Guys and Dolls

Royce: I recently read Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman's book "Long Way Around", which tells the story of their round the world motorcycle trip. Being that it was about RTW travel and that I have always toyed around with motorcycles I could not help but be interested. Anyways, it was a great book and I was really impressed with McGregor and Boorman for taking on such a trip.

A while back I noticed (while riding the tube) that McGregor was doing the musical "Guys and Dolls" at the Piccadilly Theater in London and it caught my interest:

(http://www.guysanddolls.com/)

I figured it might be a fun night out for April and me plus we may get a chance to see a dirthead since and dance. I got some tickets and we went last night.

I got off work a little early and we rode the Croydon Tram to Wimbledon, and from there took the Underground to Piccadilly Circus. For a Thursday night, I was impressed with the number of people out. We had a quick Indian dinner near the theater and then headed for the show.

The show was great! I have never been a fan of musicals, but this just seemed to work for me. The cast was amazing and the sets were just as incredible. Jane Krakowski from Ally Mcbeal was the female lead and her and McGregor were far better singers and dancers than I ever imagined. I just figured they were there for name draw.















The marquee at the Piccadilly















April at Piccadilly Circus















April at Piccadilly Circus again

London Hacienda

Royce: Friends and family have been asking about where we live so I thought I would post a few pics of the homestead. We are on the 3rd floor and have a little balcony overlooking a primary school and a nice lawn area. It has a good sized kitchen for the UK, a living room, one bedroom and 1.5 bathrooms. The plumbing and appliances are absolute garbage, but that seems to be the norm here. The neighborhood is really not too bad, but it is not real lively. The Bedford Pub is one block away and the train station is about 4 blocks away. I can't say that it is a good deal at $3850/month but fortunately the company is picking up the tab.

I put in the pictures of the train station because, besides my office, our apartment, and the grocery store, our lives revolve around the train station. Anytime we want to do anything or go anywhere we have to go to the train station.















Our side of the building















The front and entrance to the car park















April thinks the kitchen leaves a lot to be desired in terms of functional US appliances















The living room















The Bedford Tavern - our pub one block away















East Croydon Train Station - Trams come up out front, trains are down below















Trains coming into the station

Alps Weekend - October 2005

Royce: Our sudden move to London kept us from getting to Chamonix, France to do some research into spending the winter there. We were interested in learning the area and making some contacts so that we could have a better understanding of what we are getting into and to help in securing housing from afar. A while back we decided we should just fly over and check it out despite the fact that we may actually end up in Poland for the winter for work. We figured it was better to have done the trip if the Poland job does not work out.

We flew from London Gatwick airport on EasyJet into Geneva, Switzerland where we picked up a rental car and immediately headed for Chamonix. The drive from Geneva to Chamonix was amazing. Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, is visible for most of the trip and is very impressive. Chamonix sits right at the base of Mont Blanc in a deep glacier valley positioned at the intersection of France, Switzerland and Italy. In fact, a highway tunnel starts in Chamonix and goes all the way through Mont Blanc into Italy and the valleys leading into the Mediterranean.

Our first mission in Chamonix was to find food. We found a Swiss restaurant with a great fondue special for two and thought we would give it a try. The combination of a huge amount of bread, glasses of wine, fondue full of cheese even and more wine left us feeling a bit tipsy and full so we decided to walk the downtown and check out some of the stores.

Chamonix is absolutely packed with outdoor and mountaineering stores! We toured just about all of them and then found a hotel room in the downtown area. It was very weird beacuse there was a full blown crew and cast filming some movie that must have been based in the 1940's. The area around our hotel was packed with extras in full 40's dress and all the cars and stores along the street were all from the 40's. It was actually very interesting to watch.

After getting checked in we decided to drive up the valley to get a better feel for all the ski areas and small towns along the way. We ended up passing into Switzerland and driving around little remote alpine valleys above Martigny, Switzerland. Another beautiful area! I really think I could live in the Alps. It has everything I love to do in one place practically. We finished the day by driving up as close as we could get to the big glacier that comes nearly right into town.

The next morning we had crepes and a french omelette and did some more touring around Chamonix to learn a bit more about the place. We decided to return to Geneva via Martigny, Switzerland and a little 2 lane road instead of taking the motorway. It was a bit longer but even more picturesque. We dropped into Martigny and headed north towards Lake Geneva. We ended up getting a hotel in Nyon, about 15 miles form the Geneva Airport. We had dinner on the shore of Lake Geneva and just enjoyed Nyon and its great waterfront. Lake Geneva is very clean and a lot like Lake Tahoe in appearance.

The next morning we left Geneva very early and I got back to work about on time. All in all the trip was exactly what we hoped for. We loved Chamonix and the Alps, we now have a solid understanding of the area and feel confident we can get set up to live there via the web if we need to.


April in downtown Chamonix


Me in downtown Chamonix - Mt. Blanc in the background


April enjoying the blue skies!


Me dreaming about hut to hut hiking


Me with our super cool rental car


Mt. Blanc at dusk


Me enjoying the fall colors outside of Chamonix


I am auditioning to be the next karate kid


April wishing she had her own holiday chalet nearby


Me at a ski resort 15 minutes outside Chamonix


April in awe of the huge glacier behind her


Wishing for snow!!


Paragliders in Chamonix


Paragliders and horseback riders in Chamonix


Just look at all the possibilities...


They let me through the Swiss border....


Wow....they let April through too!


April in Lyon, Switzerland, with Lake Geneva in the Backround


April and I walking back to the Best Western in Switzerland

London, England - October 2005, Joe's Quickie Tour

Royce: My friend from grade school, Joe, recently went on a vacation to Croatia and Italy with his wife Kate. On their way back to the US they had a couple days in London and we were able to connect up in downtown on a Sunday night. We met up at the King's Cross train station in downtown. Unfortunately, Kate was not feeling well, so we were just three. We did a quick taxi ride to all the major sights in downtown (we said it was for Joe's benefit, but it actually was fun to ride in a car to all the sights instead of just popping up out of the Underground everywhere). After our tour we were dropped off at a good little pub near Victoria Station and had a great pub dinner (relatively speaking) and managed to finish off quite a few beers. It was great to get to see Joe, we got to exchange traveling stories and he was the first friend that we had seen since New York in late June! It was odd to have a real conversation with someone I had known for so long.

It ended up being a late night and after missing a train and quite a bit of walking we ended getting home at almost 2:00 AM!


Me and Joe by the Thames River


Me, April and Joe in downtown London


Joe - getting his cab tour in front of MI6

Stratford on Avon, England - October 2005

April: Royce planned a great weekend in Stratford on Avon, where we participated in “The Killing Game”. It was an overnight murder mystery weekend, which included lodging, dinner, breakfast, and loads of entertainment. It was an activity that we normally would not consider doing, but it turned out to be something we would definitely partake in again in the future. We took a train from London to Stratford on Avon, which happens to be the birthplace of William Shakespeare. It was a quick 2-hour ride, which allowed us to read up on what we should expect during the interesting weekend we were about to embark on. Once in Stratford, we walked around the town center and saw the house where Shakespeare grew up in, which had been well preserved. It was a very cute town with nice shops and tasty food.

We finally made it to the hotel, where the activities would take place. We met with the actors, who were already in character, in addition to the other 60 participants. After we had a glass of wine and were briefed, we were ready to roll. The event revolved around a fictitious popular daytime television quiz show called “Gasp”, and it was our job to collect as much information about the show and actors as possible. The amusing part of the whole experience was that the majority of the other participants thought that Royce and I were actors and a part of the show. This of course was due to the fact that we were Americans. People were following us and asking strange questions. We realized the suspicion early on, as well as some of the other actors, and we all played it up a little. We pretended to be huge fans of the show that traveled all the way from the US to see a taping. During one point in the night we overheard a group saying “that is the worst American accent I have ever heard”. Royce and I had never laughed so hard in our lives!

Before the festivities ended, we were all supposed to guess who killed who and why. Royce and I were one out of the three groups who guessed correctly and were awarded a “Sherlock Holmes Certificate”. The very best part was the fact that I was accused (by a very large group of people) of killing everyone, with Royce as my accomplice. They believed that I used my scarf and knitting needles as weapons!

If ever in the area, I would highly recommend participating in “The Killing Game”. We were able to meet new people, eat a wonderful meal, and play detective. If you are interested, the website is http://killinggame.co.uk/


Me in front of the Hotel, where the "murders" took place


Me with one of the actors....who we later discovered killed his wife!

Situation Update

Royce: We are now living in London while I do some work temporarily. The trip has certainly not been cancelled, it has simply been extended. Two of our four goals for this trip were to find work overseas and live in a foreign land for a significant amount of time at least twice so that we could learn a bit more about the culture and become "locals". It came a bit earlier than we expected and it is London, which is only marginally foreign in our minds, and I am not entirely sure you could ever become a "local" in a city this size, but we are getting an all expenses paid trip to one of the most expensive cities on earth. Why not? For more info on why we are here or if you want to know more about this job see:
http://stricklanrtw.blogspot.com/2005/09/living-in-london-suddenly.html