Charlie's Birthday

Charlie's birthday was on Thursday the 22nd, and that is the day that I traveled over to visit him. As I mention before, I was a bit nervous about traveling to a country by myself where I don't speak the language at all. I'm used to traveling, but I was outside my comfort zone with the language barrier, not to mention that I'm going to a country I've never been before, nor did I have much time to prepare for where I was going and how to get there.

I flew out of London Heathrow about 2 p.m. I woke up in Oxford fairly early as I needed to stop by Brian's lab to print off some travel docs on the way to the bus station. I took the Oxford/London bus which runs every 15 mins, to Heathrow. I made it to Heathrow with like 3 hours to spare, since I didn't want to feel rushed. I checked in with the e-ticket kiosk and that went quick. Then I had to get in the queue (line) to drop off my one checked bag. In the U.S., it takes all of 30 seconds. In London Heathrow, it took me 50 minutes. Then I still had to get through security, which had 2 steps for that as well. Took probably about 45 minutes to get to my gate, still wasn't rushed, but very glad I got to the airport as soon as possible. Basically it all took forever because Heathrow is such an enormous international airport and they funnel everyone through a few check-in points.

Anyway, arrived at Brussels airport on time about 4 p.m. Then I knew it might get tricky for me at that point. I had to find the train station within the airport, and purchase a ticket to get to the city center. Luckily, finding the station and purchasing the ticket was easy, but I was worried about knowing when to get off the train. I just listened closely for "Gard du Midi" (South Station) and luckily it wasn't too hard. Then I debated whether I try to figure out the Metro to get to my hotel, or just hoof it, since it wasn't too far away. I decided I wouldn't mind the air and the walk and walked down to the hotel. I had studied a map I bought for Charlie for his Bday, so I could find where I had to go. The walk from the station to the hotel was not very impressive or attractive, and glad I wasn't walking in the dark. But I also wasn't to the main center yet, where all the great attractions were located.

Checked into the hotel and was proud of myself for making it all the way there. I relaxed a bit, looked for any English speaking television (My Wife and Kids were on a BBC channel in English) and then decided to venture out into the center for a little bit while I waited for Charlie to arrive. He had practice from 6-8, so I knew I wouldn't see him at the earliest until 8:30. I only had to walk a little ways to enter into the center and the Grand Place, which is a large square of some of the most fantastic architecture and lights all in one place. Then I checked out some of the surrounding streets and shops and grabbed a light bit to eat. I headed back to the hotel about 8:15 to wait for Charlie. A baseball friend was going to drop him off.

He arrived at 10:15, and it was fun to have him open some presents I brought over and took some pics. He was pretty hungry so we headed back to the center and nosed around again some more. But by the time we settled on a place to eat, it was past 11 and getting late. Luckily, a touristy restaurant took us in and we did have a really good meal. Charlie had a birthday lobster and I had a steak - yum!

We then figured we better at least stop for one beer on our way back to the hotel, and found a cool cafe (as they call bars in Belgium). It was close to touristy stuff, but seems like it wasn't too much of a touristy place. They let us in for one quick one and it was a great place immediately. The waiter was really cool and sounded British. The atmosphere was warm and cozy and had tons of historical stuff as decor around the place. We each had a Kriek, which is the famous Belgium cherry beer. Also I love how the Belgium cafes serve a small bowl of savory snacks with the beer. Reminds me of the different kinds grandma Hazel would have at her house.

So our trip was off to a great start, and we were excited about Friday because we had all day to explore the city.

Baseball, birthdays and brothers in Belgium

I'll write multiple posts to tell you about my trip to Belgium to visit my brother Charlie, but just wanted to start off by giving the overall update of what we were both doing over there in the first place. Charlie was invited to play with a Belgium baseball organization and help coach some of the younger teams. He'll be in a southern suburb of Brussels from March through October. This opportunity came up rather quickly for him, and he jumped at the chance to do two things he loves, baseball and learn a foreign language. He's already pretty good at Spanish, but will have to learn French in Belgium (or Dutch or German, but French is the main language spoken there).

Charlie arrived only about 1 and 1/2 weeks ago, and I was excited to get over there to see him as soon as I could. Also, it was his birthday on the 22nd, and I wanted to be there with him to help celebrate. So I planned a quick trip over there from the 22nd til the 26th, and just returned with lots of fun pics and stories to share.

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous traveling over there by myself, mainly because I don't speak a lick of French, and can barely pronounce the few words I do know, correctly. I see a foreign word, and I want to pronounce it in Spanish, even if it's German or French or whatever. But since I went to Brussels first, people could speak some English and liked to practice speaking English anyway.

Brian wasn't able to join us as he had a talk he was preparing for, so next time we'll get him to go over as well.

Oh, and I can't forget one of the most important "B" words from Belgium - beer!! They truly have the best beer in the world, and I almost cried when I had to return to boring warm English beer. So more on this later.

More Pics of Bath

Roman Baths in Bath

This past Saturday we went a road trip with our Swedish neighbors, Elin, Magnus and Rebecka to Bath, England. Bath is where the only natural hot springs is located in England, and the Romans set up an elaborate bath house around the springs, to enjoy the warm and supposedly healing powers of the water. These bath rooms were built over 2,000 years ago, and to this day, a good portion of the original stone and lead used to build the baths are still functioning. Now you can't actually go into the baths that still have water, as the water is untreated and quite green looking. But we can see how the Romans built the plumbing and architecture. Then over the years, the bath houses have been worked on, and so you can see the layers of architectural history. Bath is also a charming town for modern shopping and restaurants. The River Avon flows through the city, the Bath Abbey is located directly across from the Bath houses, and renown architects have built amazing buildings here, including the Royal Crescent building and the Circus.

We started by walking by the Royal Crescent and the Circus, on our way to the History of Costume Museum and Assembly Rooms (which weren't Brian's faves). We had a tea break, and then visited the Roman Baths for quite some time. Next was a stop in the Bath Abbey where a local musical group was practicing for their evening concert, and it was lovely to hear music in the vaulted worship area. I also noticed how this worship area had so much natural light coming in. Many of the chuches and chapels around here can feel very dark and damp, as the stained glass work doesn't let it much natural light. But the Bath Abbey must have been built with this in mind, and allowed a lot of clear glass so light could get through.

We then walked along the river Avon and stopped for dinner at a small cafe. It was a wonderful day and didn't feel rushed. We were back home by 8ish and had time to pop in a movie and relax for the evening.

Birthday Celebrations

I had a great birthday on Thursday! A leisurely morning, with Pilates at the Sports Centre, and a large carmel latte coffee from Costa Coffee afterwards. Then a relaxing bath and some email time. Headed out the door about 2:45 with neighbors Elin and Rebecka to walk down to the posh (means "fancy") Randolph Hotel in the city centre. I invited some of my new friends from the Newcomer's Club to meet for afternoon cream tea. In the group photo here is a short list of the ladies attending starting from front left: Elin & Rebecka from Sweden, Bettina from Germany, Lyndsay from Canada, Joan from the US/California, Frieda from US/California, Judith from Australia and me of course! They were all sweet too because I got some flowers, cards and a book for birthday gifts. Was so nice to have some people to share my day with.

Then my wonderful husband took me out for a great birthday dinner. I was having a hard time deciding where I wanted to go out, since getting a steak here is a bit different than back home. :) So I wanted to try something more ethnic, since I'm still not used to their interesting concoctions of fancy British food. So we were thinking of Indian or Thai, since there are great restaurants in the UK specializing in this type of food. But we also knew of a small, tucked away Greek restaurant, just in Summertown where we live. So we went for the Greek food, and had a great time. We had some spinach and feta wraps for appetizers, and shared a big greek salad. We each order kabobs, mine with lamb and chicken and Brian's with prawns (shrimp). They also had grilled veggies on the kebobs and rice on the side. Then since it was my Bday, I ordered dessert and coffee. We think the owner also noticed we were first-timers there, and were enjoying ourselves so he also gave us an apertif of some orange liquer, on the house. Yum!!

Thanks everyone for your emails and well wishes for my birthday - was so great to hear from friends and family back home!

Go Ducks!!!

Amazing how across half the world, I'm cheering for the Duck's Men's Basketball team in the NCAA tournament - LIVE! I'm listening on internet radio from a Portland radio station, and it's only 8:30 p.m. here - so it works out pretty well! I could probably get visual too, but I think I would have to pay either the NCAA online or Ducks online, so radio works just fine.

Speaking of the Ducks, in one month, we've seen at least six people with Oregon gear on. It's great! Our fave was some guy running down the main road here in Oxford with a "Go Pre" tshirt on. Just saw a college-age chick wearing a Nike Oregon sweatshirt. We're wondering if some of it has to do with Nike being based in Oregon, and there are Nike stores over here. But we saw a green/yellow "O" cap and I would think that's more specifically avail through the U of O and not Nike. . .

Cheering to make the Sweet Sixteen!

Swedish Neighbors & Inspector Morse

We're lucky to have such great neighbors across the hall from us. Elin and Magnus Bjork are from Sweden, and have the most adorable one-year-old, Rebecka. They have been in Oxford only three weeks longer than we have, so it's nice to have neighbors to ask questions to or share household items with. They also have a car, and have kindly offered to take us grocery shopping or on other trips to explore England. Last Thursday I took Elin up on her offer to drive to Swindon, about 30 miles south, to the Outlet Shops. Of course I'm not going to pass that up! So the three of us, (Elin, Rebecka and myself) took off on a little road trip. Mind you, the Swedish drive on the same side of the road we do in the US, so her car had the driver on the left side, but we also had to drive on the left side of the road. We also didn't know, but when we made it into Swindon we were approaching the World's Largest Roundabout, which was one large circle in the middle, and then 5 more roundabouts entering into the middle one. At this point, we realized we were an American and a Swede trying to navigate in England, and thought we were doing well right up until entering the roundabout. They even have tshirts that say "I survived the Swindon Roundabout". Pretty funny. Anywho, here are a couple of pics from our shopping day.

Last night, they also invited us over for pitas with lamb burgers. They said in Sweden people don't eat much lamb, which we said that it's not as common in the States either. But we gave it a whirl (well not Brian, he had a veggie version), and it tasted great. I then stayed longer to watch one of the Inspector Morse movie espisodes, and Brian went to bed, as he hasn't been feeling well this week. Inspector Morse is a beloved character in Oxford. He was created by author Colin Dexter, in a series of novels. They were then turned into TV movies during the 80s and early 90s. Inspector Morse episodes are all based in Oxford, and the movies are really fun because you can pick out all the different locations which were filmed in town. The actor who player Morse I believe passed away in the last few years. But now there is a brand new TV series spin-off called Lewis, based on Inspector Morse's side kick. Since we still don't have TV, we haven't yet seen an episode, but eventually we hope too.

Mozart at the Sheldonian

Saturday night Brian and I went to a Mozart concert put on by the Oxford Bach Choir and London Mozart Players. It was held at the Sheldonian Theatre, where all of the Oxford University graduation ceremonies are held. The building is one of the most stunning and recognized in Oxford, as it's in a circular dome shape. Check it out at this website http://www.sheldon.ox.ac.uk. We went with my friend Bettina and her boyfriend Steffan. Steffan works in international law and is a lecturer at St. Anne's College. The four of us met up for drinks before the concert, as Brian had not yet met either Bettina or Steffan. We enjoyed their conversation and companionship very much and we all enjoyed the concert. We had bought the cheap seats though, so it was like sitting in wooden bleachers with no backs. We knew that going into it, but didn't think about being at the top of the dome, in a building centuries old, that it would get extremely hot! I guess they have problems of people fainting quite often from the heat - even in the winter!

Wine Tasting

On Tuesday night, I went with my friend Bettina to a wine tasting put on by our Newcomer's Club. We could have brought our significant others, but worked out best that Bettina and I went as dates. It was at one of the smaller colleges called Harris Manchester. Each college has its own sommelier (usually a gentleman who's studied wine all his life and picks the wines to serve with all the events/meals/dinners in the college). Harris Manchester's sommelier hosted our tasting, and he was very informative, funny and enjoyable. We tasted four whites and two reds. Mostly all from France, but one of the reds was from Chile. It was definitely quality wine, and didn't take much to get a little tootled with the British. Many of the others in attendance were the older ladies on the club's committee and their husbands. So they were dressed up and a bit tootled too. It was really fun to chat with them when we all have a shine on. They loved to hear where in the US I was from, what I was doing here, etc. And they love to tell you if they've been to the States, where they were, what they thought about it, etc. Makes for easy conversation and Bettina and I had a lot of fun. We then had some British snacks afterwards, provided by the college. There were two different types of sausage rolls, which is sausage sliced with a pastry crust around each bite. Some crisps (potato chips) and another veggie quiche thing. They really like pastry crust around everything. I met another couple from Vancouver, Canada, and the gal is also in communications work. I think I'll ask her to tea sometime. :)

Note: the photo I'm posting is not related to the wine tasting, but since I've talked a lot about my new friend Bettina, I wanted to post a photo of her. She is in front of Christ Church college.

Sunday in London

So Brian and I spent Sunday on a day trip to London. We had planned to go on Saturday, but someone had a late night at the pub Friday (no JC it wasn't me) so we ventured out of Oxford Sunday. We didn't have very gradious plans, but just wanted to figure out how to get there and back, and do some exploring in between. Of course it rained the entire day, but it's similar to Oregon rain, so nothing too heavy. From our flat we walked to the Oxford train station. The direct train wasn't running due to track issues, so we had to ride a coach bus to another town called Didcot, and then caught the train to London. Of course in Didcot the train was late, then cancelled, so we had to wait for the next one. I think we landed at London Paddington about noon, so it took a bit more than 2 hours to get there, where it should take about 1. We had chosen to explore the Kensington Park area and museums, so we walked across the park toward the Science Museum. Kensington Palace is where Princess Diana lived, and people still put flowers and things at the gate. It was raining a bit harder at this point, so we just walked through, and decided to come back on a nicer day. As many of the London museums, the entrance fee is free, so we enjoyed spending the afternoon looking at science stuff (well we know Brian definitely did) along with every young couple and their little kids. After the museum, we headed to Picadilly Circus (took the underground, or the Tube as it's called). It's a touristy area, with lots of lights and within walking distance to Leicester Square, where a lot of movie and West End theatres are located. We ate at a Pizza Express (a pizza chain in England, but more upscale, and I had been wanting to try it) for dinner and my pizza came with a fried egg on top! It tasted great. When then walked around a bit, and noticed people gathering around the entrance to a movie theatre. We stumbled across the London movie premiere of Becoming Jane. We saw the red carpet, etc., but didn't stick around to see the actors, since we didn't know how long we'd have to wait. Headed back to Oxford the same route we came, and had a fun day. London is so enormous, that we only explored a small fraction, and look forward to going back many more times!