We are finding living in the heart of London to be a new experience, with more ups than downs -- though it might not be a permanently desirable plan. It's the first time in our adult lives we've been without a car (a car here would be a burden and the transport system really makes one unnecessary) -- I walk about four minutes to my office and Kathi, who has begun work at the US Embassy, walks about 20 minutes. (She wasn't working there when we were doing our house hunting.)
We are very much enjoying the rich menu of London activities -- have attended over 20 theater events since our arrival in mid-July of 2004 as well as a number of concerts and lots of visits to the various historical sites and great museums. So far my business travel has taken me to Denmark once, Sweden twice, Paris once; and there was a really valuable nine-day trip to Italy. Greece, Russia and a few others are on the plate for the next few months. It's professionally very interesting to see the work being done in many of these countries in the technologies supporting the design of Navy ships which is, of course, my focus.
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| Kathi and Chuck Calvano in Italy |
This picture is of Kathi and me in Italy in January -- while touring Cinqueterra (the five lands -- actually five towns south of Genoa). It was cold, cold, cold -- we had snow flurries in both Genoa and Rome and while we were in Rome there was two feet of snow in Sicily.
We recently had a chance to visit with Jennifer and Bill Earner, who were here to visit their son, and it was great to catch up with their busy lives. We expect to be in London somewhere between two and four years and would be happy to see classmates passing through this great city.
