Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

My trip to Cambridge went really well.  I had a great time working with my colleagues face-to-face, and also attending the 38th Cambridge beer festival.  Here are some pictures of the flat I stayed in during the week, as well as a picture of the green where the festival was held.   The weather was gorgeous.  Perfect for sitting on the grass with a pint of real ale.  

Now I as I am writing this I am in the garden apartment we'll be staying in for two weeks in Vicenza, Italy.  I flew from London-Gatwick to Venice this afternoon, and met Jason and Margie there.  They had flown from Boston via Zurich and arrived two hours before me.  Then we caught a bus to the train station, and an hour train ride later we were in Vicenza.  They are both pretty tired, so I am sitting up all on my lonesome.  I only lost an hour from the UK, so I am still feeling pretty awake.  I think we will get up early tomorrow do some walking around town.  Once Jason's uncle and cousin join us tomorrow afternoon, our group will be complete.   More pictures to come...

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

OK. That's not really true. I still haven't packed, but I think that I am ready to go. Jason and I are going to have quite a busy couple of weeks. I fly from Boston to London Sunday morning at 8am, arriving in London at 8pm. I'll be on the same flight as one of my co-workers, so we'll share a car that will drive us the two hours to Cambridge. For the week I'm in Cambridge I'll be sharing a two-bedroom apartment with another co-worker who will have been in the apartment for a day already by the time I arrive.

Monday morning at 8am we'll be driven to the office to start the work week. We have some topics planned to cover during the week to take advantage of the face time we'll have. I'm excited to see some people I usually see only once a year at the Supercomputing conference, and some people I'll be meeting in person for the first time even though we've worked together for over two years. It will also be fun to take part in our Monday team meeting from the other side of the video conference.

While I'll be working regular hours Monday through Thursday, I think the UK team has some fun planned for us too. Our visit purposely coincides with the Cambridge Beer Festival, so we'll be spending our evenings sampling local brews. I also found out today that we'll be going punting on the river. It's a hobby of a co-worker of mine, so it should be a fun adventure.
Friday morning I'll head from Cambridge to London's Gatwick airport for the true start of my vacation. I fly directly to Venice, Italy, where I will meet up with Jason and his mom. They will have arrived three hours earlier from Boston via Zurich.

While on travel I will not be using my phone. Since I will be working next week, I will have my laptop with me and I will be able to email (via Gmail) and Skype. Jason and I plan to keep in touch the first week via Skype video chat. I'll also try to post pictures as we take them.

October 2010 New Hampshire hike

I just found these photos on my camera, and I thought I'd post the bright, fall photos to brighten up the winter around us. This was a day trip we took in October, and the leaves were gorgeous. There had been a lot of rain recently so the trails were really mucky, and you had to be careful where the trail crossed streams. You can see Jason below exploring the best way to get across the water. I think it was at this point where we just took off our gaiters, boots, and socks; rolled up our pant legs; and walked across in our bare feet. It was pretty cold, but definitely worth the effort!

Christmas 2010

Better late than never, right? Here are some photos of our Christmas wreath from this year. We decided to do a wreath instead of a tree because we were late decorating this year, and finding room for a large tree requires us to rearrange a lot of furniture.

We had a great time spending Christmas on the Cape at an amazing bed and breakfast in Barnstable -- Ashley Manor. It was a really sweet place with great food and service, and we stayed in the Ashley room which afforded us a private entrance. We split the weekend between walking on the (cold, windy ) beach in Dennis and curling up in front of a roaring fire watching old movies. It was a pretty pleasant trip.

As usual we had an unplanned adventure. We had some great conversation while having breakfast on our first morning (Christmas Day) with our fellow guests. One of the couples had driven up from NYC to spend Christmas with family who lived on the Cape in South Yarmouth. As breakfast wound down, they asked us to join them later that day for Christmas dinner with their family. We didn't really have any plans for the day, so we took them up on their generous offer. We had a great time chatting, eating amazing food, and playing games. I don't think I'll ever forget their hospitality.