Gazing out my window

We've had an eventful month or so, managing to fit in a trip to Sweden, moving to a new apartment in Paddington, a clandestine trip back to La Crosse to surprise our families and friends, and soon I (Trev) begin the hectic process of applying to Ph.D programs back in the US. Whew, at least it's nice to have a nice view to sit back on a Sunday evening and enjoy. Catching up on pictures a bit, here's a few from our Swedish excursion to visit some of Anna's more extended family:

Above: Trevor does something unintelligent. He is jumping several long meters into jellyfish infested, nearly arctic waters. It was awesome.

This is us in Grundsund, the beautiful little fishing village where Anna's cousin's grandmother lives, and where her aunt and uncle spent a good deal of time when their kids were growing up. Actually, this picture is more like outside Grundsund, in the awesome hills along the coastline.

And this is Grundsund itself, built right up along the water, and wonderfully maintained!

This is actually where we were first, but the pictures got out of order. This is outside of Gothenburg, with Erik Durtsche, Anna's cousin, and his aunt Ilva's family. The little dude is Gustav, and the one only slightly in the picture is Johan. Taking the picture is Micael. He's cool too.

Sorry this has been so slow in coming out. Once we returned to London and moved into our new flat, we began a continuing struggle with the internet people, and still have no reliable connection. I will be updating more as soon as we are able! Stay tuned!

Musing

Why is London so perpetually interesting? Especially during the summer, it's possible to wander right into large-scale events and interesting celebrations of more localized sorts. We took a jog through Hyde Park shortly after moving into our new place, only to come across a gigantic rock festival happening over the weekend. Stevie Wonder, Pearl Jam, Ben Harper, Paul McCartney, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Jamiroquai, and Elvis Costello among others. Beautiful weather and a perfect opportunity to sit in the sunshine enjoying a couple beers listening to good music.

And again, this past weekend, walking towards Buckingham Palace to meet some friends from the US, Snoop Dogg concert in the park, astonishingly large Pride festival in Trafalgar and Leicester Squares featuring the cast of "Hair," and an American Beer Festival near Old Street for Independence Day. My inner beer geek is coming out to enjoy the festivities with some friends who desperately need a schooling in quality American brew. It may not be Riverfest on the Mississippi, but it's something!

The goings on are going on and on

The never-ending adventures are, well, never-ending. I'm having a fun time playing with ridiculous titles and opening sentences for updates and posts.

We have a ton more pictures from Italy to put up, but so much has been happening since we returned that I may have to return to those pictures at a later date. Since April, I (Trev) have been done with classes and have been "working" on my dissertation research. This basically involves reading a lot of fun adventure novels that I like to read anyway. After burning through quite a few books in the past month or so, I've opted to change tack on my research question. Hat tip to Kelly for the idea of focusing on the portrayal of faces in Victorian fiction and problematizing the idea of empire related through physiognomy. And you all thought I'd never make anything of myself studying literature!

So, here you see some interesting times around London since our Italy trip. At top, you see one of the Assyrian bull-dudes found at Ninevah by A. H. Layard around 1847. His findings were installed in the British Museum at the exact time, and roughly 100 meters away, from where Karl Marx was writing about class struggle and commodity fetish. Interesting stuff. Second, one of the historical curios lying around London, a bronze Sphinx along the Thames embankment. This one is notable because it has a plaque on it explaining how the scars and holes in the statue were caused by a German bomb dropped nearby in 1917. Third, this is what passes for a barbeque right now, huddling around a charcoal grill roasting marshmallows and sausages. Actually, that was a pretty awesome time. No complaints. Finally, the ever popular Tower of London. You know, for the longest time, I didn't even know it was more than just a big tower somewhere. It's a whole castle, and pretty impressive to walk around and read the history of things like the "Traitor's Gate."

Summer in London has been a lot of walking, working (mostly for Anna, hahaha), enjoying the beautiful weather--in London, I know!--and kickin' it with our friends. We've just moved into our new flat for the rest of time here, and once we get our internet situation figured out we'll have a few more posts to catch up, and then onto a more regular schedule. Cheers for now!