Germany and Belgium

Over the past weekend I had the opportunity to visit a good friend of mine while he was working in Brussels, Belgium.  He offered to pay for expenses if I could make my way to where he was located, so I readily jumped on the opportunity.

We decided to take off to Germany and spent much of Saturday driving down to the Rhine River Valley and ending in the town of Stuttgart.  A lunchtime stopover was at Lorelei (Loreley) Rock.  Sampled some local German food at a cafe with the appropriate accompanying German beer.  I had some bratwurst and fritas (fries).  The following few pictures are from that region.

We needed to cross the river via a ferry

Overall, a very pretty region to drive.  Fun curvy roads off of the main highway. 

Once in Stuttgart we headed out for some local food.  A little restaurant we found nearby was almost full, but when we asked for a table they just put us in with another German couple, so we shared a table with them.  Kind of a community style dinning, but they were finishing their meal as we were arriving.  As we ordered it became apparent that we didn't know any German (or at least not enough to read the menu), nor did the host know any English.  The couple at the table knew English, so they helped us with the menu and we continued to have a long conversation (probably 3-4 hours total) over dinner and drinks.  It was quite a cozy little establishment with very traditional German food and some local wine, which we sampled.  I got some variation of cooked pork, scalloped potatoes (grilled further to make crispy), cheesy pasta, with a lettuce/potato "salad."  The salad was pretty pathetic lettuce (by US/British standards) with cooked potatoes and an oil dressing.  Needless to say, the traditional German diet doesn't include many vegetables.

The pictures are from the roof of our hotel.

The next morning we took off for the Neuschwanstein Castle near the village of Hohenschwangau.

The place we ate for lunch.  

It was a very local restaurant, but not one that seemed to get many tourists.  We basically walked from the tourist town down a country lane and noted the restaurant about 1/2 mile away.  Didn't seem like they got many tourists (or even cared to).  Only older Germans were there for lunch and the host again didn't know any English, but did have an English menu stashed away.  It seemed like a grandma/grandpa type establishment.  I got some pork tenderloin with cheesy mashed potatoes.  An appetizer we got was some sort of dough surrounding sauerkraut.  Again, little use of vegetables.

My favorite pictures surrounding the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Looking off to the North.

Looking to the West.

A bridge people could walk across overlooking the castle (from the South).

From the bridge back toward the castle.

 From the cliff above the bridge :-)

The waterfall nearby.

Then the long drive back to Belgium.  Let's just say it was nice to be on the autobahn... makes for a faster trip.  Our car didn't have miles/hour so we didn't know how fast we were really going, only in relation to the cars around us (at least in miles/hour), but I'd rather not say how fast we were going in km/hour now that I know the translation.

Once back in Belgium, my friend needed to go to work, so I took off around Brussels for the day before returning to London in the evening (by Eurostar).  I walked around to the Centre Palace (main tourist hub in center of town), visiting the Manneken Piss statue (statue of a pissing boy that who gets different outfits put on - I saw a US getup because of it being the 4th of July), the Atomium in a park in North Brussels, and around the European Union building.

The Manneken Piss

The Atomium

The Centre Palace (old part of Brussels that wasn't destroyed in WWII)

Tintin!!!

The European Union

Some nice ponds in a North Brussels park.

The rest of my photos are on facebook in a Germany album and Brussels, Belgium album.

A very good holiday, though semi brief, as it was really just Saturday through Monday, although I did arrive very late Friday night.  Much needed with all of the upcoming changes that will soon happen with my work and general life at the LMC and with Bridge Builders.

Wimbledon 2011 and where I'll be moving in August

Yesterday I went to Wimbledon with Lois and Wayne and got to enjoy a great day of watching tennis among a couple of rain delays.  We left on the first tube available (5:36 am) and got to the queue for tickets at about 10 to 7 am.  We were just over number 2000 in the queue (they allow in about 7,000 ground passes to Wimbledon per day - last year I arrived at 8:10 and was number 7,500, but got let in around 1 pm)...this year we got in at about 10:30.  However, when we were let through they were still selling "restricted view" Court 1 tickets...I splurged and got one, so I spent much of my day watching the games on court 1, which was a real treat.  My view was actually pretty darn good, if I sat up straight there wasn't really any restriction at all.  I watched a bit of a Ladies singles match with Lois and Wayne, then watched my two matches and left court 1 after the last match was cancelled to watch some Ladies doubles.

The following pictures are from me at Centre Court (before they played they allowed people to take pictures) and mostly from court 1 where I was seated with one picture of Lois/Wayne's view from court 12 when I was with them.  I spent most of my time watching the matches instead of taking pictures...besides the Stewards would tell you to sit down if you stood during a match.

Left at 9:15 and got home at 10:25, long day, but well worth the trip and expense.  Lois queued for resale tickets and got into centre court, and Wayne enjoyed watching an assortment of matches outside of the show courts.  We all had a good day and enjoyed the experience.

An update on when/where I'll be moving later this summer.  The LMC Trustees have secured a "transition house" to rent for everyone currently living at the LMC.  It will be a 6 bedroom house (1 bedroom for each couple and me plus one "guest" room), with two kitchens, a reception room, and office room.  It'll be a tight fit, but should work.  Less than 2,000 square feet to give you an idea.  My room is basically half the size of the room I'm currently in.  It's farther north on the Northern line of the tube, about 1/4 mile from the Woodside Park tube station.  I'll have about a 3 mile commute to work, which I'll probably choose to bike, weather permitting.  The move is probably going to be on 15 August, while I'm cycling down from Scotland with my cousin, so I'll leave from the LMC and be moved into another place when I arrive.  Step one will be to set up my room upon arrival.  The following week I'll help move the Bridge Builders Office.

Lots of changes forthcoming, but it'll all work out in the end.

Plymouth, England & plans for June

So a while back I decided I wanted to go to Plymouth, England... mainly because I grew up in Plymouth, Vermont and wanted to go to the town which my hometown was named for...well at least if you go back far enough.  It's also the place where the original settlers came across the Atlantic from, so kinda neat in thinking about how long it's been a major port and such.

I also wanted to run a springtime half-marathon, so hence running the Plymouth half-marathon.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to train like I wanted, so my time left much to be desired, but it was still respectable in my opinion given how little I trained (virtually nothing compared to what a basic half-marathon training should have).  I was aiming for sub 1:45 and hit 1:41:31...not too bad, but someday I'd like to break 1:30...to give a comparison of where I was 8 months ago when I ran the marathon...well I hit the halfway point in that race in about 1:35....so yea, I got a bit out of shape.

The pictures below are from the shore in Plymouth and the historic "Hoe."  Basically the best shots I could muster given that the weather was quite poor for picture taking.  Lots of misty weather, very cloudy, and not good visibility.  I think I will go back next year though and hope for better picture taking conditions.

 The lighthouse on the Hoe

 "Welcome to Plymouth" - probably looks better when flowers are coming up...

Sir Frances Drake's Island...or something like that

Other recent news is that I decided to take a trip over the handlebars on my bike after my front wheel came off... I had thought the bike was handling funny and sure enough it was...I ended up with a bruised left shoulder (which was what took the brunt the hit to the pavement), sore left forearm, sore left wrist, cut ring finger on my ring hand (on both the top near the nail and back) and bump on my right knee...oh and a pretty nice skid mark on my helmet.  Overall, pretty lucky I didn't break anything.  Bike unfortunately needs to be repaired, busted the rear de-railer from the frame of the bike, it seems intact, but needs the part to reattach it.  I was pretty sore Saturday when it happened...about 15 miles into a planned 30 mile ride...but now I'm feeling much better.  Lots of ibuprofen..yum!

This week I'm helping with our 4 day course run primarily by Richard Blackburn of the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center out of Chicago, IL.  It's held here in London, but just a short distance from the London Mennonite Centre.  It is all about family systems theory (by Murray Bowen) and how it can be applied usefully to church settings.  Interesting stuff, right up my psych alley.

Later this month we've got another course, the "Mediating Interpersonal Conflicts" course, which is our full fledged formal mediation training course.  It will be run again in London, but over 5 days.  Only two weeks after the course this week is over we will be starting it, so there's a quicker turnaround.  As well as planning for a yet-to-be-determined office move and house move (to separate places).  Lots to do and lots to think about.

Between the two courses I think I will try to go to Wimbledon again this year.  It was a neat experience last year and I think I'd like to do it again.  8 hour queue, £20 tickets, 8-10 courts to see lots of pro players (top seeds only play on expensive courts), but still well worth it if you're a tennis fan like I am.  Loved seeing Rafael Nadal win against Federer this past Sunday :-)