Oktoberfest.

Our friends invited us to Oktoberfest this year.....
TJ had work commitments and could not go, (he had been after college,) but as I've never been, I accepted!

There were 8 of us, (3 couples, myself and a single friend.) We all arrived Friday night and woke up early to go to the tents, in order to get a table for our group.

We arrived at about 9am - and found a nice waitress setting up a table. There was a German family on one half at the table. When we asked if there were free seats for us, the waitress started saying, "no..." but then asked, "well, where are you from?" Some quick thinking made us answer, "New York," and this worked wonders. We were given great seats, in the center of the Spaten tent - with great views of the music stage.

Our waitress' name was Evelyn - and she was able to carry 7, 1 liter pints in each hand. Talent!

This is Laura and John, waiting to be served. We waited 3 hours until the parade came onto the grounds, and each tent's beer making families paraded in - music blaring to tap the first kegs.


As the day went on - and I enjoyed being there not as a 20-yr old intent on partaking in tons of beverages....I wandered around a bit, and found that we were sitting in the 'Franke' row of the tent. I am not even kidding - my maiden name - the Frankes were with me in Munich!!!!

The music was fantastic - and all of the Germans, young and old, were in traditional dress. I had the most amazing Speaetzel, a few small bites of the famous salty, crisp roast chicken, and a yummy pretzel.

After a few hours of John Denver - smoke - and thousands of people in one tent...I went to dinner with a friend. (A great vegetarian restaurant - Prinz Mishkin.)


It was a fabulous experience. I rounded out the weekend, with a long run in Munich's 'central park', and a beautiful train trip. All my pictures are here!

Edinburgh...

Here are my pictures from Edinburgh....
While TJ played golf, I had a nice day sight-seeing, a fantastic lunch, and a wonderful long run around Hollyrood park.

The city is small enough to cover the bulk over the course of a weekend...but seems like there is enough art, and cultural events to keep things interesting. Definitely a quaint place...

We stayed in a fabulous modern hotel, which used to be a church, the Glasshouse.

We discovered a great neighborhood in the new-town area, and this great neighborhood gastro pub. My pictures are here....

Cambridge!

We took the car for a day trip to Cambridge a few weekends ago.

Had a proper Sunday lunch, and watched the punters on the river.

A fantastic 'university' town!

Edinburgh

Just a few non-golf photos that I liked from our visit up there... it is a great city. The people are generally very friendly, and the scenery is fantastic.

a more modern take on traditional dress...

I liked the weathervane bird facing one way, and the seagull facing the opposite...

the jean jacket may be back in full force...

I think we're already planning a return for next year so that we can see some of the "Edinburgh Festival Fringe "-- we missed it by just a few days this time.
Who wants in? Just let us know..

Londoners.

I have been feeling a bit more like I belong here and have lost some of that "new kid in school feeling" Things that have helped make me feel like a Londoner:

1. Kindness of strangers.
I was waiting for the bus after work and chatted briefly with a women next to me. A car pulled up to the bus stopped, rolled down the window and the driver invited the woman, (who was his colleague,) into the car for a ride to the tube station. She got in, and the poked her head out and invited me in as well. I got a ride to the tube from a lovely British gentleman. As I am writing this I am thinking, "that could either be a sweet story, or really scare my parents." Sorry Mom, I went with my gut and had a nice commute.

2. School Run.
TJ and I found out one morning that we take the same tube line to work - I get off the Jubilee a bit earlier than he does, but then take the Piccadilly to the bus, while he stays on to Canary Warf. We had been leaving the house at about the same time every day - but once we figured out we could grab 15-20 more minutes together each morning, we've been trying out doing a bit of the commute together. Those early, (OK you know us, not too early =) morning walks to the tube together, as neighborhood children arrive at the local primary school have become one of the best parts of my day. The kids in their little hats, short little trousers, and mini-book bags are a very fun sight! We quite often get run of the sidewalk by scooters, and have admired quite a few ambitious, mop-like long hair styles of the little boys. And I get to see it all with TJ - ahh, it's the simple things.

3. Local food.
I'm headed to have my first formal Tea today followed by a visit to Clarence House, where Charles and Camilla live. A very English afternoon with a few friends.

As we approach our 2 year anniversary of living here, the challenges seem to diminish and I truly do love it. If only our family and friends would move on over =)

Hampstead - Bank Holiday Weekend.

We spent a lazy grey Saturday afternoon during the 3-day Bank Holiday weekend out in our town, popping into a few pubs and enjoying a nice lunch.


There are some fun spots and we discovered a hidden charming place up on a hill - the Holly Bush.
It has not been touched in a good 20-30 years. I am sure the guys we saw sitting on barrels at the bar have been there a few times - and pretty sure they'll be there the next time we go.

Catching Up.

I am catching up on photos from the past few weeks - thought these were fun from the Chelsea opener.


It was my first English football game! I desperately tried to figure out the songs they were chanting and keep pace with the game. It was only 90 minutes - so things went quickly! And during 'half-time' people race out to grab a drink and then race back to the stadium as they can't drink inside.

The woman at the counter wouldn't even let me bring the top to a bottle of water away with me. She literally twisted it off and took it from the bottle before handing it to me. It's to keep me from flicking it onto the pitch at someone. Ahhh - I definitely look the type!

I was a bit flattered that she thought I had such skill!

Our friends Jen and Ben were kind to invite us - plans are in the works for the 4 of us to use our car for a football game road trip!

And these kind gentleman were on hand to protect us in case any hooligans were about.

Fun day!

Carnoustie and St Andrews Old Course

the obligatory bridge photo on the 18th at St Andrews...

These posts are all going to be a bit out of chronological order... but that's just the way it is...

A colleague of mine and I went up to Scotland for some meetings in Glasgow (two of which were quite good) and decided to take advantage of our geographic location by trying to see if we could get on any of the golf courses up there - with the criteria being 'fabled' or part of the Open Championship rotation.

Carnoustie's clubhouse from the 1st fairway

a much more pleasant scene without Jean Van deVelde wading across...

Amazingly - we were able to book times on Carnoustie right on their website, and then we gambled and won with St Andrews, where the R&A reserves some tee times daily for people that enter their ballot.

the R&A clubhouse & center of town

You either show up in person or ring them a day in advance before 11:30am to put your names in for the ballot... the results are then posted online and at hotels and other venues around St Andrews at 4:30 pm. We did our meetings in Glasgow, then drove the hour or so back to Edinburgh, where I was checking the results on the blackberry...scrolling and scrolling down until I was convinced we had missed out... but then we were there..with a 1:50 time, and the forecast was for warm-ish partly sunny conditions... a fantastic result (especially because we had not even decided on back up course if unsuccessful).

bunkering on the shared 8th and 11th green, where play cris-crosses
to make the turn back towards town

We were again fortunate with weather... It was windy at Carnoustie - which made a very difficult golf course that much more challenging - and then at St Andrews it was actually warm, with wind only for the middle 6 holes - with blue skies for most of the day.

my tee shot on 18...

We got to St Andrews a couple of hours before our time to see a bit of the town, and also brought jacket & tie because 9 years ago I had been introduced to a member of staff at the R&A who provided me with a three day temporary membership... we spoke with the man at the desk who allowed us in again to view the trophy case, library, snooker room, etc - which again was really a treat.

the real deal - the Claret Jug in the R&A's trophy case

the only golf motif stained glass I've ever seen... appropriately at 'the home of golf'

I still believe that with another round at Carnoustie it would not be as difficult as my score indicates (see below) ...with local knowledge being very important - especially when trying to figure out where to hit the ball off the tee because some tee shots that looked very good either ricocheted off fairway mounds across into the rough - or ran through the fairway into long rough or the gorse - which is worse than a hazard...

St Andrews is a bit more open - and there was a caddie in our group that I could ask if my memory from my last rounds there (1999?) was still accurate (not that the course has changed a bit...)

Result: 89 at carnoustie (!) - followed by 71 at St Andrews...

representing w the Sawgrass hat...

the target of the tee shot at 17 is over the "L" in hotel according to the caddie..I cut it a bit too close, but was in play in he right rough by the hotel.. and from there avenged the two 5's (bogeys) made nine years ago with a birdie on the toughest hole out there - where David Duval's battle with Tiger ended (see this NY Times story for more... I'm just pleased with my result...)

Just a great couple of afternoons on the golf course...

Chelsea FBC

Our friends Jen and Ben asked us to Chelsea's opening Premier League match - and we had a great day for it.

We met them at Bodeans BBQ - which is actually really decent BBQ - especially when you look out the window and see that you are in Fulham...

here you can see the tallest-shortest forward combo in the league this year with Peter Crouch (at 2.02 m) and Jermain Defoe (at 1.7 m) - you do the math(s)...or just click to see it larger, or just trust me.

The seats that Ben had were on the lower level, at midfield - but up far enough to provide a good view of everything - as well as being covered (we did not need it on this particular day).

It could have been a more closely contested match - as Portsmouth is the reigning FA Cup holder and they bolstered their side this year with a couple of good names signings... but it is always fun to see goals... and here is one that was a bit of a controversial/close call... but Chelsea was the home side...

just after that was the half time whistle...when everyone hustles out for a refreshment - while a few 'tuck in' to their half time grub

Result - 4-nil Chelsea beats Pompey... good times.