... and baby makes three: August 2005

San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

Finally the travelling proper begins. We left Mexico City almost as soon as we arrived and headed four hours north to San Miguel de Allende. This is a Mexican town as Mexican towns should be. Set in a valley nestled in hills, it´s a village of cobbled streets, brightly painted homes strewn around courtyards overflowing with trees and flowers, beautiful churches and village squares. It´s an artists´ colony - apparently the quality of the
light is something special - so is full of little galleries and arty types pondering life over cappucinos. We spent the first day wandering around to get our bearings and relishing the weather - compared to travelling in Asia, these warm days and cool nights are heaven sent. Eddie has been waiting eight years for Mexican food and he is really making the most of being back - we´ve been here for three days and so far have got through tacos, tortillas, enchiladas, tamales, huevos rancheros, flautas - I´d better stop, it´s making me hungry. We took a day trip out to some local hot springs, a series of connecting pools set in a stone-walled garden, like a little grotto without the horny Santa. The best thing about being here, again compared to the last trip, is being able to speak the language. We can talk to locals (even though they laugh at our accent), get to places we want to go and order everything we like. Most of my Spanish comes from what Eddie taught me, though, so is no doubt strewn with profanities of which I´m not aware. With this in mind, we leave tomorrow for our one week Spanish course in Oaxaca - but we´re not expecting miracles.

Soaking up the rays

Soaking up the rays
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

The excitement of the weekend was prolonged by an unexpected stay in Cincinnatti after our connecting flight to Mexico, was cancelled. This also meant we had to spend another two nights in New York. With no less of a view than our last room, Eddie´s Mum´s cousin Stephie put us up on her sofa bed. We spent our one and only day in Manhatten outside. As Brits the weather didn´t deter us and we happily donned our ponchos as we went for a walk in Central Park, went to an outdoor Shakespeare musical (strange but true) and saw an outdoor jazz concert.

Mr & Mrs Rivlin

Mr & Mrs Rivlin
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

Having left the tallest and most populated city in America we took off to the flattest and seemingly least inhabited place. The reason for this trip was my brother´s wedding to a native South Dakotan, Ann Fishback. From Thursday to Sunday we went from barbeque to rehearsal to celebratory meal and of course to the wedding itself.

The wedding was due to take place in Ann´s family home, which was a 100 year old house set in a huge beautiful garden. However weather did not permit and we had to move the whole wedding to the Fishback Theatre. The ceremony took place on stage and was lovely. As best man I managed to not lose the ring and not be kicked out after my speech. It was a fantastic weekend seeing all the family from England and America together again. The fact that Joel has finally been taken off our hands was an added bonus.

New York - view from hotel room

New York - view from hotel room
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

Back on the road again - after 7 weeks in Leeds getting under our respective parents´ feet, we headed to New York. Our time in NY was slightly reduced as we found out that Ben Folds was playing in Atlantic CIty (a mere 120 miles away) on the day we landed. So as a special treat for Carrie I decided to take her.

Despite the long flight, five hours jet lag, an unintended stopover in the scariest place in New Jersey to check our route (if you´re ever in the area, Hillside is not the place to pore over a map in a rental car) and dreary supporting acts it was an amazing concert (or in Carrie´s words, just about bearable).

The next morning was 8 August, our birthday, and we woke to drive as quickly as possible to the Big Apple (and more importantly, out of Atlantic City - the poorest man´s Vegas we have ever seen). With birthdays as an excuse boy did we stay in style. We stayed in a new hotel in downtown NY with floor to ceiling windows and views over Manhatten´s skyscrapers. The reception clerk obviously liked my smile as he upgraded us to a suite with electric curtains(which we spent the majority of our time playing with).

Aside from the curtains the rest of the trip was a blur - we ate in delis, met family and friends, went to a Broadway show, walked all over Manhatten and then ate some more.