Roma

Rome

Ok...well I am finally caught up to the present. This next slide show is pictures from me and Kathryn's trip to Rome. It was really cool, really hot, and kind of dirty. I will say that I am glad I got to go. It is cool thinking about how I have seen and walked through the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and thrown a coin into the Trevi Fountain. I have also eaten true Italian Pizza and gelato. I wont say I enjoyed it as much as Paris, but hey I went to Rome. It was extremely hot. I think it was about 50 when we left London and 90 when we got to Rome. So it was definitely a shock to our systems. We also had gottne only a couple of hours of sleep the day before so that didnt help either. If you go to Rome, dress for hot weather and get plenty of sleep. Oh yeah and prepare to buy lots of water bottles. I think we probably bought at least 20 for two days. The hostel we stayed in was great though. Only 4 blocks from the main train/bus station. It was really nice, as hostels go, and not too expensive. As much as it may sound like Rome wasnt my favorite place ever, dont let this disuade anyone from going one day. It is Rome and everyone wants to see the history there. It is all over the place and that was cool.

Tea and The Eye

Late Update #4

So as you can see from the pictures Kathryn was able to drag me into some tea at Harrods. Actually it was a lot of fun and the food and tea was great. I would recomend it for any of you who are going to be in London for a few days. It is worth it and it is not too expensive for London. We also got to go on the eye later that night. Kathryn's group went to the eye and they had an extrea ticket which I got to use. It was a lot of fun and the rest of the night we had a lot of fun walking around the city.

Coleford Trip #2

Late Update #3

The weekend after Paris, Kathryn and I went back to Coleford. I was really looking forward to getting to see my friends again, and I couldnt wait for Kathryn to get to meet them too. It was a great weekend. We took a train out of London on Saturday morning and met up with Andy and Maria and the kids in Warwick. There is a huge castle there, and so we spent the day exploring that. It was a ton of fun and had a lot of cool stuff to see. We then went to Maria's dads house for dinner where we ate a wonderful meal cooked by her stepmom that was made complete by some awesome Baked Alaska. On Sunday we went to church with the family and then had a feast at there house afterwards. My good friends Simon and Katy and there two kids Issac and Imogen, also came over. Like I said we had a huge feast that was awesome. At the end of it, Kathryn was surprised with a birthday cake to celebrate her 20th birthday. It brought back found memories of celebrating my 18th birthday there. It was a lot of fun. Then to burn some of that food off, we took a nice walk in the forest. Even though the weather wasnt the best, it was still beautiful. It is always great to get to go to Coleford, and I hope that I will be back sooner than later. It is hard to stay away when you have such good friend there.

Summer Plays

Late Update #2

This slide show is going be of the other shows we have gotten the chance to see besides Wicked. Mary Poppins was awesome. I would definitely recomend it. The songs werent as good as Wicked but it was so much fun to go to. There was a lot of audience participation, and the cast looked like they were having a blast performing. Plus is was Mary Poppins in London. We also saw The Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare's Globe Theater. It started off a bit slow, but by the end I was loving it. The acting was great and it was cool to just see a Shakespeare play in the rebuilt Globe. The most recent play we have seen was Fame. The dancing was awesome and the singing was pretty good. So I would say it was an ok show. But the coolest part of it all was that we got to take picture and meet some of the cast after the show. We saw where they were coming out of the theater at the end of the show and ran over to get pictures. They were all really nice especially this one actress from South Africa. She talked to Kathryn and I forever. She also was by far the best cast member and had an AMAZING voice. It has been really cool getting to go the theatre here. We are hoping to go to see The Sound of Music tomorrow night.

Anniversary and Paris

Late Update #1

Ok...so it has been a while since I last updated. So I am going to just start from where I left off. I wont put every picture I have in one slide show though. I will still go ahead and break them up like I would have if I had stayed up to date. Ok so these first ones are from the beginning of July. They start with pictures from me and Kathryn's anniversary dinner. We celebrate our one year anniversary on July 1st. We had dinner on a river boat on the Thames River. It was a lot of fun and really nice. Someone we had great weather also. It had been horrible weather for about a week leading up to that night and the weather continued to be horrible starting again the next day, but somehow it was perfect that night. We had some great food, some great entertainment, and even got to dance some. The next set of pictures is from the awesome trip we took to Paris the next weekend. We had the time of our lives. We definitely could have stayed for a few more days. We were actually surprised at how much we liked the city. We had heard a lot of negative things about going to Paris, and found that none of them were true. We took the Eurostar (train under the Channel) to Paris and as soon as we got there we were off. We went through the Louvre at a pretty rapid pace, but got to see everything we wanted to see. Then we went to a cool little fair they had and went on a great ferris wheel ride that allowed us to see all of the city. Next was a nice walked down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. Once we got there we were running short on time so we head down the street to the Eiffel Tower to meet up with Fat Tire Bike Tours. The Eiffel Tower was awesome. It was so cool to actually be standing under it. That night we went on an awesome bike tour. Please if you are in Paris check out Fat Tire Bike Tours. They are a company started by Aggies that does amazing bike tours in Paris and the surrounding area (Versailles, Normandy, the countryside). Check them out they are awesome. This was the best thing I did all summer. The next day we didnt have a whole lot of time so we went to a nice musuem with a garden full of sculptures and had a picnic under the Eiffel. We then ran over to see Notre Dame and spent a little more time around the Louvre. Before we knew it, it was time to head back home...or I guess to London. It was an amazing trip. I cant wait to go back some day.

Cambridge and Wicked

Hey everyone. Well I know that I just updated the blog a couple of days ago, but I needed to get these pictures up since they were long over due. Most of the pics are from Cambridge. Kathryn and I went there last weekend. It was awesome. The colleges there look like castles. I can not even imagine what it would be like to go to school there. Plus the town was just a really cool little town in the countryside. We were afraid it was going to rain the whole day we were there, but luckily it held off for us and we got to enjoy most of the day in the sun. The weather was the best when we went punting (the little boats with the guys on the back that push with a stick) on the Cam river through the town. After much discussion, I put down my pride and agreed with Kathryn we should get someone to do it for us. I will just say she was right...it would have been a long boat ride with plenty of "kind" words if I would have tried. Plus after seeing this poor old man fall in the river I was plenty glad to still be in dry clothes. We spent a lot of time walking around and we ate dinner in a cool little pub. So it was a great trip and I definitely recomend it to anyone who is ever over here and looking for a fun day trip from London. And last night we got to go see Wicked. That's right Ms. Julie! It was a lot of fun and we were able to get cheap tickets which made it even more fun. It was really cool though and I would also suggest it to anyone looking for a show with great music and a cool story. Hopefully it will not be the last show we see while we are over here. Well this weekend will be me and Kathryn's one year anniversary so you can be looking forward to those pictures. And for those of you who know what we are doing remember it is a surprise so dont tell her. Hope everyone is doing great. I love you guys and cant wait to see you when I get home.
tyler

One Full Weekend

Well I am a little behind but here are some pictures from two weekends ago and the week following it. Kathryn and I got to go to a huge parade that was in honor of the Queen's Birthday. It was really cool because we got to see the Queen, Prince William, and Prince Charles. After that we went to the British Musuem for the afternoon. We spent at least 4 hours there and we could have spent much more. There was a ton of stuff and it was all really cool. Since then we have spent a lot of time exploring the city. The area down by the London Eye is definitely our favorite.

Work has been going well and I got the chance to spend a few days down in the finance office last week. It was fun and a good change. I got to get some experience in commerical finance which was interesting. Kathryn and I also went to Cambridge this past weekend. I dont have pictures up yet, but will work on that when I get the chance. We had a blast and the weather was surprisingly good. If you are ever over here I would definitely recommend Cambridge. It was perfect for a day trip.

I cant believe I have been here for almost a month. It has been great so far and I look forward to the many adventures that lie ahead. I hope all of you are enjoying your summers. Talk to you soon.
Tyler

What a Birthday!

Well I will have to say I have been able to have another great birthday while being away from home for the 4th year in a row. I definitely didnt think this one would be too eventful, but to my great surprise I received the best birthday present ever on my door step Sunday morning...Kathryn! She flew in 4 days early to surprise me for my birthday. I couldn't believe it when I saw her. So I ended up having a blast for my birthday. We went to an amazing church, walked around the city, and she took me to dinner at the Texas Embassy where I enjoyed my new rights as a 21 year old with a Margarita. Sorry for those of you hoping for a crazy 21st birthday story that I cant remember, I definitely wanted to remember this night. After we ate we went for a walk along the Thames and enjoyed London at night. It was great to finally have Kathryn in London.

Last week was a great week at work. I am still really enjoying my job. I got to go out with the Premises Manager on Wednesday and look at some potential sites for new offices. That was a lot of fun and I got to see a lot of the country side. We drove almost all the way to Oxford. He was a nice guy and we got to talk a lot about the business and about his life. Next week I am looking forward to going over to another office to work in the finance department for a few days. It should be a fun change. Oh yeah...and big news, I get 5 pounds a day for lunch.

Well after a long week of work, Kathryn and I got to have a lot of fun today. We went to the Trooping of the Colours (Parade for the Queen's B-Day) and saw the Queen, Prince William, Prince Charles and Camilla. It was crazy to see all of them from about 15-20 yards away. Then we spent the day at the British Museum seeing cool stuff like the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra's Mummy. It was fun but we were definitely tired at the end of it.

It has been a lot fun so far and I am looking forward to see what next week brings. Kathryn and I bought bus tickets to go to Cambridge next weekend so I am looking forward to that. The Premises guy I went out with the other day is from Cambridge and said he would give me some good tips on stuff to do.

Please feel free to send me emails, I have enjoyed the ones from those of you who have sent them. I hope everyone is enjoying there summer and I look foward to talking to you all soon.

tyler

12 Manson Place

Hey everyone. Here are some pics of the place I am getting to stay this summer.

My Job

www.hamptons.co.uk

This summer I am interning at Hamptons International. It is a Real Estate Firm in the UK. I am working in their Operations Office in Chelsea. I am having a great time so far. I have been doing a lot of administrative work, but the people I am working with are great and help make the days go by quickly. I heard today that I am going to getto travel around to different offices also. It is looking like Friday I may get to go down to the Sales and Letting (Renting) office and will also get the chance some time to go to the Finance Department. No matter what I think it is going to turn out to be a great placement.

Weekend in Coleford

These are my pictures from my weekend in Coleford. I got to go and visit some friends I hadn't seen in a long time. It was so much fun and as you can tell from the pictures the countryside there is beautiful. They also celebrated my birthday a week early. I am hoping to go back again in July. They also took me to Bath. It is a city that was founded by the Romans because of the hot springs under it. They built a huge temple and Bath for people to worship Minerva and most of it is still there today. There was a great tour through the site and the city was a lot of fun to be in as well.

First Week of Pictures

This is some of the pictures I have taken so far. They are just from walking around the city the last week. There will definitely be more to come in the future.

First Week

Well I have been in London a little over a week now and it has been awesome so far. I have seen so much, and yet there is still so much more to see. Work has been going well and I am enjoying both the job and the people I work with. I am looking forward to the rest of the summer and cant wait for Kathryn to get here.