The Richards in Scotland: 2012

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Farewell Scotland...HELLO TEXAS!!

Tomorrow is Moving Day! We make our final 11 hour flight HOME from Aberdeen, Scotland to Houston, Texas. We are all excited, although I must admit I'm a bit nervous about it too. We are a bit sad to be leaving Scotland after living here for almost 2 years. We will miss our friends here, the beautiful countryside, the Scottish Castles and Kilts, Fish and Chips, and most of all the ability to TRAVEL and see a lot of Europe without the long journey across the pond. However, we will not miss the cold and rainy weather in Scotland. I will never ever again complain about the Texas heat! Moving here was a big adjustment, a culture shock, and things weren't always that easy. We had our ups and downs, but we learned to adapt, live and appreciate being in a different part of the world. We thank God that we had this opportunity and experience with His help along the way. Scotland has been a wonderful place to live and this has been an amazing journey for our family.

We can't wait to move into our new home in Texas and get settled once again. We know the next few weeks will be busy and we will go through a bit of adjustment again. We look forward to being closer to family, seeing our friends again, our Church, our own house, big cars, big streets, a big kitchen, lots of sunshine, outdoor swimming pools, Mexican food, margaritas, shopping, fast-food and more. Everything IS bigger and better in TEXAS!!

Across the Pond...Aberdeen, Scotland to Houston, Texas

Aberdeen, Scotland (far North east)

Houston, Texas

Monday, June 18, 2012

Ciao from Venice, Italy!

We just took a long weekend trip to Venice, Italy! It was our final hoorah while living in Europe and was worth the trip. Our flight left Aberdeen, we transferred in Frankfurt, Germany and then headed on our way to Venice. What a beautiful city linked by water canals and bridges! Trent and Landon were excited that we had to travel by boat from the airport to our hotel, as well as everywhere else. We went down the Grand Canal, saw the Rialto Bridge, Saint Mark's Square, Doge's Palace, Bridge of Sighs, Saint Mark's Basilica, The Clock Tower and much more. We had plenty of pizza, pasta, gelato, and belinis!

For transportation we used waterbuses or the vaporetti (main transportation) to get from our hotel to the different islands within the city. We visited Murano island where Venetian glass is made, and even bought a couple pieces that are being shipped home.

Of course we couldn't leave Venice without a couple of rides on the Gondola. The gondola is the classical Venetian boat with crushed velvet seats and Persian rugs. This was the highlight of our trip, we enjoyed riding through the small narrow canals and seeing all of the colorful buildings and bridges. We loved the West Coast of Italy and now we love Venice! Italy is beautiful and I would love to go back and visit again one day.