I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today...

English food is, in a word, unique. There is nothing within the culinary repertoire of the English menu that is as universally well-loved as Italian food, or as renowned as French cuisine, or has the spice pallet and degree of versatility as Asian, Indian or Spanish food. Even within the melting pot of American dietary options one could argue that my own countries home grown culinary contributions equal if not exceed those that are seen as quintessentially British. Now that’s not to say that the English offering is completely without merit. Far from it in fact.

One of my own personal favorites is English Tea and more specifically, scones and clotted cream with raspberry jam. I could easily indulge in this treat every day without hesitation provided my shrinking budget and growing waist line are able to manage it. It truly is one of my all-time favorite food items. And one shouldn’t forget Fish & Chips, hard Apple Cider and a whole list of cheeses (Cheddar, Stilton, Cornish Yarg along with dozens of variations of blue, brie and cheddar styled cheese that have been in production for centuries) as excellent overall contributions to the global dining experience. And while they are not among the chocolate power houses that some of their central European cousins are they can still be proud of their local confectionary delights as well! All told, throughout our 2 ½ years in the UK so far we have not yet gone hungry!

However, sometimes you just want flavours of home! Hamburgers have long been one of my staple foods and there was a time early in college when one of my classmates endeavored to track the regularity that I indulged in a burger. And while I’m not appalled to say it, the fact that I managed to have hamburgers for 88 consecutive, non-breakfast, meals is astounding even to me. We all cope with major life changes in different ways and apparently my mechanism is the humble hamburger (with cheese, mustard and pickles only, please). So with this in mind I would regularly search the city, both Bristol before and London now, for an American style burger restaurant. And much to my dismay have struggled to find one that doesn’t have golden arches or reference a burger monarchy. That is until I was enjoying a pleasant walk through the city and heading southwest on Long Acre between Covenant Garden and Leicester Square stations where I found myself dumbfounded by a sign for “Five Guys.” My favorite American Burger restaurant that I had no idea even existed outside the states.

And I say dumbfounded not to imply that it wouldn’t be impossible for such an establishment to find its way in London, indeed one of the greatest skills the English have is in the collection of foreign cultural icons and redistributing them to the broader British society both at home and abroad. Their museums alone are some of the greatest in the world largely because of collected artifacts that come from places all over the world. No, in this sense I was dumbfounded because I had literally just left a lunch with a friend of mine who was helping in my search for the best London burger and was walking from Honest Burgers in Holburn down to the National Gallery where I was meeting my wife for the evening.  Had I not just finished eating a short time before I may well have just popped in for a quick bite but instead I soldiered on towards the National Gallery and the date with my lovely wife; who I then took back to Five Guys the next evening.

And while Honest Burgers was delicious! The Five Guys at the corner of Long Acre and St Martin’s Ln truly satisfied my longing for that ever elusive all American Hamburger.

A Day in (My) Life

 How did we get so lucky? I mean, as you’ve read for the last almost three years, all we do is go on vacation.

Wait. No. Really? I do go to work too. 

Work.  You know, that thing that sent us over here & allowed us to live this fabulous adventure.

I thought maybe you’d like to hear about what I do when I’m not on vacation.  You know… the mundane.

We live in a great location.  It’s about a 10 minute walk from our house to the nearest train station, Norwood Junction. From Norwood it’s supposed to be a 12 minute train ride into London Bridge Station then another 5-10 minute walk to my office.  Adam walks me to the train station most days. And with my Oyster Card in hand, it’s supposed to be a fairly easy commute.

You might notice that I used the phrase “supposed to” twice in that last paragraph.

There are two options that most commuters use to get into London Bridge; the 7:35 and the 7:43 trains. In the nearly year that I’ve been taking this route, the 7:35 – never on time; usually around 7:45 and the 7:43, don’t even think about it arriving before 8am.  On particularly exciting days, the 7:43 arrives before the 7:35 and for some reason that bothers many of my fellow commuters.  Personally, I just like being able to fit on the inside of the train.

You think I’m joking.

Yeah, occasionally I try to get on the 7:35 only to encounter this situation and have to wait it out for the 7:43.  And sometimes I worm my way in and stand in someone’s armpit.  Joy.

Once arriving at London Bridge the short walk is often really nice.  You get a great view of the city waking up for the day.

This is in the top 5 reasons of why I love working here.  How do you not fall in love with walking to work with that view?

Then of course, there are days where it rains.  No, really, it rains in the UK. Then my walk looks a bit more like this.

Umbrellas are an added fun target in trying to walk with a couple thousand of your closest friends.  The thought of Dory bouncing on the jellyfish is pretty constant in my life.  Games? I love games!

Once in the office, I do the work, I drink the tea, I save the financial markets. You know, all the things.

Then it’s time to commute home.  It’s a mystery as to what platform my train will leave from EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  So with my couple thousand close friends, I stand and stare at the big board to wait for the magic number to appear then we all make a mad dash for the platform before the train departs.

I know I will miss many things when we leave the UK.  Surprisingly enough, even with the chaos of the daily commute, this is definitely one of them.

The Long Boat Ride Back to London

For a cruise wrought with bad weather and rough seas the last day and half on board wasn’t much different. Our ship left Bergen, Norway late in the afternoon just before another storm was coming into port so the captain did his best to forge through the swells of the front and make it to calmer waters. By lunchtime the following day the seas began to level out and walking around the ship was considerably easier. Although, it seemed as if most passengers had retreated to their cabins for fear of another onslaught of bad weather.

We spent most of our last full day on board lounging around the common areas catching up on reading (Amanda) and sketching (myself). Both activities proved to be stomach turning experiences for most of the cruise with a pitching deck on unstable seas so it was nice to sit comfortably for a little while and not feel queasy. We also started planning for our next set of visitors along with working out a schedule for our final trip within the UK and the last hurrah in Europe!  

When we finally arrived back in London Amanda and I were both more than ready to get back to our normal, stable, rock solid lives and while we have enjoyed both cruises we’ve taken during our time in the UK, I think we are probably going to avoid the Marco Polo for awhile. With all the news worthy events that have occurred to the Marco Polo in the last two years; Ran aground, Noro-virus outbreak (we witnessed this one first hand) and a death on board due to rough seas -- I think it’s probably better we just stay away for a bit. Of course, I should stress that it wasn’t a bad ship by any stretch and we did generally enjoy our time on board it’s just had an incredibly unlucky stretch since we discovered it a two short years ago. Perhaps a bigger boat in a different part of the world would be better for us. Anyone interested in joining us in the Caribbean? I promise we’ll do our best to not break the boat!  

Tromso, Andalsnes and Bergen

Our time in Alta unfortunately ended rather poorly as our last excursion, a guided tour to see the Northern Lights, was canceled due to in-climate weather. The weather was so bad in fact that it delayed our departure out of the port by a few hours. The captain did however make up some time during the night and we arrived in Tromso late in the morning. 

Obviously the weather hadn’t gotten much better so we tried to find as many indoor activities as we possibly could. This proved much harder than we originally anticipated as the only place that was open was a small glass blowing shop just off the main street. It's a good things Amanda loves a decent glass blowing demonstration.

After nearly an hour soaking in the warmth being generated from the furnaces and with the rain starting to come down in buckets we beat feet back to ship stopping just long enough to take a photo of the local Catholic Church.

Our afternoon in Tromso was uneventful. We stayed on board drinking hot chocolate and perhaps a few glasses of wine while we watched the storms batter the poor dock workers who were constantly securing and releasing the mooring lines of the various regional ferries that came in and out of port throughout the day. After dinner however the weather cleared up just long enough to get some photos of the city all lit up. 

Shortly after these pictures were taken there was a clearing in the sky and the Northern Lights shown through very briefly. However, due to the incredibly poor lighting conditions and the persistent cloud cover this is the best of the shots I managed to get. 

But hey, we can now say we’ve officially seen the Aurora Borealis!

Almost immediately after seeing the Northern Lights the skies opened up yet again and an even stronger storm blew into town. So strong in fact that the Captain decided to delay our departure out of Tromso until the following morning. Meaning our next scheduled stop, Sortland, would have to be skipped and instead we would get another full day at sea. A sea that was easily the roughest Amanda and I have ever encountered with 8 to 12 meter swells (26 to 40 ft in American)! We didn’t even bother leaving the cabin.

When we finally arrived in Andalsnes we actually ran off the boat. The weather in Andalsnes was much nicer than Tromso and we took advantage of the scenic walking paths that surround the city. 

Amanda even found some playground equipment.

 

Best photo of Amanda...EVER!

Once done with playtime it was time to eat and what better way to make up for a day of missed meals than with a giant pizza.

We left Andalsnes completely sated and ready to tackle what we anticipated would be yet another rough night at sea, and we were not disappointed. If anyone ever wants to take you on a cruise up the Norwegian coast in the winter make sure it’s on a REALLY big boat because the small ones get tossed all over the North Atlantic.

We arrived in Bergen no worse for wear despite the formidable seas, however the constant rain rather encouraged us to return to the ship sooner than we had hoped. Bergen appears to be a lovely city and I would very much like to return again when the weather is a bit more appealing, but even so we did manage to see the old market buildings which run along the docks and meander through the wonky back alleyways.  

Now all that's left is the long boat ride back to London.

Ggurrr Burr!

Alta is home to the northernmost ice hotel in the world.  As we were in port overnight, there was also the opportunity to stay in said hotel.  The exterior and interior are made entirely of snow and ice – the rooms, the wedding chapel, the beds, even the drinking glasses.  The inside is kept at about 20 – 25°F.  It is decorated with ice sculptures throughout the hallways.  If you are staying in the hotel they provide you with reindeer fur and a thermal sleeping bag for your bed.  I decided (and Adam quickly agreed) that a drink at the bar of the ice hotel was much more our speed than actually spending the night at the hotel.

So, off we went.

The structure is completely rebuilt every year in November and is operational until late March / early April when it is left to melt.  They redesign the hotel every year as well.  The only ‘room’ that stays in the same location is the chapel as it has to be built on consecrated ground.  This year’s theme is Viking Warriors, so most of the sculptures look ready for a fight.  But, as we decided, it’s hard to be completely combative when you will be a puddle in a month.

Lighting is difficult within the hotel because light bulbs give off heat which is a big no-no for ice sculptures.

The bedrooms were works of art.  There were 20 double bedrooms with nothing more than a bed and a small curtain as the door and two suites complete with a ‘fireplace’ and sitting room.

(the fireplace is just a picture of a roaring fire…don’t worry, they haven’t figured out how to freeze fire in Norway)

The wedding chapel hosts 25-30 weddings every year – mostly destination ones we’re told.  Jonathan, Kristy, there’s still time to book for 2015!

After exploring, we decided a drink at the ice bar was in order.  Their recommendation was Blue Curacao Vodka.  So we went for it.

I decided after drinking it, that they only recommended it because it looks pretty in their glasses, not because it actually tastes good.

You know when you were little and your Mother told you that if made that face too long it would freeze that way?  She was right.