Kristen is home...

Just talked to Kristen and she is in the Atlanta airport and about to be picked up by our friends Charlie and Nancy Harris. I miss her already. We had such a blast in England and Scotland. I can't wait to make some of those type memories with Eliza as well. In some ways I like that Kristen is sad to leave me, she cried in the airport, it makes me feel special and loved. In other ways it crushes my spirit to see her sad. Two more weeks I will be home. I am really glad that Kristen and I are that type of married couple who actually enjoys each other company. Sometimes she will laugh so hard at me for no real reason. She is something special.

I did read in a book called Babywise, yes Kristen I have started it, that the best thing a parent can do for their child to make them feel safe and secure is to love their spouse. A good marriage filled with love, warmth and laughter and putting your wife or husband first, not the kids, shows the children that all is secure and helps them feel a more secure part of the family. In no way am I a perfect husband, but I do think that loving Kristen is something that seems so natural to me.
So here's to my beautiful wife whose smile warms my heart and feeds my soul.

Alone again.

Kristen and I went to Gatwick airport this morning but apparently were running a bit late. They had already closed the flight, but then did let Kristen and this one other lady onboard. We got there at about 10.15 for a 11 a.m. flight so I guess in London at least you have to be there truly 2 hours before just to be sure. But she did get on okay.

I am back in my little closet of a room, this is the fourth one I have had since I have been here. Kristen and I had a double room and now I have a single. So not sure what to do today as Monday starts another week of research. I am already missing Kristen and feeling my little baby kick. ALthough Kristen says that every time she is kicking and then I touch her stomach she stops, I believe that is because I have a calming influence on her. Can't wait to hang out with my girls come September. I miss them already.

Friday our last day together in London....

Well today we were pretty tired from the Scotland trip and I let Kristen sleep in a bit. I am afraid that our frenetic pace over here has worn her out. But she says she is fine and is enjoying herself a ton. Today we went to the National Portrait gallery together and saw many priceless paintings of famous British people from Beatrix Potter to Queen Elizabeth herself. It was very awe inspiring. Then we went and toured the inside of Westminster Abbey. We saw Chaucer's tomb (the Canterbury Tales), the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots, Henry VII, Edward I, and of course my favorite Elizabeth I. She is buried right beside her sister Mary I even though in life they had troubles. The Latin on her tomb reads:"Partners both in throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of the Resurrection."

Then we went to eat at this little Italian place in Leceister Square where Kristen loves the pizza and I love the Kabobs. Kristen had a fun idea to see if we could see another show so we got tickets for the Lion King. It has to have been my favorite. The set, the costumes, the music, it was overwhelming it was so good. Our seats were up high but we were on the first row of the balcony so in some ways they were awesome seats. It was so good.

Tomorrow I take my love to the airport and have to spend two more weeks here in solitary. I still have some work to do and some documents to look at but I sure will miss that beautiful girl who is carrying my little baby. I can't wait till I have two beautiful girls that have me wrapped around their fingers. Pray for Kristen's travels tomorrow. She should be stateside at about 3.30 p.m. EST. Charlie Harris is picking her up and she is spending the night with the Charlie and Nancy before heading back home. Cheers.

Scotland....

Well Kristen and I have just returned from a very quick two day one night stay in Scotland's capital Edinburgh. It began with a 4.5 hour train ride from London. I had to look at a manuscript of Queen Elizabeth's that is not published. It was a translation of John Calvin's institutes that she translated from French to English. So I had to go to the National Archives of Scotland.

I got a reader's card and Kristen did too since she was with me. The National archives of Scotland was small and so nice. The people were so nice. I saw exactly what I needed and was even able to make color copies of it.

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast a few miles outside of town. And to be honest Kristen and I fell in love with Scotland. The city Edinburgh was so cool and the people were so nice and authentic. One guy on our train who took our tickets when he heard me speak asked if we were Americans and I said yes and he said he loved Americans because we were so polite. Hard to believe but the Scottish people were so cool.

Here's a pic of Kristen outside our bed and breakfast which was called Aynetree Bed and Breakfast right near Ballie Place.

Here's a traditional scottish breakfast. I could hardly understand anything our hostess said to us. Apparently baked beans go with eggs in the morning. I had hot tea and porridge (oatmeal) with mine. It was awesome.

We went to Edinburgh castle really early on Thursday. It was at the top of a huge hill overlooking the city and dated from medieval times. We saw the Scottish crowned jewels that Mary Queen of Scots actually wore. And we saw the little room that James I of England, Mary Queen of Scot's son, was born in. Inside the castle.

That's James on the wall and this is a little shot of the room. It was about the size of my hotel room in London.

We went shopping and walking around the city and I spent some more time in the archives looking at 400 year old letters. It was so cool.

We also went to the Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, a huge Gothic cathedral and it was so cool. When we walked in a choir from Maryville Tennessee was singing and included a few spirituals in their performance. They boomed all over that Cathedral. I loved being in such a huge house of God hearing East Tennessee students praise the name of Jesus.

These are a couple of other pictures. The sun came out. It was such a cool city. It may be our favorite now. Here's a picture of me with William Wallace, you know the guy from Braveheart.

Tomorrow we aren't sure yet what we will do. We have had so much fun on this trip. I also felt Eliza kick for the very first time and I got her a little Loch Ness monster doll. It is awesome. Cheers.

Tuesday..

Well today the weather was a little better so we started off the morning with a visit to the Tower of London. The inner part of the tower was built by William the Conqueror way back in the 11th century but most of the medieval and early modern monarchs lived her. Elizabeth was imprisoned here during her sister's reign when Mary thought she was trying to conspire against her.

We saw the spot where they beheaded Anne Boleyn and where her bones are in the church under the altar. The Yeoman warders kind of run the place, often called Beefeaters and ours was a great guide and great story teller. Here's us at the Tower.



This is a picture of what is called the White Tower as it was originally white washed on the outside and looked white. It had tons of medieval armor and swords. We saw Henry the VIII's armor. We also saw the crown jewels of England. Very impressive. Then we had some lunch at the Tower and looked around a bit more.


IF you look really hard in the picture above there are little black slits just to the top left of the middle row of windows. Those are little holes that originally emptied the toilets of the guards. The toliets were called Garderrobes and were mainly a hole in the floor that lead to a little slide that emptied out those slits in the building.

This is a picture of me sitting where many a guard must have had some really deep thoughts. Just think of those people walking around the buildings when there was a real possibility that you could be hit by your friends poop. They actually had a little wall built to try to contain the waste. We have come a long way.


Then we went to Harrods. It was a bit overwhelming with 1000000 square feet of retail space. Here's a pic.


We bought Eliza a Paddington Bear at Harrods. I am so excited. We have her many little Paddington Bear books to go with it. You can't buy these in the states.



Then to top off the evening we had a great supper in an Italian restaurant. And then went to see Spamalot. it is a musical adaptation of Monty Python Holy Grail. But it had plenty of new twists and turns and was so hilarious. We had so much fun. This is a picture of the Palace theatre. THere is nothing like seeing a show in London. The crowds are so pumped up and laugh and clap so well.




Tomorrow we take an early train to Edingburgh Scotland. I might not post for a few days. Cheers.

A brillant day in the midst of rain...

We awoke to find our summer day feel like we were in the middle of a very cold monsoon. The rain was blowing almost sideways and our little umbrellas made good for a Mary Poppins imitation as they blew their tops. But we boarded our train at Victoria station and headed south for Hampton Court Palace. One of the palaces that Henry VIII actually used for himself.

The palace actually belonged to a friend of Henry's, by the name of Cardinal Wolsley. He was second in command in England, Lord Chamberlain, and was so extravagant with his home that eventually he ended up looking better than the king so he gave the home, probably reluctantly, to Henry as a gift. It is still a showplace and was an awesome trip that I highly recommend.


It sits right on the river Thames and has lavish gardens all around it. It is a so amazing.



Pictures of me and Kristen outside the Palace. Since it was kind of rainy not many people were there. We loved touring all around the palace seeing different parts of its history.



They actually had all kinds of period actors from musicians playing the actual type instruments that were around in the 16th century to the Queen herself. They even had a special show going on where they had people working the Tudor kitchens in the same manner they would have for Henry VIII. They actually were making pies, and roasting beef, and we got to watch how they would've prepared food up close. it was so cool and smelled so good. We even ate some homemade bread and chicken casserole in the Privy Kitchen afterwards.

Kristen got a little bit into character in this picture.


Believe me she looks sweet but she can wield an axe like nobody I know. so watch out.
Then we returned back to the hotel for a bit and then went to the musical Wicked. It is an alternate telling of the story of the Wizard of OZ, making the Wicked Witch of the West out not to be so bad a character. It was AMAZING.


The set was awesome. The singers were awesome and the story was so good. In the end it turned out to be a romantic comedy, sort of, anyway we LOVED it and highly recommend it to anyone. It was so much fun.


Well tomorrow we might go to the Tower of London and maybe do some shopping at Harrods. Cheers to all.

Sunday afternoon...

Well Kristen and I went walking around London and saw a few of the sights. We saw Big Ben and the Parliament building and got our picture taken in front of Westminster Palace.

Then we walked around a bit more towards Trafalgar Square. We even got to look in the National Gallery for a bit and see some priceless works of Renaissance Art. Then we walked a bit more to Leceister Square (where all the restaurants and theatres are) and we decided we were pooped so we sat at this little ice cream place and ordered Kristen's favorite, gelato which was AWESOME.

Then we realized how tired we were and headed back to the ever so tiny room. We don't really have any floor space for ourselves with all the luggage. So we have to be creative walking around the room. But I am excited that Kristen is here to share this stuff with me.

Tomorrow we are going to go to Hampton Court, where Henry VIII used to live and then we aren't sure yet for the afternoon, and then Monday night we are seeing Wicked, the Musical. Very exciting.

But we did want to send out big time birthday wishes to our little friend Karisse Rose. Uncle Teddy and Auntie Kristen love you and will celebrate when we get back. Cheers for now.