Presidential Visit

We got to go to the London American Embassy today to see President George W. Bush on his farewell tour. Regardless of your political views, let me just tell you that it is pretty amazing to only have two people between you and one of the most powerful and influential men in the world. There were only about 150 of us there total and it was surprisingly informal... security outside the building was insane, and roads were closed off for miles, but once inside apart from the guys standing around with bugs in their ears it seemed like any other meeting.

We all entered the conference room and an assistant ran in to put the presidential seal on the podium moments before he entered with the first lady and the ambassador with his wife. The room fell silent, holding their breath waiting for him to speak. He is quite small in person but carries himself in such a way that he seems like a giant.. and his wife is just beautiful!

The ambassador did a quick lead-in speech and then the President addressed us, thanking the employees for their service, and everyone else for their support during his term. We weren't there for more than half an hour, but he shared some jokes and experiences and took a few pictures with some kids from the embassy, before we all headed back to the base.

Frankfurt

Well Geoff had a 4 day conference in Frankfurt for work, so I went along for fun since I've never been to Germany before. It was a bit of a strange place, and somewhere neither of us really have an desire to return to, but it was interesting to see none-the-less. We had some time the first day so spent it walking around the center of the city. We strolled through some art gardens and along the river. Passed the crazy markets and into a little deli for lunch. The rest of our time Geoff was working, so I did some exploring and shopping and we reconnected for dinner in the evenings with some of the others from the conference. There were several crazy nights of watching football(soccer) fans from our window as they celebrated and rioted in the streets during the Euro 2008 cup matches which was actually alot of fun! Then we headed home to unpack and get organized after our back to back travelling!

Our House!

Ok so finally here is our house! (the one on the right!)

And a quick peek inside...

A Road Trip to... Paris!

This Friday we had a bit of a party at Bure Farm for my birthday, I'm not usually one for parties but since it was my 25th everyone decided to conspire to celebrate. All my coworkers showed up and some extras, and it actually was a blast! Afterwards everyone came back to our place and we played video games and had drinks. Before we knew it time had flown away and it was past 1:30am ... that was when we decided to pack!

We booked a hotel and Euro-tunnel tickets and jumped in the car. It is about a 7.5 hour drive, and we ended up getting to the hotel at about 11 a.m. after cleaning up the house, packing and taking a couple of roadside breaks for food and a walk! We checked in straight away and took a 2 hour nap before heading out to find a bus tour.

We were just a short walk from the Arc De Triomphe, so we started there and then grabbed a tour around all the major sites jumping on and off the bus. We stopped for an early dinner (since we hadnt had lunch!) at a Greek Cafe (i know i know.. greek in france?!) it really hit the spot!

Afterwards we decided to go for a walk around the city at night. It was beautiful but took HOURS! By the time we got to the Eiffel Tower it was 10:30pm. Luckily last addmittance was 11pm so we still got in and went up to the second floor to look accross the city at all the lights. It was amazing!

I don't think anyone ever sleeps in Paris, as when we started our walk back to the hotel at midnight there were more people out at cafe's and playing music and dancing and singing on the steps of various monuments and buildings - it was truely fabulous! It was about an hour walk back to the hotel, but it was warm and pretty out so we didn't hurry.

The following day we went back to a couple of the sites to take a better look, we had to head out at 5pm to get back to the chunnel in time for our crossing, but we made time to stop by a bakery to get some french bread and fresh croissants to take home! All in all it was an amazing trip and we can't wait to get back to go in the Louvre and Notradame since we missed being able to tour inside those!