london
6 february 2000

dag, vrienden {hello, friends},

happy to be back online; those were two very frustrating weeks of not being in touch with anyone. am i spoiled or what? gary thinks it's hysterical because last year i had no idea what email was all about. now i know!! before i forget here is our address and phone #

sarphatipark 8-III
amsterdam 1072 PA
netherlands

0031 20 779 8774

luckily, we both have mobile phones so we could use them while waiting for our phone to be connected. by the way, everyone has a mobile in this country for some reason.

well, i started my dutch class, which meets twice a week for 2 and a half hours each session. nothing easy about this language, esp. the pronunciation. some words are, however, very similar to english. it's quite intense and the pace seems to be getting faster each time. there are some very nice people taking the course and i am one of only 2 americans. they all speak english extremely well and i am constantly impressed by that. as always, the written aspect comes easier to me than speaking but i am really trying to listen closely and hearing it all the time is a huge advantage. the tv subtitles are helpful, too.

gary was on a business trip to london last week and i flew over for the weekend. my friend, stephan, scored me a free pass and i got to fly in business class!!didn't i feel important. poor gary, on the way back he sat in coach and i was in the front row. we tried to upgrade him but the flight was oversold. anyway, london was wonderful and for anyone who has a passion for theatre, that's the place to be.

the city looks completely different than paris or amsterdam. we stayed in a section called "earl's court", which was very typically english and very quaint. it was actually warm there with only a little rain and a bunch of wind. we did a lot of walking and my shin splint came back but it was certainly worth it. on sat. since gary used to live in london, he took me on a tour of the important sights. we spent some time in westminster abbey, viewing all the royalty and artists who are buried there. it is a beautiful cathedral and i noticed how completely restored it is compared to all the other churches i've seen. a sight worth seeing!! we did take some pictures of big ben and the surrounding scenery. we're not big picture takers, in general, but i know if we don't have any at the end of this trip we'll regret that. we also have some digitals and will try to post them at some point.

it was great walking weather and as we approached green park,{right near buckingham palace} we saw a parade of those guards with the nutty hats. changing of the guard? we're not sure but something important was happening. on to picadilly circus- i just learned it's not really a circus but a circle. had no idea. then we came upon the west end. need i say more? theatres, theatres, and more theatres!! we scored some tickets for the matinee of a play called "the real thing" by tom stoppard. what a great show. as much as i adore musical theatre, it's really fun to see a dramatic play every once in a while. this is a winner and the acting was wonderful. now we were on a marathon and intended to also see an evening show. we tried to get tickets for "american buffalo" starring william h. macy, but not a chance as it was opening weekend. so gary chose "the weir" for seconds. unfortunately it was also sold out except for first row obstructed view. well, we had heard this show was not to be missed so we took those damned tickets{reduced price} and they were awful seats. i had to look practically straight up!! the show was ok, nothing fabulous. never again, that view?

in between shows we had a great dinner and then strolled around covent garden, which is the pearl st. mall of london, street performers included. and i almost forgot, we went to the doc maarten store and i finally got a pair after wanting them for several years. better price there. on sunday we managed a short trip to the british museum and a longer one to the victoria and albert {the v and a}. lots of cool things to see as in any museum. the v and a had a wonderful and exhibit on fashion and also one on musical instruments. of course, it wasn't the louvre but nothing is.......

some other fun things- we rode on a doulble decker bus, that whole driving on the other side of the road is so weird. and we had the worst food ever in a pub. i have to say it was truly inedible and how they managed to extract all the flavor out of the peas, i don't really know. but we had to have the experience, i suppose. at least i believed gary when he told me that!! we also walked by "harrod's" dept. store but it was closed. so basically i am ready to go back anytime. "fosse" and the all male "swan lake" both just opened and i would love to see those as well as a few others.

don't know what our next excursion will be but i hope it's soon. we should be getting a car fairly soon so some road trips are a definite possibility. hoping to get to germany; it's in the neighborhood. someone told us it's only 5 hours to drive to denmark!! wow! we are very interested in going to prague. we'll see.

it's great hearing from everybody and i think i'm catching up so please keep writing. we love our apt and the area is ideal. sometime i'll write about some of the negative aspects of living in holland but i try to block them out. it's not perfect but it's a nice change...

tot ziens,