Familiar Faces and Familiar Places

My apologies for the lack of blogging lately, so much has passed in the last few weeks that I just haven’t had a chance to sit down and write. I also moved again last week and thanks to the superb UK customer service, still do not have broadband (let a phone line) at home yet. After a couple weeks with the Kiwi boys I decided that, between the stress of constant traveling and integrating into my country, I need my own quiet sanctuary and unrestricted access to the TV. They were lovely boys who tried to make me feel as welcome as possible but we just have very different lifestyles. We parted on friendly terms and I hope we’ll be able to hang out again in the future. The good news is that I now have a lovely 2-bedroom flat in the Maida Vale area of London for anyone who would like to come and visit. I’ve actually already had my first visitors from home come stay.

Speaking of home, a couple weeks ago this arrived in the post for me:


The wonderful ladies of Altera were kind enough to put together an amazing “San Francisco” care package for me. It was a perfect reminder of home and contained things like cookies from Miette, honeycomb from a farm in Woodland, a couple bottles of Acacia wine, rag mags, and even a hardcopy of The Onion. I could see exactly how much care and attention they put into deciding what to include and how carefully it was all wrapped and packaged. Big hugs to Maria, Kira, and Kelly.

Last week was another special delivery, Hyung (my coworker from San Jose) and his wife came for a visit. They flew into London for a few hours and then took the Eurostar to Paris for a couple days. When they returned Saturday night we headed out to the Salt House Pub near Maida Vale for dinner with the old Altera crew (Ro, his wife Sheetal, Grant, and me). On Sunday we went sightseeing and started in Windsor to see the Windsor Castle and Eton College. Windsor Castle is one of the three remaing royal residences (beside Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse). From the view you can tell that this castle was built originally as a fortress. It sits high on a hill overlooking the towns of Windsor and Eton and seems impenetrable from every angle. We then walked across the Thames to Eton to see Eton College. Eton College is a secondary school for boys and is refered to as the world's most famous public school and probably one of the most expensive. (Point of clarification - yes it's strange but the English refer to fee-charging schools as "public" as opposed to "private" which used to refer to private tutors at home.) It was founded in 1440 by King Henry IV and still upholds every tradition, the boys' daily uniform still consists of a black tailcoat and pinstripe trousers. Mark Darcy refers to it in the Bridget Jones' Diary - Edge of Reason movie (yes I am obsessed with chick flicks). I'm starting to find more and more sights in England that I really enjoy. Windsor Castle was spectacular and Oxford made me want to be a student again. Unfortunately I had to fly out on another business trip Monday afternoon and didn't get to join them on their final day in London.

Here are the pictures from Windsor and Oxford. Sorry I didn't have time to do all the links but I've been neglecting my blog for too long.