How do you say this in ... English?

Sorry for the lapse in updating my blog. It was an incredibly busy week back in Budapest after being away for a month (2 weeks in U.S. and 2 weeks in Senegal). We had to do all the things we have to do when returning from a trip, like grocery shop, pay bills, do laundry, etc, and we had several families from the Eden House down for meals.

We were in Budapest for Labor Day, and the couple that manages the Eden House invited us down for a Labor Day cook-out with the guests. I had signed up to bring a dessert so that morning I made 6 quarts of ice cream as our contribution to the meal. (Next summer I'm going to keep track of how many quarts of ice cream I make.)

There were 10 adults and 3 children at the cook-out, and the burgers were soooo good.

I wanted to take a meal to one of our families in Budapest that evening though to help them out so I had to plan my schedule out very carefully to make sure I could get the meal to them on time!! (The wife had gone to the U.S. for a family emergency, taking her youngest child with her and leaving the older 3 children with her husband in Budapest.) I had calculated that, at the very latest, I needed to be back from the cook-out and working on the meal no later than 4:30 pm. I actually got home and started working on the meal at 4:20 so I had 10 grace minutes!

We were heading out of town on Thursday, so Glenn had to harvest our grapes before we could go. :-) We didn't have a huge crop this year so it didn't take a lot of time. Phew!

Thursday afternoon we flew to London to visit with one of our member care couples who are responsible for most of western Europe. They leave for their 6 month stateside assignment on Friday. Andy and Kaye live in South Gate, a suburb of London, and we really enjoy our time with them, wherever we are!

Kaye taught me how to eat the way the Brits do: with the fork turned upside down, and using the knife, scoop the food onto the backside of the fork, putting it in your mouth upside down. You never put your silverware down. I enjoyed the famous fish and chips!

Kaye and Andy also taught us that here in the U.K., chips are french fries, potato chips are crisps, biscuits are cookies, barbies are grills, and boots are trunks. Even though they speak English here, it is definitely a different English! We learned that instead of having garage sales, they have boot sales. On certain weekends, people will pay a small fee to park their car in a field and sell their good junk out of the trunk of their car!

Saturday we went into town to the Portobello Market, probably the most famous street market in the world. It is about 2 miles long of antique shops, local foods, clothing (new and used), and fleas.

It was packed!

There was one store that sold men's clothing, and part of the decor was that the walls were lined with antique sewing machines. Quite fabulous!

I kept losing Glenn in the crowds so I just looked for a man in a red shirt!

Just one block off the street was this book store that was made famous in the movie Notting Hill with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Glenn and Andy took a "look see" inside while Kaye and I were in a different shop, and they found out that the book store is closing! I'm guessing it is because Amazon.uk is putting them out of business.

We were there over the lunch hour and looked around for something to eat but we decided we DIDN'T want this breakfast. At least, we didn't want baked beans which is part of a typical British breakfast!!

We got yummy steak sandwiches on this awesome bread. (By the way, according to some Brits that we met, the word 'awesome' has recently come into vogue in England.)

Does anyone use a telephone booth these days?

Throughout the city we found these blue circular signs that advertised where world famous people had lived, stayed, eaten... This one says that George Orwell, the novelist and political activist, 1903-1950, lived in this place.

Red double-decker buses were everywhere.

We hopped on one and rode it through the city to see things from up high!

We eventually got off when we got close to Buckingham Palace and walked the rest of the way.

When I was in middle school and living in Germany (my dad was in the army and stationed there), our family traveled to England to see the Queen. Well, not really, but we did get to see the changing of the guards here at Buckingham Palace!

This house was covered with beautiful, colorful flowers.

I thought this building was quite attractive.

And I loved all the red brick buildings.

This statue of Lord Nelson, who led in the Battle at Trafalgar against Napoleon, is located in Trafalgar Square. The lit dome in the distance on the left of the base is the tower of Big Ben. Did you know that Big Ben is actually the name of the BELL that hangs in the tower, not the big clock? I didn't.

Another view of Trafalgar Square. The red digital sign on the other side of the fountain is the count-down clock for the Olympics that will be in the U.K. next summer.

Glenn and I left Kaye and Andy's house and moved to the south side of London and are now staying with Mike and Julie. (Mike is one of our bosses.) Today, while Glenn and Mike went into the office to talk business, Julie, Elaine (who used to live in Budapest), and I went to COSTCO today! I felt like I was back in America!!!

We leave tomorrow (Tuesday) for Paris to visit with another member care couple for a few days so my next update will probably be of our time in France.