Day 1, Monday:
It's funny, I had actually forgotten how much I liked it here. I went through a pretty massive culture shock the last time I was in Baltimore but this time has literally been almost like coming home. Lots of places are familiar to me, even some of the streets, and it's been brilliant getting out and seeing things and catching up with people again.
Our trip to Baltimore has basically been to attend a wedding that's planned for December 31st - James is the best man in his cousin Rob's wedding to Maria. The bonus of coming over at this particular time is that we also get to enjoy Christmas with the family as well as New Year's, Alison's 17th birthday (James' step-sister) and Pop's 80th birthday (just before we leave in January). So the trip is generally for lots of family functions but we're hoping to catch up with friends while we're here and also do some sightseeing too if we can. Plus, I'm pretty excited about hitting the shops having heard of thousands of bargains to be had (hey, I've been saving hard all year, I'm allowed!!)
Anyway, Monday morning began thus: after an amazing 8 hours sleep James jumped on me at 8am to get up and then we went and jumped on Debbie in bed to wake her up ("Get up Mommmmmyyyyy!!!"). We had some real coffee with creme brulee coffeemate (sooooooo good!!!! I had two cups yesterday morning and this morning!!) and got dressed, and walked over to Apple and Pop's house (James' Grandparents). Pop came home about midday and we went out and got Quiznos for lunch and brought it home to Apple. After lunch and lots of chatting and laughing Pop drove James and I home where he promptly went to have a nap. I sat out the back on the deck with Fred (the very cute but terribly uncoordinated Labradoodle) and read in the sun, it was gorgeous. I took a photograph of us together (Fred and I)... will have to post at a later stage!!
Anyway, I ended up going to nap as well and woke up when Debbie yelled upstairs that dinner was in half an hour- then we fell asleep again and woke up when another yell told us that dinner was in 10 minutes... so had a great dinner with Debbie and Steven (Mike came home later), and went out with Ben later on to see some more family. James' cousins are the Bieneman's- Aunt Donna, Uncle Mark and cousins Rob, Becky and Regina (Becky got married around 6 months ago and now lives with her husband Bill in New Jersey, Rob's about to be married...) So we went to Aunt Donna and Uncle Mark's house to see them and Gina and Rob. James had told me that Uncle Mark loves Christmas decorating, but OH MY LORD, his house is amazing!!! Literally, his house is full of Christmas lights- the lights that you see adorning every other house on Baltimore's streets are up and on inside their house with many many other Christmas decorations- singing things, spinning things, sparkling and shiny things, from the Christmas tree lights hanging from the ceilings to a singing Christmas moose in the bathroom- honestly, you have no idea, it's just amazing. We were in fits of laughter as Rob attempted to deal with the Christmas Bear band playing carols behind him, the budgies singing to the left of him while he tried to watch the football on the TV in front of him. Apparently Uncle Mark doesn't finish decorating until after Christmas, that's how into Christmas he is. I love it. In the middle of it all their dog Reagan was destroying a toy parrot in the middle of the living room. James and I were crying we were laughing so hard.
After we left Uncle Mark and Aunt Donna's we went to a local bar called Racers, on Harford Road, just down from Debbie and Mike's place in Parkville. Rob and Ben came with us, and Ben's rommmate Tim met us there. After a couple of beers and a lengthy discussion with the barman about Australia we headed home (after successfully negotiating my first requirement to tip!) I think we hit the sack by around 2.30am!!
Day 2, Tuesday:
On Tuesday we slept in til midday!! ben was over at the house when we got up so after some breakfast and a shower we went over to The Avenue at White Marsh. It was here that I began to learn something about America... so many things seem to be sooo cheap here. I'm sure others will see it differently, but honestly, I bought 2 pairs of leather shoes (sorry Emily!) for a total of $60 (with a mental note to revisit that particular store before leaving!) and went into a large clothing store where good quality clothes were almost half the price of here. Thinking that I had just perhaps stumbled upon a street of bargains we walked across the road to the White Marsh Mall where again, I found the same to generally be true. Anyway, we did a fair bit of looking around, and I didn't spend too much (yay me). Pop came and picked us up and took us home again. We only had an hour or so before James' ex-workmate and friend Christy came to collect us to go out for dinner. We drove over to Carrabbas for a great dinner (I think we went to Overlea, if you check out the website you can even see the menu if you're that interested!) Christy is really nice, very friendly and chatty, and after dinner even took us for a drive around Loch Raven to find some deer- alas, none were to be found.
When we got home James told me that it was exactly zero degrees celsius, brrr!! The central heat here is amazing, and combined with excellent insulation and double-paned glass you can easily wear t-shirts inside right now and never know how cold it actually is outside! We'll see how I feel about it when (if?!?) we get some snow. Hope all the Adelaidian's are thinking of us and enjoying the 37 degree weather it's supposed to be there right now!!
It's funny, I had actually forgotten how much I liked it here. I went through a pretty massive culture shock the last time I was in Baltimore but this time has literally been almost like coming home. Lots of places are familiar to me, even some of the streets, and it's been brilliant getting out and seeing things and catching up with people again.
Our trip to Baltimore has basically been to attend a wedding that's planned for December 31st - James is the best man in his cousin Rob's wedding to Maria. The bonus of coming over at this particular time is that we also get to enjoy Christmas with the family as well as New Year's, Alison's 17th birthday (James' step-sister) and Pop's 80th birthday (just before we leave in January). So the trip is generally for lots of family functions but we're hoping to catch up with friends while we're here and also do some sightseeing too if we can. Plus, I'm pretty excited about hitting the shops having heard of thousands of bargains to be had (hey, I've been saving hard all year, I'm allowed!!)
Anyway, Monday morning began thus: after an amazing 8 hours sleep James jumped on me at 8am to get up and then we went and jumped on Debbie in bed to wake her up ("Get up Mommmmmyyyyy!!!"). We had some real coffee with creme brulee coffeemate (sooooooo good!!!! I had two cups yesterday morning and this morning!!) and got dressed, and walked over to Apple and Pop's house (James' Grandparents). Pop came home about midday and we went out and got Quiznos for lunch and brought it home to Apple. After lunch and lots of chatting and laughing Pop drove James and I home where he promptly went to have a nap. I sat out the back on the deck with Fred (the very cute but terribly uncoordinated Labradoodle) and read in the sun, it was gorgeous. I took a photograph of us together (Fred and I)... will have to post at a later stage!!
Anyway, I ended up going to nap as well and woke up when Debbie yelled upstairs that dinner was in half an hour- then we fell asleep again and woke up when another yell told us that dinner was in 10 minutes... so had a great dinner with Debbie and Steven (Mike came home later), and went out with Ben later on to see some more family. James' cousins are the Bieneman's- Aunt Donna, Uncle Mark and cousins Rob, Becky and Regina (Becky got married around 6 months ago and now lives with her husband Bill in New Jersey, Rob's about to be married...) So we went to Aunt Donna and Uncle Mark's house to see them and Gina and Rob. James had told me that Uncle Mark loves Christmas decorating, but OH MY LORD, his house is amazing!!! Literally, his house is full of Christmas lights- the lights that you see adorning every other house on Baltimore's streets are up and on inside their house with many many other Christmas decorations- singing things, spinning things, sparkling and shiny things, from the Christmas tree lights hanging from the ceilings to a singing Christmas moose in the bathroom- honestly, you have no idea, it's just amazing. We were in fits of laughter as Rob attempted to deal with the Christmas Bear band playing carols behind him, the budgies singing to the left of him while he tried to watch the football on the TV in front of him. Apparently Uncle Mark doesn't finish decorating until after Christmas, that's how into Christmas he is. I love it. In the middle of it all their dog Reagan was destroying a toy parrot in the middle of the living room. James and I were crying we were laughing so hard.
After we left Uncle Mark and Aunt Donna's we went to a local bar called Racers, on Harford Road, just down from Debbie and Mike's place in Parkville. Rob and Ben came with us, and Ben's rommmate Tim met us there. After a couple of beers and a lengthy discussion with the barman about Australia we headed home (after successfully negotiating my first requirement to tip!) I think we hit the sack by around 2.30am!!
Day 2, Tuesday:
On Tuesday we slept in til midday!! ben was over at the house when we got up so after some breakfast and a shower we went over to The Avenue at White Marsh. It was here that I began to learn something about America... so many things seem to be sooo cheap here. I'm sure others will see it differently, but honestly, I bought 2 pairs of leather shoes (sorry Emily!) for a total of $60 (with a mental note to revisit that particular store before leaving!) and went into a large clothing store where good quality clothes were almost half the price of here. Thinking that I had just perhaps stumbled upon a street of bargains we walked across the road to the White Marsh Mall where again, I found the same to generally be true. Anyway, we did a fair bit of looking around, and I didn't spend too much (yay me). Pop came and picked us up and took us home again. We only had an hour or so before James' ex-workmate and friend Christy came to collect us to go out for dinner. We drove over to Carrabbas for a great dinner (I think we went to Overlea, if you check out the website you can even see the menu if you're that interested!) Christy is really nice, very friendly and chatty, and after dinner even took us for a drive around Loch Raven to find some deer- alas, none were to be found.
When we got home James told me that it was exactly zero degrees celsius, brrr!! The central heat here is amazing, and combined with excellent insulation and double-paned glass you can easily wear t-shirts inside right now and never know how cold it actually is outside! We'll see how I feel about it when (if?!?) we get some snow. Hope all the Adelaidian's are thinking of us and enjoying the 37 degree weather it's supposed to be there right now!!
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