I am back to blogging!

I am sorry. I didn't write for such a long time. Actually, I was somehow aware I didn't write, but then I didn't notice it was so long. So what happened in the meantime. Pretty much, but where to start? Yes, of course the "normal" trips to England. But beside them I also did some travelling to Austria for skiing, Finland for business trip and South-England for a long weekend. Let's start with the skiing adventure.

Dave and I had a one week skiing trip planned for end of February, beginning of March. We called in spring trip since there was not very much snow in the Alps. Is it already the climatic change? Maybe. Or at least partly. The whole winter was much too warm here and we had no snow where I live. This meant for our skiing we didn't expect too much. We stayed in a nice little village in Austria. Vent is located on 1900m and therefore we expected at least a little bit of snow. But when we arrived there were only a few patches, the rest was muddy brown or grey. Yes, maybe we were a little bit disappointed. But not very much. It always depends on what you are expecting. And honestly: it started snowing the first day we stayed there. In the valley the snow was rain ;o), but from maybe 1500m it came down as the beautiful white stuff that makes a dark winter's day lighter. We enjoyed our time, did some hiking and sightseeing and also skiing.

We visitied "Schloss Neuschwanstein", Innsbruck and Rattenberg. And we had great 4 course dinners every night.

Shortly after that it was Dave's birthday. Since it is St. Patricks Day we originally planned to spend the day in Ireland. This is what we discussed last year when we celebrated it at Humphy's in Anchorage. Well, we were told mid March is not the best time for Ireland and in addition the flight would have cost us almost one complete day. Therefore we went on a long weekend trip to Southeast England. Dave picked me up at Stansted airport on Thursday morning (well, he was late so we left the airport at noon ;o)) and we drove to London. I found a good hotel close to the London subway and we found it after circeling for a while.

After a short break for Dave (driving is not fun there) we took "the tube" and visited The Towers of London. We also had some time for a short shopping trip to Oxford street (the only thing we bought was a cooking book) and after that we had dinner at our favorite London Sushi place. Well, actually it is the only Sushi place in London we know, but we like it.

The next day we drove to Stonehenge and Salisbury. Both were very interesting. Stonehenge...well...it is an old ring of stones as you know. Some people told me that it really is nothing more. But for me it was very impressing. I won't forget the first view from the highway. Salisbury has a very nice cathedral and some beautiful historic houses. We enjoyed a very fancy dinner at our hotel and a beer in a pub.

The next day (Dave's birthday) we headed on to Bath. My first impression was: I don't like it here. Too many big houses and no trees or any other green. But after we got familiar with the architecture and the history I think it was a very interesting place. The original place was an old Roman bath (or hot spring) but later on, long after the Romans left, in the 18th century it became a bath for rich English ladys (and their husbands). It was the time when the English Queen said that everybody has to take two baths a year, if necessary or not ;o)

For all the trips you should have a look at my flickr photopage.

Okay, since I am writing this while I am still at the office I should keep it short. I promise to be a better blogger and write more often. I would also like to hear from you whether you read it at all or not ;o)

Therefore my last announcement for today: Dave asked me to marry him. I said yes, I think this means we are engaged now! Hope this is happy news for you as it was for me!

Love from your friend in Germany (who will come to Alaska on September 11th).

Anke