Christmas Festivities

Before I left London, I was able to join in on a few Christmas festivities. We had our office Christmas party which was a lot of fun. Also, I went ice skating at an outdoor rink at Somerset House. The night was beautiful and I had a good time skating and meeting new friends. Earlier that evening, I went over to Sarah's and she and I enjoyed some Christmas treats and a chat before I left London for the holidays.

Since I've been back in the States, I've been in Denver, Scottsdale and Las Vegas! I just missed the snow in Las Vegas (that would have been festive!) but it was pretty chilly when I was there anyway. I love that all of the casinos are decorated so beautifully for Christmas. I always enjoy the Bellagio fountains and so it was an extra treat to have the show set to Christmas music! Now I am back in Denver - working, visiting and getting ready to celebrate with my family next week.

I'd like to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Happy New Year as well. May you enjoy making many happy memories with your family and friends this year!

Nuremburg, Germany

Well, here it is everyone - my last European trip of 2008. *tear* I had a fabulous weekend in Germany with my friends the Wildes. You'll recall that they are my friends who I met through a mutual friend when I moved here and they have been SO good to me. Sarah regularly cooks me fantastic meals and we shop and relax and go to church together. The Wildes let me stay with them when I was homeless for a week in February and they have never stopped being amazing to me. In fact, tonight we are going to have a quick Christmas get-together so I can see their decorated apartment and try minced pies for the first time!

Anyway, last weekend Sam, Sarah and I went down to Nuremburg, Germany to visit the Christmas Market there. Germany (and some surrounding countries) are famous for their Christmas markets and Nuremburg came highly recommended. There are many traditional German gifts and food items and we just wandered around for hours soaking it all in. And stimulating the European economy, of course! I'm so excited to give my family the gifts I bought! Enjoy the pictures of the market and the town.

I head home on Saturday for 4 weeks in the States to work and celebrate the holidays. I have been busy this week with packing and organizing for that trip. While I'm there I'll post some about my Christmas festivities in London as well as things I'm doing at home. Plus, I've been thinking of a 2008 year in review with a few select pictures (that you've already seen)...stay tuned!

Granada, Spain

Last weekend I took a quick trip down to the south of Spain. It's been sinking in more and more lately how lucky I am to just be able to jump on a plane and spend a couple days in a completely different country! It's not that I ever took it for granted really, it's just been something I've been thinking about.

Anyway, I went down to Spain with Chad and Laurie who are friends of mine from Denver who also live in England (but not London so I don't see them often). Chad had studied for a year in Granada so knows the city and the area well. It was so nice to have a tour guide and we were able to check out a lot of his old haunts. It was a pretty laid back weekend. The biggest thing we did was explore the Alhambra. Then we wandered around a couple of the areas of the city and ate tapas and watched the sunset.

On Sunday we drove back towards the coast and enjoyed some time on the beach! I always love places where you can be in the mountains and on the beach in the same day and the south of Spain is like that!

Enjoy the pictures...I only have one more European trip before I head home to the States for about 4 weeks. I'm sure I'll be updating from there about my holiday experiences in London and at home.

P.S. I am doing this at work since my internet at home is out of commission for a bit. The upload speed is WAY faster here so there are more pictures than usual (and in no particular order)!

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.