Holiday Inn hotel problems

Apparently, the reservation system for the Holiday Inn never actually registered our room block. The rate will be extended, and I'm told that it will be fixed today. I hope that no one has had problems with booking a room, and that starting tonight or tomorrow, everything will work properly.

Oops

I forgot. Book a room at either hotel by the 26th unless you want to pay normal rates!

Wedding information for out of town guests

When we got engaged, I was convinced that I would have no problem ticking through the various to-do lists provided to every engaged couple by every entity seeking to make a buck off the process. I would have no problems with planning this party because I love planning parties, and I've done some notable ones. Our guests would be well-informed, welcomed, nay, coddled, and shown the city that we love and call home.

And then we put an ocean, international calling codes and five hours' time difference between ourselves, our friends and family, and the companies that we needed to contact to pull off the wedding.

The good news is that there will be a wedding; I finished the most vital tasks that I needed to be in Atlanta for. The bad news is that we've just finalized the hotel arrangements, two days before our RSVP date. So, for our out of town guests there are two options.

Sean's mom Fran has booked a block of rooms at the Wingate in Buckhead. It's
here. Buckhead is where I grew up, and the Wingate is just north of the main drag on Roswell Road. The traffic seems to be getting worse and worse, but it's a short drive from the Buckhead MARTA station, the High Museum, two large malls, lots of restaurants (especially for mid-high end fare) and about 15 minutes from Buford Highway, where you can get any kind of ethnic food your heart desires. It also offers shuttles to and from the airport. We haven't confirmed if there will be shuttles to and from the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself, but if not, both sites are about 10 miles, or a $25 cab ride from the hotel. The room block code is "Fran," and rooms are $99 a night.The website is here. The phone number is 866-649-5798.

The other hotel is the Holiday Inn in Decatur.
It's here. Decatur is close enough to practically be in Atlanta but has always been a separate town with a cute, aging-hippie vibe. The Decatur MARTA station is two blocks from the hotel, and there are multiple restaurants, an acoustic music venue, a couple of bars--including a great brewpub--the historic Decatur Courthouse and square, and lots of funky galleries and shops within walking distance. It's a half-mile to the rehearsal dinner site, and 4.5 miles to the wedding site, and they will be providing a shuttle to both events. The shuttle will run until 10:30 pm, and you may be able to arrange it to go to nearby places like the Fernbank Natural History Museum. They do not provide an airport shuttle, but you can take MARTA north to the Five Points station, then change trains, and ride eastbound to Decatur. Just make sure that you take the Avondale or Indian Creek trains, unless you feel like waiting in an open-air station for a train that goes all the way to Decatur. They also recommend the Atlanta Airport Superior Shuttle. You can make a reservation by calling or emailing 770-457-4794 or atlantasuperior@aol.com. The room block is listed under the Browning-Dillard wedding, and rooms are $99 a night. The website is here. The phone number is 404-371-0204.

A word of warning: traffic in Atlanta is bad, and is getting worse by the day. There are multiple roadworks projects that regularly close part or all of major thoroughfares. Having used it to get to school and work for two years, I cannot recommend MARTA strongly enough. The trains are regular, clean, and will take you to within walking distance of the High Museum (where the terracotta soldiers exhibit is currently on), the Georgia Aquarium, Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza, Little Five Points (a funky little retail district in Inman Park), and a short cab ride from Virginia Highlands. A 10-trip pass is $17.50, far less than a car rental.

That said, I understand that some people will prefer to drive. Information about picking up a rental car at Hartsfield-Jackson is here. Taxi rate information, and the numbers to several cab companies are here.

Now for the fun stuff! Atlanta is a great town. There are some wonderful restaurants, museums, bars, clubs, and music venues. There's even a local brewery that offers tours on Fridays, but if you're going to the rehearsal dinner, you probably won't get the chance to enjoy it. There are a couple of multiplexes, and smaller theatres that offer accesible limited-release films--nothing without dialogue or with the word "Fin" at the end. Check out the links below.

Access AtlantaA good clearinghouse of entertainment options, provided by the AJC.
Creative Loafing Atlanta's free weekly with a good listing of events.
The High Museum The newly massive art museum.
The Civic Center
Fernbank Museum of Natural History
Georgia Aquarium
Watershed Restaurant
Taqueria del Sol
Twain's
The Brick Store Pub
Holeman & Finch
Atlanta Brewing Company
Eddie's Attic
Variety Playhouse
Dad's Garage
Georgia Shakespeare Tavern
Buckhead Backlot
Midtown Art Cinema
The HighlanderDive bar where our friends hang out, next to the Midtown Art Cinema. Decent food.
Little Five Points
Inman Park The neighborhood where Sean and I used to live, and where the wedding will be held.

More things that we like about England

Guy Fawkes Day: Lots and lots of fireworks. Which combined with the fog to make this weird gunpowdery haze for a couple of days. Sean got to go to Kenilworth Castle for the bonfire and fireworks Saturday night, and got some really nice pictures. Maybe if you ask nicely, he'll post them on his picasa.
The weather: OK, so the fact that it's rained at six days out of the past seven isn't a positive, but we're in the midst of a brisk, lovely fall, and today the weather was particularly breezy, cool and sunny. Until it rained, of course.
Mock the Week: It's a panel comedy show that, well, mocks the week. It's very, very funny.
Tea: Maybe it's the six-day weeks I've been working, but tea is wonderful. Easy, quick, clean, not too much caffeine, I understand why it's a cultural mainstay. In fact, I think I'll make a cup now...
Not driving: I ride past a services (gas station) on the way too and from work. Until tonight I hadn't considered that I used to spend at least a half-hour a week pumping gas, waiting in the car while someone pumped gas, or joining someone while they ran inside for a coke or snacks or beer. They're really bleak places, and I don't miss them. And of course, the nice network of bike trails means that I don't spend too much time sharing the road with cars.
Sean's new pants: I just got back from work and Sean had done a nice day of shopping to replace his old worn out jeans. He says that pants here fit better than the ones that he can find in America. Hopefully I'll have the same experience when I have to do the same shortly.
So life is mundane right now, but we're well, I'm growing some new leg muscles, and learning how not to burn myself on the pizza oven at work. It could be a lot worse.

Our company's new website

Work has been going well. I wrote a lot of first draft content for our new website and helped with the overall design. I can't discuss any ongoing projects as we work on a confidential basis, but I have been able to travel some and meet some interesting new clients. For a general sense of the type of work I'm doing please read our site!:

ITCM - Innovative Technology for Custom Machinery

Bank Holiday at Warwick Castle

Bank holidays are great. It is always nice to have a Monday off. I'll post what I remember of our visit to Warwick Castle on the most recent bank holiday on 25 August. Warwick is about ten miles down the road and we woke up and drove down (This was when we still had a car). Apparently this is a popular place for a bank holiday as we had to park in a field about a mile from the castle. When we reached the gate I the line for credit cards was so much longer than the cash line that we took a walk to the cash point (ATM) in town. This is a really impressive castle, but since it is 'ruined' like Kenilworth Castle it is much more of a tourist trap. Saying that, there are a lot of very great events.

The Birds of Prey demonstration is very cool. They had a bald eagle, hawk, vulture, and other very large birds that are well trained. Actually, "well-trained" means that they found a very easy way to eat. They only came back when the handler showed the bird some meat. We were really pleased to see these animals at such a close distance. The vulture was neat. It hopped around just like their cartoon depictions.

There was a stand with pork and stuffing sandwiches. I really like that stuffing is put on sandwiches. As an aside, at work we have a sandwich list, and I regularly order the turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwich. This particular stand had a whole pig that a local farm had brought in. The meat was sliced straight from the pig into the sandwich. It was heaven. After a good meal it was time to trek up the tower. It is a small winding staircase worn by years of use, but it is worth it for the view.

I clearly recall wading through throngs of tourists. It reminds me that the popular locations are best left for the low season. Low traffic spots are best for the busy days. We did find a great area on the castle grounds called the peacock gardens. There are dozens of peacocks (some with tiny chicks) wandering the grounds. Topiary peacocks are interspersed amongst the flowers, and there is a conservatory with some impressive indoor plants. It doesn't compare to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Madrid, but it is great for a day out. Looking down from the conservatory is a vast lawn that extends to the River Avon (a few miles north of Stratford). There was also a trebuchet demonstration. I had seen it in April of 2007, and we both agreed that there would be a massive line of cars waiting to get out afterwards, so we left. As a gift to the locals, you receive two free passes to come back to the castle before the end of the year. At Halloween they have a "haunted castle", so I think we'll have to picnic there and see the trebuchet soon. Maybe next Sunday.

Cycling

It was at a point where we were going to join a gym and build upon the general fitness that comes with walking to work, the store, etc. One thought was tennis lessons, and we were quite excited, but our schedules are too erratic to plan for that. We found a cheaper gym outside the city, but Stella would need a bus pass. There was a gym next to the bus station, and we'd settled on that. Then Stella found a new job that wasn't in walking distance, but wasn't quite far enough for the bus. So, bikes!

I'd wanted a bike for a while, but I am tight with money (and poker chips). Stella's situation presented a clear savings to having cycles. No bus pass and no gym membership (cycling 4 miles a day to work should be sufficient). We talked about it Saturday morning before she went to work and I spent the afternoon looking for the best deal. I found a small outdoors store that was clearing out its cycling department to focus on backpacking, rock climbing, etc. The bikes were on sale for half price, and the full price was already a discount over the bike shop price. They aren't perfect, but they are a good start.

Sunday we went and picked up two new cycles, helmets, locks, etc. We assembled them and went for a test drive. The test drive turned into a nine-mile ride! Before the advent of rail, much of Europe built canals to transport industrial goods. These canals now line the country, but are mainly used for recreation in narrow canal boats. We live at the base of the Coventry Canal, where a greenway has been built for people to fish, ride, run and bike. To get some exercise we had used this canalway as a running path. On our bikes we made it quite a bit further than by foot. We traveled over four and a half miles to the Ricoh Arena where the Coventry City Football Club plays. On the way we stopped into a shop and bought seat cushions and did some window shopping. The conclusion, despite being sore, was that we were going to have quite a bit of fun with this cycling thing.

I bought a handlebar clip for my Garmin GPS - the trusty device that made certain Stella and I always found the hotel, no matter how much fun we had in Spain. I was eager to get out and play with this new toy, especially considering my love of maps. I also needed to visit the bike shop for a few accessories. I rode up the canal again briefly before exiting onto the road. I didn't find the first shop I was looking for, but there was one near Stella's new restaurant that would be more convenient anyway. I collected a few things and rode over to Stella's current pub and we rode some more. I showed her the route to her new restaurant. Tally for day one? 12+ miles - here's the map. Today Stella was able to come along for the whole ride. We went to War Memorial Park and found a great place to ride off-road. We rode by our old hotel, and around town. We added an extra mile just to make sure we'd really had enough. We were able to do a bit of shopping on the way and a quarter mile from home we picked up a couple pints to celebrate. We'd done 8.5 miles! Here's the map from today.

I have to work tomorrow, but I had a great weekend. 20 miles!

UPDATE: I need to give a shout to the wonderful people who contribute to Open Street Map, a community mapping project that is free to edit and use. I was able to update maps for the whole UK to my GPS without paying the large fees normally charged. It's made possible by people contributing and participating in mapping parties.

I really should have been updating this...

Stella and I are settling in nicely here in England. It took a while to get everything we needed, but eventually our shipment arrived and we can communicate online again. We have been rather busy and updating this blog became a low priority. Then, after three months, how do you write, "We're here!"? I wanted to write an exceptionally long re-cap of the past few months, but I think it will be easier to break into bite size chunks. Highlights? Poker, The Windmill, Ditching the Car, Henry V, Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, etc. I will make an effort to post something about each of these in the coming days.

Briefly, I will mention that getting here was quite a hassle. I hope that we can stay a little while just to make the effort of moving across the ocean worth the trouble (that, and we've been enjoying ourselves). Six weeks for our shipment to cross the ocean, four weeks in a hotel, and another six weeks for internet service. Not fun at all, but we're settled in now, meeting some locals and enjoying ourselves immensely. On with some new blog posts!

PS - These new posts are going to be backdated to appear as "when I should have written them", even though I'm just now writing them.

Poker

Early on I found a great little pub called the Old Windmill. This place is worthy of a post on its own, but it is only made better by the poker nights. First, the walls are not square. Not many proper English pubs have square walls, and this is no different. There are plenty of oddly shaped rooms. The bar staff is friendly and they make it a great place to enjoy a pint.

It turns out that the Windmill has poker on Tuesday and Thursday night. Tuesday is league poker, play for free, win a trophy, go to a regional tournament. About 20 people play on any given night. Thursday is a cash game with 10 - 15 people. It's a single, inexpensive buy-in for £5 (I don't care to play for more). Once Stella arrived I'd already played the previous week (and won), so I taught her how to play. It has been great fun and we've had a lot of fun meeting people.

Everyone assumes that we are born playing poker because we're American. Sure, I've played before, for pennies, and occasionally (once a year, or so) home games for $20. I never really learned strategy until now, and I really enjoy it. More than simply a logic game it adds the element of understanding how your move will affect the other players, and how their moves reveal what they have. I have certainly made some poor moves, but I learn each time. Stella is also performing well at the game, and we always enjoy ourselves.

On not driving...

I knew I wouldn't need to drive much in this country, but I thought certainly I needed a car to get back and forth to work. I looked around and found the cheapest car that was mechanically sound. Then I checked on insurance. It was double the purchase price of the car, mainly because I don't yet have a British driving license. Luckily there are plenty of options here. The driving test is much more difficult to pass and many people fail repeatedly. In theory the quality of driving is higher, but you still find younger people, or folks with sports cars that love to speed.

Anyhow, it is a chicken and egg problem, but either way, tougher driving tests and more transit options go together well. You might toss really expensive petrol (gas) in the mix as well. The buses are ubiquitous and utilitarian. We moved to a flat near the bus station so that Stella could get to work, and as it happens, it is my preferred method now as well. In fact, I have come to really enjoy it. I have a nice walk in the morning to perk me up (in addition to tea and/or coffee) and I don't have to fight with traffic. I grab a seat, read a book or a newspaper and arrive a bit refreshed. The evenings are even better. Again, no traffic, just a nice book and someone to drive me.

Looking at the costs this really makes sense for us. There is a rental car place in walking distance. If we want to drive somewhere we can rent for the weekend much cheaper than owning for life. Notice the use of "want". There really isn't much "need" to drive anywhere. It's a beautiful thing. We have a cart that we take to the grocery store, veg market and butcher shop. Our legs have served us quite well, and we are fitter as a result.

I mentioned that Stella might need the bus to work. Having gotten into better shape we have discovered another, less expensive form of transit. The bike. More on the specific later, but the cost of a gym membership for the two of us, and bus pass for Stella for the next six months was more than enough to fund an investment in cycles and the accessories we need. Her commute is about two miles, so a bus is likely to take longer. At five miles, I'll need to be in better shape before I ditch the bus.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford is a tourist town. Everywhere you walk it is littered with quotes from Shakespeare, forgivable because he was born and died here. It is in Warwickshire, a county that surrounds Coventry on three sides (Coventry is in the West Midlands country, together with Birmingham, and the Black Country to the west). Everywhere you drive in Warwickshire the signs proclaim that is Shakespeare's county. I remember enjoying myself the two times I traveled there in March/April. On my first visit I had a delightful turkey dinner at Mistress Quickly's cafe - yes, a character from Shakespeare. Our friends Tom and Lori joined me in Stratford when they visited from Brussels in April, and we all had such a wonderful time that it seemed a good idea to take Stella.

If we hadn't seen Romeo and Juliet a dozen times between us we might have stopped for the open air performance, but we kept walking. It was in a small little park not far from where the bard is buried, and it seemed a nice way to take in a show. Hamlet was running with David Tennant, the current Doctor Who, in the title role and Patrick Stewart as the ghost. If Patrick Stewart had a larger role I wouldn't have been able to pass it up. We enjoyed a nice stroll along the River Avon, but this was early and we hadn't adjusted to all the walking yet. A brief afternoon out, window shopping and strolling through parks and gardens was a tiresome experience.

We didn't bother to visit the Shakespeare birthplace. I had already been and we decided it might be a good place to take people if they come visit. We did however pick up a copy of "Shakespeare" by Bill Bryson, an excellent book that surveys all of the firm historical facts that we have about the man and his plays. It also discusses some of the many historical distortions that have cropped up in the centuries after his death. It is a good read.

The Olympics

Have been masterfully covered by the BBC for the past two weeks. We found the 'red button' on our remote. It offers six different choices of video for the Olympics. We've been able to watch the swimming events and Mr Phelps plethora of gold medals. Synchronised swimming, however, is a very horrific sport to watch, considering that the barbie doll grins and disembodied legs poking from the surface of the water send shivers down one's spine. Diving and the outdoor swimming, I believe 10 meters, made up for the creepy synchro.

The tennis finals were fun to watch, but Dinara Safina, the women's player we cheer for, had poor luck with the scheduling and played the gold medal match after finishing late the previous day. Rafa(el Nadal) won the gold medal match, but I only wish it had been against James Blake of the United States, who made it a very close match.

Other events of note were, of course, gymnastics. The British did quite well this year, and are hoping this carries over to 2012, when the games will be in London. I'm not certain we'll be here quite that long, but because I was a teenager for Atlanta 1996, it would be neat to see the games as an adult.

Henry V

While I am writing about Shakespeare I should mention a wonderful play that Stella and I saw, by the bard of course. We were flipping through the local paper and found an outdoor performance of Henry V being performed at Kenilworth Castle. This castle is an old ruined castle, beautiful, free from throngs of tourists, and well worth a visit. I had been there three times before, and have found new things each time. I believe their Elizabethan gardens open this Spring!

The play was staged by Heartbreak Productions, and they really did a fantastic job. With just a few actors playing the many parts and large family sized tent as a changing room they made a gripping and dramatic show. The director's interpretation was to set the play during the Falkland Island's war as opposed to the Battle of Agincourt, an early battle in the 100 years' war. The settings and costumes were all contemporary military uniforms, "Eye of the Tiger" was played at one point, and the sound effects during the battle were of bullets and bombs.

The play itself is a patriotic story, reflecting on what it means to be British. There are scenes dealing with the complexities of accents, with Welsh being the most difficult for me to understand. You have specific accents for Scotland, Ireland (6 counties in the north are still a part of the UK), Wales, London, Northern England, Southwestern England, etc. The play also mocks the French, another British pastime. (This is neighborly in many cases, my manager speaks nearly fluent French and enjoys taking a holiday there).

Seeing this play in the open air was wonderful, but being a military play, simple sunny skies wouldn't do for ambiance. This is England after all. We had our umbrellas with us, but this would be rude to those behind us. Instead we huddled in our very effective raincoats. It was wet, damp, and not quite miserable. That said, when Henry implores his soldiers, "Once more into the breach dear friends!", you feel a little closer to the breach than a warm dry theater. Do have a look at the website for Heartbreak Productions. They have video for the play here.

Home at Last

We moved out of the hotel on Saturday, and it was great. Our apartment is bigger than our last place has a gas range ("hob" here), an orange kitchen, super-retro light fixtures in the living room that are super-loud and super fluorescent when turned on, and tea-colored carpet.

Almost all properties, even rentals, are managed by estate agents. They take their time about getting you into a place, charge exorbitant fees, and possibly collude with other agents on pricing when several units in a single property are on the market. Even the best are a real treat.

But we made moved our stuff on Friday, bought linens on Saturday, and Saturday night I cooked my first meal in weeks in our new kitchen. The farm-raised pork at Tesco was oddly porous, but it'll do till we're better set up, and it lasted for two pretty tasty meals.

We went to Primark, the local discount housewares store, for linens, and the cashier, noting our accents, asked where we were from. We told her. "Oh, you're on holiday then?" We had to wonder: do visitors to Coventry typically pop in for cheap duvets?