Stirling Scotland

Sammy and I took a break from the sun and sand and went to Scotland. We stayed in Edinburgh the first few days and went to Stirling Castle.

The Swiss Army band was playing on the grounds and they were really good. There were a lot of military bands in town because the Tattoo festival was going on.

Here's a photo of me and Sammy enjoying the music, sunshine and sand free day!

And another one! We had a really good time at the castle.

The next day we had a walk around Edinburgh and the views were incredible. This fountain in the park I really liked and although we never did make it into the castle it did look good.

Self portrait Edinburgh...next stop Scone.

Cordova Alaska

In July we went to Cordova and went fishing. We were suppose to be catching Halibut, but our guide wasn't so good and we (and by we I mean Sammy!) ended up catching Silver Salmon.

Sammy caught 3 Silver Salmon - here is his first one.

And I caught something a bit smaller - I think this was some kind of Cod.

Art had a good time hanging out in the cabin, which was warmer than the deck where it was FREEZING and rainy outside!

Art was snacking, listening to music, and flipping through his magazines. The good life!

The next day in Cordova was incredible - of course...cold and rainy when we're out on the Sound and warm and sunny when we're hanging out in town!

This is a view of the marina - the town is behind me.

This is the main street in town - it's a very small town. The day was so beautiful and it was warm enough to take off our jackets, but you can still see that it's cold enough that the snow doesn't melt completely on the mountains.

When we were walking down main street I found a craft store. It was incredible, she carries everything from needlepoint supplies to felting, scrapbooking, and she even had spindles and gave classes on how to spin your own yarn. I would love to have access to a store like this in Dubai.

We had dinner at the marina, it was very tasty.

The next day we had a drive around Cordova - the road is only in and around the area and it ends at a glaicier. You have to either fly into Cordova or take the ferry in you can't drive it's not connected to Alaska's highway system. Anyway on our way to the glacier we saw a bear, a mother bear with her cub(s). We couldn't tell if there was just one cub or two. But, Sammy and I being smart stayed in the car while we were watching her and taking photos. 2 car loads of people drove up behind us and got out of the car. Now she was maybe 25 yards from the road, and granted there was a small pond between her and us, but really do you want to get out of the car?! They run very fast and are very protective of their young, and almost all attacks happen when a person gets too close to the mother and her young. Well according to the papers in Alaska...so Sammy and I drove off because we didn't want to see her eat anyone. Further down the road we saw a second bear that looked younger and skinnier than the one above. He was in the middle of the road stauntering down it like he owned it.

This is the end of the road and we were the only ones here.

We went back to Anchorage the next day and...

had breakfast at our favorite place in Anchorage, Gwennies. They have the best eggs, pancakes, and reindeer sausage. I always feel like I need a nap after having breakfast here

That night we went to our other favorite place in Anchorage - Humpy's. The food is good and Art loves listening to the band.

Here is a shot of McCallum at Humpy's. This is not watered down, this is not 2 shots, and it is not a teeny tiny glass. They just have a different definition of a shot over there! What a nice end to a very nice vacation.

Santorini

Ha ha ha! I wrote this then never posted it! I'm such a slacker! Facebook has really minimized my blogging. Anyway here is Santorini!

After we left Mykonos we went to Santorini which was a very lovely place. I really liked the town we stayed in which was Oia. Isn't it beautiful!

Oia, Greece

This was the view of the town across the street from our hotel. If you walked out to the point then went right there was a fort where people went to see the sunset. We watched the people watching the sunset from a restaurant...

Sunset in Oia

Sammy and I did take a walk out to the point we just never made it out there at sunset. There were a lot of people who did, just not us!

Me and Sammy hanging and walking around - taking photos - being tourists!

There were a lot of dogs in Oia - apparently they are communal and everyone feeds and takes care of them. It was really nice to see.

Athens & Mykonos Greece

Sammy and I went to Greece in May - and we had a great time! We started off in Athens where we stayed at the Hotel Grande Bretangene http://www.grandebretagne.gr/index-eng.htm.

When we arrived the manager upgraded our room to a suite and it was VERY nice! We even had a butler.

Our room

We relaxed in the hotel's rooftop pool and celebrated our 6th anniversery with 50yr MacCallen Whiskey. Very nice. The next day we had a wander around Athens and visited the Partheon.

Me and Sammy in a park in Athens

The Parthenon was nice and they were doing restoration work, we went with some friends, Karen and Alex and had a look around. I guess you can tell by the lack of enthusiasm and photos on my part that I'm at a point now where one ruin pretty much looks like another. I guess travel can make you jaded. Sammy really enjoyed it though, but it was more because it was his second time there and he was looking forward to seeing it again thru an adult's eyes. The last time he was there was when he was about 10 years old.

Me, Karen, and Alex

After Athens we took a early morning (a 7am departure) ferry to Mykonos. Yes, I actually got up early on vacation!

Me waiting to get on the EARLY morning ferry!

I really like Mykonos and the hotel we stayed at, the Rhenia Bungalows http://www.rhenia-bungalows.com/ was beautiful.

Our room was straight up the stairs and to the left.

Our room was small and we had 2 twin beds, but you couldn't beat the view and the breakfast was incredible. It was a full breakfast with excellent coffee, not a stale muffin and instant coffee. And yes, the Greek youghurt tastes better in Greece!

Wherever you go - a taste of home is just around the corner!

I highly reccommend staying there if you ever go to Mykonos. AND there is a Starbucks right up the road about a 10min drive away.

Mykonos Self Portrait

Mykonos was really nice there were flowers everywhere. The food was really good, especially the gyros. We did a bit of site seeing, stopped at a coffee cafe (which served mostly alcohol) they have windmills on the island, but they're not in use anymore.

Me and Sammy in the "Coffee Cafe"

View of the windmills from the cafe

After Mykonos we took the ferry to Santorini. I'll write more about Santorini in the next posting.

February....now it's May in Dubai!

I haven't written much in the past few months. Sammy and I haven't gone anywhere but we did have a visitor in February. My friend Samara visted from London and we had a great time. We didn't get out as much as we could have because we both were suffering from Jet Lag. It was the first time I took the direct between Houston and Dubai and it's a 17 hour flight and it took me a solid week to get over the jet lag. I felt like I was drugged I was so tired.

I started looking for a job in February and I finally found one that I'll be starting tomorrow. I'm really excited about it because it's a small women owned consulting firm. I'll be doing financial compliance which I'm excited about since I've been interested in doing anti-money laundering work and I'll be meeting and working with professional women.

It's really interesting here because most of the women you meet are housewives. The working women have even given them a nickname - Jumeriah Janes. These are women who don't work, have kids but have house staff to take care of everything including the kids. The only thing they seem to do is shop, lunch, and shop some more. It's funny because you see them in the mall, and then about 20ft behind them will be their kids with the maids.

I joined the Internation Women in Business Group which is how I found my job. Networking here is vitally important. If you aren't sent here from outside the country to work it's the only way you'll find a decent job. Online job hiring and the recruiting system isn't as sophisticated here as it is in the UK and the US. I also joined the American Women's Group but I haven't done much with them yet.

Anyway - we just returned from Greece and my next posting will be of that trip...

Ciao

My Favorite Place in my Favorite Country

Yes I'm sitting in Starbucks, here at home in Houston. And I'm loving every minute of it. I've been in the States for 2 weeks now and will be here for another week. I can't wait to move back home. Dubai is nice, I really like the sun and our house, but home is home, most of my friends are here and I just love being here.

I went to visit my friend Sandi in Atlanta. She had another little bundle of joy - Sean Patrick. He is a very cute and calm baby. I don't have my photos downloaded yet but when I do I'll post one. He was a very big baby - 10lbs! Shannon has grown exponentially since I saw her back in September. She's running now and on the verge of talking a blue streak. It was a lot of fun hanging out and playing with the kids.

I've also been visiting other friends, shopping and hanging out with Chrissy. AND I've been eyeballing houses here because Sammy and I are going to start looking at them in the summer to buy. I can't wait! We're going to rent it out until we come home but want to buy now because it's a buyers market.

I'm going back to Dubai on Monday and we have company coming on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to it!

Christmas in Finland

Sammy and I are celebrating Christmas in Helsinki, Finland. It's been really nice and relaxing so far because the Fins celebrate all three days, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas. Everything is closed except the hotel restaurants.

Even though everything is closed Sammy and I have been walking around and peeking in the shops. One thing we've decided is that the Santa Clause over here looks a little different than the ones I'm use to seeing. He doesn't seem very friendly.

Scary Santa

While Sammy and I were strolling around Helsinki we stopped by the Cathedral which is the largest in Western Europe. It was really pretty, and there was a Christmas Concert playing, we wanted to go, but we weren't able to get tickets because it was already sold out.

Me and Sammy

After taking a look at the Cathedral we wandered down to the harbor. There was a old style tall ship in the slip and when we got closer to it we realized it was a restaurant. So we strolled down into the shops and found a fur shop that sold hats. So now I'm a proud owner of a fuzzy black hat!

Me in my Babuska hat!

As Sammy and I walked down the street after buying my hat we noticed that there are a lot of restaurants in Helsinki that are Michelin reccomended. Tonight is that first night that most restaruants are open and we're going to try one called Yume. Which is Japanese, not Finnish. Tomorrow night we may try a Finnish one if we get back from Turku in time.

Sammy in front of a Michelin recommended Finnish restaurant.

Sammy and I were suprised that the city wasn't decorated for Christmas more. The Fins seem to use decorations sparingly. Even though it wasn't as decorated as much as we had anticipated it was still really nice.

Main town square

While walking around the shops we also saw something that seems to be a common occurance during the holiday season...PIGS. I guess the Fins also believe that pigs are good luck during the holiday season.

Christmas window showcasing a pig

Tommorrow we are going to Turku which is the old capital city of Finland. More then...