Galway Ireland

We finally made it to Casie's 50% ancestral homeland of Ireland (the other 50% being Germany which we'll visit for Oktoberfest). We arranged to do a 'flat swap' with my godmother Anne who lives in Galway, so while we were staying in her townhouse, she was staying in our place with her fiance. Not a bad deal if I say so myself!

We flew in to Shannon and rented a car to drive up to Galway. Driving on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road wasn't quite as bad as I thought but still pretty terrifying. The biggest problem were the roundabouts, which are very confusing and reminded me of National Lampoon's European Vacation. Getting to Galway was great though - it is a beautiful town right on a huge bay with a great nightlife.

We spent quite a bit of the weekend in pubs but also made it to the Cliffs of Moher and a traditional Irish folk concert. We also caught some St. Paddy's Day parades (including the University of Illinois marching band??). It was a great 4 days but we definitely want to go back to see some of the rest of the country.

The Proposal

As some of you know, I proposed to Casie while we were in Ireland over St. Patrick's Day weekend. Fortunately she said yes so now we're all set to get 'er done and be married at some point in the not too distant future (more details to come). We got engaged in the Burren region of Ireland which is on its western coast south of Galway. We were on our way to the Cliffs of Moher (pronounced 'more', not 'mohair' as Casie thought) and I had a ring burning a hole in my pocket the whole way! We got out en route to walk around a particularly amazing set of cliffs and the moment struck me so I proposed. I wasn't nearly as eloquent as I had planned on being but Casie assures me that I gave a decent speech.

The ring is an antique from a market here in London. It is from the Edwardian period - roughly the 1920's - and is platinum with a bead design along the edges and a floral design through the middle. We were extremely lucky that it fit Casie without any re-sizing - pretty good since I was going on guesswork!

Casie and I are both very excited about this new chapter in our lives and look forward to catching up with all of you soon.

Trip to Bath

Bath is a small town to the west of London where Londoners in the olden days would go to take baths (they're very literal in their names here - we have lunch at 'Eat' fairly frequently). The town was more or less untouched by WWII which makes it pretty rare in the UK. There is a lot of amazing architecture and also some great Victorian-era botanical gardens. Even though it was cold as heck Casie and I walked through most of the city and then took the double-decker bus tour (and even sat in the open on the top of the bus). We also had some delicious Sally Lunn's buns and tea - a heart attack on a plate but great nonetheless.

London Walks - Little Venice

London Walks is a company that hires these great British historians that are often quite funny and know a ton about a local area. This walk was about 2 hours long on a Sunday afternoon and was guided by the red-vested gentlemen below, who frequently burst into song and explained the background story of the saying "stealing from Peter to pay Paul" (you'll have to look it up because unfortunately I don't remember exactly how it goes, but it was a good story). This is our second London walk and now we're hooked.

Superbowl in London

Even though the kick-off time for the Superbowl was 11:18 (or 23:18 as they would say here) in our neck of the woods, there were some die-hard fans that graciously hosted a party and made it all the way until the much-deserved victory sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Mike and Tara are the biggest Giants fans I've ever met (well, MaryGrace too), and you have to hand it to Kialee who was willing to party in her PJs. Good fun.

Chris as a Brit

We tried to give him British hair, but I'm not sure that it works for him. What do you think?

Communal Gardens

Just a couple of pictures that I took in our private garden across the street from our flat at the end of January. The trees have been flowering since then, and we are eager for the weather to warm up a bit so we can spend more time over there.

Casie's Birthday

Casie's birthday is in late January which is a fairly difficult time for our profession. So even though we couldn't do anything the night of her birthday (since neither of us got home before 10), we made sure to do it up right on the weekend. We got tickets to go see Christian Scott, who is an up-and-coming jazz trumpet player out of New Orleans. It was an awesome show, quite possibly because between us and our two friends we managed to get through 4 bottles of wine. It was also funny watching this American guy's reaction to the British audience - he thought it was hilarious that they were so polite in asking for an encore. We even got to talk to the guys in the band afterwards which made us feel almost famous.