Ok you're waiting to see Europe pictures so here they are. I'm done rambling. :) Dan did a good job describing our Europe experience so I will just attach it to the end.
LONDON
Big Ben
St Paul's Cathedral
We got to take an after performance picture with these guys. They are the most amazing dancers I've ever known. I wish photography during the ballet was permitted so you could see them dressed up in their dance clothes. — with Sara-maria Smith and Jonathan Barton at Ballet West.
My girl friends threw me a welcome back
to the USA party with European food and high tea. It was amazing.
They all asked me about Europe and I couldn't lie anymore. The baby
news came out and soon after Brie was telling everyone that mommy has a
baby in her tummy. So our news got out earlier than we wanted, but oh
well. It is what it is and we're super excited to welcome a new baby
into our family and Brie is excited to be a big sister.
Things I've learned about Europe: 1.
People are more soft spoken than in America 2. There are a lot more fit
people in Europe 3. When in Germany and ordering water, you need to
clarify gas or no gas bc default is sparkling water 4. The Germans love
them some cigarette 5. Europeans know their fashion, they have the
cutest scarves!! 6. Europe has the best transportation 7. The US does a lot
more exporting of our culture than we do importing other cultures 8. European hotels have better free breakfasts than we do in America 9. Desserts are awesome in Europe 10. Sandwiches are the most common food
11. In Europe you pump your gas first and then pay.
Dan's Newsletter
Mom and Dad came out to see us. Dad stayed for just the weekend, and Mom stayed with the girls while we flew to Europe. The day before the flight, a person – who shall remain nameless – looked everywhere for our passports, unable to find them. I told this person to relax, and that I'd look for them. The house was turned topsy turvy when I came home. I looked for a brutal 5 minutes, and found them exactly where they were supposed to be. And jolly good laughs were sheepishly had by all. The next day we left, leaving the girls with Nama. There was a lot of crying, but the girls didn't seem to mind. Thuan and I arrived in London on the morning of the 13th having misplaced eight hours. That day we were too tired for much of anything, but we met up with the other people from Amazon that we were going to be spending the next few days with. The leader of our little band is a true Scotsman. This was Wednesday. Thursday, Thuan went to London by herself in the morning and saw a bunch of places (she was supposed to meet her friends Christiaan and Kelly Thelen but Kelly came down with a fever), and I took the train in from work that afternoon. We each waited for the other for half an hour at platform 9 ¾ in King's Cross station only 20 feet apart, without realizing we were so close to each other. We took the tubes to as many places as we could. We asked some random people which way to Buckingham Palace and were told, “Sorry, same accent, we don't know either.” We did eventually find it. On Friday, we flew to Glasgow. I worked for a brief stint and then we all went out to dinner. For Saturday we went to Edinburgh castle and walked the royal mile. We also had high tea in a posh hotel with herbal tea (editor's note: It's still nasty), sandwiches, and other posh desserts. We got back to Greenock in time to see Thuan's sister's in-laws perform in The Nutcracker. It was quite serendipitous. They didn't know we were coming when they scheduled their performances, and we didn't know they had scheduled performances when we made our schedule, and yet our hotel was just under a mile from the ballet center. We like them so much, that we drove two hours on Sunday to go see them. Oh yeah, I drove. On the wrong side of the road. It was surprisingly easy to do, partly because the steering wheel is on the wrong side, too. I did opt for the automatic, though, as I really didn't think I could get the handle of shifting with my left hand. But I digress. Church was awesome. It consisted of them, and us, and a surprise visit by the missionaries. There we were, in their house over a century old, with a small group of saints, and a tall handsome young man with a prominent nose (no, I'm not referring to myself) blessing the sacrament. It kinda felt like we were in the early days of the church. One of the missionaries comes from a family that was baptized in the early days, but did not come over to the States. Sacrament meeting was amazing.
We left there and headed straight to the airport to meet up with the rest of our group. Coming from that high, Germany was going to have to be awesome. When we landed in Frankfurt, we got a rental car, a stick shift this time, and drove out to Bad Hersfeld, a town of ~30k. It was cold and snowy, but we still got up to 100mph on the Autobahn. In Germany, if you ask how long it will take to get somewhere, the standard response is always, “What kind of car do you have?” We stayed there until Wednesday morning, and this is when Thuan started getting morning sickness. Combine that, with small cities, lots of driving, the others in our group going their separate ways, and it still being cold and snowy, and Germany was destined to not be liked. We drove to Leipzig that day, and then from Leipzig to Luxembourg via Werne on Thursday, stopping in Amazon warehouses along the way. Friday morning we drove to Orleans, went to a warehouse, then drove to Pithiviers for dinner because
Thuan needed some regular food, and that was the closest we could find a good Vietnamese soup place. Speaking of food, let's go back to Germany. Thuan just wanted some good soup but she tried 5 different kinds and was not impressed. It's hard to get plain old water there also. If you don't specify “no gas”, it will come sparkling. Who drinks this stuff? Even the McDonald's we went to (remember, Thuan was nauseous and needed “normal” food) had carbonated water as the free water option. So now we're in Orleans and it's the weekend. We took the train up to Paris, and then the Metro to the Place de la Bastille, which is where the Bastille used to be. A nice lady walked us through someback alleys to get us on track to see Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. She walked us because she wanted us to think highly of Parisians. I kid you not. That's what she said. So we do. We eat French fries in this family. All the bells in Notre Dame had been recently taken down and melted into new bells. They were on display while we were there for all the Catholics to come and touch. We took pictures, enjoyed the warmth, and headed over to La Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette was a prisoner. We took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower, saw it and immediately went back to the Metro. It was freezing cold. We went to the Vietnamese community for some Pho and then headed back to Orleans. The next day we went to church. There were about 25-30 people, half of which were black. I translated for Thuan. “He just said 'There is'”, I would say very helpfully. The spirit was also strong. One of the best parts of the trip for me was just listening to people talk; English, Scottish, German,
French. It was great.
Thuan needed some regular food, and that was the closest we could find a good Vietnamese soup place. Speaking of food, let's go back to Germany. Thuan just wanted some good soup but she tried 5 different kinds and was not impressed. It's hard to get plain old water there also. If you don't specify “no gas”, it will come sparkling. Who drinks this stuff? Even the McDonald's we went to (remember, Thuan was nauseous and needed “normal” food) had carbonated water as the free water option. So now we're in Orleans and it's the weekend. We took the train up to Paris, and then the Metro to the Place de la Bastille, which is where the Bastille used to be. A nice lady walked us through someback alleys to get us on track to see Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. She walked us because she wanted us to think highly of Parisians. I kid you not. That's what she said. So we do. We eat French fries in this family. All the bells in Notre Dame had been recently taken down and melted into new bells. They were on display while we were there for all the Catholics to come and touch. We took pictures, enjoyed the warmth, and headed over to La Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette was a prisoner. We took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower, saw it and immediately went back to the Metro. It was freezing cold. We went to the Vietnamese community for some Pho and then headed back to Orleans. The next day we went to church. There were about 25-30 people, half of which were black. I translated for Thuan. “He just said 'There is'”, I would say very helpfully. The spirit was also strong. One of the best parts of the trip for me was just listening to people talk; English, Scottish, German,
French. It was great.
We left there, drove 6 hours to Frankfurt (tolls are expensive in France, take the train) reaching
130 mph on one stretch. We stayed at the airport that night, flew to London in the morning, had a 5
hour layover, and then flew home. We spent 30 hours either in an airport or on an airplane, and it took
us several days to get over the jet lag. It was an awesome trip. Sometime while we were gone, Nama
left, and Bà Ngoai took over. Thuan was happK Ngoai took over. Thuan was happy to see her mom, and even happier to have home cooked food. The kids were happy we were back. We had an awesome time.
130 mph on one stretch. We stayed at the airport that night, flew to London in the morning, had a 5
hour layover, and then flew home. We spent 30 hours either in an airport or on an airplane, and it took
us several days to get over the jet lag. It was an awesome trip. Sometime while we were gone, Nama
left, and Bà Ngoai took over. Thuan was happK Ngoai took over. Thuan was happy to see her mom, and even happier to have home cooked food. The kids were happy we were back. We had an awesome time.
