friend-filled weekend

Let me start by saying, I have very few photos from the weekend, but will have more once I raid our friend’s camera.  My point-and-shoot is seriously on it’s last leg.  It has been dropped more times than I care to remember and for some reason I just never had our SLR with us.  We both kept forgetting it even though we were doing awesome things around London with our friends.  I know, it makes no sense.  I’m starting to think we both subconsciously forgot it so we could take a break from being shutterbugs for a weekend.

Our friends arrived in London very early Thursday morning, so early that Jules could even come with me to pick them up and still make it to work on time…

They had 2 1/2 days before heading off to some other European destinations and we crammed a lot into that short amount of time- They saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham…

took  a ride down the Thames to Greenwich, they had their first pint in an English pub, ate their first real fish and chips and steak and ale pies, walked around Westminster and toured Westminster Abbey…

we went up the London Eye, met our Londoner friends in Soho, tasted their first Korean food, and were even able to hit up the British Museum before leaving to catch their flight.

Since they’ll be back in London at the end of their trip I think this was a pretty nice start. And helloooooo…

I did the London Eye for them and although I did require a beer beforehand, I didn’t even freak out.  It was actually not that scary, although I was literally weak in the knees and had to death grip the rails when getting close to the glass for photos.

After they were off to their next destination, we joined our sweet Londoner friends who had invited us over again to enjoy a home-cooked meal.  The food was spectacular and the company great- we couldn’t have asked for a better Saturday night.

We seriously spent all day in bed on Sunday planning and booking China weekends and only left the room for breakfast and dinner.  I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a lazy Sunday together, they don’t come often and it will likely be our last one this year.

Up this weekend- Norway with friends and fjords.  We’re so excited!!! 

the daily(ish)

Not the first time our hair iron has caused damage…

or will it likely be the last.  Nothing was worse than having to tell the sweet people at the Japan Westin that we had actually broken an entire glass table top when it cracked from the heat. 

the daily(ish)

Seriously?

Is it really necessary to put each separate article of clothing in it’s own tissue paper and bag? 

Obviously, being kind to the environment isn’t high on the list of priorities at our current hotel.  Which I suppose makes sense because they aren’t very nice to their guests either.

the daily(ish)

Okay, so this is the last from the Natural History Museum…

I took a picture of this for few reasons.  One to remind myself that my fear of the ocean is totally reasonable with things like this swimming around in it, two I thought it was really interesting and three, there was a sign I couldn’t take a photo of that said something to the effect of “The male is essentially a swimming testicle” and that made me laugh.

the return of flashback fridays (sort of)

I’m still working on our photo albums (yes, I took a long break- it is tedious business, people- te-di-ous) and I use the blog to help me keep the photos in in chronological order.  I usually end up reading a post or two as I’m looking back putting weekends in order and this coupled with going through the 7.3 million photos of our past travels has made me very nostalgic.  We’re coming to the end of the round so quickly (just 2 weeks left!!) and then only one more round before this incredible ride is over. 

So, since I’m feeling nostalgic and since I’m the one who runs this here blog, we’re going to start getting  all nostalgic together on Fridays with random posts from our past trips.

I have no idea where the past 3 years have gone.  I really and truly don’t, so let’s remember together and maybe sing kumbaya while we’re at it.  Okay, we don’t have to sing, but maybe just hum it quietly to yourself as you read.  Definitely quietly if you’re reading this at work.

First up is from our first year, round 3 in Argentina.  We loved that country so much- the leather, the steaks, the wines, the amazing natural beauty.  This was probably my favorite weekend although they were all pretty great.  Except that whole eating cow stomach incident but hey, live and learn.  Live and learn.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

El Calafate

We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend to start Rho’s Argentinean adventure. Our flight out on Friday was only an hour late which for Aerolineas Airlines is incredible.

The beauty of Patagonia is obvious before your plane even touches down. As you descend you can’t help but be mesmerized by the color of the lakes and streams. The water is this slightly eerie ethereal blue and almost seems to glow.
After a slow ride from the airport with our amusing driver we arrived just outside of El Calafate at Las Dunas Inn. Our hotel was beyond charming and just steps from Largo Argentina (the country’s largest lake) so the views were beautiful.

We headed into El Calfate for a traditional barbeque dinner (aka-meat, meat, more meat and malbec) and had a nightcap in the lounge before heading to bed for our early morning out to see the glacier. 

I don’t think one can see a glacier and not be blown away by the sheer awesomeness that is our planet. Almost otherworldly, the Perito Merino Glacier just outside El Calafate was by far Mother Nature at her finest.
We did a boat ride in front of the glacier and then walked around the maze of viewing platforms to get a different perspective. The glacier itself is 25% larger than the city of Buenos Aires. It is just astounding...

We were unable to see a lot of the other glaciers due to the season. I would love, love, love to come back in the summer one day so anyone who wants to plan a trip I’m game!

We were all pretty exhausted after the three million stairs we had to climb on our way back from the glacier and the two hour ride back to El Calafate so we had an early dinner and headed to bed.

It was one of those weekends that we just couldn’t deny how incredibly blessed our life really is and we were so glad Rhonda was there to share it with us.

the daily(ish)

We’re only a 15-20 minute walk from Chinatown and tend to go there a lot for dinner.  It isn’t that we’re really trying to prepare for our upcoming trip to China so much as we’re now addicted to crispy duck.  Thanks, Frenchie.

The other night we were there with our Chinese friend, C, and as we were walking around I spotted this window…

Me: “C, what is wrong with that duck up in the corner?  Why is he by himself and a different color??”

C: “What is wrong with him is he’s a chicken.”

I’ve been out of the kitchen for far too long.

the daily(ish)

Yummy little treat the new cohort bought for us…

The Wife isn’t even a fan of macaroons, but these she actually enjoyed.  Thanks again, new cohort!

the daily(ish)

It was all I could do to keep Jules from buying one of these outfits…

She especially loved the furry mittens. 

Windsor, Bath & Stonehenge

We had a trip to Malta booked and were going to take a long weekend in the Maltese sun soaking up the sites, but thanks to the heavy workload in this insane round, we had to cancel so the Wife could work.  Seems to be a bit of a theme this year, huh?

At least this time we were in London and not Jo’berg, so no real loss. Although I had planned an awesome weekend in Malta, just for another day I guess.

We spent all day Saturday outside of London, riding through the countryside to see Windsor Castle…

This a a fave residence of the Queen and was really, well…fit for a queen.  The state apartments don’t allow photos, but the grounds were lovely and we even got to see the changing of the guards…

It was strange and a bit boring if you ask me, but we did get our quintessential British guard photos…

with who I’m thinking might be the tallest of all the guards in the country.  I wanted to ask him, but he was being all guard-y and serious so I’m just going to go with it in my head.  Tallest guard ever! 

St. Stephan’s cathedral was really gorgeous…

and allowed us to visit the final resting place of Henry VIII, which as a huge Tudor’s fan, I was pretty excited about.

We were then off to Bath or as the English say Baaath. 

The city is Georgian architectural wonderland and we rode through taking it all in before arriving at the Roman Baths…

In truth we rushed through the baths so we could visit the really impressive Abby that was next door…

After Baaath, we had another hour ride to Stonehenge…

I’d heard conflicting opinions on Stonehenge about it living up to the hype or not and I’d say, at least for us, it really did.  Mysterious- check. Imposing- check. Beautiful setting- check.  Just really cool to see- check.

It hit all the marks for us and I’m really glad we made the trip out to see it, definitely the highlight of my day.

After an 11 hour day of touring, we picked up some take-out and watched half a movie before completely conking out.  Yes, I know, we’re very hip.  I know only the coolest of the cool spend their Saturday nights in London this way. 

We spent Sunday at the British Museum and then later met up with our Londoner friends for dinner on Brick Lane to finally have some Indian.  I can’t believe I’ve been in London this long without having some tikka masala!

We have some dear, dear friends that we absolutely adore coming in from Atlanta this week!  This week!!!  Friends! Friends! Friends!  YAY!!!!  YAY!!!!! YAY!!!!!

As you can see, we’re just a wee bit excited to see them. 

Pics from Saturday…

the daily(ish)

The sign said this was the oldest thing I would ever see…

See white dust inside the tube?  Those are apparently tiny diamonds formed billions of years ago on a dying star.  Sounds a lot more impressive than this display would lead you to believe, huh?

Although, I will say I would have easily missed it had I not thought “Why are they displaying a crack pipe over there?” and went over to check it out.