Windy city

Lauren gave me a city pass as a gift so it has been well used but first Justin and I, Lauren wasn’t feeling well, went to the John Hancock building and enjoyed views and drinks on the 96th floor! We then became cultural and visited the Art museum.

The weather has been a lot milder with bright sunshine so I have walked the streets of Chicago going from place to place and it’s a really nice city. I tried to get to the skydeck-basically a box stuck on the outside of a building a million miles in the air. Yes I’m exaggerating but I’m not that good with heights! It was such a shame that the queues were 2 hours long so I decided against the visit! I then met Justin and Lauren at the Field museum (History) and it proved to be another brilliant museum.

It is so much colder today , minus 2 with freezing drizzle but not to worry I head to Buenos Aires and some heat later today!

Chicago

With warnings that a very bad storm was approaching I was hoping that I’d take off before it arrived but as you can guess that wasn’t quite what happened. We were boarded okay and then started the pullout. It certainly felt as if we were moving but each time I looked out we were in the same spot! The strong winds had started and we rocking the plane so hard that we’d become jammed against the tug pulling us out! Finally the tug gave us up and we headed down the runway. It was certainly a very testing take off as we were just being blown all over the place but eventually we made it into more settled air and we were on our way.

The flight was just under 9 hours and was fine unfortunately the same couldn’t be said about passport control! We queued for two hours to get passports stamped and entry into the USA! Amazingly no one ‘jacked up’! Justin was there to meet me which was great. The cold hit you as we left the airport, in fact it was hard to breathe, the pilot told us it was minus 12!!

I woke early on Christmas Eve and ventured out for breakfast. The cold was overwhelming - I later found out that it was minus 19!! As I was having breakfast the snow started to fall. Talking of breakfast I’d forgotten how large the meals are! I’d ordered Eggs Benedict but I received enough food to keep me going until the evening!

View from room

I walked around until the cold drove me back to the hotel but in the early afternoon I headed out to the railway station to catch up with Justin, Lauren and her family. It was a 45minute train ride and as we moved away from the city the snow became deeper. After a short drive we arrived at Lauren’s family home where I was greeted by her mum, dad, sister and three dogs. We had a lovely evening with delicious food and lots of talking. The interesting part was that coyotes and wolves pass through their garden at night!

It had snowed a little during the night so I got my white Christmas! Lauren’s family don’t celebrate Christmas as we do, I think that thanksgiving is more important, so we followed their tradition and went to the movies. We saw the Hobbit which was really good.

Lauren drove us back into the city and we met for dinner. We went to a really good steak house and had some great steak. Snow was pelting down as we left the restaurant.

Boxing day morning Justin, Lauren and I visited the Science museum - it was one of the best museums I’ve visited. In the afternoon I walked down to the Navy Pier. It wasn’t that exciting but the walk did me good.

Last few days

In the last few days we have caught up with family and friends. We had a lovely few hours with Allan’s family on Friday. It was great to see Gladys, she will be 90 next year, and some of my sister and brother-in - laws plus nieces and nephews plus new babies. The Worrall clan is definitely growing!

The area is just the same but one difference was that one of the pubs we’d managed for a short time was now a temple! You used to pop in for a pint now you pop in for a prayer!

Yesterday I met up with a couple of good friends that I used to teach with. Both were really well but the talk about the expectations of teachers here made me doubly glad that I’d emigrated!

Kerry and I finally completed our ‘duties’ and completed the cake decorating and therefore earned our board and lodging!!

The weather has been quite reasonable, not too chilly and the sun has peeked through which enabled us to get out and about and head off across muddy fields for a walk! There has been heavy rain at night but it appears that a big storm is on it’s way! We think that Kerry might have a lot of snow when she travels to Newcastle on Tuesday.

I fly to Chicago tomorrow and have been told that there is lots of snow on it’s way there too! Oh well I did say that I’d like a white Christmas!

I do love England but each time I come back I know that I couldn’t live here.

On to the UK

Last day in Tallinn & on to the UK

During our last day in Tallinn we walked up the hills to get a spectacular view over the old town, the more modern part of the town, to the port where you could get a ferry to Helsinki (wish we had more time to do that) and beyond. We did need to stop for ‘Glogg’ a few times as it was very cold - well that’s our story. Back in the Square we found three reindeer.

Flight back to London was good and Kerry coped well even with the landing which was very bumpy as there were incredibly strong winds, (a few glasses of wine helped) On arrival we picked up a car & headed out. We made a slight detour early in the journey to see my nephew & family including a new arrival. It was lovely to see them and after a quick cuppa we were off again.

The journey to my sister’s was a nightmare! The rain was belting down and with the very strong winds it was coming horizontally which meant visibility was almost nil at time but still drivers flew past! There were times when you couldn’t see the lane markings and trying to control the car in the wind was tough going but we finally made it.
It was brilliant to catch up with my sister & brother-in-law. Not having caught up for two years just vanishes & feels like you were there yesterday. The house is full of Christmas decorations but the tree was bare - yes it was our job to decorate it. There was another job for Kerry & I - decorating the Christmas cakes! We are having to think up ‘amazing’ things to put on the cakes because they are for Jake’s grandchildren. Kerry & I did cheat a little as we bought a marzipan penguin in Estonia!

We caught the train to Birmingham to see the German Markets. Each year for a month the markets come to town including wooden buildings to house all the goodies. The smells are overwhelming from the German sausages to the gingerbread and don’t forget the beer and mulled wine! We also managed to catch up with my niece which was lovely.

Back at the house we carried out the nightly tradition - running out in the freezing cold (about 1C) to plunge (not quite) into the spa. The glass of mulled wine helps as does sitting in the warm water looking at the night sky - so different from ‘Down Under’ - but then there is the run back in the cold to the house to get dry!

White, white and more white

After a three hour flight, with Kerry only trying to dislocate one of my finger as her fear of flying kicked in, we were told by the captain that there had been heavy snow falls and the snow ploughs were clearing the runway.

So it was a very snowy Tallinn that greeted us. A taxi ride and we were at what I thought was the apartment I’d rented. As we couldn’t check in until 4pm we walked to the Old Square, which was about 200m from here. It’s a beautiful Square with a large Christmas tree in the centre and little cabins selling all sorts. It was snowing and we really felt the cold so went straight to the cabin which had a sign ‘Glog’, which we felt sure meant grog, and there they were serving hot wine! After trying to say cheers in Estonian, don’t ask, we slid our way around the square, it was really icy with the snow packed down, hoping not to make fools of ourselves by slipping and throwing hot wine over the locals! The local choir was belting out carols which all added to the Christmas spirit. The cold became too much and we sat in a restaurant, with yet more hot wine, watching the world go by.

We managed to find a supermarket to stock up on essentials and then went back to the apartment. It was then that I realised that this wasn’t the one I’d booked! After a phone call, visit to the place I had booked ( someone else was there!) and a quick come back of “I will give you a 50% refund” the issue was resolved!

The days are short with sunrise at 9:15 and sunset at 3:15. It seems so much later than it is.

Morning of culture

Friday 13/12

Managed to sleep through breakfast so when I finally got myself into gear breakfast was my first stop.

I headed out to the Victoria & Albert Museum to see the ‘Club to Catwalk -  fashions from the 80's’ exhibition. It was really interesting and songs from that era were booming out - it was hard to stand still & not start moving & grooving!
( For those of you who are my work colleagues it was like a Friday morning!)

I look at the other exhibits which included fashions from the ages and I had to wonder if we’d ever worn some of them. There were a number of interesting exhibitions to visit. After I’d had my fill of this museum I crossed the road to the Natural History museum. In the grounds of that museum was an ice rink and carousel where people were enjoying their time. I didn’t spend too long there and soon headed back to the hotel for a rest.

In the evening Kerry, Justin and I went to see War Horse at Drury Lane in theatre land. The play was amazing and we were four rows from the stage.

Things I’ve noticed:

The stink of exhaust fumes hanging in the cold morning air

Seeing your breath

Being caught up in a sea of people on station escalators 

Being jammed into the Tube like Sardines

The frequency and speed ( how do they stay on the rails?) of the tube

The different accents

Red double decker buses and black London cabs

Choirs singing carols at railway stations

How often you are underground

Christmas decorations

How brilliant the supermarkets are

Saturday 14/12

Early breakfast and then off to fight my way onto the tube as I made my way to Covent Garden. It was fairly cold today as I braved the tourist areas. It must have been mad Saturday as there were hundreds of people dressed as Santa.

Caught up with Kerry and Justin for lunch at a pub near London Bridge. There were lots of people around - I suppose it was the main Christmas shopping day but I wished they’d stayed home!

Now I’m at a hotel at Gatwick Airport as Kerry & I jet off to Tallin tomorrow.

Back to the old country

OMG! I need to find a millionaire, win the lottery or marry a pilot! Unfortunately none of these will happen so I will have to continue to use my frequent flyer points for an upgrade - yes I flew Business class all the way to London!! 

A quick visit to the Qantas lounge for some bubbles before the priority boarding for a glass of,  you’ve guessed it, bubbles. It was a great flight. I stamped my feet a couple of times to keep those in cattle class quiet - they were below me as I was on the upper deck! There were so many buttons on the seat that I was like a kid in a sweet shop trying all of them. Feet were going up and down, one minute sitting then lying down and don’t get me started on the massage button!

As you can tell I had fun and slept about 6 hours on the first leg and 3 on the second. Food was great, alcohol as you wished and the room - WOW! Even the pJ’s were good.

Arrived in a cold (-1C) and slightly foggy London but i was soon in the heart of the city and wandering. had dropped my bags but couldn’t check in so headed to Oxford Street for some shopping! Streets weren’t crowded and the sun finally came out.

In the evening I caught up with Kerry and Justin - it was so good to see them both. We went up the Shard, the new tall building in the centre of London. The lift takes seconds to get you to the 67th floor which is the viewing gallery. The view is spectacular but your photos don’t look as good as expected because you’re viewing through glass. A walk up steps takes you to the 72nd floor and it’s rather windy because parts are open to the sky. I did have to hold on to the side a couple of times - my excuse was jetlag not fear!


We then went to Jamies 15 restaurant and the three of us had some great laughs.