Vacation, part 2

We were in London for ten days. It seemed a shame not to dash over to Paris for at least a day. The last time I traveled from London to Paris we went by ferry. This time I booked seats on the Eurostar.

Except for the sardine can that was the tube from Victoria to St. Pancras, the trip was incredibly easy.

Departure from St. Pancras, London.

A little over two hours later, Paris!

View from one end of the Tuileries looking toward the Obelisk.

Little Brewer #1 wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower. This was a total act of maternal love on my part because Brewgal does not like heights.


Of course, the lines were insane.
This is the queue to get tickets to go through security so you can get in the queue for the elevator to go up.

The view was worth it, however. I had never been up the Tower at night and even though I couldn't make it all the way to the edge, the panorama was stunning.

Every so often (once an hour?) the flashbulbs on the outside of the Tower go off in display.

Sparkly!

We stayed at the Park Hyatt Vendome (Hello, Hyatt? Love the Next Big Thing Promotion!) so I ordered room service breakfast.

I SO want to live in this hotel.

A quick dash to Notre Dame,

at which point LB1 started to wear out.

It's the "Do we HAVE to?" look.

Finally, Gare du Nord back to London.

I feel like I'm forgetting something

What could it be, what could it be...

It's right on the tip of my tongue...





Oh yeah. Little Brewer #1 and I went to LONDON!

We saw the usual sights,

Pardon me, is this the queue for the toilet?

played hide and seek with the locals,


Eight, nine, ten! Ready or not, here I come!

sampled local haute cuisine,

Tea and scones. Oh my gosh, that made me sooo happy. My HDL, not so much.

saw the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace...

with 10,000 of our closest friends

and made it out before Iceland's volcano exploded in Viking fury.

Also we visited Paris. But that's a blogpost for a future date!

I remember when this used to be a blog about knitting and crocheting.


Not to worry! Observe Bertha:

She is modeling a scarf I made in December. This was a yarn experiment. I have been trying to find a replacement for JoAnn's Dolcetta. Like most TV shows, the minute I start to really like a particular yarn it is discontinued. So, dear readers, if you have a favorite yarn, hide it from me lest I take a liking to it and cause it to vanish.


This yarn has a similar fiber content to Dolcetta- wool blend (did I write down the name of the yarn? did I save the ball band? of course not!).


It has a nice soft hand, works up well and is comfortable to wear (no itching). This is a variation of the pattern I used for the Sunset Scarf. However, even with a K1 edge, it rolls. I am not sure if it is a function of the K5*, P2 pattern or the yarn itself. So I wouldn't count this scarf a complete success.

*edited because I apparently cannot tell the difference between 3 and 5 on the keyboard. Sheesh.

Stuff kids say

Little Brewer #1 (to her brother): Do you know what a hyperbole is?
Little Brewer #2: Yes, it's a flower.
LB#1: A flower? What kind?
LB#2: A purple flower.
LB#1: Purple?
LB #2: Yeah. Hy-purple-y.

Work Rants

In which Brewgal rants about recent events at work in a totally non-specific way that will not get her fired.

1. When you send me proposed legislation for comment, please try to give me enough time to think about it. I am much more likely to produce coherent, thoughtful comments if I have more than 2 hours to respond.

1a. Related: Do not sit on said request for comment for three weeks and then send it to me at 3pm with a 5pm turnaround. I can see how long you’ve had it from the date stamp on the email trail. Believe it or not, I have other projects to work on and am not sitting around waiting for your sudden emergency.

2. Please do not hit the “reply to all” button if the email is addressed to the entire Center distribution list. More importantly, do not “reply to all” asking the sender not to reply to all. We’ve all been using email for more than a decade. You should know this rule by now.

3. Sending an email message saying “Outlook is down” is uninformative if my Outlook is down.

And a kudo:
Thank you for putting in hand sanitizer dispensers. I am now much less tempted to push the elevator button with my foot.

It is truly amazing how quicky they go from this...


to this.


Happy 7th Birthday to my big boy!