Londen (ie, Dutch for London)

It had been so long since Michelle and I had heard a train announcement in English that I think we both forgot how nice it is to actually understand what's going on. We took our trip to England last weekend, a trip that was actually Michelle birthday present from me last year. It just took us this long to get around to actually doing it.


We stayed with Michelle's family friend Pam in her flat just south of the main city (about a 30min train ride), though we spent most of our time touring the city. It's quite a large place, that London is. We saw most of the sites from the outside: the shopping district, Buckingham Palace, The houses of parliment/bigben, the Westminster Abby, the many different markets, Hyde park/marble arch, etc. There are more, but I think the list is long enough.


Pam also showed us England on a more personal level, taking us out for some delicious fish and chips, and making multiple, mean cups of tea. We even had a cup at one of her friend’s houses, who is currently acting in a London stage show. She also took us to her posh gym, where I got to swim laps in the brilliant pool :)

Lastly, and I think most important in terms of this trip, is we all went to see Phantom of the Opera! Great show... I highly recommend it if you are ever in town :)


Oh, and Marcus stopped by too! (College exchange student/friend :) And we enjoyed both tea, and some English brews together.

Flu and Valentine's!

Due to an overwhelming flurry of requests, this is finally a post by me, Michelle. Ok, so perhaps there hasn't really been a request, but I like to think that you all would like to hear from me too! Unfortunately Chris writes most of the blog posts while I am at work so I haven't been as involved as I would like. So here it goes...

Poor Chris was struck by a nasty flu bug this weekend, leaving him pretty miserable. Luckily he had Monday off, as his tutoring students were still celebrating the Chinese New Year, and was able to recover most of the way. He seems right back to normal now! As for me, I spent the week trying to fend off the bug. Come Tuesday though I noticed my bike ride home was a bit harder than normal and figured I was weaken by the start of the flu. Wednesday came and the ride was ever more difficult and I was convinced the flu had really set in. Then Thursday the ride was unbearably tough. My usually nice ride home left me exhausted and my legs aching. Much to the entertainment of Chris, I brought my bike upstairs for Chris to discover I had been riding with a front flat tire and wasn't sick at all! Nice work Michelle, ha! Tonight I put some air in it and had a fantastic ride home.

'

Also this week was Valentine's Day and we were curious to see if/how it would be celebrated here. Contrary to the explosion of pink and red hearts seen in the US, things were a bit calmer. A few people mentioned the day, restaurants posted specials, but it wasn't much different than a normal day. As for us, we had a typical day too, doing our traditional Thursday night shopping (as the shops are open late that day). I was surprised by a beautiful bunch of tulips when I got home though (see above)! That Chris! Speaking of Chris, here are photos of his new favorite hobby. I'm starting to become convinced that he isn't actually teaching lessons when I go to work, but is learning new guitar tabs, as he always has a new song to play when I come home, haha!

'

Well I hope you have enjoyed my first blog post! I'll be sure to write more in the future. Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day and enjoys President's Weekend (especially if you have Monday off!)

Carneval (5 of 5)

I guess I did promise five carneval posts, didn't I? So I'll tell you a little bit about the last day. The weather had already turned a bit the night before, and as we went out, while not raining, it was still a little icky. You could begin to see the wear of partying for three days straight in the faces of the people still out, beer in hand, and bobbing methodically to the music. Things were a little calmer, as the floats began to file out from their spots in the town center.

But there was still a lot of excitement in the air; it just took some searching to come across it. I guess the real hard core carneval folks hang out in the back streets, because after we left the main squares, the streets were filled with costumed people banging on drums, and playing brass instruments. Where they found the energy for this, I have no idea, but it was still very entertaining to watch.

While I think carneval sort of wore Michelle and I out a little bit, it was sad to see it go. I think the streets seem so much quieter now, which is sad, but at least it was fun while it lasted. Oh, and Michelle found the group where she belonged...

Carneval (Part 4 of 5)

My Birthday! Yes, so we celebrated it along with the rest of Europe. Though, I think our version was a little more subdued. This won't be the longest post, but here are some photos of Michelle spoiling me horribly. Thank you all for your birthday wishes! It was a great day :)



(my cake!)



(The only open restaurant during carneval...)

Carneval (part 3 of 5)

Ok, so now I can say that these carneval posts should go to about 5, since there are 2 days left. Michelle and I went out last night, and we were far more ready this time.

The streets where awash with some sort of crazy parade weaving through the narrow streets of the city. Michelle and I accidentally ended up walking against the parade, right in front of the carneval prince. However, I think everyone was enjoying themselves too much to notice.

We were out all night, and danced in the streets in our awesome costumes, and had plenty of pilses (generic Dutch beer). There were some many people, and so many different costumes. Michelle managed a photo of a family dressed as giraffes. Quite cute.

(one group also dressed as bowling pins)

Today is my birthday, so we might have a little less carneval action, but that's ok, because we still have Tuesday too. We'll keep you informed!

Chris and Michelle.

(on a side note, the government of Maastricht was kind enough to put up toilets to offer relief to those who had had a lot to drink...sadly, they don't offer much in terms of privacy...or provide a solution for the women in the crowds.)

(PS, don't ask how I got this photo :)

Carneval (part 2of ???)

One Night down, and a few more to go. Last night Michelle and I were just hanging out, enjoying a nice braadworst & Zuurkol dinner, and playing some on-line scrabble, when we decided we sould go down to the city center and grab a quick drink.

We rode our bikes for about 5 minutes when we realized we were going to be horribly underdressed. We passed by crowds of people all done up in crazy costumes, as if it were Halloween or something. (Michelle made the accurate observation that it looked like halloween on crack). And then, when we arrived at the bar, we realized that not only were we underdressed, but we were also too late...the bar was so crowded that the patrons had spilled out onto the street. In fact pretty much every bar in town had a similar situation.

So we just observed for the night, and saw the craziness that is carneval... mind you it hasn't even officially started yet...

Thus tonight we'll be a little more ready, a little more dressed up, and possibly a little more wild :)

Carneval (Part 1 of ??)

Carneval starts this weekend, and while it isn't official until Sunday, the truth is that everyone started Friday night. We are a little behind the loop, but we did spend the day buying some accessories for our "costumes" and Michelle gave me an early birthday present, pictured on the right :)

So we'll be putting up quite a few new posts, as we feel our way through this celebration which we know very little about. In other words, be sure to stay tuned :)