Thursday, September 9, 2010
Part I
The Homestead -- Built 1766
We spent our 10th Anniversary in this spectacular building.
Ornamental Carriage
The Jefferson Pools
Near the Homestead, this structure was built by Thomas Jefferson around the natural hot mineral springs that bubble up here from deep inside the earth. People have been floating around in these pools for 200 years, hoping to catch a bit of health.
Virginia Road
Just a typical Virginia road. What is NOT typical is the gigantic waterfall we stopped to look at on the side of this road. We stopped here for a minute on our way to a Brad Paisley concert in West Virginia.
Part II
After celebrating our anniversary, we headed to Chris' parents for 8 days at their 80 acre property in Virginia. It felt so good to be reunited with our precious dog, Tigger, who is staying in Virginia while we're in Switzerland. We miss him SO MUCH!!!
Chris, Tigger and Taylore
We enjoyed being reuinted with our nieces and nephews as well as Tigger.
Me and Alexis
My brother, Brady (15 years old) tagged along on this portion of the trip and made himself useful alongside everyone else. Building the house, barn, shop and maple sugar house is an ongoing family project.
Quite often, I make myself useful by painting murals in the house instead of getting involved with construction.
Brady
On this trip we did make time for play.
Brady and Rachel
The glazed over look Brady is wearing is fitting. This particular game of Settlers of Catan was probably our 14th or 15th game of the week. Literally.
Chris and Alexis
She finally decided he wasn't scary after a week of being unsure. Here she's waking up from a nap while Chris is playing Settlers.
Part III
Our final destination was my parents house in Front Royal, Virginia, where most of my sisters and brothers still live. Our trip was fun so far, but we arrived tired. I think that accounts for why I didn't take ANY photos during our 8 days with my parents. I was in relaxing mode and recording our time completely slipped my mind. Kellie's face matches the way I feel about forgetting to take pictures. Fortunately, Mom took pictures while we "kids" played in the water park.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
There is so much more to see and do in London. For one thing, I intend to go back to the National Gallery.
WITHOUT Chris. He just couldn't appreciate it and I don't blame him. It's not his thing. He endured it for a while for my sake.
I stood in front of a Renoir original and I got really emotional. I wasn't expecting that. I like Renoir, but he's not my all time favorite and I didn't realize I could be so emotional about art. I usually look at it as a job. It's what I get paid to do. But standing in front of a Renoir original, I realized I was as close as I'll ever be to one of my childhood tutors. I learned to paint by renting big Renoir coffee table books from the library and copying his and other artists famous works. Why did I feel a strong connection to him more than the others in that moment? I have no idea. It's an experience I will never forget.
Below is a photo of a postcard of the original Renoir I saw in the London National gallery.
I think Monet is my Mom's favorite artist so I bought a Monet souvenir magnet for her. It was my Mom who fanned the flame of my artistic pursuits, so it seems fitting to buy her something from the National Gallery.
Speaking of paintings, the one I told you I was working on is finished and has been shipped to the owner.
Here's the finished project before it was framed...
The movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, comes out in theaters this December.
I've been trotting the globe for over a month now, but I'm back in Geneva and we can finally sit here and have a proper chat. As we talk, a bee occasionally flies around my head. Our windows don't have screens, so every creature that flies feels welcome in my apartment during summer. I like it and I don't like it. Occasionally I find bird poop on a table. I'm not sure whether to be bothered by the bird poop or charmed that a bird was in my apartment.
Since my last post we've celebrated our 10th Anniversary at a Resort in Virginia, spent nearly 3 weeks at home visiting his family and my family and we've played the tourist in London. London is freshest in my mind because we were in London only 2 days ago, so lets work backwards and talk about London first.....
I had favorite things in London and Chris had favorite things, but if Chris and I had to pick a favorite experience in London that we both agreed was the best, it would probably be riding on top of the double decker buses, the ones designated for tourists. You pay 35 pounds for one day riding access. You hop on and off at your leisure for 24 hours and you put these ear plugs in listen to the recording describing London history and each landmark as it passes by. Because of this, we feel we saw everything, even though we didn't have time for exploring each site in depth in the 3 days we were there.
The following is a little movie I made for you of our time in London.....
We saw and did many touristy things... the National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Harrods, The Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral... but I think our fondest memory, when we look back on this trip, will be the fun we had exploring and just being together. Running through the rain to the safety of a coffee shop, drinking a beer or two at a Pub and laughing more than usual afterwards on the way to Buckingham Palace, and even fussing at eachother about nothing when we were tired, hungery or needed to pee.
If you ever go to London, DON'T spend money on "Churchill's War Experience." Our first clue should have been that it was not listed as one of the 50 things to see on the bus route. It smelled bad and was more like a haunted house than anything else. So cheesy.
I think Buckingham Palace was Chris' favorite, I'm not sure. But for me, it was a big deal to buy tea from Harrods.
It also made me happy to light a candle inside St. Paul's Cathedral.
Did everyone read the Paddington Bear Books as a child? Well, I'm 32 years old and I'm not ashamed to say I still haven't outgrown Paddington. Having a stuffed Paddington Bear from the REAL Paddington Station is truly a highlight of my trip, far above seeing Big Ben and all the other typical stuff. I'm in love with the little bear now perched on my bedside table.
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