Silverstone

Silverstone is the home of England's world famous Formula 1 race track, one hour north of London.    Today I did the ultimate driving experience, starting with a driving techniques briefing teaching safety, car handling and passing rules.  The race cars were a 1.6 liter Ford Duratec 16 valve, that would do  0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds with a 4 speed gearbox.  We followed a pace car for 20 minutes getting used to the cars and picking up speed.  Then about 10 of us got the green flag to race for another 25 minutes.  A lap was a bit over a minute with an average speed of around 70 mph and a top speed of 90 to 95 mph.  It was dam cold at 32 degrees, wind blowing,  and snow falling before we finished.  I got passed once and made 3 passes but could have gone another 30 minutes even though I was freezing.  Sure brought back some old racing memories.  Great Christmas gift from Julie, Loved it!

The Bodyguard

Last night Julie and I stayed at the classy Mayfair hotel in Green Park, London.  We took in one of the newest West End shows, The Bodyguard, which has recently made its debut at the Adelphi Theater.  The musical is based on the smash hit movie which stared Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.  This romantic thriller that featured the music from the late Whitney Houston, was a sold out show.  To make it even better there wasn't any rain on a rather warm London night which meant a lot of people on the streets.  Just the way I like it.

Hot Tub

The tub has been on our bucket list for years and now is here at our lakeside cabin. I built the deck for the tub last year as we never really had a good place to put one, out of the way.  Last week while in cold Lake Chelan, I bought this jacuzzi tub in the nearby city of Wenatchee.  I hired a boom truck which had a reach of 60 feet and we needed every bit of that to set it on the deck below down by our dock.  It will get plenty of use this summer as the lake only gets to 70 degrees max in the summer, but mostly in the mid 60's.

Horse Meat

 

 

 

 

 

Yup, DNA testing has found it here in the UK and many of the European countries.  Discovered first in Ireland, this has now affected distributors in the UK, France, Sweden, Romania, and Poland.  Now recent tests have found up to 100 % horse meat in many frozen prepared foods such as Lasagna.  The DNA testing  doesn't lie and  this is  now believed to be the work of a criminal conspiracy.  We do much of our  shopping at the Tesco supermarket chain here in London.  They are pulling many beef products off  their shelves as horse DNA was discovered there.  I cook tacos every week, shown here, and I thought they tasted like beef, but I don't really have a clue. Maybe I need to go to a vet and get checked out if I get the trots. 

Blog Post 500

 

 

This is my official blog post number 500, a milestone, and here's how it started.  The adventure began with Julie's job change to Barclays, and because of her energy and dedication we are still here today.  Top photo was taken when Julie and I moved to England in October 2007, bottom photo is our current British pub shot, oops, I mean mug shot. A great American friend, Ruth Lowe got this crazy idea to build a travel blog for us.  At that time, I didn't even know how to spell the word blog so I needed a lot of help.  Ruth and Randy from Washington State, have been my tech support since then and without their help I wouldn't be writing this now.  The Lowe family is shown here with me, on the London Eye, during  a 2008 visit.  You guys are the best!
Keeping this story rolling along has completely changed my life.  I try not to go a week without a story so this forces me to get off my arse and find something new. We've visited over 20 countries in 5 years, some multiple times, meeting the most interesting people, many of which will remain great friends.  We respect other cultures and beliefs even though ours are different.  I do my best to try all of the food and booze where ever we are.  It's the honorable thing to do. 
 The Blog has been like a diary and allows our family and friends a way to keep up with us.  Facebook has been a wonderful way for us to follow everyone else.  Reading and writing are not my specialties therefore I keep my stories short trying not to be a bore.  I always include pictures, facts, opinions and if you're lucky a few censored jokes. 
We do miss our family and friends in America so much, and that's an empty hole in our lives.  We always make the very most of every minute we spend with all of you. Our passports recently expired after 10 years and it's a good thing because they were chucked full with extra pages.  We now have our new passports with extra pages so we have 10 years to fill those pages. Our work is cut out...I say...GET ER DONE!   

On the streets of Egypt

 

We've been on the streets of Egypt before so we know the routine.  Be prepared to get hassled because it will happen and I love it.  Again this is a tourist driven culture and the locals don't eat unless you spend money.  If you look into a shop without even going in you're a target and you get followed until you go into another shop.  We took a lunch break at the Hard Rock Cafe before going out for more abuse.  Sharm el Sheikh is a spendy city for the local shop owners, hotels and resorts.  The slow economy and political unrest in the country has made it really tough on the tourist trade.  Mostly people in the western world would feel uneasy coming here.  This is the only country I've ever been to that I don't have to use my charm to get someone to talk. You can get everything from a camel ride to a genuine cheap 'rolax' watch.  Everyone wants to be your friend if they think you got some dollars.

 

Egypt Resort

Our travel package to Sharm el Sheikh included accommodations at the 5 star Ritz Carlton Resort on the beach of the Red Sea. Tourism is the lifeline of Egypt's economy and this resort was only 20 % full so it was like a ghost town for us city dwellers.  In 2005 terrorists attacked this small city killing 88 and wounding over 200 people.  Along with this attack the revolution in Cairo 2 years ago has really hurt the tourism trade here.  Security was very high at the international airport and at our resort so we felt safe enough.  Our travel package included half board which means morning and evening meals with drinks.  The Ritz had a great mess hall but also included 3 restaurants, Italian, Asian, and  Lebanese  which we took advantage of at our cost.  We had weather in the mid 80's and loved swimming in the sea.  We did take a one day snorkeling trip that was fun as well.  It's never fun without people around and we did meet some British folks that were fun, after some of my expert training.   I sure wished there were more inmates at the resort to talk to, that's where I get my best stories.  So another destination checked off our wish list.  Very relaxing...