Flight Home and Travel Epilogue

April 30th - Flight Home

I've never been a fan of mornings, and so being up at 4 AM was no exception. We wanted to ensure that we would be sleeping on the flight, so tried to stay up as late as possible the preceding night. We ate a bit of breakfast, made some sandwiches for the flight, did a lot of last minute things about the flat, and by a little after 5 AM, we were off walking to Tower Hill.

When they talk about luggage being under your control, I have never understood that statement more as I was dragging two bags along. My green suitcase had a bum wheel, and the other bag was a little shorter than the suitcase, so my arms and back were getting tugged about. Plus, with a backpack on, I was fairly weighed down. But all we needed to do was get to the train station, and then we had a long ride out to Heathrow.

A cab watched us tinker with our bags, and was hoping for an early morning fare, but we passed it by, and I made a vow that we would get our bags to Tower Hill no matter what. After a few minutes walk and some moments of profanity, we finally got to our Tube stop and were dragging our bags below. As with our trip into town, we'd switch at Hammersmith to the Picadilly line to then get us to the airport. The train wasn't terribly crowded, and so we were able to find seats relatively easily. Once we got to Hammersmith, we switched trains and finding seats was a bit more difficult as it was part of the commute time and there were lots of travelers on the train. We found a spot and stood near our bags, and off we went. I was trying not to fall on my ass but did have a pretty good wobble after we left a station as I unlocked my legs for a second.

We pulled into Heathrow about two hours from leaving the flat, and we immediately grabbed our bags and headed up to check in. Seriously, while I enjoyed traveling, I was really not going to miss any airports for a bit. We found the American check in and waited in line for about 45 minutes as we queued about. Lots of people were flying today, and so we waited patiently for our turn. We finally got to a person who chatted with us a bit about the trip, confirmed our flights to Dallas then Portland, and then suddenly looked at the scale when my green bag was on it and said, "Your bag is too heavy." Eeek, this wasn't something I'd planned for, even with my bag running near the top allowable weight since I left Portland. She gave me an option to find some stuff in the green bag and move it to my backpack, so I'm feverishly grabbing stuff and putting it on the scale while girl and her chatted. We finally reached the right weight, and so I loaded the things into the other wheeled bag, and we wandered to the gate.

A bit of lunch time eating sandwiches, and getting some water and juice in the terminal, we sat about and waited for our flight and entertained ourselves with the Times. The previous night, Man United had won their way into the UEFA Cup final so there was plenty of stuff to read about. We waited about an hour until the flight gate was assigned, and off we went. After walking for a bit and making a bathroom stop, we got into our gate and checked in but weren't selected for any additional security. We had gone through security without too much issue, and here in London, many times they do extra checks at the gate and we avoided a problem. This didn't prevent other problems, though, including a lot of Americans clogging the only walkway to the gate because they didn't want to sit down in the lounge. The American personnel had to ask at least 5 times for people to find a seat, but things still piled up. It was also interesting to watch people make excuses for things in their luggage with the additional screening. I felt pretty safe after all this, and soon we were wandering into the plane getting ready for takeoff and departure.

We left on time, and were soon off across the Atlantic. There was a bit of TV on initially to keep folks entertained, but in a move that I loved, the pilots asked all the passengers to close their windows and they would turn out all the lights to allow folks to sleep in an attempt to avoid jet lag. It was a brilliant move, and I was happy to not see the same episode of Old Christine for the eight time. We slept for what seemed like ever, and then we were awoken to complete our immigration and customs forms for Dallas. Since I'd done this before and had all my receipts, I tried to be as exact as I could, trying to keep below the $800 allowable limit. I came very close to it, but just under. I filled out the form for both of the bags I was dragging, so my form was a bit fuller than girl's. We landed in Dallas about 2 PM central time, and were soon off to make the long walk to immigration.

And yes, it's a long freaking walk. It seems like forever to get to the station, but we finally got there and got to go to the shorter US citizens line. We waited about 20 minutes, talked with our guy for about 2 minutes, he stamped our stuff and off we went. Nothing like some smooth sailing, especially when we got downstairs and I was offered a free cart to haul our luggage. I politely took the cart, and we waited for our luggage which arrived very quickly. We then passed through customs, I handed my card to them and we were off to additional check in. Once we got into luggage claim, the employee knew exactly where our bags needed to go. Ok, both girl and I were in Trail Blazers gear, so he immediately said "Portland to the right." We wandered up the stairs to go through security for the last time.

And on a scale of security experiences, it wasn't the best but it was still Ok. My backpack was causing some issues with the scanners, so I had to be pulled aside to answer questions about what was in there. I was asked if I had any electronic devices, and I said Yes, that's about what is in there. The security guy had some issues finding the compartments in the pack, and when I attempted to help him, I got politely scolded to not touch my bag. I was finally cleared after a few minutes, and we wandered off to catch the train to our terminal. Dallas - Fort Worth Airport has 5 terminals and you have to catch trains between them, so we got to see Dallas off in the distance with its smog while we found our terminal.

We ate a quick bite at Wendy's after doing some exploration about the terminal for other restaurant options, and deciding that Taco Bell sounded good but exploding insides on a plane would be a bad thing. We soon wandered to our gate, and were happy to see Portlanders about. They were very casual about lines, kept quiet and followed instructions very well. I think Portlanders and Brits have a lot in common. We finally got on our last plane for this trip, and were soon off to Portland.

My mind wandered to the fun things we'd done and seen, and the lessons I'd learned, and I was just getting happier to be close to home. While I love traveling, it makes me appreciate home more when I return. And watching the landscape get more green and mountainous as we flew west, I knew we were getting home. I didn't even feel the touchdown, but we arrived on time in Portland, knowing that girl's mom would be waiting for us. We soon deplaned and wandered through the airport that started it all. It seemed a bit more relaxed that what it was 3 weeks earlier.

We went to baggage claim, and since they didn't offer free luggage carts here, we would have to haul them ourselves. However, girl's mom was on time and driving the Row N mobile. I almost didn't recognize it as she pulled up, but I was happy to see her. We chatted with her about the trip, and then got home about 6 pm. The cats didn't seem too interested in us at first until we brought luggage in, and then it was time for all sorts of smells. They finally warmed up to us after a bit, and soon we were unpacking and sharing stories. I was so happy to be home, I ran to Burgerville to get some food, and we just relaxed for the night. I was actually working from home tomorrow to get caught up on emails from work, so basically I didn't get much time to hit the ground running after the trip. But as I sat there and thought about the trip, I realized that this was one of the most impressive vacations I'd ever take and I got to share it with the woman of my dreams. While we'll make other trips over there, it won't be the same as the first time..

Epilogue

It's now 3 months later, and we just now got some of the wedding stuff sorted tonight, and still have a handful of cards for gifts to do. So if you haven't received your card yet or noticed the check you wrote us isn't cashed yet, I'm sorry but we are a bit behind. Essentially, we got back and were thrown into work, Timbers season, planning a camping trip for June, a trip to Vancouver in early June, and a bus trip to Shittle. Oh, and both of us got new jobs after we returned, as girl will be working on grant writing and I am now a business analyst for one of the bank's major databases. It's funny to think that after all of the things we'd experienced, there would be more change thrown it.

And admittedly, it was tough to adjust to some things when we got back. I was sad we missed Timber Jim's retirement, but Timber Joey has been an extremely capable mascot. Shittle bus trip was amazing, although it was very crowded and running out of beer sucked. There were a lot of new faces in the TA when we returned, and yes, that did require us to stake out our seats early now for matches. Some guys found our row rather comfortable, but at the same time, the row has great significance for girl and myself. Once girl explained our situation, we were good to go and haven't had an issue since. With the new energy there's new people who take time to learn about what happens in a match, so there's been some education but it's also been nice to meet some new folks as well.

We've also made trips to Vancouver BC and Cape Lookout since we got back, so you could say that we really have been keeping busy. But I can't think of a better person to do it with, and I can't wait for what the future holds. Hopefully, it's Timbers goals, monies for us, and good will for our family and friends.

Thanks for reading about our trip, and so now things return to normal around here. I may take a bit of time off now that I've finished the trip blog, but then again, the writing bug might strike me sooner than you think. Catch you all on the flip side.

Next Time - Shopping English Style, and The Most Obnoxious Store I've Ever Been In

April 28th - Chafford Hundred/Lakeside Mall

It's roughly two days remaining in London, and we have a lot of things we'd like to do yet, but it's now deciding what will fit within our remaining time. We got up reasonably early, ate a bit, and then discussed ideas for the daytime. I had wanted to do a little shopping for some clothes, and since we found out there was a very large Tesco near a shopping place girl was familiar with, we decided to make Monday shopping day at the mall. We would then wander into town for Tuesday to pick up any last minute items, and then pack for our flight home.

Going out to Chafford Hundred required another train trip out east, which I wasn't opposed to at all. Traveling by train is a lot easier over here, because the trains are bigger and they run all the time. As much as they have roads and infrastructure here, England also paid a lot of attention to building alternate transport, such as buses, water boats, and trains. We left in the mid afternoon to take the train out east to Chafford Hundred to visit their very large mall, and then make a side trip to Tesco for some things. The train took hardly anytime at all, and since the trips ran approximately 20 minutes apart, there was always a train coming or going.

We wandered over the pedestrian bridge to Lakeside Mall and once inside, it's a pretty typical mall. Outside of the different shops, you probably wouldn't notice any difference to any American shopping place. We decided to check out the Lillywhite's outlet, which had become a home away from home for the TA during our trip up to Seaham, then check on any clothes stuff for girl and myself that would be fashionable and stuff we don't have here in the US. The Lillywhite's was very similar to Seaham, things stuffed where ever you could find space, and random things thrown about. I found a nice England kit for cheap, but not much else that said buy me. We found a Boots book store, where girl bought a few Harry Potter editions she didn't have, and a light snack, and then we headed off for clothes.

Debenhams reminds me a lot of a Meier and Frank or Nordstrom's here at home, as we wandered through the front entrance. We wandered to an area with jackets and slacks, and nothing struck us as buys. I looked about and found a sale rack, which had a couple of buys that might work, but so far the shopping had been disappointing until we looked over and found the dress shirts. Then, girl went to work. One of her goals was to get me a pink shirt and ties that matched, and sure enough, she found two shirts and ties to match. Plus, there were a couple of other nice colors as well (I'm currently wearing the purpleberry shirt as I write this), and we found ties for all of them. And at only 88 pounds, it wasn't a terrible deal either. We did look about for some things girl might like, but nothing struck her fancy.

Downstairs, they had a West Ham store similar to the stadium, so of course, I had to peek in. I found a couple of nice things, including a nice tie rack, and so I bought a bit more. We finally wandered to Sports World on the other side of the mall to see about kits and such, but they didn't have a whole lot of things unless you were a Chelsea fan. Since we weren't, it was time to wander out of the mall and find Tesco.

It wasn't quite the walking adventure of Canary Wharf, but it took us a bit to find the pathway from the mall to Tesco, but once we got ourselves oriented, we walked past the manmade lake to the Tesco across the way. And this was a super huge location, about as large as Wincos here in town. Tesco is basically like a Fred Meyer, but they have cheaper things and vodka to die for, as part of my traveling part from our 2006 trip would remember. We decided to walk as many of the aisles as we could, and find what we could keeping in mind we didn't want to haul too much stuff to the train.

Wandered through some of the games and toy section, my resolve to keep the buying down didn't last when I found a version of the remote controlled dalek that Pete had from yesterday's dinner. Of course it was coming home with me, along with a sonic screwdriver. Then, we searched some of the clothes but found nothing, and then it was wandering the food. And boy, do they have a lot of it. Tesco's vegetarian selections are very good and tasty, but we found dessert stuff and some breakfast things, plus some things to leave in the flat for future use since we'd used a lot of the tea and condiments left there. We filled about 6 grocery bags of random stuff, including a bit of alcohol and an elderflower cordial fizzy drink that was amazingly refreshing. Just add some of the liquid to water, and it makes a light, refreshing drink. Some other cool desserts were also packed for the ride home, and now it meant hauling this stuff to the train station. It didn't take too long to walk over there, but by the time we made it there, we were exhausted from hauling. With about 15 minutes before our train was to arrive, we got some drinks and watched the sun set into the nighttime. The colors were amazingly clear and crisp, and so I was happily taking some photos while we waited. The train arrived, and within 35 minutes, we were back at the Fenchurch Station and walking back to our flat.

It was eating time, so we snacked and ate and drank, and settled in for another bad night of TV and relaxing. And I must say I liked the shirts I bought very much, and it was touching to see girl go through so much trouble to see me dressed nice. And hey, I got a dalek for my trouble as well, so not a bad day all the way around....

April 29th - Knightsbridge, Tottenham Court Road, Girl's Birthday

It's girl's birthday, and she's in one of her favorite places in the world. However, it's also our last day in London, so there wasn't much time for celebration at least in the morning. We got up, cleaned a bit about the flat, and then headed off to inner London to see the sights. Our plan was to not stay out too late, so we could come back, eat dinner, pack up our stuff, and then clean the flat in time for checkout in the morning. We wanted to avoid a cleaning fee, so it was imperative to clean the place very well. And with trash day on Wednesday, we could get a lot of stuff disposed of quite easily.

We wandered into Tower Hill Station to catch the Tube to South Kensington, then up to Knightsbridge, as girl wanted to show me the world of Harrod's. Not really sure what I'm getting myself into, I said sure let's go. I knew this was a rather posh store, but that was about it until we got off the train, went up the stairs and wandered inside. And it was then I saw what was truly one of the most remarkable but disturbing things I've seen. We wandered into the men's section to find suits for about 1500 pounds, or shirts for 300 pounds. We then veered into the jewelry section, where the cheapest thing we found was about 1200 pounds, and then to the perfume area, where any brand of stuff you could think of had a display. As we wandered from section to section, it was like watching the old show Life Styles of the Rich and Famous but up a few notches. Nobody was buying anything except in the gift shop and food courts, where you could actually afford things. We then visited one of two tapestry rooms, next to the grand piano area. While I love the whole concept of capitalism and free market, opulence and waste is something I despise, so this whole store was a bit of a struggle for me. But at least we saw a 30000 pound chandelier with a sold sign on it. I suppose if I could afford something like this, it might be a nice touch, but it's the frugal part of me that finds a lot of what was there a waste.

After the sensory overload there, we then made our way north toward the Virgin Megastore, which girl spent a lot of time in getting music sheet books, posters and some of her rare albums and CDs. We wandered through Oxford Circus near many of the theatres in town, and some rather nice looking restaurants. Once we found Tottenham Court Road, we looked about to find the store and found what looked like a rather large record store but had the name Zavvi's on the front. It was after wandering in that girl realized that this was actually the Virgin Megastore, just renamed and completely stripped down. We decided to shop anyway because she wanted some specific albums and posters, so we were off. I found a couple of rare CDs, and she completed her Robbie Williams collection with two CDs she didn't have, plus some old vinyl. We paid for our purchase, and then decided to head back to the flat.

A couple of train stops, and we were back at Tower Hill. The Tube was extremely packed this afternoon, with tourists and commuters, but it was similar to taking the MAX to a Trail Blazer game. We stopped by Waitrose for some final household items, and then it was cooking and drinking time. I ate the last of the Quavers I had, and drank some cider while we ate random foods. We had also found a special dessert at Waitrose that came in glass dishes, which closely resembled the gelatto dish that I accidentally destroyed here that she got from Rome. So she ate a lot of dessert rather enjoyably, and we got to packing and cleaning. I was pleased that I was getting all of my stuff into a home in my luggage, even being able to offer girl some space in my second bag. And they both felt a bit lighter, but boy, we have a lot of stuff packed in here. Once the packing was about done, it was cleaning and vacuuming everything. This involved doing dishes, deep cleaning the shower, vacuuming the rug, and cleaning up the sink and stove. We wanted to get as much done as we could not to keep Arthur up with noise, so we focused on louder activities to get them out of the way.

Packing and cleaning kept us busy for a while, but knowing we had an intercontinental flight in the morning, we wanted to stay up as much as possible knowing that at 4 AM we needed to be up and moving to make sandwiches for the trip, eat breakfast, and do any last minute things needed before we needed to catch the Tube to Heathrow. Our flight was at 10:30 AM, but we wanted to be there early to check in, get through security, and not be completely rushed.

Finally around 2 AM, we found some NBA action on one of the BBC stations which became our fall asleep program. I suppose even we couldn't find enough dirty TV to watch, but as I dozed off that night, I couldn't believe that within 24 hours, we would be back home and our oddessy was done.

Next Time - Flight Home and Travel Epilogue

Upton Park Experience, and Dinner in Basildon

April 26th - Match Day in West Ham

We again lied in after being up a little late watching TV but allowing time for recovery as well. We had probably pushed things a bit more than expected, so girl was feeling a bit exhausted. But today was a big day, as we were going to see West Ham take on Newcastle. In following the Hammers for years, they tend to be a bit unpredictable in terms of play and injuries. You never know who might be injured at any given time and it's hard to predict which team will show up to play, as they tend to win games they probably shouldn't and lose games they should be killing in. In some respects, it's like following our own local team, the Timbers.

We were told up north that people in London don't dress for match day or chat as much as they do. I wasn't sure if it was just playing down other fans or what, but the crowd on the tube was very large. It was a 3 Pm kickoff, so we left our flat just after noon to head out east. We saw a few Newcastle fans boarding trains as well, and once we got on the tube, I finally felt like it was match day. There were dozens of folks in various kits and polos with the Hammers' colors, and when we reached the Upton Park station, it was a near mass exodus. We wandered up the platform stairs, and were soon on Green Street walking towards the park.

The atmosphere was decidedly festive, with balloons in claret and blue adoring every storefront in the area. There were also food carts and vendors peddling various footy gear around the area, and as we walked along, we saw Upton Park on our left, and it was a very glorious sight. The front facade of the stadium is like a castle, and it towers over two large parking areas. We were amazed at how similar this was to PGE Park, as a stadium essentially surrounded by shops and homes. Our plan of attack for the afternoon was to retrieve our tickets, visit the pro shop, check in to our hotel, watch the match, and then partake in the evening activities. Our tickets hadn't arrived by the time we left the states, so we left our address in London with girl's mom to express mail the tickets if they had arrived. Since they hadn't, we took our acknowledgement email to the ticket window to get it taken care of.

And we were soon treated to one difference about West Ham. The tickets are actually scanned into one of their fan club ID cards, so we were given two fan cards to get into the game. I had already received mine, but girl wasn't so lucky. Since this took no time at all, we wandered into the pro shop to see what we could by. And that turned out to be a bad idea for my wallet, as we found kits, scarves, stickers, coasters, and polo shirts to wear. They were also offering free personalization of the kits that day, so both girl and I left our kits to have names added for pick up after the match. We then wandered off to the main desk to figure out the hotel thing.

Upton Park offers the chance to stay there as a real hotel, including after match night. However, you can't check into your rooms on match day until 8 Pm because of the time it takes to set them up. We checked in with the desk to find out that we had a reservation but that it hadn't been paid for yet. This was a wedding gift from our amazing friends of the Rose City Irons, so I was a little confused as to what was going on, but figured it would take a phone call or text to our friend Wookie to clear up. We were able to leave our bags there for check in later, and were told to be back here at 6:30 for our stadium tour, then check in was at 8 and dinner was later on that night. So we left our bags, and wandered around the park for a bit. I was trying to find a Homer Simpson West Ham scarf like my friend Jamie has, but we didn't find one. We wandered up to our seats, grabbed a quick lunch, and then headed to our seats in the Bobby Moore end at the top row. This arrangement allowed us to stand if we wanted to...

The stadium was full of color and noise almost 20 minutes before kickoff and it got louder as the Newcastle fans filed in. It was amazing to see the back and forth chanting, and when the Hammers fans broke into I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles right before the match, it sent goosebumps down my arms and spine. I have only had a few sports moments that hit me like this, including a couple of Broncos Super Bowl wins and some great Trail Blazer and Timber wins, but I was truly overwhelmed by the moment and the game hadn't even started yet.

The game itself was a back and forth affair, as the Hammers put in two quick goals only to concede a couple to Newcastle before the first half was over. The second half was a lot of pushing men forward, but no real close shots or defensive breakdowns. While the Hammers were safe from relegation, Newcastle was still fighting to stay clear. The noise ebbed and flowed but it was constant singing and chanting for 90 minutes, with scarves flying about and clapping abound. While both teams played very well, neither deserved to lose so it was sort of fitting that they shared a point in a 2 - all draw. I had been texting my friend S3K back in the States, who was watching Sunderland play so we were kept apprised of things elsewhere while here. The game had ended with me taking a few pictures, and then wandering out to the street level. We found our way back to the sport shop to pick up our kits, and then had about an hour to sit about for the tour.

One of the things we'd been asked to do was to film the tour, so we had packed a video camera to document the event. I went back to the hotel desk to retrieve it, and sure enough, it was done in a matter of moments despite there being dozens of bags in storage. Needless to say, having a green backpack with Timbers stuff on it makes it easy to find. We started our tour on time, and wandered through the locker rooms, the luxury boxes, and on the pitch itself. It's a truly nice park, and something to behold up close. And we were soaking it in as much as we could. The tour took about an hour, and soon we were back in the lobby next to a pub. It was only about 7:30 pm so we ordered a drink before check in. Wookie had texted me back about the hotel, and I told him that while we had reservations, they didn't have any record of anything being paid yet. He texted back to say he'd take care of it, and so we checked into our room at 8 and wandered up to our room.

The hotel was actually turning stadium boxes into hotel rooms, so our stadium box was owned by a construction firm during the day. The sliding glass doors were locked, so you could only look out on the pitch, you couldn't go outside into the stadium. We got ourselves dressed up (I was a bit casual the first time but got myself dressed nicely), and headed to one of the main restaurants for a sit down dinner. And it was very elegant, and in courses. We had a salad, choice of chicken, fish or vegetable pasta, and some dessert to die for, sticky toffee. West Ham also had labeled wines available for purchase, so we split a bottle of wine. It was an extremely filling meal, and it was nice to truly have a nice sit down experience during our trip. It did amaze me that some folks weren't dressed up for dinner, as we were one of the few couples or parties that dressed nice for dinner.

After this, we could have headed to the pub for more drinks, but we decided to retire to our rooms and sleep in a bit. It was cool to look out the window and see a football pitch. I can imagine this is what heaven looks like.

April 27th - Upton Park, Basildon

We woke up about 8:30 AM, and I felt refreshed, although girl was feeling a bit under the weather. Today was the day we were heading to one of her former student's house for dinner, so I showered and headed to get some breakfast while she slept in a bit. We had to check out by 11 AM, so I hurried about to get down and eat. It took a few minutes to find the breakfast eatery, but after some wandering, I found it and sat down to a great English buffet breakfast. There was plenty to eat, and I was able to get a bit of toast for girl before I left. I saw a few familiar faces from our tour last night, but I hurried through breakfast and then wandered down to see how girl was doing. She was feeling a bit better, and having some toast helped a bit. But we also needed to get checked out, head back to our flat, then train out to Basildon for dinner.

As we checked out, we were told the bill was sorted already, so we were good to go. I like that Wookie guy, and soon we were on the tube back to our flat. After dropping our stuff off and relaxing a bit, we were soon on the train out to Basildon. There was a bit of a train detour so we were taking a route to the south, and then bussing into Basildon, but we made it there by 2 Pm and were met by Phillippa and Mandy, her mum. Phillippa was a student of girl's a few years ago when she taught their class at the local school. She was the sixth teacher they had that year, and bonded with them over footy and the town. It was hard for her to leave this group, but then again, if that hadn't have happened, we may never have met. Phillippa and Mandy picked us up at the train station, and soon we were at their house in time for some relaxation and a Sunday roast.

Pete, Mandy's husband was there, and so was Phillippa's brother and Bessie, their dog. Bessie is quite a nice dog, but really is one of the most excitable animals I've ever met. She was excited to see new people, and because of this she didn't mind terribly much at all. This included following girl and I around every time we wandered about the flat. We talked a bit with Mandy and Pete about our trip, the town in general, things going on in the area, and generally just sat down and relaxed. Plus, I had never participated in the Sunday roast thing, so it was nice to be a part of sitting about and eating massive quantities. And we ate, and ate, and had dessert. It was fun to see the interaction amongst the family, as Mandy and Pete were very good parents and Phillipa was a very bright, engaging young girl. I could tell that she missed girl a lot, as probably did many of her former students. We found out that one in particular had been skipping classes and generally had been in trouble, which was sad to hear because he was one of girl's project kids and she had really worked hard on him to take studies seriously. We watched a bit of television, and then Pete pulled out a remote controlled dalek and chased Bessie around the house with it. Ahh, being in the land of Doctor Who, I loved the fact of having a remote controlled toy like that.

The night got away from us, as we were watching an episode of deadliest catch, and then Pete and Phillippa were to drop us off at the train station. They ended up taking us into Upminster, which was about a half an hour down the way, but it saved us a bit of time and jumping about stations. Phillippa was given one of the Cider Girl's official scarves upon leaving, and while it was great to see her, I know girl was sad the visit was so short. She mentioned to me on the train that Phillippa might come for a visit sometime soon, which I didn't have a problem with. It would be nice to show her a part of the world that most people there don't get to see. I could also tell that the former student's issues were bothering girl a bit as well, as it was sad to think that he felt education wasn't important.

But the area we were in is a bit poor and most of the people here don't have a steady trade, and many of the women sell themselves to make money. Many of girl's former students didn't know their dads, or saw very little of their moms either, so she became a surrogate mother to them helping them with day to day things. It was great to see this part of her past, as Basildon seems like a nice little town, but very different from places I'd been to. We ended up getting home, and decided to watch a little telly and drink a bit. So far, Arthur has kept his TV very soft, so apparently we are being very good guests and not bugging him too terribly. And at this point, we still have over two full days in London until we return to the states. The trip has been amazing, and we are now in the home stretch.

Next Time - Shopping English Style, and The Most Obnoxious Store I've Ever Been In

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

April 24th - Canary Wharf

One of the things we had wanted to do while over here was visit a Tesco. It was girl's favorite grocery store while she lived here, and I made every attempt to find one during my trip there in 2006, including taking our group on a wild run about Manchester. We had located the closest location to our flat to be a Tesco express in Canary Wharf, which was right in the middle of the banking district. Figuring this would be about an hour way each way, we figured it was a good use of our time and a great way to get exercise. We soon ventured out to Wapping to find the Thames going in the other direction, then cut over to Canary Wharf.

The clouds were present, but it was actually a nice day as we walked along the river, through some of the smaller neighborhoods east of our flat, and hitting the river trail when we could. The wind was blowing a bit at times, but overall, it was actually pleasant outside. We actually had made good time to get to Tesco, and we prepared for the trip with our backpacks in tow.

The name express probably should have clued us in, but essentially the market was about a third of the size of a regular Tesco, and it didn't have a lot of the stuff a bigger store would have. This provided some disappointment for girl, as she was looking for some specific vegetarian dishes and desserts. I was also a bit out of sorts, trying to avoid being run over by the business folks who came in, grabbed things, and scurried off. It was extremely busy, and people weren't exactly following etiquette or queues, either. But we managed to find enough things for purchase, and soon we were back on our way to our flat. The clouds were thickening up a bit, and the wind was starting to pick up a bit, indicating a thunder storm was coming in. Rather than find the Tube, we decided to rough it and walk back.

The rain wasn't too bad initially, but to avoid the wind, we tried to find side streets near the river that would keep us in the right direction. We were on task and moving forward until we got to a sign that pointed us more north to get to Wapping. Admittedly, we both followed the sign and didn't question it at all. But, after a few minutes and the rain suddenly coming down in buckets, it was apparent we were going a bit out of our way. All the while, girl was focusing on direction, and like my experience in Tesco, I tried to stay out of her way and be quiet.

After some crossbacks, a few viewings on the map, and getting ourselves oriented right, we were finally on the right path, but girl was very frustrated at me for not being more present. We talked about it at the flat, and I could sense that I'd done something very wrong. In my desire to not be a distraction, I walked near her or behind her, and generally let her take the lead. I wanted to show her my confidence in what she was doing, but in my actions, I made her feel like I didn't care and wasn't an active participant in trying to get us home. I had even daydreamed a bit about us living there while we were walking, and so I wasn't completely paying attention to the issue. Not the best thing to admit, but what I learned from this was that being more attentive and active is a better thing. I wasn't trying to cause an issue, just simply let her find the way because she has excellent direction skills. But in taking the hands off approach, she took it worse than I realized. However, we talked it through, and I felt better about things. I never intend on making her feel uncomfortable, but apparently I had done a good job here.

After the walking and being in the rain, we decided to stay put for the night, and eat some of the Tesco food. After our adventure, it took us about 4 to 5 hours to make the round trip, which should have taken 2 to 3 at most. Plus, we were both exhausted, and girl was dealing with the effects of more walking, her feet still healing a bit from Rome, and the issues caused from her pole accident in York. Physically, she was hurting a bit, and I felt bad for her. Here we were in London, too exhausted to do anything, but it was probably a good thing to rest up knowing what more we had in store. We found some TV to watch, including a show called Sexcetera, which had a feature about Portland and the Porcelin Twins. Ok, how weird is it to be in England and see our hometown on TV?

April 25th - Southend

We slept in a bit on Friday, mostly to get back on track after yesterday's debacle. Of the things we wanted to do on our remaining days, it was head to Chafford Hundred for some shopping, Greenwich to see the prime meridian, Virgin Megastore in Oxford Circus, and out to Basildon to see girl's old school and friends. We knew that Sunday was going to be the day we'd meet up with one of her old students, and so Friday was going to be either shopping or seeing sights. We ended up lying in to the afternoon, eating late, but in hindsight, it was nice because we wanted to get our spirits back in sorts.

We ended up leaving the flat and deciding to head to Southend, on the coast of England on the east. Girl had spent a lot of time there while living in Basildon, and I could see why. We caught the train eastbound, and 45 minutes later, we were near the beach. Or the English version anyway. The downtown portion was up on a hill, and you walked down a short road to reach the beach, I suppose you could say the downtown was cliffside. In any event, it reminded me a lot of Seaside or Cannon Beach, OR, as the boardwalk near the beach was full of arcades and snack shops.

We stopped in one to try and win a Homer Simpson plushie, but the claw machine was not being very nice. We also wandered over to the bowling alley to play more claw games, and use the loo. Then, we found another arcade that had the coin operated machines. You put a coin in a slot to drop it on a bigger pile of coins while the game has a metal plate moving back and forth. The object was to cause the pile of coins to drop in a slot, and maybe catch a prize in the process. Girl was a master of this machine, as she cleaned out the prized on one two-pence machine. I did a little bowling, and played more claw machines to try and get Simpsons stuff. But in the end, all we won were two Steven Gerrard phone clips, a bear figurine holding a whip, and a lot of candy from the candy crains.

What was amazing about this part of the trip was to see a place that girl held in a special place in her heart. She spent a lot of time here with her friends, and so it was special to now take me there to show me this great place. We also got to walk on the sand for a bit. Southend also has the world's longest pier, and one thing girl wanted to do while she lived here was to walk the pier. Unfortunately due to the events from the previous day, we didn't walk the pier either, but instead focused on games.

We had considered going shopping in Chafford Hundred that evening, but ended up staying in the arcades until past 9. We wandered back into town to catch our train, and about an hour later, we were back in London. Our train was full of young adults, drinking alcohol and having a small party on board. Yes, at the time we were there, liquor was allowed on the train. So many people traveling about would grab a six pack or 2 liter of cider and drink up on the journey home. Needless to say, it was a bit louder on the train that night, but still fun to watch. The people watching was great, as most of the lads were trying to hit on any fit bird they could.

We wanted to get home and eat something and rest up, knowing that tomorrow was our experience at Upton Park. We wanted to make sure that we were ready to enjoy the game plus the special present our friends back here had got for us. We were actually staying at Upton Park tomorrow night after the game, getting a stadium tour, dinner and then breakfast in the morning. And girl was going to get to watch her beloved Hammers, who I've adopted as well because they are a great team and they have great connections to our area.

We ended up eating a late meal, watching a little TV, and then going to sleep about midnight. I could still hear the arcade sounds in my ears, smelling the candy and snack food in the air. But what the past two days taught me was amazing. I learned to be a better husband, and got to share in some memories that were very important to girl. And I created memories of my own in my struggles to beat the claw machines. But just you wait, cause I'm coming back and next time, it's personal.

Next Time - Upton Park Experience, and Dinner in Basildon

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.

Walking Finally Catches Up with Us, and Are Newcastle Fans Everywhere?

April 19th - Sticking Close to Our Hotel

After being very busy, walking everywhere and staying up too late, things begin to catch up with us today. We did a lot of walking on the preceding Friday, and our plan today was to catch the Newcastle -Sunderland match on TV at a pub, then head to a nice dinner on Via Cavour. Since we are a bit tired and girl's feet are really hurting from all the walking, we decide to take it easy in the midday and then head out in the evening. There is a park near the hotel, so we decide to get some sun, then grab some lunch at the grocery store, and then get ready for the walk to Cavour.

The park is an absolute oasis in Rome, with lots of trees, a small kid's ride area, some playground equipment, and lots of benches. We find one near the center of the park, and just people watch while soaking up some rays. It's about 80 degrees and sunny today, so after the chill of Seaham, we are enjoying the weather a lot. Our attention is soon turned to a guy sitting on a bench that resembled Fidel Castro, who was talking at the top of his lungs spouting random phrases in Italian about 200 yards away from us. When the policia would come near, he would get quiet, but when they weren't around, he was yelling to anyone that would listen. Girl was inspired to try and figure out what he was saying, and it became a game of guess what the crazy guy was saying. What became odd about this game was that the more she guessed and said things, the more it was apparent that he knew she could hear him and it because a very odd inside joke. He spent a lot of time laughing at things, including a guy who was sitting at one bench while his cart was about 100 yards away from him. It was entertaining fun, but creepy at the fact this guy said things that girl had mentioned to me just prior to him saying them. He either was a crazy person or someone brilliant with a scarred mind but in tune like a psychic.

We wandered to the grocery store to grab things, then back to our hotel to eat and get ready for our evening plans. It was apparent rather quickly that the travel had taken a toll not only on us, but our wardrobes as our clothing selections were pretty bare. With the warm temperatures and no washer since Portland, we were on fumes until London and the washer we knew was in the flat. So it was figure out what worked best, and then watch girl put tons of band aids on her feet to get through the evening. We were trying to avoid public transit, and since cabs weren't regulated, it was walk or nothing. The match was scheduled for 4 PM, and we left our hotel about that time only to make it a few blocks before girl's feet gave out. By this point, any shoe was irritating her feet and so it was time for plan B. We decided to give it a rest for the evening and get ready for tomorrow, which meant me getting some food later on. I went back to the grocery store to get more first aid supplies, and then headed to the restaurant I'd visited the previous night for more pizza and spaghetti. In visiting there, I found out the Roma - Milan match was going on at the Olympic Stadium that night in town, and folks would be flooding pubs to watch it. Ironically, the pub we were going to would have been packed to the hilt with soccer fans, and we might have been stuck in this mess. As I waited for the food to get done, I heard police sirens abound outside, and we heard many of them as the night wore on. Apparently, the match was great but fans here get a little nuts about it, so the police get busy afterwards. So I got back with pizza, and we watched bad American TV dubbed into Italian. It wasn't exactly what we expected to do, but it was a fun improvised night none the less.

April 20th - Special Parade, Trastevere, Irish Pub

Girl's feet felt better, and we woke up Sunday with new optimism or at least physically more able to cope with walking. After a biscuit breakfast, we wandered down the street to a great cappacino bar for some coffee and breakfast cake. The coffee was amazing, and the cake filled us up with sugary goodness, as we wandered down past the Colosseum and past the arch. What we ran into was a special parade, where folks were dressed in ancient costumes and marching to the Colosseum. I think it was a special holiday celebration, but we watched the parade of soldiers, senators, dancers, servants, and other people representing the various regions about the area. They chanted, marched, danced, and it was amazing fun to watch. And just like some of our other great adventures, we just sort of ran into it. The parade took about an hour, but was worth watching.

We walked past some sites we'd seen earlier until we reached the Fiume Tevere, a large river running through Rome. You cross a bridge, and enter the Trastevere region of Rome. If you want amazing restaurants and great art, this is the place to be. There's plenty of narrow walkways and roads abound, but more than that are little restaurants tucked into corners with various specials. The smells were intoxicating, and it was great to see so many excellent looking restaurants until we found a McDonalds. Look, for what it is, it's not threatening and Americanized, but if I'm going to Italy, I don't need a fucking golden arches at every nice place. Seriously..

We found a gelato place nearby and had some amazing dessert, knowing that in a few hours we would find the Irish Pub that we wanted to visit the previous day. It was nearby, and allowed a simple loop back to our apartment. We also found some great cinemas near the area that I bet some of our friends back in the States might like. We wandered through downtown, and found our pub with some time to spare. In checking the game times, we knew the live broadcast was Saturday, but there was a replay at 3 PM on Sunday, so we had a back up plan in case we needed it. And with the injuries, it worked out just fine. We found our way to the pub, and sat down, expecting to drink a bit and munch some great Irish food.

If there was any on the menu, which there wasn't. Seriously, no shepards pie, no fish and chips, but rather burgers, nachos and bagette sandwiches. Ok, I know this is Rome, but you've got an Irish pub with staff that speaks English, yet no Irish food at all. Well, the Guiness was there and cold, so that worked. We sat behind a lad who was rooting for Sunderland as well, and saw a few other English folks sit near us for the game. And all seemed right until a group of Russians walked in, sat down, and started singing Newcastle songs behind us. I can tease, cause one of my best friends is a Newcastle fan and he married girl and I, but seriously, are these guys everywhere? At least the game is ready to start, and I'm optimistic of a competitive game. The cats give up an early goal, and things don't get much better as the game goes on. The Russians keep coming and going, with only minimal chanting going on. By the end of the match, only girl and I were left to watch the bitter end. But at least the food and beer were good.

The match result didn't help as Sunderland lost to their arch rivals, and I felt bad for Gary and the rest of the Mackems, as they needed points to keep themselves out of relegation. We knew that it would be easy next week to keep track of scores being in London, but it was a nice thing to catch up on the footy world. I have never appreciated the ability to read a newspaper or visit the web as much as I did at this point, because I felt a bit isolated from the world. I know, it's honeymoon time so we should be focused on it, but at the same time, knowing a bit about the world isn't such a bad thing. The only reason I knew the Pope wasn't around was cause of the non stop coverage as he visited New York.

We took our time heading back to the hotel, and walking near the Colosseum ran into a street festival celebrating the holiday. There were booths all over the street, and a wacky waving arm guy near the Colosseum. Yea, couldn't believe my eyes on that, but we did get to see a great street entertainer that juggled flaming sticks and rode a unicycle. He was very good, and it was nice to be able to watch some entertainment amongst the locals. Bands were playing nearby, dancers were performing on the street, it was really fun to see this area so festive and lively. We wandered back slowly to our hotel room, and vegged out for the rest of the night, especially after eating so much and slowly building up the walking. I never drank so much water in trying to beat the heat, but so far, the trip has been everything it's lived up to. And we have one more day in Rome, then fly off to London for our last stop of the trip. Whoo hoo!!!

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

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

April 17th - Colosseum Up Close, Forum, Palatine Hill

In waking up on the 17th, I realized that today would be Timber Jim's last day at a Timbers match, and girl and I were 6000 miles away. I truly respect TJ and everything he is, not just the mascot but the man himself and how he lives his life. While I know everyone was understanding about it, I just felt a little odd not being there. But soon enough, I got a text that my friend Obi would be standing in our row in honor of us with girl's maid of honor, Jeane. Obi is truly a best man's best man, and knowing our thoughts were there and we were represented, we tried to figure out the day's activities.

Knowing the Vatican was a good walk away from our hotel (probably 3 to 4 miles), we decided to make that our Friday destination and spend all day there. For today, it was back to the Colosseum to actually go inside, then see the Forum and Palatine Hill where many of the ruins are. This also was a bit of a shorter walk, after our previous day's excursion so it would allow us to rest up for Friday. There was also a famous statue near the Forum that girl wanted to visit, Boca De Veritas. This literally translates to Mouth of Truth, and it's a rather famous exhibit. As legend has it, the statue is of a large face with an open mouth in the front. If a person stuck their hand in the statue's mouth and it was bitten, they were found to be lying. Only an honest person could stick their hand in the mouth and not be injured, although apparently for some emperors they found it amusing to put lobsters in the statue just for fun.

We walked past the Colosseum to see the wait time, and ended up speaking Spanish to mess with the tour guides and vendors that wanted our money. We passed by the Forum, which as with many of the sites, it was hard to believe that thousands of years ago, there were athletic events going on here. What was funny to watch was the dozens of joggers making laps around the ancient track. We made it to the Mouth of Truth, and there was a small service charge to get in. Girl lamented that when she was here, it was free and there was no line. Now, about 50 people patiently waited to get pictures. When I got up there, I did my best imitation of the face, and we walked through the very small chapel next door. The art work and architecture is truly amazing, again showing elegance and simplicity in design.

We then decided to actually head to the Colosseum to get the full pass to view it, Palatine Hill and the various ruins about. You can see the gardens, the ruins of the senator's house, and various chapels and arches plus the Colosseum for one price, so we scooted in and got our tickets. As much as a tour might have been nice, I think it was unnecessary to pay someone to show you the things that you could see yourself. The Colosseum is really hard to describe, as I could see the stadium seats and pathways which when standing would have held 35,000 people for various events. The catacombs under the floor wove about underground, and I could see some people easily getting lost in there if you weren't careful. The crowd wasn't so bad because it was around siesta time, so we could move about pretty easily.

Once we were done, we zipped past the Arch and headed for the gardens and ruins. Again, there is so much history present, it was simply overwhelming and hard to fathom sometimes. Walking past places that used to have fountains, large dining rooms, servants quarters, and chapels and seeing the skeletal remains, you could image what these places would be like in their heyday. There's so much to go through, it was a bit of a whirlwind. But I felt a sense of honor to see these ruins, and really see how large the area is. We even passed by a parliament building that was having election meetings going on, as we found out later watching the news. Most of the buildings are now roped or sealed off so you couldn't walk within most of the ruins, which was frustrating but I understood why. After years and years of tourists coming in, the ruins were starting to show more wear and the Romans were taking measures to protect their treasures.

We walked back to the hotel and rested a bit, as girl's feet were bugging her. Apparently, the new Adidas shoes we got for her didn't prevent blisters from forming on some of her toes. We decided to go get some pizza and eat in, trying to watch Italian TV. Outside of the language, I observed that (1) their version of Deal or No Deal didn't have models and people opened boxes to show the amounts (2) in Wheel of Fortune, apparently Victoria Silvstedt knows enough Italian to be their version of Vanna White (3) Bender in Futurama Italian style has the most annoying voice ever (4) Homer is also annoying but not as bad (5) South Park is very funny and the voices match, but the only way I knew what was going on was to have already seen the episode. We know we had a big day tomorrow, so we turned in and got some rest.

April 18th - Visiting the Pope's House

The news was talking about the Pope a lot, and how he was off to New York. Of course, we come to visit and the pope decides to leave. Apparently, he got the memo from someone, but regardless, we ate food, got dressed up and headed out for Vatican City. Unlike other tourist destinations, the Vatican requires you to dress nicely and girls can't show legs out of respect. So we actually dressed up a bit for our venture. Girl had also bandaged up her feet, and we started the long walk to the Vatican. We made a few stops simply to rest up and keep her feet fresh, as we literally walked across town.

While heading to the Vatican, we found the only Irish pub in Rome that also advertised soccer matches, and this was good news to know, as we had interest in watching the Sunderland - Newcastle derby on Saturday. The walk wasn't so bad from the hotel, so we knew where our Saturday would take us. We finally made it to the gates of Vatican City, where two large statues sat at the main entrance. We also saw the Castle Sant Angelo to our right, which was built as protection of the Vatican. It was rather humongous, I could see why this castle could protect the Vatican. Once we walked across the river and took the first left, we were on the main road into Vatican City.

Growing up Catholic, people always talked about wanting to make the trek to see this, and so being there at the Basilica was something I had to take in for a bit. The columns around the main plaza were about 100 feet high, and the art work was very detailed. We viewed some of the fountains on site, then got in line to enter the Basilica. It was moving pretty well, even though there were about 3000 people in line preceding us. As we looked about, there were guards ever present with huge machine guns at the ready. I'm not sure if I felt safe or unnerved at the firepower, but soon, we were heading inside. I'd see the Basilica on TV for Christmas mass, and the TV doesn't do it justice. This place is over 30 football pitches big, and at least a couple pitches tall. There are chapels everywhere, I could foresee multiple masses going on at the same time during the day. We then headed over to see the Papal museum.

I'd also known that the Catholic Church had some riches, and once you see this tour, you'll see why. I have never seen emeralds and diamonds so large ever, and seeing ones as big as my hand was magnificent but sad at the same time. It's an honor to see them, but thinking that these jewels could be used to feed poor people or help economic strife, it was tough to see the opulence and not get a little angry. And it just kept going and going, as you saw more jewels, more scepters, more robes, and more gold. I think my head hurt after seeing all of this...

But it just prepared me for our trip to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, which is actually a bit of a walk from Vatican City. We made it over in about 20 minutes, and soon we were off to the races. We spent over 3 hours there, and really you could spend three days here and not see everything. There's so much to see, but we took it all in - ceilings, paintings, statues of naked guys, gardens, chapels, bathes. You name it, it was there, and you could actually take pictures of most of it. Ok, you had to turn off the flash, but at least some of my pictures came out. The museum kept going and going and going, and you made a turn and suddenly there was more stuff to see. I just kept taking pictures and watching the sites until we got to the Sistine Chapel itself. You have to remain quiet and you can't take pictures, but rather you take it in and see the sites above. It was overwhelming to think of how much time and detail it took to make this, and here I was looking at it. The guards at the gate kept yelling at people to shut up and not take pictures, but that didn't stop them from trying. It was well worth the trip to get out here.

We left the museum, and tried to loop back around to the river to get back into Rome. However, the wall surrounding the Vatican made it rather difficult to get over there, as we took a shortcut to try and get back to the river. After a few minutes, we backtracked to the museum and went back the same way we came. We did get to see the policia scare some vendors who were blocking a sidewalk. As the lights flashed, the vendors scrambled not to get caught, it was truly a COPS moment. We took our time getting back to the hotel, stopping for plenty of breaks and water and we got back to our room about dinner time.

After some rest, I headed out for more food as we decided to eat in our room again. We had found a grocery store down the road from us, and so we were able to load up on a few things like water and snacks. The pizza place I visited the previous night was very good, so I grabbed some pizza and authentic spaghetti for the road. And it was really good, not greasy at all and quite filling. The pizza crust was thin, but very flavorful, and the sauce was not too spicy. It was very filling, and allowed us to watch more bad TV.

About 11 Pm, the Italian TV gets some of their adult shows on regular broadcast TV, and they think nothing about showing full frontal nudity on TV. Some of the shows were really cheesy - one in particular was a girl in a room with some phones. People would call in to ask the girl to do things for them on TV, and then she would talk to the camera every now and then. This girl would take her top off, wiggle her tongue and point her fingers at it repeatedly. Then, she would put her top back on, and then take another phone call. We also found a casino show where the losers of various gambling games would have to strip for losing. I may not have understood what they were saying, but I understood boobs. And then we met Justine, who either was a man who became a woman or she had the worst boob job in the history of medicine. They were deformed, there was no other way to put it. But people kept calling in, so apparently Italians either like boobs or they aren't very picky about what boobs they see. But at least it's entertaining.

Next Time - Walking Finally Catches Up with Us, and Are Newcastle Fans Everywhere?

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.