Changing the Guard @ Buckingham Palace

On Friday September 28 I took a train into London to Buckingham Palace. Matt was still in Poland and the 28th was the last day that the Palace would be open for tours this year. Unfortunately it rained the entire day, but I did not let that dampen my mood. Haha! I had watched the weather earlier in the week to see which day would be best and Friday was supposed to be a clear day. That is England weather for you, I guess.

When I first arrived at the Palace I staked out my spot for the Changing the Guard. That ceremony began at 11:30, but I got there around 10:45 to get a good position. It was interesting just watching all of the tourists take in everything...and not listen to the guards when they told them to stay clear of certain areas. It is pretty cool to see the tradition of the ceremony and see the grandeur of it all...and know that they do this every day in the summer and every other day in the off season. Magnificent!

Anyway, once the ceremony was over I went to lunch before my 1:15 tour. Unfortunately I could not take pictures inside the Palace, nor did I get to see any of the Royal Family. It is an awesome place, really like a working museum. I mean, there are so many antiques and historical pieces in the Palace. Most of them are still used but in mint condition. If you ever make it to London this would be a great place to check out. However, if I would have to decide between Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, I would choose Windsor Castle. Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns since 1837. Windsor Castle is an official residence of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. A Royal home and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today.

CHANGING THE GUARD

The regular hand-over of guards in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace draws thousands of visitors to watch the soldiers and listen to the music.

Known as Changing the Guard or Guard Mounting, the process involves a new guard exchanging duty with the old guard.

The soldiers are drawn from one of the five regiments of Foot Guards in the British Army: the Scots Guards, the Irish Guards, the Welsh Guards, the Grenadier Guards and the Coldstream Guards.

The handover is accompanied by a Guards band. The music played ranges from traditional military marches to songs from the shows and even familiar pop songs.

When The Queen is in residence, there are four sentries at the front of the building. When she is away there are two.

The Queen's Guard usually consists of Foot Guards in their full-dress uniform of red tunics and bearskins. If they have operational commitments, other infantry units take part instead.

Household Troops have guarded the Sovereign and the Royal Palaces since 1660. Until 1689, the Sovereign lived mainly at the Palace of Whitehall and was guarded there by Household Cavalry.

In 1689, the court moved to St James's Palace, which was guarded by the Foot Guards. When Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace in 1837, the Queen's Guard remained at St James's Palace, with a detachment guarding Buckingham Palace, as it still does today.

Waiting on updates...

I know everyone has been waiting on an update about our Italy trip. It is coming, I promise! It feels a bit overwhelming to try to recap our trip and also the software on my computer seemingly is not transferring all of the photos from my digital camera. I’ll have it finished before October 15, though, because we are going to SC for Matt’s youngest brother’s wedding.

Matt has been in Poland since last Monday and will be there until next Friday. Well, he’ll hopefully come home this weekend to visit his wifey and daughter. So, I’m on my own practically until we leave for South Carolina. Cheyenne is doing well. I think she enjoys me being home all day but doesn’t enjoy the rain. She loved the snow but prefers to stay out of the rain. It was a fairly nice summer and now we are getting into fall, which brings more rain. My volunteer aspirations are going slowly. I’ve got one thing going every other week or so right now. I’m actually thinking of trying to get a part-time job just to pass the time. We don’t need the money, but I need something to do besides my weekly trip into the town centre. The question will be if I do look for one, do I take anything I can get or take something that I can “apply” later when I return to the States. I do want something I'll enjoy, though.

I'll try to send out an email once I have the Italy post finished. Otherwise, check back in another week or so!

Dublin Trip: Part 1

**More photos in WEB ALBUM on left**

I'm finally getting around to posting about my Dublin trip that took place last week. I had such a wonderful time and I wasn't sure what I wanted to say about it for a while. I was in Dublin the 27-29 of August to begin family research on a branch of my family. (I'll elaborate in another post.) This was the first trip where I was completely on my own - I traveled on my own, did not meet up with anyone while in town, and didn't attend a convention or workshop. It was great! I only had to worry about myself and my own schedule. You all know how organized I am, but I tried to keep it light this trip. The important thing was that I needed to be cognisant of the opening hours for the records offices.

I stayed at the wonderful Albany House Hotel on Harcourt Street. It is a quaint Georgian building with 25+ rooms. It is within a few minutes walking distance of Grafton Street Shopping, St. Stephen's Green (park), and Stephen's Green Shopping Centre. I highly recommend this should you be in Dublin overnight. Everything in the city centre is within walking distance, which is how I got around most of the time. Some of the other main attractions, like the Zoo and Guinness Brewery, are better left to other modes of transportation. Since I was there on a fact-finding trip I did not allow a lot of time for sightseeing. I did get to see a lot of the city through my daily walking and I also took a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour. Instead of hopping off at the attractions, though, I stayed on for the entire ride just to get a sense of the entire city. It was wonderful! The first evening I ate in a traditional Irish pub, of course, and had Irish Beef & Guiness Stew...yummmm! I'm saving the Guinness tour for when Matt can join me.

One funny thing that happened is that I ran into two couples on the bus tour that were on the plane with me from London. I recognized them on the bus and chatted with them for a while before they got off. I found out that they would also be on the flight with me heading back. However, before the return trip I ran into them again in town. What a small world!

Dublin Trip: Part 2 (Family Research)

A bit of history. My mother's paternal grandparents immigrated from Ireland and my grandfather was a first generation Irish-American. That is very fascinating to me. I've always been interested in my family history, but more recently have become even more interested. Part of it is because I am in Europe and am closer to my roots, partly because I have access to some of the resources over here that I might not have ever had, and another part is because I know so little about my family past my parents' generation. I want to start my research now so that I can find out as much as I can for myself, for my older living relatives, for my children and for generations after me. As far as I know, I am Irish and German but don't ask me the percentage of my ancestry. My father's family is German from what I can gather (Schoming is a German surname). My mother's family is Irish and German. Her father's side is Irish as previously mentioned and we believe her mother's side is Irish & German. Since I have more information about her father's family, albeit very little, I have decided to start my research there. It has been difficult over the years to gather any information as my father died when I was two, his parents shortly after that, my mother's father died before I was born and her mother died when I was 11 years old. I have no other contact with my father's family and very little with my mother's family outside of her siblings and their families. As far as we know, there are no surviving family documents for either family other than civil records I might be able to obtain.

Dublin is the research mecca for Irish ancestry. How fortunate I was to be able to start my research there. From the General Register Office (civil records of births, marriages, and deaths) I found my great-grandfather's birth record (1885) and from that I found his parents' names and the town & county in which they lived (Clifden, Co. Galway), as well as the original spelling of their surname. How exciting! I also found one of his older brother's birth records (1866), which I thought would turn out to be his father's. One very interesting fact about him was that we share the same birthday - November 24! From there I took a trip to the National Library of Ireland to search through microfilm of Church/Parish records (for baptisms and marriages). I was unsucceful during that attempt as the records were very blurry and in some cases rather illegible. I found out later that they were also not necessarily in chronological order. So, I potentially overlooked relevant information. After that, I went to the National Archives of Ireland which house census records among other things. Unfortunately, they did not have census records before 1901, long story. However, from the 1901 and 1911 census records I found out a little bit more about my family at that time. The census shows who was living in the house at that time and what their "recorded" ages were. These ages weren't necessarily accurate, for a number of reasons, but it did list out some other childrens' names. All in all, I found out that there were 8 children born to my great-greatgrandparents between 1864 and 1890. I still need to find records of their marriage as well as the births, marriages, deaths, of their children. From there I can work my way up to present day. Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to work further back than 1864 as civil records are not available before then. So, I have even more reason to return to Dublin before we return to the States. I would eventually like to visit the area where my family came from. You never know who I might run into there!

This will be a project that will last several years I'm sure, as I have other branches of my family to research...as well as the Biviano family! I would like my future children to know what they can about Matt's family tree too!

K9 Capers Fun Day

On our way to the park today we saw signs for 'K9 Capers'. Curiosity got the better of us and we followed them to another park in the country. Turns out it was a fair for dogs! There were competitions, displays, vendor booths, and an agility course that Cheyenne could just not pass up. She was in puppy agility as a youngster but sadly we did not continue her training. All proceeds go directly to Gemini Kennels for the care of neglected and ill-treated dogs.

The pictures below are from the event. Matt wasn't as quick with the shutter as I was, so during my course with Cheyenne it looks like I'm doing the obstacles instead of her! I wanted to enter her into the Prettiest Female competition, since she just so happened to get groomed yesterday, but we left before it began. She is also showing off her new car harness, which she is still getting used to.

Hallo, Familie und Freunde!

Guten Tag! Ich bin Frau Biviano. Ich heiße Amber. Ich arbeite nicht. Mein Mann heißt Matt und er arbeitet bei First Data Corporation. Wir haben ein Haus in England, aber wir sind von Kolorado im USA. Wir wohnen in England bis 2009. Wir haben keine kinder aber wir haben einen Hund. Sie heißt Cheyenne.

I am trying out my German. We've learned a lot more than this, but I wanted to give you an introduction. Let's see if you can figure out what I'm saying without looking at the English version below. I'll try to write in German every once in a while for practice and for kicks!


Hello, Family and Friends!
Good day! I am Mrs. Biviano. I am called Amber. I do not work. My Mister (husband) is called Matt and he works for First Data Corporation. We have a house in England, but we are from Colorado in the USA. We live in England until 2009. We have no children but we have a dog. She is called Cheyenne.

Nothing Much New

Well, there hasn't been much happening since I returned from South Carolina. But, we are looking forward to travels and visitors each month until the end of the year. Matt has traveled for work the last couple of weeks - Germany, Poland, and Austria - but has nothing "fun" to report on as it was all business. We've been taking German language lessons for over a month now. We'll continue to do so through next year, I believe. The company is paying for language lessons and we thought German (Deutsch) might be the best for us to learn as it would benefit Matt professionally while here. German can be a bit confusing at times, but is definitely fun! I can't wait to really use it.

So, let's see...as far as traveling in the future:
• Late August – I hope to make a mini trip to Dublin, Ireland to conduct genealogy research on my mother’s family.
• September 9-19 – Our trip through Italy!!!!
• Early October – Matt will be in Gdansk, Poland the first two weeks and we are thinking that I should join him for a few days over the first weekend.
• Week of October 20 – We will be in South Carolina for Matt’s youngest brother’s wedding (Peter Biviano to Kelley Shirley).
• Late November – My Mom, and possibly my Aunt, are planning a visit during the week of Thanksgiving (and my birthday) for their first trip to England/Europe.
• Early December – Matt is scheduled to be in Vienna, Austria at this time and I would like to make another long-weekend visit.
• Christmas – We are planning to spend the holiday in Paris, France!

Together, Matt and I have traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland and parts of England. His business travel has taken him to Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria with other countries in the future. I hope to travel to each of those places at least once while he is there.

This is such a great opportunity for us and the right time in our lives. We will definitely take advantage of all that we can while in Europe! And remember...there is always a room waiting for any of you that get the travel bug!

Family Dinner at Bridget's New Home

First Picture: Table 1 - Dad, Mom, Brian, Bridget, Uncle David
Second Picture: From L to R - Brian, Maggie, Bridget, Gregg

While in town for my high school reunion, I was able to attend a Biviano Family dinner at Bridget's new home. It was fantastic to have everyone there...well, minus Matt and Sarah! At the lake last year all of the siblings were there, but not the significant others. This time they were there, including a new addition (Tony's new girlfriend). Even Uncle David was in town and joined us. It was great to have that time with family. Bridget and Dad remodeled this house and it was a wonderful little place for her first home. The full album can be viewed using the link on the left. Click on the pictures here for larger view.

Batesburg-Leesville High School Class of 1997 Reunion

Me, Jesse Johnson, Melissa Maroney McVey


On the dance floor!


Allison Ray Hall & Tiffany Furtick Fallaw, Event Planners


Becca (my BFF - 16+ yrs) and her man Sean

I recently returned to South Carolina to attend my high school reunion. (10-16 July) I have been looking forward to my 10-year reunion for a couple of years now, even though the planning only began at the beginning of this year. Honestly, I didn't enjoy my high school years that much so for quite a while after graduation I didn't want to have anything to do with my small town. I kept in touch with a handful of friends and that was enough for me. Once we moved to Colorado I started to look back on my life and realized that high school, and Batesburg-Leesville for that matter, were just a small part of my life. Many years have passed and we are all [hopefully] better, more mature people. I wanted to see my former classmates and were genuinely interested in what they had been up to the last 10 years. Whether or not I would be disappointed in the event, I knew that I would regret not attending. Even though we are living in England now, I was fortunate enough to make the trip back to South Carolina for this special time.

Tiffany and Allison did a wonderful job of planning the event. Sadly, there were numerous people from our class not in attendance but that didn't stop us from having a great time! It was nice to reminisce with everyone and catch up on the years. I can't wait for the next one!

Tour de France - Le Grand Depart - Stage 1: London to Canterbury

Before the race began


The Race Leaders in Tenterden


The rest of the pack approaches


*See the rest of our pictures in the Web Album on the left!

Matt and I took advantage of the opportunity to see a leg of the first stage of the Tour de France on Sunday. We drove to Tenterden for a nice quiet spot to watch the riders. We got into town around 11:00am, bought some things for lunch later, and found a nice shaded spot to set our picnic mat down and wait for the race to come by. At around 12:30pm the Caravan started to come through. The Caravan is made up of 200 sponsors, vendors, and race partners that come through a city ahead of the riders to hand out free stuff. Sadly, they stopped right in the town centre but since we were about a mile out of the centre we only saw them zooming by at about 50 mph. Matt did get hit by a flying body-wash bottle, that a person chucked out at him at a high speed. LOL! At around 2:25pm the first five leaders came through and within minutes the mass of other riders sped past. It was only over in a matter of minutes and then everyone packed up to drive home. We didn't have to deal with a lot of traffic to and from the town and had a peaceful picnic out in the beautiful weather. It may not have been the huge celebration one would imagine but it was our chance to be a part of the Tour. I know that in London/Greenwich and Canterbury there was much more excitement as those towns were the start and finish of the first stage.


Notes about the Tour:

*Stage 1 of the Tour was 126-mile route from Greenwich to Canterbury
*There are 189 riders in 21 teams
*There are 20 stages of the Tour to be completed in 22 days (includes two days of rest)
*The Tour started in 1903 by L'Auto newpapers - keen to use cycling as an event to boost its circulation by staging a race around France
*The Tour de France is the world's most watched sporting event
*In the early years of the Tour the race comprised of just six stages - but the riders were expected to ride through the night, with no breaks for sleep.