Lots to report here, folks. We've traveled to Oxford and had a great weekend staying on campus in a converted dorm room. The town was really fun to walk around and had a bunch of really cool old pubs where famous people like Tolkien once drank. So we visited all those and then headed back to our dorm for a night on twin dorm beds that are just as uncomfortable as you are thinking they might be. Oh my yes. The breakfast was great, though - in a dining hall much like Pierce was at Kenyon for me. Not as pretty but just as tasty. Here are my favorite pics from that trip.
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| Dining Hall at Lady Margaret Hall |
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| Coolest old crooked building - which is now a Pret! |
We also celebrated our anniversary one weekend - seven years already! Gah! Time flies. We didn't get a chance to head to Frankfurt yet to visit the only other European Chipotle, but it's on the list to do this year. Instead we went to a different Chipoodles location in London that we hadn't been before and had some delicious ice cream afterwards. NOM.
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| Seven years and still awesome together. |
Our next visitors were my brother, Richard and sister-in-law, Cynthia - traveling to Europe for the first time. They stayed with is for a few nights, went to Paris for a whirlwind day trip, traveled to Ireland for the weekend, then came back and hung out with us for a bit. We walked EVERYWHERE - including walking along the entire old Roman Wall. You can follow the ruins of it through the city but some of the markers are hard to find and some even say "this is where it used to be" - with nothing but a plaque to show for it. Still a cool walk, though.
While they were here we tried our hand at Pub Trivia night - and sadly, we were in last place AGAIN. Guys, I'm trying. It's harder here. Lots of British trivia that I just don't know (like about the old TV show East Enders). Sadly the team that made second-to-last place won a bottle of wine and we only lost that by ONE point. D'oh. Next time - victory will be ours!
The three of us took a day trip to Bath - and what a pretty town that was. Jefferson and I will have to go back to explore more, but the Roman Baths that Richard, Cynthia and I visited were pretty cool.
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| Serious pose - but Cynthia is still smiling! |
We've had quite a few visitors this last month! My cousin Travis came into town and we took him out for a traditional pub meal. Also our friend Jasmine from Bern, Switzerland - who was also Jefferson's German TA in college - came into town to visit one weekend and we wandered all over Greenwich and the Docklands with her. It was so great to see her again - it's been about 7 years since we last hung out!
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| Jasmin! |
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| Travis! |
Then Jefferson and I headed to Denmark for a weekend of amusement parks. First we hit up Legoland once again - but only for about two hours before heading to Copenhagen for the rest of the weekend. At Legoland we got two awesome new Legos:
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| Chicago! |
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| Corn man! |
In Copenhagen we stayed in what I do believe is the Red Light district and had trouble finding our AirBnB at first. We were looking around and saw a sign that said, "Erotic Corner" and I said, "Oh man, I hope that's ours." And it was. Turns out, it was a really cool apartment and super close to everything great in the city.
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| Asleep on the train |
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| Erotic corner... |
We went to Tivoli Gardens - an amusement park smack in the middle of the city. It was my first time and probably my last because I do not do well with rides that drop really fast. It makes me scream a bit more than I'd like and laugh a lot. Plus, sadly, I tend to get motion sickness on some of the rides and since nobody wants me puking on them, our friend Britta had to go on some of them with Jefferson.
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| Obviously a "before" pic since I'm smiling |
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| Britta and Jefferson |
Now we're back in London and this weekend we had a hilarious party at our apartment. It was a Girl Scout Cookie Wine Pairing party - and it was amazing. Thanks to my sister, Stacey, I was able to make green sashes for everyone to wear and provide a badge to put on their sashes for each pairing people tried. We had a whopping 18 people in our apartment and it probably won't surprise you but the Thin Mints were the most popular pairing. Here are some highlights:
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| Delicious cookie pairings! |
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| It was a good crowd of honorary Girl Scouts. |
Oh and...turns out I have no shame...
