Chillin' at the Ice Bar

What a strange concept, a place to hang out and get a drink in below freezing temperatures! There are a number of these "Ice Bars" all over the world. We went to the one in London recently. It was a "cool" experience, if you'll pardon the pun.

We had family in town and we were looking for something fun to do when our plans to go on a Jack the Ripper walking tour fell through. The tour is not recommended for younger kids due to the graphic content. Didn't want to scar our 6 and 8 year old niece and nephew.


A quick call to the Ice Bar London and we were booked in for a session, kids and all. Minors are allowed in the bar before evening sessions so we booked the last daytime session at 6:30. Sessions last 40 minutes and by then we were ready to come out of the cold.

Everything in the bar is made out of crystal clear ice harvested from Sweden. The temperature is kept at a constant 23 degrees Fahrenheit. Drinks are served in glasses made from ice.


Check out the bench made from ice that the kids are sitting on:

We were given thermal capes and mittens to wear. My hands still got really cold from holding the ice glass.


Techno-beat music was playing which normally would have been annoying to me. But I found myself jumping up and down and moving around to the beat just to try to warm up.


Here is artwork etched in the ice showing a sculptor using a chain saw.

And here are Ryan and Lexi entombed in the ice...

... or maybe just standing behind a wall of ice.

So we had a fun, invigorating experience and the bar made lots of money from us. Hmmm, maybe not such a strange concept after all.

Women's World Cup - We Were There

The date is July 13, 2011. Two things stand out in my mind as I'm sitting at a soccer game. 1) It's the 2-year anniversary of our move to England. 2) I'm at a Women's World Cup game watching the USA!

In Monchengladbach, Germany

The Women's World Cup, which only happens every 4 years, was held in Germany for 2011, just over an hour flight away from us in England. School is out. Ryan is here for the summer. We thought "Let's hop over there and watch the USA play".

Well it wasn't as easy as all that. Which game in which city to attend? We had high hopes for the US and decided to shoot for watching them in the second stage (quarter finals, semi-finals, or final). Tickets were expensive so we would attend one game only. We had to make a best guess as to which game we thought the USA would play in. We decided on one of the 2 semi-final games, betting the USA would play against Germany. Wouldn't want the game to get sold out to all the Germans that will surely want to watch the game, better hurry and buy the tickets. So decision made, tickets purchased, American flags ordered on the internet, flight to Frankfurt booked.

The World Cup begins, the USA is doing well until they lose to Sweden, which means they won't be playing in the semi-final we predicted. Uh oh. But still they advance to the quarter finals and beat Brazil in an exciting game won in penalty kicks. That put the USA in the other semi-final game that we did not have tickets for. Our tickets were for a game to be played between Japan and Sweden on the same night as the USA game. Uh oh again.

Resourceful hubby buys tickets to the other semi-final game which of course is in a town that's a 2 1/2 hour drive away from Frankfurt. Our concierge at the hotel has connections with the other hotels in Frankfurt and is able to sell our original tickets so we reclaim almost half their value.

Note the German fans behind us trying to steal our thunder

So after all that, we were able to see the USA play against France. What a feeling of accomplishment just to be at the game. To see all the USA fans there made it really exciting.

As we walked up to the stadium, we stopped for a family picture to document we were there. Suddenly reporters were taking our picture and a EuroSport TV camera was in our faces. A German newspaper reporter started asking us questions about how we came to be at the game, what we thought of it, our names and ages, etc. We felt like celebrities.

We never saw our picture in the papers but there was a short blurb about  Und Familie Russell aus Houston in a local German newspaper article about American fans at the soccer park.

We were impressed with a dad and his daughter sitting in front of us at the game who travelled all the way from Seattle. They had watched the USA beat Brazil on TV on Sunday and decided they wanted to be at the next game. So Tuesday they arrived in Germany and Wednesday they are at the game. Who needs advance planning?

I loved seeing all the USA fans with their flags, goofy hats, and other paraFANalia:

Before the game

After the game - USA beats France 3-1

The German fans at the game were mostly rooting for the US (or rather against France). The German guy sitting beside us insisted on getting in our family photo after the game.

Unfortunately the USA team lost in the Finals against Japan four days later. But what memories we have of that semi-final game and We Were There!