Being Quiet on a Train, and Gee, This Place Looks a Lot Like Portland.

April 22nd - Arrival In London

I love British Airways. Seriously, they take care of you very well on flights, from the well planned meals that aren't too terrible, plenty of reading materials, and great customer service. We took off, settled in, and had some great sandwiches, and within a half an hour of takeoff, we had the announcement that we had to fill out another immigration card to get into the UK. Not wanting a repeat of the last adventure with the card, I paid attention and filled it out right and without making mistakes. We also rounded up our remaining Euros for exchange once we landed.

We landed again in Terminal 5, and again had no issues with landing or immigration. We breezed along with a minimum of questions, and our bags were waiting for us once we found the claim spot. The London weather was a bit better this time, as the sun was shining but it wasn't too terribly warm. We collected our things, and soon were off to find an Underground ticket machine to buy fare to Tower Hill, this being the closest terminal to our flat. We had to take the Picadilly line into town, then switch to the District Line to get us to our stop, which should take about 45 minutes. It was early part of the afternoon, and our hope was to get to where we needed to go before the rush hour commute started.

The Underground is extremely quiet, as people sit and read or listen to music, but conversations just don't happen on it. And when they do, it's usually tourists that don't realize this standard. Girl and I found a spot with our bags, putting our backpacks on our laps, and sat quietly and relaxed cause we would be on the train for a bit. The Picadilly line is unusual in the fact that at the far west end of the line, it's actually above ground, so it reminds me of the MAX here in Portland. There's a bit more advertisements in English stations, and there's the announcements to mind the gap, but outside of that, it looks about the same. By the way, the Mind the Gap thing is an announcement reminding riders to mind the gap between the train and the platform, which can be a few inches and slightly up or down. Just want you to pay attention to what you are doing.

We decided to switch trains at Hammersmith, because it's a level crossing, and so we quickly moved from line to line in a matter of moments. Not bad timing, as a District train is right there. It's a bit crowded, but we were able to find a spot for us and luggage, so soon we were off. Not bad for 4 pounds, getting from point A to point B. We are now truly underground, as the only things you see outside the trains are train stations and tunnel walls. In many case, there are only a couple of inches between the train and the wall. I also noticed the lack of rubbish in the train stations despite no trash cans about, which was a nice touch and I was reminded of why there are no rubbish bins in the train areas. We finally arrive at Tower Hill, and soon make our way up the stairs to the station exit. The Underground requires you to scan your ticket to get into the station, but you also scan your ticket to leave. Sometimes, the ticket is kept while other times you keep it for proof of fare. In this case, we got to keep our ticket, but I had an adventure trying to get my bag through the gate.

Once we were free of the station, we were on street level and trying to find our flat. Oh, look, the Tower of London is right across the street. And there's Tower Bridge, very tall and stoic crossing the Thames. But we were on task to try and find our way to the flat. After a couple of pedestrian loops about and crossing streets, we got our bearings and headed east. I did like the touches on the crosswalks telling you which direction to look for traffic, but I didn't like one of the wheels of my luggage rubbing on the wheel well which now means I'm dragging my bag. I'm really starting to get a bit drained, but we soon find a grocery store complex and then a crosswalk which then is the street we need to find the flat. Soon enough, we wander through this residential area, over a canal, and to a small cul de sac. We finally find number 80, and our flat is now ours.

It's a nice little place near Wapping, studio size with a Murphy bed, nice size futon, cable TV, a small kitchen, bathroom, and nice closet space. Oh, and our badly needed washer. The flat has some supplies already there, as the flat has a community approach to supplies. You buy stuff and leave it there, and you can use anything that is already there in the flat, sort of a community approach, but definitely keep things there to avoid the kharma wrath. We found detergent, some coffee, and lots of other things for use. We also sat for a bit and relaxed, knowing we didn't have to be up at any given time. We read the packet of information for us to get a lay of the land, and saw that today was trash day for our flat. We decided to do a bit of wash, walk about for a bit, and grab some stuff for dinner.

The Thames isn't too far of a walk from the flat, as we check out the waterfront and the surrounding area. We soon wander back to the grocery store, and grab some essentials for dinner and breakfast. Oh, and Quavers and alcohol. Ok, I love Quavers, and so I had to grab a few bags, while we decided on angus burgers for dinner. We also picked up some condiments, bread, tea, and newspapers, so we were all set for the night. We get back in time to do a little cooking, settle in for some telly, and put out our trash for the night. I also got to see my first episode of EastEnders, which is a staple here in the UK. Ok, it's a soap opera but the stories are fascinating and the characters are pretty normal folk. We got to bed at a reasonable hour, wanting to wander about town tomorrow.

April 23rd - The Thames River

We slept in, which was very much needed, and had a hearty breakfast of bacon sandwiches and coffee. I was just happy to be able to sleep through the night, but we had also made a friend in the process.

Our flat is next door to another flat owned by Arthur, a rather right British bloke. He smoked his pipe everywhere, and tended to his garden downstairs. We read about Arthur in our welcome pack that he didn't mind the tourists coming in, but please respect his privacy and keep your noise level down. We had done a good job with this on night one, but we also put out our trash and before our excursion, we pulled in our can plus his for storage to be nice. Girl had noticed his TV was kept up last evenings, and apparently in the blog post about the flat, the TV noise was mentioned as an issue. But I can imagine it might be due to inconsiderate neighbors, for which we didn't want to fall into.

We had started doing laundry, but by now, the clothes to wear were at a minimum, as I dressed in slacks and a collared shirt for our excursion down the Thames. We left mid afternoon, and walked from Wapping down to Westminster. The waterfront path took us under the Tower Bridge, past London Bridge, a few others, all the way to Westminster Bridge near the Eye. All the while walking along the Thames, I'm reminded of Portland with the river running near downtown and bridges everywhere. We see a few tourists about, but we don't hit the big tour groups until we get near Westminster. It's weird seeing this bridge with people on it, as the last time I'd seen it was in 28 Weeks Later completely abandoned. We wander past Big Ben, the Parliament area, up a major road and find our way to Trafalgar Square. It's actually St. George's holiday in Britain, so there's a large celebration in the square. I'm happily taking photos, and reveling in the fact that we helped celebrate major holidays in Rome and London while here.

I'm also getting a bit thirsty from the walking about, and so we wander up to Leicester Square to find some water and batteries for my camera. In my focus to find batteries, though, I wandered past a few places that sold water which girl found amusing or annoying. I lost a bit of focus, but once we had water, we found batteries and we were good to go. Leicester Square has some theatres nearby, and many UK movie premieres happen right here. We soon wandered over to Picadilly Circus to get shots with the famous billboards, and then headed back toward the Thames through St. James Park. Apparently, this is one of the smaller parks in London, but it was fairly huge and full of people and flowers. It was a gorgeous day, and people were enjoying the weather. We found our way back to Westminster and decided to take the tube back to our flat. Easy enough, we squish our way on a train, and we're back at Tower Hill in no time flat.

We stop at the market again to grab a few essentials, and as we arrive back at the flat, we meet Arthur in person. He's amazed we came so far to enjoy London, but he's a delightful person to chat with, and we made an impression by keeping quiet the preceding night, and by pulling in the rubbish bins. As we settled in for dinner and TV, we noticed Arthur's TV isn't as loud as previous nights. We watched EastEnders, drank a bit of wine and cider, ate some great food, and decided that tomorrow, we would venture to find a Tesco market. Girl loved shopping there, and apparently, there's one in Canary Wharf that's not too terribly far away per the phone book. As we settled in to bed, I never realized that one of the most important lessons in my married life was about to happen...

Next Time - A Lesson in the Rain, And Fun on the English Beach.

More Adventures at the Park, and Saying Goodbye to Rome and Hello to London

April 21st - Staying Close to Hotel

With more walking from yesterday and our impending departure on Tuesday, we decided to stay close to our hotel and get things organized for the flight to London. Plus, we wanted to ensure that we got a little sun, not knowing if the weather would play nicely once we left. Plus, packing was going to be important, as this was our last stop with just one checked bag each.

We wandered to the same park again visited on Saturday, and found a different bench to sit in to relax. Our favorite person was there, laughing and yelling about but he had a friend this time to talk with. Girl theorized that he might be one of those people that could hear a lot of different voices, and he was just responding to whatever voice was loudest at the moment. He was very happy, though, as we heard plenty of laughter and random comments. I wished at this moment my Italian was a bit better.

We also visited the grocery store for some last minute items and checked out some of the other restaurants in the area to see if there was anything nearby for dinner. There were some Indian places close, and a world famous gelato place that was closed Mondays, but nothing was striking our fancy. We decided to complete the packing in the afternoon, so that everything was put away so we could get up, shower and leave right away. Our flight left Rome at about 11 AM, so we needed to be up very early to catch the train to then get us to the airport on time. At this point, I wasn't so concerned about how it looked in my luggage, but simply that it made it into the bag. I took the scarves I'd brought over and they became nice wraps for the more fragile items.

After a bit of a nap, we awoke for some dinner, and I tried to find something different for dinner. Not that I didn't mind the place that we had been dining at, but I wanted to find something different. Plus, after finding Kric Krok on Saturday night for girl, it was time to see if we could find something interesting. Kric Krok is kind of like potato chips made in Italy, but there are a bit different than that. Sort of like kettle chips, but a bit more puffy, it was something we'd seen in stores for a while, but didn't try until I finally found some to buy. So Monday night was sort of trying to find food adventure. Girl has had falafel before, and since there was a shop nearby, we thought we'd try it. So I got her one of those, and I got some pizza and drinks.

I had been managing my way around town pretty well with my mangled Italian and broken English, but tonight they asked me if I wanted chips on the falafel and I said yes. I only said this because honestly, I wasn't sure if they had them or not and I didn't want to leave them off. When I got back to the room, girl unwrapped it and started eating with some delight. Then, she asked me "Are there chips on this falafel?" To which I replied, "Yes, they are." Apparently the taste wasn't too bad, although now understanding what falafel is, chips seems odd.

We watched a bit of TV, and then heard some commotion outside. Knowing this place, it could have been people, buildings, car accidents, we had the shudders closed to keep the room dark. We opened the window to see the most amazing thunderstorm going on. It rained about 3 inches in a 10 minute period, flooding the streets and sending poor pedestrians scrambling for cover. The thunder and lightning made many of the building glow, and the rain was puddling all over the streets. It was very intense, reminding me a lot of the thunderstorms I'd experienced growing up. But my memories didn't have glowing buildings, water splashing about on streets, people scrambling to find cover, and thunder echoing off things. Girl had said Rome gets storms like this from time to time, and she wasn't kidding. I'm glad I got to see this before we left. As we laid down to sleep, our concern was making sure that it wasn't still raining when we were ready to leave in the morning to possibly delay us leaving the hotel or our plane.

April 22nd - Departure Day to London

We awoke very early to allow us time to get final packing done, walk to the train station and catch our almost hour train ride to Rome Airport. While it was very early in the morning, we awoke without too much issue. I think both of us were happy to have come here, but ready to go to London. We did our double check in the room to ensure we had everything, grabbed our last belongings and left. I've found that traveling for me is a lot easier in more casual clothes, so I'm in a t-shirt and Timbers track pants. We walked past the park again, and headed to the train station. I enjoyed Nomi a lot, but really was looking forward to a hotel where we could sleep in a bit if desired.

We got to the train station with about 15 minutes for the next train, but the first bay of ticket machines was being difficult and wouldn't complete a purchase for girl. I found another set of ticket machines, and quickly paid for two tickets to go. We scurried to get a good place for our bags on the train, as it was waiting in one of the terminals. We found a good bank of seats, and I was able to get our bags into the upper luggage area. Man these things are heavy. We settled in for the ride, and arrived about 2 1/2 hours before our check-in. We were now preparing ourselves for our last trip through Terminal 5 and staying in London.

Our arrival in immigration was about as short as our departure through there, as we shuttled by some officers who examined our papers and let us go through. We then found a couple of snacks to go with some sandwiches we'd packed the previous day, and ate a breakfast/lunch thing. Once our gate was assigned we were off to the races. We took a short tram from the main building to our terminal, where one of our trip goals was about to be fulfilled, well we hope anyway.

Girl's previous excursion to Rome brought her to this terminal and one of the best gelato places ever. And she got to keep the special gelato dish and ate some desserts out of it here in the States, well until I accidentally crushed it putting dishes away a few months ago. Our hope was the same gelato place was open and we could get some for a snack and replace her dish. We searched and searched, and found some water and chips for snacks, but the gelato place wasn't open yet. Our hope was that it would open up in time for us before our flight.

In the terminal, we sat near some Catholic cardinals that had been traveling to Rome for business. We also go to listen to one of the most obnoxious women ever talk about all of her travel experiences to two guys flying to Chicago. Seriously, there's TMI and then there's this chick, who talked about anything and everything. I kept disappearing to check on gelato, but it was getting close to boarding time and it didn't appear the place would open in time. At least I didn't have to hear her crappy stories. We finally were called to our gate and ready to depart, when there was a final security check in Rome.

Ok, this isn't one of my brighter moments here, but I had packed my toiletries in my carry on backpack. While most of my stuff was travel size, it wasn't in the special ziplocks required by security. Oh, and my razor was in there too. I knew better, but in the quickness to get packed, I just grabbed things and put them where they fit. As the security guy looked at my backpack, he looked at my toothbrush, a few papers, and waived me through. I hurried to catch up with girl, and told her about my experience. This led to a discussion where I finally put two and two together and realized I'd violated more than a few travel rules. I was really embarrassed about it, and just figured Ok, I got through, not going to happen again. The funny thing was that I felt a lot more safe with security there, as they did a few more checks and I really liked the random gate approach. If you're going to stop people from doing bad things to planes, don't make things that obvious. Ok, makes for some anxiety filled moments in the terminal, but we'd planned for good time layovers, so it wasn't too stressful.

And as we left Rome, I thought back on the adventures of our time, and thought this place was truly special for the history and the architecture. It's very cool to see history everywhere, and for how large Rome is, it actually doesn't feel like a big city in most places. I leaned back and was ready for our last stop - London.

Next Time - Being Quiet on a Train, and Gee, This Place Looks a Lot Like Portland.

The Colisseum at Night, and Adventures in Pickpocketing.

April 15th - Terminal 5, Rome Airport to Hotel

We left Newcastle on time and made our second journey through Terminal 5. There was a bit of concern that we may have a long delay in security in the terminal, but once we landed, we headed through a few doors and suddenly there was one desk to check our tickets. Walk up the escalators, and there was the glory of Terminal 5. We found some snacks upstairs at Boots Pharmacy (which took us some time to get up to the second floor because apparently the escalators near there only wanted to go down), and then resumed our "Let's Watch the TV for our Gate" game from the previous week. At least we were able to sit down on some comfy chairs and watch a little TV.

The flight gate was posted, and soon enough we were off to Rome. I have to hand it to British Airways because they simply are efficient at getting people on and off planes. They actually had three check in points to get on the flight, which made getting to the plane easy. What was hard to understand was the desert playset near the gate for kids to play on, as they have foam cacti standing up, and some hills and mounds to climb. Apparently, the folks in Britain have never seen an actual desert to know that kids may not want to play with cacti. We also saw at least 2 different tour groups on our flight, as the members all had bright neck lanyards with their names on them and all of them reading very large maps of Rome. I saw this and kept thinking gee, why don't they just label themselves tourists right now??

The flight was uneventful, and the snack was even pretty good. I especially liked the milk and biscuit that BA gave you with the meal. I didn't realize that Rome's airport was so far out of town until we were near landing, and you saw a beach near one of the landing strips. We landed and soon wandered off to find the immigration station and collect our things. As we approached the line, we saw people getting grilled with questions. Seriously, the couple in front of us were there almost 7 minutes answering various questions about where they were staying, what they were doing. So girl asked me for my passport and she said, "Just follow me up." She walked up to the booth when it was our turn, said Hi and smiled really big, and flashed a bit of cleavage. I've never seen passports stamped so fast in my entire life. No questions, no comments, just stamp and go.

We collected the luggage and soon headed to catch the train to Rome. The airport at Rome is considerably louder than Heathrow, but I liked the fact that there were signs everywhere so you couldn't get too lost. We found the airport train station, paid for our tickets, and headed to the platform for the next train. Each airport train was an express into the downtown core, so there were no stops between to worry about. Once the train arrived, we hurried to find a spot to sit, stow our bags, and relax.

The train suddenly got filled up, and soon people were standing in the aisle, trying to find any available spot to stow their gear. The fact that it was very humid there didn't help things as the train went from nice and comfortable to stuffy and crowded. I was listening to the various conversation, trying to pick up a little Italian and it was a bit difficult with the background noise. Studying Spanish, I was expecting similar speech patterns and emphasis, but really it wasn't the same. However, the more intense conversations were loud and got louder as we moved along, so after a while, I was picking up words here and there. Rome is really spread out, reminding me a lot of Seattle to the north. There's also graffiti everywhere, and some of it is rather impressive. I could see some of these folks taking their work to a museum, it's that good. You also saw billboards everywhere, it was almost as if every open space needed to be filled with something.

We pulled into the station, and soon were off to find our hotel. We had planned a route before we left the train, so it wouldn't be necessary to pull out a map while walking. A few blocks down, take a left and keep walking. Well, the street the hotel was on actually had three names - Via Torino, Via Napoleon III and Via Principe Eugenio. It took us a few minutes and some great directional skills by girl to realize this as we tried to find our hotel because it was a lot farther than we thought. The hotel didn't have a sign on the outside, we were simply trying to find a specific address and then contact the innkeeper to let us in. We had already spoken to him by phone on the train, to notify him we were running late. His English was Ok, but a bit spotty during the call. We finally found the place, we were buzzed in and walked up a windy flight of stairs to Momi.

It's essentially a flat that has been subdivided into three hotel rooms, with a small kitchen common area and the innkeeper's room. Alessandro met us at the door, and led us to our room. As is custom there, you can view the room first before agreeing to stay there, so we looked around and it was very close to the pictures we'd seen online. Alessandro pointed out some of the features of the hotel, gave us a map with some great recommendations, and our muddled English and Italian meshed pretty well. We paid for the room, and settled in for a bit before heading out on exploration.

Girl had been to Rome before, so she knew the basic layout of things. After unpacking a bit and checking out the room, we ventured out for the Colosseum. Rome doesn't have many straight roads, so we moved back and forth until we hit a major road that started moving west. And then suddenly as the sun was starting to set a bit, I got a look at the Colosseum from afar. Girl looked at me and smiled, saying "Blew your mind, huh?" Yup, it wasn't anything like I expected, and even the pictures don't do it justice.

To think that people were at this point over 3000 years before you, and this thing is still standing is amazing to consider. It was truly wonderful to see, but then we encountered some of the local merchants there. Ok, merchant isn't the right word, but there are sidewalk vendors everywhere at the key sites trying to sell you little overpriced trinkets. I was warned to keep my hands in my pocket and wallet hidden, so I was prepared to face them with a strong NO and kept walking. We saw the Arch De Tito, and then headed up towards Via Cavour, which apparently has a lot of shops and restaurants about. We found a little market/deli a few blocks up, and decided to give it a try. The pizza looked great, and most of the customers were speaking Italian. My mangled attempt to ask for pizza in Italian was met with a smile and some simple English phrases. We grabbed some water, limoncello (lemon liquor), pizza, and headed back to our hotel. We did overshoot our road a bit, because as I also learned after the fact is that Rome puts their street signs on the side of buildings and Torino wasn't as well marked as we thought. As we settled in with our pizza at the room, it was still warm and very tasty. Just cheese, sauce, a bit of meat and bread, but somehow it just tastes better here. We looked about on TV for the weather for tomorrow, and went to bed ready to tackle things for the next day.

April 16th - Sights, Sights and More Sights

One of the rules about our hotel was breakfast was from 8 AM to 10 AM, and that you needed to leave the room at 10:30 AM for cleaning. Breakfasts in Italy consist of some fruit, pastries, and coffee, and our hotel had all of that included with the price. What I had noticed the previous night and girl had explained is that people eat breakfast, places are open for lunch, and then a lot of places close for a few hours in the afternoon for siesta, then reopen for dinner and stay open late. Loading up on food, we decide to hit some of the major sights of Rome in a walking path past the Colosseum, then up to the Pantheon and sights near there.

The Colosseum was even more impressive in the day, and the annoyance of the vendors was compounded by people asking me if I spoke English and wanted a tour. As much as we tried to walk in a straight line, it was difficult with piles of people standing about, cobblestones not being all that flat so you moved a bit back and forth, and the avoidance of people wanting money or to give you a tour. I got a little headache from all this attention, but following the simple rule of saying NO and using some Frogger moves, we negotiated through traffic and headed to the Pantheon.

To think this was the hub of commerce so many years ago was mind boggling, and it's as busy now as it was then. The only downside to the Pantheon was the McDonalds 50 yards from the entrance. Apparently, they have to be everywhere, and the crowd in the restaurant was mostly tourists looking for some familiar food. We went inside the Pantheon, and saw the chapel inside. Simply amazing stuff to see, especially the artwork around the altar. We sat for a bit and just gazed at the art. Soon it was off to Trevi Fountain, which was crazy busy with vendors and tourists, but it was a sight to behold. The water drops felt pretty good on a day that was getting pretty warm, and the statues near the water were dazzling. Then it was off to the Spanish Steps for some pictures and a bit of a rest but no climbing, and then finally to the Piazza Del Popolo. Each place was amazing to see, although the vendors were everywhere and simply annoying.

We sat at the Piazza for a bit to take in some sun and just chill. One thing we noticed about the Italians was that even on a very nice sunny day in the 80's, many of them were in jackets and scarves. We stood out a bit away from the natives because of this, but since we had maps hidden and my camera was in my pocket most of the time, we didn't look like traditional tourists. But since we stood out, we became a target for a female pickpocket. I was sitting next to girl when suddenly I saw another gal with a jacket and large bag sit to my left and then move close to me. I wondered what she was up to, and as I got up to move, I felt her hand touch my back right pocket on my jeans while she was putting on her jacket. She apologized for touching me, but I figured out she was looking for my wallet, which was conveniently hidden in my front pocket. However, if she wanted kleenex, hey, I was ready there. Girl and I had been fighting a bit of a cold leaving England, mostly from lack of sleep and feeling a bit dehydrated, so I was blowing my nose a lot in this drier climate. After the pickpocket failed at getting something from me, she immediately moved next to girl, and we got up and left to find food. I was impressed that I had foiled the pickpocket's attempt to get monies, mostly because I was paying attention. Well, at least at that point anyway.

Rome doesn't have a lot of public toilets, so it soon became an adventure to find a place to go, but we found a cafeteria that had public toilets after some searching. The food, however, looked horrible, so we instead went back to the same market from the previous night to try more of their wares. We found the most amazing sandwiches available, relatively cheaply, so we grabbed them on the run with some water, and headed back to our hotel. Overall, the day was about 7 miles of walking, but I thought we had broken it up pretty well with stops and such. I could tell that my feet were hurting a bit, and I could tell that girl's feet were starting to bug her too, as she found some band aids to take care of a few blisters. But hey, we saw some amazing stuff and this was only really day one in Rome. As we tried to find some TV that was remotely understandable, we ate and chilled. Apparently, Italians love game shows and American shows dubbed in Italian. I can now say that I've seen Walker Texas Ranger in Italian, and it makes a lot more sense in Italian than it ever did over here.

Next time - Seeing the Forum Up Close, and Visiting the Pope's House.

It's F***ing Cold Out Here, But These Guys are Really Nice, and Saying Goodbye to our time in Seaham.

April 14th - Seaham and around Sunderland.

Monday had always been a play it by ear day for us in our honeymoon travels up north, because nothing really was planned for that day. We had talked about taking the train to Scotland, going up into Sunderland and seeing more of the city, heading to the outlet mall for part of the day, or just chilling about in town. Gary had mentioned that because of the loss on Saturday there would probably be practice on Monday, and it might be fun to go check it out. We thought sure, but he did tell us that we'd get a chance to lie in for a bit.

The lie in lasted until about 9:00 AM when we were awaken by a knock at the door. Gary had called the hotel to tell us that practice was indeed on for the morning, and he'd be here about 10 AM for us to head up there. So we scrambled about to find some clothes and get dressed, and then Gary was indeed here at 10 AM to head up to the practice area.

If you drive through Sunderland and keep heading north until you are about the edge of Sunderland, there's the practice facility. Actually, it's in the town north of there, and it's a fairly nice area of fields with a large building right in the middle. We parked our car to the far north park of the area, and took some trails to meet up with the main field. While driving up there, the weather had gone from sunny with a little wind to clouds and a bit of a drizzle and wind like we have here on the eastside of Portland. I had dressed in my colors, jacket and scarf, and I could have used another layer as well. We walked past the main building on campus, where we saw a small pool and a couple of water jet pools for therapy. Apparently, they have a full clubhouse there, complete with a cafeteria, recreation room, large TV room, and other things for the guys to relax with after training to help the team chemistry.

As we walked closer to the field, we saw the players parking lot, and you could tell we were dealing with EPL players as there were BMWs, Audis, a few SUVs, but everything there was brand new and very sparkly. The players were on the far south field doing drills and playing a game called two touch, where you could touch the ball twice and then you had to pass or shoot. The keepers were off to a field on the left doing agility drills and passing drills. It seemed very efficient as coaches were barking orders and then players would follow the request quickly without any words. It was quiet except for the wind and the occasional comments from about 20 of us there. Gary had said if the weather was nice, there would be hundreds of folks there but not today.

After about an hour, the guys were done and started heading off the pitch. Gary had a autograph book and he borrowed my camera to get some pictures, and next thing I know, Michael Chopra was standing next to me as Gary shot a picture. As guys walked past us, Gary said we were on our honeymoon and could we get pictures. And many of the guys stopped and chatted with us for a bit while we got pictures. I found Kenwyn Jones hysterically funny, especially after we told him how far we'd came to see the match. Nyron was still slightly miffed at the penalty call from Saturday, but I saw determination from him to play well next week. Craig Gordon chatted with us for a bit, and wished us a good rest of our holiday. What was amazing is that as we chatted with them, they were very nice and thanked us for coming, especially after knowing the great distance we'd came. They signed a few shirts for some folks near us, but we were the only ones to get pictures with them. I felt really honored to have them talk with girl and I, and at that point, the sleepiness, wind, rain and cold didn't matter.

We wandered back to the car, and headed further north towards Cleadon and found an Italian restaurant near the practice area that many players visit. Gary had eaten there many times, and of course, knew the owner when we walked in. About 5 minutes after we were seated, one of the Sunderland players, Ross Wallace, came into eat with his family. We ate massive amounts of really good food, drank a little bit, warmed up from the cold, and generally filled up. We had also found our first copy of the Sunderland Echo, and on page 3, we found the article that was published about our trip. Overall, I was pleased at the pictures and most of the text, but the article did make it sound like I had convinced girl to blow off Rome for Sunderland, and really that wasn't the case. We decided to make a few stops on our trip, and Sunderland was our first destination to meet up with my friends that now are girl's friends as well. They showed us an amazing time, and I won't forget it ever.

We headed back to Seaham, where we got a few more copies of the Echo, and then set up plans for the afternoon and evening. Paul had dropped by to get us access to a computer at the Seaham library, and so we were able to check email, post on our board things we'd done, and generally get caught up on things back in Portland. The Chelsea -Wigan match was on later, so girl and I decided to head to the hotel to pack up and get prepared for our flight the next day, then come to Gary's later for the match.

Paul wandered back to town with us and soon we found a store for some treats on the plane flight. We found an amazing candy store in town (Somerfelds), and loaded up on lots of snacks that Paul sprung for. He also asked us about Tootsie Rolls, which have never been available there and he'd heard it was the most disgusting candy ever. We will have to make sure he tests this theory sometime. We packed our stuff, keeping with the one bag per person restriction. While you can have two bags going from the US to the UK, we could only have one bag up to Newcastle and to Rome, so we were doing some rather creative packing to get everything in. The gifts we got were all packed in clothes and scarves, and we got everything in our luggage.

After a final meal in the Harbour View, we headed down to watch the match at Gary's and have a few drinks. The match was actually pretty close, with Chelsea needing points to catch Manchester United in the title race. Chelsea got a goal in the second half, and seemed on their way to winning, but Wigan got a late goal in stoppage time to get a draw, and severely dent their title hopes. This would be something we'd have to keep an eye on. We decided to call it an early night, because Oddie, girl and I all had early flights on Tuesday, so we left Gary's to walk back to the hotel. We had said some goodbyes to the staff, and wandered up the stairs for a good night's rest. I was sad to see this part of our trip end, because it was amazing to see everyone again and be treated so well. But also knowing how much trouble Gary had gone through to do things for us, despite some medical issues he'd been dealing with. He was the very good host, and made our trip most amazing. Honestly, now that girl has experienced the northern hospitality, we will have to come back again to say hi. I mean, hey, we're members of the Scout Club!!

April 15th - Flight to Rome

We woke up on time, but honestly sleep wasn't all that good. I had a telemarketer call my cell phone at 3 AM to pitch some cell plan or something, and I politely told him to fuck off as it was 3 AM in England. The alarm rang at 5 AM, and we picked up our last things and hauled our bags downstairs. Gary and Oddie were waiting for us, and we filled his car and headed to the airport. We reminisced about things that occurred, but mostly, it was time to reflect at the whirlwind that was 5 days north.

We said goodbye to Gary and it was sad to finally say cheers. He had done so much for us, and all I could do was say thanks and see you very soon. I know that at some point he'll be back here or girl and I will head back to England, but the friends we've made up north are some of the most amazing folks about. We immediately headed to British Airways to check in for our flight to Rome, and had to wait for a few minutes before we could officially check in. After completing that and dropping off our bags, we whisked through security and found some snacks. Knowing that the waiting area for all flights was at one place, we waited for Oddie to check in and meet us there, but apparently he had some issues negotiating through the airport labyrinth. We did get to say goodbye to our newest friend, and we have an invite to come to Norway at some point, which might be a fun trip indeed.

As we settled into our seat, it was time to head back to Terminal 5 and then to our second leg of our trip, Rome. And I couldn't wait for what adventures awaited us in Italy.

Next time - The Colisseum at Night, and Adventures in Pickpocketing.

Adventures in Terminal 5 and Customs, and Pies in Newcastle

April 10th - London to Newcastle to Seaham

I don't recall when I was awoken from my attempted plane sleep. It could have been the blasts of cold air coming down on me from the console, it could have been the person in front of me that moved in their seat every 10 seconds, it could have been the flight attendants passing out food and pillows, or the announcement that everyone that wasn't a UK citizen needed to fill out an immigration form, but I was awake although very groggy and tired of sitting. I knew that things weren't right when in trying to complete my immigration form, I copied some of the information from girl's card. Ok, I copied almost everything, which wasn't that smart. I probably should have paid more attention to what I was doing, but after the adventure of leaving the country, I was too busy just being happy about making our flights.

I had visited the folks in Seaham before, back in 2006. The fans from Sunderland AFC came over to Portland in 2005 as part of an American tour, and they traveled about 400 or so fans. Portland was the last stop on the trip, and needless to say, we made quite an impression with them about our crazy passion, fervor for the game, and ability to drink. One of their super fans, Gary, invited us to visit on tour in 2006, and so 33 of us made the journey across the pond. For me, the trip was my first trip overseas but represented something more than that. My mom had died from cancer back in September 2005, and one thing she made me promise to do was to go on the trip because I was waffling about it. She said it would be one of those things you'll never forget, and she was right. The fans were amazing, and we had a very fun and crazy 6 day tour of Sunderland and Seaham. Our friends from Sunderland came back in 2007 to Portland, and at that point, I'd mentioned possibly coming over in 2008 as part of our honeymoon.

Many TA folks had talked about going, but after a few weeks, it turned out it was just me and girl. After trading plenty of emails and posts on our board, I had a feeling that there were many crazy plans at work, and turns out I was more right than I knew. Gary had been working on lots of events for us during our 5 days in Seaham, even arranging for us to stay in the same hotel that we stayed at in 2006 in the downtown area.

We touched down in London at about 9:30 AM local time in Terminal 3, and we headed off to immigration. Needless to say, my bad penmanship and scribbles didn't cause any issues as we informed them of our trek up north. Once we collected our bags, it was off to find some food. We found a nice eatery in the airport, and we had a tasty breakfast and strong English coffee. I may have been groggy in the AM, but after drinking this stuff, I was wired. Plus, we both ate the tomato included with the breakfast. Ok, I tried to eat it and made it through a small wedge. I negotiated a trade for mushrooms to get rid of my tomato. Our flight up north wasn't scheduled until 3:30 PM, so we had some time to sit about and wait. But knowing we had to check in for our flight 2 hours early, we didn't want to wait too long. So about noon, we wandered to catch the Underground to Terminal 5.

I'd heard stories about the Underground from girl during her stays in London, and our bathroom downstairs is done up like an Underground station, from the Tube map on the wall to the the camera in the upper left corner to a Underground station sign painted on the wall with the colors of the tube stops servicing it. We were able to travel to Terminal 5 for free, and so we headed off to catch the tube.

To say it's underground is an understatement. We took a few escalators to get to the station which was very far down in the ground and extremely quiet. You also heard a lot of announcements about minding the gap, which basically meant watch your step getting on and off the train because there is a slight gap between the train and the platform. A couple of brisk gusts of wind blew through the station, and then suddenly the train was there. Girl had said the trains were rather quiet, and it was another understatement. No conversations, no yelling, no noise, it was people sitting quietly with their luggage waiting for the station. If you take any form of public transportation in the States, it's as loud as a sporting event with random conversations, cell phone calls, and general mischief. Not here.

We pulled into our station, and took the escalators to Terminal 5. Terminal 5 is the world's largest terminal, apparently over 100 football pitches big. And yes, it's that big and somewhat barren. There's lots of space to just walk around in, although they did fill some areas with random modern art. I liked the flying books, but the orange telling me that it loved me was just plain creepy. Prior to our trip, Terminal 5 had opened the previous week to big press but lousy reviews. For the first few days, you couldn't check baggage at Terminal 5 because of technical problems, and then the following two days, luggage could be checked in but more than likely would end up somewhere than your destination city. Apparently the terminal was a complete mess for those days before we got there, but surprisingly, we saw a quiet large area with lots of people to help.

We checked into our Newcastle flight 2 1/2 hours early, but apparently you couldn't check bags until 2 hours ahead, so our wait was extended. Once our bags were able to join us, we ventured through Security. And I must say the Brits do security very well. We checked into a desk that took a photo of us, then we went through traditional security with x-rays. I spoke with a security officer who saw my Portland Timbers shirt and asked if it was a football team. When I said yes, he exclaimed he'd played in Rochester way back. When I said the Rhinos, he said, no the Lancers. Yes, NASL days. He remembered the Timbers from that time frame, and so we chatted for a few while girl was checking in.

Once we got through security, we headed to a large seating area and waited. Flights aren't assigned gates until about an hour before their departure, so everyone waits in a large area with lots of chairs and looks at various large TV screens. As gates are assigned, people get up and head to their gates, so you see folks constantly standing up. It's fun for people watching, but I admit it was distracting to sit and wait and stare at some big TV screen. And ok, I hadn't showered since Tuesday so I wasn't feeling all that fresh. We grabbed some sandwiches, sat around for what seemed like hours and hours, and then saw our gate assigned so we could move to another waiting area.

British Airways fed us again on the trip up North, which I think was my fourth or fifth meal, but considering I didn't know what time zone I was in, being hungry overruled the time of the day. We were supposed to meet Gary at our gate and then wait for his friend Oddie from Norway who was coming in to the same airport right after us. As we touched down, I felt a sense of relief that I didn't have to be in a plane for a few days. Gary met us, wearing his TA scarf, and told us we were heading directly to Seaham because Oddie's flight was delayed. In his car, he had two meat pies waiting for us. Being members of Row N in the TA, we hate clowns and love pies, so seeing pie waiting for us was very special. I ate mine rather quickly as apparently the sandwich didn't fill me up. The traffic wasn't too bad, and soon enough we were in Seaham at the Harbour View hotel.

We had stayed there in 2006, and nothing had really changed since the last time I was there. A pub and restaurant on the first floor, then stairs to the rooms above in the most narrow staircase I'd seen, the Harbour View is just very quaint and comfortable. We were put in room 7 overlooking the North Sea and the Seaham Cross, and when we walked upstairs, our door was decorated with pictures from our wedding. And of course, English beer in the room. Gary had some surgery a few days prior to our visit, and I could tell he was feeling it a bit, but being the gracious host, he let us get settled and showered and we wandered downstairs for a few pints. Well that was the plan, but there was some change in plan a bit.

For those of you that have never experienced power showers, they are quite common in England for areas where the water pressure isn't very good. The first time I'd seen them, it was weird taking a shower that made so much noise but they worked fairly well. I had a bit of difficulty remembering how they worked, but got it to work finally and I was cleaned up. Girl was going to shower after me and meet us downstairs, but the shower was having some issues as we couldn't get it to work. I went downstairs to get some help, and soon enough Iain was at our door.

Iain is the Harbour View owner, a right good Scot and a great guy who was one of our hosts back in 2006. He was happy to see me, and I explained the power shower issue, and he went right to work. After some tests and things, it was determined the shower might need to be replaced, so girl shuffled to another room to shower and then meet up with us. I don't know if I broke the fuse or just overloaded the circuits, but I felt bad at delaying her. She joined us a bit later, and we sat down to have a few pints with Gary and Paul. Paul lives in Seaham, and was part of both trips across the pond. He's an amazing guy as well, and one of the best drinkers I've ever met. Gary left us for a bit as Oddie's plane had arrived and he took the train from the airport to Seaham. Finally about 10 pm, we had all of our travelers, and Iain had joined our table wearing a special Portland Timbers kit we had signed for him for a few drinks. Gary told us a few times that we wouldn't forget the next few days. I had a feeling he was probably right, but for now, I was just happy to be there with my wife. We settled in about 12 AM and were going to head to Durham the next day for sight seeing until that evening, when our special surprise party was happening. As I faded off to sleep, I was just relieved to be there and tried to prepare myself for the next few days' adventures.

Next Time - Castles, Plopper, Crazy Busses, Reception...Oh My!!!