Mussels in Brussels

When you think of Belgian food, what do you think of? Waffles? Chocolates? A chocolate waffle?

While Brussels does have these delicious treats, one dish has stood out to us as being truly Belgian: mussels.

They are on the menu at just about every place and the restaurant we went to last night had about 20 different ways they were being served (with cheese, fried, in soup, in pasta, with garlic, etc). Who knew mussels were Belgian?!

One other thing we stumbled upon that is very popular in Brussels is Lambic beer. We did a brewery tour at Cantillion Brewery where we learned about the process and tasted these unusual beers.

In conventional beers, yeast is added which allows the wort to ferment and create sugar. Lambic beer is created by spontaneous and natural fermentation from the wild yeasts and bacteria in the air (no yeast is manually added). It is rare to brew beer this way because it takes a lot longer to make. The beer is actually pumped into old wine barrels where it is left to ferment for 1-3 years and then is sometimes aged in the bottle after that. 

The taste of Lambic beer was just as interesting as the process to make it is! I would describe it as dry and cidery with a strong sour aftertaste. Often times, fruits are also added to the beer (like cherry and raspberry). While it wasn't our favorite, we can appreciate Lambic beer and it was a very Belgian experience!

And of course, we visited the chocolate museum to learn about the history and process of producing chocolate. We also watched a chocolatier make truffles filled with caramel and cream, and got a taste. Now that's one sweet trip! : )

Amsterwham Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in an unusual way: Aaron's parent came to London on Sunday and then we met Jake and Katie in Amsterdam on Christmas Eve. We've always been home for Christmas but after only being in Europe for 2 months we felt it was too soon to make a trip back for the holidays.

We rented a flat here so it feels a bit more like home : ) and it is nice to be with some of our family.

On Christmas Day we visited the Anne Frank museum, the Van Gogh museum and then went out to dinner. The Anne Frank museum is by far one of my favorite things that I've ever done in Europe. It was really touching and eye opening, and I would highly recommend it. I also have more of an appreciation for Van Gogh having seen the museum's collection. 

We ended our Christmas with dinner at a nice restaurant and drinks at the 3 Sisters Pub. (Chels and Lacey- it was just too perfect, we had to go in). An unusual Christmas but a really great one : )

The Newlyweds Abroad wish you all a wonderful Christmas too from Whamsterdam*!

*thanks to Aaron's cousin, Erin**, for the clever name!

**no thanks to John for the confusion of two Aaron/Erin's in the family : )

Don We Now Our Christmas Sweater

Everybody in London wears Christmas sweaters and I love it! It's festive and cozy : )

I finally decided to jump on the sweater bandwagon, so I bought Aaron and I these beauties the other day. Only one problem- despite the fact that they said one size fits all, Aaron's does not fit at all...

So I guess that means Merry Christmas to me!

Mind the Language Gap

I had a pretty funny encounter with our dry cleaner the other day.

Me: Hi there, I have five shirts and two pants to drop off
Him: Hahahaha!
(I am looking very confused)
Him: You mean five shirts and two trousers...

Trousers are pants here and pants are underwear. Whoops! Now I know why the guy thought it was so funny....

There are a few other word swaps we've had to get used to:

British English = What it means in American English
Biscuit = Cookie
Crisps = Potato Chips
Chips = French Fries
Fancy Dress = Costume (like Halloween)
Fly Tipping = Littering
Holiday = Vacation
Lift = Elevator
Lorry = Truck
Rubbish = Garbage

And I'm sure there's many more that we will discover along the way : )

A Tourist's Eye

I spy the London Eye and the London Eye spies all of London. Say that 10 times fast.

Christmas Market from the London Eye

Someone who has lived in London before made an interesting recommendation to us the other week: don't forget to be tourists in the city.

It was an unusual recommendation. We've heard other advice like "find the spots that locals go to", "Ashley should get a job to make the transition easier","make sure you take advantage of how easy it is to travel in Europe", but this advice was different. It's very easy to skip the touristy things and adapt to life in London by fitting in, beginning a normal routine and exploring only Europe. You forget all there is to see in the city where you are living.

We went to a Christmas market on Monday night in the Southbank area of London. The market stretches along the Thames river from bridge to bridge and ends at the London Eye. Going on the London Eye is a huge tourist attraction, but we thought it was the perfect time to take advantage of the advice we received.

Left photo with flash; Right photo without flash

It really was an incredible view and I think that going on it at night was a great choice. It was slightly raining which looked pretty cool in some pictures and made me think of Seattle : )

Sometimes it's fun to stand out as tourists and other times it's good to fit in and get into a routine... which I will be doing on January 6 when I start my new job : ) It's back to the real world for me!

Panorama view from the London Eye

The Two Person Pub Crawl

This weekend we had one friend who was sick and our other friends took a trip to Ireland, so we had a lot of free time on our social calendar : ) We decided to explore the Fulham restaurants and bars, and thus, the two person pub crawl began.

Friday Night

We went to the Northeast area of Fulham and had dinner at a pub we've both wanted to check out, The Fulham Mitre. This pub is awesome; it has a beer garden out back and a nice cozy interior. There was also an extremely drunk gentleman who came and laid on the couches behind us while we were having dinner and had a hilarious conversation of gibberish with himself - it was 8pm.

Afterwards we headed to a locals pub. You can tell that it's a locals place when there's only 7 people in the bar and they all turn to look at you when you walk in (who are those newbies?) We watched a professional darts competition on the TV which was actually pretty entertaining

Finally, we ended the night at a pub that had housed two Christmas parties earlier... needless to say we made friends pretty quickly there because they were all quite a few drinks in! One guy was also  convinced we were Canadian... no, Seattle is near Canada but not IN Canada.

Saturday Night

This time we went South and had dinner at another restaurant we've been wanting to check out - Brown Chicken Brown Cow (It's actually called Brown Cow but if you say the name really fast like this it's way more fun!) This restaurant was amazing; we loved the atmosphere and both our dinners were delicious. So far the food in London has been mediocre - we've had a few pretty good meals but usually the food doesn't stand out. We were both very impressed with this place.

Next we headed to an Oktoberfest pub which was really fun. The place was pretty packed, there was a full band dressed in lederhosens and dirndls, and they invited people up on stage for beer challenges. We watched the girls beat the guys at the drinking competitions... I'll prost to that!

We ended the night at another pub, The Durell Arms. Similar to the pub the night before, there were also a few Christmas parties finishing up. People were decked out in Christmas clothes - one girl had even wrapped Christmas lights around her dress. Santa was at the bar and the whole pub played limbo with a guy's neck tie. The British sure know how to have a good jolly old time!

So our two person pub crawl ended up being a really fun weekend with my favorite date! And now that you've had a look at a few Fulham bars, where do you want to go when you come visit? : )

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Christmas in London is spectacular. I don't know why I didn't expect it but there's so much to see and do: lights strung up on every street, shopping everywhere, Christmas Markets... and Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.

The best way to describe Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park is a Christmas-themed, adult version of the Puyallup Fair x 10,000.

Let me walk you through a Winter Wonderland:

• Stands with mulled wine, beer, tea and hot chocolate everywhere you look.
• Two huge stretches of Christmas markets filled with crafts and gifts
• Rides, rides and more rides! They look larger and faster than the fair ones, and there are some that would not pass American safety inspections (or so we think)
• A magical ice kingdom which houses ice sculptures and an ice castle. It's 5 degrees Fahrenheit inside and they don't give you anything to bundle up with like fur jackets, mittens or hats. Inside you walk up the ice castle and slide down an ICE SLIDE... yes, we totally did this. Did I mention there's also an ice bar inside?
• Carnival games galore! We were shocked to see a few games that included air soft rifles and bow and arrows which seems a little dangerous.... Our favorite was a reindeer racing game: you were competing against 15 other people and had to play skeeball to earn points to get your reindeer closer to the finish line (similar to the water pistol horse racing carnival game).
• Tons of themed bars. To name a few:
• Mirror Bar - an outdoor area surrounded by disco balls and mirrors
• Nordic Bar - a bar made to look like a traditional Swedish house
• Bavarian Village - bratwurst, German beer, dancing and live bands inside a huge tent
• Après Bar - modeled after a ski lodge look and feel
• Carousel Bar - they basically removed the plastic horses from a carousel and put a bar in the center of it. And no, that's not the alcohol giving you the spins... the bar actually does slowly spin like a carousel!
• Santa's Village where you can get a picture taken with old St. Nick
• And of course the classic ice skating rink in the center of it all

And amazingly entrance into Winter Wonderland is free! The only thing that could've made it better was snow. I am still hoping to see a little snow this Christmas.

And the answer to your other question is yes. Aaron and I will be going back there this weekend : )

The Universal Language

I'm not talking about English. I'm referring to the sport that is played just about everywhere and provides a common interest between countries, fans and rivals: soccer

Aaron and I love going to Seattle sports games so when our friend approached us before we moved over to London and asked if we wanted to be season ticket holders for Fulham football with him we said, sure, why not!?

We've now been to four or five games and I've noticed a few differences between our American sporting game experiences and the Fulham ones:

1) Ads - In the states you are constantly bombarded with advertisements at games. From the multiple screens that flash them to the swag sponsored by a company, brands and logos are everywhere. At Fulham games there is a very small banner that runs along the outline of the field that changes between logos every so often - a little bit different experience!

2) Beer Drinking - Good old 'Merica, where you can enjoy your Bud in your seat because it's a free country! At Fulham games you can buy pints but you can't bring them back to your seat with you. This means you either have to watch the game from the concourse TVs or wait until half time to enjoy a luke warm one.

3) Obscenities - I'm sure Qwest Field has it's fair share of obscenities screamed but it's not every fan or every other word. Here it is expected and constant. If you bleeped out what someone was saying at a UK football match, it would sound like Morse code.

4) Noise - Both experiences have noise, just in different ways. In the US noise goes like this: fans cheer, loud speaker announcement, Rhianna music, more fans cheer, more loud speaker announcements, Keisha music, more fans cheer, another loud speaker announcement, Macklemore music... you get the idea. In the UK noise is made up of chants - just one chant to the next. There is no music and are rarely announcements. I took a video of perhaps the funniest Fulham chant. It happens every time the other team has a goal kick: 

"Woahhhhhhhhh....... You're sh*t, Aaaarrrgggghhh"

And here are a few of our other favorite chants:

• "Come on Fulham, come on Fulham..." 
• "Oh when the whites (oh when the whites), go marching in (go marching in), oh when the whites go marching in... I want to be in that number oh when the whites go marching in" 
• "Stand up if you love Fulham, stand up if you love Fulham" AND "Stand up if you hate Chelsea, stand up if you hate Chelsea" 
• "Take me home, Al Fayed, to the place I belong, Craven Cottage, by the river, Al Fayed, take me home" (Craven Cottage is the Fulham stadium name and Al Fayed was Fulham's long-time owner) 
• "You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you, you'd be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much, at long last love has arrived, and I thank God I'm alive, you're just to good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you.... I love you Fulham!"

If you're curious, you can listen to these and even more of them here : )

Finally, I want to get this in writing for Aaron's sake- The current owner of Fulham also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. When we first arrived here, they were playing the London NFL game. Aaron said, "I bet that the Jacksonville Jaguars move to London within the next couple of years." Let's see if he is right!!

The Scariest Way to Travel in London

is by pedicab.

My mom and I decided to take a quick trip in one on our way to meet Aaron for dinner, and we almost died about five times. Insane traffic, tons of pedestrians and large buses do not make for a very smooth ride. Check out the short videos of our nail-biting experience below.

Yes, we just cut in front of that huge bus. It's not way bigger than us or anything... At least we only had obscenities yelled at us once during our ride.

I think from now on we'll just "mind the gap" and stick to the tube! : )

The Art of Afternoon Tea

My mom and I decided to try out an English pastime: afternoon tea. And while there is an art to it, we haven't mastered it yet!

Step 1: Choosing the Place
It's like trying to decide which restaurant you want to go to: are you in the mood for fancy, creative, Christmas-themed? We decided to go with a recommendation from Ted and Julie and went to the Landmark hotel.

Step 2: The Tea Selection
There are more items on the tea menu than the actual menu which can make selecting just one difficult. I have not mastered the flavors either, so I'm really picking blind: a housemade blend, black tea, flavored black tea, black tea blend, herbal infusion... too many to choose from! This is where you just close your eyes and point at one.

Step 3: A Selection of Sandwiches
There is no choosing what you get on this round - out comes a few different small finger sandwiches. But still more questions arise - can you eat these with your hands (knife and fork would be awkward, right)? What are the different kinds? Do we have to finish all of them in order to move on to the next course? And the question we ran into most often, am I allowed to fill up my own teacup if the teapot was set on a tray across the table and I physically have to stand up to get it?

Step 4: Warm Scones
This step does not need any explanation. In my opinion, this is why you go to tea - freshly baked scones with homemade strawberry preserve and lemon curd, just like in lemon meringue pie. Yes, this is by far my favorite : )

Step 5: Traditional Delights and Desserts
Dessert after dessert after dessert... okay, this is where we start to feel sick. This is my thought process during this stage: "Ughh, I'm so full and feel sick. But I should try everything: they all just look so good and they're small bites, right? Yum. This chocolate peanut butter bite is sticking to my mouth and I'm really thirsty for more tea. But it's across the table and I have to stand up to pour it. Will other tea-goers think I'm rude? Will I draw attention to the fact that we are new to afternoon tea? Ah, screw it, here goes nothing. Oh, nobody cares? Okay."

Step 6: The Bill
Afternoon tea is not cheap, but it's a tradition. Many of the Brits on our Turkey trip said they actually have afternoon tea in place of dinner. (We've also found that they have pints in place of dinner too but that's a different story). In the UK if you don't ask for a bill at the end of your meal, you will be waiting all day. They think it's rude to bring a check as you are finishing up- it's like saying, "please leave my restaurant now." So if you don't ask for the bill, you will be asked to leave when they are closing : )

One down, many more to go! We still have a lot to learn about the art of the afternoon tea... anyone want to "tea"ch me?

Fit for a Queen

Taken from inside the Castle courtyard

This weekend we took our first getaway in the English countryside! We left by bus Saturday and headed to Windsor. Located about an hour from central London, the town is home to Windsor Castle, Eton College, Legoland and the Royal Theater. We'd booked two rooms at a local bed and breakfast that was recommended by my UK guide book which turned out to be wonderful! It is run by a woman whose son lives in San Francisco and daughter lives in New Zealand: I think my mom and her bonded from both having children living so far away from home : )

The castle is located in the heart of town

Our first stop was Windsor Castle which is the Queen's official residence and the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. It is almost 1000 years old and covers 13 acres. We were able to tour most of the castle besides the Queen's area of residence including:

• The staterooms - these were gorgeous; gold, silver and marble adorned rooms with tons of history
• Queen Mary's dolls house - it has working plumbing and electricity... Really Mary?!?
• The Drawings Gallery - who knew Prince Charles painted with water colors
• St. George's castle which has the tomb of Queen Elizabeth's parents - movie buffs, think the King's speech

Afterwards, we shopped and ate dinner at an amazing restaurant called Bel and the Dragon. Aaron's coworkers had recommended it and we are glad they did!

The Long Walk... looks long indeed!

Finally we headed to the Royal Windsor Theater to see Miracle on 34th Street, the musical. Yes, I said musical. This amazing, holiday classic should not have been turned into song: the musical breakouts were awkward and the plot felt rushed. To give you an idea of how it was, my mom nodded off for a minute in the first half and Aaron asked if we could leave during intermission - okay, so maybe it wasn't my best idea. But the highlight was during intermission when, I'm not kidding you, I counted 21 people eating small tubs of ice cream. Everyone from children to adults to grandparents were digging into these little tubs. Apparently ice cream at plays in the winter is huge here!! We were in shock. But obviously they knew something we didn't know and were stocking up on sugar to stay awake for the second half : )

The next day we saw the start of the Long Walk, a 2.6 mile path that also leads to the Queen's entrance to Windsor Castle, before heading home. Although we didn't see the Queen, it was a great trip... and there's always next time! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

There have been lots of new experiences for us this year and we added one more yesterday: first time cooking a turkey! Only set off the smoke alarm once and it turned out just fine : )

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom, our only two friends in London, each other and thanks to technology, our family in the states. We are thankful for many things this year among them each other and wonderful friends and family, but also FaceTime and the internet. Even being 4,782 miles away from home we were able to experience a little bit of thanksgiving together : )

Happy Thanksgiving from our newlyweds-abroad home to yours!

Wild Turkey Chase

Ordering groceries is very common in London. If you think about it, it makes sense. Your nearest store is likely a small corner one and you have to walk everywhere so you can never buy more than you can carry.

We had the brilliant idea to order our Thanksgiving meal ingredients last week to be delivered this morning so that everything would be worry free! Plus we were having a hard time finding a turkey so this solved that problem (turkey meat is a lot less common than in the states - there are hardly any turkey sandwiches here! Only chicken or ham... I guess chicken for me!). 

This morning, the delivery man showed up right on time... but he was turkey less. Ummm come again? He was really sorry and very nice about it; they just didn't have any turkeys or cranberries in stock! He brought raspberries to replace the cranberries and then realized I was probably trying to make cranberry sauce to go with the bird. I hear that chicken and raspberry sauce go quite well together ; )

This sent my mom and I on a wild turkey chase to the nearest large supermarket and then the bird rode the bus with us home. Quite an experience but we found one, and it's now taking up our entire fridge space- lucky bird!

Boxed In

What a day it has been. I don't even know where to begin.

My mom arrived in London yesterday and I am so thankful that she did. Our shipment was supposed to come at 8:30am, but at 8:30 the unloading crew arrived and our truckload of stuff did not. The driver was stuck in traffic and would be at our flat at 10:00am. That time mark came and went; the driver would now be here at noon but in the meantime the unloading crew had to leave to attend to another shipment. At 11:45am the truck arrived, but our unloading crew was nowhere to be found. Finally at 12:15pm, the circus was accounted for and ready to begin unloading.

Boxes upon boxes came into our flat. They were piled high like a kid's fort. I thought we'd gotten a pretty large place with lots of storage, but when we began putting our stuff in it, it suddenly didn't seem that roomy anymore. They began unpacking things and putting them on every flat surface they could find. This moving is different than any other I've ever experienced because instead of slowly being able to unpack while you move, it felt as though all of our stuff was just dumped out at once. Everything was in disarray, and clutter in my living spaces seriously bothers me. And then they unpacked one of the boxes with a damaged, caved in corner. Out came our Wedding Guest Book, the cover bent and ruined beyond repair.

A few other things were damaged in the move, but they can all be replaced. Our guests' signatures and well wishes cannot. I was defeated and exhausted... but I cannot tell you how nice it was to have my mom there with me. I don't know how I would've handled it had she not been. Aaron thinks we can possibly save the pages of the book and just replace the cover; he's also my level head when I get emotional... which I never do, right? ; )

At least we now finally have our shipment though. The only other silver lining is that the moving company was delivering one more shipment after ours: Anthony Hopkin's furniture. Pretty cool that our boxes shared a truck with his items. Ummm, I think they may have forgotten to unload something else? : )

Tonight I poured myself a large glass of Barons wine from our home shipment and it is delicious: another little piece of Seattle that I'm grateful for. Our flat is nowhere near put together - but it's getting there, and I'll take that.

Moving Problems

Our US shipment arrives in 21 hours... the countdown is on! We shipped everything at the end of September and yes, it is just now being delivered.

That's a long time to be without all of your kitchen supplies and half of your shoes and clothes. Since then, we've had to find ways to be creative and make do with what we've had. Think back to my previous wine bottle post. Below are a few problems we've experienced because we don't have our shipment, and since we live in a hashtag world, feel free to follow each one with #movingproblems

• After spending 30 minutes trying to cut a whole onion with a small plastic knife, I am finally finished!
• Aaron, can you finish your coffee so I can use our only mug?
• No, these black and white pictures hanging on our wall aren't of our friends; they're just our landlord's creepy artwork...
• Just strained some ground beef with a plastic knife, paper plate and lots of paper towels, no big deal
• Plastic bowls melt in the microwave? Who knew!
• We only have to freeze for five more days until our winter coats arrive
• Can you go grab the bathroom towel so we can get this out of the oven?

Here's to hoping our shipment actually does get delivered tomorrow because cooking a Thanksgiving meal will definitely be a lot easier if we actually have cookware : )

What's on the Telly?

Great question. Now that we have internet and cable (hooray!), I've been learning what to expect from British TV.

American shows that are almost always on:

• New Girl - Yes! We can continue to watch the hilarious dilemmas of Jess, Nick, Winston and Schmidt. They are only re-run episodes thus far, but I'll take it!
• The Big Bang Theory - Unfortunately, Aaron and I despise this show. I do like Jim Parsons but only because he went to USD and was my graduation speaker. If we loved it, we would be in Telly heaven because it is LITERALLY ALWAYS ON
• The Real Housewives of... something - New Jersey, Atlanta, [insert US city here]
• How I Met Your Mother - I've seen every episode but I still love this show : )
• Food Network - yes, the same shows as the US channel. They show it just to torture us with how amazing food can be...
• Hallmark Christmas Movies - these will be playing on our TV until New Years. Sorry Aaron!

A guide to British shows:

• The Only Way is Essex / Made in Chelsea - think Laguna Beach or The Hills. This follows the lives of wealthy London teenagers and their "real" drama
• Embarrassing Bodies - it's like a car accident: so bad you can't look away. This medical show takes a look at patients who have... ummm... something embarrassing that they are visiting a doctor for and broadcasts it to the world! Sounds logical to me. Let's just say British TV pushes a lot more nudity boundaries...
• You've Been Framed - UK's funniest home videos. And just like America's, they are mostly from the 80s
• Come Dine with Me - 5 people compete against each other to win 1,000 pounds. They all host and cook dinner for each other, and then vote on best food/entertainment. It's awkward and hilarious

I'm sure there are quite a few other shows left to be discovered but for now

That's all folks!

Our Social Network

People always ask if we are homesick. I don't know if homesick is the right word. 

Do we miss Seattle? Yes. Do we miss our friends and family? Yes. Do we miss things about our life in Washington? Yes.

But home is now here for 3 years, and truth be told, home is wherever you say it is.

Before we moved over, one of the most daunting things about coming to London was making new friends. During high school, you've known the people for what feels like forever. In college, everyone is making friends so you're on the same playing field. With work, you're constantly around the people so you naturally find some with the same interests as you. But making friends without these things is pretty tough.

One of the best things we've gotten to experience out of the move about our friends and family is their willingness and eagerness to "set us up" with their friends and people they know who live here. People I don't know that well have offered their contacts in London, and we have a started a small network from friends of friends. It's like an awkward dating game but that's essentially what we have to do here.

We've also met people through Aaron's work and one person in particular... It really makes a huge difference having a good friend here who can introduce you to their network of people : )

So maybe when you don't have high school, college or work, you make new friends through your old ones? And if this is the case, I'd say we have some pretty good chances!

Now who's in for a friend date? : )

Turkey Travels

We are back to the cold weather and busy London life! Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Myra - One of our first excursions was to Myra where we saw an ancient Greek theater and cliff graves believed to date back to 4th century B.C. Like most of the sites we saw, the theater had been destroyed by an earthquake and then rebuilt. The detailing on some of the marble was remarkable; there were many faces and designs carved in. The weather wasn't too bad either : ) sunny and blue skies!

Lycia - The following day we took a boat ride to Iztuzu beach where we saw a Loggerhead Sea Turtle and blue crab. The Loggerhead Sea Turtle is an endangered species, and our guides had to throw in blue crab as bait in order to get it to surface. We saw one a few times but very briefly; not enough time to snap a picture!

Iztuzu is a narrow spit of land that has the Mediterranean on one side and the Dalyan river on the other. Some people in our group were brave enough to swim in the chilly water but we just dipped our toes in... we certainly got a taste of what European swimsuits are like!

Ephesus - Next we visited Ephesus which was an ancient Greek city and then later a major Roman city. It too was destroyed by an earthquake in 614AD and is now being restored. It was incredible. There was so much history in the rubble and it was hard to imagine that it was once a huge, flourishing city.

Below are a few of the many snapshots we took while we were there:

• Top Right Photo - These are actually toilets from the communal men's restroom. Because the toilets were made of marble, the masters used to make their slaves sit on it to warm them up before they were used... yikes! Woman were also in the restroom to sing to the men so there would be entertainment. Sounds like two terrible jobs to me!
• Middle Photo - This is the entrance to the Library of Celsus. It was once the third largest library and held 12,000 scrolls but they were all destroyed by fire when the earthquake struck. There's a few sculptures and Greek writings on the outside that of course Aaron could read (Fraternity life taught him well!)
• Bottom Left Photo - Ephesus used to be a city next to the sea. It had a huge port which led to many sailors coming into the city to drink and have fun. This carving which was on a walkway leading into the city shows a foot, woman's head and a heart; it was a sign that showed the direction to one of the cities brothels!
• Bottom Right Photo - This was the theater seating 25,000. In it there were performances and during the Roman period, Gladiator fights. There's actually a huge Gladiator graveyard in Ephesus too which is how they know there were fights here.

Right as we were finishing our tour at Ephesus a thunder storm suddenly hit. Dark clouds and huge drops of rain rolled in quickly. Aaron and I had no jackets or umbrellas, so we ran for cover under one of the archways along with another crowd of people. We all packed in like sardines under the small arch. Once we had squished in, we realized that we were with an entirely different tour group speaking a foreign language; talk about the odd people out! We were awkwardly right in the middle of the group, but couldn't move. We stood laughing and asking "is this really happening?" for about 10 minutes while the clouds passed watching people walk by drenched from head to toe. When we were ready to leave, it was nearly impossible to squeeze out. It is one of my favorite memories from our trip : )

Pamukkale and Hierapolis - These cotton castles are natural hot springs made from terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. Pamukkale means "cotton castles" and Hierapolis is the ancient city that was built just above it. We waded around in the water for a while and traveled down the different pools. In order to preserve the minerals, you can't wear your shoes in! I kept thinking that it was snow and I expected the water to be cold, but it was actually pretty warm.

We also walked to the Hierapolis theater which overlooked the Pamukkale and went inside a museum with ancient artifacts, sculptures and tombs. The museum was built inside an old Turkish bath. I love Greek mythology so I really enjoyed seeing the sculptures and marble carving depicting the Greek Gods, Goddesses and myths.

Turkish Carpet-Making, Jewelry and Leather Shop - On the last few days of our trip, we visited a few factories and shops along the way to Antalya.

The Turkish Carpet-Making factory was really cool. We watched Turkish women make the carpets (top left photo); it can sometimes take up to a year to finish a carpet depending on the size! And we unexpectedly came home with a Turkish carpet of our own : ) We haggled until we got half price and it was our one souvenir from the trip which we love. But when we were buying it, the woman charged us euros instead of pounds and then wanted to charge us the remaining amount in pounds. She did not realize who she was talking to! Aaron jumped in about the rate that HSBC would give us to convert our pounds to euro and that we would ultimately be paying more for her mistake... basically only things that someone working in foreign currency would know. In the end we got a little more knocked off the price and I was pretty glad to have him with me because I would've just said, "yeah, sure. That's fine!"

The Leather Shop was a different story. Who knew leather was so expensive? We saw a fashion show and then they called two people up from our group to model some of the jackets... I'll give you one guess as to who was called up?!?! Yes, Aaron and I were Turkish models. I swear that they picked the most hideous leather jackets to put us in though! There is photographic proof but I will not be putting any up here : )

Antalya - This was the city we flew into and left out of. In the collage above, the top right photo is a picture of the city and the bottom left photo is a picture of Hadrian's Gate built in 130 AD. We walked around and also visited a waterfall which was gorgeous. The coast was amazing - blueish/turquoise, clear water.

All in all, a great trip to celebrate 6 months of marriage. But it is good to be home : )

The Wheels on the Bus

Go round and round and round and round... Well, you get the idea : )

We have covered a lot of distance in Turkey. We've seen a ton, but have also spent a lot of time driving. Here are three hilarious things about the companions on our vacation or holiday as they say in Britain : )

1) We are with all Brits - You'd have thought we brought London to Turkey if you saw us here! We left to go experience Turkish culture and instead we got more British. But in a way it's been really good. It's nice to hear about all their stories, gather advice and find out why they love the UK.

2) They are all from the country-side - Central London?!? With the traffic, noise, people, chaos... that's where you live?? There is a clear divide between those who live in central London and the Britain country-folk. We are hearing so many different British dialects... But also nodding and saying "uh huh" and then asking each other, "what did they say?"

3) They are all a little bit older than us... Okay, a lot a bit - We stick out like a sore thumb: Americans living in central London in their 20s. Apparently it's uncommon for young working professionals to take a one week trip in November to Turkey, who knew! Did we miss something when we booked this trip?

All joking aside, they are incredibly friendly, hilarious and we've actually had a lot of fun with our pleasantly unexpected companions : )

Now for a few photos:

To prove that there are cats everywhere in Turkey, here are two stray ones out of the 50 we saw sitting on the marble carvings at Ephesus. Ephesus was amazing but I will blog about it when I get back. Believe me when I say on my actual camera I do have better photos than just ones of cats : )

And this is Pamukkale, it's name means "Cotton Castles". These unbelievable white limestone terraces with turquoise water look like snow, but are actually pretty hot! Aaron and I got to wade around in them for a while which was quite an adventure : )

More to come!

Turkish Delights

Three things there are plenty of in Turkey:

1) Pomegranate - whether it's juice form, powder, actual fruit, tea or syrup, there is plenty of pomegranate. Locals love it and tourists "eat" it up

2) Rummy Cube - Aaron and I have played this at every hotel we've been in and we've seen locals play it on the side of the street... Good thing we love games : )

3) Cats - wow. I've never seen so many stray cats in my life. We counted 8 in one patio area of a restaurant. And yes, they all remind me of Olive (my sister's cat). Cat got Turkish tongue?

Now for a few photos:

An old amphitheater where they used to have plays, townhalls and even gladiator fights.

And our boat ride today to the Aegean Sea... We saw 4th century BC tombs (background... really eerie!) and turtles but of course I couldn't get a very good picture on my phone. I was too slow as a turtle : )

More from our trip to come!

And Our First Trip is To...

Start the drumroll please, or should I say drumstick...

TURKEY!

Looks like we are still going to have Turkey for Thanksgiving this year! Gobble gobble! Yes, I've been making really bad jokes like these all week : )

We didn't imagine this would be our first trip but Aaron is taking next week off and we found an amazing travel package to Turkey, so we thought, why not? We leave tomorrow morning and head to Antalya which is on the southwest coast. From there we travel up along the Lycian Coast making stops along the way finally returning back next Monday for our flight home. The weather in London has been rainy and cold (similar to Seattle) so we are excited to get away in the sun. It sounds like a perfect time for a vacation!

Denied!

No cell phone for you. Yep, that's a thing that happened.

Aaron and I were denied for cell phones because we have no credit in the UK. "But sir, I promise we aren't criminals!" Yeah right, we totally look the type: Aaron in his nice work suit, me in my Burberry scarf and our freckles. The freckles are what did us in.

We were denied for contracts by three phone companies, but we passed the credit check for one phone company that doesn't get service in our flat. So then the choice became do we get phones that don't work or do we wait it out a few more months to get phones that do? We chose to wait.

This is one thing we are finding: the UK has extremely tight security for everything. Whether it's opening up a bank account, trying to get a cell phone, renting a flat or setting up internet, everything takes a long time, has triple checks and nothing is easy. The really nice guy who was helping us at the phone store told us the reason they have such a strict check is because the UK has a lot of debt, particularly with cell phone companies.

There was a work around though. I walked out of the store with a month-to-month SIM card plan that will allow me to build up credit with that network, and hopefully in three months we will pass when we are able to apply again. The only thing is that my phone is.... an Android (and not a new one).

The first phone I owned was a chunky black and white Nokia that had snake. Next I upgraded to a sleek flip phone Motorola razr. Then I settled, where I've comfortably been for the last 6 years, on an iPhone.

But at least I have a phone and a little change is good! It's not like we just experienced a lot of change by moving to London too or anything : ) And it's only for 3 months, maybe more; I will be fine. But the little miss Mac computer, iPad, iPhone user in me is saying, "come again?"

The Battle With The Washing Machine

Have you ever had a "thank goodness for modern day technology" moment? I've had about a thousand of those here. Last night is probably in my top three.

We finally got the washing machine fixed yesterday. It was not user error the water source just needed to be connected. It's always a win when it's not you that was the problem : )

Last night we decided to do a load of wash. We've had to do a few loads since we've been living out of our suitcases and it was starting to be about that time again. It started fine, but then after about 30 minutes of running, it stopped, everything was still soapy and all of the lights were flashing. At the Airbnb flat we stayed in, I had to empty a water container from the dryer, so I looked around for a similar feature but couldn't find one. We turned it to the spin out and dry only cycle, and discovered that this is what seemed to be the problem. The water was not draining in order to move it to this cycle.

We took matters into our own hands. Grabbing a bucket and towels draining the water out so that we could retrieve our clothes. We weren't getting this fixed tonight and I didn't want our clothes to be ruined. As we pulled them out, they all seemed to be tinted blue. Yes, the detergent tinted our light colored clothes blue.

We moved them to the bath tub and began trying to rinse the soap from them. As I was ringing the wet clothes out and handing them to Aaron so he could hang them, I had one of those "thank goodness for modern day technology" moments because I could not do this every time we needed to do laundry. And yes, I was also a little angry.

Looking back it's kind of funny. Still just kind of: this image of sopping wet blue clothes decorating our bathroom while I curse and Aaron tries to calm me down. But one day it will be really funny, and we'll say, "Remember that time we battled it out with our washer?" It definitely won.

Walk Til You Drop

is London's motto. Or at least, it should be.

We have been doing so much walking since we've been here. It is a way of life. Everyone walks. It's how you get places - to the grocery store, a pub, a restaurant, work, a bus/tube stop, everywhere.

It took a few days for my body to adjust. You don't think that walking can make you sore but it depends how much walking you do! I've already ruined a pair of shoes and my feet are constantly tired. And this is coming from someone who was onsite at an event for ten days where all I was doing was walking up and down and around the huge convention center. 

I miss not being able to drive, but walking places is oddly refreshing. It's nice to be outside in the crisp autumn air with everyone else. You can actually take time to see different shops on the streets or like I said in my previous post, discover something you didn't know was there. When you are driving, everything happens so fast and half the time you are on auto-pilot.

But I do have a few lessons learned with all this walking:

• You need really comfortable shoes. They have to fit your foot perfectly, otherwise you are going to be hobbling home. I don't know if I'll ever get to wear high heels again!
• You need a lot of pairs of really comfortable shoes. Even my most comfortable shoes hurt my feet after I've been wearing them for a day. Guess that just means I need to do some "walk and shop til you drop" for more shoes : )
• You need to dress for the elements. In Seattle people rarely bring umbrellas with them. But when you are caught in a downpour while walking somewhere kind of far away an umbrella comes in really handy. Aaron and I learned this the hard way as we ran from awning to awning trying to make it back to our hotel without being drenched!

I really don't mind all the walking... for now. But talk to me in a year and then I'll tell you what I really think : )

Nobody Said Moving Would Be Easy

...and it hasn't been. It has been very tough, but it's been an adventure.

We finally have a home, but it's still very much in the works. After moving in on Saturday, we discovered that we had no heat or hot water. You think all you really need is a roof over your head and food on the table, but the minute that your house is freezing or you can't take a shower, you realize there a few other things you don't want to live without : )

After sorting out both of those issues yesterday, we discovered a few more. Last night, we tried to cook dinner in our oven, but it's actually a gas oven and was a little tricky to start. We got it going and let it cook for a few minutes until one of our detectors started beeping. I'm convinced that it was the carbon monoxide detector which is actually pretty scary. Thank goodness our flat has a working detector otherwise things could've ended very badly! Then today, I tried to do a load of laundry, but our washer wasn't starting. It could be user error, but I also tried a few trouble shooting suggestions from the manual and I believe it's an issue with the water connection.

And we still don't have cell phones or bank cards. We've been without phones for two weeks now which has been really frustrating at times. Cell phones make life easy and information immediate, and we've had to come up with workarounds for everything. We can't look up when buses are arriving or leaving so we have to go to the bus stop and look at the timetable. We can't look on our GPS to get directions so we have to use our paper maps or ask someone for help. We can't text each other if we are running late or have a quick question so we have had to find other ways to communicate. And I'll admit that I can't upload a photo, check social media sites or chat with friends as easily as I'd like to : )

But I've been trying to see the silver linings in all the frustration, confusion and adjustment. Silver linings like:

• There's something very satisfying about arriving at your destination by your own accord.
• We are really figuring things out for ourselves and not just relying on immediate information.
• And the most important is that there are a quite a few things we would've missed out on had everything been easy. Like an adorable little store called "Cotton and Cologne" that I stumbled upon while trying to find us bedding. Or London's equivalent of the Dollar Store called "Poundworld" which is amazing for buying cheap kitchen items while we wait for our US shipment of dishes and cookware to arrive. Or the great pub we found last night where we met other Americans and watched all the NFL games until midnight (go Hawks!) just because we don't have TV in our flat yet. 

We are disconnected from the world, we are confused by a lot of things and yes, we do get lost.

But maybe that isn't such a bad thing?

Bonfire Night

Yesterday was Bonfire Night in London. We started the day having no idea what that was, and the day ended up being one of our most memorable in London thus far.

But I'll start from the beginning: yesterday we woke up and moved out of our Airbnb flat and into the place we will now call home. It felt so good to pack up our 8 suitcases one last time, try to pile everything into a British cab one last time, and yes, drag/yank them up stairs one last time. 

Once we got a little settled, Yacine and his girlfriend, Becs, came over to see our new place and they asked if we wanted to go to Bonfire Night with them. We are still living by the motto "don't say no to any opportunity" which is something that we did before we left and are trying to continue here. So we said "Sure! We'll see what it is like."

It was our first Fulham game of the season so we headed to a pub by the river to enjoy a few pints before the game. The pub was packed with Fulham fans and the location was really cool. It was a pretty windy day and there were tons of sailboats on the river. The boardwalk that follows the river from the pub to the stadium actually reminded me of the Mission Beach boardwalk in San Diego minus the whole beach thing : )

Fulham lost 1-3 (they played Manchester United) but it was still a really fun atmosphere and we realized we need to learn the Fulham chants in order to be true fans!

Afterwards we grabbed some wine and beer at a local store and then headed to Bonfire Night which was at a park in the Chelsea area. Bonfire Night was unbelievable. 

Bonfire Night is essentially the British Fourth of July. It is a huge party with firework shows and bonfires. On November 5, 1605 a plan to blow up parliament by a man named Guy Fawkes was foiled. They discovered his plot and tortured and killed him. The British have been celebrating on the Saturday closest to November 5th ever since. 

There were about 20,000 other people in the park and tons of food trucks. We had our first fish and chips there and then watched the most amazing firework show we'd ever seen. There was music set to the show, and it lasted for about 30 minutes.

We both agreed that this was one of our most memorable nights in London so far, and it left us wanting Bonfire Night to happen every month! Now, whose ready to come visit us on November 5, 2014? : )

Cheerio!

This word might be the best word in the English language.

Why don't American's use a word like this? In Hawaiian there's "aloha", Italians have "ciao" and Brit's have "cheerio".

I never realized what an amazing word this was until we moved here. Why is it so amazing you ask? Because you can use it to mean anything! ... hello... goodbye... thank you... you're welcome... [awkward pause]... just say Cheerio! and all is fixed. The possibilities are endless.

A few other things we've had to get used to:

1) Cars have the right away - meaning pedestrians do not. If you don't stop for a car, they will run you over.

2) Going up the pub or restaurant counter to order food and drinks - there aren't really waitresses or waiters. If you walk into a pub and sit down at a table, you will be waiting there all night. You go up and place your order at all pubs and even some restaurants which leads me to my next point...

3) Not tipping - you don't tip when you go up to order. If someone does serve you, you tip only 10%. Talk about a "change"!

4) Buying rounds for everyone - you don't just order yourself a pint, you order everyone you are with one as well. Before you go get another, you ask "does anyone need a drink?" and everyone else does the same thing. The idea being that it all evens out in the end. This can get you into trouble... with both your wallet and your alcohol intake. But at least you'll never be without a pint in your hand!

Cheerio and Happy Halloween!!

First dinner at "home"

Yesterday we had our first dinner at "home". It has been fun eating out and trying new pubs and restaurants but sometimes it's also nice to stay in and relax. Since we have a flat with a fully stocked kitchen (or so we thought), I got some chicken, pasta and salad for dinner.

I soon realized we do not have a fully stocked kitchen as I baked the chicken on a muffin pan and we opened a bottle of wine... well, creatively. After using scissors, a knife, chopsticks and a straw, our end result was the below. It took us about 30 minutes to open the wine and another 30 minutes to pour. I like to think of this as our "Survivor" or "Naked and Afraid" survival skills... Cheers to being resourceful!

Lost in the City

Not having a cell phone has been a rude awakening. We use them daily to communicate with others, look random things up such as a nearby restaurant or navigate through an unfamiliar area, and we probably rely on our phones too much. But standing on a street corner during busy traffic while trying to read the street names and then find the tiny print on a huge fold out map will make you really wish you were staring at your little blue-blinking current location dot. I mean, when was the last time you used an actual paper map?

Front view of Covent Garden

"Floating on air" street performer

Yesterday, we decided to spend time wandering around and exploring the city. Up until this point we haven't done anything "touristy" or seen many London sites. We used a walking tour outline from one of our guidebooks and then made it up as we went.

We started in Covent Garden Piazza which is a covered outdoor market filled with tiny shops and patio restaurants. We grabbed a quick coffee and perused around. There is always some type of entertainment in the market from street performers to bands to comedy shows for a crowd. But my favorite thing was the Christmas decorations that were already hung up... I can tell that Christmas in London is going to be spectacular!

Christmas decorations inside the market

Aaron and Yacine in front of the Russell Office

Next we headed up to Leicester Square where the theaters and cinemas are before passing through a brief section of Chinatown. Continuing on we headed to Picadilly Circus which is where Aaron's office is.

Even though it was a Sunday, I got a quick peak inside since Yacine was working for a few hours. It's not as big as the Seattle office, but definitely a good size and a fantastic location. Aaron is actually moving desks in the next week so he can't get too settled into his current seat : )

We crossed down Picadilly street which is lined with fancy boutiques, high-end shops and the glamorous Ritz Hotel before strolling through the entrance to Green Park.

City backdrop in Green Park

Seattle has a lot of beautiful, amazing parks, but it is crazy to me that in London there are huge parks right in the heart of the city! Green Park was gorgeous - there were enormous trees everywhere and the multi-colored leaves fell as we walked the path and covered the ground around us. There were lots of people lounging on the grass and park benches enjoying the crisp fall day.

It's definitely the fall season here!

We walked through Green Park, finally exiting out at Buckingham Palace where tourists lined the gates hoping to catch a glimpse of the Royal family. The iconic palace guards marched in place before standing stoic at the entrance. These were the first guns that we've seen since arriving in the UK... we're not in America anymore!

Buckingham Palace Guard

Aaron and I have also perfected the self-pictures. Although he has to hold the camera since he has longer arms : )

In front of Buckingham Palace

We continued out towards the River Thames through Westminster where we stumbled upon a WWII memorial, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. Big Ben is really spectacular in person. We walked up right as the bell was ringing 3:00pm (or should I say 15:00?)...

Time for Big Ben!

The London eye along River Thames

 Afterwards we walked along the river edge and headed back up towards the city at Trafalgar Square which was hosting a Diwali celebration. We quickly browsed through the National Gallery Museum (which is free!) and admired a few of the paintings before heading back up Regent Street to our flat. Of course, I had to duck into an iconic British red telephone booth on the way home. Cheerio operator!

British telephone booth

Our evening ended with dinner at an Italian restaurant, Grappa and some American football : ) There was an NFL game in London so we got to watch it without having to wake up at an absurd time of the day.

I'd say it was a pretty successful walking tour of London even if we did have to navigate with a good old fashioned map!

Living in Fulham

We finally found a flat!! Cue the music, balloons and confetti!

It's a 2 bedroom, huge bathroom flat in the Fulham neighborhood just outside central London. Aaron's commute will be by bus or tube and will be about 40 minutes (we think). It's a 10 minute walk to the Fulham FC stadium where we have season tickets and the flat is in really great condition; new carpet, just painted, great furniture, as I said earlier amazing bathroom. It's the perfect amount of space for us and the neighborhood nearby is very cute. They call it Munster's Village and it has a few parks, restaurants and shops.

It's nice to finally have a flat to call home, but we can't move in until earliest next week and our hotel was sold out so yesterday we moved to an Airbnb flat (similar to vrbo). I let the flat owner know we would arrive around 2pm. So yesterday we took a cab with our 8 bags and got dropped off outside the place only to then realize the flat owner was nowhere to be found. We called and she was having an emergency but would be there soon. We looked very out of place as we sat on the stoop for a good half hour, and I swear the building we were staying in had by far the most pedestrian traffic going in and out the front door!! How awkward we must've looked : )

We also experienced riding the tube for the first time on Friday and let me tell you, now we are pros! We didn't get lost once and got off on every stop we were supposed to- a New Yorker would laugh but coming from Seattle where there's no public subway system in the city, that is something to be proud of.

Today we are doing a little less worrying about no cellphones or a bank account, and a little more exploring. We are going to wander the streets of London... but this time we won't be homeless!!

Flat Out of Luck

We did not get flat number 7 so it's back to the drawing board. We've set up appointments with two property management companies and one more half day of viewing with the company that was hired to "help us find a place" ...but by help us find a place they mean they can't show us more than 15 flats so once we hit that benchmark, we're out!

It's easy to look back and see what we would change if we could do it all over again; we would ship more so we'd have less bags to travel with, make a trip to London in September so we would have a place secured, and go into a bank and cell carrier on our trip over so that we would know all that needed to be done to set these accounts up. It would be so easy if we just did it all over again : )

Unfortunately, we had more bad news that our hotel is completely sold out on Saturday night so we will be moving places once again. Both of us are feeling unsettled and we just want to unpack already! We've been living out of suitcases for two weeks and have stayed at five different places... six if you include our change of residence this Saturday. That is a lot of moving around!

The one upside to all of our flat searching has been that we are getting a good feel for each of the neighborhoods by talking to people and hearing their thoughts. We've been able to see the outskirts of the city and learn what makes certain areas unique.

In between the stress of not having a place to live, we've also found a little time to have fun! We went to a delicious curry dinner on Tuesday night with Aaron's work friend and his girlfriend (who is British... It was so hard not to talk in an accent!). We also went to see The Book of Mormon yesterday and have started checking off places in our "Fancy a Pint?" book that is a compilation of all the best British pubs... so life isn't too bad : ) but we are hoping for more luck with a flat tomorrow and Saturday!