Sep 2008

• Had a great time at their wedding, at the Westin Prince! Once again, it was good to see different friends and then the same ol friends a bit tipsy by the end of the night!

• Steve- classic! Wearing his bowtie around his head like a headband lol!

• Had quite a bit of gin and tonic and even got Will to drink one! And a girl even took him by the tie later that night..go Will!!
  

Since this is mainly a 'travel' blog, ill just try and keep the visit back to T.O. short...well try to anyway..

• Officially 2008 Golfer of the Year (went undefeated with the boys Toronto... but lost all my games with friends in the UK). Played last Friday at Mill Run Golf club in Uxbridge - very very nice conditions and fast greens. Shot a 94 with everyone else in the 100s...lol.

• Had Christmas in September!! with my family since my brother and his girlfriend flew in from BC at the same time, and Michelle and I were here (and not coming for Xmas)..so we thought 'why not?'. I think my parents were really caught off-guard when we took out the presents after dinner..my Mom was like '..i thought you were kidding the whole time you mentioned it..' lol good one.

• Kids grow up fast in 4 months..whoa. Alyssa and MekMek, you just want to eat them..really. Tried to get them to take a pic together but they were having none of it.

• Congrats to Meemerz and Timbo on their new pad! Very nice town and even though we only managed to visit for 30 mins, it was all good...can't wait for the deck to be ready!

• Happy 20th Bday Irene! Had a good dinner with the Gonzales clan at Moxie's..and still trying to recover your lost pics/work docs..i think we're almost there, im the new data recovery specialist.

• Learned this new board game, Settlers of Cataan that my friends have been playing for months, and guess who won on their first try?

This past weekend, we were invited to Michelle's co-workers place in Trier, Germany. Well, we actually stayed in a wicked hotel, Hotel Villa Hugel, which was only a minute away from their flat.

• Trier is just across the border from Luxembourg (where we flew into using LuxAir (prob my fave airline now.)) about 30-40 minutes away from the airport. It is Germany's oldest city and has huge Roman influence here as it was a former capital of a Roman province.

• Saw and walked a good majority of the town, seeing such famous sights as Porta Nigra (the 'black gate' - amazing Roman city gate), 3 Roman baths (well the ruins of them) and the Roman amphitheatre.

• Visited a huge Roman Catholic Church, Trier Cathedral, which is home to the Holy Tunic ("..a garment with a recorded history back to the 12th century, in Catholic tradition said to be the robe Jesus was wearing when he died. It is only exhibited every few decades, at irregular intervals"). Wtf?? they weren't displaying while we were there but the church itself is huge, and reminiscent of very ornate Roman basillicas.
  

• Had a great time with our friends Norbert and Julia, very very gracious hosts and tour guides. They took us all over and took us to authentic German restaurants (yep ate sauerkraut, pork knuckle, rumpsteak, etc..). Hopefully they can come visit us in Toronto and we can return the favour!

• They also shared some schnapps with us (58% alcohol! yep thats my new record) and at one of the restaurants, got to try some of the local brew and also some of the best-sellling German beer in the world, Bitburger (yuck too bitter).

• Also checked out the museum of the famous resident, Karl Marx, founder of communism. Well, we didn't actually go in but we stood at the doorway..

Had a great fun-filled weekend in London, Chelsea and Windsor..

• Friday - went to watch Monty Python's Spamalot at the Palace Theatre in London's West End. I must admit, I liked the movie (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) better than the musical but it was our first musical since arriving here so it was good. Managed to get two Grand Circle tickets for 50GBP.

• Saturday - we went to Windsor (a bit late) to visit Windsor Castle, one of the Royal residences. It's actually the oldest castle that is still in use - the Queen Mum still comes here regularly on the weekends..denoted by the British flag raised on the flagpole. Very very nice town, we only got through the State Rooms (holy humongous!) and didn't get to St Georges Chapel.

• St Georges chapel is where King Henry VIII is buried so that will be cool to go back and see. Buying a ticket also gives you 12 months unlimited admission..

• Sunday - celebrated our 11-year old niece's birthday in Chelsea! Played the WII and good company..she was also wearing our sweater/jacket that we got for her at the end of the night!
  

Well we didn't exactly go to Harvard campus on our trip to Boston, but we definitely heard Bostonians speak..well, Bostonian. Spent the past 5 days on our first trip back to North America for Andrea and Victor's wedding and it was real good to be back on North American soil.

• CONGRATS to Andrea and Victor for such a beautiful and fun wedding! They got married on Friday, September 5th at the State Room. Let me tell you, 2-storey-tall, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Boston Harbour, the view and setting were unbelievable! Met up with old friends from Toronto, San Diego and well, Boston and we had good times all week...so this is what missing friends is all about! We are missing out!!

• Live band was actually much better than I expected. He even did Montell Jordan lol!
  

• It was also a reunion of sorts for Michelle and her old housemates from McMaster university..but wheres Nunaz? lol!

• Nicky is such a good, good, good cute baby. Pretty much no crying at all, wakes up smiling (that was wicked) and loves the ladies..haha!

• Of course, since we have been around expensive shopping in London, one of our main goals was to do some damage shopping and oh boy did we do some damage! Went wild at Banana Republic, Macy's, all the good stores and it was very clear to see how much more affordable it is to live there compared to London...oh and did I mention NO SALES TAX? Yep, our suitcases were heavvvvy on the way home.

• Damnit! I have been looking all over for these Onitsuka Tiger Ultimate 81 shoes sz 9 everywhere and they are out of my size! Feels like one of those missions i have to accomplish (in London theyre £49, in US, theyre $60..big difference).

• You can't quite see it in the pic below, but we had lunch at a replica bar of the one from Cheers, the TV show. We went to the replica in Quincy Market and the real one is only like 1-2 mile away.