On to PARIS

So here we are, back to listening to Lyle go on about our adventures.  I hoped everyone like the last blog I did, since it was the one that took my blogging virginity away.  So I will continue off with the last two days of adventure in Europe.

Wednesday morning I woke up to a very unhappy Heather.  The night before I wasn’t feeling well so we decided we would pack in the morning but do our laundry and let it dry overnight.  So I fell asleep, as I’m sure everyone knows is quite easy for me, and Heather was going to stay up and wait for the laundry to finish and hang it up.  When I woke up to my unhappy Heather I was QUICKLY informed about how we were NEVER EVER getting a European washing machine…so not knowing if I should call the laundry police or laugh, I listened on.  Apparently the hour and 11 minutes that it said it would take to do one load was extended because it decided to add extra spin cycles.  Problem was that there was no way of opening the machine or restarting it until the load was done.  As well, the door remained locked for some time after the load was finished.  All in all, Heather was up much later than expected and because her sleeping pill had now worn off, she had a hard time falling asleep.  And THAT was how the day started off . . .

So in the morning we packed up our gear, finding we had already accumulated a lot of extra stuff, and headed out to catch the tube in order to make our train for Paris via the Chunnel.  We nearly run to the tube station with legs burning only to wait for over 20 minutes with no sign of our train.  We eventually give up and take a different tube line that would require a connection and take longer, but it was the only way.  That line also had delay after delay in its signals which left us even more behind schedule.  After finally getting to the station where the Eurostar train leaves from, we book it in and around people trying desperately to get to the train on time.  With the ticket counter in sight we learn that we need to pass security and customs and there was no way we would be able to make our train.

I’ll give everyone time to go grab a tissue because I know this is a very sad story . . .

So after pleading our case to the ticket taker (or just saying we missed our train cause the %@#&! Tube never came), we were put on the next train.  Not more than an hour later we were happily on our way to Paris.  The Chunnel train is mostly over ground with a little in England, about 20 minutes through the tunnel, and mostly above ground on the French countryside.  I remember coming out of the tunnel . . . it went from dark to light.  Yup, pretty exciting!  It was still really neat knowing where you were and the marvel of modern transportation. 

We arrived at Gare-du-Nord in Paris and I set out to get our key for our apartment while Heather stayed with the bags at the train station.  My first impression of Paris since I was here almost 5 years ago was that it was definitely your typical European city with people everywhere, old buildings, and crazy drivers.  I picked up the keys and returned to Heather where we both set out to our apartment.  We get past the two keypads only to find what might pass as an elevator in Oompa-Loompa land, but is definitely not your typical passenger elevator!!  It claims it can handle 3 people . . . I think it should have read 3 Gabi’s (Brock’s Fiancé of 5’nothing” and 100lbs).  So Heather and her pack crammed in and I took the stairs to the 6^th floor.  FYI: it took me about the same amount of time as it did Heather ;)  We get to our apartment and  . . . you guessed it, an Oompa-Loompa’s paradise!!!  I have seen bathrooms larger than the entire apartment.  In fact, the bathroom and kitchen put together are still smaller than a regular sized bathroom.  Oh, and this was easy to measure because they are in the same room.  If you stand in the shower you can cook on the stove and pee in the toilet at the same time!!!!  Haven’t tried it yet, but now I just might ;)  The kitchen table is more like a coffee table cut in half, then half again, then take the splinters and make a table out of that and VOILA!  The bed is two cot sized mattresses put together to form . . .  two cot sized mattresses with a hole down the middle.  BUT . . .  the window is big!  Yup, spared no expense on a great view of the back alley!!!  Now THAT’S a HONEYMOON SUITE!!!

So . . . needless to say finished exploring after a few seconds and planned out our week and took off on our first adventure.  We went for supper and discovered that 6pm is much too early for supper.  We were told to come back at 7pm when they start serving people.  Well I had to feed Heather soon or the green monster would come out, so we went to a kebab place and ate there.  No idea what language they spoke or what part of the world they were from, but the food was good and we were ready to pack it in for the night. 

In the apartment we tried to get wifi working . . .I could really go on about how wifi SUCKSSSSSSSSSS in Paris, but all you need to know is that unless you have a cord that reaches to the closest adjoining country, you probably won’t be able to figure out their system.  I tried for quite some time and despite having two signals that provide wifi access all over France, neither had any way of allowing me to purchase access.  So we have no resorted to starbucks every other day (or getting a wifi signal from the Buffalo Bill across the street because even the starbucks wifi doesn’t work).  So that was the end of our first day in Paris. 

Okay folks, here we are… back to an entry from Heather. Our lack of internet and trying to keep up with the blog is causing me to feel like time is passing quicker, because I feel as though we are always behind. So our first real day in Paris got off to a late start, I think all of the walking is starting to catch up to us. This is both good and bad: good because my legs are starting to look great, bad because we are finding it harder to get up in the morning… this could also be due to the fabulous bed that Lyle described in the last post.

We left the apartment and headed for the Montmartre Funicular, for anyone familiar with Paris we are just a few blocks south of the Funicular. We made our way up and the view from the top was very nice, and Sacre Coeur was beautiful. We toured the church and then headed toward Dali’s space, just before this we found a fabulous little square filled with artists painting and doing portraits of people. The talent was incredible, we are still contemplating going back to buy a drawing of us. We continued walking through the district as we headed toward Moulin Rouge, I wanted to see the building… however when we got there I was slightly disappointed.  As Lyle said, “It doesn’t look anything like the movie.” I am not sure what year this building was constructed but it looks to me about 1950’s; far less attractive than I had expected. Anyhow across from here was the Starbucks that we sat at to gain Internet access so that was worth it I suppose.

Our next stop was the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, for those of you unsure of why I would visit a cemetery on my honeymoon… see the earlier post about my intrigue of where people are buried, and Jim Morrison is buried here. As it turns out so are Frederic Chopin and Oscar Wilde, we had a nice walk exploring the old cemetery. It turned out to be the favourite part of the day for both of us.

So now back to Lyle.  We decided we would switch back and forth and do two days each for the blog, but Heather found it difficult to count to 2 and jumped the Queue as they say here and started on my day.  Of course I was sleeping when she was doing this so I couldn’t stop her.  So, decided to use what she had wrote. 

After seeing the graves of famous people in the cemetery we came across memorials and graves for those who had been killed in the Second World War.  The memorials were quite descriptive and we were both very touched by how many people died in the war.  There were many monuments to the thousands that lost their lives in the concentration camps and killed by the Nazis.  I only held back the tears so Heather wouldn’t totally lose it.  It was very emotional for both of us.

After finally finding our way out of the cemetery (thinking you’re trapped in a cemetery is a weird feeling by the way), we headed out to see a museum of inventions.  It was in our Paris Pass so we thought we would check it out.  The whole museum is quite old and had early examples of all different kinds of sciences, inventions, and machines used for discoveries.  It was pretty neat.  The highlight for me was seeing the first computers up close.  They were HUGE!  It’s hard to imagine that a computer that massive had less computing power than any handheld device today.

On our way back home we stopped in for a meal at a restaurant with some strange waiters.  I’m not sure if one was training the other, but they always came to the table in pairs (but only our table) and the one had the same expression on his face the entire time we were there.  The food was good though . . . mozzarella and tomatoes for appetizers, chicken escalope (still don’t know what that means) for Heather and a lamb skewer for me.  We finished off with cream caramel for Heather and a crepe for me.  And with that we head back to the shire to find our little hobbit dwelling.

Alright back to an update from Heather, though we are falling behind so if we can get the internet figured out Lyle may post tomorrow.

Monday we got up and the plan was to head to Westminster Abbey a church I really wanted to see, for some reason crypts, burial places and cemeteries are fascinating to me… It was pouring rain most of the morning and when we got to Westminster the line up was quite long. Lyle left the decision to me as to whether I actually wanted to see inside, I did but I was cold and wet and had no desire to continue standing in line. 

So, umbrella in hand we set of to find the Queen’s Gallery, the only art gallery we wanted to see in London. The current exhibit is Leonardo Da Vinci: Anatomist and it was absolutely fabulous. The only drawing that I had hoped to see but was not in the collection was the Vitruvian Man, apparently that piece was from a different study or commission. The exhibit came from one folio that Leonardo completed between the late 1400’s and 1510. It was a detailed and fascinating study of the human body done at a time when no one else was working on these ideas. He was centuries ahead of the human population in his thinking, indeed an inspired man in my opinion. Unfortunately the folio sat unpublished until 1900 when work on anatomy had already been advanced by many others. Had these pieces been published at the time of completion or shortly following his death he would have been the father of our understanding on anatomy. Both Lyle and I were fascinated by the exhibit and highly recommend it to anyone who may be in London in the near future.

On the note of recommendations we also recommend the London Pass, it was key to being able to see and do so many things, it was also nice to have that paid for ahead of time J

After we left the Gallery we headed to Harrod’s. I had never been, though I love shopping I am not the type to spend thousands of dollars on a dress or a pair of shoes. The store is massive, 6 floors taking up a few city blocks. I was a little overwhelmed at first, we came into the jewelry department… they had one set on sale for 2 million dollars… I nearly choked. So Lyle’s deal was that I had to buy something from Harrod’s. On the first floor I found a section in jewelry that sold charm bracelets, I had toyed with the idea that it might be nice to pick up a charm in each country and have a pretty bracelet of our honeymoon. They had some really nice charms and I liked the look of the bracelets. I took a brochure and we kept wandering. In the stationary department I found a nice leather pen and it also went on my list of items to contemplate. Wandering through the rest of the store little of the clothing appealed to me and the prices were insane in my opinion. We did find a pet store and the cheapest puppy for sale was 1500 pounds… um no! Anyhow long story shortened I ended up with a pretty silver bracelet and a charm to remind me of England… a silver big ben. It is very pretty and I am rather in love with it, and with my dear husband.

After Harrod’s we had to decide if we were going to see Wicked that evening, as we would need to find tickets. Lyle decided his heart wasn’t set on it so we decided not to go to the theatre that evening. Instead we headed off to find the John Snow pub, this place marks a breakthrough in Public Health knowledge and our ability to keep communities healthy through our understanding of water. I won’t give you the whole story but if you are interested Google John Snow. I got my picture taken with the famous water pump and after checking out the pub we decided against eating there. We found a little bistro around the corner that had wonderful food and we enjoyed a nice meal before calling it an early night.

Tuesday was our last full day in London and the plan was to try and finish all of the places on our list that we hadn’t yet seen, plus have afternoon tea and we had tickets for “The Wizard of Oz” that evening. We started out our morning by heading out to Notting Hill Gate and the Portobello Road market. Notting Hill is a quaint little area and the market, though not fully open during the week was a wonderful area full of antique shops. We found some really neat shops and it is probably a good thing we are only traveling with our backpacks because this helps to limit our purchases. We did end up purchasing two books published in 1783 which was a great find and a lovely addition to our book collection. We also found a locksmith, since Lyle has a love of keys and locks, and got ourselves a couple of interesting looking keys for free as a souvenir of London.

Leaving the market we headed to the Museum of Brands, which took a look at the history of commercialism and advertising from the Victorian era through the 1990’s. It was pretty neat and we had fun identifying earlier versions of products we still know and use. It wasn’t a very large museum but it was very neat.

The next item was afternoon tea, an experience I have wanted for a while… silly I know. The London Pass had an offer for 25% off your bill at a book and tea shop entitled Tea & Tattle, so we headed over there. The tea shop was in the basement and was very cute, and had beautiful hand painted wallpaper. Traditional tea consisted of: your choice of tea, sandwich, scone and cake. Lyle chose: chamomile; brie and grape on brow;, marmalade on his scone and lemon drizzle cake. I had: peppermint tea; cucumber, chive and cream cheese on white; raspberry and vanilla jam on my scone and chocolate cake. The food was lovely J We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals and the cute little place. Again I recommend this place if you are in London.

At this point in the day we realized we would not finish everything on our list, and we were ok with that so we headed to St. Paul’s Cathedral, again my choice and again… huge line. Moving on we walked to the Monument built in remembrance of the great fire on 1666. We climbed all 331 steps and our legs were then Jell-O like, but it offered a great view of the river area. On a related note all of the spiral staircases we have encountered have made me very dizzy.

Our next stop was the All Hallows church by the tower. A place I had discovered on my last trip to London and one that I wanted to share with Lyle. The church itself had to be largely rebuilt after a bombing during the Second World War but sits on a site of an ancient roman home. The site was discovered during the rebuild and was excavated and is now a museum below the church. It has second century Roman sidewalk as well as many pottery pieces found on site from the 1^st and 2^nd century. They have also moved the church records to the museum for display which contain the marriage record of John Quincy Adams… kind of neat.

After this we headed over to Oxford Circus to pick up our theatre tickets. As we were about to leave the theatre to find dinner it started to hail… so we hovered in the entry way for a few minutes until it stopped and then headed into the street. Lyle spotted a Bella Italia, the place we had eaten in Stratford, so we had dinner there. Again the food and service were very good and the meal was reasonably priced. The show was at the London Palladium Theatre, which was a great theatre with really good views. Andrew Lloyd Webber was the producer for this “new” version of the Wizard of Oz. It was very well done and the story line stayed to the original but there were a few extra musical numbers added in. All in all our theatre experiences in London were fabulous!

That ends our last day, I hope you are enjoying our blog, please feel free to give feed back!

Love you all,

H & L

Lyle's Turn

Alright fans, looks like its my turn (Lyle's) to take the blogging wheel and tell you all about our adventures.  Just so you are aware, now that i'm actually doing the blogging, I expect everyone to keep up to date and tell everyone about the blog.haha  This is part diary for me and part "email home", so I hope you enjoy!

So our story leaves us at Saturday morning.  Our first thing we had planned to do was go to Camden Market.  Heather had heard all about the market and I figured it would be a neat outdoor market with fresh produce and we would get one our way . . . turns out we were both surprised.  The Camden tube station was extra busy on Saturday morning as we emerged from underground to a street full of people and little shops.  We thought it was really neat and started our walk towards the canals that still exist in the city.  The shops were selling everything from souvenirs to clothing to shoes to food to jewellery to whatever you could think of.  When we got to the canal we could finally see that we had just scratched the beginning of the market.  There were thousands of little huts that lined the alleys and backroads and open spaces and inside warehouses.  Of course our first order of business was to find food as I've learnt from Heather that "a fed wife is a happy wife".  So we duck into where they were selling food alongside the canal.  We were immediately accosted on all fronts from vendors nearly jumping out of their huts to give us samples of their food.  We made it about a 20seconds before we tried food from a mother and daughter hut selling Turkish food.  It was a sort of thin crusted burritto with meat.  It was soooo good!

After our food stop we wandered in and out of the stalls, seeing all the fabulous things for sale.  I FINALLY found a belt buckle I had been looking for, as well as a UK lanyard to add to my collection, and a hat.  We also found one of the neatest huts you could ever imagine.  The company is called Zoola and they use fish to clean and massage your feet.  You sit alongside a tank full of little fish and dangle your feet inside.  The fish go to work eating the dead skin and increasing the blood flow to your feet.  They don't have any teeth so it feels like little fish sucking on your skin.  Needless to say Heather was up for it and I manned the camera.  We got quite the look from people passing by.

We walked through the streets a bit more and then decided we would head over to the famous Picadilly Circus.  

From here we picked up our tickets for our evening's West End musical Sweeney Todd.  We did a bit of shopping and sightseeing and that brought us to supper.  We were almost going to eat at The Maple Leaf, a canadian pub with NHL Hockey and everything, but it was full inside and they were showing a soccer game on TV, so we tried elsewhere.  We ended up settling on Garfunkel.  They had nachos on the menu so I figured I would try out the British version of nachos.  They used stewed tomatoes instead of salsa which was neat, but the rest had much to be desired of.  Heather had a good ole' English Breakfast with egg, toast, sausage, ham, giant mushroom and grilled tomato . . . and baked beans . . . soon to be a staple in our breakfast from now on!!!  

We then headed to Sweeney Todd, right next door conveniently.  We were 4th row from the very back, the best that money could buy;)  Spared no expense for my wife and I!!!  It was a great musical!  Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter was the lead female and she did an outstanding job with great singing and lots of comedy.  I would definitely recommend this one to everyone!  The neat thing for me was that during our tour of London the night before we had made a stop at Fleet Street to see where the barber shop would have been, where the tunnel was underground, and where a pie shop still exists to this day.  Really neat things that made the musical much more meaningful.  

Our next day, Sunday begins with great intentions and tired feet.  We had planned to get up early to go to church and then spend the day at the zoo.  Well we would have had to get up at 7:00ish to take an hour train ride to Hyde Park chapel for 9am church.  Well i heard the alarm go off the first time . . . so we ended up getting a late start and were also delayed in the subway because of "planned engineering work" . . . the brit's polite way of maintenance.  Their signal system also failed so they couldn't track any trains along a certain line.  After that announcement we heard nearly everyone grumble about how its going to be terrible during the Olympics.  I'm very happy we are not here for that, its already a busy enough city as it is.  

We get to the zoo after a quick stop for a sub-par (or super sub costco) hot dog.  But we eventually found soft serve with a chocolate flake for Heather, so the universe was balanced again. haha she just nudged me there.haha  So, without going through every animal exhibit and showing you 88 pictures of the Otters (I kinda like them), I will tell you about the highlights and if you want more pictures, email me and I will send them to you or eventually post them on Facebook.  

We started with the reptile room and we got to see the cage that Harry Potter stood next to for the snake scene in the Philosopher's Stone.  We saw fish and turtles and birds . . . and then the gorillas!  They have a silver back gorilla like the one in the Calgary zoo.  We saw him up close and boy is he gigantic!!!!  We saw penguins and insects and camels and hippos and all sorts of amazing animals.  It was my second time at the zoo and I loved it even more this time.  The last animals we saw were the otters.  I have a ton of pictures I need to sort through as I was using the burst feature.  I also have three videos, one with two otters playing together, one with a Galapagos tortoise, and one with the gorillas that I will put to Facebook.  They are really neat and worth watching.

After the zoo we decided to go to a pub for the traditional Sunday roast.  We went to a place called spread eagle...yup...we had a wonderful meal of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes and vegetables.  The English sure do know how to make a delicious meal.  

After supper we thought we would re-visit Camden Market before heading home as it was right by the tube station.  This is where I discovered how dangerous a place the market could really be.  Seriously, in no time at all my wallet was forced from my pocket and I had three pairs of shoes in the hands. . .  its still all a blur to me, but I warn anyone going there to beware of good deals!!!haha  so I ended up buying two pairs of Toms for what we we pay for one pair on sale.  And Heather bought a pair of gorgeous purpleish boots (that actually fit her) for only 10 pounds (aka 16$ish).  Good times . . . so we finished our day off with a crepe from a street vendor and headed on home.

                                                

London Calling

Lyle is forcing me to blog again, I guess he will be the reason regular blog posts happen...

Yesterday morning we went to Anne Hathaway's cottage, again I was completely enthralled by the gardens. It was a nice end to our stay in Stratford. We walked back into town and headed to the train station to begin the next leg of our journey. The train ride from Stratford to London was about 2 hours...and Lyle slept for a large portion of it. I wrote most of yesterday's blog from the train, which conveniently had wifi.

I miss the countryside already. London is a great city with much to do, but is not nearly as pretty as the country and small towns.

When we got into London we made our way out to the house we are staying at. We are in the east end of the city near the Upton Park tube station. On our walk to the place we quickly realised that we were the minority in this neighbourhood, every clothing store we passed was selling beautiful saris. For the next three and a half weeks we are staying in apartments that we booked through homeaway.com and housetrips.com. This one is a room in a house, it's fairly spacious and we have no complaints about it or the owner. It's quite a nice room and we really appreciate having access to laundry!

Last night after settling in and planning out what we wanted to see while we are here we went out to find some dinner. I wasn't sure what I wanted so we headed for a pub that I had seen on our way... well turns out they only sold alcohol. So we turned around and went to a kebab restaurant, at first I wasn't sure about it but the food turned out to be amazing! We had chicken tikka, lamb korma, rice and naan, and a pitcher of mango lassi. If you are unfamiliar with any of these look them up, find them and try them! Everything was freshly made and very delicious.

To back track slightly while we were headed back to the restaurant Lyle spotted in the window of the shop next door an Indian sweet that he has been trying to explain to me and to find since we started dating. After dinner we stopped in to buy this strange looking orange thing. I had no idea what to expect for taste so I was pleasantly surprised when I bit into what was essentially a very thin, crunchy funnel cake that had been soaked in syrup. Jelabi is what it's called and it is delicious.... we may have purchased more this evening.

This morning we got a bit of a later start because I actually slept well, go figure. We headed down to the Tower Bridge area since we had a list of sights to tackle in that vicinity. We decided to start at the Tower of London since it was on my list of things to do that I had not been able to see on my last trip. We were there for a few hours and I found it highly interesting. Both Lyle and I can be pretty geeky and we both love to learn so we had a blast. Seeing the Crown Jewels was interesting and a bit sad thinking about how much money was tied up in jewels and just sitting there. The highlight for me was the White Tower, the oldest building in the palace, it is about 940 years old. To me it was awe inspiring to stand in a building that old and be able to admire its construction and the history it holds. Lyle says his highlight was our guided tour with our Yeoman Warder Jimmy. Jimmy was informative, captivating and rather funny and as Lyle says he made fun  of Americans. He also made fun of Scots and even the English a bit.

After leaving the tower we headed to a little cafe for a lunch of sandwiches and a cup of what they claimed was the best hot chocolate in London.

I am not sure if this picture truly shows the consistency of this drink, by the end I was referring to it as "the sludge".  Let's just say, I hope that was not the best hot chocolate London has to offer.

We headed to the Tower Bridge Experience next which allowed us a few historical films about the bridge as well as access to the upper walk ways and the engine rooms. This was pretty interesting, probably not something I would have done without the London Pass, but worthwhile since we didn't have to pay for entrance.

After this we headed for the HMS Belfast, an attraction we were both really excited about. Upon arriving there we found out it is closed for the time being due to walkway reattachment :( so sad.

Our next adventure was the London Bridge and London Tomb experience. Think of this as part history part amusement park haunted house. Very entertaining and quite scary for Lyle at some points as he was at the back and kept having people either reach out and grab him, or sneak up on him. I on the other hand kept taunting the employees, yes I am a bit twisted...I know.

We stopped at Borough Market to grab some dinner, we ended up with baguette sandwiches Lyle had lamb and I had grilled haloumi which made me a very happy girl!

The capstone of our evening was our City Secrets Blood and Tears walk. It was a 2 hour walking tour about the creepy parts of London's History including Jack the Ripper and where William Wallace was hung.  We both enjoyed our evening even though by the end of the day our feet were very sore.

Ok that is my post, I think Lyle might just write the next one! Today was a fun filled day so look for the upcoming post :)

Love you all,
L&H

Um... We got married!

Ok, so much for regular blogging before the wedding, but I have promised regular blog posts from the honeymoon so here is your first installation.

The wedding was, in my opinion, fabulous! Yes it snowed, and I didn't get a slush drink from the machine but otherwise it was an amazing day. Almost everything went off without a hitch and we had one fun wedding, and we are grateful to everyone who celebrated with us. Here is my preview shot from our bridal shoot with our amazing photographer, Meghan Maxwell.

After brunch with our families, we packed up and headed out on our journey of a lifetime :)

The flight was long, but Air Transat far exceeded our expectations. Leg room was decent, movies were free and for 7$ I purchased a blanket, pillow, eye mask, ear phones, ear plugs and socks :) so I was actually warm on the flight. The food was decent and they fed us twice on the flight. We landed in Manchester and with some assistance from Google made our way from the airport to the metro station and then to our hotel.

We booked through an Easy Jet hotel sale at the IBIS Manchester Charles Street. Now this was not a 4 star hotel, but we were very pleased. The staff was friendly and helpful, the food was yummy and the room was cute and functional.

The downside to our whole stay in Manchester was that the dreaded stomach virus that our family had been passing around for nearly a week caught up to Lyle a few hours after we arrived. Needless to say we didn't see much (or any) of Manchester, but we slept lots and Lyle got good use of the POD style bathroom he liked so much.

We left Manchester by train the next day and headed to Stratford-Upon-Avon. I love trains :) I have fallen in love with the English countryside and enjoyed my time watching it roll by. Stratford was a lovely little town. When we got in we wandered for a bit trying to find the B&B we were booked at, eventually making the mile or so journey there without collapsing under our packs. The B&B is the Heron Lodge Guest house, just a short distance outside the town centre. We booked one of the smaller rooms in the house, but found it sufficient for our needs and the hosts were fabulous! David was a trained chef and breakfast was outstanding, I may miss that over the next few weeks while we are in self-catering apartments.

Our first evening in Stratford we went to dinner at a little Italian restaurant called Bella Italia, it was quaint and the food was good and reasonably priced. That night we attended the play, "Comedy of Errors" which was well executed and an enjoyable time.

Wednesday was our only full day in Stratford and we took full advantage of it. We spent the day touring the Shakespeare sights: his birthplace, his grave, and the homes of his two daughters as well as the excavation site of one of his former homes.

We had lunch/supper late in the afternoon due to our enormous breakfast. We ate at a pub near the river called Pen and Parchment. They had a 2 entrée for 10 pound deal and we took advantage of that. I had a fish and spinach Florentine and Lyle had a ham steak. They had banoffee tart on the dessert menu and I was excited through the whole meal for this. When Lyle went to order dessert they informed him that they were out.... I was sad, but then the cook decided he would run to the store to get the missing ingredient! Seriously, who does that? Anywho... the banoffee was amazing.

After dinner we went to a butterfly farm, they had 1500 butterflies it was a cool place. After that we wandered for a bit and then went to see, "King John" which was interesting. The script was historical and interesting the interpretation was bizarre. English history with a dirty dancing/ my best friends wedding soundtrack...

So that is the summary of our first few days :)
I will try to blog regularly to keep you all up to date

love you all,
Lyle and Heather

and it's February...

So apparently I blog as consistently as I journal.... bad mormon I know. Well we are almost half  way through February and this wedding is creeping up on us pretty quickly, I am super excited to have my family here and to marry my best friend. Living in Edmonton is so great because we get to see each other all the time. As for our biggest loser challenge Lyle is totally beating me! A month in and somewhat regular gym visits and he has lost 6 lbs; I on the other hand have gained 1.5... but lost a few inches so we will see what happens from here.

Wedding and honeymoon plans are coming along nicely. We have accomplished much and I seem to be getting much done these days. My shoes are waiting for me at the condo, I am so excited to see them in person. Here are the pictures the artist sent me of them.

I think they are fabulous! I am so excited to wear them.

We are finally getting into some serious planning of the honeymoon and are excited for our journey of a lifetime. Applications are also into 2 schools for masters programs for me.  U of Alberta and U of Lethbridge, I am hoping for U of L. I love my time there and the faculty I got to work with and am hoping for more good experiences.

Next week is reading week so we are heading down to Whitefish to spend the week at the condo, skiing and recuperating from the first half of the semester. Hope all is well with everyone, I will try to post again soon.