Baltimore

Sarah and I took a short break to visit Baltimore, our neighbouring city. We stayed in a lovely B&B just outside of the city centre, and spent some days looking around and doing touristy things.

First on the list was the National Aquarium, located in the Inner Harbour of Baltimore (39.28404, -76.61056 on Google Maps). It was probably the best aquarium Sarah and I had been to with some amazing fish:

Turtles:

And this cutie (not sure if he was poisonous or not) which kept jumping around and sticking to the glass:

Plus jelly fish:

Following this, but sticking with the nauical theme, we toured the USS Torsk, a WW2 submarine that was operational until the late 60's. It was quite a large boat, but still amazing how many people had to work inside it - with all available space used to the optimum, and even bunks on top of torpedoes.

This is what I mean by cramped, even I had to duck.....

The coffee pot for the crew (I checked, you can't but a coffee pot this size on amazon):

Also, we went to see the USS Constellation, a refurbished sail ship from the 1850's. Again, a wonderful demonstration of the tough life of sailors - making me very glad I have a job on land!

We had a great time in Baltimore, and will definitely be back soon to see more.

We also had some great news today - both our air freight, and my social security number arrived today! This was a really good thing, as I have found recently that there are many, many things one needs a social security number to do in the US. This means, hopefully soon I will have a phone, and can start work :)

Storm Warning

My first MD thunder storm! We even got a storm warning. Amazing lightning. And lots of rain. Like, lots and lots of rain.

Update-
Just checked the weather sites. The storm warning said the band of rain extended from a town called Boring...

Day at the Museum

Took a trip to the Smithsonian museum in Washington yesterday. Its a huge set of different museums, so we only saw two. One of the coolest things was in the Air and Space Museum, where I got to stand next to Apollo 11's command module:

The museum has loads of space gear, and a big section on Apollo. What was really surprising about seeing all of the Apollo era space technology was how it looked almost antique. The consoles were all full of switches, toggles and long coils of connecting wire. The space suits looked like something you wouldn't want to wear in the Arctic, let alone on the moon. And the moon rover just looked crazy. It really does give you a sense of amazement and awe.....

Our favourite museum though was the Natural History museum, which was full of great exhibits - including a giant squid (which has shrunk during preservation, it was 11 meters long):

Also, had Spaghetti for tea!

Pictures of Our Flat

We're getting quite settled in now. Took a trip to the Social Security Office this morning; should only be a week or two for my number, which is good news. Will be glad once all of the paperwork fun is finished with!

Have taken some pictures of our flat. First, the living room:

Living room mark II, including new TV (OOhhhh):

Then the kitchen. Note Giant American Fridge (AAahhhh):

Bedroom, plus Sarah for scale:

Bedroom closet, again plus Sarah for scale (I think I have had rooms at Uni smaller than this):

Guest Bedroom:

And me, sitting on our balcony:

You may notice the modern spartan chic look to the place, but good news :) This giant ash cloud has lifted (or is being ignored now?), and some of our stuff is now probably on US soil pre-customs! Wohoo.

Beavers at Clopper Lake

Last week, we visited Clopper Lake (Google Maps: 39.14239, -77.25230) just north of where we live in Gaithersburg. We had a great walk around the lake, which is part of Seneca Creek State Park, and found we could easily walk around the lake in afew hours. It was also our first cloudy day in Maryland, and our first bit of rain!

On my trails, our keen eye's detected evidence of the local wildlife. "What was this" I hear you ask?

On closer inspection, we think this was evidence of either beavers or perhaps giant ants. Probably beavers. Here is more evidence.

Sarah, pointing out the best evidence to date:

Pesky beavers.

All our Stuff is covered in Ash

Just recieved word that following a volcanic eruption somewhere in England, our air freight shipment is trapped in the post-apocalyptic waste land that was Heathrow.

Or something like that.

Off to drop off the rental car today! Sarahs old car arrived yesterday...

Location:Ash Cloud over England

The Washington Cherry Blossom Festival

To take a break from setting up our flat (which is lovely), we headed into Washington DC yesterday. We took the Metro in, and were really pleased to find that we are only 30 minutes out of town by the underground - and that our local station is only 5 minutes drive away.

The first thing we saw after getting off the Tube (Metro?) was the Washington Monument, a total Washington tourist destination:

We also had headed into Washington to see the Cherry Blossom Festival (http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/), a yearly event celebrating the 3000-odd Cherry Tree's given to Washington by Tokyo in the early 20th Century. The Cherry Blossoms are really pretty - we missed the majority of the bloom, as it was the last day of the Festival - but they are still cool things to see. We also stumbled across a 10 mile run through the city they do every year; a good thing for next year I feel....

Then on to more Touristy Stuff:

And I found the Capitol Building (like Parliament, but bigger). In fact, this seems a theme of DC - the Federal Buildings are all massive. All of them have at multiple flights of steps up to them, and I saw some with doors build either for Giants or five people on each others shoulders.

Much more to see in Washington, but we got tired and headed home. Had kebobs for dinner (like kebabs, but spelt different).

Day One

Really crazy day today. Picked up the rental car (a dodge avenger, not sure about this yet), signed the papers on our flat, bought a bed, phone and TV! Had a burger for dinner :) Now need some sleep...

Welcome to the USA!

Welcome to the USA!

Arrived. Great flight, really nice border guy and quite abut of waiting. Am now officially a permenant resident of the US.

Also, love Virgin forever now, the cabin crew gave us a free bottle of sparkly wine as a special immigrant gift.

A good welcome indeed!

On the Plane

After saying Goodbye to Mum and Dad after they kindly ferried is there, we went to board our plane.

Much excitment at the boarding. gate, as we were called to the front desk. Worried something had gone wrong, we approached with trepidation, only to get promoted to Premium Economy :)

Am writing this on the plane, and it is very exciting! We had fizzy wine before we took off, and just recieved a menu for lunch. Brilliant!

Location:Somewhere over Ireland

Pack Day (Mk II)

Yesterday was pack day, where all our stuff was boxed and loaded for shipment to the US. Luckily, we'd arranged movers and three guys came early and started packing. As I watched, and even before I could finish my first coffee, they'd boxed everything up. They then loaded the majority of our stuff into a shipping container (the rest is going by air). Our container is below. It was a nice shade of yellow.

Our stuff looks quite dwarfed by the container, and they had to rig up a support system to stop it sliding around in the rolling Atlantic waves.

And then our stuff was gone.

If all goes to plan (and it doesn't fall of the side of the ship into the Atlantic on the way to the ocean floor), we'll see our stuff again in two to three months.

Now, to the airport.....

Pack Day

They actually drive a container to your house. Crazy...

Most of our stuff in boxes now. They even wrap up the chairs.

Pre-Pack Day

The day before the removal company come. Have divided all our worldy (and other) goods into three categories: luggage, air and sea. Below is a selection of our 'air' shipment. Three more days to go!

Pesach Time

Every year, Sarah leads a Seder (Passover Meal) at our house. This is a very old Jewish tradition, dating back to old testament times and the escape of the Jews from Egypt. For us, its a good excuse to have some friends over for a meal, and for Sarah to spend the day cooking :)

This year, we had Passover at my parent's house in Bucks. Sarah made a really nice meal and did a good job running the show!

As every year, Sarah baked a cake without using flour or raising agents. It used alot of eggs.

The cake was lovely. MMmmmm cake.

This is what the table looked like just before dinner, set with all of the appropriate traditional plates and foods. Note the lamb shank that was three times as big as the plate.

All my family just before dinner.....

Everyone paying attention to the Seder ceremony: