We got back last night from our 6 day trip to Athens and Berlin. We really enjoyed visiting both cities but are exhausted because although our trips are fun, they're rarely relaxing :) We still don't have home internet access, and at this point I'm assuming we won't before we leave, so it might take awhile to get our joint blog updated with pictures from our trip.
It's easy to forget how relatively cold England is in the summer until looking at forecasts for continental Europe. Most of my co-workers are still in long-sleeve shirts and it's rare to see someone without a jacket on outside. Today's high is 64° and the low is 54°.
I love mild weather, so I enjoy the cool summers here but tomorrow we will get our first taste of hot summer weather. We fly into Athens at 8:20pm and even at that time of day it'll be much warmer than our highest temperatures here in Birmingham.
Athens
Tuesday June 24
High 95°, Low 77°
Wednesday June 25
High 97°, Low 74°
Thursday June 26
High 94°, Low 74°
Berlin
Friday June 27
High 79°, Low 55°
Saturday June 28
High 86°, Low 55°
Birmingham
Sunday June 29
High 62°, Low 51°
I just finished reading the book Lipstick Jungle and loved it. Fabulous chick lit! I've heard it became a tv show in the States so I'm looking forward to watching the DVDs when I return home. I picked it up free with a magazine (only £3.20 for Cosmo and the book) last weekend in preparation for the long triathlon weekend and am very happy I did.
In the past two years I've become addicted to several forums. Prior to planning our move here I was barely aware of forums, occasionally overhearing an office co-worker talk about a parenting forum. Now there are several that I scan daily...which has become more difficult with no home internet access :(
The first forum I tried out was UK Yankee, which proved to be an invaluable resource because it's for Americans living in the UK. The members there provided advice on everything I could possibly need to know.
When I started planning our move back I discovered City Data which has forums for all major US cities. Initially I was using it to plan our move to San Diego, since I'm clueless about the area but it proved to be very helpful for Milwaukee as well.
Another Milwaukee site I've found to be helpful is Milwaukee Moms. I can't benefit from the parenting discussions quite yet but there's lots of other general information about living in Milwaukee.
By far my favorite forum is Trip Advisor, probably because I love planning trips and traveling :) For a long time I only used it to search for hotel reviews but it also has a great forum. There are so many members that popular cities have almost a hundred posts per day. Paris is one such city, so now that our trip there is rapidly approaching I try to keep up with all the current posts.
Trip Advisor is better than a guidebook in the sense that it's very timely information. For example, I recently discovered that the Metro line from the airport in Athens will be closed as of July 1 for the remainder of the year, which is helpful to know since we leave on Tuesday for Athens!
Country music often gets a bad rap as redneck music and artists like Toby Keith certainly promote that image, while artists like the Dixie Chicks get banned from the airwaves.
My Dad recently gave me Mary Chapin Carpenter's new CD, which is fantastic. A song in particular called "On with the Song" caught my attention, particularly the following lyrics...
This isn't for the ones who would gladly swallow
Everything their leader would have them know
Bowing and kissing, while the truth goes missing
Bring it on the crows, putting on his big show
This isn't for the man who can't count the bodies
Can't comfort the families, can't say when he's wrong
Claiming I'm the decider, like some sort of messiah
While another day passes and a hundred souls gone
I'm blogging from a hotel room in Taunton (SW England) right now. We're both feeling better, with many less coughing fits, so we made the trip here to support our friend Dario who is competing in his first half-Ironman. As much as we want to cheer him on, we passed on the opportunity to accompany him to the race venue today for his practice swim, race meeting, etc. Instead, we're hanging out at the hotel room, which is near a beautiful walking trail and a movie theatre. Chris is seeing Indiana Jones right now, while I take advantage of the hotel's wifi internet access. A real treat, since we still have no access at home.
I've also enjoyed getting a chance to read the paper (the Saturday paper here is like a U.S. Sunday paper). My favorite quote that I've read so far is in regard to how British weddings have gotten out-of-control. The writer states "Apparently the American style of sending the bridesmaids down the aisle one by one before the bride - which to the British eyes looks like a beauty pageant or a line of hookers displayed for selection - is gaining popularity." One of the advantages of living here is the perspective it's given me on American culture as seen through others' eyes. In fact, I often find myself dispelling ideas people have gotten about our culture through films. Brits will tell you in all seriousness that they fear visiting the U.S. because everyone carries guns.
It's been a very relaxing trip. It's nice to be away from home, without a long itinerary of things to see and do. In an attempt to make the most of each of our trips, we often find ourselves exhausted by the time we return home. Although we might be tomorrow as well, because we need to get up at 3am for Dario's 6am swim start.
Exmoor National Park, where the race is being held, is a beautiful place but it didn't seem to have any trails or places to walk when we were there Friday night. I'm hoping we find somewhere to walk tomorrow because otherwise it's going to be a long day of watching endless bike and run laps....a half-Ironman takes about 6 hours to complete. It'll be interesting to spectate with Chris, because I know he badly wishes that he too was competing.
It's been awhile since I've blogged, so I thought it was time for an update. Not too much happening here. We've been both sick since returning from the U.S. (just colds) so we haven't felt like doing much. We did go to a birthday party for my co-worker this past week which was fun. The weather was nice enough to sit outside while we grilled out. Michelle, the birthday girl, is on the far right in the photo below.
We still do not have home internet access, which has become increasingly frustrating! I'm at Chris' office right now to catch-up on e-mails. AOL has a different excuse every time we call but supposedly we should be reconnected any day now...we've heard this since April 25 when we first called about problem.
Tomorrow we're going to Chris' labmate's house for a BBQ which I'm looking forward to. I haven't seen her in quite awhile because she's on maternity leave right now (which is typically 9 months in the UK), so I'll get to meet her son for the first time tomorrow.
Next weekend we're going to Exmoor National Park in SW England to watch our friend Dario compete in a half-Ironman race. We're spending Friday through Sunday there, so I'm hoping it doesn't rain too much.
