Happy Holidays! We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving while I worked (no such holiday over here). We did eat a nice turkey dinner about a week and a half before though - Aileen and Ed made us all a very nice spread. Thanks again for all of the excellent food! More on Thanksgiving Day later. Gary (Jill's dad) and Glenda came and visited us in November, and we all took some really nice trips.

But before that, on the day they arrived, we all went on a nice tour of Big Ben. It was really a special thing to do because they don't have normal tours of Big Ben - you can't just walk up and take a tour - you have to get in touch with the council and schedule an appointment a few months in advance. Big Ben (completed in 1854) is actually the name of the 13 ton bell, not the clock. We climbed 320 feet to the top, but on the way we got to see how it worked internally - very cool to see the parts moving at each quarter hour. There are actually old English coins on the pendulum, and if they are removed, the clock will slowly lose time. We walked right behind the clock faces and up to the top, and we were there on the hour to hear Big Ben bust our eardrums. This experience was one of the best we've had in London.

The next day, Jill, Gary, and Glenda headed out to Portobello Market while I stayed home and caught up on some work. They spent the entire day there, and they came back with several purchases. They made it back in time for the Bama-LSU game. Justin, Rachel, Ed, and Aileen all came by as well. We had the remote tailgate for the final time this season, but unfortunately we witnessed our first loss. No comment on the rest of the season, just looking forward to the Cotton Bowl.

The following Monday, we headed to the airport to start our 3-country journey. After I exchanged all of my money, I had a total of four currencies in my wallet, and none of them were the good ole American dollar. I had Great Britain pounds, Hungarian Forint (216 for $1), European Euros (.85 for $1), and Czech Koruna (25 for $1). Talk about a mess to keep up with. We went to Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria; and Prague, Czech Republic.

Budapest, Hungary:
The city of Budapest is actually two areas, one called Buda and one called Pest, separated by the River Danube. This city actually surprised us the most. It was much larger than we anticipated, and it was an extremely beautiful place - not that we thought it wasn't going to be a pretty place, but it was so much more than we imagined - it totally exceeded our expectations. We started off our journey with a walk along the river the night we arrived. The architecture was absolutely stunning, and seeing it all lit up was so pretty that words can't describe it. We took an incredible boat cruise along the Danube, and the sights were even better from the river. Before we embarked, the guides welcomed everyone in 9 different languages - and they were long welcomes - I think that took 15 minutes. They said they normally do 12, so I guess it could have been longer. We had a nice glass of champagne and enjoyed the impressive scenery. We completed a perfect evening with an incredible dinner at a traditional Hungarian buffet. I don't do cabbage, but the other three all agreed that the red cabbage was the best they've ever had. We tried some goulash as well, the most famous Hungarian dish. And to top it off, the Dreher is a very good Hungarian beer. And for all four of us, the bill was only 10,000!

The next day we took a city bus tour, and we saw all of the main sights. I'll mention just a few here. The Parliament was designed after the Parliament in London. Buda Castle (built in the second half of the 2nd century) is the grandest building on the Buda side of the river. Ironically, its royals have never been residents, only visiting guests. Gellert Hill rises to a height of 771 feet above the Danube, between Elizabeth and Liberty Bridges. This is the best vantage point in Budapest, but unfortunately for us, we could only see about 3 feet in front of our faces due to the fog. Margaret Island is in the middle of the Danube between Buda and Pest, and it has lots of beautiful gardens where people go to escape the city. St. Stephen's Basilica took 55 years to build (started in 1851, completed in 1956), and it's the largest church in the city, accommodating 8500 people. I climbed up to the top of the dome and enjoyed some nice views of the city. The Chain Bridge was the first bridge over the Danube, and it was built between 1839 and 1849. You can see this bridge in the background of the picture of Glenda, Gary, and Jill.

Vienna, Austria:
We took a late evening train from Budapest to Vienna. Just as we all started dozing off, several armed and uniformed officers busted into our compartment, switched on the light, and said something in another language. It turns out they just wanted our passports to make sure we were traveling legally. So we get comfortable again, and then another group came in and wanted to see our passports. I thought Gary had a secret life and they were on to him. But these guys just stamped our passports and took off - of course we never got any sleep after that. So we get to Vienna pretty late, have a Stiegl (Austrian beer), and go to bed.

Instead of taking a city bus tour, we decided to walk the city on foot - it's not as large as Budapest, and we're accustomed to walking a lot these days. We started off at the Opera House (one of the greatest opera houses in the world), then walked around Hofburg (the center of power of the Austrian Empire for over 600 years). Hofburg has several nice buildings and architecture including Hofburg Palace and the National Bibliotek (contains over 2.2 million books). Michaelerplatz is an important square as early as Roman Times. There are actually remains of a 4th century Roman House partially buried in the center of the square. You can also 1st to 5th century Roman walls and the 13th century well cellar of a house. We went by the famous Riding School (horses that is), up to the Parliament, and then to a Christmas Market near the Rathaus (New Town Hall) and Burgtheater (one of the most important stages in the German-speaking world). By the way, the official language of Austria is German. The Christmas Market was lots of fun - lots of booths full of food, Christmas ornaments and gifts, etc. I ate the biggest pretzel I've ever seen in my life in this market - full of cream and chocolate - it was HUGE.

We made our way past the University (the oldest German-speaking university in the world), by Sigmund Freud Park, on our way St. Peter's Church. The foundation of Peterskirche was laid in 792, and it's the second oldest church in the city, only behind St. Rupert's. Went to the top of St. Stephen's church - 418 steps - was that a tough climb? Probably, but we're not sure since we took the elevator. This church is one of the most notable German gothic religious monuments. We got a good look at the tiles on the roof from up there - you can't really see it in the picture, but they were quite impressive. We almost had a chance to take the stairs - we didn't think the elevator was ever going to show up - I thought Jill was going to faint - she's more scared of heights that me!

The food and beers were all very good - we had the specialty - the crisply coated wiener schnitzel, which is made with veal. We also had the famous sachertorte (invented in 1832 by Prince Metternich's chef, Franz Sacher) at the famous Sacher Hotel. Its ingredients include egg yokes, melted chocolate, almonds, flour, sugar, whisked egg whites - it's covered with apricot jam and a layer of chocolate icing. The other two Austrian beers we had were the Ottakringer and Wiener Gold, but really nice lagers.

Prague, Czech Republic:
We took a train to Prague, and arrived there in the afternoon. We took a walk around Wenceslas Square, which is Prague's biggest and busiest square with an elongated boulevard lined with shops and restaurants. In 1968-69, it was the scene of protest against the Soviet invasion, and of celebrations in 1989 as the communist regime was finally kicked out. It's dominated at its southern end by the National Museum.

I talked to Lauren and Charlie before we visited Prague, and they told us about a nice restaurant to try (her parents lived here for about 3 years and they came to visit). We went to the Blue Rose, which is nice underground restaurant in an old cave. This is where we all had our first Budvar, the original Budweiser (MUCH better than the US version). We also tried a Pilsner Urquell, which is another nice Czech beer. For the rest of our dinner, we had dumplings, beef tenderloin, and duck.

We decided to do the bus tour in Prague, so we'll briefly talk about a few of the top sights. Prague Castle is on the top of a cliff, and has an 1100 year history. It's the biggest ancient castle in the world, and it's surrounded by a huge fortification wall in the cliffs. Work on Charles Bridge began in 1357 and it wasn't completed until 1402. For the next 460 or so years, Charles Bridge was the only bridge spanning the Vltava River. Surprisingly, egg yoke was used in the mortar to make it sturdier - the eggs were sent from citizens from all over the region, and they had them hard-boiled so they wouldn't break on the way. Old Town Square is one of the tourist hubs of Prague, and it's surrounded by beautiful architecture, outdoor restaurants, and bars. Some of the buildings surrounding the square include the Astronomical Clock and Tower, Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (in the picture taken from the top of the Clock Tower), and the Kinski Palace.

Some other sights on the tour included the Municipal House, Powder Tower (built in 1475 and used to store gun powder in the 18th century), State Opera House, National Theater, Charles Square (largest square in Europe), Old Town Bridge Tower (considered the prettiest Gothic tower in Europe), St. Nicholas Church (Mozart played the organ here in 1787), and the 2nd largest sports stadium in the world (holds 220,000 - I bet Bama would sell it out). We also saw the church where the soldiers killed Reinhard Heydrich (for those of you familiar with World War II).

We took a nice boat cruise on the Vltava River (largest river in the Czech Republic) one night, and even went through a couple of small canals known as "Little Venice". We got a recommendation from our tour guide for a nice restaurant that the locals enjoy - Fish Restaurant - great food for a great price. We followed that up with some awesome hot chocolate and Czech sponge cake (very colorful) in the Kavarna obecni dum (Municipal House).

Gary's wish came true the next day as we woke up to a snow-covered Prague - about the only way to make the city of Prague any more amazing. We went to the Old-New Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Europe. Jews were thought to have settled in the city as early as the mid-tenth century. The Jewish Cemetery is one of the oldest, largest, and best preserved in the world. We finished up our Prague experience by going to the John Lennon Wall. This is where activists scribbled Beatles lyrics and personal refrains between John Lennon's 1980 murder until the communists' 1989 downfall. Peace slogans are now scrawled by tourists in all different languages. Keep in mind that this was illegal during the communist regime, and very risky. It's amazing to us that this country has only been totally free for 16 years.

Prague is one of the most beautiful cities we've been to. It was an extra special experience for Glenda, because her grandmother is Czech. Crystal is made in the Czech Republic, so it's cheaper to buy it here and it's for sale all over the place. Another unique Czech commodity is the marionette puppets - they are hand-made wooden puppets ranging from Pinocchio, to ballerina, to dalmations. They made just about anything, and they were for sale all over the place as well. We also found an interesting traditional dessert in Old Town Square - trdelnik. Let's see, how can we describe this? It's a long piece of dough, like a pretzel, but wrapped around a hot round spindle, roasting over a fire, and then covered with sugar - very interesting and very good. Okay, Jill won't let me move on without talking about the excellent Mexican restaurant we went to before we left. She says we have to mention it because she didn't expect Prague to have such great Mexican food - thanks to Kelly for the tip!

Back in London:
We all celebrated Jill's last birthday in her 20s - she turned 29, so now she's pushing 30. For her birthday, she spent the entire day in Harrods, had Krispy Kreme doughnuts for her birthday cake, and her dad let her pick out some boots for her present. For dinner, we all went out to Hidden Dragon (our favorite Chinese Restaurant in Richmond), and then we came back to the flat where Jill opened the rest of her presents. The next day, the three traveling musketeers headed up to Scotland. While they toured around Edinburgh, I was sick at home, so I laid around and watched the first season of Little Britain (currently, one of the most popular British comedies of this time - typical British humor). They toured Edinburgh Castle, walked the Royal Mile down to Holyrood Palace, and went to the top of Carlton Hill where Nelson's Monument stands. Since they got back to London so late, they were going to have to take an expensive cab back to Richmond because the tubes and trains had already stopped running. But they were lucky this time - they caught the last tube of the night to Richmond.

For Thanksgiving, Jill and the gang went to St. Paul's Cathedral for the American Thanksgiving Church Service. This was an extra special ceremony to them and they really enjoyed it - there were lots of Americans there. As I said earlier, unfortunately, I was working that day. Instead of doing the whole spread with turkey and all the sides, we, for the first time in our lives, had something totally different. For lunch it was Mexican, and for dinner it was back to Chinese - all of the food was great, but it sure isn't the same as being at home eating turkey all day long watching football. In case you don't remember, although we were living in London last year, we still had a turkey dinner - at Kelly and Grant's place.

Some other things they did while in town - Westminster Abbey, Kensington Palace, Changing of the Guard, London Bus Tour, Thames River Cruise, Camden Market, pub quiz, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Gary bought his favorite pair of Aldo shoes, ate at Nandos (Portuguese restaurant) four times, had coffee while reading the morning paper up the street, and had dinner in China Town. They didn't get enough of Harrods because they went back again on the day before they left - when they got back to the flat, they had two boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts - and they were all gone the next day. I couldn't let them leave without teaching them to play Texas Hold 'Em poker - Gary, I showed you how to win, so I expect you to practice up and give me a little more competition when I come visit for Christmas! Jill rode the bus with them to the airport to see them off, and on the way, the bus driver pulls over and stops the bus - in the middle of his route - and says that he needs to get a candy bar because he's so tired - they felt really safe in the bus after that - crazy! Here's the damage - 6 countries in less than 3 weeks - even though their visit was long, Jill said it flew by too fast and she hated to see her dad go.

Does anybody know where the "square" button is on the telephone? I was on the line with some automated system the other day and the robot lady told me to press the "square". It's been over a week now and I still haven't found it. Fantasy Football anyone? I won my division and clinched a playoff spot, but my match-ups for that game are not very good - not to mention that my starting QB got benched. I play Smitty next week and the winner goes to the Super Bowl - Smitty, even though you have the advantage, I'm not going down without a fight. Congrats to Huey and The Bear for coming out on top of the Toilet Division - oh yeah, and to Steve for winning his 2nd game of the year. Jill and I went ice skating at Hampton Court Palace with Justin and Rachel earlier this week - and I didn't even fall this year (and last year it wasn't my fault). It was a nice setup with the Place lit up behind the rink.

Time for some more congratulation messages - we have three lovely pregnant ladies this time so we'd like to extend our congratulations out to Kelly and Grant, Vicki and Rusty (their 2nd one is on the way), and Tracy and Smitty. We are really excited for all of you and we hope that your pregnancies go very well.

We're on a plane right now heading home for the Christmas Holidays - we're looking forward to getting home, if we make it - this is the bumpiest plane we've both ever been on - and not just a little here and there - it's been bad for the last few hours. We are not big fans of flying anyway, and this rough air is not helping at all - we are so ready to land it's not funny. We started off this morning by finding out that we would not make our connecting flight in Cincinnati, so we go on a plane to Atlanta instead - of course we're sitting in the very back since we got moved at the last minute - it's always something - we just hope we get all of our luggage this time! Hey - we've updated our pictures, so be sure to check them out here - London, Budapest (Hungary), Vienna (Austria), Prague (Czech Republic), and Edinburgh (Scotland).

We'll be in town until January 22nd, but I'll be working in Orlando for about a week and half of this time. We're going to Mobile next weekend and my sister Ashley and her kids come to visit the next week. We're looking forward to spending lots of time with our families and friends. We'll talk all about them and our holidays on the next update. Until then, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And with the holidays being so hectic and busy at times, we want to remind everyone to remember the reason for the season - to celebrate the birthday of our Savior Jesus Christ. We love and miss you all - take care and God bless!