Weekend in DC/Annapolis

This past weekend we went to Annapolis for a wedding and had a little bit of time to visit our friends (Jess and Colin Anderson, Emily and Josh Cullum and Liz and Chris Jarvis) in D.C. It was so fun, but never enough! Hopefully I'll get to make it back sometime soon! Jess put up a few pictures on her blog: http://smutchfun.blogspot.com

And here's a spoiler (I stole this from her blog). Beautiful weather and beautiful friends!

You Tubes Worth Watching

I'm not a You Tube addict, unlike someone I share an apartment with... though I will say I always enjoy a good laugh, something You Tube readily provides, if you know where to look. However, there is a depth to You Tube that I don't often see, as my main channel of viewing YT videos is through Brian's recommendation. Clearly, there is a lot of nonsense out there, and certain videos that appeal to only a select audience. I did recently find (the first via twitter, the second through the suggestions that pop up once you're in the site) two videos absolutely worth watching because of the joy they bring, not through laughter but through music.

3 year-old Jonathan conducting Beethoven's 5th (4th movement):
http://www.youtube.com/user/esenuk#p/a/f/0/0REJ-lCGiKU

Alice Dancing Under the Gallows (about music and hope in the Holocaust):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlccsLr48Mw

London

So this is Borough Market, an outdoor market of a huge variety of foodstuffs. It was my favorite place in London! I sipped sangria while walking around the market checking everything out. 

 I finally decided on a curry pie for lunch because it seemed so quintessentially London, and I did not regret it at all--delicious!

 And for dessert I couldn't resist these meringue cookies bigger than my hand!

 Brian and I in Greenwich... you can't really see it, but the London skyline is behind us.

 We went to Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian. It wasn't quite as cool as I thought it would be, but there I am, purple converse-clad, stepping over the spot from which all world navigation is measured.

 Trafalgar Square in the winter... cold and empty!

 

Trafalgar Square in the summer is a vast improvement over the winter!

 

This is actually in Oxford, a side trip I made to visit Jenny and enjoyed immensely! The Eagle and Child is the bar in which the Inklings, an informal literary group including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien among others met together. 

Athens

More pictures from the past year, starting with our trip to Athens last February.

 Brian and I standing on Mars Hill--where the Apostle Paul gave a famous sermon--looking up at the Acropolis. It was a long, circuitous route up to the top of the Acropolis, but clearly worth it. We adopted a stray dog along the way and named her Athena, but we had to part ways when we went up to see the Parthenon. I think she got tired of us because we didn't give her any food.

 This is actually in a reconstructed Roman marketplace at the foot of the Acroplis.

 And here we are on our adventure to the Mediterranean Sea on 3/4 tank of rented gas--we couldn't get a rental car with a full tank because of the strikes.

And the view from our hotel...