London: Day 3

Another busy but very fun and memorable day! We started the day by taking a walk to a really cool area of London known as Marylebone - lots of cool shops, restaurants, and buildings. Cori actually stumbled upon this area while reading a travel magazine a few months ago, so we thought it looked so cool we decided to check it out for ourselves. One of our first stops was at La Fromagerie (http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk/). For those of you who don’t speak French, fromagerie is French for cheese shop. We were able to enter “the cheese room” and sample a few of the 150 kinds of cheese. We settled on an 18 month old Cheddar that was absolutely awesome! We added a freshly baked baguette and a slice of banana cake with vanilla butter cream frosting and headed to Regent’s Park for a nice and peaceful picnic lunch. While La Fromagerie prides itself on being one of the best cheese shops in all of England, we both agreed that the highlight of the meal was the banana cake. The vanilla butter cream frosting was probably one of the best things that we have ever eaten in our lifetime.

After leaving Regent’s Park, we made our way toward Abbey Road where the Beatles recorded many famous records as well as the site of the famous album cover picture of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road.

Next, we jumped on a double decker bus and headed for Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Hyde Park is known for a number of famous statues (King Albert, Peter Pan) and memorials (Princess Diana Memorial Fountain was one that we visited) while Kensington Gardens is the home of Kensington Palace (one of Princess Diana’s homes). After spending at least a couple hours in Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, we took a quick subway trip to visit the Michelin House which is the former UK headquarters for Michelin Tyre Company, and it was built in 1910. It has since been restored and is the home of Bibendum Oyster House & Deli/Marketplace. We then made our way to three of the most famous London landmarks – Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, & Parliament. We ended our night by enjoying the Thames River Festival and stopped by the Mulberry Bush Pub for the classic English meal of fish & chips.

All in all, we probably spent over 9 hours on our feet today, so we are actually looking forward to the train ride tomorrow to Edinburgh, Scotland. It is about a 4 hours train ride which will give our feet and legs a little time to recover before we start our sightseeing adventure in Edinburgh. I think we are planning to visit Edinburgh Castle as well as a scotch distillery and museum once we arrive tomorrow afternoon. Depending on the internet situation in Edinburgh, we will try and give another quick update in the next day or two so keep checking back. Cheers!!

David's own personal heaven - a room completely filled with cheese!

Regent's Park

Cori trying to not get hit by the passing traffic at Abbey Road

The Michelin House

Westminster Abbey



Look kids, Big Ben...Parliament! (Chevy Chase from Natl. Lampoon's)

Big Ben & Parliament along the Thames River

The Mulberry Bush Pub

London: Day 1 & 2

St. Paul's Cathedral and Millennium Bridge by the River Thames in London

The Market Porter Public House during our pub tour.

Windsor Castle (right) and St. George's Cathedral (left)

At the Roman Bath House in the city of Bath

By the Avon River in Bath

At Stonehenge

Piccadilly Circus at night.

We arrived safely into London after stops in the Memphis & Amsterdam airports. The flight to Europe was over 8 hours long but didn’t seem too bad because we each had our own TV screen and a wide selection of movies to choose from which helped to pass the time. We arrived at the hotel at around 4:00 p.m. London time. After a quick shower to freshen up, we headed out for a guided tour called “Along the River Thames Pub Walk”. We got to see quite a few famous London landmarks including St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Millennium Bridge, the Globe Theatre, Tate Modern museum, and of course, the Thames River. We also got to sample a few local brews at 2 pub stops, Youngs Founders Arm & The Market Porter. By the end of the night, we were completely wiped out (basically 24 hours since we started our trip with little to no sleep). We had just enough energy to grab a quick pizza before we turned in for the night.

Today (Saturday) we had another long day. We took a bus tour outside the city of London which included stops at Windsor Castle, the old Roman city of Bath, and Stonehenge. The entire tour and travel time lasted about 12 hours, but we definitely got to see many interesting and beautiful sites. First, at Windsor Castle we got to quickly tour the grounds and see some of the State Rooms inside the castle. The interior decorations are so amazing and truly fit for a queen! The city of Bath was about a 2 hour bus ride from Windsor, but it was definitely worth the wait! The city was built among 7 hills in the English countryside. It was originally founded by the Romans because of the natural hot springs that are found in the area. The main attraction of the tour was to visit the ancient Roman bath house but we found that the city of Bath itself was almost more breathtaking. While touring the city, we also passed by a rugby match and watched a cricket match for a few minutes. We both think that we could spend a few days in Bath relaxing and taking in the sights, but we were limited to only a few hours on the tour. Our final stop was at the ancient ruins of Stonehenge. You may remember this sight from the National Lampoon’s European Vacation when Chevy Chase clumsily backs into one of the stones and brings the entire monument down! However, in real life you really aren’t allowed to get that close to the stones but we did get close enough to enjoy it and snap a few pictures. Honestly, Stonehenge is something that we are glad we visited once, but don’t really have much desire to go back again! It’s basically situated in the middle of the English countryside amongst sheep and farmland so besides the rocks there isn’t much to it!

We ended the night at Piccadilly Circus which is kind of like the Times Square of London. We saw a lot of interesting things – people, buildings, and vehicles. We are planning to head back sometime during the day also.

Hopefully we will get the chance to update the blog a few more times during our trip. We can’t make any promises though because the internet situation is a little sketchy. The internet connection we are using now is in a pub by our hotel, so we really don’t mind seeking out a good brew and free wi-fi.

Cheers!

Brew at the Zoo and Visiting Cara too...

A few weeks ago we met Cori's family in Columbia, Mo since it was time for Cara to start volleyball and her Junior year of college. It was a short trip, but it is always fun to see everyone and spend time together.

Hanging out at Stephen's Park in Columbia, MO.

After we returned from Columbia, David drove across Ohio and Pennsylvania on his way to State College, Penn. the home of Penn State University. He was there for a week, and attended a conference and presented a poster of his research there. He enjoyed the experience in "Happy Valley" especially getting to see the campus and the HUGE Penn State football stadium.

We enjoyed some time with friends at "Brew at the Zoo" in Louisville. Over 25 breweries were there plus food and wine as well. There were breweries from as far away as Canada and Oregon. You paid up front and were given a mug to sample all the goodies you wanted that night. We also got to meet & pet some of the furry zoo friends too.

Caroline & Vince (some of Cori's co-workers)

Meeting a wallaby.

David's friend, Amos the Camel.

We are headed to London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland this week. We are very excited! We are going to try to keep a blog-diary of our trip. Keep an eye out for photos and stories!!

Hanging Out in the World's Longest Cave!

We spent last weekend at Mammoth Cave National Park (www.nps.gov/maca) which is located about an hour south of Louisville and is actually the longest cave in the world - more than 365 miles of the cave has been discovered! This is Cori, David, and Murphy's 2nd trip to Mammoth Cave. Cori and I took a 2 hour tour of the cave while the pups had to stay in a kennel provided by the hotel. There were many unique features on the tour including a spot called "Frozen Niagara" which is 130 feet below the surface and the cave formation looks like a frozen waterfall.

Cave formations at Mammoth Cave.

The park is located right along the Green River and you actually have to cross a ferry in order to access certain parts of the park. We spent Friday and Saturday night camping while also getting in a few hikes during our two days at the park. It was really nice to get away for the weekend and relax and enjoy God's gifts of nature.

Green River Ferry

Our home for the weekend! Murphy was so tired from hiking that he spent most of his time sleeping in the chair while Oakley kept watch for wildlife, including a group of deer that liked to eat grass about 30 yards from our campsite. The deer didn't seem too bothered by her barking though!

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Louisville was hard hit by heavy rain, wind, and lightining yesterday. The city reported about 6" of rain during 75 minutes. I have never seen it rain so hard. It was about 9-10 am and it was dark like 10 -11 pm.

David & I are both fine and dry. We had no damage to the house and luckily David waited to go into school at the University of Louisville. The University suffered some of the worst damage in the city. Also hard hit was the Downtown Louisville Library and an animal shelter which housed 550+ animals, which were evacuated to the fairgrounds. Not to mention the damage to so many people's homes.

See some of the pictures below of the University of Louisville. David received these photos through some contacts at school. There are also a few photos (courtesy of their website) of the animal evaculation at Metro Animal Services. There is also a fund started to help rehabilitate the shelter (see below).

Athletic Facilities at U of L

This is a railroad crossing which David normally drives through on the way to the engineering campus. The water here is probably at least 12 feet high!

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory!

The building with the green roof (in the background) is where David's office is located.

More campus flooding.

Water running of the roof of the main JB Speed School of Engineering building.

Churchill Downs. This is the 1st turn - where we normally celebrate on Derby day. It is a lake!

HELP METRO ANIMAL SERVICES:

Monetary donations can made online or sent to:

Metro Animal Services

c/o The Animal Care Fund

3705 Manslick Road

Louisville, Ky 40215

http://www.louisvilleky.gov/AnimalServices/flooding_donations.htm

Dogs being evacuated from Metro Animal Services.

Sweet (South) Caroline

At the beginning of July we made a trip down to South Carolina where Cori had two job interviews. One job was at the Michelin Truck Tire plant in Spartanburg, SC and the other was at the Earthmover Tire Plant in Columbia, SC. Both interviews were for an Ergonomist position. We have been to Greenville/Spartanburg, SC quite a few times in the last few years, but we have never spent any time in Columbia (the capital of SC). We decided that since we were so close to the coast (only 1.5 hours from Charleston, SC and the Atlantic Ocean) that we had to eat some seafood. We had a great meal at the Blue Marlin where David tried Collard Greens for the first time. I think we could get used to good Southern coooking. We then spent some time in the downtown area checking out some shops and the Capital Building. The area was very beautiful. We saw a lot of unique flowers and trees - including the South Carolina State Tree, the Palmetto.

(It's a boy! David enjoyed the meal at the Blue Marlin but we needed to walk it off!)

(South Carolina Capital Building)

After good news from the interviews - we have decided to accept the promotion and Cori will become the Truck Tire Regional Ergonomist for Michelin. Her home office will be in Spartanburg, but she will also be responsible for the Ergonomic Program at other plants including a few in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. She will also get to travel internationally to a plant in Canada and Ireland. She is really looking forward to the opportunity and plans to start her new job in November. So...that means that we need to sell our house in Louisville, find a new home in the Greenville area, and move before the end of October. David will still be able to work towards his degree, but may have to do some traveling back and forth every once and awhile.


Other than that little piece of news we are excited to go to London, England and to Edinburgh, Scotland in September. David is presenting some of his research at a conference in London, so we decided to make a vacation out of it. David also will be traveling to two other conferences to present his research - Penn State University in August and San Antonio in October.

Since we will be leaving the Bluegrass State we figured we better cross-off a few things still left on our "Kentucky To Do List". We spent the day at Kentucky Horse Park (http://www.kyhorsepark.com/) in Lexington, Ky (the Horse Capital of the World). We went on a trail ride of the complex which includes over 1200 acres of land centered around anything and everything that has to do with horses. We got to see the 2003 Kentucky Derby winner - Funny Cide as well as the famous thoroughbred horse, Cigar. At the time of Cigar's retirement in 1996, he was the winningest horse of all time with almost $10 million dollars worth of winnings. We saw a lot of horse shows, exhibits, and all different types of horses. It was a very enjoyable day.

(The rolling hills at Kentucky Horse Park)

(David on Star. The girl in the photo was riding in front of David and behind me on Cowboy. Cowboy apparently got irratated with her horse and mid-trail ride decided to kick her horse - catching her a little bit in the ankle. He must have had a bad day.)

(2003 Kentucky Derby Winner - Funny Cide. He is still "running for the roses")

Was the 4th of July, Watch Out Summer's Flying By

Burnett Street (Louisville)

Crystal & Dave at Napa River Grill

At the Jazz Bar. We made it un-official "white shirt night"

We spent the 4th of July weekend with David's mom Crystal, who surprised us by visiting Louisville for a few days. We had a lot of fun just relaxing and spending time together. Crystal had been to Louisville during the first summer we lived here, but we still lived in our small apartment. So we had fun showing off our house and yard to a new guest.
We took Crystal to the Trolley Hop - where a trolley will take you to the galleries, restaurants, and music hot spots in downtown Louisville. We spent some time at River Bend Winery in downtown Louisville. Our friend from college (Carson) is the CEO of the winery and is trying to revamp the place. We said we would be taste testers anytime they needed. We also went to a Jazz bar – Jazzyblu – it was a new experience but we would definitely do it again.
On the 4th we had a BBQ at our house. We had some friends over to celebrate Independence Day and David's acceptance into PhD candidacy. We had fun spending time with everyone – sharing stories, food, and good drinks.
Since the 4th has already come and gone, we are sure the rest of the summer is going to fly by just as quickly. Enjoy the warm weather, Fall will be here before we know it.