Assimilation? Nearly there...

I was just skimming back among old posts, admiring my political reporting and whatnot. Then I came across this one talking about various Britishisms I found bizarre a year ago. I mentioned 3, plus a 4th in jest.

For the record:

I have - for survival - started using the term 'diary' in favour of 'calendar' on a fairly regular basis in the office.

I am loathe to report that I frequently use the word 'loo'. I am still very aware of it, but it feels more normal when talking with the Brits and other Europeans. Weird.

And, while I still can't get my head around the 'You alright?', someone did say 'toodle pip' the other day as they left the office. They were not trying to be cutesy, at least not much at all.

Back in London-Town

Hello! Thanks for coming back! After a summer of jet-setting (I spent only 5 of 13 weekends from July - September in London), both Jason & I have been home for the last 3 weekends. We've been sorting through pictures so we can share our travels, but of course we need to get out whenever the sun threatens to shine.

Over the past 3 weekends, we've been getting out and about in various parts of London, doing normal things like golf, and not-so-normal things like having afternoon tea. Last weekend Jason decided it was time to go visit his favourite painting, and so we made an afternoon of our visit to the National Gallery and took part in the Englishy-touristy activity of afternoon tea. I think people really do this in some parts of England, but in London it's only tourists and the upper echelon. So, I leave it to you to decide which bucket we fit into.

In case you're wondering, here's the painting Jason likes; Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres:

This weekend, Jason's mom came for a visit, and we managed to score a pretty nice weather day so we went up to North London to visit one of the city's famous cemeteries... an appropriately activity for a crisp October afternoon.

Getting back to the 'usual' stuff, though... if you've visited our Picasa page recently you probably already noticed pictures from Belgium and Germany. Way back in August, we took a weekend away in Bruges - the Eurostar takes us to Brussels in 2 hours and then Bruges is about an hour from there, so very easy! We had a more low-key trip than our last trip to Belgium, but we still managed to pack a ton of activities into our weekend. We visited a church, took a canal tour, ate some mussels (of course!), and even rented bikes and rode out to the nearby village of Damme. Then on Sunday we stopped through Ghent on our way back to Brussels. The 2 cities were very different from each other, with Bruges an idyllic small town whose architecture has been described as 'more gothic than gothic', and Ghent very clearly a real working city, with a charming canal-way, old churches and belltowers set against a backdrop of highrises. Be sure to check out the pictures... but here are a couple for good measure!

Canal in Bruges

Bikes out in Damme

The other highlight of August (before our BIG TRIP, details forthcoming), was a short-notice visit with Dad in Germany! As I was traveling to Bruges I got a call from Dad saying he would be in Germany in 2 weeks for a whole week... and as luck would have it I was planning a business trip there too during that time! So, we both extended our trips for the weekend to take advantage of the fortuitous circumstances. Since Dad's company is out in Luebeck (just outside Hamburg, where I was staying), I went to Luebeck for Friday night, and then we headed back to Hamburg mid-day Saturday. We crammed some good touring into both cities, including (in Luebeck) the Museum of Puppetry (!) and dinner at the famous Schiffergesellshaft restaurant. In Hamburg we took a boat tour of the port, visited a notable WWII landmark church, and had a nice stroll along the lake (iso drinks and dinner).

Oddly enough in both cities there were music festivals going on in the town squares. Varying degrees of quality and unintentional humour made for some ad hoc entertainment during our walks. For example, following the strains of decent-sounding (if that's possible) AC/DC and coming upon a stage with EZ/DZ rocking out. We grabbed some beers and observed the locals, or the pilgrims of bad rock, whichever they might have been.

Mostly, though, it was a really nice weekend spent hanging out with my dad, and I hope his company sends him back over so we can do it again! Of course, you can see the pictures here.

Not the best pic, but there we are, hangin' in Hamburg!