I was realizing today this is the first time I have visited the greater Seattle area at this time of the year - what a beautiful place!  The trees are in full fall bloom in vibrant shades of crimson and mustard leaves.  Today, Leslie and I took a drive along Lake Sammamish from Redmond down to Issaquah.  It was an overcast day and was raining a bit on and off so there were low clouds nestled down among the pines, weaving themselves into the trees - gorgeous! It gave the lake a cozy feeling making me want to curl up in front of a lovely warm fire in my fuzziest of PJs. 

We ended up having lunch in the cute little downtown area of Issaquah and then driving up and around the Bellevue, Kirkland and Juanita areas.  There really are many great little communities which have beautiful wooded areas and great views of the mountains and various water features.

It started to get me in the holiday mood with the weather and the environment - scary thought x-mas is less than 2 months away.  It always seems to sneak up on me when I least expect it!! 

Never a quiet moment and we are off again, this time to Redmond, Washington.  Reeves is going to have a busy week of work but I get to hang out with my friend Leslie and enjoy all the delights of area, including some wine tasting!  Since I am getting my new laptop while I am there, I will hopefully get some more time to blog, as well as working on my genealogy class which, I can't believe, is almost over.

I also can't believe the x-mas season is already here!!  The shops here have had x-mas decorations up even before Halloween - it is becoming especially intense now since there is no Thanksgiving holiday to break up the November-December time - my how the time flies!!!

I must have been English in a former life as I feel so at home in this city.  This is the fifth time I have been to London and I could return year after year and still feel like there is more to explore.  I popped over for just a quick 3 day 2 nights which I had book just the week before - I had wanted to get over before the weather changed from fall to winter and before the couple museum exhibits I wanted to see closed.

Flying in on Tuesday morning, being ushered into London with a glorious sunny day, I was to my hotel, The Pelham, in South Kensington by about 11:30 am.  I love this hotel and I have stayed here 4 of the 5 times I have been to London.  In fact this is one of my favorite hotels in which I have ever stayed.  It is a quiet oasis away from the bustle of the streets and is so convenient, located directly across the South Kensington tube stop. So, you can take the Piccadilly line directly to and from Heathrow.  

I was then off to the Royal Society of Arts to see the show, Making History: Antiquaries In Britain, 1707–2007 - Here is what there web site states of the show: 

It features works of art, antiquities and manuscripts of unique historical importance, such as a processional cross of King Richard III and his defeated Yorkist army recovered from the battlefield of Bosworth (1485). Also on show will be the earliest known medieval manuscript illustrations of Stonehenge, as well as drawings and paintings of this and other historic sites and monuments by great artists such as Constable, Turner, Girtin and Blake.

  The exterior of part of the Royal Academy of Arts - the home of the Society of Antiquaries 

It was a nice little show taking me about 2 hours, which included lunch in their lovely little cafe. After I decided I was ready to switch gears and thought I would indulge in a bit of retail therapy in an area of London which I had never explored before - Regent Street. 

 The Beautiful Georgian Buildings of Regent Street

I walked up the lovely Georgian street doing some window shopping, stopping at Liberty of London's - truly an English institution. I spent almost 2 full hours browsing around all the wonderful rooms, lingering in the fabrics and sewing notions, the accessories shop and the lotions & potions section. So much to see it is a visual cacophony of products.  I picked out some wonderful bubble bath and candle as I couldn't wait to spend an evening luxuriating in my perfect hotel room. 

After a quick stop by the gigantic department store, Selfridge's (which I was frankly disappoint with - too noisy, too crowded, and everything was tied down in an attempt to keep the shoplifting to a minimum but completely dissuading anyone who actually might buy something from wanting to see/pick-up and browse the store).

I was giddy as I made my way back to the hotel. I was SO excited at the prospect of room service (from their really nice restaurant) a long, hot bubble bath and to bed early.  The Pelham had actually upgraded me to a Queen suite for free so I had a large room with two sets of french doors - there really wasn't much of a view with the doors opening to the back, but it was quiet and allowed the fresh crisp fall air to fill the room. 

 My lovely room at the Pelham

I had the perfect evening.

The next morning I woke after nine hours of sleep ready to tackle the National Gallery.  I had only been there for about 30 minutes in a past visit so I had never "done" the museum. I ended up spending 3 1/2 hours till I was just too hungry to continue and tried to find some food.  Both of their restaurants had nothing which sounded appealing (and that is saying something as I am never a picky eater) so I went over to the National Portrait Gallery and had a wonderful gourmet lunch looking out over the skyline of London.  It was a nice respite, rejuvenating me to see some more art. 

  My view for Lunch at the NPG

Since I had already seen the NPG in a previous trip, I just visited my favorites in the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian galleries.  After these two galleries I was ready to again transition to a different type of culture and spent some time in Harvey Nichols & Harrods.  I have to say that I really enjoy Harrods, it is like a toy shop for adults and I stocked up on their tea and found a lovely wrap-coat by Vivienne Westwood.   

(No, this is not me, just showing a picture of my new wrap from the Vivienne Westwood site)

Hobbling back to my hotel room, bags of exhibit books and various purchases in tow, I think I was even more excited the second night about a hot bath and room service after 10+ hours of walking around.

My final day was gray an spitting rain so I was glad I had left the closest museum till last.  I arrived at the Victoria & Albert Museum (just one block up and one block over) at opening and was glad I did as the show I had come to see started filling up quickly.  The show was The Golden Age of Couture: Paris & London 1947-1957. I really enjoyed this show and its history of fashion at this wonderful period of design revolution.  They had an exquisite collection of dresses, shoes and other accessories and I learned many little tidbits which I had never known.  Did you know that it was Roger Vivier who invented the stiletto shoe???  The museum was becoming a madhouse and there were just too many children, which I learned was because there was a school holiday, so I went back to my hotel to wait till it was time to take the train back to the airport.

The main rotunda at the V&A

While I missed my honey on this trip, I know he would be have been bored and I would have been guilty for dragging him around to all places which are much more of my interest.  It was a wonderfully restorative trip and I am again so glad to live so close to be able to do these great little last minute trips.

Yes, I am sad...Reeves just left this afternoon to attend a conference in Washington D.C. and he left me here alone. I am a big sap when it comes to my husband and have to say that I hate to be apart from him.  It is bad enough he leaves me everyday to go to work, but I really hate it when he goes off and leaves me for several days - the nerve! :)

Yep, I new he was "the one" when I could stand to be with him 24/7/365 and never feel like I needed a break from him.

Miss you honey and hurry home!

I had to share my new favorite fragrance, it is called "Kate" by Kate Moss.  Now don't let the fact it is a celebrity fragrance scare you away, which usually is what happens to me. In fact, if a product is endorsed by a celebrity, 9 times out of 10 I will run the other way as I can't stand the "cult of the celebrity" which is all too prevalent. Anyway, I digress...

I was in the department store a couple weeks ago, and as I usually do as I walk by the beauty department, I will pick up a fragrance or two for a quick sniff in what always seems like a vain attempt to find something I like. My favorite scent, which I used the entire line of lotion, shower gel and perfume, was discontinued a couple years ago, so I am always on the hunt for a replacement. My body chemistry is also such that some nice perfumes will turn horrible when settled on my skin. I am pretty particular about scents and I have always been very effected by smells, to the point I will be physically uncomfortable in a room if the smell is unsettling to me. I know I would not have done well living in the middle ages and the "aromatic" world in which people lived. But, I digress again...

The bottom line is, I am really enjoying this light, clean fragrance with just the slightest hint of fresh rose.  I am not usually one who likes artificial rose, but this one seems to work.  So, if you happen to see it, give a smell and tell me what you think.

We just returned on Monday from a last minute trip to Belgium.  We decided to spend my 35th birthday in another foreign country (last year we were in Salzburg - lucky me!) and we flew in very early on the 4th so we had a full day of enjoying Brussels, which was our hub for the trip.  It was a foggy morning, but mild temperatures, so great touring weather, just not great for the pictures. 

We walked from our Hotel, which was off of Avenue Louise, toward the old center of town, passing by all the great boutiques along the way. We walked passed the Palace of Justice which is currently undergoing a huge face lift and the vast majority of the exterior is obscured by scaffolding.  The top of the dome must have been the first part cleaned and restored as even in the fog it glimmered through the haze.

En route to the Grand Palace (Grote Markt) we also saw the exteriors of the Palais Royal and the exquisite art nouveau exterior of the Museum of Music.  Once at the Markt we had a lovely little lunch on the plaza at the restaurant Le Paon, a former guildhall built in the 15th century, but restored in the 19th century. I had the traditional Moules & Pomme Frites (Mussels & french fries) as I always like to do the "when in Rome" thing, at least once.

  North facade of the Grand Palace Markt

West facade of the Grand Palace and the view from our lunch table

After lunch we did a little window shopping and strolled down the enclosed Galeries St.-Hubert where we found my birthday gift, a lovely silver bracelet made in Brussels.

The glass ceiling of the Galeries

Making our way back to the hotel so we could rest a bit before dinner, we stopped by the Cathedral Church of Sr. Michael & St. Gudula and then through the Parc de Bruxelles before we stopped for a quick "Birthday Waffle" - I have to say it was a fabulous treat!

mmmmmmmm........waffles......

As a special treat for my birthday we had made reservations at the restaurant Comme Chez Soi. In 2006 (haven't check if in 2007 it still is) it was rated as a 3 star Michelin restaurant so we had high expectations of a lovely evening.  We had a very nice time enjoying each other's company and the intricate art nouveau interior.  I also really like their china - a contemporary white service with concentric circular grooves (looking much like record groves) in a matte finish with the center in a gloss finish.  The restaurant also had a window into the kitchen so you could watch the chefs busily hurrying around.  A subtle compliment to the kitchen-view was the landscape mural on the back wall of the kitchen, it really added a sense of serenity to a crazy show. While the food was all very nice, it was not over-the-top spectacular, and the service was too slow in my opinion for a restaurant of this level (my water glass and wine glass were both frequently empty over the three hours we were there). Thankfully I had my favorite company along to enjoy the event of evening.

Birthday dinner at Comme Chez Soi with my new bracelet - sorry Reeves there is no picture of you

The next day we woke early so we could take the train out to Bruges (Brugge). It is an "impossibly picturesque" town, as one of our tour books quotes, around 11am.

We started by touring St. Johns Hospital which has been converted into a museum housing many of Hans Memling's works.  They were truly spectacular pieces which are considered to be of the Flemish Primitives school of art.  It was a nicely displayed collection in the ancient backdrop of the hospital, but it was a bit annoying there were no individual labels on each object and you were forced to carry around a photocopied collection booklet to which you had to refer - all the while trying to navigate and listen to the hand-held audio guide. 

The exterior side of the St. John Hospital

We also visited the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk church which houses Michelangelo's carved white marble Madonna and Child which is one of only a few pieces of his outside Italy.

Michelangelo's Madonna and Child

Lunch was again on the agenda and as we like to do, not necessarily for the great culinary experience, we chose to eat on the Markt so we could people watch and take in the day.  After we quickly walked through the Belfort-Hallen, a belfry and hall with an imposing edifice.

The Belfort-Hallen    The traditional biscuit-tin buildings on the Markt

Wandering through the perfect little streets we wound our way over and around the canals till we decided we wanted to do one of the canal boat tours.

Next we were off to the Groeninge Museum.  A relatively small museum, but has some wonderful masterpieces by Jan van Eyck, Gerard David and Hieronymus Bosch. (One of my favorite paintings is Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights)

After its closing, we walked toward the windmills, which have been relocated to their present location on the top of an earthen bank which is the former location of the old town walls. These are my first Flemish windmills and it was quite a thrill to see them in the warm setting sun light.

    Reeves taking a picture of the next windmill

Reeves and I stayed around Bruges for dinner at the suggestion of a person we met on the train - he said it would be much less busy coming back after dinner (as it was standing room only en route - thankfully we had seats).  We had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the canal.

 View from our dinner spot 

Us at dinner

While we had a lovely dinner location, the good times were not meant to be...we both spent the coming night and next day suffering from food poisoning - yuck. At least we really got to relax!

The last day we were up again early, both having recovered enoughto continue our travels.  We found the most scrumptious little bakery & cafe for breakfast.  

Le Pain Quotidien

We found out later that this shop is actually a chain, so if you happen to see one, be sure to stop in for wonderful breads.

Next we were off to the Belgian Center for Comic Strip art, including a museum in Brussels (Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee).  It is home to the likes of TinTin and the Smurfs, each of which Reeves and I grew up on. While is was a nice size collection, the vast majority of the strips were not in English, as well as not going international, so while we enjoyed what we did understand/have a connection to, it would be much more enjoyable if we were French/Belgian.

We then caught another train out of the city to what we were hoping was going to be Antwerp.  We, however, were not the only ones who seem to have gotten on the wrong train as the group in front of us also had to get off and reassess their location. We thought we were heading in the right direction, especially when we went through "Brussels Nord", but little did we know the train turned south and we finally got off at Namen (the complete opposite direction we hope to go) when the ticket-taker told us we were on the wrong train. 

Making lemonade, we decided to stay the afternoon in Namen and visited their historic citadel which has been the sight of many strategic defensive armies, up until even WWII.  

View of Namen from the Citadel - you can see a bit of the fortress in the the foreground

We had a lovely al fresco lunch in this quaint little square, visited a couple churches and took the train back home.  We were exhausted and both couldn't face sitting in a restaurant for another couple hours so we asked the concierges for a take-away recommendation and walked to where she just had dinner.  We had some great Chinese take-away while sitting in our room watching Shrek III - gotta love vacation & on-demand TV!!!

I wanted to go back a couple weeks and comment quickly on our friend's visit to Ireland.  Max is from Colorado and we went to High School together in Boulder.  We have stayed friends for all these years and he was nice enough to come to Ireland to keep us company for a few days. 

We had a really nice visit including a trip to Northern Ireland and we had to take him to the Guinness Storehouse for a real pull of the pint.  The tour is self guided and has a few interesting points, but the real reason for visiting the Storehouse is the view from their panoramic roof-top bar.  The day we were there it it was a crystal clear afternoon (the rain the night before, followed by some winds, created the perfect viewing) and we were there in the late afternoon allowing us to see a gorgeous warm evening light thrown over the whole of Dublin. 

We enjoyed our "free" pint (included in the purchase of the tour) and continued on to dinner. A great time was had by all!

If you too would like to have a free pint, please come and visit, we would love your company!

I had my third class last night and we were discussing genealogy resources, including online resources.  We were discussing access to computers and the instructor asked the class the class, as a matter of passing, if everyone had access to the Internet.  There were several people who raised their hand who didn't - ok, I can understand this to a certain extent,  about 75% of the class is over the age of 55. Not all have sons/daughters who are on-call tech resources to overcome all the perceived challenges of getting online. A bit surprised by this, however, he back peddled and then asked if they had access to a computer, at least three people said no. Lastly, one woman raised her hand and said not only did she not have access to a computer, she had never typed. 

Now stop and think about this one...she had never typed.

For the audience reading this, of course you have access to a computer and probably consider typing, as I do, like breathing or walking, it is just something you do without thinking....but when this women said she had never typed, it really made me pause and think about how much of my world revolves around typing and what I would if I couldn't/wouldn't.  Even if I take away any part of a "career" revolving around a computer, I still pay all my bills, write letters, check the weather, organize my pictures and a multitude of other small thinks, everyday. I feel my world would be very lonely and inconvenient without the computer and an effective method of input, like the keyboard.

It really gave me a new perspective into understand how the other half lives.  I guess I have never been so acutely aware of the digital divide as I am now, especially now when I think about her every time I sit down at my keyboard!

BTW - even after this discussion in class I overheard she was still debating if she should do the class for credit, which includes a 7-10 page (typed) essay!

Too bad I got rid of my old Brother electric typewriter with a floppy-drive I had from high school. At the time this was quite the leap forward for me and I had been saving it as a sentimental museum piece, but just couldn't justify saving it any longer - it would have been a great high tech gadget for her! :)