Seriously....

It is snowing.

Oktoberfest 2009

Back in September Chris and I achieved a life long dream... we joined 5,999,998 other nuts in Munchen for Oktoberfest! This was one of the first trips we booked upon landing in London back in October of 2008. We rarely plan anything a year in advance but this... well, this was special and required considerable planning. I think about 10 or 12 people were in on the tent hunt, trying to locate a tent with a table for 20+ that didn't require our first born as a deposit. Thanks to our good friend Tim and his American Express Platinum Concierge for getting the job done in the 11th hour! We landed on Saturday morning, made a b-line to the nearest German consignment shop to purchase some traditional Bavarian threads, and spent about 2 hours enjoying the calm before the storm.

Saturday night we headed to the Oktoberfest grounds and made our way into the first tent we found with open doors, Hofbräu Festhalle! I experienced a few moments of sensory overload. Pictures could never do it justice. There were thousands of people, thousands of litres of beer, an oompa loompa band, Bavarian damen carrying 8, 9, 10 litres at a time and... everyone was in dirndls and lederhosen!!! I instantly knew this was going to be a good weekend!

The Hofbräu Festhalle was a bit insane. We arrived just after 9 pm to find thousands of people who had been drinking all day and we were just getting started. We had decided to save our traditional wear for Sunday, thinking it would be a novelty. Little did we know that lederhosen and dirndls are common place in Munich during the fest. We were the novelties in street clothes! After a litre or 2 of beer, we fought over a pretzel. It was a good thing when the lights were turned up and the band played Ein Prosit Gemütlichkeit for millionth and final time. We headed for the door and back to the hotel to prepare for the next day which would be starting sharply at noon!

11:30 am, Sunday, September 27th, post coffee but prior to beer!

The rest of our 25 will be join us inside the Hippodrom Tent.

Prepared for the day in our Bavarian working class threads and our first litres of beer. Das Leben ist schön!

There are probably only about 3 or 4 people in this tent without litres! Somewhere down there smack in the middle is a 18/19 year old German guy wearing a University of Florida hat! I said "Go Gators" to him and he looked at me like I had a second head! Maybe "Go Gators" means something different in German?!?

It was next to impossible to get out entire group into one photo, especially post second round! It looks like about 18 in this picture so we are only missing about 5... not to shabby!

From Hippodrom to Armbrustschützen-Tent (aka Paulaner). We were unsure if we would be able to get 20+ people into another tent but Tommy and I sweet talked the group into the Paulaner tent. Tommy did most of the talking, seeing as how he speaks German, and I smiled and looked innocent. As it turns out, there was no need to sweet talk because they had just opened the doors for free seats. It took a while to find a bench for the lot of us and along the way Chris and I made friends with some very drunk Germans. These guys were so excited to meet Americans and wanted us to take pictures with them. For every picture they would yell "Usain Bolt" and assume the pose. Most of this pictures were blurring because I was laughing hysterically and couldn't hold the camera still! But the picture of Chris above tells the story well enough!

This is the end of the pictures but not of the adventure. It was around this time I decided to put the camera away to prevent it from being broken, lost or stolen. Shortly after the camera was tucked away, Chris made his way back to the hotel. He hadn't bought in to my plan; a litre of beer, a litre of water, a litre of beer, a litre of water... you get the picture. In the end, a good time was had by all and everyone made it to their respective homes safe and sound. The plan worked brilliantly and I was sans hangover on Monday morning!!! Come back soon for Gnew Gnoah Gnomes adventures in Deutschland!

Until then... XOXO

Grr... Silly Bus

The number 16 bus stole my umbrella.

Which brings the total number of umbrellas claimed by the city since our arrival to 6. Chris left one at Bodeans on our 4th day in London, then two were sacrificed to the Tri-fecta Gods on the same day in November 2008, Chris lost another (on a tube, in a pub, on a bus... no one really knows for sure) and we managed to leave the massive Atlanta EY "borrowed" umbrella in the back of a taxi the day we moved into our first flat. The saddest part of the last one is that we never even got to use it! We carried it around the city several times but never actually opened it on this side of the pond!

6 umbrellas in 13 months. Not bad at all.

On a side note: Can I add an umbrella with lo-jack to my Christmas list???

Revisiting the Anniversary

Back in October on my 5 year anniversary post I promised a picture of Chris and I from the wedding... Here it is almost 2 months later and I have not followed through with my promise. Problem is that I can't find the silly pics! I know they are on a CD somewhere but whether that somewhere is London or my dad's spare room in Jacksonville is beyond me. But I did find these pictures that Laurie took a few years ago of the famous rock...

Maybe for our 6th anniversary I will track down the wedding pictures!

Christmas Time in the Big City!!!

It is no secret that I loathe Christmas music. I think it was the year I worked at Gap Kids for the holidays to make some extra money that put me over the edge. The same 30 songs in the exact same order played over and over again for almost 2 months straight is enough to send anyone to the nut house. However, pair that up with people coming into the store, singing along and commenting about how great the music is... well, that made me the pseudo scrooge that I am today! I say pseudo because I love all other things Christmas. I just wish we could leave the music out of the holiday!!!

Since we are heading home for the holidays this year Chris tried to convince me that we should skip the tree. Ha! Like he ever had a chance of winning that argument! I have been daydreaming about all my ornaments and fun holiday stuff since the 1st note of crappy Christmas music hit my ears! I almost refused to go on our weekend get-away to Isle of Wight because I wanted to get the tree on Friday. So today after work I got the bus to the Flower Station and picked out a tree London style. Basically that means that I picked a tree that I never saw unwrapped because when I asked the guy to unwrap a few he laughed! It was a rather grumpy laugh so I decided not to push my luck, paid for the tree and hailed a black cab! Yes, I brought my tree home in a black cab!!! I must say it was a bit easier than carrying it the 6 blocks home like we did last Christmas.

Luckily, when I got the tree home and opened it I was pleasantly surprised to find a decent tree. All that is left is to toss the lights and decorations on it and wait for the presents to show up!!!

Isle of Wight

A few weeks ago we started talking about getting out of London for the long weekend. I told Chris that I pictured us hold up in a cabin along the shore with a fire burning, warm blankets and nothing to do but relax. I must have looked at a hundred rentals on the web and found nothing that was close enough, far enough, cheap enough, cozy enough... or just plain enough! When Wednesday rolled around and we still had no confirmed plans I started making a mental list of things to do over the long weekend... laundry, cleaning, Christmas shopping, more laundry... I was prepared to give up the idea of nothing but R&R. But Chris came through in the eleventh hour... literally... we emailed an Inn on the Isle of Wight on Wednesday night, they responded midday Thursday, Chris booked the room and 2 train tickets for noon on Friday! By 1 pm on Friday we were munching turkey sandwiches as we chugged through the English countryside and the rain!

The other hope I had for the weekend was a nice long walk along the coast and a chance to break-in my Hunter Wellies...

Check!As soon as we got checked in and dropped our bags in the room we were off to check out the area. Here is Chris admiring our future summer home. And yes, this modern monstrosity sticks out like a sore thumb... I preferred the more traditional English cottages.

Now this is the kind of place where I could cuddle up in front of the fire with a good book, a glass of wine and a fat cat at my feet... when will Chris be making partner???

The beach is not the white fluffy sand that I grew up with in Florida. But I have to admit that I enjoyed the natural pebbles and sea shells that were scattered along the shore. I just needed a bucket to help collect all my treasures!

The end of November is the off season for the Isle of Wight. And for good reason... it was freezing! I asked Chris if he wanted to pack his hat, gloves, scarf, etc and he said no. I tossed his hat in my bag"just in case" and by day 2 he was wearing my scarf! Next time I just pack for him ;-)

We only had a few hours to explore before the sunset. We walked along the shore and then made our way inland before heading back towards the hotel. I loved these puddles and was really wishing I had a tripod to prevent the pictures from being so blurry.

We headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed a few pints in the pub along with a game of darts. Neither Chris nor I have any clue how to play darts; other than the basic concept of throwing the pointy end of the dart in the general direction of the bulls eye. So we made up our own rules and laughed our way through the afternoon as Chris threw for Yahtzee! After darts we enjoyed dinner and then headed to the room for a pleasant surprise...

The BEST turn down service EVER, hands down!

We returned to our room to find the radio playing relaxing tunes, the bed turned down with hot water bottles warming each side of the bed, slippers laid out next to the bed and the lights in the bathtub glowing blue!!! I don't think I could have asked for anything more... except maybe a chocolate on my pillow ;-)

This picture does not do the bathtub justice but it will have to do! The tub was big enough for 3 or 4 people. It had blue lights inside the tube and the faucet is that little silver circle in the picture on the ceiling next to the rain style shower head! Yes, the water falls from the ceiling into the tub! Oh and did I mention that there is a TV embedded in the tiles? Calgon take me away...

As we tucked in for the night (after hour long bathes each,) the rain started to fall and lulled us off to sleep. Needless to say, we both slept like babies and woke up to sunshine!!!!


And a few clouds... but look at those blue skies in between the clouds!

So I realize that it looks overcast in the picture but when it is November in England beggars can't be choosers! We take any hint of sunshine and blue sky that we can get! Here is our hotel, the Seaview Inn... doesn't look like the sort of place that would have TVs in the bathtubs!

We looked online, spoke to different people at the hotel and even chatted with a guest at breakfast about things to do. However, in the end we decided to go out for a wonder and enjoy getting lost. We figured the island is not that big and we had plenty of money to catch a cab back to the Inn if we got too far away so why not! Plus, Chris had been out for a run in the early morning and had scouted a potential path.

We started off along the water since the tide was heading out and we had plenty of room to walk.

It seems like every house we passed had a cute name on the gate or over the door. This was one of my favorites...

Eventually, the beach became impossible to walk on so we headed inland along a muddy path. We were flanked by green fields and woods. The air was crisp and my wellies kept my feet bone dry! I had a ball splashing through the puddles and trying not to avoid the mud!



I can definitely understand why Londoners have country or coast homes. It was so peaceful and relaxing to be out walking without doubledecker buses brushing past at 60 mph or having to dodge tourists. One thing is for certain, if we ever lived in a place like this we would have to get a doggy! We must have seen about 20 Border Collies in our 2 days and they were all having the time of their lives running, barking, and herding any and everything in sight!

We walked along the edge of the Priory Hotel and gates like this one marked the entrances on either end. Unfortunately, we had to continue our walk along the main road. I tried in vain to snap pictures while dodging cars... wasn't I just saying something about not missing this???

We walked through St Helen's and then headed back to the coast and enjoyed the houseboats in Bembridge...

Leave it to me to make friends with a pirate along the way. I told him on of my pirate jokes... he didn't seem to be very amused. He must have had barnacles in his ears ;-) It was at about this point in our walk that I realized just how heavy rubber boots are, especially when you have walked about 4 miles... We found a cute little pub and were ready to tuck in to a pint when Chris decided to see what else was around. The Lobster and Crab Inn was recommended and right on the shore... it looked deceivingly close on Chris's Blackberry map so we were off again.

In the end, it was worth the extra mile we walked. We sat outside and drank a pint, enjoying the sea views and then headed inside for crab cakes by the fire.

For the record, the camera is level... it is the fence that is going downhill!

England's coasts are known for their chalk cliffs and Isle of Wight is no different. Most of the southern and eastern coast on the island are nothing but cliffs. We only caught the edge of it but is was lovely to say the least. We considered a walk along this beach but decided that it was time to head back to the hotel for a quick nap before our massages!

We made it back just in time, too. As we kicked off our shoes in the room it started to pour! This was the theme of our weekend. When we were outside if was cold, windy and damp but not raining but as soon as we headed inside it would come down in sheets! After a quick nap, we headed to the Inn's spa room. Chris enjoyed a 60 minute massage while I was pampered with a 60 minute facial and 30 minutes neck, shoulder and back massage. So this was not on my original weekend wish list but I consider it a compromise since our room did not have a fire place!

After a nice long dinner, a bottle of vino and some sticky toffee pudding, we were ready for our nice warm bed and the sound of rain on the roof top. We slept-in until after 9:30 this morning before heading down for a Full English fry-up and fresh squeezed juice! It is hard to believe that we actually left this little bit of heaven to return to London! What were we thinking???

Until next time... XOXO

Happy Thanksgiving

4 Americans, 2 Brits, an Irishman and a Bengali... No, it isn't a joke! We had some friends over for a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. The food was delicious (if I do say so myself) and the company was even better. I learned another valuable lesson... convection ovens cook much faster than regular ovens... However, since I was basting the bird every 30 minutes I was able to pick up on the fast cooking and in the end it was cooked to perfection. I love this Tom Colicchio recipe and don't think I will ever like another turkey as much. Even Chris said he thought this was my best turkey yet! Add the sweet potatoes with praline topping, green bean casserole, roasted garlic and sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, and top it all off with bourbon spiked pumpkin pie... We had a feast fit for the Queen!

After all the work we put into the feast we decided to get away for the weekend. Chris found a last minute deal on the Isle of Wight, booked the train tickets and away we went... after all the dishes were done! More to come on the Isle of Wight but not now... we have massages in 10 minutes ;-)

Until then...

XOXO