London: Sightseeing

My first visit to London was in 1995. It was brief and I had my first case of major jetlag.
When my cousin Cody moved there I decided it was time to give it another visit.
London proved challenging to find decent budget accommodations. The prices are up there with New York prices (or higher). We settled on paying a bit more for a room in an Victoria Townhouse near Kensington Gardens. We weren’t too far from the tube and in walking distance to Notting Hill and many attractions. Our room had this lovely terrace.

The hotel was called the London Vicarage Hotel. I just learned that the hotel just closed November 2014 after 50 years of service. It really was a great location and you felt like you were living in another time in history.
To start our sightseeing we started at the nearby Victoria and Albert Museum. It was a great museum that is free to visit (they have a donation box). There was a David Bowie costume exhibit that I really wanted to see but it was hard to get a time to visit and I couldn’t get my companions to go with me (and it cost $$). We did get to see this amazing Chihuly chandelier though.

My cousin met up with us at the museum and we did a tour of the place then went out for a walk in Kensington Gardens (Connected to Hyde Park – Central Park in NY is the equivalent of Hyde and Kensington Gardens combined).

It was a nice walk on a cold sunny day. There are many trails for use. My cousin and I decided we never want to grow up and posed by the Peter Pan statue.

Later we met up with Randy and had dinner at a french restaurant. Côte is a chain restaurant in London but provided the service and quality of a fancy french brasserie.

Another day we wander around town and I have to point out places of interest.

Millennium Bridge

Walking along the Thames

Big Ben

Houses of Parliament

More Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Paddington Station (with Paddington Bear)

The Regent’s Park

It was a nice time to visit family and enjoy everything that London has to offer.

So Close

So I finished my 4th half-marathon this past weekend. Another race in the books.

This post is meant to be a recap of the race. Because I like to end on a good note I will start with the bad.
I didn’t meet my time goal. I am slightly upset about it, especially because I was so close to making it. But I didn’t prepare to beat my time goal. I skipped many weekday runs. I ate crappy food and drank many alcoholic beverage in the weeks up to the race. I celebrated my 40th birthday. I burned the candle at both ends. I am not sure what I was expecting from this race. I really need to be happy that I finished at all and I did come close to my time goal considering how much a slacker I have been.

It was warm. I knew this was a possibility. I was a spectator last year and elite runners found the heat challenging (not my husband of course- he is superman). This year was better than last year but too warm for me to really push it. Additionally when the sun starts beating down on me I am toast.

I ended up getting a massive migraine/stress headache afterwards. It is my fault. I know what to do to prevent it but I got caught up in the moment. I absolutely cannot have a celebratory coffee, beer or sweet post race (at least until hours later after I am fully hydrated). This race I drank too beers immediately after the race after only drinking one bottled water. Boy did I pay for it later. Constant puking and headaches until at least 9:00 PM that evening. I finally felt like a human again.

I stopped for potty miles 7-8. Didn’t have to go extremely bad but thought it was good to go and get it over with in case it got worse later. I probably shouldn’t have stopped. I lost about a minute there. Not as bad as the time I lost in my first half marathon but I still did not beat my finish time for that first race. See breakdown for mile 8 below for the additional “bump” for the potty break.

I also had problems between miles 9-10. There were hills, my legs were tired, and I had trouble breathing. Looking at the above kind of lets me know why. I really pushed mile 9 so of course mile ten would struggle. I really need to work on pacing.

Below is where I stand with my distance races. I still claim my last 10 mile race to be my fastest ever but I still want to conquer the whole finish a half-marathon in under 3 hour hurdle. I hear people at the race start state non-nonchalantly how they will easily do a 2:30 finish time. I know that is so out of reach for me right now. One time I will finish in under 3 though. I just know it!

Now for the good.

Below is the course we took trough many downtown Orlando neighborhoods. I got to explore parts that I never normally travel through. Downtown Orlando has some nice neighborhoods.

Before I got all sick for the rest of the day I did enjoy two free beers and fellowship with other runners after the race. I also got to meet and hang out with my Ragnar team at the race (minus 1). The Ragnar is an overnight relay race. There are two vans that split the team and each person gets 3 running legs that they need to complete. After each leg the race is switched off to another runner to continue on while the van takes you the next switch off location. There is some time to shower and sleep the way the race is laid out but most of your time will basically be in the van waiting for your next turn. It is supposed to be a ton of fun. We are racing down to the keys. I can’t wait to go down there and party with the team afterward.

Finally I finished 4th half marathon. That distance itself is an accomplishment for me considering how out of shape I am in. Also today I feel good. My body feels more balanced. I feel more willing to eat healthier and finally I have more ENERGY.

What is next?

Since I have the relay coming soon I will continue to work on endurance. My longest leg is about 8 miles so I will keep my longest runs to perhaps 11 miles (in cause I have to pick up a longer leg last minute). I also need to work on speed this time around. I have been hesitant to do this relay race in the past because I am so slow. Fortunately these team members are very encouraging and don’t seem to mind as much that I am slow. I am the slowest on the team but I really need to speed up a bit to make sure I do my part to help us to finish in time. Weekly speed workouts are essential now.

I am back to regular barre classes now. I am activating my 6 week all you can visit special for a new barre workout place and I want to take full advantage of it. Barre will help me with my strength and stretching (that I have been slacking lately). The goal is to go 2-3 times a week on top of my running goals. Sounds like I need to put together a workout plan! See you in February for an update.

Taj Mahal

During my trip to India earlier this year I got to visit the Taj Mahal twice. For the first visit the company that was hosting us chartered a bus to take us. For the second visit my husband and I had a private tour.

The Great gate

Calligraphy

And there it is after crossing through the gate.

You have to wear show covers to walk inside.

Very detailed stone work.

Minaret

The mosque

Side building

Later they took us to see stone artisans in action.

And there is always an opportunity to buy.

Biltmore

During last summer’s trip to Asheville we took a day to explore the Biltmore estate. It was a great way to spend the day and the weather couldn’t have been better (most of the day anyway). I thoroughly enjoyed touring the house; my favorite was touring the server’s quarters and the kitchen area. Sorry no pictures inside were allowed (although I was just about the only one following the rules). The estate area is vast and has magnificent views of the mountain range nearby. While you are there be sure to tour the gardens and greenhouse at your leisure. It was a real treat as well.

After touring the grounds we drove over for our Biltmore winery tour and a free wine tasting. Most of the wines made there are drinking wines. There weren’t too many that I wanted to purchase but the ones I did were in the $30-50 range!! We did pick up a couple mid-range bottles to take home and I since I wasn’t driving Itreated myself to the Biltmore premium wine tasting :).

Later on we met up with our friends and had dinner at their local mexican joint Nachos and Beer (yes that is the name). The tacos and side salad I ordered was delicious and a great size for the money. They also have local craft beer on draft. I can see why this is one of their favorite places to take the family.

My friends husband was nice enough to watch the kids for the evening so my friend could come with us to try some local breweries. More about that later……

Khajuraho

After our visit to the holy city of Varanasi we flew to Khajuraho to learn about Jain religion and a whole other side of Hinduism.

This little bitty Spicejet plane we took to Khajuraho from Varanasi was one of the nicest forms of transportation that we experienced in India. The one hour flight was very comfortable. We were pretty much the only English speaking tourists on the plane.

After our comfortable flight we had another long car ride to our hotel in Khajuraho. Everything in India is a long car ride away. The scenes on the way are quite like the pictures below. Most Indians are poor and have a very hard life. They lack what we would consider basic necessities like a toilet and sewage system. You will see many men relieving themselves on the side of the road (number 1 and number 2). Visiting there was a very eye opening experience. We really don’t know how great we have it in the United States.

Also typical, cow dung is saved into round “plates” and used as burning fuel.

Soon we are back to the luxury of our 5 star hotel again since we are rich Americans. (Note: We are not really rich but nice hotels like these are cheap to stay at for us but unobtainable for most in India)

Our hotel overlooks the temples we are able to see later.

The temples in Khajuraho were built by the Chandela dynasty from the 10th to 12th century. The dynasty eventually fell and the temples were “lost” until rediscovered by the british in the 1800’s.
The artwork on the temples is quite amazing. The western group of temples are most famous for their erotic images. We started with a smaller temple and worked our way around.

Vishnu’s Varaha Temple (boar)

We then explored the other temples with all the detailed images. Each depiction had a story behind it.

We then moved on to view the exterior of the other temples. We notice stories being played out in stone like the one below where a man looks like he is being torn apart.

And this very voluptuous woman.

Ganesha is everywhere.

Scene after scene appears on the walls.

One of the smaller temples nearby.

This lady is showing this little man or doctor the splinter in her foot.

Soon things get interesting. We get to see what the temples are really famous for. They are know for their erotic religious scenes. It is believed that this sect of Hinduism used sexual energy to bring them closer to god.

The time of day was great to watch the sunlight drape over the temples. All in all it was a great day to visit. We did later visit a group of Jain temples but they were soon to close and we rushed through them. I unfortunately did not get any pictures. I will say that the Jain monks have very strict diets and a sect of them spend time naked. You can read more about it here.