Interlude #1 - Miscellaneous Catch Up

While today is technically Friday, and I haven't yet posted about Thursday, we were on our way to the airport to catch our transfer to Budapest, and I thought about some things that I have overlooked and/or forgotten to write about.  So, I figured an interlude was in order, so I could post some miscellaneous thoughts and other things of note.

Christmas Market - Night 1 - Hyde Park

 

You likely recall my story about Bill's relationship with his carry-on, and his need to buy a backpack instead of his duffel.  The shop owner was a very friendly lady, who chatted with us about all the things going on in the area, and about the bitter cold of London.  As we were chatting, she commented on how much she liked our wedding rings.  Bill, having chosen the rings, was beside himself.  She complimented us on how nice they looked, and that she'd never seen anything like them before.  We told her that this trip was a combination "honeymoon" and birthday and Christmas trip.  She loved the story, and gave us the London ornament pictured above as a way to remember our time in London forever.  She congratulated us, and wished us a Merry Christmas.  I'm not artsy, but I snapped that picture above for the sole purpose of posting it on this blog.

Cavalletto Curse with Hotel Electricity

No picture for this one, but - as you will recall, we Cavalletto's are known for our destruction of hotel/motel bathrooms and electrical systems.  Our trip to Europe is no different.  Being in Europe, we're obviously using the European 240v electrical grid, which requires a "step down" converter for our US devices.  On the day we went to Wicked (Wednesday), Mom was in the process of getting ready, which included shower, make up, blow drying hair, etc. etc.  About an hour before we were supposed to meet, I get a text from mom saying that her blow dryer was broken, and that her hair was going to be a disaster!  Fast forward, at dinner I commented that in the bathroom there were actually two separate plugs for the "Shaver," one of which was a normal 110v plug.  IF she was going to use her converter, she needed to plug it in on the LEFT plug.  She told us that she finally did get it to work, but when it did it like, SUPER WORKED.  The fan was blowing super hard, and the heating element was super warm.  High efficiency Europe blow dryer for the win!

Fast forward a smidge, and mom asked us to come check out her blow dryer and make sure she was doing it right.  Apparently when it was in high efficiency mode, it MELTED the attachment she was using to the blow dryer.  We went to her room, plugged in, and turned it on.  Not only had she melted it, but I'm reasonably certain she had exploded the damn thing.  I haven't confirmed, but I think her plug is just an adapter, not an actual step down converter.  So, her blow dryer was getting 240v of power, when it's rated for 110v.  <Insert the R2D2 sound here>

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