Artistic London Photos are up…
I submitted some of my nicer photos from London to DeviantArt these past few days. Tell me what you think… click on image for full-size:
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favorites
Photo upload in progress!
The albums are s-l-o-w-l-y coming together… I will post links when they are.
For now I wanted to leave you with this cute shot of the photographer herself taken by her loving husband. Don’t I look all photojournalistic and stuff with my huge wide angle? We were on a river cruise on the Thames.
We are in London…
Actually, I am typing this at my friend’s flat in Sutton (suburb south of London). We had wonderful Thai food dinner, just had some chamomile tea with them and are getting ready for bed. DId I mention Kenny and I have now been officially awake for over 32 hours straight (we only slept about an hour on the plane rider over) and really looking forward to some sleep?
We had lots of fun but I will save the synopsis for our return. I need sleep and I am on a dial-up so you guys will just have to wait. It did involve wax figures and shopping. Tomorrow’s adventure involves a castle, a labyrinth and drinks with some good friends.
Till then – and try to stay out of trouble!
2 more days till vacation…
As I scurry around these last couple of days, I thought I would post our itinerary of what we hope to see and do…
Monday: Arrive 6:55 AM and meet up with CJ & Susan who are already in London since Saturday.
We hope to make it out to the infamous Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum that day then meet up my friend Paul for dinner (he is the groom-to-be and our host for 3 nights).
Tuesday: Spend the day at Leed’s Castle.
Wednesday: We have 10:30 AM tickets for the London Eye and the Thames River Cruise. Rest of the day we’ll hit the museums.
Thursday: Go up the Tower Bridge and really no other specifics. I figure we can take this day and see what each of wants to see. Whether we stay together or not is up in the air. Each person can do what they want… (maybe I’ll go to the Tower of London since it is right next door to the bridge and I haven’t been yet).
Thursday night: Go to a theater show.
Friday: Paul & Michelle’s wedding is at 3 PM. We’ll meet up with Susan and CJ in the evening.
Saturday: Open day – probably shopping!
Sunday: Fly back home at noon, arrive Houston ~5 PM.
Expect me to come back with several hundred photos! Kenny is bringing his laptop and he has bought all the necessary electrical converters. Last night he installed a great photo editing program we both like to use as well as the software for both of my pencams. This way I can download pictures every day and keep on shooting. I think between the two pencams, two digital cameras (with 128 MB and 512 MB compact flash cards) and a digital video camera, the trip should be well-documented!! LOL!
More Miami observations…
OK, a few more thoughts on my trip to Miami…
- In general, Miami drivers suck. They are rude, cut in front of you and then drive and turn slowly! It actually makes me appreciate Houston drivers – scary, isn’t it?
- Related to this, don’t ask for directions. They won’t know either. LOL.
- Cuban food is good! I had arroz con pollo (homemade by Petra), palomilla steak, pastelitos de carne and empanadas, and my favorite Cuban sandwich, a medianoche. All gulped down with yummy Materva! Oh, and don’t forget the cafe cubano (essentially pre-sweetened espresso).
- Damn, it was hot and muggy. I think it felt worse than Houston because most places don’t have A/C systems as good as here (in Houston).
- Cuban people are *loud*. We don’t shout but the volume of our voices gets louder and louder as we try to get a word in edgewise.
- Laughter is good. Cracking up over dinner with family is better, especially if you laugh loud enough to scare the tables around you.
- Old age can affect people so many different ways. I am scared of how it will affect me because it seems that there is no way to control it.
- Pouring over old family photographs late at night is a great way to learn more about your history and get the stories behind it.
For more stories, just ask me next time you see me… I’ll even break out the photos.
Miami Weekend Summary
Hi everyone! Sorry I didn’t get in here any sooner but I had a busy day at work yesterday and I just couldn’t find enough time to type up my thoughts on the weekend. When I did get home I then went to see a friend who had her baby 2 weeks ago. I didn’t get home from that visit till 10:30 PM and I just avoided the computer the rest of the night.
Anyway, here is a my weekend update…
Despite the horrors I had heard about airport security and the long lines, I had no trouble at all at the Houston and Miami airports. I took my sandals off, had one bag inspected but overall, I felt the personnel was friendly, professionally and relatively efficient despite the long lines. Even Continental’s check-in was efficient despite the passenger line starting to head out the elevator doors. A Continental employee was directing passengers and we were checked in fast and easy. Once I landed in Miami I quickly found my sister, found my bag and picked up the rental car.
The rest of the weekend was spent driving between our family friend’s house where we were staying, my half-brother’s place and the nursing home where my grandmother was currently staying. As I’ve said in the past, this trip was not a vacation but more a time to check in on my 88 year old “Abuela” as well as to help sort some of her stuff since she was recently moved to a 24-hour care nursing home.
Abuela was very disoriented and it was hard to leave her behind but I felt that the nursing staff was very good and that they are taking good care of her. The facilities were clean and as pleasant as one can hope for in a nursing home and the facilities have a beautiful garden where we spent one afternoon.
While we weren’t with Abuela, we were driving the Miami streets (more on Miami drivers in a separate post), catching up with family friends, eating delicious Cuban food (that’s all I had all weekend) or going through pictures from my grandparent’s earlier years and my father’s childhood. I will try to scan some of the better photographs that I was able to keep that date from early 1940-50’s Habana, Cuba.
I guess I was pleasantly surprised with how much more positive the trip was than I had anticipated. My Spanish flowed easily (and my Cuban accent got stronger) , the laughter was constant and the company was outstanding. Between me, my sister, my half-brother Gerardito and my grandmother’s niece Petra (who we stayed with), a wonderful closeness became apparant and a natural easiness with each other made the harsh reality of my grandmother’s ill state seem a little less harsh since we were all a gathered there out of our love for her. I only wish Abuela could have seen this more but she really wasn’t all there mentally.
It all came to an end a bit sooner than I would have wished but I had to come home so I could continue to pay the bills. I hope that we all see each other more often than we have in the past. If only I could convince Gerardito to follow through on his promise and come down to Texas for a visit…
More quick thoughts on the weekend later today…
The rest of the photo album is here.
Gerardito – if you are reading this – dejame unos saludos en la seccion de “comments” abajo de este parafo…
Can’t write much…
…but wanted to say hello from hot, humid, sunny Miami! Sorry I didn’t get a chance to blog before but we left in a hurry at 6 AM Saturday morning to get to the airport in time.
Anyway, gotta go visit my abuelita! Cheers! Talk to you guys Tuesday…
I love shopping for trips…
I still have a few months but I am ordering this cute dachshund shoulder throw in a couple of weeks with my next paycheck!! It will be great for my trips to Boston and London… the weather will be a little chillier and it will be the perfect size to throw in my daypack and always keep with me as I site-see.
Something else I bought for the trips – this nifty document holder. I couldn’t resist – the sale was too good. I got it in blue, my favorite color.
And of course, I need guidebooks. My favorite series is Fodor’s Citypacks! I swear by them… they offer a listing of the city’s top 25 attractions as well as a list of walks and free things to do, wonderful, concise advice, great summaries and all come with a full foldout map of the city! Add to that a durable plastic cover, a super thin profile and a great price and I am a loyal fan. I’ve used the books for New York City, San Francisco and Barcelona. I’ve already bought the one for London at a local bookstore and need to order the one for Boston from Amazon.com.
As you can see, I get giddy when I plan trips. I love to travel sooooooo much! And my giddiness will only get worse as the time approaches to leave. An international trip warrants extra giddy points too, by the way. To my loyal readers, I apologize in advance… 😀
We’re booked!!
We booked our flights to London last night! Woo-hoo!! We are going non-stop on Continental and will be there for 6 nights in September! I already e-mailed my friends to make arrangements to stay with them for part of that time, then I need to book a hotel for the last half of the trip since the happy couple will be rather busy with wedding stuff. Looking forward to hitting some museums that I missed my last time there.
Update: It looks like I have found a great house-sitter so I don’t have to worry about kenneling the two dogs nor about feeding the fish! One less worry…
I love to travel!
As I finalize my upcoming vacation plans I started to think about all the places I want to visit in my lifetime. Here is my list, subject to change at any time, of course:
Within the USA
- Seattle, Washington
- Las Vegas
- Chicago
- Vermont during the fall on one of the foliage road tours
- Skiing either in Colorado or New Mexico (I’ve never skied)
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
- The Southern East coast (i.e Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia)
- Alaskan cruise (this is planned for our 10-year wedding anniversary)
- Puerto Rico
- More of Northern California including a hot-air balloon ride over one of the wine regions.
International
- Basque region in Spain during the cider house tours
- Somewhere in Asia, don’t know where yet and depends on political climate
- Australia/New Zealand
- Canada – Quebec, Montreal, Lake Louis, Nova Scotia
- Greece
- Ireland & Scotland
- Denmark – Legoland and Eskesen (the floaty pen factory)
- Eastern Europe including Warsaw, Prague, Budapest
- Southern Italy (already saw Northern Italy)
- Guatemala – so I can take Kenny since I’ve already been
- Costa Rica
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
I have been to many places already – more than the average individual – and already realize how fortunate I have been but the world is huge and I have the travel bug so I still have many places to see. Funny thing is that the more I travel, the more new places to visit I discover! Fortunately for me I have a husband who also loves to travel and circumstances that will hopefully allow us to pursue some of these goals. It will take me a lifetime but I look forward to seeing these new places, experiencing new adventures and creating more memories. Oh, and don’t get me started on the places I want to visit again!
How about you? Where do you want to?
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