I'm back in Bella Vista! Got home about 9:30 last night after many travel snafu's. Should have gotten back at 5:30, but who cares I'm home. My bed and pillows felt so good. Jim and the dogs will have to get used to me again! Going to decompress this weekend and get used to home all over again. Everything is so green and beautiful here. I think I'm still a bit shell shocked and have to pinch myself to believe it's real. Aaahhhh!
Thanks for all my great adventures England!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
and then there were 2...
there were 4 of us that started this journey beginning in march...deb headed back on wednesday and pam is on her way back today....that leaves just bob and me...and we are headed to amsterdam for the holiday weekend! more on that trip after we return! stay tuned...that is if we don't get arrested!
what a great experience this has been and what a jourrney we have shared working and living in the uk! we will miss the people we've worked with and become friends with...they certainly made this trip memorable!
pam and deb - the offices are quieter and you are both missed already!
safe travels - cheers!
-carole
what a great experience this has been and what a jourrney we have shared working and living in the uk! we will miss the people we've worked with and become friends with...they certainly made this trip memorable!
pam and deb - the offices are quieter and you are both missed already!
safe travels - cheers!
-carole
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Venice, Italy
Buongiorno!
We went to Venice this past weekend, what a blast! I wasn't the least disappointed. I've always wanted to go to Italy and it was as I had pictured it and more. Quaint, wood shutters, masonary with brick showing in places, flower pots hanging on windowsills, laundry hanging from windows, tiny alleys, mazes, little resturants, I could go on and on. I really hadn't thought about their being no cars in Venice, but makes sense when you think about it. There are lots of stairs over bridges too, so no vehicles of any kind, including bicycles. It was very nice to not have to even think about crossing a street and getting hit. Believe me if you had been in Leeds and walked everywhere it is a daily hazard. Loved that there were tons of dogs, seemed like almost everyone had one. Would definitely recommend it. It was beautiful the 1st 2 days we were there, but unfortunately rained the day we were leaving. Can't complain though that was the best day for that to happen since we had to catch the boat at 1:00.
It was Deb's 40th Birthday! What a great memory for the question "where were you on your 40th". I'm pretty sure she had a great time as we all did!
Here are the pics of Venice. Enjoy!!!
Arrivederci!
Pam
We went to Venice this past weekend, what a blast! I wasn't the least disappointed. I've always wanted to go to Italy and it was as I had pictured it and more. Quaint, wood shutters, masonary with brick showing in places, flower pots hanging on windowsills, laundry hanging from windows, tiny alleys, mazes, little resturants, I could go on and on. I really hadn't thought about their being no cars in Venice, but makes sense when you think about it. There are lots of stairs over bridges too, so no vehicles of any kind, including bicycles. It was very nice to not have to even think about crossing a street and getting hit. Believe me if you had been in Leeds and walked everywhere it is a daily hazard. Loved that there were tons of dogs, seemed like almost everyone had one. Would definitely recommend it. It was beautiful the 1st 2 days we were there, but unfortunately rained the day we were leaving. Can't complain though that was the best day for that to happen since we had to catch the boat at 1:00.
It was Deb's 40th Birthday! What a great memory for the question "where were you on your 40th". I'm pretty sure she had a great time as we all did!
Here are the pics of Venice. Enjoy!!!
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| One of the 1st sites we came across on the way to our inn |
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| Blowfish? |
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| We loved our room, so quaint! |
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| From our hall window |
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| Narrow canal around where we stayed |
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One of the many Campo's (squares) |
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| Grande Canal |
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| Ordering some great tasting Pizza |
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| Beautiful and check out the bridge! |
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| Basilica di San Marco |
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| Another part of Basilica di San Marco |
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| Grande Canal from the Piazza San Marco |
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| Typical Street |
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| Campo that we stopped at and rested our tired feet |
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| Deb & Carole (Look'n good at 40!) |
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| Rainy boat trip back to the airport |
Pam
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Giant Pink Shoe
I was walking back to my apt last Sunday and I spotted a guy guarding a PINK shoe. This was in front of the train station. It was loaded into a van and whisked away. Now you don't see that just anywhere!
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| Typical show that most women wear here, but needs more heigth in the front, of course smaller in scale! |
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| He does look like he is guarding it, like someone was going to walk off with it! |
Roomzzzz
Some of you had wanted pictures of where we were staying while here in England. Whilst it is not exciting here they are.! I think they put us up in a nice place. It's been my home away from home for about 3 mos. now and I don't think I'll ever forget it.
Pam
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| Messy bahroom, very little room for much needed beauty aids |
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| Clothes on bed for packing, going to Venice tomorrow! |
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| Self explanatory! |
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
It's been a while since I posted and I felt like it was time.
First off I felt better about not knowing what English words meant because of something that happened this weekend. I was working with a few people and they were looking at our newsletter about Connolly's New Employee's. This is posted about every three months and one of the things that is asked and then posted is Favorite Things to Do. One of the US new employess posted Tailgating, playing sports, cooking, etc. My fellow peers were discussing this and committed that they couldn't believe someone had actually said they enjoy "tailgating", meaning to the English following another car too closely. I rather enjoyed explaining to them what this really meant. I'm not sure they really got it, but it was nice to hear that they didn't always understand things we said. I'm sure they all go to a Pub before and after a game and didn't really understand the concept of sitting in a parking lot and basically drinking and eating just as they do in a Pub with friends. We all really do the same thing just in a different way. We're really not so different, we all enjoy our friends and sports don't we?
They also seem to think we let our teenagers drive to early (I wonder about that myself) and that we all walk around with guns and shot each other. They may have it right about the gun thing too. While I believe we do have a right to carry arms, I do question what kind and how easy it is to get them. Many have said they feel our education system is a bit better. I don't really understand enought of theirs to have an opinion about that.
Some words that they spell differently and we feel our spelled wrong and vice versa are:
enquiry
tyre
centre
colour (I know this one because I spelled it wrong on a claim)
whilst (for some reason I like the sound of that one and try to use it as often as possible)
I wonder when we decided to change the spelling, you know it was us!
There are more, but I can't seem to think of them at the moment.
Oh, and then there was the talk of they have refrigerators without freezers. I don't get that, what do you do about ice and ice cream?
Pam
First off I felt better about not knowing what English words meant because of something that happened this weekend. I was working with a few people and they were looking at our newsletter about Connolly's New Employee's. This is posted about every three months and one of the things that is asked and then posted is Favorite Things to Do. One of the US new employess posted Tailgating, playing sports, cooking, etc. My fellow peers were discussing this and committed that they couldn't believe someone had actually said they enjoy "tailgating", meaning to the English following another car too closely. I rather enjoyed explaining to them what this really meant. I'm not sure they really got it, but it was nice to hear that they didn't always understand things we said. I'm sure they all go to a Pub before and after a game and didn't really understand the concept of sitting in a parking lot and basically drinking and eating just as they do in a Pub with friends. We all really do the same thing just in a different way. We're really not so different, we all enjoy our friends and sports don't we?
They also seem to think we let our teenagers drive to early (I wonder about that myself) and that we all walk around with guns and shot each other. They may have it right about the gun thing too. While I believe we do have a right to carry arms, I do question what kind and how easy it is to get them. Many have said they feel our education system is a bit better. I don't really understand enought of theirs to have an opinion about that.
Some words that they spell differently and we feel our spelled wrong and vice versa are:
enquiry
tyre
centre
colour (I know this one because I spelled it wrong on a claim)
whilst (for some reason I like the sound of that one and try to use it as often as possible)
I wonder when we decided to change the spelling, you know it was us!
There are more, but I can't seem to think of them at the moment.
Oh, and then there was the talk of they have refrigerators without freezers. I don't get that, what do you do about ice and ice cream?
Pam
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Great Week with Pam
I finally have a moment to catch my breath since returning from England and make a post to the blog--sorry for the delay What a fun time. It was cool to spend a week with Pam! Let me just say first that the plane ride is horrible. I feel for Deb’s husband having to make the trip with his children, hat’s off to you sir. With that said, the rest of my trip was great.
We spent the first couple of days in Leeds--nice town. Pam took me to the old Abbey. We walked from Pam’s ‘flat’ to the Abbey. I found it very interesting to see the neighborhoods on the way.
Now mind you this wasn’t a short walk. We intended to ride a bus, but the exercise in patience proved to be too much for us at the bus stops. Luckily, we spotted an oasis named West End House--very nice pub. From there it was a short walk to the Abbey. The Abbey was a little awe inspiring considering its age and history. It was a beautiful sunny spring day.
The next day we spent wandering around the shopping district. The architecture was so fascinating and varied. I liked the arcades and narrow alleys. Pam showed me the office and the walk she takes every day. I enjoyed getting a glimpse of her routine. Lots of pubs to check out too. The beer was sure good!
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| Spooky Gothic Hospital across from Jim's favorite Pub in Leeds |
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| As you can see a very Beautiful scene in the shopping district of Leeds Everytime I see it I think it looks like a painting and not real. |
London was a blast. When we got to our hotel we learned it was Jimmy Hendrix’s first home in England. It was great that Carole was able to go with us too. Pam and I sure enjoyed her company. This was a quick trip though and there is a lot of London to see. We took a bus tour that went all around London. Parliament and Westminster Abbey are simply amazing. We also managed a tour of the Tower of London. It was a lot to take in.
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| Tower of London (Not really a tower!) |
We spent a day in York, a 20 minute train ride from Leeds. Originally it was built by the Romans around 71 AD. The part of York inside the old city walls was like a Harry Potter set. Lots of fun shops, great restaurants and pubs. Good food. I like Steak & Ale Pie.
Then off to Edinburgh, Scotland. We stayed 2 nights at the MacDonald Roxburghe hotel--nice. They have a beautiful park at the base of the massive volcanic rock the castle sits on. There are spectacular views from the park of the castle and medieval buildings close to it. On the day of the royal wedding, we decide to tour Edinburgh Castle during the wedding hoping to avoid some crowds. That worked out nicely. I really liked the medieval section of the city. The architecture was great and the shops were fun. Anybody want a kilt, they have plenty and cashmere too?
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| Isn't this great! This guy was at the right place at the right time! |
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| We actually walked up that! There was a path, we aren't rock climbers! |
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| Royal Mile |
Alas, it was time to return to the states. Sure went fast!
Cheers!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Oh how I miss Mexican food
Coming from someone who grew up in California, I definitely miss good Mexican food. I crave it constantly even in Utah (where we have at least a few excellent places to choose from), and frankly I could live off it - eat it daily 3 times a day.
Rich and I took the boys last week to dinner and tried the Las Iguanas here in town, and when I asked for their quesadilla without the chicken and the onions and other condiments - just cheese, they repeated back with confusion - 'just cheese?' followed by 'so you want a quesadilla with only cheese in it?' um, yeah - thus the word quesa and dilla. no pollo por favor. comprende? At the 'Burrito place' or whatever it's called (basically, like a Chipotle restaurant or similar), they actually asked 'Have you been here before?' when we first walked in. We both laughed, and said no, but that we'd been in a place like it many, many times. Same thing though, when we asked for a quesadilla, he proceeded to take suggestions from us on how to make it, and as usual held back on the cheese so it was essentially 2 tortillas with a spattering of English cheddar in between. He said they used to have it on the menu, but took it off. Perhaps if they tried some good Mexican cheeses and/or put more inbetween they'd be more popular.
I bought some tortillas in Morrisons the other day (they were in the ethnic foods section - bottom shelf) and they actually have suggestions/directions on the package on how to eat them. Specifically, to fry up some peppers and onions (they put onions in EVERYTHING here unfortunately for me, since I don't like them), and warm up the tortilla, fill the tortilla with the peppers and onions and then fold it 'like so' (there's a picture of how to make a taco). Love it!
I'm in heaven at the moment eating my quesadilla with orange cheddar cheese (Jack or Colby are hard to come by) layered thickly in between the Old El Paso tortillas with some 'hot' Old El Paso salsa sprinkled all over. I say 'hot', because it's not. Still yummy, and I have to say, the squeeze bottle salsa idea is really cool! We should have that in the states. It squeezes out like Mustard or catchup. Brilliant!
Rich and I took the boys last week to dinner and tried the Las Iguanas here in town, and when I asked for their quesadilla without the chicken and the onions and other condiments - just cheese, they repeated back with confusion - 'just cheese?' followed by 'so you want a quesadilla with only cheese in it?' um, yeah - thus the word quesa and dilla. no pollo por favor. comprende? At the 'Burrito place' or whatever it's called (basically, like a Chipotle restaurant or similar), they actually asked 'Have you been here before?' when we first walked in. We both laughed, and said no, but that we'd been in a place like it many, many times. Same thing though, when we asked for a quesadilla, he proceeded to take suggestions from us on how to make it, and as usual held back on the cheese so it was essentially 2 tortillas with a spattering of English cheddar in between. He said they used to have it on the menu, but took it off. Perhaps if they tried some good Mexican cheeses and/or put more inbetween they'd be more popular.
I bought some tortillas in Morrisons the other day (they were in the ethnic foods section - bottom shelf) and they actually have suggestions/directions on the package on how to eat them. Specifically, to fry up some peppers and onions (they put onions in EVERYTHING here unfortunately for me, since I don't like them), and warm up the tortilla, fill the tortilla with the peppers and onions and then fold it 'like so' (there's a picture of how to make a taco). Love it!
I'm in heaven at the moment eating my quesadilla with orange cheddar cheese (Jack or Colby are hard to come by) layered thickly in between the Old El Paso tortillas with some 'hot' Old El Paso salsa sprinkled all over. I say 'hot', because it's not. Still yummy, and I have to say, the squeeze bottle salsa idea is really cool! We should have that in the states. It squeezes out like Mustard or catchup. Brilliant!
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