Baby update! 28 weeks!!!

So the baby is 28 weeks today! Yeah, baby!  She is getting big and very pushy.  We had our 28 week check up today and everything is normal.  I know sometimes that's weird to hear because we always hear of pregnancy horror stories (I've stopped watching all pregnancy dramas on tv) but so far she is normal and I'm normal and everything is normal.  Even after eating a ton of chocolate in Belgium I still passed my glucose test with flying colors and my blood pressure continues to be great. Woo hoo for me and baby! 

We are continuing to be super active. We bike ride, go swimming, practice yoga (of course) and do tons and tons of walking.  I am starting to notice that some things are getting weird. My belly is getting bigger and depending on the day bending over can be difficult. But we are continuing our lives and living everyday as much as we can.

So now we are thinking Birth.  Where to bring the baby into the world? We interviewed the base hospital and their midwifes participate in Active Labor Management so I think we may actually try to use the UK system where they prefer natural labor methods (they even have birthing pools) rather than ALM.  Mike and I are preparing for the baby by participating in Hypnobirthing classes which is a lot like yoga birthing. It mainly promotes breathing and relaxation. So it looks like we will try to do it naturally.  If special circumstances arise of course they will have OB back ups. Which is great but I think when in Rome (or the UK) do as the Romans do.... =)  So the interviews will continue... in between all the traveling of course... and eventually we will have a new member of our traveling team! 

Belgium

Back in 2009 when we went on our Honeymoon 28 day backpacking adventure through Europe we stopped at a place called Brugge in Belgium.  Our Rick Steve's guidebook told us that 1 day is adequate for this town so we did just that.  The problem was I was sick the whole day and it happened to be Monday. On Monday everything is closed! (very common throughout Europe)  So Mike always said we will just go back and see all the things that we missed. So we did! 2 years later we stayed in the same hotel on the canal and we saw everything that Brugge has to offer.

Bike riding on the canals

Brugge is featured in a Colin Farrell movie, "In Bruges".  It's a sleepy town near the coast of Belgium and about 30 minutes away from Brussels.  It's a place that was forgotten for a bit and because of that still has a lot of it's small European town charm. It's also called Venice of the North for all it's canals.

Madonna and Child by Michelangelo 

climbing the bell tower

So how do you get there you might ask?!?!  Well Mike and I drove 2.5 hours through the UK to the very bottom of England. Gas is really expensive here but our Panda gets something like 60 miles to the gallon. Unheard of gas mileage in the states. We took our car on a Ferry from England to France. Only a 25 mile trip but by boat took 1.5 hours and costs about the same as the Cape May ferry in Jersey.  Once across you drive back on the right! (woo hoo - for me. I love driving on the right!) Then we drove from France to Belgium which is only about an 1.2 hour drive.  Once in town we ditched the car at the train station parking garage for 1.5 Euro and rode our bikes the rest of the way.

Chocolates
 So what is there to see and do in Brugge?!?!?  Well lots of stuff: Biking the canals, visiting the bell tower, visiting the only Michelangelo sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime, visit Jesus's Holy blood relic, visit the Chocolate museum, visit the local brewery, visit several art museums, take a canal boat ride, visit the flea market and the square and don't forget to eat the Frites, Moules and Chocolates. 

Frites

Moules - aka Mussels

So we finally got to see everything that we needed to see. And then we drove back to France and took the ferry back to England and drove home. All in one weekend - Done and done! If you ever have the opportunity to go to Belgium I highly recommend it, not only for the amazing selection of Beer with high alcohol by volume but to see an authentic European town that has older architecture than anything there is in the US.

Fun rich people houses....

Ickworth

So short post on this and I'll be all caught up! In the UK there are a bunch of memberships that you can get to go see places of interest around the whole country.  It's kinda like our National Park membership but instead of Parks (there are some parks) it's a lot of rich peoples houses.  We thought this would be a good membership to have since the locals do it mostly and it would be a good so when we want to get out with the baby we would have places to go see. So typically, we go on Sunday's right now and just take a day trip. Get a coffee, check out the rich guys house and gardens and do a lot of walking around.

Ickworth

So the rich family at Ickworth were generations of wealth and then when they got to the 6th and 7th generation it all fell apart.  Luckily the 5th generation knew his kids were screw up so he gave the house to the National Trust in his will.  But again with the British drama the 6th and 7th generation were locked up for drug and gun smuggling in the 60's.

Anglesey Abby

Anglesey Abby was purchased by a wealthy American (oil family). This place was once an Abby and was shut down until the wealthy American came along and fixed it all up and made it a real amazing house to keep his art collection. Inside is a tribute to the 1930's.  He also created all these gardens around the house. This picture above reminded me of the trees that line Central Park in NYC. A home away from home, I think.

And Mike said in our next house he is going to make something like this. He just needs to start collecting garden tchotchkes now. =)

London Calling...

So... I feel like London is a lot like Washington, DC.  It's a day trip for us. 1 hour train ride, underground (or metro as I call it) is easy to figure out, not a lot of scammers all in my face (unlike Paris) and lots of sites to see.  For those of you considering visiting here is the $$ scoop.  It's 25 pounds for an all day travel card from our Train station in Ely and all the zones in London for the Underground.  It's a pretty good deal to get there. The catch is that pretty much all the sites are way over priced but totally worth it if your interested in history.

That big Cathedral in the background is St. Paul's Cathedral.  During the WWII bombing of London (we know it as the Blitz) this Cathedral was the only building left standing. It was a symbol that England would not succumb to Hitler. It's an amazing structure!  Designed by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of 1666. He actually designed a ton of other churches around this one but St. Paul's is the greatest of all (although the one they say the tiered wedding cake is designed after is a close second for me - below).

Tiered wedding cake design

Any way, there are some Free sites in London.  The National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery are free. There are tons of walks and parks and squares to hang out in.  One place that was definitely worth the money was the Tower of London! It was 20 pounds per person but the amount of history in that place is just remarkable. So much older than anything we have in the states.

Tower of London

And it turns out that the Tower of London isn't a huge tower (like I always thought) after all. It's a fort!  Originally built by William the Conqueror in 1077ish.  It's a residence to the Queen, home to the crown jewels, where you can see the Beefeaters (guards), and where many people were imprisoned and some very famous people lost their lives. In the little church inside you can see the headless graves of a couple of Henry VIII's wives. Most famous is Anne Boleyn his 2nd wife whom encouraged his split with the Roman Catholic church. Most tragic was Lady Jane Grey, who was manipulated into claiming the crown for nine days during the scramble for power after Henry's death.  And most recent prisoner was Nazi Rudolf Hess, when in 1941he parachuted into England. He was captured and held in the Tower and was sentenced to war crimes. There are a bunch of other really juicy stories that came out of this place and it took us 3 hours to sift through all the English drama. I highly recommend going there and taking it all in!

Fun fact - Beefeaters aka the guards are really funny! Dry British funny. But they think the term Beefeater came from a term that people used to refer to them as since they were paid in beef which made them fatter than the rest of the Londoners. 

Tower Bridge - not London Bridge!

Mike with Big Ben

Mike with Parliament 

We also went to the Churchhill War Rooms. An underground bunker set up in WWII to protect against the bombings. That was really neat too! I highly recommend it.  So far we've been to London twice and seen tons of stuff but we still have yet to see the real Rosetta stone.  So the next time we go there we are making a point to go to the British Museum to see that. In the meantime... our travels continue...

Catching up on some English History...

So I'm pretty good on American History, I even have an American Studies degree.  Mike thinks it's random when I spurt off a random event in American history when the bill comes up $17.76.. I just know what was going on in our little country at the time.  However, English history is a whole different ball game. I'm ashamed not to know what our original parent country was all about but I'm trying to make up for lost time.  And put it together with French and German history is starting to make my head spin. There is so much stuff that happened here and so little time to figure it all out.  (But check out this sign! Open 24 hours? Not really...)

Any way, in our little town of Ely there is a house. A famous house because a man by the name of Oliver Cromwell lived in it. He was a Puritan and basically the local tax collector for the Cathedral that's parked here. (I'm standing inside the kitchen)  We've seen the set up similar to this one in houses in Annapolis.  However the house was originally from the 13th century with upgrades of course. This one is special though because of Cromwell himself!

That's Cromwell to the right of Mike.  Any way, In the beginning of the tour they ask you... Is Cromwell a hero or a villain?  We were thinking how the heck should we know... what did he do?  And why should we judge someone who lived in the 1600's. That was forever ago!

So this is the story... Cromwell moved to Ely with his family because his Uncle passed and left him some property.  He became the tax collector and was pretty well respected. At the point when he moved to Ely, King Charles I had dissolved Parliament and was working to run England as an absolute monarch (1629). This is what made a ton of people move to America.  And then an English Civil war started between Parliament and King Charles I in 1642.. (I had no idea there was a civil war)  Anyway, Cromwell joined Parliaments side in a push for religious tolerance (I think) and after a bunch of bloody battles Parliament won. King Charles I was beheaded for treason on January 30, 1649.

So what do you do when the monarch is over?  Well Parliament needed some kind of leader so they asked Cromwell to step up. He didn't want to become a King but instead he took the title of Lord Protector of England.  Cromwell ruled over England from 1649 till his death in 1658.  The thing is that he didn't set up a successor or a plan for how to continue without a monarchy.  He also has a very controversial record while he was running the country.  Apparently genocide in Ireland, abolished Christmas, pushed for spiritual and moral reform, allowed the Jews back into England and dissolved Parliament (there are a bunch more too).  So at the end of the tour they ask you do you think he was a hero or villain?  Well I guess that depends on what you believe in. In my opinion, I think power like any power probably got to him and negative decisions may have been made. It's hard to remain true to yourself and run a country.  We see that now and see it constantly repeated throughout history.

So what happened after Cromwell's death?  WELLLLLL..... The monarch was restored under supervision and King Charles II became ruler.  And well, he got some revenge.  King Charles II ordered Cromwell's body be exhumed from Westminister Abby and then decapitated.  His body was thrown into a pit and his head stayed on a stake outside of Westminster Hall for several years (4 they say).  The vault where Cromwell was buried now has the illegitimate children of King Charles II buried inside.

I guess the lesson is... holding a grudge can still mean "off with your head" even after your dead.

Moving to Ely

Moving to Ely, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

So we have officially moved into the 3rd smallest city in the United Kingdom.  It comes complete with a Starbucks!!! Yippeeee!!! Having at least one place from home makes the transition a little easier. Any way, our little city has a whole lot of charm and a ton of great food places.  Home of the Ely Cathedral which I hear is one of the 7 wonders of the Medieval world. Originally, Ely was an island (during the last ice age)! And there were a bunch of Eels in the water surrounding the island, due to the fens.  Hence the name Ely. In the above picture I'm walking in front of St. Mary's Church and the white building is the TI (tourist information) and the home of the famous Oliver Cromwell. (more on him later)

Our house....

Is huge! The biggest house we've ever lived in! Originally this house was built on top of a tennis court that the house 3 houses away owned. It's 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bath, large living room, large back yard, it has a front gate and a couple rooms that I'm unsure of what they are for.  I think I actually have to buy furniture to put in it.  I think it's funny because everyone told us how houses here are a lot smaller and most American furniture doesn't fit. Well I guess they never saw a 600 sq ft apartment in DC or a row home in Baltimore. =)

This is a picture of the gate while open!  Mike and I couldn't believe that we could get a place with a gate. It's so neat! And the best part is it's free....

Here's a picture while standing in the back yard. Or as the Brits say... the Garden. It's really like the Secret Garden. There are so many amazing flowers and plants back here. They include: a walnut tree, an apple tree, a cherry tree, alstromeria, hypericum berries, sweet peas, Chinese lanterns, silver dollars, holly, evergreen, lillies, hydrangea, etc... 

This place is large enough for visitors and we would love love love to share.