Adventure 2012: London

We really had no agenda for our time in London. There was only one plan and that was to see Peter and Lindsay. We met up with them and explored the city together. It was so fun to see all of the preparation for the Olympics being finished up. It's amazing to me how much work and time goes in to planning and preparing for such a huge event. It's really the largest event you could possibly put on if you think about it. 

The four of us walked and talked for hours, stopping in a park or two to sit under the shady trees and catch up. It was so fun to see familiar faces and relax with people we adore. We soaked it all in, knowing that we'd be back home and back to real life the next day. 

That evening we spent the last night of our trip in a fun way. Earlier this year, B got us tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre. He surprised me with them on Valentine's day and we've been looking forward to it ever since. B led me on to believe that we could only get cheap tickets in the very back. I had no problem with this and was simply excited to see a play in London. We arrived and headed to our seats. I was confused when we began walking towards the front, near the stage. My sneaky husband actually got us seats in the seventh row, very center! He's so sweet and I was very surprised. The play was fabulous and we had so much fun. 

After we left the theatre, we decided to take a night walk around London. We spent most of our time at Big Ben. We love that big ol' clock! I couldn't look at it at night without thinking of Peter Pan. We wandered around some more and then headed back to our hostel to get some rest. We had a long flight home the next day!

We found the Peter Pan statue! The author of Peter Pan illegally placed this statue in the park for the orphans that he wrote the book for. All these years later it's still there!

Buckingham Palace!

We watched the changing of the guards. It was really hot and one of the guards fainted!

If the flag is up that means that the queen is in!
We also stopped at Hamley's, the biggest toy store in the world! (5 stories). This is Brett in the Lego section with the Lego queen.

It just wouldn't be right of we didn't end our trip exactly the way we started it... 2 singles with Flake in the grass at Hyde Park. Perfection.

Read other posts from our trip by clicking here! :)

Adventure 2012: Belgium

Our time in Belgium was a total whirlwind. We arrived and took a train straight to Bruges. Bruges reminded me of a cutesy and clean Venice. It was almost so cutesy and clean that it felt fake. Haha. We kept on talking about how much it felt like Disneyland. We spent the whole day wandering the town, sitting by the canals, and enjoying all of delicious things that Belgium has to offer. 

I never thought that Belgian waffles were a real thing. I mean, I knew that Belgian waffles existed but I didn't know that they were actually a food very special and unique to Belgium. I figured it was like French fries... It's just part of the name. But I was wrong, Belgian waffles are Belgian and they are amazing! We ordered hot ones smothered in chocolate right after we arrived and ended up ordering more again later that afternoon. 

My favorite part of the whole day was when we sat under a big tree by the canal and watched all of the little guided boats go by, kids play, and a cute pup snoozing in the window. We relaxed under the tree and talked and talked. We reflected on our trip and talked about getting home and back to normal life. It was lovely. 

Our hostel unfortunately had no kitchen that night but Brett did some hunting and found a cheap restaurant that served big bowls of really good spaghetti for €4. We ate there and then took one more walk around the town. Our evening walk was so pretty! All of the boat tours were done for the day and the water was completely smooth and mirror-like. We passed our doggy in the window again and were surprised and found it quite funny that he was still sitting up there snoozing away!

Read other posts from our trip by clicking here! :)

Adventure 2012: Ireland 6

We left Galway early in the morning. We were making the long, beautiful drive from Galway to Dublin and wanted to do some hiking in between. 

We stopped at Glendalough in Wicklow County Park. If you are familiar with the movie "PS I Love You", this is the area where a lot of that was filmed. It's as gorgeous as you would imagine. We bought snacks before we went and hiked for a few hours. That place alone is one of my favorite places in Ireland. We went there during our last trip as well and knew we had to go back. It's free and gives you the opportunity to really sink your feet in to Irish turf and soak up every sight, sound, and smell of the land. It's amazing. 

This grave yard was so cool! It felt exactly like the graveyard from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

Brett loved this creek:)

After we were finished hiking, we headed to Dublin where we would be staying for 2 nights. We got there in the late afternoon and settled in and made dinner before we went out to find our pub. There is a super touristy pub in the Temple Bar area that we love. It has great music and even some traditional Irish dancing. We made that our home the next two nights. 

The next morning we woke up and were ready to spend our last day in Ireland. Ready in the sense that we knew it was inevitable. I don't know how ready our hearts really were. We made no real plans and the day was sprinkled with playful conversations of "what if we stayed forever?". We decided to take a free walking tour of Dublin. If you are ever in Dublin I highly recommend Sandoman's Free Walking Tour. I felt like we were stealing because the tour was so good. We made sure to tip! Our guide was hilarious and extremely knowledgable. We learned so much about Ireland's history and a lot about Dublin itself. The whole tour was 3 hours long (with a coffee and snack break) and was FULL of history. History is not everyone's thing but it is definitely our thing and we loved it! 

The tour ended in St. Stephens Green and were glad it did because we had never been there before and it was beautiful. It's like the Central Park of Dublin but smaller and Irish. My favorite moment in the park was when we stumbled upon an older man sitting in the grass, looking out over the pond, and petting a swan that was sleeping right next to him. It was such a peaceful sight. 

We did a little bit of shopping and soaked up the city with our extra time then we headed back to the hostel to make dinner. After dinner we went back to our favorite little pub. We had to wake up really early to head to the airport the next morning so we went to the early music session. The place was not too crowded, the music was top notch, and not only was there room for us to sit but we sat front and center. The band made small talk with us throughout the night and happened to play all of our favorite songs. We left the pub floating on a cloud. It was such a perfect night and the best ending to our time in Ireland. When we stepped foot in this country the first time over a year ago, we had no idea how much it would completely steal our hearts. We love this country. It feels like home and leaving it stings but I know we'll be back some day. 

We went to bed early and woke up early the next morning. Too early for my liking but we had a plane to catch. Our time in Ireland was incredible, everything we dreamt it would be and more, but now it was time for us to move on. Our next stop was Belgium and I couldn't wait to get a waffle and some chocolate!

Read other posts from our trip by clicking here! :)