Bruges, Scott's Version

Back from Bruges in Belgium after an excellent few days between Christmas and New Years.

Despite being led somewhat astray at the info centre in Brussels (they sent us on the ONLY one of 14 trains that head towards the coast from Brussels that doesn't go through Bruges) we made it in at about 7pm on the evening of the 26th. A cheap cab ride from the train station put us into the very centre of the old town where our hotel was. We couldn't have asked for a better location - dead centre, right behind the big clocktower and square that is the heart of Bruges.


We checked in and spent a while wandering around, stopping in a little restaurant just off the square for an excellent, if somewhat pricey, dinner. A few pints of lovely Belgian beer later, bellies full of mussels, flemish beef stew and chips, we headed back to the hotel and more or less passed out.

The next day dawned bright but foggy. We started, as one does, with a big Belgian waffle from a little shop and started walking and shooting. We spent most of the day wandering about, sampling beer and chips as we went (they do both *really* well). Unfortuantely Bruges is almost comically photogenic and we both became concerned that we'd run out of room on our memory cards for photos, only having room for several thousand shots between us.

Almost as if to prove that not everything in Bruges is quaint and well-done, we had dinner in a restaurant that seemed to go out of its way to be pretentious and slightly offensive. The decor was shiny and trendy, the food certainly looked good, however the waiters were awful, acting as though our presence was somehow tedious. On the other hand, the steak was tasty and as always, we can find a bright side in a bottle of wine.

Day 3 turned out to be brilliantly sunny, and a fair bit warmer that the day before - so much so that the ice on the canals had all melted. We decided to do a walking tour of the "off the beaten track" areas of Bruges which was in our little guide book, and we realized that they're off the beaten track for a very good reason - it's very boring. I suppose if you lived there, you'd want quiet little streets with nothing on them but rows of houses, not a pub in sight, but not if you're looking for a pub crawl on your vacation. We made it to the windmills on the edge of town, took a few quick snaps, and headed rapidly back in the direction of the crowds, waffles, and most importantly, beverages.

The only real downside of a town like Bruges is that there isn't much to do other than walk, photograph, and enjoy the local hospitality of various establishments. We discovered, much to Jamie's delight and my dismay (on considering my previously safe beer fridge stock) that Jamie really enjoys Belgian beer. We sampled extensively from the local selection, including Brugge Zot Blonde (brewed right in town, we did the brewery tour), the old standby Leffe, Tongerlo, Kriek Mystic (which turned out to be a cherry beer, pink in colour, much to my horror and the barman's amusement), Kwak, and several others (our memory seems to be a bit foggy for reason...).

Dinner that night looked like it would be a winner, and we were hopeful for a memorable experience after the horrorshow of the prior night. We definately got a memorable night.

We'd chosen a little place near our hotel that apparenly had been featured in the 2008 Michelin guide, and featured a very limited menu that they assured us was so small so that they could focus on the quality of each dish, as opposed to doing a whole bunch of dishes badly. Seemed good in theory, however I think they were cooking each table individually as it took more than 3 hours to complete the meal - we waited just over an hour between courses at one point. Despite the slowness, the food was excellent and they kept pouring the wine (we ponied up for the wine pairings) to keep us occupied between courses.

We were disappointed to have to leave on our final day. We got up relatively early and climbed the clocktower to get the panoramic views over the town, before dropping our bags at the hotel and checking out. We spent a few more hours wandering around, stopping for an extended lunch of mussels and chips, and possibly a couple more Leffes for good measure. We were forced, almost at gunpoint, to indulge in a few more hot mulled wines before walking the 20 minutes back to the train station.

We made it from Bruges back to Brussels with no incident this time, and caught the 5pm Eurostar back to London. I wonder how long my Belgian beer is going to last, what with Jamie developing a taste for it...next she'll be into my scotch, and then all hell will break loose...

We Have Returned from Bruges!

Hello everyone...we are back from our short break in Bruges, Belguim.

Scott is going to give a full report shortly, but I wanted to post some pics so you believe me when I say Bruges is the cutest city in the world!!!

A Christmas Weekend Saturday in the Park

Had a great day yesterday, we went out on the town with our camera's to capture the xmas spirit. One thing that we've found is that we tend to be more demonstative with our Christmas displays. I find that here it is more focused on family. Not many people have lights out, alot of stores dont play xmas music, and Boxing Day is not really a big shopping day. So we wandered from Trafalgar Square to Regent's Park, going down Regent Street, past Carnaby Street, and Oxford Street (which was a ZOO!). It was a lovely temperature out so we spent alot of time walking in the park. It really is a beautiful park, and I'd like to go back during the summer when the rose garden is in bloom.

Here are a couple of my pics...see if you can spot what's different about Scott!



After that we headed home to Clapham, got ready for our night out at the Nutcracker adn headed back to Leicester Square. We ended up finding a great little Italian place for dinner on Villiers Street (I think its street) between Charing Cross and Embankment tube stops. Had a fantastic rustic Italian dinner, which reminded us of our Italy trip this past Sept. Then headed to the ballet. I think Scott was surprised that he actually enjoyed it. It flew by! We then went out for glass of chmapagne and scotch at a lounge on Trafalgar Square. Great night!

Today we are relaxing. We spent the morning doing our grocery (and alcohol) shopping as everything is closed here on xmas day. There is a wine wholesaler a few blocks away and they deliver free so we had a bunch delivered for tomorrow. Talk about convenient...maybe too convenient!

Hope that everyone is enjoying their festive season!!!

Jamie and Scott

Merry Christmas from London

Well, its that time of year again...2007 sure flew by!!

I finished my last day at KPMG yesterday (YAY!) and have two weeks off to relax before starting my new job at Northern Trust in Jan. What a great way to start off the new year. We are starting off the Christmas weekend by going to the Nutcracker in West End tonight, which I am really excited about as I've never seen it before. No real plans for Sun or Mon, other than Scott has to go into work for the morning. I plan to sleep in...woo hoo! We are spending Christmas Eve at Ken, Christie and John's place and then Christmas at our flat. There is zero public transit that day so looks like we will be inside, and its suppose to rain (merry christmas). Our friend Mash, who just moved here, is spending Christmas Day with us so it should be very fun!

Boxing day we are heading to Bruges for 3 nights and then Ken, Christie and John are coming over for New Years. Cant wait to get on the Eurostar and visit Belguim...mmmmmm....mussels and fries!!!

Hope everyone is doing well and we wish you a very merry christmas and all the best in 2008!! And we promise to update more often in the new year!!!

Some Good News!

After 3.5 years of external auditing, I am leaving KPMG!!!! I have accepted a position at Northern Trust www.northerntrust.com and start in January!! I will be a Project Lead in the Internal Audit.

Woo hoo!

Finally another update

OK, its been a while since we posted...I've been sick, we've been working...but enough excuses...we've been chastised (or maybe its chastized) for not updating frequently enough so we promise to be better...I'm aiming for at least once a week!

Well, its rainy and windy in Britain...it is winter after all. To be honest, the weather changes probably 3-4 times a day. It can be pouring rain when we get on the tube for work, and then sunny by the time we emerge from the depths of the Underground 40 mins later. So while its about the same temperature as Vancouver, we actually see sun here daily, which is a nice change! We are further north here and we get about 1 hour less daylight. Its actually noticeable.

OK, enough about the weather! Sorry, its a big conversation thing here! But here are a couple pics of Clapham Common, the large park in front of our flat:



It was our 5 year wedding anniversary on Nov 30 (wow, did that pass quicky!) and we went to Royal Tunbridge Wells (see Scott's pics below) to celebrate. Its about 40 mins south of London in Kent. We were going to go to Paris, but with Scott looking for work we couldnt buy tickets far enough in advance to make it affordable. So we settled on a cute B&B in Tunbridge Wells.

We got there abou 7pm and heading out to a tapas restaurant to celebrate. A couple bottles of champagne and a few hours later we stumbled home. I should mention that I was horribly sick with a cold, so I was all sniffly all weekend. Poor me.

On Sat we headed to the old part of town called the Pantiles. This is a pedestrian area filled with a market, shops and the spa where the mineral water was found in 1606 and the town was founded(hence the Wells part of the name). After coffee to warm up we signed up for the walking tour and as it turned out we were the only ones. So we had a private 2 hour tour with this REALLY weird tour guide. He was like Mr. Bean...but VERY serious about his love for the town. Anyways, it was interesting. We spent the rest of the day walking around trying out different pubs :) Of course. Then Scott surprized me and bought me a beautiful 1/2 eternity band at the Crown Jewelers. It is absolutely beautiful!!!! The night, in true Jamie and Scott style we went out for a fancy dinner...however were disappointed. It was a bit fussy, with foam on all the dishes and little towers of veg...and the service wasnt great. But enjoyable none the less.

Sunday we awoke to gale force winds. We finished breakfast and heading out to a cafe for one last walk around town. We sat in a cafe and tried to dry off, then in true English fashion, the sun came out! We went for lunch, had a few drinks and then got back on the train back to London. Another great weekend!



I had a great week! Found out I qualifed for my Chartered Accountants designation on Wed, so all that paperwork is filed...after 5 years of hard work I am finally a CA!!!!!! WOOO HOOO!

We spent this weekend decorating our house for xmas...although I do have to admit we bought a fake tree. I know, I know...but the trees here are really lame...Charlie Brown trees. So we went out to Wimbledon on the bus and bought our tree at the B&Q. Unfortunately in came in a HUGE box that Scott graciously carried back on the bus. Poor guy! We also enjoyed dressing up the monkeys in their xmas finery. See the pics below. Poor Hamilton unfurled his tail the whole time!!!!!



Well, thats about it for now. Will update later in the week!!