Posts Tagged ‘Travels’

Out with London Walks

Posted in London, Travels, tagged , , , , on Wednesday, 29 August, 2012| 3 Comments »

We got a chance to meet the previous tenant of our new London flat and she was kind enough to give us her London Binder which she created and filled with brochures from all over London and beyond.  Having lived in London for 5 years, she accumulated a lot of brochures!!  I came across a London Walks brochure from 2007 ~ a bit dated but it at least had all the pertinent information for us to find them online.  And I’m so glad we did since we went on two walks this weekend and enjoyed both a lot.

On Saturday, we joined in on the “Ghosts of the Old City” walk which started at 7:45 pm at the Queen Anne Statue at St Paul’s Cathedral.

There was a slight drizzle while we waited at St Paul’s Cathedral ~ the rain and impending darkness added to the “scary” side of the ghost stories.

Our guide, did a great job and even broke into a song or two along the way.  The stories were interesting but the only place I felt really uncomfortable was the St Bartholomew the Great church’s graveyard.   The church was originally founded as an Augustinian priory in 1123 and has been the location for several movies including the 4th wedding in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Shakespeare in Love, The Other Boleyn Girl, and The End of the Affair.  I checked more on its history and it turns out, there were numerous executions (burnings) there during the time of Mary Tutor.

On Sunday, we decided to lighten it up and went on the “Harry Potter Film Locations in the City” walk.  Very enjoyable and the walk included more than just Harry Potter references. I was especially thrilled when our guide, Richard Walker, pointed out Bridget Jones locations along the way, including the ending scene where Bridget kisses Darcy in the snow.  So romantic.

We will no doubt go on many more walks during our year here.  There’s so many interesting ones ~ and it’s so nice to get the history from very talented and knowledgeable guides.  I’m so impressed with both of the guides we’ve had so far. London Walks has guided tours everyday so there are lots of choices.  Most walks are about two hours and cost £9 unless you get a frequent walker card which costs £2 pounds.  With the discount card, the walks are £7. The discount card is worth it with just two walks.  No reservations ~ just show up by the start time.  More information available at the London Walks website http://www.walks.com/

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London: Our First Week

Posted in London, Travels, tagged , , , on Monday, 20 August, 2012| 3 Comments »

After a smooth British Airways redeye flight, we arrived in London at 7 am.  Not being one to sleep on a plane, I was very thankful our temporary 2 bedroom/2 bedroom flat was ready for us! The flat is equipped with cable TV, telephone with free calls to the states, kitchen, washer/dryer combo and housekeeping services twice a week.  The location is great ~ right on Baker Street, only two blocks to Regents Park, close to the Baker Street tube station as well as bus stops.

It’s exciting to be living in Europe again.  I prefer to embrace the differences rather than attempt to compare or refer back to how things would be in the states.  I don’t even bother converting the celsius ~ I know 30 is HOT, 20-24 is pleasant and 0 is freezing.  The only item I haven’t found and am missing, is tofu. I’ll start an earnest quest today.

Speaking of food, I was pleased with the Marylebone Farmers Market ( Sundays 10-2).  Found all sorts of yummy items and almost all the fruits and vegetables sold there are organic.  It’ll definitely be a weekly stop after church.

 

Our first order of business when we arrived was to tour several flats which were available for rent.  At first, we were only interested in 3 bedrooms so we’d have a room for guests but the third room would barely fit a twin bed so it wasn’t going to work for a guest room anyway.  We decided to let a beautiful two bedroom.  Logan has agreed her room will be the guest bedroom when the need arises.  It’s a very private room with its own bathroom.  Perfect for a teenager!  The best part about our new flat ~ location, location, location!  Here’s a photo of the reception room (living room), notice the current tenant’s drying rack. Seems that’s the method of drying clothes since the mini dryers here take forever.  Took us almost 4 hours to do one load of wash the other night.

Being close to Regents Park has a lot of advantages. It’s a great running/walking route for John and I. There’s also an off lease area for Maya ~ not that she’s a dog I’d let off leash very often but maybe early in the morning when no one else is out yet.  And we stumbled onto a Tennis Centre with 12 courts.  No membership required and there are programs for adults/kids/beginners and more experienced players.  It’s only a 10 minute walk from our new flat.  We signed Logan up for the week-long tennis camp. She’ll be there daily from 10 -3 and seemed happy when we dropped her off this morning.  As we were shooed away, we noticed she’d already met another British girl her age.  New friends ~ very exciting.

When we aren’t doing things to get settled, we’re out exploring the city. The tube is so easy to use here in London so we hop on it more often than taking the bus.  Yesterday, we explored the Westminster area: The london eye, Big Ben, Thames River, Millenium Bridge, Trafalgar Square, etc

Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Thames River

John crossing the Millenium Bridge

The Thames River

Big Ben and the River Thames

The London Eye

Big Ben

Her Majesty’s Theater

London Film Museum

Paddington Gardens ~ used to be a church graveyard. Over 80,000 buried in the park.

So much more to see…

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Hawaii: Oahu Top Five

Posted in Hawaii, Islands, Oahu, Travels, US, tagged , , , , , , , on Friday, 17 August, 2012| Leave a Comment »

After a vacation, it’s tradition that we list our top 5 things about the trip. We went to Oahu for a quick three-day trip and here’s our Oahu top five:

1) Snorkeling at Shark’s Cove on the North Shore. The ocean is calm in the summer and we got to the cove early enough to get a prime spot on the beach. The snorkeling was fun and being back in the pacific ocean felt fabulous.

2) Spending time with our friends, The Karamaths and The Petersons. Always great to see Army family again.

   Heather, CJ and Hayden

 Jake, Shelley and Hoss

3) Parasailing with Hawaiian Parasail Inc ($62 per person and $30 for their photos) in Waikiki:

4) Paddleboarding in Haleiwa, lots of turtles in the river/bay:

5) Driving along the North Shore ~ checking out all the beaches such as Sunset and Waimea Bay. For a few days, I was no longer a Displaced Beachbum. I will never tire of being on a beautiful beach!

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Big Island: Horseback Riding in Hawaii

Posted in Big Island, Hawaii, Travels, tagged , , , , , , on Thursday, 3 September, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The sun was shining so we decided to go on a Paniolo Ride yesterday. And am I ever sore today. It’s been many, many years since I trotted on a horse but it was the canter that did me in. Ouch. Other than the pain involved, it was WONDERFUL. We went on the Sunset Ride and got an added bonus of a full moon and a rainbow. Breathtaking.

That’s the joy of the Big Island of Hawaii ~ there’s such a variety of things to do.

Logan is ready to go riding again but I’m headed to the beach to swim with the sea turtles.

Life is good!

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Springtime in Niagara Falls

Posted in Travels, tagged , on Sunday, 19 April, 2009| 7 Comments »

For our 14th wedding anniversary, we went to Niagara Falls for an overnight visit. I could have done without the town ~ it’s a bit like Las Vegas off the strip, but the falls themselves are spectacular. We splurged and got the fallsview room at the Marriott. This is the view from our room:

At night, the falls are lit with changing colors which we watched throughout our dinner from the hotel restaurant. We were quite entertained.

The next day we walked around and UNDER the falls.

With the wind, we were all freezing cold, but we kept going because the falls are so powerful and it was fun to watch. While walking around, we stopped in at a couple of venues which have casinos and shows.

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Flashback Friday: Palau February 2007

Posted in Flashback Fridays, Micronesia, Palau, Travels, tagged , , , , on Friday, 13 February, 2009| 1 Comment »

Two years ago, we were spending the President’s Day weekend in Palau. From Guam, Palau is only a two hour flight and had we stayed longer than one year in Guam, I would have gone back to Palau as often as possible. For a beachbum, it IS paradise.

On our way to the Rock Islands:

Favorite Girl at the “Milky Way”:

Touring the Rock Islands:

All last week, I searched Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz for a cheap getaway to Puerto Rico, St Thomas, Orlando and Charleston but all flights/hotels were too much for just a couple days. So instead, we’re embracing the winter and heading further north. We’ll be stimulating the Canadian economy this weekend…

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New York Marathon Musings: Runner’s Point of View

Posted in New York, Travels, United States, tagged , , on Thursday, 15 November, 2007| 2 Comments »

This is a post by my husband John who ran the New York City Marathon (2007):

I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to run two very different marathons this year. I think I ran the smallest marathon (Guam) and the largest marathon (New York City) in the same year. In Guam, only about 100 people started, 46 finished and I was so proud to be in 16th place.  There were no spectators along the course except for when I saw Patti and FG as they headed by car to the finish line. I did have my share of boonie dogs attacking me but thankfully didn’t get any dog bites.

By contrast, NYC marathon was huge. Over 38,000 finished the race and I placed an impressive 18,504. From start to finish, the roads through all five boroughs were lined with what seemed like millions of people and bands playing all along the route.

While the Guam run started at 4:00 am, NYC started at 10:10 am but I got up 4 am just to get to the start on time. I had to catch a bus from Grand Central Station at 4:30 am in order to get to the start on Staten Island. I arrived at the start at 6 am and, along with thousands of others, I was doing anything possible to keep warm including stuffing the Wall Street Journal in my shirt which helped fend off the cold. Some smart people brought cheap sleeping bags which they tossed at the start.

The organization of the race was exceptional and the woman who was tasked to do the job deserves a raise. Everything ran like a Swiss watch ~ very precise. When the gun sounded at 10:10 and the elite runners took off, they started moving the mortal runners up to the start line in groups of a thousand, then a pause, then another thousand. With my bib number of just over 25,000, I started 40 minutes after the gun sounded.

The view from the start over Verrazano-Narrows bridge and the fire-boat with sprouting water was fantastic. For the three miles or so, the road was lined with discarded clothes which were being shed by the runners as they warmed up. The girl scouts volunteered to pick up the clothes, wash them and distribute them to the poor.

The entire route was very crowded and it was very difficult to run freely through the course. I remember it wasn’t until mile 17 that I could run at my own pace and not have to dodge people. It was incredible the number of people who carried and used their cell phones ~ there was a mini people-jam at the Queensboro bridge when so many people stopped to make calls. This was the first marathon that I ever saw anyone with a cell phone. Ah, America…

Overall, it was a great experience and I recommend it to anyone on the marathon circuit. Don’t plan on setting personal records but enjoy the crowds and the city.

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New York City: Marathon Musings

Posted in Favorite Man, New York, United States, tagged , , on Sunday, 11 November, 2007| 1 Comment »

View of a marathon from a non-runner:

On the day of the New York City marathon, Logan  and I woke up at 4:30 to wish John good luck, we each gave him a hug & kiss goodbye, then it was straight back to bed until about 7:30 am.

The morning consisted of gathering breakfast from the local grocer near the hotel, watching the pre-marathon and start on TV, then out to shop at Lush, Macys, Ann Taylor and a few other small stores.

Unfortunately, we could only stay in our room until 1:00 pm so we stored our luggage with the bellstaff and walked to 2nd Avenue for a nice Italian lunch at Alfredo’s. At about 2:30 pm, we headed to the finish line at Central Park. We were able to find the “One Mile to Go” sign and decided to wait there to see FM. By this time it was a little before 3:00 and I was worried we missed him.  He’s consistent on his time at marathons but it’s so hard to know when he actually starts and we’d heard on TV that some people didn’t start until 30-40 minutes AFTER the starting sound at 10:10.

Although we never did see John run by (we must have missed him by a few minutes), Logan and I were totally entertained by the runners ~ many who had signs, lots waving their country flags, some were running in memory of loved ones, some were dressed up as well. I saw an Elvis, Banana-Man, Robin (From Batman) and Superman. Must have been all the leftover Halloween costumes.

Katie Holmes ran by looking fabulous as though she was out for a short jog.  She was wearing a NY FireDept cap and again, she was striking and certainly stood out in the crowd. I read in the newspaper later that Tom and Suri were waiting at the finish line.

Once we realized we’d missed John, Logan hailed us a cab and we headed back to the hotel to wait for him there.  It was a quick dinner at Houstons next door and off to the airport.

Too short a stay and a worrying week ahead ~ more on that in a bit.

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New York City: Small Bite of the Big Apple

Posted in Travels, United States, tagged , , , on Monday, 5 November, 2007| 7 Comments »

30 Rock Observation Deck

We tried to cram as much into our NYC weekend as we could and I think we did a pretty good job for two days. Logan had so much fun, she asked a couple times why we can’t live there. Hmmm… after all her world travels, she may have found the city that really does have it all.

We arrived about 1pm on Friday, checked in and immediately headed over to the Javits Convention Center and John registered  for the marathon. There was a lot of excitement at the Marathon Expo and my favorite part was getting brochures for future runs which John might drag me to ~ Rio de Janiero sounded promising.

On Saturday morning, we headed to Rockefeller Plaza, went to the Observation Deck for some great views of the city, then watched the skaters on the ice rink. No Christmas tree yet.

When making plans for a Broadway show, I decided to splurge (just this once) and got front row tickets to Mama Mia at the Winter Garden Theater. And front row they were ~ our seats were so close to the stage, we could see the actors spit and one even winked at Logan. The conductor greeted us with “Welcome to the front row.” In addition to seeing the stage, we could see BELOW where the band was playing. Logan was fascinated with the musicians so she missed a little of the story line.

The show was fabulous and I highly recommend it to anyone going to the city. One word of warning: I still have those catchy Abba songs playing in my head especially the title song “Mama Mia.”

A lot of the fun of NYC is people watching and we did a whole lot of that ~ John decided there must be a uniform for women since every other woman wore the following: jeans, black shoes/boots, and a black knee-length coat.

Our hotel was located at 3rd Ave and East 53rd so we we could walk to most areas easily although Logan & I did catch a cab a couple times during our outings alone. She had fun trying to “hail a taxi” and was getting very good at it by the end of the visit.

Even for a city such as New York which has seen more than its share of world events, everyone was abuzz about the marathon. It was a big deal for all the boroughs and the excitement was palpable for runners and non-runners alike.

Since the weekend was really all about the marathon, John will be posting his take on the big event sometime soon but here are the hightlights:

Race Time: 4:21:40          Pace: 9:59             Overall Place: 18,504 (out of 38,554)

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Kolonia, The Capital City of Pohnpei

Posted in Travels, tagged , , , on Tuesday, 26 June, 2007| 2 Comments »

Kolonia has a population of about 3,200 very friendly people. The taxi dropped us off on “main” street where we were told there would be handicrafts for sale. Well, people sell things out of their homes which was a little strange for me. I’m not a fan of the “drop-in” (when people stop by without calling first) so I wasn’t so keen on walking up to their houses! The streets were safe to walk and lots of people were milling around. Dogs were everywhere ~ each home had to have at least one or two hanging out. They looked happy enough but had I known, I would have brought doggie bisquits and frontline to share with them.

One thing that struck both FM and I was the sheer poverty of a lot of the people. They live in very small, slapped together homes with dirt floors. But people seemed happy and the children were so adorable, it made me think about people who have everything at their fingertips and still complain.

We visited the pepper farm which boasts the “best pepper in the world” and after tasting it at the Village restaurant, I have to agree. We bought a bunch for our pepper grinder and we’ll save it for visitors 🙂

We also stopped at “The Carving Spot” and met Paul, a master carver. If you give him enough time, he can custom carve a piece for you but since we were leaving the next day, we bought a beautiful woodcarved turtle to add to our growing turtle collection.

FG wants to start collecting things to send to the children of Pohnpei and Kosrae. She especially wants to donate sports equipment. Of course, we will encourage her and hopefully, we’ll find an organization to work with that already helps out there. Personally, if I had all the money in the world, I’d send a team of vets in to spay and neuter all the dogs and give them a good checkup.

Next, we’re off to the island of Kosrae which is also part of the Federated States of Micronesia, is even more remote than Pohnpei and is as close to the equator (about 5 degrees latitude) as we will get on this trip.

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