Amsterdam

Amsterdam is absolutely beautiful. After arriving we took the quietest train we've every ridden into the center of the city and then took a taxi to our hotel, The Pulitzer. The staff was very helpful and due to Gabrielle's super-duper-elite-diamond-platinum-celebrity status we were upgraded to a executive suite! (Speaking of her elite status--I am now beginning to understand why she doesn't want to quit traveling. The threat of losing her status would be absolutely devastating. How in the world do normal people do it??? We had royal treatment at the Heathrow airport lounge--invitation only-- too! I'm likin' it.) Of course this is the only way I roll.

We just got back from a wonderful dinner at De Proeverij. I had a wonderful steak with shitaki mushrooms and onions. Gabrielle had delicious duck with peanut sauce. For desert I had an amazing chocolate cake and Gabrielle had some vanilla ice cream. The portions were not American style, however I appreciate the fact that my pants still seem to fit. :)

Compared to London which was dirty, loud, and rude -- Amsterdam has been beautiful, welcoming and relaxing. Tomorrow we plan to tour the Flower Market and the Anne Frank house (which is just a block from our hotel). Gabrielle is also trying to convince me to go for a run. I think I'd rather find a coffee shop.

Clean shave

After posting the last entry, we discovered the hotel Club Lounge with internet access. Sooo, here's another entry for your entertainment.

While strolling this afternoon, we ran into a gentlemen's shaving shop. I experienced my first straight-edge razor shave and it was fantastic!!! I ended up buying some India Lime aftershave that Gabrielle is going crazy over.

Next stop: Brick Street to check out the Indian restaurants that truly are supposed to be delicious.

London

Yesterday we took a bus into London. Our hotel is near Picadilly Circus. It reminds me of time square in New York. Unfortunately it rained all day, so it was very difficult to do any sight seeing. We found a neighborhood that we were told had great \indian food--but wound up being very disappointed in the restaurant we chose. Sigh. Later, we found a nice restaurant called Wolsely for tea. Gabrielle was happy because they had gluten free poppy seed cake! Apparently it was good (she didn't share!). We went to the hotel bar for some late night drinks. Came across an old Scottish man that talked our ears off! We needed another drink after he left so we could unwind.

Today Gabrielle and I did quite a bit of walking. We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard. We just got done eating some authentic British food (fish and chips, and Chicken Tikka Masala). It was mediocre at best. The beer however has been good. :)

Right now we are at an internet cafe across the street from Nelson's Column. We are planning on doing some shopping and more strolling around.

Tomorrow we leave for Amsterdam at 3. The trip has been exciting so far, can't wait for the next leg of our adventure.

Greene King

Because of logistical reasons we were unable to make it to Bath today. Instead we headed back

into Oxford where Joel showed us around some more.

We also stopped by some pubs and drank plenty of good English Ale. I bought some Greene King from the grocery store and am enjoying it now. We then road a double decker bus home which was fun.

When we got back to Tanya and Joel's house, Tanya's friend Ulrike was visiting. Ulrike grew up in Lemgo, the town in Germany where Gabrielle was a foreign exchange student. They seemed to enjoy talking to each other and reminiscing about the goings-on of Lemgo.

Tomorrow Gabrielle and I head into London, which should be exciting.

Alright, my youngest nephew is forcing everyone into a game of Apples to Apples, cheers!

---Okay, Apples to Apples is over. Eli won and is very happy about it. :) After the boys went to bed, Tanya, Joel, Gabrielle and I played Euchre for a couple hours. We had a great time, but the teams were set up wrong. Gabrielle and Joel played against Tanya and me. Joel and Gabrielle kicked our butts in both the games we played!! They tried to be gracious winners, but they weren't--in fact, Gabrielle is requiring me to post this important part of our trip so I won't forget it. What are you gonna do? :(

Cotswolds

So we woke up at noon. :) We slept very well. After a shower and some coffee Joel and Tanya took us to the Cotswolds. A picturesque English village. The buildings and land were absolutely beautiful. We had lunch at a little pub and had some wonderful English ale. Right now we are home and getting ready for dinner. Tomorrow we plan on taking a trip to Bath to see some old Roman bath houses. All-in-all, a very relaxing and fun day!

Jet lag

This morning (9-12) at 8am we arrived safely at Heathrow airport. I was a bit stressed out about the flight since I haven't flown in a while. Gabrielle on the other-hand was in her element and even said "I really miss being in airports."

Getting through security was a breeze--the TSA was actually helpful and good humored, unfortunately I can't say so much about the United flight attendants. The cabin in economy was pretty gross. A passenger behind us had a broken chair. The metal arm that held up my video display was broken (a previous passenger had tried to fix it with a rolled up M&M wrapper to no avail), and the movie was stop and go. Southwest is such a better airline, I really wish they flew international.

Anyway, when we arrived my brother-in-law, Joel, was there to pick us. The whole driving on the left hand side is pretty freaky. I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to it. The drive was very nice, this area is very green with lots of rolling meadows and trees.

When we got to the house, we immediately took a nap. Joel and Tonya, my sister-in-law, said that we would not want to get up but it was important to do so to get through the jet lag. Boy was she right, after a two hour nap I had no desire to get up! However after a very warm shower and breakfast I was feeling pretty good.

We then went into Oxford and got a walking tour of the campus. Oxford is beautiful and it felt really good to walk around and breath in the fresh air--especially after 8 hours in a plane! I bought 2 post cards and took a lot of pictures.

We are now back at home making gluten free pizza. I'm drinking a Carlsberg ("Probably the best beer in the world" - their slogan) and relaxing. I think we will sleep very well tonight.

Europe here we come!

Gabrielle just finished packing all of our clothes in to two carry on suitecases. I can't believe everything fit. Somehow by rolling everything up we were able to pack all our clothes and still have room!

I ended up calling Verizon global service to get my Blackberry World Phone unlocked. We have a Verizon sim card but would like the option of using a European sim card if we need to. The process was pretty straight forward but did require that I use our existing sim card to access a few of the menus the technician walked me through. Can't wait to see if it really works. I also found out that by owning a World Phone I could receive a free simcard from Verizon. Will have to pick that up after our trip though.

Well by this time tomorrow we'll be high over the Atlantic, Cheers!