England

This week I'm traveling to England. The weather is cool and crisp and sunny. I miss weather like this. We are staying in an apartment in Nottinghill. It's beautiful. The streets are clean with cute little shops all over the place. The first thing I noticed was how clean the tube (subway) is. It's very different from the NY subway system. The seats are clean, no graffiti and no bums begging for change or falling asleep in the corner. I felt very safe. So far we've seen the London Bridge, Churchill war rooms and museum and the HMS Belfast.

Churchill war rooms and museum: all sorts of artifacts saved from his childhood and during his reign as the Prime Minister. They have his clothes, guns, letters from Presidents and Kings and Queens, his cigar, his nobel peace prized book, as well as many other things, the war rooms are under the building and were kept exactly as they had been when the team lived under there during the war. You could see his room, his dining room, his wife's room, officer's rooms, huge maps on the walls, etc, it was very interesting

HMS Belfast: huge military naval ship right next to the London Bridge. You can walk through the entire thing and see the dental room, operating room, huge kitchens, butcher's room, baking room, where they fired their weapons, etc. It was the first ship to fire at Normandy, and kids can have a party/sleep over for special events.

We are using the London pass. It's cheaper to buy here than in the states. It gets you into several places free and some at a discounted rate. This includes listening devices so you can hear the extra information. Also several restaurants are at a discount with this. We also purchased a travel pass and we can use the tube as many times as we like for 6 days. I highly recommend these, it will save you some money. Renting an apartment is best because you can make your own meals and save lots of money, the restasurants are very expensive here.

Week 5

Well not much has been going on now that I'm getting settled in here. Driving is still scary but I'm getting used to it, you just have to constantly be on the look out for crazy women drivers and people on bikes. The women drive crazy here, they make their own lanes, cut in front of you, park diagonally in two lanes so you have to swerve just to get in your drive way. Then they laugh when they almost cause an accident. The tiny seckle pears are my new favorite fruit. They are so much better than in the states. Very juicy and fresh. I hear it's getting cooler back home but it's still in the 90's here. I went to cook today but the gas canister ran out so I guess I won't be using the stove or oven today. The gas man will deliver a new one tomorrow. We have a water dispenser like back home, but when the jugs are empty we have to take them down the road to the 24 hour mart and trade them in for new, full jugs of water, they don't get delivered to your door like at home. The chicken tastes much fresher here, they don't use hormones in the meat, so I had to get used to the different taste and smell. They do not refrigerate their eggs in the grocery store which took a lot of getting used to. I'm finding more and more American brand foods in the grocery stores: velveeta, betty crocker, aunt jemima, tide, st. ives soap and American make up brands. I'm still as pale as ever, its so hot during the day that we usually go out at night. Night golfing is fun, they turn on the huge stadium lights and, with a breeze, it's very fun to ride in the golf cart. The carts have tvs on them so you can see the hole and it will tell you how many yards away from the hole you are from your current position. I usually stay behind and drink wine at the cafe while Kenny goes to the driving range. Golf at night is cheaper than during the day but it's still around $80 for 9 holes. This weekend I'll be in England and then off to Dubai, so more info and pictures to come.