Home Sweet Home

I couldn’t bring myself to write a blog yesterday announcing my arrival back home. Harry, the voice of the Phillies, passed away hours before our game against the Nationals. I can’t believe he’s gone. The season never really started for me until his voice came over the TV broadcast or radio.

Harry was unlike any other announced I’ve ever listened to. You could tell how much he loved the game; he had the excitement of a little kid at Christmas every single time. I’m thrilled that he was with us last year as the Phillies finally won the World Series.

On a happier note, London was fantastic. The weather was warm and sunny; we didn’t see rain until the final 2 days of our stay. The football game was fun to watch. The architecture was amazing to look at. Half of my pictures are of the pretty buildings. Hanging out with my friends and family was wonderful; I’m so glad we were lucky enough to travel with people dear to us.

Of course, we really went for the beer and the food. So how was it?
The British cask ales, or as they would say – “real ales”, were as delicious as I had imagined they would be. Though I only had the “fry” (full English breakfast) once, I became a fan instantly. I was surprised to learn that the English could make sausages and bacon that rivaled the tasty reputation of the Germans. I can remember only one meal that I was disappointed with; the rumors about English food being bland and boring are exaggerated.  Their meat pies and lamb kabobs were downright delicious.

A few cons about London:
The London Bridge is ugly. I’m sorry, but it is.
The dryers don’t dry the clothes. We did a lot of air drying whilst in London.
There are no dead bolts on the inside of the doors, requiring a key to lock the door no matter which side you are on.
The toilets in our rented flat had to be hand-pumped, which took some getting used to.
People were nice and cordial, but rarely would they sit and chat up a stranger. I can’t tell you how many people I said Hi to and tried to strike up a conversation with, but was rebuked. Around my small town, I tend to have the opposite problem: sometimes I can’t get the neighbors to shut up and leave me alone. So, it was amusing.

Pictures taken by myself and Dan can be found in my Picasa gallery:

London 2009

As forewarned, we didn’t do the traditional “sight seeing”, only hitting two landmarks: The Tower of London and the Windsor Castle. On the other hand, we managed to hit A LOT of pubs. We had the terrible habit of waking up in the morning, deciding that we didn’t want to do what we had planned the night before, and going straight to a pub instead. The locals informed us that we were starting to think like Brits.