Closing Time

That's also a song I love by Semisonic. I think I loved the video and that's why the song sticks in my head as a favorite.

Anyway...

We are closing on the house tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will be a home owner. That's just crazy.

Praise the Lord we have stairs!

I don't know what happened, nor do I want to know.

All I know is, my dad called me this morning and my stair rail is completed and being painted this afternoon. It will be ready for installation tomorrow.

I could jump for joy!!!!! One more hurdle over and done with. They think we will close next week sometime.

Which means we should be moving next weekend! I am so excited. I can't wait to be in our new house.

Frustrations

I am peeved. I am beyond peeved.
The house is done. Everything has been installed and it is move-in ready. Except one small detail.

There are no rails on the stairs. Honestly, this wouldn't bother me if they'd let us move in. I'm not planning on using the stairs for awhile so I don't see the big fuss.
The stairs will be done, we just don't know when.

Here's the story of the stair that couldn't:

My father is a civil engineer who has worked for a iron fabrication company for 30 years. Jes and I thought iron railing would be pretty and Dad could get us a deal. So we had him draw up a plan for the rail and after some tweaking we approved it. This was about a month ago. We had to wait until the wood flooring was installed on the steps to get the measurements right. Jesse and I were very excited because the rail we picked out is the same rail we saw and fell in love with at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Ireland. It's very cool that we could get the same railing as that place.

I don't know what or who caused the next big slow down in production, but the rail wasn't even ordered until 2 weeks ago. Then it was found out that it wasn't in stock and had to be shipped from Texas. Originally, the rail was going to be installed by the 17th. Then it got pushed back to the 20th. And then again to the 23rd or 24th. Then on Friday my dad calls me and tells me that they got the rail on the 20th, but hadn't started it yet. (They've had it in stock for nearly 5 days at that point).
Today I find out that my dad's company is owned by a bunch of a-holes. Now I've known that for some time now, but never thought they'd be like this to me. BTW, we are paying for this rail out of pocket and have already given them a check.
They have decided to put all other jobs ahead of mine. They told my father today that they weren't sure when they'd be able to get to my job.
Daddy threatened to quit, I had to talk him down.
We were hoping/wanting/needing to close this week. My lease is running out and I need to start moving into the new house before it does.

My real estate agent is trying to see if there is anyway we can close without the rail being installed.
These people are holding my house hostage all because of some petty differences with my father.
So I'm hereby announcing to the world and anyone who will listen...

If you ever need to build iron railing for your house/apartment/hotel whatever... Do not use Allen's Steel Products in Arlington, TN.
If they treat a family member of one of their long time employees like this, there's no telling how they treat their bread and butter customers.

I'm sure everything will work out in the end, but they have some seriously bad kharma coming there way. I wouldn't want to be them for all the money in the world.

Interior Improvements

Strange, because that's the name of an account that I use in budgeting.

Anyway. I'm finally well! (YAY, applause!)

I have had a bugger of a sinus infection. It lasted about two weeks in all. But I'm well now and ready for the christmas season.

Loads of stuff have been happening at the house this week.

First, we got our tile floors laid. And the tile around the fireplace was put up.

Also the kitchen cabinets are in along with the counter tops! I haven't seen them yet, but hopefully I'll be in to see them today.

But the coolest part are the lights are all installed. I really love our lighting choices. Jesse's favorite is the front porch light, while mine is the one in the dining room.

PAINT

I've had the flu for nearly a week now (ever since Thanksgiving) and haven't been out to see the house since.
Last time we were out there the builder was there and we gave him all our paint colors for the interior walls as well as our tile selection. That was the day before Thanksgiving. The bricking was halfway done and they had just mudded all the walls and ceilings.

Jesse and I holed ourselves up for the holiday weekend (only venturing out to do some Black Friday shopping - Buy a washer get the dryer for FREE at Sears!) Since I was sick we didn't venture out to the house at all. He went out there yesterday to pick up marble samples.
We didn't expect a lot of work to get done over the holiday weekend. But actually they finished all the brick work and got the walls painted inside! The paint is still pretty light and they're going to come out and do another coat tomorrow.
Our dining room is robin's egg blue and the living room is the color of coffee with cream. The kitchen looks orange right now, but once the second coat goes on it should look red clay brick colored. Jesse's study is also quite light. It should be a darker grey when it is done.
I love the color of the guest bathroom. It's a sage green that we are going to do a Japanese motif around.
I can't believe they got the house primed and painted over the weekend.

Update on the brick

Ok.. it looks better.
I freaked out a little prematurely yesterday. Jesse went back by and took pictures and says that it is definitely drying lighter.


And they got the mudding and dry wall all the way finished. I wonder how long before we start painting?

Brick

They've started bricking this weekend. And I'm a little freaked out.

I finally agreed to a red brick. Jesse persuaded me that it would look better with the columns. But I didn't want it to be too dark or look too much like a college campus.
When we went to the brick store to look at a thousand samples, I really liked this one called Old Boston. It was still red, but didn't look purple or scream Ole Miss. I liked it with a gray mortar that the sales lady told me was called ultra dark.

I looked at the site this weekend and first of all, the brick seems a bit darker than I thought it would. And secondly - the mortar is black, which makes the brick looks purple-y.
The builder swears that it always looks dark at first and as it dries it will lighten. But part of me is freaking out. This was one of the few things I was truly picky on and disagreed with Jesse on. All I can imagine right now is super white columns up next to it and feel like I'm living at Ole Miss or worse, the white trim will make the brick look even darker and I'm living in the big purple house.

In other news, our drywall is up and the kitchen cabinets come this week I believe. The builder thinks we'll be in before New Year so long as it stays dry this December.

Updates!!!

It has been awhile since I've updated this blog.
I have started traveling for budgets again and just haven't been able to get the pictures uploaded to photobucket so I could post them here.

I haven't been to the house very much during this time because I'm not in town or I'm working late. And since daylight savings happened, I'd have to leave the office at 3 just to make it out there before dark. So I usually get to see the house on weekends only.
But Jesse is out there everyday, keeping me posted.

And alot has happened.

First of all, they finished the attic, and got the roof framed up. This all happened about a day or so after my last post. And then within a day of that they got the shingles on.

The attic is huge. Our staircase goes up the middle of the house so it basically splits the attic in half. It's meant to be future expansion but we decided we're only going to expand to one side and leave the other for attic space.

You can really see how the foyer is going to look with the roof on.
This past weekend Jesse and I went by and marked all the places where we want outlets and light switches with post it notes. We did this on our own because the HVAC had already been run and we didn't know when the electrician was coming. Good thing we did because about 2 days later he came and I was out of town. So I'm very glad we marked everything because even though Jesse was there to show him where we wanted things wired, I had special outlets that I wanted in the kitchen and baths that Jesse wouldn't have known to ask for.

The plumber came this week as well and ran all the plumbing. And I now have bathtubs! The one in the master is going to be a jacuzzi corner tub. I haven't seen it in person, but I hear that it continually warms the water so no matter how long you stay in the tub the water doesn't go cold. Sweet! I can get nice and pruny.

The doors and windows were delivered yesterday so I guess those are going up next.
Now we're just waiting on the ground to dry so they can deliver the bricks.
I'm starting to get so excited about this house now.

I found out that Target lets you register for house warming gifts, so of course, I made a list. It's probably tacky and not very good etiquette, but I don't care. I don't even care if I get anything on the list - I'm using it to keep my colors straight for all the rooms.

Ceilings make all the difference

I went out to the site today. I haven't been out in a week so the last time I saw the house it was just a block on concrete.
Now it actually looks like a house. There are outside walls and ceiling joists and stairs!
It now feels like a house and I can really start to see how it's going to look finished.
We designed this house ourselves by frankensteining a bunch of floorplans we liked so to see something 'real' was nice. It was also nice to see that our vision in our heads that we drew on paper didn't somehow get lost in translation - nor does our vision turn out to make our house ugly or impractical.
Jesse was quite scared about the staircase in particular. This was his particular vision and now that we have stairs, you can really see how it will look with rails and the balcony overlooking the front door. And I have to admit - he's right - it looks good.
And I walked into the master closet and it is just the size I thought it would be. Somehow, adding walls and ceilings makes the rooms look so much larger.
I think we have the makings of a really nice home.
It's still a bit crazy how we're building a house. That this lumber and dirt is going to be a place I live at soon.

Framework

Jesse went out to the site today and apparently we have walls.
He says that it looks bigger, but I think he might have been saying that for my benefit.
I'm still really worried that I got the measurements wrong.
He did say that the laundry room was huge.
He sent more pictures.

And apparently he's freaked out our neighbors. He was hanging out in his car outside the house site, waiting for the builder and our neighbor came out with her big dog to see who he was. She said her kids had noticed his car there alot lately and she was afraid he was a stalker or killer or whatever. He introduced himself and she seemed relieved. What's crazy about this whole scenario is that we've met this lady before with her husband.

Concrete and optical illusions

They poured the concrete this weekend.
And I'm just a tad freaked out. I know that houses look smaller when you are looking at just the concrete, but still, our house looks tiny.
I'm the most freaked out by the master bedroom closet. I stood in it and just couldn't imagine it being the right size.
Normally this wouldn't bother me except I helped draw up the plans. I wrote down the dimensions for my dad and he drew them up. I took measurements of the house we liked, and I'm for sure that I wrote down the dimensions for the rooms correctly, but I didn't measure the closets. I just kind of eyeballed it.

What if I got them wrong? It gnaws at me everytime I think about it. I really liked the master closet at the house we looked at it. It was nice and big and now I'm just thinking about how I might have got it wrong and now we have to live with it.
Jesse and I measured it for our own sakes, and the measurements seems fine, but it still looks small. We even laid down in the living room. He's about the size of our couch and I'm about the size of our loveseat and we were seeing where each piece would go and if everything would fit. It seems to fit ok, and I'm sure the neighbors think we are quite crazy laying about on a concrete slab.

In other news, a cat has made our new home his new home. Jesse found this cat in our yard and apparently it had claimed the yard as its own. Jesse calls him Mr. Squatty since he's squatted on our land. But Jesse also says that Mr. Squatty is very mean.

Color palettes

Jesse, ever the designer, has developed a few color ideas for our house.
And of course, his ideas are great. Stinks that my husband is better at decorating than I am.

Master bedroom:
We're thinking about striping the walls, but overall making the master suite look and feel like a 5 star hotel room (Not too far off from the Sofitel St James we stayed at in London - see this blog)

Dining Room:
We disagree slightly on the exact shade of light blue, but a light blue and brown combination for the dining room. We found the coolest console table at the Pottery Barn outlet and it's the color blue he likes. I think we'll use it as a buffet.

Living Room:
My sofas are brick red, so we have to work with that. This is still under construction, he wants to work the brown and blue from the dining room in there, but not quite sure yet...

Study/guest bathroom:
The guest bathroom is going to be all Japanese/zen inspired. My mom gave us these japanese ink prints a few months back that would look great in there (Japanese writing that we haven't translated yet, a woman in a kimono and a cherry blossom tree - very cool looking) and jesse found a neat vase with a cherry blossom design on it. I want to do something with a shower curtain that makes it look like the old japanese paper walls and lanterns.
Jesse's study, which is off this bathroom, is going to be gray on the walls with white/black furniture and white trim, and maybe some green accents. Very masculine, but sophisticated.

The beginnings of a foundation

They've started work on the house. So far all we have are the frames for the foundation. Here are some pictures. Not really much to look at just yet, but excited that there is something on top of the grass that was there a few days ago.

Jesse is convinced that they are missing a piece or haven't finished because it looks too small to him. And it does look small, but I remember when we built my parents house and the foundation looked really tiny.
My mom says that it looks tiny until you get the walls up.

We went out this weekend and lo and behold, guess who our neighbor is? Andy Dockery. For those of you who don't know, he was one of our closest friends in high school. It's kind of crazy that we'll be living across the street from him. At least we know one of our neighbors isn't a homicidal maniac!

Going out there and looking at the frames it hit me that we are building a house. I mean, it's real now. There is lumber with my name on it. We have our new address. I feel so old and grown up. I'm going to be a homeowner - how responsible of me!

We have LAND!

Jesse and I decided awhile back that it was time for us to become homeowners.
We've been searching for several months and just couldn't find what we wanted in the place we wanted.
So we are building. AAHH!!

The idea of building scared the be-jeebies out of me because of many things:
1. My parents built their house when I was young and it was a very stressful experience which I absorbed.
2. It's budget season here at Mid America which means I'm busier than ever. I'm traveling two or three days a week on average and the days that I am in town, I'm at the office until after dark.
3. There are 432,972 decisions that you have to make when building a house (yes that's the real number and I didn't just make it up :P) The shear volume of choices makes my mind come to a grinding halt. Do I care whether my trim is eggshell or ecru? Whether I have red brick vs brown (which I do)?
I am the girl who gave her mother a couple of pictures from a magazine and then let her plan my wedding for me with barely any input. This is the girl who had no idea where she was going on her honeymoon until she got off the plane at the location (And even then, wasn't 100% sure)

I'm not very picky. I'm a no-fuss, laid-back kind of person most of the time. But now I'm suddenly supposed to care about colors and finishes and chestnut floors vs oak.
On top of the fact that I have no time to make those decisions right now.
So no - I was not thrilled with the aspect of building.

But I got over it. See. I have a really great husband. Who's currently not working and has really great taste. I trust him to make all the decisions for me, with a bit of guidance on my end.

I was terribly nervous about the financing when the Dow dropped 700 points (that did not help my stress factor at all). But after talking to my mortgage lender and hearing that our financing is in place and fine, I'm fine.

It's crazy, but I'm really not stressed about this now. Now that it is upon us and we've signed papers, I'm quite calm.

So, weather permitting, we should start moving dirt this weekend and hopefully have a foundation by monday!!

Odd Signs while abroad

We encountered a few odd signs while we were in England and Ireland.
They seemed odd to us as 'Stupid Americans' but probably make perfect sense to the Brits.

No Nothing at any time
This sign seems to say No doing anything or nothing at any time. It doesn't exactly tell us what we aren't supposed to do. There is nothing in the circle that the line is crossing out. Are we to do nothing? Or make sure we aren't doing nothing?
We eventually figured out it meant no parking, but again - confusing at first.

Great Tastes of America
We loved this one. Mostly because at Mickey D's in Ireland they were having a "Tastes of America" campaign where you could buy burgers that were supposedly from various areas in America. It gave great insight into what they thought America's tastes or flavors supposedly are.
The Miami burger - 100% beef, bacon, monteray jack cheese, lettuce onion and cheese sauce on a chili-chive bun (Doesn't that just scream South Beach to you!!?)
The New York Supreme - beef, mayo, bacon and american cheese on a sesame seed bun
The California Supreme - beef, bacon, monteray jack cheese, tomato sauce on a sesame seed bun
Arizona Grande - beef, bacon (they sure think we like bacon huh?), monteray jack cheese, mayo & peppers on a chili-chive bun
And the best was the Oreo Toffee Flurry. Labeled as a great taste of America, it's a flurry flavor you can't even get in America.

Children on the Rampage
This sign was posted outside the Old Mill in Lower Slaughter I believe. I love the word rampage. Not unruly, not disruptive, but children who are rampaging through the center will be removed. Great choice of words!

Humped Crossings/ Humped Zebras
These signs were everywhere. "Humps - next 10 yards" or "Humped Crossing".
Our favorite were the humped zebra signs. We learned that zebras were pedestrian crossings (those zigzagged lines you see on the roads). And if they were raised, they were considered 'humped'. Still, in our perverse American minds it gave way to all kinds of jokes and innuendos.

Recycled Teenagers
It's a bit hard to see in this picture, but on the chalkboard sign it says "Recycled Teenagers - over 50's" This particular pub was calling senior citizens (or the over 50's set) recycled teens. So over course, we had to get our very own recycled teens to pose in front of the sign.
Also, not so much a sign, but you could hear over intercoms and such at the train/plane stations about 'super citizens' instead of senior citizens. It brought to mind a kind of ultra-patriotic, super hero kind of Brit. Someone wearing the Union Jack as a cape and calling themselves "Britain Man".

Stonking Good!
We ran across this sign in the theater district. We don't what stonking is, but we sure do want to have some. I do think we had a stonking good time in jolly ole' London.

Mind the Gap
Seen all around at Subway Stations (or the tube or Underground as it is called there) We know it means watch your step, but we saw various versions of this all around England. "Mind your head" when going through a small door, "Mind your step" when walking over rough terrain. But it brings to mind the idea of obeying the gap or step "Mind your mother, Mind the gap".
Maybe we're just weird and overthink things.


Riding with Hitler
This was a sign in the British war Museum and apparently part of a campaign during WWII. But can you imagine the same sign today? When you ride alone you ride with Osama Bin Laden?

June 1 - Paris

Paris.

I have dreamed since I was a little girl about going to Paris. About the Eiffel tower and all it's romance, the city of lights, the city of love. But somehow reality never lives up to the dream and that was the fate of Paris.

We woke up at a ghastly 4am to catch the train to Paris. We had just a few hours to tour the city and we wanted to make the most of it.
May I say that the train was the best form of transportation I have ever been in. I think we were in business class, but still, it was so clean and comfortable and they served us a really good breakfast. If I ever get back to Europe, I'm going everywhere by train.

Of course, the worse part about Paris are the French. I'm not one of those 'freedom' fries kind of people, but honestly, the French need to chill out a bit. I know very little French and tried to use that as much as possible and be polite and not come off as a "Stupid American". But some people can't be pleased. I was trying to buy a piece of gum at the station and the lady was chattering away in French. I asked her "Parlez vous anglais?" and she rolled her eyes and sighed heavily and then replied in English to me. I'm sorry I'm not fluent in French. Please forgive me and my stupid education. But thankfully, she was the only really rude person I ran into during my short time in the country.

First stop into Paris was of course the Eiffel Tower. And it was everything I dreamed it to be.
The only problem was that we didn't get to stay there long enough. I could have spent a whole day looking out at the city and then having coffee at one of the cafe's inside. The tower is supposed to be (in my mind) a romantic experience. The problem is, you can't get very romantic with your inlaws standing next to you. I don't fault them, it just changed what I thought my first visit would be. But the views were great.

After the Eiffel Tower we had just enough time to see Notre Dame. But because of time we had to do a rush through tour. On the way we stopped at a cafe and I got some crepes (yummiest thing ever) and bought a beret from a sidewalk vendor. And yes, I wore it. How can you not have a real live french beret and then not wear it?
We barely scratched the surface of Notre Dame. Just enough to take a few pictures and hang out for a bit in the gardens.

And then we had to bit adieu to Paris. A very brief 4 hour visit. I hope I can return someday and give it more time. We didn't even get to the Louvre or Arc D'Triomphe.

The train ride back was better than the train ride up. They served us a nice dinner with complimentary wine and champagne (Yay french!). If your glass was even partly empty they would come by and fill it back up without asking.
We had a good share of alcohol and probably acted more like stupid loud Americans than we had the whole trip.
We realized that business class actually meant that because we were surrounded by people in suits and working feverishly on laptops. And here we were, foriegn tourists acting like fools.
Oh well. We had a good time.

It was our last night and I had one last thing I had to do before I could go home to America.
Our train let us out at King's Cross station and for any Potterheads out there, you know what I had to do.
I couldn't find it at first probably because I'm a muggle and have no business looking for it, but I asked a station worker and he pointed me in the right direction. And there it was, Platform 9 3/4. The way into Hogwarts for all you non-Harry Potter fans.

Earlier in the week I had run across a Hog's head pub, and found Charing Cross road (and what I suspect is the hidden entry into the Leaky Cauldron, but of course, I can't see it, because I'm a muggle) but Platform 9 3/4 is the climax.


And so concludes our whirlwind but wonderful European vacation. Another 12 hours on a plane and we are home.

May 31 - London Day 3

Spooky day.

Starting off with the Tower of London. Which isn't a tower at all, but a castle.
But it's where lots of people have been imprisoned and beheaded so it's creepy none the less.
Little bit of history... It used to be the place all the kings and queens lived at, but somewhere along the way they moved to Buckingham. Still not sure why or when, but then it was converted to a prison.
We saw the place where Ann Boleyn got her head cut off. They've replaced the chopping block with this watery art piece, which I think is a shame. I would have liked to see the chopping block instead.
Apparently, she was brought in by a secret passage in the river so no one would know she was there. They called this the 'traitors gate' and you can only get in by boat.
The Tower was cool and creepy, and they had people dressed up reenacting scenes which was awesome. Mostly because we knew their accents weren't fake. :) And we saw the armory where all the armor and weapons of all the kings are kept. Looking at the armor, you can tell what the knights were very keen to protect (if you get my drift)

But by far the coolest part of the Tower are the crown jewels. Again, you can't take pictures in there, and you have to stand on a moving platform to see them (no lingering allowed). But it was awesome. Every king or queen has their own crown and scepter and ring for inauguration and they have them all there going back to like 1200 or something. It's insane.
I saw the hope diamond in washington and it was cool, but this was 100 times better. How awesome would it be to just get to wear one for a minute? My inner little girl princess was squealing with delight.

After the tower everyone but Jesse and I went to Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian. It was a 2 hour boat ride and I guess Jess and I just decided to skip it and instead go shopping.
We went into Harrod's and went to Petticoat Lane (which is a big huge flea market). We also hit up the British War Experience which was not quite as interesting as it sounds. There was one part where you walk through a re-enacted street of WWII London as it is being bombed by the Nazis that was kind of cool.

The lot of us met back up that evening for the Jack the Ripper tour.
It started at the Tower of London (of course - extra creepy factor) and wandered through the streets of London, guided by a resident expert in the subject. I don't have alot of pictures of the tour because most of it is, "Look at these cobblestones. This is where a victim was found dead and de-gutted" and it starts at dusk so by halfway through the tour it was a little too dark for pictures. What's neat about the tour is that alot of the places still exist as is. You can still see the little halfway house where the prostitutes stayed. It's not that any more of course, but it's just as it was in the 1800's. That's pretty cool. And the buildings are real close together and it getting dark and all - it can make for a pretty creepy tour. Our guide was more matter of factual than dramatic though.

May 30th - London Day 2

Jesse felt a little better that morning, but again, we slept very little so we were quite tired.
We started out going to the London Eye which is a giant ferris wheel. I figured it would be good because Jesse could sit and rest a bit.
You get great views of the city in the Eye. We were in there with a British family and though I didn't know it at the time, Jesse was getting quite upset at one of the ladies because she kept hovering over the air conditioner.

Then we went to Westminster Abbey. Where apparently anyone who's anyone in British history or culture is buried. I mean everyone has a memorial there. Chaucer, Austen, Tennyson, Carrol, Isaac Newton, even Darwin - not to mention generations of kings and queens. It's also quite huge. It seemed to go on for ever. The cathedral was huge and had large prayer rooms off the side and burial chambers for the royalty. And then it also had cloisters and gardens you could visit.
They won't let you take pictures in the Abbey itself which is a shame.
So all the pictures I've attached in this blog are taken by a professional, but they are the pictures that I would have taken had they let me.
After the abbey, Jesse was feeling much better and we figured since we had seen Buckingham palace, we would go see the Prime Minister's residence, 10 Downing Street. It was heavily guarded of course, but he doesn't live in a huge palace or anything like our president. In fact, aside from the guards, the only thing that lets you know that he lives there is the black door with the address.
Then we went to the cabinet war rooms which are the underground bunkers for Churchill and his team during the blitz in WWII. It was typical museum fare, but the map room was pretty cool because it had all these old maps of Europe pasted on the wall with pins stuck in them obviously to follow battles and battle plans.
Jenny, Jesse's sister, was a history major (specifically WWII history) so she spent a lot more time in there than we did. While waiting for her to come out, we were hanging out on the side of the street when a big parade came by with lots of horses and carriages. We found out later that they were practicing for the queen's birthday which was going to take place just after we left.
When Jenny and Jay finally emerged, we split. Jesse's parents were going to take his grandparents back to the hotel to rest. Us 'kids' were going to see if we could find the church where Princess Diana was married.
Apparently, us kids are stupid. We went to the wrong church. We took a train halfway across London, only to get out at this little chapel. The cool thing was that there was a wedding going on and the vicar let us watch part of it through the glass doors.

After having spent a day in Liverpool, and now being in London, how could a tourist and a Beatles fan resist Abbey Road?
We did the the typical touristy thing walking across the road and acting like we were on the cover of the album. The thing is, Abbey Road is actually quite a busy street. I'm sure people get injured there all the time because of the traffic and the desire to stop mid-crossing to get a good picture. Very close to the spot where the Beatles got their album cover shot is the actual Abbey Road Studios.
Jesse was in Beatles heaven. He wanted to go in. He almost did, just to pop in and act like he was supposed to be there, but then be escorted out by security. I mean, how many people can say they were kicked out of Abbey Road Studios? But he chickened out.

A short walk from Abbey Road is Paul McCartney's actual home. He wasn't there because he was giving a show in Liverpool (missed him by two days!!). I was impressed by how unimpressive his home was. He doesn't live like a multi-millionaire at all.

We actually spent alot of this day just wandering London with Jesse's parents. We hit up the theater district to try and find cheap seats to Spamalot, but no luck. One of the cool things we saw was in Trafalgar square there was a sidewalk chalk artist just like in Mary Poppins.
I tried to jump in and see if it would transport me to a magical, colorful land with live carousels and dancing penguins, but it didn't :(

May 29th - London

London. I think I could live here. Honestly. It's foreign enough to be exotic and not like what you find in the US, but they speak English so you can navigate the town fairly easily.
And of course, what's the first thing you do when you get to London! Why, just like the pussy cat - you visit the queen! Our hotel was walking distance from Buckingham palace so we hoofed it over early to get a good spot to see the changing of the guards. On the way we walked through Trafalgar Square. Which, to be honest I don't know why it's famous. I really should have brushed up on my English history before coming over. I'm sure there is some significance to Trafalgar Square historically, but at the time I have no idea. The road leading to Victoria Square and the palace was lined with lamposts and flags (which we later learned from a cabby is topped with ships from Admiral Nelson's fleet - Not sure who he is, but he's on top of the column in the middle of the square).

We got pretty early so we got a really nice spot in front of the palace. It was a little odd after spending time in Ireland to be surrounded by so many different cultures at once. Jesse chatted in Japanese to the people standing next to us.
Also, I saw Prince William. Yes, the future king of England himself. Granted, it was a quick look as he drove out of the gates, but still... I saw him. Beverly (my MIL) saw him too so she can back me up on that. Oddly there was practically no security around him. I'm sure someone was in the car with him, but there wasn't a motorcade or snipers on every roof like there is when the president drives by.
The changing was intriguing; something every visitor must partake of. But I think since we are American, a lot of the symbolism of what they were doing and who was who was lost on us. I expected it to be solemn, like the one at Arlington cemetery, but the band was playing "76 Trombones".
And after the palace, the best place to go is the palace gift shops. I must say I was impressed. I'm not a souvenir buying kind of person. (I'm not into kitschy knick knacks and key rings) But this shop had my attention. You could buy Queen Victoria's china. It is quite possibly the most beautiful china pattern I've ever seen. I wanted a piece, but it was way to expensive. So I got a teacup from Elizabeth II's commemorative china for her 60th wedding anniversary. It's quite lover-ly.
At this point Jesse got very ill. He literally threw up on the side of the palace gates.
Hoping it was just the crush of people and bad air we went to a pub to sit it out for a bit. No doing - he threw up in the pub as well.
I decided to take him back to the hotel while the rest of the family went shopping at Portabello Road.
Jesse was pretty sick. Around 5 o'clock I decided we needed dinner so I went out into the streets of London by myself. I've gotta say it unnerved me a bit. I had looked online for a nearby restaurant and memorized the path there. It wasn't that bad though. Our hotel was just one block from a bunch of delis and restaurants.
Jesse and I spent the rest of the evening indoors. It turns out he only had a 24 hr bug and was doing much better the next day, but we didn't sleep at all that night.
Around 2am he woke up ill and desperate for something to drink. So we looked in the mini-bar. We pulled out everything and found a coke in the back. A $6 coke. But it was worth it for him to feel better.
We later found out that the hotel charges by what was moved in the mini-bar, not by what was actually taken. When we checked out we had like a $200 bar bill but they dropped it. (Which was stupid in the first place because to even get to the coke itself I had to pull out three different items)

May 28th - Belfast/DownPatrick

We woke up the next morning to a perfect sunny day. You couldn't ask for better weather. Jesse got up extra early to get a few more pictures and talk to Stephen just to hear more of his accent.
It was sad to say goodbye to our hosts, and their lovely little B&B, but unfortunately all things must come to an end. (By the way, doesn't Stephen look like a young Liam Neeson?)

Our first sight seeing stop was this castle in Carrick Fergus. It was very old and built right up against the ocean. Jesse and I wandered around the outer wall taking pictures for a good 15 minutes before we realized that you could go inside it. It was just like every stereotypical castle you would imagine being like. It had towers with battlements and arrow slots. It had a courtyard around the keep. In the keep itself was a banquet hall and armory and living quarters. You had to climb up this narrow spiral stone stairway to get inside the keep.
There were even bathrooms. This particular bathroom was the 'finest' in the castle and when King John came to visit he reportedly used it. So that picture is of King John on the john.
Another interesting part of the castle was the murdering hole. The castle gatehouse had two portcullis (or large metal gates) so that when you visited the castle you would go through the first gate and then they would close it behind you so you were trapped between the two gates. Then you would state your name/business etc and if for some reason they didn't like you, there was a room just above the gate with a small hole in the floor so they could pour boiling oil, or shoot arrows down on whoever was trapped in the gatehouse.
When we were at the top of the keep in the armory there was a boys school there on field trip. They were explaining the history and how a knight would armor himself. They boys got to try on armor and pretend they were knights. I think Jesse wanted to be a little Irish school boy for just a moment so he could join in.

After that we went to DownPatrick which is where the St Patrick's center and grave is located.
We had to go through Belfast to get there. While stopped in traffic I was looking out the window and watching the town. I noticed a lot of graffiti and murals on the sides of buildings. When we left St Ronans, Judith had briefly talked about how there was peace now and more tourists willing to visit Northern Ireland. I had always heard about how they were fighting and car bombs and the IRA, but seeing the murals kind of brought it home. Some were peaceful, some were quite scary. It's just crazy to think that just a few years ago the city was so violent no one in their right mind would travel to Belfast.
That mood continued when we got to the St Patrick's Center. We watched a film about his life. (He didn't rid Ireland of snakes by the way - the climate did that).
The over arching theme to that film was unity. How Patrick wasn't Catholic or Protestant, but a Christian and he can be embraced by all Irish. And how he is embraced and celebrated the world over (but many protestant Irish refuse to celebrate St Patrick's Day because it is considered a Catholic holiday). It's a very touchy subject over there and they are just starting to heal.
After a look at the gift shops, and the necessary purchase of gifts, we stopped for lunch and got some fish and chips. Jesse's fish looked like an oven mitt. It was such a pretty day we decided to eat outside on the lawn beside the Center.
They have these beautiful little white flowers that just cover the grass everywhere you look. At first I thought it was clover, but it seems to be growing next to the clover (which is also all over the ground). I wish I knew what these flowers were because I would love to have them in my yard.
Just down the way from the center is St Patrick's cathedral. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with the inside. The walls were all white and the place was way to bright. It looked modernized. The coolest thing about it was there were these coat of arms all along the walls. I looked at each one to see if the Magees (Jesse's family name) were anywhere. They weren't.
Jesse did find these neat little candelabras with shamrocks on them.
Outside the church is where St. Patrick is supposedly buried. While we were all outside looking at the graves, Jesse's sister, Jenny, nearly got locked in because she had spent too much time inside the church. But it gave Jess a lot of time to get pictures of the scenery.
Then sadly, we had to head to the airport and leave Ireland. One last look at the emerald isle as our plane headed towards London.

In London we checked in at the swanky Sofitel St James. It's a 5 star hotel that normally costs $600 a/night. (Believe me, we did not pay that!!!)
The whole place was decked out. They had a tea room downstairs all pinks and roses where a harpist played. Even the hallway to our room was cool. The rooms themselves looked more like New York apartments than hotel rooms. It had a huge tub that I took a bubble bath in. When I sat down in it the water came right up to my armpits. The beds were down mattresses with down comforters and down pillows. Once you lay down on one of those beds you don't want to get up for hours. I could get used to living like this.