UK Road Certified

After many hours of torture, Steph and I have both successfully passed our UK driving tests. We had to go back in time to the painful age of 16, forgetting all of our bad driving habits, and take both the theory and practical road tests again. Steph passed a few weeks ago with flying colors and I followed suit this morning without any hiccups. It wasn't a fun process but it's finally over and we can drive in the UK for the next 50 years.

It will be nice to start driving to work again as my ability to drive on my US license expired in early April.

Now we can focus on more important things such as blogging about Rome on Easter, which we haven't forgotten about and last weekend's Amsterdam excursion. We have lots of pictures to go through and post including some of the first pictures with the new camera.

Remember: Mirrors – Signal – Manoeuvre. Ah, enough already....

Following the Torch Relay

Despite the cold, snowy weather we wanted to go see the torch relay through London. We decided to avoid the hot spots and just catch it at an easy to get to location. When I say hot spots I mean certain places on the torch route that were supposed to have throngs of demonstrators such as Downing Street where the Prime Minister Gordon Brown lives and is scheduled to greet the torch or during the Chinese Ambassador's leg where she would carry it near China Town.

We positioned ourselves at Piccadilly Circus mainly because it fit our time frame upon arrival into London and it was right outside the tube stop. After waiting a few minutes, what I am going to call the torch entourage rolled through. Starting with police on motorcycles, then official Olympic Torch Relay vans, then the bus with all of the next runners and officials, more police vehicles and finally a massive group of people. This group included torch bearer who was surrounded by loads of security all passing by us without incident.

Ah, the Olympic flame that so embodies what the Olympics are all about. It must be such an honor to carry. The atmosphere was amazing. Drums, cheers, a few peaceful protesters, and a few boos. With so much energy in the air we had to follow the flame.

As it passed us the crowd starting moving so we went too. We chased it to Trafalgar Square where there were even bigger celebrations and protests going on. Confetti shooting into the air, flags waving, more drums and more protesters. Luckily from what we could see the protests were still fairly peaceful although we did see one unhappy man being arrested.

At this point the torch headed away from Trafalgar in the direction of the south bank and Westminster so we decided to try and get ahead of it again at London Bridge and jumped on the tube. This also avoided some of the above mentioned hot spots.

After lunch and a bit of waiting around we watched it pass by at the Mayor of London's office between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. Then we took off for Tower Bridge along with the rest of the crowd to get ahead of it again for one more look.

This time we were on the bridge with traffic stopped as it passed by. The above picture is of Torch bearer, Paula Radcliffe as she crosses Tower Bridge. So exciting!

Regardless of your feelings on China or the situation in Tibet, the Olympic flame and spirit is something that is hard not to get excited about. The weather was a bit cold, but in those moments when a proud torch bearer passed you carrying a simple flame, you really do just kind of stand there in awe.

Torch Relay Photos

Is it really snowing in April

We woke up this morning to find it was snowing. Check out the view from our flat window this morning.

Now we are off to dodge the protesters to try and grab a glimpse of the Olympic flame as the Olympic Torch Relay passes through London today on its way back to Beijing.

NolandTravels.com

That's right, we have a new blog address.

http://www.nolandtravels.com

For those that can't be bothered to update your bookmarks the old address will still work just the same.

Keep reading, feedback is always welcome.

Travel on

What do dinosaurs and fashion have in common?

Nothing, really. Except that we had a London weekend of fashion and dinosaurs. In late February we took a Saturday morning to visit London's Fashion Weekend at the lawns of theNatural History Museum and then took in the museum exhibits later that afternoon.

The Fashion Weekend event wasn't quite what we expected. It was really just a booth-style atmosphere where designers had booths selling their clothes, shoes, jewelry and other accessories at extremely discounted prices. The catch was that we really didn't know many of the names...not sure if we just aren't "in tune" to current fashion or if this was just a weekend for lower level designers to strut their stuff (i.e. Dolce Gabanna and Versace failed to attend). Steph had good fun, though...bought a great black and white Jacob Kimmie houndstooth cape, had a manicure and had Josh by my side the whole time - a magical day!

After wondering the fashion weekend venue we thought we should take in the Natural History Museum, since it's free, like most museums in London. The main reason we wanted to go was to see the Dinosaur exhibit.

They had a few amazing exhibits...many of the bones were found in the US! And we learned that Earth is about due for an ice age but global warming may be helping putting it off. Hmm. Don't really know what to think about that - neither option sounds too good.

We followed the crowd seeing all the "lessor" dinos (lesser than T-rex, of course). Then waited in the slow line winding around a corridor to see the big t-rex exhibit. And we were greatly disappointed to come across a rather weak robotic t-rex. It wasn't even a cool set of bones - just a robotic t-rex. boo.

However, although the bones were a bit disappointing, the Waterhouse Building that is home to the museum is in is absolutely FABULOUS! It was purpose-built to be the Natural History Museum way-back-when (~1860-1880) and the amazing architecture captures you...then as you take a closer look you see that animals and plants are intricately built in to the design and decor that make the detail so fabulous. Imagine an intricately designed 30-foot arch and then noticing monkeys delicately climbing it with birds perched in the corners. Yes, the building was quite amazing.

All in all, it was a good weekend exploring two extremes - fashion and dinosaurs!

Here are a few photos that don't do the museum justice as most did not turn out.

Oxo Tower Valentine's Dinner

For Valentine's day we decided to have a weekend out in London. To start we had dinner at the Harvey Nichols Oxo Tower Brasserie on the south bank in London. The picture is taken on one of the balconies overlooking the Thames and St. Pauls Cathedral in London.

We had an early dinner so we could watch the sunset from the 8th floor where the restaurant is situated. Luckily that evening there wasn't any cloud cover so we had a spectacular view of the sunset over the capital. Dinner was great with excellent food and service but the best was the view. Having a birds eye view of all the tourist spots that make London is fantastic. The Brasserie now gets a recommendation from us.

After staying the night on high street Kensington we took the bus in to town driving past Kensington Palace, Hyde Park through Piccadilly Circus getting off in Leicester Square to hit the half price ticket booth hoping to get some theatre tickets. Unfortunately all of the shows were dark so there weren't any tickets to be had.

After touring central London a bit more we headed home. A great Valentine's Day 2008.

Di Vinci, Pancakes and Linkin Park

Its been a fairly low key month since New Years but here is what we have been up to anyway.

In January we toured Temple in London which had an open weekend as part of a year long festival to celebrate 400 years of existence. Any Di Vinici Code buffs will know that this is home to the Knights Templar and whose Temple church was featured in the Di Vinci Code film. The 12th century Temple church is the main attraction which sits in the heart of legal London and is part of a big campus of buildings surrounded by gardens and grounds all with historical significance intertwined with law societies. It gets complicated quickly so you'll have to read up on it.

Then a couple weeks ago we saw Linkin Park in concert at the O2 dome, formerly The Millennium Dome. The concert was a fun evening and it gave us a chance to see the dome which has a troubled recent history as we found out during the weeks leading up to the concert. Anytime we mentioned the O2 dome everyone would instantly start complaining about what it used to be.

To make a long story short the dome was highly touted by the government during the build up to the year 2000 to do all sorts of things such as bridge the gap to the new millennium but was seriously over budget and cost the tax payers something like 800 million pounds just to construct it. On top of that it closed down not long after it opened because it couldn't support itself financially. No wonder everybody has a bad taste for the dome.

The building itself is a tremendous site and has recently been taken over and revamped to stand on its own again. Its now sponsored by O2 a mobile phone company and is worth a visit.

Finally to round out the post, last Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday also known as pancake day. This gave us a good excuse to have pancakes for dinner. However, we didn't have the crepe style pancakes that are eaten in the UK. We broke out the Aunt Jemima and made good ol' American style pancakes. We just missed the Purnell's Old Folks sausage.

Our travels pick up soon so stay tuned.

Best of 2007 Photos Slide Show

To go along with our 2007 year in review we went through all of our photos and found 44 of our favorites for the year. Originally we hadn't planned on choosing that many for the best of collection but there were so many good photos that captured so many memorable events we didn't have a much choice.

Take a look and let us know if you have a favorite of the bunch. We commented each photo so while you watch the show click on the picture to see the description.

Full Slide Show

Photo Set

2007 What a Ride - Year in Review

It has been a whirlwind year for us that started in Kentucky, moving to England, having visited Ireland, Tanzania, France, Italy, ending with a new years bang in Scotland.

We have traveled too many miles to count and we are enjoying our time abroad. I know I know, our carbon footprint is huge. Anyway, we've had the good fortune to spend each of our birthdays on new continent and in different country. I have to say it is incredible to see the sights and sounds from all over the world! So in sum, we want to highlight a few of our most memorable moments from the year.

At the top of the list has to be the trip to Tanzania. Possibly a once-in-a-lifetime trip thanks to my good buddy Sameer, who's wedding we were honored to be a part of.

One of the first days that comes to mind was in Zanzibar at the local outdoor food market. Our tour guide took us around the cornucopia of new and exotic fruits, veg and meats which was overwhelming. Venders and buyers were everywhere selling everything you can image. It was madness and a long way from Kroger.

And how could we forget the animals of Tanzania and how spectacular they were? Watching the lions hunting with such raw power, the giraffes eating high up in the trees, the massive elephants lumbering along, hippos swimming in their own stinky water and gazelles gracefully dashing in the grasslands. It was truly the most amazing experience to date.

Moving on to Europe, we couldn't leave out our journey to Ireland, which was our first real European trip. Missing our connecting flight, having to hop on a train instead to meet up with Mary and Chris. Oh, and not to mention our train car having an electrical fire/smoke en route?! Ireland was a beautiful place to visit - breathtaking. Sheep anyone...

How about the long flight after watching our poor cats board the plane on there way to England? Then the joy of welcoming them to the flat.

Ah, Paris. There is not much to say except that it is the city you expect it to be - beautiful, romantic and alive. Next time we go, we promise to learn some French beforehand!

Another good day was when Steph found an extra ticket to an Arsenal Champions League football match that allowed me to attend. To top it off, Arsenal won 7 – 0.

Then, Thanksgiving day in London with the family, but without turkey and dressing. That family visit was capped by a fun, albeit rainy, weekend in Venice.

Honorable mention goes to riding the Zorb which was an adrenaline fun-filled 45 seconds. And let the record show that we recommended it before the Today Show!

What a ride!

Finally to look ahead to 2008. Some of the trips we are planning include visits to Switzerland, Amsterdam, Rome for Easter, an Italian cooking class and wine tours in Tuscany and then to Germany. If you can believe it that just gets us to June! Plus, we have many friends and family who are planning to visit this coming year. We can't wait to see everybody and hopefully share some of these fabulous travel experiences with them.

2008 promises to be even better so stay tuned...

Now to Celebrate Hogmanay

By the time we arrived, Edinburgh was already decked out for the Hogmanay celebration with Princes Street closed to traffic and workers everywhere finishing the last minute touches. There was a massive stage at the foot of the castle with a few other minor stages on surrounding streets. There were also a lot of carnival rides decorating the city center.

For us the festivities began on the night of the 30th. Georges Street was closed for a street party full of singing, dancing and other performing arts. One of the most amusing was a pair of non-talking, costumed hairdressers who were making creative masterpieces of peoples' hair. They would silently point to someone in the crowd to come on stage. Then they underwent a hair transformation, most resembling Dr. Seuss styled hair, complete with color spray, hair glitter, pipe cleaners and an assortment of plastic dinosaurs that were wired into the hair.

One impressive style included someones hair turning in to the red and green dinosaur that killed Seinfeld's "Newman" character (remember, when he was running away with the dino DNA, and this little dino looked innocent until he flipped up his bright red and green collar and started hissing?!) Yes, this guy's long hair was transformed into this dino! And topped with a little plastic figurine of the same dino for effect (in case you didn't recognise it!). I tried to get on stage but I am guessing my hair was too short as these styles were mile high and outrageous!

New Years Eve was no less exciting. The street was packed and as it got closer to time you were essentially a sardine on the street! Initially we planned to make our way over to the stage where the Red Hot Chili Pipers were playing. Yes, bag pipe rock! Don't believe me check out this video. Unfortunately navigating the crowd took longer than expected so we just got in to a good position to watch the fireworks.

Amazingly, there was no big announcement or countdown...we heard the crowd start a half-hearted countdown around 5 seconds before - and then the castle went up in a glitter of fireworks! The show was nice but short. And like most public celebrations, the crowd dispersed to the bars, clubs and pubs fairly quickly.

As large as the celebration seemed, we found out that about 100K people attend Hogmanay whereas about 1 million attend NYC! Regardless of the relative size of the event, we had a blast and it was a great way to welcome in the new year and celebrate being another year wiser.

Celebration In Edinburgh

After a whirlwind trip to the US for Christmas we flew back to London, lugged our suitcases full of gifts home, greeted the cats, took a much needed nap (I know it's bad for jet lag but it couldn't be helped), spent the evening unpacking and repacking and flew out the next morning at 7 am. Between the overnight flight back to the UK and the short nights sleep it was a quick few days.

The trip to Edinburgh was marked by two occasions, my birthday and New Years Eve, also known as Hogmanay in Scotland.

The first thing that strikes you about Edinburgh is the castle sitting up on the hill. A dominating presence overlooking the rather historic but modern and hip city. Standing on Princes Street all you want to do is gaze and take pictures of it. It has such old world charm and is still in impressive form. In its day you just know it was a formidable challenge for any opposition standing down below. "Go on lads, try and take that castle..."

After checking into Rick's our boutique hotel and dropping off our luggage we headed toward the castle to start sightseeing. One time saving note for future travellers, if you are in city center wanting to visit the castle just start walking up the hill. Don't try and find a bus that will take you close because they do not take you that close from there as one driver thankfully pointed out. Its only a 5 min walk albeit up the hill.

From the castle you are struck by a great view from the top. Even though parts date back to the 9th century most of its structures date from 16th century forward except for one chapel from the 12th century. Keeping with our celebration theme we watched the new years fireworks display being set up on the tour.

Check out Josh in the castle and with another huge cannon called Mons Meg.

Afterwards we started a conversation with a Scottish whiskey salesman when I was looking at a bottle of whiskey as old as we are (1980!). He pointed out the Whiskey Bible (rating book for the world's whiskeys) and he was telling us one was highly rated. Josh flipped through quickly and found that KY bourbon Woodford Reserve was the same high rating. Proud of our KY heritage, we thanked him and moved on.

Leading up to the castle is The Royal Mile lined with interesting shops and pubs (AKA - tourist traps). Anyone for a kilt?

We tried to visit The Royal Yacht Britannia. Its located on the outskirts of the city at the Ocean Terminal so after a bus ride there it had already closed due to it being new years eve. Instead we had a nice lunch for my birthday where we got the lovely picture above.

So much for sightseeing - its time for the next celebration, Hogmanay...

Happy New Year!

I know its a day late but Happy New Year everyone! We are back from Edinburgh, Scotland and had a rockin' New Years eve. The Hogmanay celebrations were worth the trip!

We celebrated Steph's birthday in style and she had a blast.

Best wishes to all in 2008. It's going to be another great year!

Timeout for Snowboarding

While I was home for the holidays and since we were in West Virgina only a few minute drive from Winterplace Ski Resort, Garland and I decided we would have a guys night out and learn to snowboard.

We had an hour and a half intro lesson that taught us the basics of stopping, using the edges of the board to control your speed while you are moving in all directions and how to get on and off the lift without making a fool of yourself.

To make a long story short snowboarding is much tougher than it looks. We spent a lot of time on the snow and our ski gear was soaked when we left. If you are new to snowboarding expect to fall a lot and to be sore the next few days.

Garland took to it like a natural. By the end of the night he was doing tricks and going down the mountain in style. Check out this video of him snowboarding. We had a great relaxing night of fun.

Here are a few photos of us on the mountain.

I know it's not quite Switzerland but that trip is right around the corner. However, it will be on skis...

There's no place like home for the holidays....!

That song had a new meaning for us this year. There really is no place like home for the holidays! We had a great time in West Virginia and Lexington seeing our friends and family. It was a whirlwind trip going from one Christmas event to the next. And every moment was great!

We are back in London safe and sound already having unpacked and repacked for Edinburgh. The cats were glad to see us but are going to be upset again tomorrow.

We want to thank all of our friends and families that helped to accommodate our crazy schedule.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Absolut Ice Bar Review

On Tuesday night Zac, Tara, Steph and I decided it would be fun to visit the Absolut London Ice Bar so here is my take on the experience.

First a little background, the temperature inside the bar is kept at a constant 5 degrees and everything is made from water (ice) frozen from the Torne River in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden.

To get into the bar you book a 40 minute time slot that costs £12 during the week and £15 on the weekends to get in. Its a bit expensive but the entry fee does include a designer thermal cape to keep you warm, an ice glass and one cocktail.

Initially we were excited to get into the cold but after getting our drink and taking a look around we realized the bar itself wasn't all that impressive. Other than some music blaring there wasn't much to enhance the experience. The bar itself was a dark modern gray that was amplified by the ice. There was just something missing.

They had some ice seats covered in fake animal skin so you could sit down without sitting straight on the ice.

One cool thing however was the ice cup you were given for your drink. It was a neat to drink out of a hollowed block of ice.

In summary it is something I'm glad I could experience but probably won't do again.

Ice Bar Photos