Our Adventure

Hello Friends/Family! 

Our little adventure takes us to a small town in the middle of nowhere called Salisbury (except it's pronounced "Salsbury"). The tallest cathedral you see in the picture down below was built in the 11th century. How crazy is that?! 

This is a much better picture that I found online.

So why did we take a 3 hour train ride from London to visit a little town in the middle of nowhere? 

To visit STONEHENGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were pretty excited...

Luckily, right as we walked outside of the train station, there was a red double decker bus waiting outside to take tourists to Stonehenge and another place called Old Sarum. Old Sarum is the oldest settlement of Salisbury and apparently humans have been living in this area since 3000 BC. It was originally a hill fort. Here is a picture of what remains today. We unfortunately didn't get out to look around - just drove by it. 

Here are some more pictures of Salisbury, a small medieval town. It is at the conjunction of 5 rivers because the original settlers needed water for survival (Sarum was abandoned because of the lack of water). 

This was our first view of Stonehenge! The hill sitting to the right of the site is actually a burial mound and there are over 300 in the area. 

Here is some information I found online:

Archaeologists believe the standing stones were erected around 2200BC, and the surrounding circular earth bank and ditch have been dated to around 3100BC. It is thought to have evolved from a simple bank and ditch in the Neolithic period and is characterised by wooden materials. The very sophisticated stone circle was built on the axis of the midsummer sunrise and rearranged several times during the Bronze Age. As with most mysterious and historic sites, Stonehenge is considered sacred.

The site is the subject of many myths and legends and no one really knows how or why it was built, though there are many theories. The engineering feat is still bewildering. It pre-dates the Egyptian, Mycenean, eastern Mediterranean and druid influences, so was probably conceived and built by Britain's own indigenous people. (http://getaway.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=602896)

Here are several more photos:

We were so fortunate to have a sunny day. It was really windy though! 

This is what Stonehenge looked like in its hey day.  The stones that are laid on top of the other stones had little pieces that were cut out in order to connect to the next stone. Very detailed and intricate. 

Oh yeah, the neighboring plains are inhabited by tons of sheep! I really wanted to pet one, but there was an electric fence. I think it was there more for the tourists than the sheep.

If you ever get an opportunity to visit, you definitely should. It is one of the 7 Greatest Wonders of the Medieval World. We only know this because Chris and I were in a debate about whether or not it was one of the 7 wonders so I Wikipedia-ed and found that there are SEVERAL lists. It is not included on the list we were thinking of (New 7 Wonders), but nevertheless, it is amazing, magical, and just plain awesome to see something so ancient up close.

Over and out - 

Nicole

Kristina's Visit

In early April, we had our first visitor! Kristina is a friend I met while working at Cutter & Buck. She (and another friend Jennie) is from Sweden and was interning in Seattle for a few months. Sadly, when they tried to come back after the holidays, they were detained and eventually deported (just like us). So, it had been a little over a year since we last saw her.

She flew in from Oslo and met us in London, and we proceeded to ride the tube all around the city.  The first day we shopped for hours on Oxford Street (Chris kept up!) and ate at a lovely French restaurant in Notting Hill.

Here are a few pictures of Notting Hill - a very expensive and artsy neighborhood of London comparable to Fremont. We spotted a few homes for sale and they were close to 500,000 pounds and up!

This was definitely my favourite store because of their unique way of grabbing attention.

One of Chris' many silly poses. 

At one point we were at Waterloo station, one of the largest train stations in London. Apparently, a scene in The Bourne Ultimatum was filmed there.

The three of us decided to go on an adventure the next day and I think it deserves it's own blog entry. More on that shortly!

-Nicole

Our new bed

A new bed was recently delivered to us. For your enjoyment, we made a couple of videos while putting it together. 

-Nic

KINDER!!

Shut up, you're just not Euro enough. These are hip, man!

- Chris

The Dog's Bollocks

So, back story, I'm on the phone today for work with a UK client and we're discussing an advert that ScreenPlay's going to run as part of the British Video Association Awards. It's a joint ad highlighting both companies.

Anyways, I ask him his thoughts, and he says it's "the dog's bollocks". I pause... thinking to myself, um, is that good or bad? what the hell does that mean? Knowing I'm a Yank and we're always friendly and joking, he says that when a Brit describes something as "the dog's bollocks", it's a good thing... maybe similar to the "bees knees".

Here's a little background I found from phrases.co.uk -

"Meaning:
Excellent - the absolute apex. In other contexts the word bollocks (meaning testicles) has a negative connotation. For example:

- 'that's bollocks' -> 'that's rubbish'
- 'give him a bollocking' -> 'chastise him'
- 'He dropped a bollock' -> 'he made a mistake'

The reasons why the 'dog's bollocks' are considered to be the top of the tree aren't clear. It may be linked to an associated phrase - 'stand out like a dog's balls', i.e. 'outstanding', although I can find no evidence to indicate that phrase as being earlier than the 'dog's bollocks'. Dogs do enjoy licking their genitals of course but again, there's no evidence that links the coining of this phrase to that. It is most likely that this is just a nonsense phrase, coined because it sounds good. In that, it would join a long list of earlier nonsense phrases, e.g. 'the cat's pyjamas', 'the bees knees', etc."

There you have it... ok, maybe a little more info would be fun from Wikipedia:

"A usage with a positive (albeit still vulgar) sense is "the dog's bollocks".^[17] An example of this usage is: "Before Tony Blair's speech, a chap near me growled: ‘'E thinks 'e's the dog's bollocks’. Well, he's entitled to. It was a commanding speech: a real dog's bollocks of an oration".^[18] Sometimes the phrase is shortened to just "the dog's" or "the bollocks" (see below). There are also several broadly synonymous substitute phrases that are sometimes used for humorous effect, including "the mutt's nuts", "the dog's danglies", "the badger's nadgers" etc.

This phrase has found its way into popular culture in a number of ways. There is a beer brewed in England by the Wychwood Brewery called the "Dog's Bollocks",^[22] as well as a lager cocktail.^[23] There is an Australian political blog called The Dogs Bollocks, with the motto 'Truth is like a dog’s bollocks - pretty obvious if you care to look – but most of us prefer to avert our gaze, or have them permanently removed'. In a derivative word-play, fans of Chelsea F.C. are known to refer to players Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba as "The Drog's Ballacks"."

I laughed and told him I'd keep that one in my back pocket for the right time. I'm giddy to use it.

- Chris

Liverpool... courtesy of Google!

OK, Nic has been asking me to post a blog (sorry, I've been slacking!). Since I'm geeking out on "Google Maps/Street Views" right now, I thought I'd tie them together.

So, if you've never done this and you live in a fairly large metropolitan city, go to Google Maps, and type in your home address. If it pops up and has "Street View", you can actually select that and navigate the streets with real pictures. Now, I remember them launching a beta of this in only large cities - San Fran, NY, LA, etc and there was a huge uproar (invasion of privacy, yada yada), but now apparently it's all over the world. And, if you want my opinion, two thumbs up!

Here's a visual idea of how it works. I searched some of our "usual" streets/spots in Liverpool and took a screenshot of each -

A view from Lime St - this is one of the main streets leading into Liverpool City Centre. The building on your right is St. Georges Hall. Nic actually has a school event there on May 17th. Beautiful inside.


Our "flat" building. Unfortunately, I couldn't avoid that truck at the bottom of the shot covering our front door.


Albert Dock - easily one of the prettiest places in Liverpool. This is the entrance here with the backdrop of the famous Liver building on the right.


Bold St - we walk up and down this street often. Lots of shops, a great art-house film/cafe called FACT, a pancake breakfast spot called Qwaffs, and leads straight up to that famous Liverpool cathedral you see in the distance.


Korova - Venue/Club up on Fleet St. This is where all the Liverpool hipsters hang, it's owned by members of that group Ladytron. Think Cha Cha for Seattle folks. That said, it actually is a cool space to be in... separated by 3 different rooms, bar upstairs and the venue is downstairs in the basement, almost like being in a DIY house.


Upper Duke St - On the right, is the entrance to LIPA, Nic's school


Manchester - Just for fun, here's a shot of Oxford Road in Manchester. If you know England, Man is about 45 minutes away by train, easy to get to from Liverpool. On the right, there's an awesome cafe/bar/film house called Cornerhouse, which we frequent when in Manchester. Oxford Road train station is literally 2 min away from this shot.

Finally, here's something completely random. We were at the "cinema" and this advert came on before the movie. It's a T-Mobile commercial filmed at Liverpool Lime Street station. This is where we catch all our trains down to London, Manchester, or wherever. It's hilarious, watch this:



- Chris

AMSTERDAM!!!!

Hi Guys!

Still so much to catch up on! Before heading back home for the holidays, Chris and I flew from John Lennon Airport in Liverpool to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. OMG. One of the most beautiful cities we've ever seen! We were there on the 15th-17th of December and it was FREEZING. We managed to walk around the city and see the sights, but we had to step into random shops in order to defrost enough to move along.

We happened across a dutch doughnut shop and we picked up a few different items. Chris sure enjoyed his picks! Can you see the little bit of powdered sugar on his mouth?

Towards the end of our trek across the city. Noses red and hair blown.

I definitely want to come back here again - maybe in the summer so we can rent some bikes and go on a boat tour!

Chris warming his hands.

So, at first we thought there was only one of these clock towers so we used it as a reference point. Unfortunately, there are like 5 in the city so we got ourselves a little lost for awhile.

Another pretty canal shot.

Ah, here is the infamous Red Light District. Can you spot the girls in the window?

If not, here's a closer shot. They would tap on the windows as we walked by trying to "lure" us in. It was so surreal. I mean, you hear about this place, you know what goes on, but it doesn't completely hit you until you see it in person. Needless to say, we didn't hang around long. 

This was the first time I ever saw swans in real life. I just some some more today when we walked down by the docks. :) One of my fav birds.

The Red Light District is beautiful despite what it's known for. 

Oh yeah, we also saw pot plants in the windows, pot lollies (as the Brits call 'em), pipes, etc. We didn't sample any - swear to God! haha. Been there done that. Oh wait...I guess I should speak for myself and not Chris on that one. :)

The other lovely thing about Amsterdam is their shopping areas. There are trams that run throughout and a lot of the streets are pedestrian only. H&M, Zara, Mango, an awesome tea shop, and many other stores warmed us up along the way. Plus, we enjoyed all the Christmas decorations.

Chris is an extension of the M. How silly.

At this point, my feet were completely frozen.

IAMSTERDAM.

This is where we ate breakfast one morning. Their coffee was so delicious that we sat for another cup (no free refills in the Netherlands - or Niederland as they say).

See the boats on the left side? We could have gone on one of them for a boat tour, but it was just too damn cold!

Oh yeah, the ratio of bikes to cars is like no where else I've ever been. There were probably thousands of bikes all over the city - people riding them even though it had to have been below zero (celcius) and there was a separate bike lane (much nicer than the lanes in Seattle), a pedestrian lane, a lane for cars, and then the tram lane. Talk about having their transportation under control.

And this was a picture we took outside of John Lennon Airport of the famous Yellow Submarine! Isn't it so cute? It used to sit in a park, but they moved it when they opened the airport.

Hopefully we'll be caught up by the end of the month! Hope you've been enjoying all the pictures! Miss you and love you!

Nicole

Ps. Some other trivia for you: Did you know that the Heineken Brewery was in Amsterdam? We walked by it, but didn't go in - figured breweries are breweries right? Also, there was a Vincent Van Gogh museum, but we didn't feel like paying 12 euro each to see it. Maybe next time.