Engaged!

Just thought I would let you all know if you did not already, that Emma and I are engaged, sorry if I was not able to tell you personally first, as there are so many people, and so hard to get in contact with people overseas, so thought this would be easier! The rest of this is written by Emma, as I reckoned she would give a better account. We are both extremely happy, and now busy with plans, but nothing is very concrete yet but we are just planning a small ceremony sometime in the near future.

Luke



As you may already know, Luke proposed to me last night in Cardiff Bay (I still have a big smile on my face)! I had the day off work as someone did a swap with me, so when Luke found this out he said 'Lets dress up nice tonight and go for dinner down the Bay seeing as you have worked so much recently'. I love getting dressed up so did not hesitate at all,I had no idea about what was going to happen!

We had a lovely dinner in a posh restaurant looking over the water on a little table that was tucked away, the sky was bright blue outside and the evening was starting to set in. At the end of the meal I was talking about John's (Luke's brother) wedding to Laura...then Luke said 'Talking of weddings'...He got up from his chair and got down on one knee and pulled a very sparkly diamond ring from his pocket (and his hands were shaking), I said 'oh my gosh' and then he asked 'Emma, will you marry me?' I said 'Of course I will, YES!'. Then he asked me 'which one is your left hand?' and even I could not figure my left from my right in that moment!! I was not expecting it at all! The ring is just beautiful, stunning infact. Ever since I have just been holding my hand up and looking at it, making it sparkle in the light and showing Luke how much it sparkles! I am so incredibly happy, I am on top of the world. I never thought I could experience this much happiness and excitement. Oh yes I forgot, a waiter had seen Luke propose, so shortly after they bought us 2 complimentary glasses of pink champagne!

We walked around outside afterwards, we both had huge smiles on our faces, we bought a celebratory drink, then went home and opened a bottle of champagne. It was such a nice day as it was my parents 25th wedding anniversary too, and a year (minus one day) since we first met in the Gizo Hotel for dinner.

Today we went to Cardiff castle, and took more photos of us together, we have attached one - on top of the castle with a good view over Cardiff. The first photo is just after Luke has proposed....And the ring, is the engagement ring and the wedding band....but now Luke has taken the wedding band back (for now) so I am wearing the half with the big diamond in at the moment. Luke bought the ring in America in June and had hidden it very well all this time! I love that the ring has come from America it is very unique!

Hope that all makes sense, I am still so very excited.

See you soon, take care!

Emma xx

A Visit to London

Well after almost two months here, I finally had a visit to London.  Emma and I were going to a friends party in London, so I took a bus down a day early to do some sightseeing, and learned just how big London is!  I have never been to a city so large, but that was part of the fun, wandering around and getting lost.  Luckily though my bus dropped me off at Victoria Station, in the middle of downtown, which made starting my day easy!  I walked just a few blocks and saw Buckingham Palace, but the changing of the guards ceremony was cancelled; there were hundreds of people waiting around for it still.  Note:  The guards that have the big bear fur hats, and can't move, are very far away behind a big fence so you can't annoy them, and even had police officers with automatic rifles beside them!  I was a bit disappointed at that, and did not even get to see the Queen!  But I don't envy her, as millions of people are always trying to peer into her house.

Next I looked on my map to head down to the Parliament House, and see the clock.  Now as England is big with Pub Quiz's I will pose a question here, I did not see "Big Ben", why? (I'll Put a hint at the end).  Again Parliament house was surrounded with lots of guards, barriers you could not drive a tank through, and rather mean looking people, so I did not stick around long, as I was a bit intimidated by all the people.  By now I was only two hours into my trip but quickly realized my budget was not big enough!  I would reckon for a day in London you need at least £70 about $100 USD to do a bit of sight seeing, getting around, shopping, and eating your meals and enjoying a few pints!  Most of the attractions (Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Private Museums etc) are about £15-20 for tickets!  Lunch was £10 and I could not even find a fast food place :(  So if you visit set a big budget so you can enjoy yourself and see what you really want to.  I did really enjoy my day and got a good feel for the city.

After lunch it was low tide, and I walked down the bank of the Thames River, and noticed lots of things in the Mud.  I had heard from a diver in Gizo that the banks were full of old artifacts, clay bowls etc.  I think it was a bit exaggerated as all I found were bones, animal bones I hoped.  It seemed to be lots of pork ribs, and chicken bones!  I then followed a walk along the river, that is the Queens Millennium walk, or something like along those lines, which took me past the rebuilt Globe Theatre, and up towards the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge.  I was going to go into the Tower of London, but it was full.  I then started making my way to Waterloo station on the Underground, to take the tube to a friends house where I was saying.  The Tube, was like I expected, busy and crowded, lots or track failures, but in the end I got where I needed too.  I defiantly enjoyed myself, and will go back with a bigger budget and see more!  It is a huge place you could defiantly spend days and days getting around. 

People were very helpful giving directions, and always asked if I was Canadian!  That is something I have noticed overseas, as I think Canadians are touchy about being called American, so people always ask if you are Canadian first.  I always say with pride I am American!  And Canada, sorry you just have some sort of misplaced chip on your shoulder :)  I look forward to going back to London for a few days with Emma, and hopefully seeing a show there too!

Luke



Pub Quiz Hint: I did not see "Big Ben" but I did hear it......

Castles and More

Chepstow Castle

Tintern Abbey

Roman Baths

Bath Abbey

Caerphilly Castle

Caerphilly Castle

Hello Everyone!

After a long wait we are now in the modern age with Internet in our flat! This is so exciting so I figured I would take some of the infinite time that I seem to have and update my blog a few times, and share with you what Emma and I have been up to! We have done quite a bit of sightseeing as there is just so much to see and do here. We have been to a number of castles and small towns. Many of the Castles here were built in the 10th to 12th centuries and used for centuries after that. That is about all I know of the history, but each has a unique story that makes them interesting. Most are in ruins, but offer splendid views, and are tucked away in quaint country towns that are built around the castles. Each castle is always in a strategic position for defence, but nowadays that generally means it has great views of the surrounding countryside and rivers!

We have been to two different ones, Castle Coh and Caerphilly, now that were renovated at the end of the nineteenth century by a very wealthy man (suspected to be the richest in the world at the time) from Cardiff, the 3rd Marquess of Bute. This gives you an exciting view into how the castles would have looked shortly after construction as they spent lots of time and money researching how the castles were decorated and furnished, which gives you a great view into the lives during medieval times.

So far we have visited:
Castle Coch
Chepstow Castle
Caerphilly Castle
Tintern Abbey

We also took a day and visited the Roman Bath's, which are ironically located in a an English town named Bath, after ????. Here you can take a step back in time to visit the Roman Baths that were built around 45 AD (Wikipedia). They are amazing as you can walk on the same stones the Romans did. They have been excavated, as the city has been built up around them, so much of it is underground. It has been the most interesting thing we have done so far, as there is so much original stone work. The Romans did live a life with quite a few luxuries. The city itself is gorgeous as most buildings are still built from stone and it gives a great feeling to the place. There is also Bath Abbey, a large cathedral in town, that is still in amazing condition, It has beautiful tapestries, and paintings on all of its plaster walls and great detail in the architecture. It was thrilling just to sit outside at a cafe staring at such a beautiful place!

I will update more later about what we have been up to and try to put in more photos.

Luke

Welcome to Wales!

Well I have been flaky while updating the blog lately, but as you can imagine moving from the S. Pacific to Wales, is quite the task with lots of flights, family visits, and border crossings involved.  Well I have finally finished it all and am in the UK, settling nicely for a VISIT, not working!

On June 27th Emma and I set off for London on separate flights from Atlanta, hers was routed through Toronto which had some bad weather delaying her by an hour.  Mine was routed through Pittsburgh, Boston, Iceland, and finally London.  I arrived anxious to enter the UK and see Emma on the other side of customs, but there was a hitch.  As an American you may visit the UK for up to 6 months, so that is what I was intending to do, but as they made it perfectly clear they did not want me there that long. 

I was detained while entering the country, as they did not believe that I would not be working, and was put into detainment for five hours.  I expected odd emigrants from around the world to be in there with me, but was surprised to find it was only another young American guy, about 20, and a 30 year old Australian.  All of us were visiting our girlfriends, the other two for only short periods of time.    I guess the English have become quite protective of their women!

After being interviewed twice, while they also conducted phone interviews with Emma and her parents, going over my finances, and plans, they decided I could come into their lovely country.   They were very clear that I cannot work, and even pointed out that I could not perform music in any forms, they even asked me in my interviews if I was a musician, I sang for them, and they suddenly believed that I would never be able to make it as a musician.  Luckily they did not need Simon Cowell to tell me that, the customs agent was a bit nicer.

After leaving the airport we drove back to Wales, about 2.5 hours from London, and started packing Emma's stuff to move.  Our new apartment is a new build, and very nice and comfortable inside.  Everything is a bit different here, the roads are tiny, the cars are tiny, and the houses and buildings are tiny.  In contrast I actually feel quite tall now, as everything else is, as we said Tiny.  We also found out some great news that Emma passed her exams and is now a Doctor. 

After the move we went back to Emma's home to meet her family for the weekend, and to celebrate her finishing Medical School.  It has been a trial over the past six years for her and her parents, as they listened to her vents about school, and supported her.  Both of her parents were great, and we met her brother and sister and their lovely partners, and attended her cousins wedding.  After the weekend we made our way back from Portsmouth to Wales, about 2.5 hours drive, and stopped by Stone Henge on the way.  It was incredibly interesting, as the stones have been in place for thousands of years.  They had a great audio tour explaining the history, and how they have changed over time.  There were also a few fanatics in robes around the stones too supporting Druid religion.

We then enjoyed the rest of the drive by staying off of the motor way and touring through the country side a bit.  It is so beautiful; everything is old and laid out very well between rows of hedgerows, fields, and small towns.  We stopped in a small pub for a pint and some lunch, it is true they do drink the beer at room
temperature, but that is quite chilly here compared to home!  I have been wearing a fleece jacket most days, as lots of days are rainy and overcast, with highs in the 60's F.  We also got a bit lost on the way back and came across a town that is entirely preserved as a country Manor, which is where part of Harry Potter has been filmed and Pride and Prejudice.  

This week we have been exploring Cardiff more, and went to the beach about an hour away which was very different to ours, it was like the beach from the movie the Goonies, with caves, and hollows in large rock out croppings.  I kept looking for a pirate ship full of gold but never found it.

I have put in some photos, and will hopefully be better at this soon, but we still do not have internet.  I also do not like the keyboards, as the spacing is different and I mistype more, guess I will have to get used to now.  Due to the immigration restrictions my plans are to visit here until November or December and then come back to the US and get a seasonal Job for the Christmas season in Florida at a dive shop while we sort out a better visa which would allow me to work here.
Luke