Hadrian's Wall

Took a minute to relax in a 1000 year old gun turret last weekend. The wall was built across the northern end of the Roman Empire in 1050 to repel the "barbarians" to the north (today, we call them Scotsmen). I'm guessing that the centurions who manned this post weren't allowed to listen to their I-pods on their watch... wonder how they survived?

Not so far from home...

It's funny to find things in a different country that remind you of home. Sorry this is blurry, but I was doing over 100 kilometers per hour and it was raining when I passed Leonsburg, Germany. I also drove on a street called Vincentistrasse in Stuttgart. So... there must be an Albertown and Haroldburg nearby too, eh?

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is absolutely beautiful. Most of the buildings here have survived the latest world wars, so the architecture is fantastic, the canals are beautiful, and there are flowers everywhere. They say there are 15 million people in Holland, and 16 million bikes, which turned out to be the easiest way to get around town. My bike's name is Furby, equipped with a Finding Nemo ringer.

Horst and Monika Grieshaber

Had an great time meeting with my distant cousin, Horst Grieshaber, in Vaihengen an der Enz. Turns out our family tree is his full-time hobby. The family tree that i've known wasn't a tenth of what he had on file... volumes on the shelves, posters on the wall... It's amazing to feel like you've known someone for years even though it our first meeting. Maybe the cake and coffee helped too...
and I apparently had another cousin who is a well-respected artist in Germany, HAP Grieshaber (you can purchase his work at www.hap-grieshaber.com).

Baden Baden

Turns out the Grieshaber hometown is quite the tourist destination. I think I was the youngest and poorest tourist there, though. I had so much fun that I stayed longer than I planned.

Kerhaus Baden Baden

I had a lovely hefeweizen and apfeltarte (my new favorite dessert) while i watched a classical concert in the plaza. I didn't pack a suit, so I didn't meet the dress code for the casino next door (the building with the columns). After that, I went to the Roman Bath, and I can't post those pictures (just kidding, no cameras allowed...).

More Altdorf

Altdorf

Enjoyed a nice day pushing Nika around Altdorf (near Nurnberg. Her Mom, Sara, was our tour guide and translator. Weather's great, 70 and sunny. Spent the afternoon driving to Stuttgart, on to Baden Baden and Strasbourg today. Bis später!

Haus Weckessers

Flew through Amsterdam to Munich yesterday, then had an 1.5 hour drive from Munich to Nurnberg, and finally found Peter and Sare's house around 1045. dinner was still waiting for me... :) they have a beautiful new home just south of the city, near a river with walking paths and a biergarten every few miles (i'm told, i'll be finding that out for sure later).
there are speed limit signs posted on the motorways, but those are apparently not enforced... :)
this is the view I woke up to this morning... more pictures to follow!
scott

A Fortnight left...

hard to believe it's going to be over in 2 weeks... i think the trip home for Easter might have softened the reverse culture shock i've been told to anticipate. i think it cured any homesickness that might have been developing as well...
i'm headed to Germany on Weds, and dad has given me the name of a distant relative, Horst Grieshaber, who lives in Vaihengen, Germany. no other contact info... just the name. i've googled him and sent an email to a Horst Grieshaber, but received no response in 2 days. in the event i'll have to actually speak some German in Germany... i checked out a 'German for Dummies' book from the library, so now... ich sprechen sie Deutcsh. :)
"Ich heise Scott Grieshaber, und ich suche Horst Grieshaber"
i'm a genius. :)

York

Considerable smaller (and cleaner) than London, we had a relaxing two nights in York. The Dormouse was our favorite pub next to the hotel. Dad had his first beer since 1988, and I had my first since 8 last night.

The York Minster

Just another of the few 1000 year old churches and cathedrals that we toured on our trip.

Ma and Pa go to London

It only took us 7 hours in the car, thanks to traffic in Newcastle... but we made it to London on the wrong side of the road. From the hotel, we made out by subway (also know as The Underground, or the Tube) to see all the sights. Mom may never take another subway ride again, but they managed to take plenty of pictures topside. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London, and the Eye from the Thames on the first day, then toured the Tower and the Abbey on Day 2 before getting out of town for York.

Lumley Castle

April 16. Mom and Dad got their anniversary present today. After visiting the Castle and Cathedral in Durham, we stopped at Lumley Castle on the way home. Dad saw the sign from the front and said “Castle and Hotel”? “Yes, you’re staying here tonight.”

Mum and Dad join the excellent adventure

My flight to Edinburgh left Weds eve at 8pm ATL time, and arrived at 9am UK time. I managed 4 hours of sleep on the plane, caught a bus to the train station, and was back to Newcastle in time to rent a car from Enterprise. Fortunately, I was able to rent an automatic (not the norm here), so I'm only dealing with driving on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car... and i don't have to worry about shifting on the wrong side of the wheel as well. Now all I have to do is remember to get in on the wrong side of the car.
After a nap and a good night's sleep, i was back on the road to collect Mum and Dad at the Edinburgh airport (a 2.5 hr drive), and we came straight to St Andrews. They had less sleep than I did on my flight, so we managed to check into our B&B (www.charlesworthhouse.co.uk), walked over to the Old Course, stopped at 4 golf shops for souvenirs, then came back to nap. We had a lovely Scottish dinner at the Russell Hotel around the corner, and retired early so we could get up for our full Scottish breakfast this am. I think we'll all be full until dinner tonight. :) Dad and I are going to get 9 holes in this afternoon... supposed to get up to 65 (only hit 45 yesterday). We'll also walk down to the St Andrews cathedral, and have dinner at the clubhouse on the course. Tomorrow we'll be visiting the Edinburgh castle, then driving down the coast to admire various castles and lighthouses along the way. (check out www.holy-island.info/gallery/index.htm).

Hermann and St Louis

Had a lovely visit with my family and friends in Hermann and St Louis over Easter. Here are a few photos courtesy of David and Mary Hickling, my Canadian cousins.

The Centenarian

My journey covered 4700 miles, 2 trains, 2 flights, and took 22 hours, but was a small price to pay to spend with my Grandma today. I won the "furthest distance traveled" award... :)
Grandma has 8 children, 29 grandkids, 68 great-grandkids, and 28 great-great-grandkids... most of whom were there, along with 6 nieces and nephews from Canada, spouses and significant others. I'm very thankful to have such a great family!

Di's Lighthouse

Here are some pictures from the party last weekend hosted by Diane (along with some other folks from my tennis group). Diane lives north of Newcastle on the coast in a small town called Blyth. There's a lighthouse in her backyard that was built in the 1700's, and was only taken out of service a few years ago. We played croquet, mini-golf, Jinga, and "Snakes and Ladders" (similar to Chutes and Ladders, methinks). The last game was a "spit the dummy" contest... which fortunately fell after a couple of glasses of wine. Good times!

The London Eye

As opposed to the London Aye, which is a popular form of acknowledgement here.
It's the biggest ferris wheel I've ever seen, and provided us with a spectacular night view of London and the Thames on our first evening there. We also had to "mind the gap" quite a bit (that's the step from the train to the platform, in case you were wondering) and try all of the London Ales (not to be confused with the Ayes, again... which ironically becomes more of a staple in pub conversations as more ales are consumed).

GSTQ!

That's a lot like TGIF in the US, but means God Save the Queen in England. The President of Ghana is inside the bulletproof carriage with the Queen.

London Town

Aditya, Daxa and I went looking for werewolves in London (but fortunately didn't find any...). We did see the Queen, though, who was hosting the President of Ghana on the day of our visit. Security was tight, but there was no shortage of pomp and circumstance. It was fantastic!

Back in business

well, almost... Been busy entertaining friends from Atlanta, going to London and Edinburgh, and stopping at most of the pubs in between.
Also had to write a 10-page paper for class, which took my attention away from traveling and soccer and tennis for a week or so... but now i have one more class before my five week spring break starts up. I'm particularly looking forward to that since it includes a trip home to visit my family and friends, see Grandma on her 100th birthday, and then Mom and Dad follow me back to the UK for 10 days.
Judging by the amount of walking that Aditya and Daxa and I did over the last week, I think they're in for a little more than culture shock. We collected a couple of gigabytes worth of pictures, so we'll have fun looking at those when I get home.
Hope everyone had a great St Patty's Day! We were in Scotland on Friday, came home on Sat, and by the time I made it to the local pub they had run out of Guinness.
See y'all soon!
Scot
ps. The Millenium Bridge is a walking bridge over the Tyne River. When boats need to pass underneath, it tilts up to form a big wicket over the river. Reminds me of the StL Arch a little... (photos courtesy of Aditya, also pictured above)