Guest Post

Have cranberry, will travel!
Chile . . London for Thanksgiving? Not a problem, let’s go . . .

Annie and I had the opportunity to catch up with Anna and Nils in their new digs in London for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. We packed an extra bag and brought cranberry sauce, dressing, gravy, table cloths, napkins and a desire to bring our own traditions to London with them as they started their Big Adventure in the land of Big Ben. We wandered around in the rain and cold, undaunted, but dressed like we were in the Alps during the heart of winter ~ certainly standing out as tourists in London.
We visited a variety of places as we traveled by tube (always minding the gap), foot and taxi to Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, Primrose Hill, Camden Town, Harrods with the mobs, St Paul’s, the Tate Modern, The London Eye, The Millennium Bridge and the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We saw Wicked in the West End, took in a movie and wandered the local neighborhoods and then enjoyed the streets, sounds, schools of little kids in their uniforms, markets and restaurants. We had dinner in an Indian restaurant with the singing fans of the Croatian football team as they prepared to beat the local English lads which we watched in the local pub that dripped in major national disappointment as they self destructed in their own goal.

Thanksgiving rolled around and Megan showed up to join us for our trekking, rounded up some of her friends and then Anna and Nils, along with Megan and Annie, set to cooking the 5lb, $90 turkey and all the fixings – we could have fed our regular family size gathering with all the wonderful dishes that were produced. It was great ~ the food was wonderful, having most of the family together for Thanksgiving was a treat.
Anna, Nils, Jackson and Nessie have found a wonderful new home for themselves, were very generous in their hospitality and we certainly enjoyed having the opportunity to see the lives they have created for themselves. The trip ended all too soon and we are booking our next visit already!
Cherrio (if they say such a thing anymore?) and Chao

Thanksgiving in London

We had a lovely Thanksgiving in London! We were happy to have family here to celebrate with us. St. Paul's(the church where Princess Diana was married) had a service for Americans in London. We tried to go but we were turned away since the church was filled to capacity. It's amazing how many Americans there are here.
The only hard part was finding everything we needed for our traditional feast. We paid way too much for our turkey and had to have stuffing and gravy mix brought to us from the States. Our only other challenge was the size of our oven. We weren't sure if everything would be ready at the same time, but amazingly we pulled it off. We missed all of our other family and friends, but we hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We are so thankful for all of you!

Guest Post

Hi All! I have just spent a lovely thanksgiving
holiday in the wonderful company of Anna and Nils...
the lovely new residents of London! It was fabulous!
Mom and Mike were here as well and two of my friends
from Santa Barbara came for our feast! Even though we
were relaxing a whole bunch we actually did a lot! I
felt like I was back in Chile with all the football
watching... Nils, Mike, and I went to a pub the first
night in good old English fashion to sadly watch London lose to Croatia... I wasn't too distraught. But
everyone else in the pub seemed to be quite upset! This morning Nils, Anna and I went for an early
morning ice-skate! It was so fun; I haven’t done that in years! I loved being here and trying all the new
things and getting used to the London vocab!... Cafe Nero (as opposed to starbucks), skinny coffee for take
away (non-fat coffee to-go)! It was a wonderful holiday (vacation:-)) and I was so happy I could see
Anna, Nils, Jackson, and Nessie's new life! Thanks for everything! I will see you very soon!

Cheerio!

Love, Meg

Excursions

What's Inside the Flat?

We've put together a few early pictures of our flat so you can get a better idea of where we live. The Red Room is where all of our wonderful guests will be staying during their time at Hotel Sorenson!

Our First Guest's Post

Dearest Anna and Nils, Thank you for sharing your new home and environs with me! I loved the walks to Buckingham Palace, thru Hyde Park, and around the city streets. Everywhere was a feast for the eyes! And the trip to Richmond and Kew Gardens was gorgeous. It was all so wonderful! With all the languages I heard around the city, I've been inspired to learn French! I love you two. Mom/Viann

1 stick of butter equals 113 grams

These are our first efforts at video uploads, and we apologize upfront for the content.

We are all here!

What a month! After what seemed like an eternity, we are settled in London and enjoying our new world. Many good, bad, and crazy things have taken place since we packed up our home in San Francisco.

Nils arrived in late September to our new but empty flat. Besides not having our usual creature comforts, Nils found a way to pass the time i.e. by not spending much time at home and most free time in Pubs (with free internet). Work is going well for Nils, and his role is becoming more defined. And more importantly, Nils decided we will be Chelsea Football supporters after intense research.

(Our Moving Lorry and soon to be towed Prius)
Anna arrived on the perfect day. Her travels went without a hitch, and she was welcomed by all of our furniture and the internet when she walked in the door (two things missing until 5 minutes before her arrival).

Our early introduction to the UK hasn't been without some excitement, hence the title of our blog. In many ways you would expect, and many more which we are finding out everyday, England is very different than the US. For both good and bad experiences, the saying is "This is England." There are many more good things than bad. Please check out the theme song!

And finally, our wonderful cats arrived on October 26th thanks to the brave efforts of ViAnn and Ken. After being evacuated due to the Southern California fires, they amazingly guided themselves and quite a few animals over the course of a week: from Escondido, to the Del Mar Fair, on to the Vet (to allow Nessie and Jackson to travel), up to Irvine, then on to LAX, and finally were allowed back home, which thankfully wasn't hurt by the fires. This was a tough week, but we are so thankful for the technology which allowed us to continually stay in touch while so far away.

We have had a great time reuniting with fellow ex pats - Dan, Esther, Morgan, and Eric as well as recent visitors Christine and Bill. It has been fun experiencing London with them, and we look forward to many more visitors.

All in all, we are doing great and loving our new experience. We are so happy that our gang is back together again. Stay tuned for our adventures...

All the best,
Anna and Nils

*This is our first blog attempt, so please revisit soon and feel free to make suggestions.