Since I moved here, I’ve been whinging about getting a bike. I loved when I was able to do a bike commute in Chicago. It was faster than all other modes of transport in an urban setting and, you got to see a unique perspective of the world around you and it was a way to be fit while getting somewhere. I’ve been walking a lot in London but it’s amazing that, in an area that is as small as central London, it still felt like it takes 30 minutes to get 1 mile or 5 miles. Anything beyond that is like another world.

Well, bikes, like most things here, aren’t cheap. I wanted a decent used bike that I could ride hard and would still hang on. Alas, I wasn’t sure where to get such a bike. Most places were spiffy cycling shops with bikes of any quality starting at $400. Well, in honour of Bike Week, I stumbled upon a link to second hand bikes and, unlike the previous year, we found a couple that were near us that had a larger selection of bikes. Along with our friends Ben and Gerry, we tramped over to Camden Cycles and we all found what we want. Here’s the one I picked up:

It is an Apollo Jalapeno. Yes, a Jalapeno. It was cheap and will need some work, but I’ve ridden to work 5 of the last 6 work days and gone on rides of various distances on the weekends (more on that later). I’m really loving it. I now truly feel ok with the whole driving-on-the-left and I’m amazed at what a biking city London is. The cars (so far!) are very aware of the cyclists and at any intersection during rush hour, there will be a ton of bikes waiting for the light. The city has taken many through streets and done what they can carve bike lanes on the narrow ancient roads. And my 2 mile commute, which can balloon up to 40 minutes if the buses are running like shit, never takes more than 15 minutes. Next up, I find a bike co-op, get some cheap parts and make my bike a little more durable and reliable!

Hi everyone. Its been a crazy couple of months full of lots of celebrations, travel up and down the east coast, big moves, a new job and a bit of exploring. Matt will be working to catch the blog up on all the events but in the meantime, I thought I would chime in for a bit myself.

You did read correctly, it says “new job” above. It’s true, I have started work as a physiotherapist in London. I have a locum (temporary) position through an agency. I started on June 2nd and am enjoying getting into a routine. I can even walk to work.

In order to take advantage of my final few days without a work schedule, I took a day trip to Canterbury and to Leed’s Castle (some of you may remember Matt’s trip here last year) with a group called London Walks. London Walks organizes all sorts of walking tours in the city covering topics from Parliament and Big Ben to Jack the Ripper. Occasionally they do Explorer Days outside the city and I met up with the group for a chock full day of touring. We travelled by train to our first stop Canterbury. The main attraction here is the Cathedral which is home to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the destination for the pilgrims in Canterbury Tales.

The Cathedral is where the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Beckett, was killed in 1170 after King Henry II complained about his activities. The statue below is a memorial to the site of his assassination by four knights.

After visiting the cathedral, we wandered through town and were educated on many historical events and buildings. We then set out for our next destination, Leeds Castle. Leeds Castle was built in 1119 by one of William the Conqueror’s Lords. It passed into royal hands and was used by many widowed queens after the death of their husbands. King Edward IV gave the castle to a courtier in the 1500s and eventually it passed into private ownership. The castle is now open for tours, conventions, weddings and other special events.

It was jousting day at Leeds Castle so we had sometime to watch the intense competition before exploring the grounds.

It was a nice way to spend my last day as a full-time tourist in the UK.

Ok, let’s shift to something a little more fun while I get back into the swing of things. Our photographer has provided a website with a whole lot of photos they took at the wedding. They did an excellent job. If you have the time, feel free to graze through the many, many photos in this site. And let us know which ones you like. Drum roll please:

Matt and Carolyn’s Official Wedding photos

Carolyn and I might be biased, but we had a blast looking at the excellent photos that provide a great little documentary history of a night that could sometimes be a bit of a blur. It allowed me to really see what was going on (I had no idea my Dad was having so much fun on the dance floor! :)).

At about 4:20pm GMT on 3 June 2008, Anna took her last breath. It is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. But she was sick and was just getting worse. Carolyn and I took her to the vet and pet her until the very end. She was a trooper. Words can’t express the sadness and emptiness I feel now. Chewy notices something is amiss. I hope he is healthy and has many more years left in him.

Anyone who has been to my house knew Anna. She was always at the door waiting to greet you. And, the second you sat down, she was in your lap, purring. She was a constant, loving companion and friend to Carolyn and I. She had the chance to travel and explore many homes and meet many other wonderful animals. I will miss waking up in the middle of the night to have her purring contentedly by my side. I hope I was able to provide a life, short as it might have been, that was caring and loving. She will be missed.

Evidence that this was one of the sweetest cats in the world. Rest in peace Annabelle.

Hi. Sorry, I’ve been silent in the past few weeks. My cat, Anna, one of the sweetest animals I’ve ever had the privilege to know, has just been diagnosed with Feline Leukemia. Tomorrow morning, I have to take her to the vet and have her put to sleep. I can’t describe the sadness I’m feeling at the moment. She’s only 6 and all I can hope is that I’ve given her the best life she possibly could. 🙁

Regular postings will begin soon enough and they’ll be filled with all the happy things that have been going amidst this sadness.

So Carolyn’s visa came through with no problem. I’m back in the UK and this means that very very soon, Carolyn will be moved here and can look for work and no more distance. Hurray! Very exciting.

In saddening news, I came back to find Anna extremely thin. She’d had problems and some very nice friends had taken her to the vet. She’s seems ok, but she is really really skinny. The vet took some blood and hopefully, they’ll have some news soon. Poor kitty.

So, on 10 May 2008, I married a wonderful woman. Most of you who read this have met Carolyn by now and know she’s pretty darn cool. Allow me to officially introduce you to my (hee hee) wife, Carolyn:

I’m not sure who that snazzy lookin’ guy is, but I hope she married him 🙂

We’re working on getting Carolyn’s visa set up now, but we’ll spend a day or two in NYC to relax while we deal with all sorts of chaos in the meantime and I head back to the UK in less than a week. So many wonderful things going on. Married life so far is going very well. I wouldn’t change a thing.

So my silence isn’t because I’m lazy. Since I last wrote, I’ve spent a short time in Chicago, Cleveland and even some time in London. I’ll get into more details over time. For now, I want to add a quick entry about the London Marathon. Our friend, C***** (shall remain anonymous), actually lives in our flat with us with her friend, A****. It’s tight, I know. But because of her UK residence, they were able to get numbers for this years marathon. Amazing! As a result, Carolyn and I decided to check it out. It was a hectic and rainy day (hell, it hailed a little after our friends finished), but it was fun to watch. I think everyone found these signs/suggestions quite funny:

The words are small but it says, “Don’t wee in people’s gardens”. Very thoughtful of the race organizers to remind dehydrated people in the middle of a 26 mile race that people’s gardens are not, in fact, toilets. 🙂

I’m off to Paris for more office moves, then I return in an attempt to get everything in order in 4 days before I make the big trip to the US. At that time, Carolyn and I finally get married. 16 days away! How cool! I will post lots of catch-up stuff since it’s been pretty action packed lately.

So this past Friday, I moved fully into my 30s. I can no longer say “I’m only barel 30” anymore (well, I guess I never did). For this special of special days, I assembled a mötley crüe of friends and coworkers for one of my favourite meals in the London, the Marquess Tavern. That’s the place where you order the amount of beef you want in kilograms and it shows up on the bone. Yummy. Needless to say, much food and beer was consumed and, many of the attendees had never been there and all walked away happy.

Here is this times selection of beef. Not everyone eats beef, so other options were consumed as well, I assure you.

Here’s Matt with a nice Belgian beer and a skeptical looking Carolyn. It was the only beer I had all evening. Really!!! 🙂

I have many incriminating photos of other people. But, this being a tasteful blog, I cannot show them. The night lasted until 2am when Carolyn Wrobel and her boyfriend Mike showed up in preparation for the upcoming London Marathon. We’ll have more on that shortly!

Well, my wedding season is upon me. Four weddings in 5 weeks. This includes my own. Yikes. In the meantime, I’ve got a bunch of postings which will I’ll hopefully put online soon. Alas, Carolyn won’t help me (*cough* *cough*) so I’ve got to do it myself.

Anyhoo, the real point of this email isn’t passive aggressiveness, but to mention that, as phase one of my month of weddings, I will be passing through Chicago! For 12 hours! Since Cleveland, which is where wedding one is located, has no direct flights from London, I thought I’d spend a night in Chicagoland. I’ll be arriving on Thursday 17 April and be free by hopefully 7 or 8pm. I’m hoping to catch up with folks. I don’t know where to eat yet, but if you have any suggestions, lemme know as I’m torn between a number of places. Also, if you’re in town that night and free, drop me an email and I’ll send you the details of the plan. Hope to be able to see folks, even if for a brief moment! My flight to Cleveland leaves the next morning, so I’m not around for that long. Sniffle.

So, it’s time for a little more English football fun. Almost a year ago, I had the good fortune to see my local football team, Arsenal, play in their brand new stadium. It was a fun time. But I hadn’t thought much about the old stadium. I knew where it was and that they were trying to preserve the exterior as they turned the rest into apartments. I also knew that the initial consensus was that the new stadium lacked the homey-ness of the old one. The original Arsenal stadium originated in a time when people would pack into standing-room only sections and fit 70,000 people in a stadium that would later fit about 40,000 people seated. It lacked corporate sponsorship and pre-dated the big money era of Premier league football.

Inspired by Carolyn’s run past the original, I decided to finally seek it out. First things first; I am completely amused by the whole talk about how the stadium moved so far away. It moved a whopping 1/2 a mile down the road which, in an area as cramped London is kind of necessary. Second, it’s located in an amazing fashion. From the outside, you could walk right by it from almost every direction and not realize that there’s a stadium right there. Only the the East stands had frontage on the road, the rest seemed to be “protected” by houses. On each side there was a space for fans to get into the complex but it really truly just sat in the middle of a neighbourhood. I’m sure that large chunks of it have been leveled for this new block of apartments, but the situation of it was very cool. Anyway, let’s do a little compare and contrast:

This is the large frontage part of the old stadium. This about the best “distance” shot I could get because from all other angles, this shot just disappears.

This was the West entrance. Yes, those are houses that surround it which means that the stadium was literally in their backyard. Wrigley Field, eat your heart out.

This is the new complex. You can see it from all sorts of angles, through roads, while approaching it. Anyway, it sounds like the fans have been getting more comfortable with their new surroundings, even as Arsenal has choked at the end of this season. But, it’s a stark contrast to their old home.

So to say this winter in England was mild would be an understatement. I think, with a couple of weeks being the exception, the weather was never under freezing. It wasn’t warm, but it was nice and pleasant compared to a winter in NY or Chicago. So what do we open our eyes to this morning? Snow! Big fat flakes of it. And it has stuck for a whopping 4 hours. Behold!

(hmm, this picture doesn’t quite do the snow flakes justice. If you feel like seeing a gigantic picture of it, here you go).

Ok, so it’s not sticking to the street. And, if the car owners wait another hour or two, they can drive off without scraping their cars. But, it’s been four hours and there’s still some snow falling. So it’s our only true winter day in London for the winter. Except it’s April. Ooops! 🙂

So we awoke nice and early for our second day of traveling the Rhine River valley. Unlike the previous day where we covered little ground but saw a great deal. Today, we needed to get some miles under our belt while seeing a lot. And only had until 4pm to get to the Frankfurt airport.

Our first major stop was Loreley, a large rock jutting up above the river that provides a wonderful scenic viewpoint of the area. It’s about a 400 ft climb and we decided to get some exercise. We get to the top, slightly winded to find there’s a road on the back side of it and a tour bus of people hanging around. That’s always a fun feeling. Here we worked hard to get our scenic spot and these people just sat around. Well, here’s what it looks like from atop Loreley:

Note the ginormous ship. The Rhine still gets used for a lot of shipping. This picture doesn’t show it, but along the right bank of the river in this direction, there are two castles: Burg Katz and Burg Maus. That’s right, cat and mouse. They were built by a local duke and archbishop as ways to make each other look cooler and more powerful than the other. Katz won.

We were now in castle country. We made it a goal to check out a castle that hadn’t fallen into ruins and one that had. Our choice for the former was Marksburg. It was one of the few castles that wasn’t bombed during WWII and, as a result was still well preserved after 800 years. Alas, we were hoping to do a self-guided tour of sorts, especially since time was short and we found the only way in was a guided tour, only in German, that would take an hour. So we took in the beauty of its exterior and headed onward.

We made it to the top of the area, Koblenz and made a bit of a U-turn to check out the left bank. Our first stop was a town called Boppard, which is a very nicely preserved old town. We managed to catch the beautiful main church as services were getting out:

It was a really nice town, sitting right on the river with lots of wonderful old buildings that reminded me of what I picture towns up in the Alps. And it segued into our successful tour of a castle ruin in the next town over, St Goar. This was Burg Rheinfels and used to be the largest castle in the region. Unlike Marksburg, this place was self-guided and encouraged exploration of the ruins. Some parts of it had well groomed paths among the ruins while others were crumbling staircases that led into completely unlit rooms and corridors. As someone who likes to scramble around and explore things like this, I was having a blast. It was a sprawling complex of rooms and fortifications and on many levels that you check out. Really nicely laid out.

Once the castle was mostly explored, we made our way to the last town we stopped in, Bacharach. We found a nice place for lunch and one more tasty glass of Riesling. Alas, it was time to take our leave and race back to the airport for our flights home.

So I managed to get Carolyn to post on the blog. Cool! If you think she should post more, feel free to voice your opinion and maybe she can be convinced. 🙂

As promised, it’s my turn to contribute. I’m going to break it into two parts. Last weekend, we got to spend a lovely, relaxing time in the Rhine River valley. Specifically, we hung out in the part renowned for its Riesling wine. This 60km long stretch of land is an UNESCO heritage site and it’s understandable why. It rolls along with a peaceful, beautiful pace. Every few miles, perched up high, are castles built back when people had pissing contests by building bigger fortresses along the hillside cut by the Rhine river. And at the foot of each castle is a cute German town.

We rented a car to drive into the area. Alas, the map the rental car agency provided was completely useless and we got to see a lot more of the Autobahn due to the fact that the signage is shite and the exits are pretty far apart on the A-3. However, the plus was it allowed me to open up a bit in our top-of-the-line Opal. They can in fact go 100mph. Viva speed limits! Let’s ignore the fact that I was still being passed.

After a little detour, we blindly felt our way to the main road into the right bank of the river and into Eltville. It was a cute town but very dead since it was Saturday afternoon and the quiet season. We had lunch in a place with tasty looking cakes and no English spoken. So we picked blindly on the menu and hoped for the best.

The bulk of this day was spent simply enjoying the entrance to this lovely area. We had gotten some recommendations on some places to see and, as we cruised down the road, we saw a sign for one of them: Schloss Vollrads. It turned out to be a winery with some very good wine. Now, this being Riesling country, we had to partake:

After a glass, we trekked onward to the gateway to it all: Rudesheim (pardon my misspellingingsjks!). The guidebook we have seemed to make this out as kind of a tourist trap. But, it being the slow season, we were able to soak it in. It certainly is touristy, but it’s very nice and friendly and walkable. So we parked our car and looked around.

This is the central square of the town. Those cool ass trees are everywhere. The church was rebuilt after it was bombed in World War II.

Perched above Rudesheim is a gigantic monument erected in honor of the unification of Germany. To get there, you can hike up the smallish mountain or take a chairlift up. Here would be Carolyn on the chairlift:

Look at the church and beautiful blue skies! We had wonderful weather.

Now, I mentioned that this is Riesling country. I’ve never been a white wine fan, but the stuff we had was quite tasty and refreshing. The area is covered in vineyards.

We made our way to the top of the mountain, took in the beauty around us and strolled back down. We still needed to find a hotel. We found a nice hotel where we were the only people staying there. Dinner was a local winery’s restaurant. We both had some absolutely delicious soup and wine as well as very good mains. We ended the night in the (I kid you not) pub on the ground floor of our hotel where I think the local 12 year olds go to drink (at least in the off-season). Then we retired for the night in anticipation of a very early morning so we could hit the castles and sights of the Rhine River valley. That’ll be next!