Are you ready for some football???

The NFL came to London this past weekend. I am a big football fan and my team is the Broncos. Unfortunately the Broncos weren't scheduled in London this year, but the Chargers and the Saints were. I bought tickets months ago and woke up SO excited on Sunday! I miss football and even though I try to watch the Broncos game online each week, it's just not the same as watching in the States or going to a game.

The vibe here in London was a bit different than at home. There were a lot more Brits there than I would have thought and a lot of them were wearing various team jerseys. It was a Saints home game and they ended up with the win after a really good game. Wembley Stadium is massive and is part-covered so that was nice since it was raining earlier in the day. Game time weather was nice and crisp and I enjoyed every second!

Wembley

Pre-game show

Great seats at a great game!

Scotland

The next weekend my parents visited, we headed up to Scotland to explore my Mom's ancestry. Her grandfather lived north of Edinburgh until he emigrated to the US in the early 1900s. We stayed in another lovely B&B in Edinburgh and explored Edinburgh and quite a bit of the surrounding area (by car again!). We went to my great-grandfathers home town and saw the street where he lived.

There are TONS of castles in Scotland! We went to 3 of them - 1 in ruins. We also visited the golf courses at St. Andrews and Glasgow. My favorite was just wandering on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and checking out the shops and watching the bagpipe players. Everyone we talked to was so nice and the countryside was beautiful!

Edinburgh Castle

At the Palace of Holyrood Place

Stirling Castle views

Cathedrals in Glasgow and Edinburgh

On board the Royal Yacht Britannia

Now that I've been away for the last FOUR weekends in a row, I'm going to stay in London for two whole weekends! I am looking forward to sleeping in, relaxing and enjoying what's going on in London (like the NFL game this weekend!). My next trip will be to Spain with my friends Chad and Laurie...stay tuned!

Cornwall - and my first English driving experience!

Well, my parents have just gone back to the US after visiting the UK for 2 weeks. They enjoyed their visit very much and were able to see a lot of things. But I think they got an understanding of how MUCH there is to see and do here as they still have a list of things to do! See why I live here? :)

The first weekend they were in London, we took a driving trip down to SW England. You might remember Cornwall from when I went for my friend Sarah's birthday in July. This was my first time driving in the UK and I was a little bit nervous at first, but also very excited!!! If I must say, I thought I did a pretty good job, especially as I had to drive in London, on the motorway and on some pretty narrow roads.

We had a great time exploring the coast. We hunted out a castle that my Vawter ancestors had built in the 1200s after they were given some land from William the Conqueror. That was a cool experience even though the castle isn't open so we had to figure out other ways to see it!

We stayed in a really lovely B&B. I drove quite a lot on Saturday and I was exhausted at the end of the day! I experienced some very interesting roads and rode on a ferry and didn't kill anyone. So it was successful. We explored several towns along the coast and enjoyed the unusually beautiful weather!

Zurich

Here begins my new-found love for Switzerland. I only spent 2 1/2 days in Zurich (and I'm told the country side of Switzerland is so much better than the cities like Zurich), but I am already totally in love. Perhaps it has to do with the mountains and sunshine, which remind me of Colorado? It certainly doesn't have to do with the overly friendly people (because there are none). Maybe it's the German language that I have a hidden love for as well. Whatever it is, Switzerland is my new favorite European country.

Zurich is a very clean city and very efficiently run. The public transportation time tables are all linked together so you never have to wait long if you need to transfer. Zurich is a main transport hub so there is a fantastic airport and 2 big train stations. The shopping is fantastic - ranging from H&M to Prada, Gucci, etc.

Two things Switzerland is famous for: cheese and chocolate. Both are amazing! The Swiss eat their fondue with only bread, no veggies and meat like Americans add in. Also, they would probably frown upon a chocolate fondue.

Zurich has a lake and a river (maybe 2 rivers actually?) The lake looks out towards the Alps and the river runs through the center of town, dividing the old and new parts. There are also several Reformed churches which are not quite as overwhelmingly beautiful as Catholic churches, but have many beautiful aspects in their own rite. One church has some beautiful modern stained-glass windows that I probably could have stared at for ages.

I was in Zurich visiting a friend who moved there from London. I went with two other good friends from work in London and we had a fantastic, girly weekend together. On Sunday we took a day trip to Reinefalls which is a bend in the Reine River where there is a BIG waterfall. It was amazing to us Americans how close we could get to the water without lots of barriers or plexi-glass or something. It was so enjoyable to be in the sunshine enjoying Creation with friends! I will post a few pictures from that for you to enjoy.

A visit with Shakespeare

Well, not literally. Last weekend I went to Stratford-upon-Avon which is the birth and death place of Shakespeare. I saw several houses and sights related to his life and also had the opportunity to catch up with Denver friends Chad and Laurie. They live near there so we spent the weekend together. On Sunday we visited the Black Country Living Museum and learned about the lives of coal miners and their families in the mid 1800s to early 1900s. There was a whole village set up and lots of very knowledgable guides and actors. The only downside was the cold and rain - I guess autumn has truly set in to England. :(

Next week I promise to have more exciting non-England pictures as I start back into my European travel with a trip to Zurich this weekend!!!

The house where Shakespeare was born

A lot of the town was preserved/restored like it was in the 1500s

The farmhouse that belonged to Anne Hathaway's family. Anne was Shakespeare's wife

London Open House

Yesterday I visited some buildings as part of London Open House, which is a celebration of architecture in London one weekend a year. I met up with some work friends and saw the Bank of England, Royal Courts of Justice, the old Daily Express building, Dr. Samuel Johnson's house and Benjamin Franklin's house. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had a good time beefing up on history and walking where many important people have walked.

Inside of the Daily Express

Ben Franklin's London house (first American embassy)

Mandy's Wedding

Well, as you can see from the silence on my blog lately, I have been sticking close to London and taking care of business (literally, it's busy season). Plus, my weekends have just been full of other fun and exciting things...I just can't think of what right now. Anyway, about 2 weeks ago now I took a super-fantastic trip to HOME!!!!!

My friend Mandy was one of my first friends after I moved to Colorado. She and I were in the same high school class and when there are only 5 girls in the class, you tend to bond. She and I continued to be best of friends throughout college even though we were in different places and we moved into our first apartment together back in Denver after graduation. At the time, I was in grad school and she was starting her job at Lockheed Martin. We lived together for a year before I moved downtown to be closer to work and away from the suburbs. She happens to like the suburbs, so she stayed. Shortly after that, she met Danny through friends and they were engaged this past spring.

Now I'm not the sort of girl who LOVES weddings or has everything planned down to the minutest detail for my own, but Mandy and I would occasionally talk about weddings and we both knew that we wanted each other to be a big part of our special days (we are a little bit girly!). Mandy emailed and then called with the news of her engagement and asked me to be a bridesmaid. I knew it would be very difficult because of the timing (September is a MAJOR deadline time in US tax) and the cost of a plane ticket. I hmmmed and hawed for several weeks but finally had to just say I can't commit to being there. It was sad for both of us, but we kept in frequent contact and I helped the best I could with the decisions and listening to endless options regarding every aspect of the day.

WELL, about a week before the wedding, a sale popped up on tickets to Denver that I just couldn't resist. I had continued to look for tickets because I hadn't yet come to grips with not being there for her, even if I wasn't going to be standing beside her. So, when a ticket that cost only $480 (not kidding) came across, I jumped on it. I didn't tell Mandy I was coming, but made arrangements with her family.

I can't tell you how excited I was to go home! After a long, sleepless plane ride, I came into Denver on a Thursday night and was picked up at the aiport by a friend because I was also surprising my mom. Friday morning I drove up to my mom's house and surprised her (after some prodding to get her to come to the door) and spent some time catching up with her (and the piano). Then I headed down to Mandy's. She was completely surprised and even stared at me for a couple seconds as if she didn't know who I was! We had a great day together finishing up some final things, going to lunch and chatting.

I also caught up with some old work friends, helped out at the wedding Saturday morning, attended the wedding (of course), had a couple really great dinners at restaurants I had never tried (hooray!!!), went to church, had lunch with my brother and watched some of the first week of the NFL! I loved driving again and playing the piano and hearing the office gossip from the Denver office. I had way more fun than I had ever imagined before I went back to Denver and it was very tough to board the plane back to London on Monday. But I know I am also enjoying seeing new and different things here and I'm not done with that yet!!

This turned out to be a much longer posted than I anticipated, but I'll leave you with some pictures from the wedding...Stay tuned for updates from my newest travels which will start up again next weekend!

You know the saying: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue? Well, most of us lop off the end that says: And sixpence in her shoe. Mandy's friend Mary remembered this part and I happened to have 6 pence in my purse. (There is no longer a sixpence coin, but 5 pence and 1 pence work.) So Mandy glued these to her wedding shoes - how fun!

The wedding party

Mr. & Mrs.!

This is me with Mandy and our friend Joleen - we have all been close since high school. Joleen just got married in May. And, yes, I am MUCH taller than either of them (to be fair, Mandy had her shoes off and I didn't).