where we met SCARY squirrel woman. She meandered on the path with a bag of peanuts in hand. Approximately 10-15 squirrels followed her closely and occasionally hopped on to their hind legs, tucked their paws under their chins, and begged like little terriers! We were completely captivated, until… they started following us around. Then we scurried out and slammed the gate behind us.

Ahhh, Sunday the 19th of November. The day that Kirsten’s mom calls to remind her of the labor and delivery that she endured back in ‘77. To celebrate her 29th, Kirsten was treated to a homemade breakfast of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. Completely full and satisfied we then walked a block to our local farmer’s market. Fresh veg, weekly provisions, non-refrigerated meats, and unpastuerized cheeses were a plenty. Yum, yum, yum. We made our purchases and dropped them back at the flat before heading up to Hampstead. AKA “Land of the Posh”. The cobblestone side streets were bustling with folks out enjoying the sunny day. Kirsten was allowed to pop in to any shop she wanted (birthdays only come once a year!), and she happily did so.

After an hour or so we left the busy town and walked in to the enormous and absolutely lovely royal park referred to as “The Heath”. It has a unique character that draws thousands of visitors each weekend. We meandered through the woods and ended up at one of the bathing ponds where people can pay a small price to swim. This happened to be the coed pond, but there are lady-only and gentleman-only ponds. Our next stop in the Heath was Parliament Hill. Remember Guy Fawkes? Well, rumor has it that his mates were going to watch him work over Parliament from this hill. Too bad the plot was foiled and the fireworks never happened. Instead, Parliament Hill is now mostly known for it’s amazing view of downtown London. We stopped to take in the view and to gaze at the many kites being flown.

As the birthday was coming to an end we decided to head back to The Polar Bear, a pub in Hampstead that had caught our eye earlier in the day. We found cozy seats at the bar and challenged each other to Connect Four as we waited for our Sunday roasts.

Ahhh – 29 is going to be good.

November 11/12 - Weekend 1 of 4 to update...

2006-12-06T11:30:00.000Z

What can we say? We’ve been very busy and in the list of priorities the blog went to the bottom. Based on feedback we clearly understand that our priorities should go as follows: blog, spouse, weekend time, jobs. So without further ado we present…

November 11/12
Always up for a parade we went down to the Lord Mayor’s Show. It’s an annual parade that dates back almost 800 years. Each year a new Lord Mayor is appointed. During the course of his (always a male, sorry lasses) term, he chooses a charity to promote. His official responsibilities are basically to promote the city and raise awareness and funds for the charity. Did we mention that he proceeds along the parade route in a 250 year-old gilded coach, the only time it is ever out of the museum.

After fighting through the crowds along the parade route we popped down to the Borough Market. It’s a relatively small area stuffed with food stalls covering fresh oysters, butchers, cheese stalls, ethnic foods and so on and so forth. If you don’t like crowds then avoid this place on the weekends, Brian wanted to chew his own arms off it was so difficult to get through and around the market. We enjoyed our time there and promised ourselves we’d come back; early in the morning to do our fruit, veg and meat shopping.

After hours of wading through the masses off we went to Richmond and Kew Gardens. We went on a 3 mile walk suggested by one of our guide books. It was nice to have information about the many things we saw as we strolled along the river including historical royalty dwellings, 400 year old churches and more. Perhaps the best part of the whole walk was ending up in Strand-on-Green at one of the oldest pubs in the Richmond area, the City Barge.

We finished up the evening by celebrating the 30th birthday of our friend Amy. It was a small group but a good one, we had a really nice meal in Richmond. Afterwards we decided to head home, it had been a long day and going out on the piss until all hours was just not in the cards. As if we needed any support of this decision, on the walk back to the tube we watched an extremely drunk 40 something year old man skipping down the sidewalk with his mates when he caught his feet and fell face first onto the pavement. With the night ending in bloodshed we headed home for some much needed sleep. To all you 40+ year olds reading this blog a word to the wise, don’t get really drunk and skip down the street, nothing good can come of it…

Compared to Saturday, Sunday was completely uneventful. We had a bit of a lie in, as you do cheeky buggers. We paid a visit to a friend of Brian’s from his last stint in London. Wayne and his recent fiancée Clare live out in Windsor, home to the Queen’s favorite residence, Windsor Castle. We walked around the town for a bit to get the lay of the land, popped into a couple of retail shops (Brian’s idea of course) and took some photos of the outside of the Castle, we promised to return when we had more time. We then headed to Wayne’s local for a few pints and a game or two of darts. True to form Brian’s mouth was going better than his actual ability to play darts, it certainly didn’t help matters that Wayne plays in a pub darts league. Final score: Wayne 5 – Brian 0.

Deciding to make it an early evening we hopped on the train and went back into London. Rather than deal with the hassle of making dinner we sampled some of the finest Thai food on offer in Islington. Hmmmm, how best to describe this particular meal, tasty, sumptuous, well presented, nay how about HOT!!! This particular meal was face meltingly, intestinally torching, spouse preferring to sleep in another room spicy hot. So when you all come to visit and we suggest Thai? It’s because you’ve wronged us in the past and this is payback…and so another weekend comes to a close.

Message received loud and clear...

2006-12-02T16:03:00.000Z

Who knew we had so many people hanging on our every post? Rest assured we have been appropriately reprimanded and shamed into quickly adding posts from the previous 3 weeks (doh!). To whet your appetite, here's what's in store (this is a bit like TV Guide), tell your friends:

Nov 11/12
--The Lord Mayor's Show - big parade, lots of gilded coaches
--Borough market - lots of food, lots of trinkets, lots of people
--Richmond and Kew Gardens - long walk, pints in an old pub, friend's 30th bday dinner
--Windsor - the castle and getting embarrased at darts, and really really spicy Thai food

Nov 18/19
--Chelsea and Battersea park - begging squirrels, the Peace Pagoda and Field Hockey
--Someone's bday!!!!
--Farmer's Mkt, Hampstead Heath, Parliament Hill, Kites, a Polar Bear and Connect4

Thanksgiving week
--Hill invasion
--SkyTV 1: Hennigans 0
--Thanksgiving Dinner and Von
--Borough market - still crowded, still lots to offer, Tate Modern, Covent Garden, Wagamama's (please note some of us had to work during these adventures, ahem!)
--SoHo, the Brazilian Club, and a new friend named Tom
--Chelsea (again)
--Victoria and Albert Musem
--White Horse Ale Festival (lots of warm flat beer, blech)
--High Stakes Texas Hold 'em Tournament
--Farmer's Mkt and rain, serious rain, like really heavy rain (some of us were still in bed, tee hee)
--Spitalfield's Mkt (there's a pattern here) and a new bag for someone
--Hampstead Heath, a Polar Bear and Connect4 (again)
--Man U 1: Chelsea 1 (bastards)
--Turkey sammys and the Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

(Still reading???)

After getting through all that we still have to talk about:
--It's raining Flaiz
--Brian gets his name in an industry magazine (not that kind of industry, sicko)
--New job for the K-dawg
--Canal walks, Ghanian food and Quinoa

Backdated 4/5 November

2006-11-14T17:03:00.000Z

No, no, we haven't forgotten our blog. We've been exploring and experiencing London with such fervor that we've just taken a mini break. But, we're back and ready to update!

"Remember remember the 5th of November"

The 5th of November. Guy Fawkes Night. Bonfire Night. It goes something like this ..... (we think). In 1605, 13 crazy blokes tried to blow up the House of Parliament, kill the Protestant King and gain better tolerance for Catholics. Of the 13, Guy Fawkes was the only one to get caught. He was found in the cellar with 36 barrels of gunpowder. They decided to torture and kill him. Now, the nation "celebrates" the foiled plot by burning effigies of Mr.Fawkes and setting off fireworks.

Confused? ... us too. But, when in Rome, ... so, how should we celebrate this national "holiday"??? Well, with a family of Catholics of course!!!

Luck would have it that our beloved Mads' family was getting together for a Chinese dinner and had invited us along. We originally expected a quiet dinner with her two brothers (Phillip and Steven) and her mum. Oh, were we in for a surprise! First there was Mrs. Hyde, then there was Steven, his wife (Glenda), his daughter (Jessica), and his son (Sam). And then came Phillip, his wife (Gwen), and his daughters (Grace, Lottie, and Frilly). Unfortunately Grace's boyfriend couldn't make it - otherwise we would have had a lucky 13.

We were quickly swept in to the madness that can only be created by 4 teenage girls and a brother. After three hours, we pinky swore that contraception would continue to play a major role in our relationship, but also that we would do anything to get another invitation. In fact, we think that a Hyde family dinner should be in the "must do" section of every London tour book. Kudos to you Hyde family. You're a great crew and a nice family for us to have on this side of the pond.

Afterwards we strolled over to the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping. It is the "oldest riverside pub in London" and a perfect spot to watch fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night. We grabbed a few pints and found outdoor seats on the upper balcony. We were entertained by the 3 crazy Australians setting off fireworks below and by the proper 30+ minute firework show across the river. Actually, with our seats we could look in either direction and see multiple firework displays up and down the Thames. A great way to celebrate our first national "holiday"!

Earlier in the week we ventured towards Chelsea to visit The White Horse on Parson's Green. It may not be famous to all of our readers but the Hill family knows it fondly as where our brother spent his first 6 months after college. Yes, with an Ivy League degree in hand, Jason became gainfully employed as a "salad maker". Don't worry though - he quickly moved up the ranks and started pulling draughts for the locals. He will tell you (and we may have to agree) that the White Horse is the best pub in London. However we promise to continue testing and report back on any suitable competitors. Here we met up with Wes and Megan from New York. They too have been recently transferred for work, and we were given their number by a mutual friend (by the way, congratulations Leigh and David on your recent engagement!). We now refer to this random cold calling of friends of friends as "blind dating". It's not all that bad, but we do feel like freshmen in college again.

After a lovely meal of fish and chips, Brian and I strolled up King's Rd to Sloane Square. We stopped in various shops and had our first star sighting. In a small gourmet food shop, we saw Frances McDormand frantically seeking a bar of chocolate. We wish we had a more exciting story, but that's really it.

Updates including Kew Gardens, Windsor, and REALLY spicy Thai food to come...

Good Things come in 3s

2006-11-06T16:53:00.000Z

Not to be outdone by Chris and John, Dave Ryan and his wife Maureen welcomed their 3rd child into the world on November 3rd. Little Hayden Maura Ryan made her stage debut at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 22 inches. Congratulations can be sent to: dryan1998@yahoo.com. I leave it up to the unbiased readers to look back through the pictures and determine which of these 3 men has the most beautiful daughter.

We Blew Up Our Stereo, and Brian Found a RAT in His Bag

2006-11-01T18:36:00.000Z

My guess is that people are more curious about the rat, so I'll start there. As many of you know, Brian's office has graciously welcomed me in, given me a computer (or rather allowed me to sit in the seat of anyone who is out for the day - thanks Julian, hope you are having fun in India), and effectively saved me from the sweaty smelly internet cafes that sprinkle every corner of Oxford Street.

Because of this, I am privy to the inner secrets of this very special subculture. Most recently I witnessed two coworkers serenading Brian with the 'Dallas' theme song. Awww - those lovely chaps are so sweet. Along with many American jokes and attempts at our accent (think valley girl in Kentucky), they have another fun game that involves a RAT and pints of beer... still curious? Ah yes, so was I.

A group of guys in the Media team have started a game that involves a RAT, or effectively a short computer cable that involves a USB port (don't ask me - I'm not too techie). The rules are a little fuzzy - but as best I understand it, if you arrive at the pub with the rat on you then you have to buy a round for the gang. Once you have accepted a pint (or 'drunk from the rat') then GAME ON. This means that at the end of the work day, you can look around this office and observe 5-10 people feverishly patting themselves - looking in their pockets, checking their bags, patting down their jackets, etc. etc. etc. So, that brings us back to 'Brian found a rat in his bag' ..... but not until he had walked in to the pub. A round of pints later and now the GAME IS REALLY ON.

Oh yeah, and we blew up our stereo. Luckily it was just a little CD player that I've lugged around with me since my Sophomore year of college. After a loud pop and a lot of smoke, we realized that the 9 year old stereo had seen some better days. Amps, voltage, who knew???

Out and About in London

2006-10-31T13:14:00.000Z

(Make sure to check out the picture of lovely little Fiona Brooke Avondolio in the post titled "Another one bites the dust...")

So Kirsten has had a week to settle in, we decided to motivate and get out to various places throughout London and start getting acquainted with our new home, what a busy weekend it was...

On Saturday we got up with designs on going to Portobello Market on the west side of the city. We had a long bus ride over so that we could see various neighborhoods and get a better feel for how they're all connected. We passed through Camden, Regent's Park, Oxford St. and ended up at Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. We took a stroll through the park, meandered over to the Princess Di Memorial Fountain (this pic is from the BBC, we don't have our camera USB cord yet), which despite my cynicism was actually very cool.

We strolled along the Serpentine lake and wondered at the size of this park (one of many spread throughout London) in the heart of a major metropolitan city. The best thing about it was all the people out enjoying various activities: football (soccer), walks, running, bird watching, alga gawking, etc. Alga gawking? Ah yes, there is a very interesting exhibit by Tony Haywood in the water calling attention to how alga develops mutant strains to deal with environmental conditions. Kind of neat, kind of bizarre; it felt like the Tate Modern was sticking it to me after we'd spent a couple hours there gazing at what passes for art.

After Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park we walked down and through the Portobello Rd Market. It is actually 3 markets all in a row, with the antique dealers at the top of the street, followed by the fruits, vegetables and food stuffs and finally by the flea market. We had lunch at a pub at the top of the Rd. which thankfully was not very crowded, we were able to find a seat, get a pint and enjoy our Fried Fish sandwich and Cottage Pie in relative peace. After that we waded into the crowds and I do mean waded and perused all the wares. My favorite item that I should have bought was a sign that read "Hippies entrance on the side". Keep an eye out as that may be coming to a wall near you.

Once we were finished with the crush of people and stalls upon stalls of clothing and knick knacks we walked through the very wealthy neighborhoods of Notting Hill. Some streets looked like Easter threw up on the houses, but when you live in an enormous 3-4 story mansion, I guess you can paint your house whatever color you want. We are accepting donations to put towards a downpayment on one of those houses...

We finished up our full Saturday by heading out to Anne and Rob's (anyone recognize their names?) for a lovely dinner and CV writing session for Kirsten. I can honestly say I have never enjoyed Falafel more, nor do I hope to again. The main course lamb was exceptional, the Woodcock's are setting a hard precedent to follow for dinner parties, but Kirsten and I will try our best.

Sunday we had a very lazy day, we went up and explored Finsbury Park. The park was nice, the area is certainly up and coming...We ended up walking back to our flat and stopped in at what is now one of my favorite places in London, one of the greatest cheese shops I have ever been to called La Fromagerie (http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk/index.html). Hill siblings can expect a trip here over Thanksgiving.

We stopped in at a pub just up the road that I would be proud to call my local, if only I could remember what it was called. Kirsten and I had our first proper Sunday roast, we spent about 3 hours lounging in our new favorite pub with no name on leather recliners. We agreed that this is definitely something we could get ourselves into every week. It was a really nice atmosphere, we were in the non-smoking room and surrounded by families and other couples. Truly a nice environment to spend the afternoon in and finish up a very exciting but tiring weekend.

A Guest Post...from Kenya

2006-10-27T09:59:00.000+01:00

Since Kirsten and I aren't doing anything terribly exciting (at least as far as you lot are concerned) I thought it would be interesting to hear from TheLondonAdventure Blog correspondent in Africa, Martyn. Enjoy...

(Kirsten thought I should provide some background info: Martyn is a long time friend of Mads, one of our good friends from the states and we have known him for some time. He is a freelance 3D animator who is on a 6 week job in Kenya)

Nairobi Log, entry 1

Got to Heathrow and went through all the horrendous queuing that you seem to have to do these days. I finally made it through the check-in process and the new enhanced security procedures with just enough time to go and have a coffee before I had to head for the gate. Had it been later in the day I might have gone for a beer instead (I nearly did anyway after all the check-in/security stuff!). Met up with Claudia, the producer, at the coffee shop and it suddenly struck me how odd the situation was. I'd only met Claudia a couple of weeks ago - hardly knew her, and here I was flying off to Africa with her as my guide, my new boss, and my new flatmate! - Scary!

We landed on time in Nairobi, at about eight thirty in the evening and after minimal fuss getting through immigration, baggage collection & customs (well... no fuss at all really - first nice surprise) we were met by our driver and taken to our apartment - which was the second nice surprise.

The apartment is on the eleventh floor of a block called Yaya Towers. It's a complex of mainly business apartments next to a shopping centre. The apartment itself is large - four double bedrooms, two bathrooms (each with bath and shower), three toilets(one in each bathroom, one separate) a large kitchen/dining area and a comfortable lounge area, with two armchairs, a sofa and a telly (with a good number of local & cable channels - including BBC world and ESPN). I suppose you could say it's a little soulless, but it's a business apartment after all. There's 24hr security, daily housekeeping as if we were in a hotel, a gym downstairs, an outdoor swimming pool, and an internet cafe - although all the apartments have internet connections if you have your own computer.

We quickly unpacked and headed down to reception to order a taxi to the nearest local bar, after first enquiring where the nearest decent local bar was, of course. It was a place called Casablanca, not very far - about a 200 shilling (less than Â£2) taxi ride away, and it was very pleasant. A laid back place with huge great half-bed/half-sofa style seats and people sitting around drinking and smoking hubble bubble pipes (actually a lot more pleasant than cigarette smoke as they smell like incense, vanilla, spices, etc.) There was a huge woodfire outside in something that looked like a large upturned satellite dish. Claudia and I had time for a couple of beers and a pizza while soaking up the atmosphere, before heading to the gate to get a taxi back to Yaya.

I had a restful nights sleep in my very comfortable bed and woke up about 7.00 am the next day, an hour or so before my alarm was due to go off. We traveledd by taxi to the industrial area of town and the studios. Third nice surprise. I'd already seen the studio via their website so had an idea what it was like, but the reality surpassed even my expectations. They had really pulled out the stops to set up our area. I've worked in studios in Soho that haven't been as well equipped or stylishly decorated as this. The studio is a bit of a hidden gem. The industrial area surrounding it is a bit grim, the entrance and first flights of stairs are dingy and a little scary, but as soon as you step into the studio proper it's like another world!

Everyone here is incredibly polite and helpful, it takes a bit of getting used to after living and working in London as your first natural reaction is to be suspicious - which is a little sad. Claudia speaks reasonable Swahili and I've started keeping a little notebook of useful words and phrases in teah hope of being able to use it a little myself before I leave. The only slight disappointment has been the speed of the internet, which has made some things more difficult. We were expecting broadband, but we actually got 64K - which is not much faster than an old dial-up modem.

Tomorrow is Friday, the end of our first week here. On Saturday Aussy Joe (an old friend &amp; colleague of mine) and Kiwi Rich (a new friend & colleague) arrive, so the flat will be full. The last week here with only Claudia and myself has gone just about as well as it could. We both seem to get along well, both professionally and personally, the studio has been setup magnificently, and everyone is fired up and excited about the upcoming project.

On Monday, the Kenyan and Tanzanian animators arrive and the real work starts!

Another one bites the dust...

2006-10-27T09:54:00.000+01:00

Clearly inspired by Melissa and Chris Tuleya, John and Kelly Avondolio welcomed their own bundle of joy into the world Thursday, October 26th at 12:50.

Little Fiona Brooke Avondolio came in at 6lbs 8oz and 19 1/2 inches. Apparently John immediately put a mini golf club in her hand. After all, if she is going to be the best female golf player ever she has to start early.

Congratulations to John and Kelly. You can pass on your well wishes to John at john.avondolio@aa-rf.com

No picture...yet.

Not a London happening, but certainly world changing...

2006-10-25T16:47:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to our friends Chris and Melissa Tuleya who welcomed their beautiful baby daughter Allison Marie into the world on October 24th weighing in at 7lbs. 9 oz. and reaching a height of 21 inches (short, just like her father).

You can email Chris congratulations at chris.tuleya@aa-rf.com If I could post a picture of him you would see how really lucky he is that Allison takes after Melissa.

Made It!

2006-10-25T16:10:00.000+01:00

Finally a post not by me, ladies and gentlemen I proudly give you Kirsten's first post...

My flight over was fairly uneventful (or should I saw "quite"?). Friday was a windy day in New York, so we ended up taxi-ing for over an hour. I ofcourse slept through it, but then was rudely awaken when we took off. Virgin Atlantic is awesome! Friendly service, great individual tv screens with endless games/movies/music, and decent food. When we got above Heathrow we were put in a holding pattern. I didn't really mind, because the pilot had that cute little British accent. Once we landed I waited in a short line for immigration, and then happily proceeded to meet Brian on the other side. What a relief! I was thrilled to once again have him by my side. I also had this overwhelming sense of accomplishment. We did it! We moved to London!!! As most of you know.... the last few weeks before the move were rough. I am happy to have them behind me!

We hopped in a black cab and proceeded to our new home of Islington. Our apartment is adorable! Bright and sunny (an oxymoron i know but it really is!), two bedrooms, two bathrooms, decent size sitting room, large windows, and new kitchen. Perfect for accomadating international guests :) Islington itself is also quite cute and convenient. Great boutiques, restaurant on top of restaurant on top or restaurant, and a pub on every corner. The bus stops across the street (B has a 20min commute to his office on oxford st.), and the tube is a 10 minute walk away.

My first few days were spent exploring with our friends Brad and Mia. London was the third stop in their 4 city tour (Barcelona, Lisbon, and now Paris). Brian took Monday off to enjoy his 31st birthday and play tourist with the three of us. We took a ride on the London Eye and checked out an exhibit at the Tate Modern. We had hoped to slide down the latest installation which consists of clear plastic slides that are various heights - the tallest going from the fifth floor down to the basement. Unfortunately the tickets were sold out. We then met up with some friends at a traditional pub on the Thames. Afterwards we headed to Wagamama for a very satisfying birthday dinner.

On Tuesday I continued my tourist adventure with a trip to St Paul's Cathedral. Luckily Brad and Mia were willing to hold my purse and umbrella as I climbed the spiral stairs to the top. A perilous accomplishment with the boot on my broken foot! Mia and I also managed to find a paper shop and a tremendous fabric design store called Liberty. It was craft heaven!!!

Over the past few days I have also managed to get a Boots discount card, visit Top Shop (which was complete madness with several hundred 16 year old girls from all over Europe), use my Oyster card, and buy pillows at Marks & Spencers. And yes, Mads, ... we have PG tips in our cupboard.

I think this adventure will be fab. Over the next week or so I am looking forward to exploring some new neighborhoods, and ease in to the thought of looking for work. I am still looking to temp for a month or two while I sort out my nursing licenses.

Big happenings

2006-10-24T14:40:00.000+01:00

Been awhile since the last post, but there has been a lot going on...rather than engage in a long winded post I will do a bulleted summary. Listed in order of importance...

1) Mrs. Hennigan est arrivé - after 5 weeks I (we) can truly begin our London Adventure
2) There is a Baskins and Robbins in London, and it is good - thanks to Mia for doing the research
3) I've had another birthday - lots of good loot and lots of well wishes - for those of you who didn't send a card or an email - shame on you, you're off the christmas card list and the weekend you were planning on coming to London and staying in our flat is booked
4) Did I mention Kirsten is now here?
5) Rode the London Eye and visited the Tate Modern (not sold on modern art) with Kirsten, Brad and Mia (pictures to come once I figure out how to post them)
6) Went to Spitalfield's Market - some real good stuff there: foodstuffs, vintage clothes, knick-knacks but oddly no paddy whacks
7) Enjoyed Wagamama with Kirsten, Brad, Mia, Anne and Amy W/T - mmmmm Wagamama http://www.wagamama.com/
8) First client meeting - I show up in a suit, 20 clients sitting around a table in jeans and t-shirts...but I looked good.
9) Rain, lots and lots of rain (sun shining currently though...nope now it's gone)
10) Kirsten is here (cue sighs from the ladies in the crowd)

London is off to a flying start, and now that Kirsten is here ... it's on.

2 Aussies, 2 Americans and a Brit drive to Belgium...

2006-10-16T09:23:00.000+01:00

This actually occurred. First let me respond to some loyal readers out there, I am now in week 3 of work. It's a good group of people and the work is pretty consistent to what I was doing oh so well in the states so all in all a very good start to that side of things. Writing about work though isn't what keeps blog readership going though, and I wouldn't really want to put in salacious material about work...people get fired for that.

So this weekend, I did not hang out with Rob and Anne. Instead I took a road trip to Brugges, Belgium with Pat, a friend from the US, his buddy Jon and two Aussies, Michael and Richard. It's very easy to forget that getting to different countries in Europe is a lot like traveling between states in the US. We made it to Belgium in about 3 hours or so.

Our intent was to attend a beer festival, unfortunately this was occurring 50km south of Brugges, so we decided to make our own beer festival in Brugges. We had a lovely dinner of mussels and Belgian beer, followed by a lot more Belgian beer and some Belgian nightclubs. Along the course of the evening we added 2 more Aussies to our entourage. The town is gorgeous with impressive architecture meeting you at every turn of the small winding streets that would suddenly open onto large squares dotted with restaurants along the edges.

The only downer was at some point Richard decided to go for a walk alone after several drinks, he ended up getting his wallet stolen and a real nice bump on his forehead.

We decided to title the trip "5 minutes from utter disaster" for reasons that shall remain in the confidence of the 5 (7) people who took Brugges by storm.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for sushi.

2006-10-10T11:10:00.000+01:00

I am hesitant to even start off this post with the now too familiar, so I met up with Rob and Anne last night, but since it's true...

I met up with Rob and Anne last night. We took in a huge art gallery exhibit on the grounds of the Royal Hospital. It was very interesting walking around and taking in all the different pieces of work. I was struck by the boldness of the colors of several paintings as they suggested the struggle of man with his mortality, and the ongoing antagonism of the male and female ids. I don't know what the preceding means but it sounds an awful lot like the comments we heard being made. Needless to say I decided not to purchase a Â£8,000 painting of "Nude woman in profile with Goat's head", but I reserve the right to change my mind. The best part of the fair was the special exhibit of the works of fashionphotographerr Norman Parkinson, hadn't heard of him before, now I'm in the know.

What does the thread title have to do with art? Nothing except I hit up Yo! Sushi on my way home for a lovely little dinner. Sushi coming by on plates priced by color on a conveyor belt? Sheer genius. Experience Yo! Sushi now heathens...http://www.yosushi.com/experience.php

Football Weekend

2006-10-09T14:05:00.000+01:00

After a long evening with the work folks on Friday I had some prime football to look forward to on Saturday and Sunday.

First up was the England v. Macedonia match at Anne and Rob's (they must be tired of me already). After the very boring match ended nil nil, we sat down to a lovely dinner prepared by the Woodcock's. If you ever have the chance to sample Rob's pudding you really should do yourself the favor. My arteries still have not cleared from it, but the memory lingers on positively.

Sunday saw me interloping with yet another married couple (I'm going to get a reputation). I traveled to Southwest London to the swank environs of Richmond to watch some good ol' American football with Pat and Amy Thistlewaite. With a backdrop of Lotuses and Range Rovers lining the streets we sat down to see my beloved Bears absolutely destroy the mighty Bills of Buffalo. As if they day couldn't be more perfect we then caught the Eagles game and TO's dubious return to Philly (at least we caught something which is more than can be said for Mr. OD).

And so another weekend closed and brought me one weekend closer to the triumphant arrival of Mrs. Hennigan to London town.

A Pole and a Mexican walk into a bar...

2006-10-05T09:24:00.000+01:00

Not the beginning of a joke (or is it). Rather it describes my dining experience last night. My London city guides Rob and Anne, the Woodcocks, met me out for a few pints in Shepherd's Market a quaint little area filled with many restaurants and cafes, somewhat hidden from the probing eyes of the casual tourist. Anyway, after the beers we went to L'Autre, a Polish/Mexican restaurant. I had visions of Kielbasa tacos with a borscht sauce but ended up being pleasantly surprised.

The story is that L'Autre serves both Polish and Mexican food. I stuck with the Polish route and enjoyed a Polish charcuterie plate (these people clearly have identity issues) followed up by your classic kielbasa. Finished dinner up with some shots of vodka (as you do). Needless to say the head is feeling a bit worse for the wear right now - for that I blame Rob.

Mom: I didn't want to do it but mean old Rob made me. I'm still your pure little angel.

Flat warts

2006-10-04T09:18:00.000+01:00

Oh our beautiful flat. Great location, great style, great size, great features, great landlord; there is absolutely nothing wrong with this...or so I thought until this morning at 3:30AM.

It would seem that the upstairs neighbors have a 3-4 year child who began screaming at the top of his lungs for a good hour.

While I am sad to report that I am exhausted this morning I am very happy to report that the child appears to be very very healthy.

A side trip to Nepal...

2006-10-02T12:58:00.000+01:00

...not literally. Friends Rob and Anne invited me to attend a Nepalese festival in Ealing. I was intrigued by the thought of wandering around a festival ground checking out the various booths set up offering food, drink and many other intersting aspects of Nepalese culture. Then we arrived at the "festival"...

It was actually an auditorium with a stage at one end where local acts from the Yeti Nepalese Association of the UK were performing various styles of music and dance. When we walked in, 2 Brits and 2 Americans, we were at the front of the hall and walked the entire length to reach seats in the very last row.

Despite the discrepancy between what we thought we were getting into and what we actually got into, it was quite a lot of fun.

While we couldn't understand the lyrics we could certainly feel the beats of the music, and the dance exhibition was very interesting indeed. We sat back and enjoyed the acts while wetting our whistles with Cobra, an Indian beer, not Gurhka (sp?) which is the Nepalese beer of choice. Beggars can't be choosers though.

After a beer or two hunger pangs set in, thankfully they were setting up a buffet style dinner behind us. There are 2 things to know about a Nepalese style buffet for the uninitiated:
--You have no idea what you're eating, you hold out your plate and they load it up with whatever is in that particular vat
--It is hot, not burn your lips and throat hot but induce profuse sweating from your neck up.
Unfortunately we had no beer at that particular point so you just had to tuck your head and continue to shovel food into your mouth, it would not have been appropriate to leave anything on the plate, except the bone of some type of meat.

A shortwhile after eating it appeared the festival was ending, since we couldn't understand what the announcers were saying we arrived at this conclusion by the fact 3/4 of the hall emptied out, and the other 1/4 seemed ready to go.

After an hour and a half tube ride back across London to home I finally hit the sack to dream of my first day of work, only a few short hours away.

This week's Newsflashes

2006-09-30T12:09:00.000+01:00

I haven't seen the sun in 2 or 3 days, expect this to continue for 6 months. Editor's Note: Today is absolutely gorgeous - blue sky, bright sun, warm temps

I have secured a flat in a very chic trendy area of London called Islington, more specifically Angel. Moved my 2 50 lb. bags in this morning at 9:30 - the first time I've seen this time of the day since I've been here.

Attended a DNA company meeting Thursday night and afterwards went out for a leaving party, it's always good to get out socially with your soon to be workmates. Seems like a good group, should be a lot of fun. As an extra bonus everyone enjoys going out for a beer - I think I am going to feel right at home.

I have been using the DNA offices as my free internet cafe, they finally caught on, I have actually been doing some limited pro bono work just because I need something to do.

This city is f*&^ing expensive, I may have miscalculated how much I'll need to get through to the end of October when I receive my first paycheck. Donations are being accepted.

I have been in a lift, almost been hit by several lorries, been on the tube, had a curry, used my mobile, and scheduled (silent c) some meetings in my diary. Union jack underwear can't be too far behind.

Went into a pub and the Steelers game was on replay, I ordered a pint and began watching enveloped by the warmth of home - when someone yelled "What is this shite, put the fucking football match on" at which point they put on some sort of low level soccer match - fuckers.

Kirsten arrives in 3 weeks...the countdown continues...

First Day (a week late)

2006-09-30T12:03:00.000+01:00

Flight over was fine, Virgin Atlantic does a really nice job and the entertainment selection is very nice indeed. Managed to put pepper into my tea instead of sugar and being very tired I decided to drink it anyway, not something I would recommend.

Upon arrival at the hotel I found my room was not ready, so instead of the nap I had planned on I went to the office, as that was the only place I could think of going that was a short walk away.

Other random things from that uneventful and tiring first day:
--Almost got hit by a bike whilst (lingo alert) crossing the street
--Almost got hit by a bus whilst crossing the street
--Almost got hit by several cars whilst crossing the street
(As a result of the above I have decided not to cross anymore streets so I have just been walking around the same block for hours)
--Wandered around London for about an hour and half, getting the lay of the land
--Had a pint in 3 pubs by myself, kind of felt like the leper in the corner
--Watched several shows on Discovery and found that they re-dub the announcer with a Brit accent. It's very strange to watch a show about Alaskan King Crab fishing (which I've seen before) but being narrated by a Brit using slang.