Why do we have a bank holiday today?

Hi all! I hope you're all enjoying this nice long three-day Memorial day weekend. Annelies and I decided to stay in London this weekend to our own three-day weekend in this great city. We had an awesome weekend, but before I talk about that, I wanted to figure out why we're having a day off on Monday as well.

First of all, the British refer to their official days off as "bank holidays". Ok, fine, I can buy that. Banks keep "bankers hours" so that makes sense; when they take a day off, it's a bank holiday. Not that British banks have very good customer service and deserve to take any time off or anything (whoops, did I say that out loud?)... Anyhow, so back to my question: what are we celebrating over here today?

Since Google knows much more about bank holidays that I do, I thought I'd start there. I was feeling lucky today, and went to the first website all about British Bank Holidays. It seems that my definition of bank holiday was relatively close:

British bank holidays are statutory Public Holidays and have been recognized since 1871. The name Bank Holiday comes from the time when banks were shut and so no trading could take place.

Lo and behold, they describe each of the bank holidays as well! It seems that today is the "Spring Holiday at the end of May". Indeed, I checked a few other websites, and they all refer to the bank holidays with similar bland description. Nutz, I thought there would be some sort of meaningful bit of history associated with today, but unfortunately no! With almost 1000 years of history, Britian assigns no symbolic meaning for today...

Anyhow, enough of that. So this weekend Annelies and I had a great time bumming around London. On Saturday, we dressed smartly (dressed up, but not fancy) and headed over to London's theater district where we watched the matinee showing of Stomp. For those of you who've never heard of this musical, a bunch of fantastic tap-dancers make music and rhythms out of just about any common household items imaginable. We watched in awe as they entertained us with musical plungers, brooms, matches, plastic bags, and even trash cans. Fun stuff and I would highly recommend it to anyone else! After that we went out to a nice Malaysian restaurant. The food was excellent. I had crocodile--which tastes MUCH better than chicken--and Annelies had some sea bass; the carrot cake and coconut ice cream was a yummy desert. :) Sunday and today, the "Spring Holiday at the end of May" itself, we went to a few shopping districts: Oxford street--similar to the stores you find in an American mall but with busses and taxis driving in the middle of the street--and Camden town, which is a cross between stores of Venice/Melrose in California or a densely-packed Pearl Street in Boulder. We cooked a few nice meals and had an all around, relaxing and enjoyable weekend.

So we're getting ready for the big trip to Tanzania in a few weeks! We've received our shots and have our anti-Malarial pills. Next up, just get through a few weeks of work, charge up the camera battery, pack and we're off! We hope everyone is doing well! Send one of us a message when you get a chance, we'd love to hear from you!

Here are some pics from the weekend:
Which way to the Thames Path?













Annelies in Hyde Park.













Jason relaxing.

Dave Matthews-- 4 year anniversary!

Yesterday we went to the Dave Matthews concert at the Apollo in London!!!! IT WAS FENOMENAL!
For those who don't know, Jason and I met at a Dave Matthews concert 4 years ago, in Los Angeles. (on 5/15/2002) And from that day we were inseparable! (this is thanks to my friend George who had a spare ticket and took me along!). Every year Dave comes to Los Angeles on his US tour, and, of course, every year we have gone!!!! (including last year, when the concert was on Jason's birthday and my parents came along!)
We were sad when we moved to London, since he is not that well known here and we didn't think we would see him perform! However, 2 months ago, George pointed out that Dave was coming to London for a set of acoustic shows!!! We bought the tickets the same day!!! And, to our surprise, the show in London was on the 15th of May!!! Four years to the day we met!
This was a very different concert than the previous once we have been to. The venue had around 2000 people (compared to 30000 at the Staples center in Los Angeles). Since it was an acoustic show he chatted with the audience, told stories and... sang our favorite songs!!! It was really the best concert of all times!!! Jason, I love you and Thank you for the amazing 4 years we have been together!!!!

Africa!

So, for those who didn't know yet.. in less than a month we are going to AFRICA!!!! This is a very generous trip my parents gave me for my 30th birthday (yes, I am turning 30!!!) I am actually going to be in Africa on my birthday, and with some of the people I love most!
We are going to Tanzania and our trip will include: Lake Manyara - Serengeti - Ngorongoro crater and Zanzibar. It will include safaris, Kilimanjaro, lot's of wildlife (my dream) and will end on the paradisiacal island of the coast of Tanzania - Zanzibar!!!
This week we went to our inoculations and malariaia preventative. Jason was not feeling wel, so he will need to go back and get his shots next week. We will have pages on our blog after our trip!!!!
On monday we are going to an acustic Dave Matthews concert here in London!!!! It is 4 years, to the day, that we met...at a Dave Matthews concert in Los Angeles. It's such a coincidence and we are so excited!!! (we got front row tickets!)
This week has been BEAUTIFUL here in London! The weather is just perfect and since it is light until 9pm, after work we still have plenty of time to go for a run or enjoy the blooming parks...and of course.. enjoy the beer gardens at local pubs!!!!
Work has been very busy for both of us. Jason just hired another person and is training again. He now has a team of 7 here in the UK!!!!! My job is still very challenging and exciting and I am really enjoying it.
I hope everyone is well!

Champagne in France olala!!!

Last weekend we went to France to explore the Champange area!We arrived on saturday morning and rented a car. We had a little bit of difficutly getting on the right freeway (all signs are in french!!!) After asking (in sign language) directions at a gas station we were on our way!Our first stop was in Reims. A nice city 2 hrs north east from Paris. We walked around the city center, saw the cathedral (pretty much ALL cities here in Europs have old and impressive churces and cathedrals) At this point, Jason brought up his lovely camera and after I posed for 5 min. he realized he had forgotten the battery.... YES, this means NO pictures throughout our whole stay in Champagne!!! (actually I was quite relieved, since Jason can go a little 'crazy' with his pictures... they do turn out great though!)Unfortunately the 'champagneries' were all closed around 5ish so we decided to sit outside at a terrasse and buy a nice, chilled bottle of chamapgne... it was GREAT!!! Drinking Champagne in champagne is very unique! We had a nice dinner at a local restaurant and had some typical french cuisine (teh dessert was HEAVEN!!!)The next morning we toured the Mumm winery, which was very impressive and we learned quite a bit regarding the fine process of making champagne as well as the history. (Champagne was discouvered by Dom Perignon!!! He was a monk of a nearby village. It seems these monks were all bored and had nothing better to do than inventing wine, champagne, etc...I don't blame them and actually appreciate them!). In the afternoon we drove to Epernay (a smaller city which is also a very popular champagne city with 200km of underground caves!!!)There are actually thousands of 'champagneries', some producing only a couple of bottles and others (ex. Moet Chandon) which exports 80% of it's production!!! We drove around the Epernay region and unfortunately did not find many wineries open (it was sunday and most of these places require appointment!), but we had a nice meal and enjoyed it with a bottle of champagne (of course!).On monday morning we went to a winery indicated by one of Jason's co-wrokers (who is french) and we had a great time. We were invited in their house and were treated to a lot of champagne and also the history of their vineyards and champagne production. Very interesting!!! We also went to see Dom Perignon's grave in a nearby city! (we passed on purchasing one of his bottle since they were more expensive at the wineries store compared to the price in the US!!!)On monday evening Jason dropped me off in Paris (I have a meeting until thursday) and he left France with 8 bottles of champagne and one bottle of wine!!! We need to drink them in a year (champagnes are not supposed to be aged once purchased!) So, if you get married, have a baby or come and visit us... we may treat you with a nice bottle of real CHAMPAGNE! Sante!