London, Chicago and Folsom- Summer 2011

Sunday rainbow in Hampstead

Hello there! I was just looking through some photos from my recent trip to Spain with Katie, when I realized I have a few pictures from this summer that I might as well share. 

Our summer was largely unadventurous, but we did go to a few concerts. My favorite was in Hyde Park on June 30- Beirut/ Mumford and Sons/ The Vaccines/ Arcade Fire. What a lineup!

What most of my summer looked like. I know, no complaints when you have Luca as a study buddy :)

Concert in Hyde Park

Arcade Fire was insanely more exciting in concert than on cd

Mumford and Sons rockin' the double bass and banjo

It was only 65 degrees, but the Brits were fully celebrating the first summer day of 2011 without rain. Olaf and I went to a Kaiser Chiefs /Killers concert the week before, but left early because of torrential downpours and my numb, frozen feet.

"Haha, jolly good day, I'm British, it's not raining, so I should stick my obligatory trilby on my obligatory brolly and block everyone's view of the stage." Cute.

Even more wonderful. "Haha, I'm British, it's raining outside, but I'm inside, so I'm going to throw my full pint of beer in the air whenever I like a song the Kings of Leon are playing here at the O2 and drench everyone standing in front of me."           Great concert, smelly tube ride after.

Watching the Killers in Hyde Park

Living in London is exciting and cool, but I constantly miss my family/ friends and I always missimportant moments in my favorite people's lives. I love love being home in California and "just being around" for races won, first steps, mad dog looks (Lauren), first houses bought (Kara), etc.(flip side, and isn't there always one, is that I miss Olaf's moments).

While I was home in wholesome Folsom, my brother Matt had his first day of work at his new job. Doesn't he look so cute and Bob the Builder in his hardhat? :) Matt's finishing up his engineering degree at Sac State right now and is also working at an engineering firm. I'm very happy for him, because he is absolutely enjoying what he is doing, and he's good at it.

Happy brother, happy boy :)

Olaf and I went to Chicago over a long weekend in July, for a girlfriend from law school's wedding. It was the first time I'd been back to the city since I graduated and moved to London the summer before.

Most of the wedding guests (including us) stayed at the Dana Hotel and Spa, on upper State Street. The hotel was packed and the staff did a great job handling everyone's needs. We would definitely stay there again. It was clean, stylish, reasonably priced, and well located.

We had a really, really wonderful time. The city was in it's best summer glory- the beaches along Lake Michigan were packed with tanned, relaxed Chicagoans, and the downtown city streets were teaming with young, energetic professionals and happy shoppers. Surprisingly, we ran into at least eight people from law school, people who weren't even in town for the wedding. I had never before thought of Chicago as a small town, but it sure felt like it while we were there.

The University of Chicago contingent at Ellenna's wedding

Mr. Olympia enjoying his protein ("pro-dee-een") plate at Tempo Cafe in Chicago

I experienced so much in Chicago during my three years there, but this was the first time I was actually relaxed and totally enjoyed the city. We had the most fun we'd ever had in Chicago! 

Santa Barbara is similar for us. We enjoy our annual visits there more than we ever enjoyed it while we lived there, even though I always enjoyed and appreciated Santa Barbara. My roomies and I would constantly tell ourselves how lucky we were. I walked down to the beach whenever possible to hear the waves crashing and thank God that I was fortunate enough to live in such a gorgeous place. But there is something so nice about being a visitor and relaxing without local due dates.

Mainz, Germany for Olaf's Birthday

We spent Olaf's 32nd birthday with his family in Germany. We were already in Frankfurt for Olaf's work, and thought it would be fun to get together with the Gurks over the weekend. Olaf's brother Gerrit and his wife Birgit live in Mainz, which is about 45 minutes from Frankfurt. Friday evening, Olaf's birthday, we drove to Mainz to meet up with Olaf's family for a little celebration. 

The senior Gurks live north of Frankfurt, in Osnabrück. Usually we meet up there, but it had been far too long since we've visited Birgit and Gerrit in Mainz.

Map showing all the Gurks in England and Germany

Birgit suggested a really cool restaurant, Heiliggeist for the birthday dinner. It was in an old church which was beautifully lit with candles, both indoors and out. We sat outside in the warm early autumn air, sharing a charming table in an ivy-covered alcove.

Afterwards we headed back to Birgit and Gerrit's for some birthday cake and presents.

That cake traveled in style, economy class from London :)

Saturday we visited a flea market by the river and then took a four-hour, afternoon river boat cruise.

Birgit and I walking to the boat.

Birgit and I checking out the wares.

The boat

All the Gurks!

We left the boat at Rüdesheim, a quaint wine making town on the Rhein river. Birgit packed us a wonderful, homemade lunch that the enjoyed at a lookout point above the village.

View from the boat

View of Rüdesheim from the tram

Not nervous at all ;)

Olaf's brother Gerrit and his wife Birgit

Olaf's parents, Wolfgang and Claudia

Lookout above Rüdesheim

Enjoying some lunch- Birgit took care of us :)

Freight boat on the river

Back in Mainz, we headed out on foot to the schnitzel boat. That was my first time, though I think everyone else has been there multiple times. Our food never came, though, so we ended up eating at Birgit and Gerrit's favorite Italian restaurant.

The schnitzel boat

Walking down to the schnitzel boat

On Sunday we headed back down the river to a bridge where couples put locks engraved with their names. Birgit had locks made for all three couples, so we put them on the bridge together and then together threw the keys in the river.

Our love locks

Helsinki, Finland

Fresh berries at the harbor market in Helsinki

Land of reindeer, lakes and bear paté. Olaf and I visited Finland at the end of September. When we left, London was experiencing a slight Indian Summer, but we said adios and took off for the Arctic Circle, where winter was already arriving. 

Finland is surprisingly far from England- three hours northeast. When we landed in Helsinki, all we saw were trees and lakes. 

Flight from London to Helsinki

On Saturday we explored the city by bike. Helsinki is right on the Baltic Sea, so the air was incredibly fresh and crisp. My thin trench coat was embarrassingly inadequate. Most people were wearing parkas already. 

Olaf getting our bikes ready for us.

This is right before we got lost in the industrial part of the city.

The people in Helsinki were extremely relaxed and friendly. Not a whiff of snobbery. It helped that everyone spoke perfect English. It's funny that English is everyone's common currency. We saw Russians, Germans, Spaniards and Italians all speaking English with the Fins. Really cute :)


Olaf's colleague is from Finland and was kind enough to suggest a few restaurants for us to try. The first one served real, traditional Finnish food. Olaf had reindeer and I had fried fishies. Little, head on, fried in a pan, bigger than sardines, smaller than mackerel, fishies. I closed my eyes and swallowed them them head, tail, skin and all. 

After our chilly bike ride, we warmed up with salmon- salmon filet, salmon soup and salmon cakes.

We thought these apartments by the water were awesome. Each was decked out with a glass enclosed balcony, some of which had hammocks for napping. 

Me getting ready to ascend and count the steps. 48, I think.

We had a really nice time in Helsinki. I enjoyed perusing the shops full of Scandinavian design. Some say Finland is not part of Scandinavia, but the aesthetic sure is (for example, the McDonald's was entirely wood paneled inside). The coolest clothes were of Swedish design, like Tiger of Sweden. I really would like to visit Norway soon, which is where Grandma's family is from.

Paris, DSK

In September, Olaf and I went to Paris for a week. Olaf's employer is Paris-based, so he is often there. 

My Grandma Annie has always told me lots of stories about her and Papa's travels. Paris is one of their favorite cities and they have many happy memories from their times there. We walked by Grandma and Papa's hotel everyday, and everyday I would imagine them enjoying the city together, Grandma trying on beautiful dresses and Papa loving the sweet pastries :)

Grandma and Papa's Paris hotel

While walking through Place de Vosgues on the weekend, we stumbled upon a big commotion. We guessed that DSK had gotten released and returned to Paris. We googled, and we were right! Missed him by 8 minutes, exactly. 



Here are our pictures of the paps outside DSK's pad:

And here is the pap's picture of DSK returning to his pad (or to be technical, Anne's pad):

Cornwall

Hello again! I'm back to blogging! Olaf and I had a traveling dry spell for a couple months in the summer, but are now back on the road again.

I had a really wonderful time with my family in July. I was home for about a month, hanging out with my family, taking a law exam and attending a girl friend from law school's Chicago wedding. 

When I returned to London, Olaf was ready for a little break too. The City is empty in August, as all the bankers head to le Midi for the month. We had no summer holidays planned, as we've been saving Olaf's vacation time for trips back to California to spend Christmas and Thanksgiving with my family. Anyhow, we decided to use a Bank Holiday weekend (Monday off)to get out of the city. 


I try to ask English people about their favorite places in England. Multiple people have told me about Cornwall, including my hair stylist Stephen. 


Crack of dawn Saturday morning, Olaf and I picked up our Zipcar in Camden and took off for Cornwall. The trip to southwestern England was green and gorgeous, despite the masses of cars clogging the roads. We made it to Cornwall in about 7 hours. 

The roads were hellishly narrow. Two lane roads that were narrow even for a one lane road. I gotta admit, we grazed a few bushes and had a few birds flipped at us for driving too slow. After a harrowing hour off back country roads, we reached our weekend home, Nansloe Manor.

Nansloe Manor

The drive up to the hotel

Our faithful Zipcar

Happy cow on the manor grounds

 
On Saturday night we were so excited to be out of the city, so after dropping off our bags we headed to the coast. 

Our first stop was The Lizard. It was getting dark so we only walked along the cliffs for about an hour. It was super windy but we were giddy to be outdoors in the fresh air :)

I'm really not sure what language the people were speaking here.

End of the Ski Season in Austria

Olaf and I finished off our first ski season in Austria. We spent a weekend there after going on a business trip to Germany and Austria. The weather was so warm, and the days were longer than they'd been in the winter, so we really enjoyed ourselves every moment.

Next year we are going to have to start off with a big week of lessons- for me especially. While we really came a long way this season, skiing isn't natural for either of us and we need some instruction. Here's to finding a good ski instructor next year!