21/2/11 Mom and Dad Visit London: Day 2

      I am not sure how we all woke up early.  Everyone was so tired last night.  Dad was practically snoring at the dinner table.  But we did it.  We were up and out of the house around 9am and of course we took my parents out for  their first official Full English Breakfast!

Buttered toast, two eggs, grilled tomato, baked beans, bacon,
sausage, grilled mushrooms, hashbrown, and a cup of coffee
to attempt to wash it all down. 

Dad enjoyed it. 

    The meal was cheap, filling and exactly what we needed before our busy day in London.  We all took the tube down to central London where we headed for the start of the open top bus tour.  It was quite chilly out, only 41 degrees and cloudy but we decided to brave it and sit up on top.  It.Was.Cold.  I bet this tour is fabulous in the summer with the sun shining down and the wind in your hair. But boy oh boy! I was so cold.  We did a loop around and listened in to the tour on our headsets.  After a while we decided to bail and hop off the bus at the stop near Big Ben. I was so cold that I was getting really antsy and uncomfortable.  Time to walk and get the blood flowing.

On top of the bus joking about how cold it's going to be
and how silly we were for sitting up there.

  

      We got off the bus after it crossed the bridge and the walk back over was even colder.  Great views but still a little windy and cold.  Dad and Mom really wanted to check out Westminster Abbey so after checking out Big Ben and Parliament we crossed the street and headed over.

Mom: "It's cold, I'm frozen, wow this is cool"

Mom:  "The line is a mile long and I can't tell if we have to
pay to get in or if it's just a donation.  Will we burn in hell if we
don't pay? At least it'll be warm."

You get a good idea of the scale here.

   We thought we could get in and get a tour but the line was a mile long and we were all too cold and in need of a bathroom to stand in that line.  Someone had the brilliant idea to head to the National Gallery to warm up, look at some art and use the bathroom.  It wasn't too far of a walk but of course there was so much to see between Westminster and Trafalgar Square.

Dad sees the horse, the horse sees Dad.  The sign
says to beware.  Sideways stare. 

Zoom zoom scooter!

The sun ALMOST came out at this point but
at least we were shielded from the wind!

The Queen and King in their secret garden castle, waiting
for their tea time guests. 

Trafalgar Square.  Lions, buses, Big Ben Oh My!

    We spent a long time in the National Gallery.  There were so many great paintings and so much to look at.  (My favorite was Gaugin's still life of mangos...I may have to replicate it for our wall) It really got me excited to think about coming back here with my sketchbook and doing some studies of these artworks.  Mom was impressed with all the little kids walking around the museum that were just rattling off artists' names.  We could have spent the whole day in that place but by that time our English Breakfast had been totally digested and we needed a late lunch.  Sean lead the way to our next stop.

Hey you all know that look of Dad's....

We were having fun with my camera and taking
low light action shots.  I think this was take number
32. "no no ma, let's move our hands slower. no no you
have to smile and stop concentrating so much. no I know,
let's try moving the candle to adjust the light.....dad take
another....no no we weren't ready......." etc etc etc

"I've got my eye on the bottle..."

We destroyed this cheese. 

A cave. 

Dad is saying "ANOTHER photo?
Mom is saying "Are you sure you want to leave? Should we get another bottle?"

     This was a pretty awesome place.  It was a little wine bar/pub in this old basement that was pretty much a cave.  The walls were drippy and it was dark and super cozy.  We drank a bottle of wine, devoured some cheese and listened to the underground trains rattle by, somewhere close to our heads.  It wasn't a full meal but enough to stop our rumbling tummies and hold us over for one more site before heading home.  Again, Sean navigated us back onto the tube, a couple stops and a line over to Buckingham Palace.  The queen was waiting for us, dinner would be served soon.

This is right before they went inside for dinner. 

  It was getting dark quick and our feet were throbbing.  Almost done!  We walked down a really long and really straight road (Sean's description) to an arch then to the tube and headed home.

Zoom zoom bike!

Zoom zoom black cab! (keeping myself occupied while waiting
to cross the street)

   The exhausted Americans crawled onto the packed train and headed home.  We saw so much,  walked so much and we were all starving.  I took my parents to the grocery store and got ingredients for homemade pizza.  Mom was awestruck by the three aisles of chocolate, cakes, and tea biscuits.  Sean prepared us some dough while Dad rambled off the schedule for tomorrow.  Then, we all crashed.
    Can't wait for tomorrow!

21/2/11 Mom and Dad visit London: Day 1

     Sean and I were excited for our first visitors.  We had the flat cleaned all nice, the downstairs bedroom set up and a rough plan of action.  My parents left the States Saturday afternoon and made it through the snowstorms and fierce wind and landed in the UK Sunday morning. We woke up Sunday ready to go but saw that their flight had been delayed an hour so we took our time leaving the house.  Then we realized it may be on time. Then we didn't know what time it would land so we decided to call a cab and get our butts to the airport.  The cab lady said "no no, you'll have time to take the tube, don't spend your money on us." Oh. Ok then.  We headed out but knew that the tube was under construction so we would have to take a bus first to get to the other underground line.  Out on the street we hopped on the first bus and started on our way.  Well, it's always an adventure when you're trying to get somewhere.  The bus was a replacement bus so it didn't have a "regular" route.  Instead there was a guy standing next to the driver with a photocopied map in his hand "directing" the driver where to go.  We did a bunch of loops and realized they had no clue where they were going.  After about 30 minutes of pointless driving the bus stopped.  In front out on the road were a few other buses stopped and people standing in the street.  Then we saw police fly past, then ambulances, then firetrucks.  Just ahead of us a house had exploded and the street was littered with bricks, roofing tiles, and who knows what else.  A house exploded.  It was crazy!

     Later that evening we looked it up in the news and read that no one was really hurt and the cause was a gas build up.  There was debris everywhere. Bricks were speared into the ground, the trees in the park across the street were filled with garbage. Insane.  I don't understand how no one got hurt. The police started to push people out of the area and the bus driver told us that they weren't going to move.  We asked a little old lady in an apron if we could walk to our stop and she said no, it was too far, so we decided to head out to the main road and catch another bus.  About five minutes into the walk we realized we should look at the map and see if WE could walk.  Ok, only about a mile and a half walk.  We could do it.  We hoofed it, nervous that we were going to miss their flight coming in and they'd be wandering around the airport.  Sean and I got on the tube and rode the rest of the way to the airport.  

    When we got to the airport we weren't sure if the plane had landed and they had come through already or if they were still getting through customs.   Nervously, we paced the international arrivals area and then glued our eyes on the exit.  There they were!! Our weary travelers!

Ta da! Sean and his purple welcome sign!
They made it! 

    Their flight was ok.  A lot quicker than they thought but they didn't sleep much.  My mom kept waking up my dad to show him the pretty clouds, the girl next to them kept wanting to get up and go to the bathroom and then the flight attendants wanted to serve them food.  In a way it was good that they were so tired because later that night they defeated their US time schedule and went to bed at a reasonable time.  

    Sean called us a cab from the airport and we drove back to Chiswick avoiding the tube, buses and exploding houses road blocks.  After a quick tour of the flat and a couple of nibbles we headed straight for the river.  It was a cold drizzly day but it's always a good walk down by the water.  

Walkin' down by the river.  Dreary day. 

Dinghies stranded during low tide.

   The tide was low and we walked down to the Kew Bridge then back towards Chiswick.  By this time we were frozen and needed to warm up in a toasty pub.  

Happy Sean with his beer. 

Mom with her wine, Dad with his beer.
Everyone happy that they were thawing out.

   We were lucky and got a seat next to one of the fireplaces.  There was a football game playing on the big screen.  Between the tiredness, coldness and excitement their first beers and wine were well deserved.  Yup...that's right...Dad had a beer!  We hung out in the pub for a while then walked across the street for an early meal.  Sunday roast.  

At Sunday Roast but way too tired to keep eyes open for
a photo. So....might as well take one with eyes completely
closed. Cheers!

Roast and Yorkshire pudding!
Fork in your left hand!

     It was a delicious meal but despite it only being 5:30 pm everyone was tired and falling asleep.  It was back to the flat for us where we relaxed and forced our eyes open till a decent bed time.  We tried to plan out our trip for the rest of the week but quickly realized that there was just so much to do.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can get some good sight seeing in!  Cheers to London!

13/2/11 - Getting ready for guests

     Today was overcast and drizzly and a good day to sleep in.  The weekend hooligans are calming down out there but a few were lingering about last night.  We fell asleep with our skylight open and I'm pretty sure we heard some foxes mating out back.  It was followed by a little dog barking; also upset that he was woken up in the middle of the night.  We were warned about these mating foxes and the noises they produce.  I'm wondering if that's what I really heard.  It was quite a unique sound.  If it weren't mating foxes then I don't want to know what it really was...it haunts my ears.
      Our only plans for today were to head to IKEA to grab a couple of items to top off the downstairs bedroom/office and get it ready for our first house guests.  After lazing about the flat and eating our daily dose of multigrain-cheerios we headed out to the tube.  I grabbed my camera to test some of my new knowledge.  I had that Jack Johnson line in the back of my head..."clouds bring the F-stop blues."  Not quite sure if I understand it all yet, aperture, ISO, f-stops, etc etc etc.  We waited a bit for our train to come so I had a chance to play around on the platform:

Our stop. 

Playing around with passing trains.

I kind of like this one. It's ghostly.  

A handsome man waiting for the next train.

A couple of stops down.  Not a very cheery scene.  I see this photo
and Beirut's song  "Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)" pops into my head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1QYXlRzNS0

    

Sean on his iPhone, double checking our route. 

      We rode the train to the end and then had to hop on a bus for the final leg of our journey.   Last time we tried this route it had been snowing.  We passed hundreds of snowmen rolled in the parks and got kicked off the bus about a half mile into our trip.  That was the day we trudged 5 through snow in sneakers, uphill both ways, with a bear chasing us, swearing off IKEA.  This time things went smoothly.  I even had enough time to study the road while waiting for the 112 bus:

Waiting for the bus.  They have yellow lines here.  They also have red lines and zig zag lines.

      IKEA was packed but after three previous trips and a shopping list in hand we went straight for what we needed.  We knew that place so well that we even went off the arrowed main path and zig zagged first off to the book shelves.   We got the "Billy" in red.  Yes, red.  It is bright.  But it's cheery.  There was no time wasted upstairs and we booked it right down to the furnishings where we picked up extra towels, compforter cover, pillows, bed sheets, and more picture frames.  The total trip time was 3 hours from door to door. Not. bad. at. all.
      Tonight we're just hanging out.  Washing all the new linens and making a list of things we need to do before my parents come to visit. (sooooooo excited!!!!!!!!)  I built the bookshelf and did a pretty shotty job.  I wasn't following directions well and the rich yellow tail wine went straight to my head.  Whatever. It's a red bookshelf.  You can't take it too seriously.
     We don't have anything big planned for Valentine's Day.  We've treating each other to little surprises throughout the weekend; bottles of wine, wine glasses, reams of printer paper, and brownies:

I got this idea from the almighty Smitten Kitchen blog.....

  

Belly button brownies.  Chocolate brownies and white chocolate brownies
with hearts cut out then swapped around.
That's two batches of brownies.  They are almost gone.  Wayyyyyyy too good!

       This time next week my parents will be here visiting.  We are both so excited to have guests and to "show" them around London.  By then the brownies will be gone and I think I'll be caught up with laundry.  Yes, laundry hangs over my head like you wouldn't believe.  But yes yes, can't wait for guests!   Sean and I will get to do sightseeing, go to pubs, take walks by the river and just get out there. So excited. This is the mood I'm in right now:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMu3MahqXUg

10/2/11 Washing Windows

   The other day it was warm and sunny here.  Sean and I shunned ourselves inside for the morning and watched our neighbors wash their windows.  It was kind of painful to watch and I can't imagine their windows are that clean now.  It just didn't seem THAT effective:

    I went to my first photo class tonight.  It was just me and some other dude.  The teacher went over the basics of the basics which is what I needed.  I'm hoping that tomorrow it'll be a little sunny out or at least not raining so I can get out and explore with my camera.  I also learned another valuable lesson:  Do not go out alone without your phone.  If your photo class starts late, ends even later, and you stroll home then expect to come home to a very very worried Sean.  I'm just not attached to my mobile the way some people are and we were expecting the class to be done by 8:30pm...but...I got home after 10pm.  Here are some photos I took on the way home:

   Well I don't have much to say tonight.  It's kind of late here and I just decided to make sweet  potato fries and that's all I can focus on right now.  MMMmmmmm they smell so good and I'm so hungry  mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

7/2/11 Boring Monday

   Not much has been happening here.   The weather has been mild, a little dreary at times but not that bad overall.  Sean had a little lull with work so we've been filling our days with hot yoga, shopping for a new climbing gym and walks around town (more trips back to the art store).  I'm finally caught up with laundry even though I continue to curse our teeny tiny washing machine that takes all day to cycle and always seems to do a half-assed job of cleaning our clothes.  The drying rack has had a constant rotation of clothing going.  Exciting news...I know.  We finally got our new IKEA mattress and bed frame set up and it's been such an improvement from the teeny tiny mattress we had when we moved in.  I'm sleeping a bit better but still have a hard time falling asleep and continue to toss and turn throughout the night.  I thought for sure that with this nicer mattress and the increase of my exercise routine I'd be sleeping more soundly but not yet.  Along with the tossing and turning I am also having really vivid dreams.  The other night I had such a realistic dream about sailing on our little old Kestrel with my dad and we sailed through a patch of seaweed by the yacht club and the wooden rudder popped off.  Then next thing you know my dad is in the water and I'm just drifting to the dock cutting through all the weeds.  Gah I hated that darn patch of weeds in the mooring field. My dad didn't seem to mind treading water as it was a sunny day out and I made it to the dock slowly, steering with just the sails.  I should keep a dream journal.  I always say this but I think I'm going to start.
   The landlord told us that tomorrow some guy will be stopping by to pick up the old mattress, the kid sized "couches, and the rickety mini dresser to get them outta here!  Poor Sean has them piled up in his office which now looks like a cave.  I have successfully taken over the living room/kitchen with paints and tiny containers of pre-mixed paint. We are breaking in the cushions on the two armchairs nicely.  but really though, it's the ottoman that makes those chairs really comfy.  Yes, we're settling in.
    I seem to have become very protective of our little alley.  I don't know if the hooligans don't come around as much or if I've just gotten used to the noise but it doesn't seem to be as out of control as it was before.  We find a few empty nips of jack daniels now and then but no more piles of poop.  Thank goodness.  When I do hear a noise though you better believe I'm sticking my head out the window trying to see if someone is there or if the noise is just carrying from the street. Get out of my alley.  Apparently my personal space bubble extends far beyond our doors.  The other night I was not feeling sleepy so I decided to get some more laundry done.  Sean was away for the night doing some cases and I figured I'd get some work done.  As I was coming down the stairs I peeked out of the front door and noticed a guy urinating into the little drain.  My first thought was "oh that's nice that you're not pissing on our house and actually aiming for the drain" then I quickly shifted gears and thought "what the hell man, use a bathroom not MY alley!"  I turned the light on in the Sean's office which overlooks the alley and then jiggled the handle of the door as if I was going to open it and come out there and shoe him away.  He got pretty freaked and left in a hurry.  Ha! I scared him! I scared him with my threat of opening the door! I hope he peed on himself.  Just because it's dark back there doesn't mean no one is watching!  There was another incident during the weekend that got me annoyed too.  It was Saturday afternoon and I was in the living room doing some painting when I heard a lot of shouting out front.  So naturally I opened the curtains and watched as a parking cop gave hell to this guy who decided to park half way into the alley and block the side walk.  Boy was this guy angry, he did NOT want a ticket.  Which is understandable but dude, just go park on the road like everyone else does.  The guy drives away, the parking cop walks away.  About two minutes later the guy drives back and pulls into our alley far enough to get off the sidewalk but far in enough to the alley to block any space for people to get through.  Really dude? This is not a parking lot. I mean car park.  Why do you think it's ok to park here? Other people use this alley to pull their cars in.  People use to it walk to their flats.  The pizza delivery guy uses it for his delivery scooter.  All day I watched as people and real estate agents came to look at the several empty flats in our alley only to gesture "hell no, not if I have to shimmy against this disgusting, dirty wall."  I wanted to yell out the window "it's not always like this! It's not a bad place to live! Really!"   I was tempted to write a nasty note and leave it on the guy's windshield but I couldn't think of anything clever to write and I'm not sure why I got so annoyed.  It's not like I needed to pull my car up to my flat.  It's not like he left a pile of poop.  Don't mess with MY alley folks.  Don't even think about it.
    Aside from my alley lookout it's been quiet here.  Sean and I had been planning a trip to go snowboarding somewhere in the Alps and even hauled our snowboards, boots, helmets, everything back with us to London.  We ditched that idea pretty quickly when our neighbors planted an idea in our heads to go somewhere warm, with beaches and sun.  Somewhere like the Canary Islands.  Forget cold snow! Give me some sun and ocean!  Always a sucker for that water.  Sean and I always ask each other "if you had the option to have a view of mountains out your window or the ocean which would you choose?  The answer is always WATER.  This year is my golden birthday...I'll be 28 on the 28th so we're calling this my birthday trip.  I can not wait and it'll give us an even bigger reason to keep up with the smart eating and daily exercise.  We have the flights booked, the hotel booked and even a little rental car ready to go.  Sean keeps talking about nude beaches and I'm not sure if he's joking or not.  I can not wait!  Canary Islands!
    Well that's really all that's been happening.  We are both getting totally excited for my parents to visit and we'll need a trip to Ikea to buy a couple of bedding items for the guest bed.  I think we are in Ikea withdrawl.   Right now the dishwasher is going. First time.  I kept forgetting that it was there and finally decided to give it a try.  We don't even have enough dishes though to fill it so I feel a little guilty for running it.  Oh well. Hey maybe it'll give me more time to blog about our oh so exciting life here. Laundry! Dishwashers! Quiet alleys! Woo hoo!  Maybe the nude beach post will be a little more entertaining ;)

2/2/11: Home is wherever there is you

     It has been a long time since I sat down to blog.  Longer than I realized and all that time seems to have just slipped by.  Sean and I spent a few weeks back in the States traveling from one family to the next visiting everyone for Christmas and New Years.  London to Boston to Conneteticut to Boston to New York to Ohio to Boston, spending precious time with family and dear friends.  Planes, trains and well more planes.  Shortly after New Year's Eve Sean and I had to part ways.  He had to head back to the UK to jump right back into work and I stayed behind with my family in New York to wait for my visa to come through.  Eventually it did come in the mail and Sean came back to Boston to straighten out some passport issues he was having.  By the end of January we were back on the plane together to London.
     The flight was EMPTY.  I'm talking 35 passengers max.  Everyone had a row to themselves to stretch out, sleep and watch airplane movies.  Most importantly though, no one was coughing or sneezing on me.  We landed later at night and driving up to our apartment felt nice and familiar.  Nothing was open that late so we had to spring for a cheesey greasey pizza.  Inside the flat I found a nice lovely surprise waiting for me.  Sean had gone out and bought me a little easel and a few new canvases then set them up in the corner of the kitchen.  I have now taken over that space and call it my "studio".

I love our red bowl or oranges.  Perhaps those should become
a still life study.

   Well, we've been back for about a week now.  We are filling our days with laundry and unpacking, exercising and cooking tasty meals together.  We went on a splendid double dinner date with our neighbors and even went climbing in a castle.  Sean also discovered a fully stocked art store in our town which had everything and anything.  The ex-art-store employee in me was dying to organize their shelves and floors but I held back.  I found an ad at the counter for a life drawing class (wine and snacks included) on Tuesday nights.  I must check it out.

Hopefully 2011 will be filled with a little more art.

     Sean gave me some wonderful gifts for Christmas including a pass for yoga and photography classes!  The photo sessions start next Thursday and we just made our debut back to the hot steamy yoga room and struggled through those heart pounding 90 minutes.  My sleep schedule is completely messed up.  I want to take naps at 7pm but then I can't fall asleep till 2 or 3 am.  I guess it doesn't matter that much that my schedule is so off but it is pretty embarrassing when the mailman wakes up you at noon to deliver a package and you come to the door with sleepy hair and red pajamas.  With all the exercise we've been doing I thought for sure I'd get on a good schedule but no such luck.  Oh and the terrible bed we have does not make for a peaceful night's rest.  (We get our new mattress tomorrow!!!!!!) Needless to say I drift in and out of being really perky then really sleepy.  Bleh!
     The weather here has been mild with the sun shining every now and then.  It seems like we left the States at the right time.  We would have been stranded by 40 feet of snow no matter where we were.  Sean just popped in to tell me he wants to go out for a run tomorrow because it's supposed to be in the mid 40's.  Not too shabby eh?   Tuesday we went out for lunch and during our walk I noticed several trees blossoming and new bulbs poking up.  People still have pansies and primroses out in their planters and I am anxious to see what spring looks like here.  This morning (we set the alarm for 8am) I heard birds singing outside somewhere.
    My parents will be coming to visit towards the end of February and we are busy putting a schedule together.  How much can we pack into a few short days? It will be a marathon. I wonder how this jet lag will work for my folks? Sean and I are both excited to finally get out and do some touristy stuff and see the sites of this great city.  Money, tickets, passport! Money, tickets, passport!
    We are getting back into the swing of things and so far 2011 isn't too shabby.  Waiting for that visa was tough though. I honestly can't remember the last time Sean and I spent so much time apart.  It was tough.  Really tough. I think tougher for Sean though.  You see, I had plenty of distractions which came in the forms of energetic nephews, trips to the pool with my father, struggling through new knitting patterns with my mother and treacherous drives into the heart of Ohio to visit my sis.  Sean had a quiet flat and a city that was still all too new.  Being home with my family for those few weeks was wonderful but I started feeling homesick.  Homesick for London, for the home we had just started to settle into before we left for the holidays and more importantly homesick for my sweetheart.  During the past six or seven years I have moved so many times, to new cities, to new apartments every year and now to a new continent.  It always fumbled me up where I should call home.  Boston? Dunkirk? London?  One day I heard this song on the radio and it had summed it up for me.  I even remember where I was and where Sean was.  I was home in West Roxbury and Sean was away on business.  Funny thing though, when he got home from his trip he said "Hey I heard this new song...." "No way! Sean, I heard this new song".  Now it's not so new and its awesomeness is blowing up but to me it will always be our song and it will always make me tear up when I hear it.
This one's for you Sean <3  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb9jY8yAxgs&feature=related
(oh and these guys will be in London....hopefully we can catch their show)

14/12/10 Barcelona: Day 3

      I was moving a little slower on Tuesday after our late night out.  I had plans to go to the Picasso museum then just walk down by the water.  These plans did not need any immediacy so I took my time waking up and getting down to breakfast.  Sean was already gone for the day and again I sat down in the hotel eating my breakfast alone.  I studied the map once again making sure not to get lost.  Barcelona is not that complicated of a city but for some reason I just keep getting turned around.
    I only made a few wrong turns then found the museum.  I'm not a huge huge fan of Picasso but it I took my time going through the museum.  It started with his really early work, things he did when he was still a young boy and in school.  Then you work your way through his life and career. I loved his later stuff when he seemed to really have fun with his art and my favorite was the collection of the ceramics he did.  The museum took me two and half hours to get through and at the end I was hungry and ready to get outside.

    Finding the Sea wasn't hard and I didn't need my map to find some water.  My first view of the sea was at Port Vell where they were busy setting up for the Barcelona World Race.  It's a sailboat race around the world, with boats having only a crew of two.  It starts on the 31st of December so we were just off by a few weeks. They were building a giant dome filled with exhibits and entertainment.  I think they take sailing a little more serious here.  Too bad we couldn't be there to see the start.   Port Vell was PACKED with sailboats. PACKED!  Once I hit the water I continued walking along the shore.  The weather was overcast and quite chilly.  I sat on the boardwalk and watched the surfers for a while.  It was so nice and relaxing to just stare into the waves and let everything sink in.

Surfers and a crazy looking hotel.

I wasn't the only one sitting and enjoying the relaxing day.

Cement seats on the beach to enjoy the view. 

A big fish.

The boardwalk running the length of the beach.  So many people out

 running and biking!

Pigeon pigeon green parrots.

Another port. Boats were crammed in there.

Sunset back at Port Vell.

Can you find Columbus?

Barcelona World Race boats and the giant dome being built in the back there.

Lovely, just lovely!

(Ok, I'm back to the computer and back to the blog.  It's been over a month since I began writing this post and I have obviously lost all train of thought.  Needless to say the last day in Barcelona was fabulous.  Sean did not have to work and I dragged him to Sagrada Familia and then for a walk down along the boardwalk.  What a gorgeous city and hopefully some day we will back to visit and check on the cathedral's progress.)