First day in Lithuania

It's currently 87 degrees out according to www.gazette.com, our local newspaper site. For us Coloradoans that's HOT! I think Buddy had retreated to the basement where it's cooler.

Yesterday the way the jet stream was flowing, we were socked in with smoke from all the fires out in Arizona, California and Utah. What amazes me is how many people don't know about all the current wildfires going on! So many people would come into the store and say: 'is there a fire in Colorado?' We couldn't even see the mountains yesterday. And for those of you who have been here, you know that the mountains are just RIGHT THERE! So, mostly the only time they disappear is when it's snowing! So, it's very odd for us to not be able to see the mountains.

I don't know if it's the smoke, or allergies or a cold, but I am still so stuffed up and dripping. I have been drinking dimetapp and Dayquil like they are water. I am not sneezing, so I am not sure what is causing this round of congestion. I just know I would rather it went away.

Today was my day off, but it's been a busy one. First I had my first session with a private yoga instructor. I have to retrain my body how to handle stress. I tend to carry stress in my back or in my intestines. I have had 2 doctors now recommend that I try yoga or something similar. Our friend Kori knew a lady who teaches out of her home, so I drove up to Monument this morning to have my first lesson. She worked me pretty hard today. I will go back once a week for 7 more weeks to learn new and different postures and poses.

While I was driving back from that, Hubby called and asked me to lunch. So, I had just enough time to stop at home, let the dog out, strip the sheets of the bed, and move some laundry along before I had to change out of my yoga clothes and head to lunch.

After lunch I swung through the house to pick up Buddy and took him the the store for a bath. He is getting better, but he really doesn't like the drying portion of it. After that, we made a quick stop at the vet to get his nails trimmed and now we are home again and he is happily munching on a treat.

In a few minutes I head out to go and pick up my mom from work and take her for a haircut. Yes, I said my mom is back to work. She is only working part time, so a few hours a day. But she needs to extend her paid time off, so she is extending it, but only working a few hours a day. Since she will need to have surgery again in August, she will need to still be only working part time or take some more time off then. This helps her to stretch it out.

So, back to our trip. We got up EARLY Wednesday morning and took a train to Gatwick airport. From there we flew to Vilnius, Lithuania. (pronounced Vil-knee-us). Scott and Eva met us at the airport. From there we took a taxi to our really nice hotel! We dropped our stuff and changed into shorts as it was a LOT hotter in Lithuania then it was in London. Then we went and ate some lunch. Here is Scott at lunch:



Our next stop was the KGB museum. It was pretty neat, or scary. Scary to think it was in use up until about only 15 years ago! Here is a picture of Scott and I in two of the solitary confinement cells:



From there it was onto the local castle, where you cheat and take an elevator up to the top. Here is the main turret of what is left of the castle, that's Eva, Scott and Hubby walking in front:



Here are some views from the top of the turret:






Here's the happy couple:



And the other happy couple:



Here is a picture of one of the many small staircases we had to go up and down. The stairs were about as wide as half of Hubby's foot:



After that, we headed off for bowling with some of Scott and Eva's friends. It was bowling under black lights. Here are Scott and Hubby being pensive about something:



After way too many beers, that ended our first night in Lithuania, where we were driven home by the local driver for the Embassy in a LAV (light armored vehicle). It just so happened they were leaving when we were leaving so they were kind enough to give us a ride back to the hotel.

More about the next day, later!

(it took me a while to get this one posted, this is from Tuesday)

Next day in London

So, our next day in London we started by going to the Palace for the changing of the guard. It was really neat. We got there early enough that we got a good spot right up along the fence. It's a whole big ordeal. They each have a band and all kinds of things. Here is a picture of a palace:



And one of the bands bringing in the guards:



After that we walked through a really nice park over to the Westminster Abbey:



We took the guided tour of the Abbey and we really enjoyed it. We saw lots of famous graves. We saw Charles Dickens grave and all the first kings and queens of England.

After that long and exciting day we went back to the hotel, and ate at a Thai restaurant right near by. Their food was good, but they had this soup that was really good and I really enjoyed it.

We hit the hay early as we had to get up EARLY the next morning to head to Lithuania!

Oh, and here is are one of those famous phone booths! They really do exist:



Okay, I am off to get ready for work now. I am still on the tail end of this cold and things are wanting to drain out today, so I have to blow my nose a lot.

1st full day in London

I missed writing yesterday because I had to work the morning shift at the store. I woke up yesterday morning with a horrible sore throat and it didn't get any better all day. So, I came home from work, had dinner and went to bed! I feel better today, the sore throat isn't as bad, but my head feels congested.

So, anyway, our 2nd day in London we took a tour on a double decker bus that looked just like this:



We saw lots of things! Big Ben and parliament:



St. Paul's Cathedral:



The new London Bridge, which isn't really London Bridge, the bridge next to it is and the 1st London bridge is in Arizona, but this is the pretty one:



And then we hopped off at the Tower of London for a tour by a Beefeater:



This is where lots of beheading took place as well as where the crown jewels are kept. This is also where the ravens are, which I am sure you have heard the tale of there has to be so many ravens kept there or the empire will fall.

That night we at dinner at The Spaghetti House, and then on to see Phantom of the Opera. It was pretty good! We were in Her Majesty's Theater to see it, which is an old theater. I enjoyed it very much.

Well, I am off to get ready for work. This is my 3rd day back to work, and it's odd to be back to work after being out of the country for so long.

More about our trip later, and for those of you who want to see all the pictures, you can find them on our website! Enjoy!

Sunday in London

We have come back to HOT weather! It apparently has been in the 90's for a while. It was in the 90's yesterdays as well, until some massive storms moved in and wreaked havoc all over town! After the storms moved through the temps dropped to the mid 50's. It was odd.

Anyway, we got to London about noon on Sunday. We hopped on a train from Heathrow airport to Paddington Station. I grew up with a Paddington Bear so it was neat to finally see the place I always hear about in stories. We took a cab to our hotel from there.

Our hotel was nice. It was actually quite large. The hallways were very LONG. And there were about 8 or 10 floors. Our room there was a typical European room, meaning pretty small. Here is a picture of it:



Once we settled in, we headed to the local Tube stop and headed towards the Shakespeare Globe. We had tickets for the play that night. Once we got down into that area, we found a local pub and had some beer and dinner. Then we headed over to the Globe.

It's a new building, but it's modeled after what it used to look like years ago. What a NEAT building! Our seats were only about 8 inches wide to sit on, but it sure was neat. We watched A Winter's Tale. It is a tragic comedy, so I really enjoyed the second part which was the comedy part.

Here is a picture of the stage in the Globe:



After that we stopped on London Bridge and then headed for the hotel, via the Tube.

I will write about the next day, tomorrow!

We are home!

We are home! We made it home about 9:30pm last night. We had been up since 8am London time. So with the time difference we had been up about 20 hours straight. I slept for maybe 30 minutes on the plane on the way back and Hubby didn't sleep at all. So, we were pretty wiped out.

So, we started our adventure by thinking we were leaving at 6pm on Saturday. It wasn't until about 11am on Saturday that we discovered we really weren't leaving until 8pm. But we were so far ahead of the game, we just kept on trucking.

We dropped Buddy off at my parents house and started heading up the highway. We stopped in Monument for gas and had a problem getting the car restarted. We finally got it going again and kept heading up the Interstate. Around Castle Rock it died. And I mean my car was as dead as a doornail. There was no getting it restarted. So, we called AAA and started calling car services. We called 7 or 8 places and no one could come rescue us!

Thankfully my mom's friend, Syl, said she would come get us! Yea! And we probably would still be able to make our flight! So, the tow truck came and got the car and took us to the next exit and left us at the Shell station. Then he took the car to our house and dropped it in our driveway. Thank goodness for AAA!!

Syl was there a short time later and we headed on up to DIA. Thankfully our plane had been delayed by 30 minutes as well, and we made it!! Yea!

I was able to get a lot of sleep on the plane, and we landed in London the next day!

I will stop there, as that was enough for our first day and since it's our first day back, I have lots to do. I did just get word that the car is fixable for a reasonable amount of money! That's a relief!

Happy birthday to my cousin Danielle! Hope your birthday was fabulous, we'll talk soon!

Happy Birthday to my best friend John C! Hope your birthday was great also, I toasted you from afar!

More about Europe later!

Time's Flying by...

Wow, it's been almost a week since my last post. Time is flying by and I feel busy all the time!

I ended up staying down at my Parent's house that night after Mom's surgery. She had a block and it ended up wearing off about 2am. When that happened she wanted ice packs on it continually. It was a long night for both of us.

I had to get up early Wednesday morning and leave my parent's house at 7:30am to get to the dentist for my 8am appt. This time the cleaning was easier and I only have 1 old filling that needs to be replaced, so at the end of June I need to go and get that taken care of.

I also had to close the store that night, and I have worked every day since then. And I work every day until we leave! I will really be ready for a vacation by Saturday.

Friday we went to a nice dinner at Ross & Kori's house. Kori's sister had been in a play, and at the play was a silent auction. Kori won dinner for 6 at her house served by the cast of the play. So, they came down from Denver and served us all a delicious meal! My favorite was the baked bree cheese with strawberry glaze! Yum! And we had spinach pastry, grilled chicken with cilantro, and all sorts of yummy other things. And of course homemade cheesecake for dessert. We ate the wonderful meal and then played some cards before heading for home.

Then I worked Saturday and we watched a movie that night when I got home. I worked Sunday as well and then last night we went down to my parents house for dinner. We brought dinner. We stopped at Albertson's and picked up fried chicken. We came home about 9pm.

I am getting some laundry done now. And getting the house in order, as we have some house guests coming on Wednesday for a few days.