European Adventures

I'm home from my vacation and I have so much I want to share! I decided I'll blog once about the activities we did and once about my food, because let's be real: food needs its own special post!! 

On our way! 

I'll start with my overall trip, it will be long, so stick with me :)

First we went to London for six full days and we stayed busy the whole time! We stayed with a family friend who has a very nice flat.  They are Italian - We ate lots of pizza and pasta with them, but man it was delicious! 

Big Ben

Buckingham Palace

Kensington Palace 

Classic.

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

We did all the tourist things like the London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Sherlock Holmes museum, Kensington, Windsor, Churchill War Rooms, Camden Market,  and of course tried lots of food (more on this tomorrow). 

The famous Abbey Road.

Our friends we stayed with. Gene, the dad (lives in MN, my mom, Lonnie, in the pink,
Liz, the owner of the flat, and Rachel, the sister of Liz. Rachel lives in MN, too. 

London is a city where public transportation is the way to go. Or your own two feet! I had over 20K steps daily! Our friends did have a driver for us during the week so sometimes when we were tired we just called. We would get home at night and be absolutely exhausted. 

Tower Bridge 

My mom LOVED selfies, I told her I like selfies, too. But
getting three people in a selfie is hard!

One night they had a party to celebrate the end of winter. It was a fairy themed party and it put every party I have/will throw to shame! They went all out, five bartenders, two coat check people, two chefs that were there for days before the party preparing, the hired a band and more. I don't know if I can ever invite them to my wedding, they would probably laugh.  Hahah I kid, I kid. They are extremely nice people and would never judge us like that. 

I never thought I would be drinking tea and wearing winter
gear on spring break :)

Alnwick Castle.

I ran next to sheep - how cool?!?!

After our stay in London we headed to Alnwick, which is located in northern England. My sister, Bria, studied abroad here in fall 2012 and we were able to stay with one of her professors. Alnwick is a lot slower pace than London. We slept until 9:00 or 10:00 am and I was able to go for a run. Finally! I had no energy in London because we were on the go from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. We basically hung out in Alnwick for three days and ate food/shopped. We did go to North Sea, which was beautiful and we had the most amazing fish and chips!

The Shelbourne - Dublin, Ireland 

Being silly!

So thankful for her giving my sister and I the opportunity
to experience this trip!

After Alnwick we headed to Scotland via train and then next to Dublin. I was so excited to get to Dublin for multiple reasons but mainly I would finally get my own space and have a gym. Boom!! I needed it after all my treats! We used my moms points and stayed at a very fancy hotel called The Shelbourne. We were NOT prepared at all haha. We didn't pack any nice clothes and we had to go shopping so we could be accepted while at Afternoon Tea or basically just walking through the lobby! One night we were so exhausted but we still needed dinner. We knew we could not go to the hotel restaurant looking the way we did, so we order room service. We joked because we have never traveled like this. It's one of those hotels where every time you walk through the lobby they ask if you need help carrying your damn bag, dude I lift, I don't need your help. Thanks though…

Cliffs of Moher 

We picked the busiest weekend of the year to visit Dublin, between the 100th celebration of being independent, to St. Patrick's Day celebrations and finally the biggest Rugby match of the year. The Rugby players stayed at our hotel and there was a line up for over 45 minutes to watch them board the bus. It was neat to see the fans cheer on their team. 

Some random church!

We did the Guinness tour, Jameson tour, Cliffs of Moher, walked around the city to shop and try new food, had Afternoon Tea at The Shelbourne, and I got to run a 5K!!! The day we got to Dublin I saw advertisements for a St. Patty's Day 5K, literally outside our hotel. It was Gods way of telling me I had to do it! I have this goal in my head to run races all over the US someday, but an international race, I mean how cool!

Afternoon Tea with lots of yummy treats and finger foods.

Dublin was similar to London, very exhausting and we walked everywhere. I was able to utilize the gym two times, which was pretty cool. It was very fancy and they referred to the gym as 'the spa'. 

Celebratory cupcakes!

I was tearing up at the end! How
lucky I was to be able to experience this.

Overall, a fabulous trip! My sister, mom and I had so many laughs! One of my favorite nights was in Dublin because they were pressuring me into drinking and I kept refusing because A) I hate the taste and B) I rather eat my calories! We ended up playing a game called "truth, dare, double dare, promise or repeat" hahaha we giggled all night. I do not know if I will be traveling to these places anytime in the near future but I do hope to get back someday.  For now I'm off to snuggle with my doggies, hit the gym, and enjoy Easter :)