Return trip to Oxford

This past weekend, Darrel and I went out to Oxford to visit Michael.  He and his partner Greg are leaving Oxford in a couple of weeks, and we wanted to get out there once more before they left (especially seeing that Darrel wasn't able to go out there with me a couple of weeks ago).  It is a very easy train ride from us (it took just a little over an hour), and we were happy that we were able to get out there before they left.  Once we arrived, we went to the top of the bell tower of the Old Cathedral and I took the pictures below.



Darrel and Michael at the top of the tower



Me with the Radcliffe Camera (on left) and
All Souls College (on right) in the background

The Radcliffe Camera

All Souls College

View of Oxford High Street





Shakespeare's Globe Theatre



Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Last week (I know, I've been really terrible at writing in this blog lately...I'm going to try and be better at writing, I promise), we were able to go see AS YOU LIKE IT at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.  It was Darrel's first time seeing a Shakespeare play, and he and I both thoroughly enjoyed it.  The Globe was originally built in 1599, and it was a little overwhelming to think that plays were being performed there over 400 years ago.  Well, the Theatre that we were in is actually a reconstruction because the original theatre was destroyed by a fire...however, it was still quite brilliant :-)

 

Enjoying a glass of wine at The Globe

 

 

Picture taken from our seats, so you can get a good sense of what the space looks like.  And yes, the people standing are not covered by a roof....luckily, the rain had pretty much stopped by the time the performance started.  









ABBAphonic at Royal Albert Hall

 Our friend Erik is a first chair violinist for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  Last night, he invited us to see them perform ABBAphonic at the Royal Albert Hall.  The performance was really good, and the hall was brilliant!  The picture below was taken from our seats.  The hall was built in 1871, and the best part about it is that it is a 5 minute walk from our flat.  We had a really fun evening.

Getting Settled

We were able to move into our flat last week.  We were given the keys on Thursday, and then our shipment from the States arrived this past Tues.  It was difficult to pack and determine what things from Chicago we would need without really knowing were we were going to end up living.  Unfortunately, we think we brought way too much and wish we were better at editing ourselves.  As it stands, we are having to get very creative on where to put everything, but it does feel nice to have some things from home. 

Our new and more longterm address is:

Flat 5, 1-3 Prince of Wales Terrace

London W8 5PG

UK

+44 02 (0)7937 9350 (our UK landline)

On top of moving into our new flat, we ended up traveling to Paris last weekend.  Darrel had business meetings there on Mon, so we thought we'd go in a day or two earlier and see the city.  It was my first time in Paris, and I really enjoyed it.  We didn't really do that much, other than walk all around (I made Darrel walk 8 1/4 miles) but it was really beautiful.  Here are some of the pictures that I took... 

Arch de Triumph

L'Hôtel National des Invalides (dome on left) and Effel Tower

Darrel in front of L'Hôtel National des Invalides

The Louvre

Effel Tower