Jeff's in Norway!

Like the British Open post, I won't be commentating this post although I wish I would because *SPOILER ALERT* these pictures are gorgeous.  Jeff had an amazing time in Norway.  He did many new things that we had never experienced before...so lots of jealousy rolling in!

Jeff flew from Edinburgh, right after The Open to head to Oslo, Norway.  He got in late, and then caught a really early train to head to the Fjords.  This is an absolutely stunning area with mountains and lakes (about 6 hours away from Oslo by train). Jeff rode a few trains to get to this magical area.  He was able to get off the train a few times to snap a few photos. You can tell a difference in the beginning of his trip, and later as there was snow on the mountains later on in his trip.  I asked him about the weather, as he wore a warm jacket but was wearing shorts---you do the math on the temperature.

He said the boat ride was amazing, and the pictures did not do the scenery justice.  After his time in the Fjords, he took a night train back to Oslo.  Jeff said this was a really cool experience, as he had his own little room with bunk beds.  He slept great in the area and arrived in Oslo really early the next morning.  He explored the city and headed to the airport.

This country was especially important to him to visit, as his grandfather is Norwegian.  His grandfather & grandmother are so special to him, so I know he is so happy to be able to share this experience with him.  For those that remember, we also visited Denmark, as his grandmother is Danish.

Enjoy these gorgeous pictures. I know I did!

If you'd like more information or commentary on these pictures...feel free to ask Jeff. Muahahahaha!

On to the next adventure...

Our Final trip Outside of England

After the wonderful wedding we attended, we headed to Northern Wales. Our last "out of England" adventure before moving back to the states.  Super weird to be typing that.

We slept in, and then drove up to Northern Wales (about 2 hours).  We got into the beautiful national park called Snowdonia.  It was breathtaking and the weather was gorgeous!  We drove around for a bit, and stopped to take some pictures that showed Mt. Snowdon in the background.  We planned on climbing it later that day.  A friend told us to visit Electric Mountain, which is the largest hydro-power station in Europe.  It is hidden in the mountain side, so you cannot even notice it when driving by.  We stopped in (after paying for 4 hours of parking) to get a tour.  Sadly, they were booked for the day.  So we decided to go find parking to climb Snowdon...just to find that all the lots to get to the path we were planning on taking were full.  We headed back to the parking lot we just left to pay for parking for a second time.  We were slowly giving up on this adventure, therefore we were just going to take the train to the top of the mountain.  Lazy, I know.  We got to the train station to find that the trains were all booked for the day.  We were striking out hard.

 In the National Park

Snowdon is to the right of Jeff's head

We gave up altogether, and headed to Conwy Castle, which was about a 30 minute drive away. We paid for parking for a third time, but the third time was the charm here.  The city was gorgeous, and it was partially walled city like York.  We walked around in the castle grounds for a while.  It was all open, no rooms like you may be picturing.  We climbed up a couple tours to not only have a beautiful view of the ocean, but the countryside as well.  We didn't spend a lot of time there, but we did enjoy the sights.  It was funny because there was a huge group of Americans touring the castle as well.  Some of which were being the stereotypical American tourists, and we hoped we never acted like them on our trips.  Ha! We walked a little bit of the city walls, and then headed into the heart of the city. 

 Inner part of the castle

 
Jeff and I headed down to the waterside, but before , we stopped in this small fish & chips shop.  We didn't have a plan to go there, but it was highly rated...even by Rick Steves.  For those of you who do not know him, he is an American author who travels around Europe writing about the do's/don'ts of European travel.  We have browsed through a few of his books, and he is honest and truthful about the places to see and not see.  But anyway---no joke on these fish & chips.  I don't really like fish, but this was excellent!  So greasy...yummo! We walked down to sit near the water to enjoy our snack.

The sign can't lie "probably the best"

Next to the water was also the Smallest House in Great Britain, so for a pound ($1.50) you could take a picture and see the inside.  I paid the money, as Jeff didn't care much about it.  It was SO small.  I tried to take a couple pictures, but you could never get a good angle because of the size.  Go figure, right?  Well worth the pound.  Jeff and I headed back to the car before traveling back to the hotel for the night.

 
Since we failed at the planning portion of Day #1 in Wales, we woke up early to head to the top of Snowdon.  A little bit about Snowdon...

• It is over 1,000 meters high (over 3,500 feet)
• Highest mountain in Wales
• You can get to the top by foot or by train
• Around 350,000 people make it to the summit each year (train and/or foot)
• Snowdon means "snow hill"---often being able to see some snow at the top
• If the weather is right, you can see England, Ireland, and Scotland from the summit 
• Takes the average person 6 hours to get to the top and back down by foot (train is 2 hours round trip). 

Jeff and I made it to the top by foot.  And before I get started on talking about the adventure, let me point out I thought it was going to take us 6 hours to get to the top.  Jeff had told me 6 hours earlier, but I never heard him say, roundtrip.  I was about ready to die when Jeff said we had only been walking for an hour. I just kept thinking, "Why would I want to keep doing this for another 5 hours?"  But I didn't complain, and just kept at it.  So you can imagine my surprise when we had been climbing 2 hours, and when we asked how much more to the top, someone said "15 minutes".  I was so relieved!!

 The first path we walked on.

On our walk to the top!

Our walk started out so peacefully, as we were walking along a path alongside some beautiful lakes.  I was thinking, "Wow  this won't be too bad".  My opinion quickly changed when we started putting some elevation in the mix and on top of it all the "paths" were gone and we were climbing up makeshift routes. At one point Jeff and I just stood there, looking up, wondering which way to go as we saw no path.  We climbed through some large rocks, and climbed up that way.  We didn't take very many pictures at this point, as we were focusing on where to walk safely.

 One of the "paths"  This was definitely mild compared to our other routes.

We made it to the top in about 2 hours and 15 minutes, and that was with some "catch our breath" breaks.  We were so glad that we made it to the top so early.  Jeff and I made it to the top by 9:30, which was nice given the train didn't start dropping people off until 10:00.  We had some time on the summit to enjoy the scenery, er, white background.  It reminded me of our trip to Dover Cliffs, and we could not see a thing.  The frustrating part is the day before was beautiful, so I can only imagine how much you could see if we climbed it like our original plan. 

 Our friends have said that you can see the countryside for miles...guess we picked the wrong day!

The first train of the day.  It was so cold, windy, and rainy at the top!

It only took us an hour and 45 minutes to get down.  We actually headed down a different path by accident.  It was SO much easier than the path we took to the top.  I think it would have been an even shorter trip to the bottom if we would have found the spot where we were basically going vertical. 

Afterwards, we headed back to Nottingham.  Surprisingly it was only a 3 hour ride home.  Crazy to think about the UK and its size.  How cool to be near the water, on a mountain, in the city, or in the countryside all within a short drive. 

On to the next adventure...

#1 Birthday Weekend....Ever!

How spoiled am I that we spent my 28th birthday weekend looking at this...

 View from the terrace at our hotel

Dubrovnik, Croatia was one of my Top 3 places to visit while we are living over here. Jeff decided the perfect time to go was around my birthday.  We got up around 2:45 AM, and were at the Manchester Airport to fly out by 5:30.  We got into Dubrovnik, found our beautiful hotel, went into the city, grabbed lunch, and....it starting storming.  We rushed back to our hotel to wait out the storm.  Ended up working out well that we could take a quick nap since we got up so early.  Later that evening we went back out to explore the Old Town (a walled city).  We then fulfilled every child's dream...ice cream for dinner!  Jeff and I walked around the old city eating our ice cream.  We found some places we wanted to explore more in the morning. We walked north of the Old Town to just explore more of the city. We made it to a marina filled with boats, which was pretty cool.  

 View from our hotel window

View from the hotel window...beautiful clear water!

Sidenote: Cats.  I thought Italy was known for the amount of cats on the city streets, but I think I found a place to beat that record.  There was a crazy amount of cats walking around the city.  No matter where we were, like a side of a cliff...there was always a cat around.  A couple adorable kittens (one of which was all black, like Mackey) wandered the streets as well.  All the cats looked like they were in good condition, whether they belonged to someone or not. I just kept walking around the city think of Bob Barker. Yes, you heard me, Bob Barker. I kept picturing him saying "Have your pets spayed and neutered." Dubrovnik needs this...

Back on track. We woke up and went into the Old Town where we walked the city walls.  As you can tell in the pictures, the Old Town was enclosed by walls.  You can walk on top of the walls and boy is it beautiful! It took us about 2 hours to get around it, and that was stopping for a beer about half way through.  It was really fun walking around, and probably one of our favorite things we did while we were there. 

 Could get a little chilly and windy at times. "All you need is a light jacket."--Name that movie!

Great view of the wall we walked around in the Old Town

 At another fortress that has a great view of the city and the Old Town Wall

 The Croatian flag

If we were there longer, it would have definitely been great to go out on a boat!

We headed back to the hotel to go to the hotel's private beach (About mid-60's). We grabbed lunch seaside at the hotel restaurant, and then we laid around reading until the sun was hidden by the large cliffs.  This was perfect timing to head up to Mount Srdj, the 412 meter (350 feet) high mountain. We braved the cable cars, as the walk up the mountain would have took for-ever! Not a huge fan of cable cars, but this one was definitely better than the one we rode in Barcelona. Not nearly as scary.  We made it to the top, went to to Fort Imperial.  This fort was a crucial part during the 1991 war, and much of it is still in shambles.  It was crazy to look from the west side of the fort, as it was beautiful, beach-filled Dubrovnik.  The east side was Bosnia, which was mountainous and bare.  The fort was turned into a museum, but a lot of the material presented wasn't in English. Needless to say, I  lost focus.

 The Bosnia side of the mountain

 The Croatia side of the mountain

We ate at the top, Restaurant Panorama, where I had the best Bailey's coffee ever. Jeff was checking off a few new beers off the count. For those of you who know our goal, I will look at our count later, and get back to you.  We had a great time watching the sunset over the city.  We grabbed an "linner" (lunch+dinner), as the sun was setting around 4:30!  We took the cable car back down, enjoyed another chilly night in the city, and headed back to the hotel.  

Our beautiful view for dinner & drinks

The next morning, we went down to the beach for a few hours.  The feeling of relaxing on a beach, reading a book felt amazing.  Are my snow-filled Indiana friends/family closing their computers at this point? Sorry!  Jeff and I both finished our books, and put our feet in the cold Adriatic Sea.  Well, Jeff braved it and got all the way in. I was a chicken. 

After our beach-filled morning, we went back into the city to check out a bar on a cliff and walk around the city one last time.  We had a few beers at Buza Bar (Buza=hole, not Booze). We grabbed a seat right in front, and enjoyed the view.  It was great to see sailboats, kayaks, ships, etc. go by in front of us.  Besides the cultural side of walking around the walls, I really enjoyed this afternoon.  It was so relaxing! 

 Best view in the house!

So stinkin' pretty, right?

We ended our time in Dubrovnik by walking to a restaurant outside of the city walls and getting a "jumbo" pizza.  I'm not sure if I was just so hungry or what...but it was one of the best pizzas I have ever had (pepperoni, hot peppers, Tabasco, arugula, sauce, and a couple kinds of cheese). We ate the entire thing, and headed back towards the hotel.  

 Beautiful view on our way to the pizza place

 And yes, we ate the last piece! Yum!

Once the sunset, we went on a long walk to the Cave Bar (One of the Top 5 Hotel Bars in the World). It was really impressive, as stalactites were still hanging from the ceiling.  You could also see through the cave floor in one spot of the bar where the water flowed. Really cool!  It was definitely a long walk to this hotel bar, but definitely worth it. 

 This "hallway" leads into the room in which you could see the floor. 

(People were in there, so I couldn't snap a photo)

 The entrance from the outdoor seating

I leave you with an odd picture.  We were walking late in the city on our first day, and found this picture... Many of my loyal readers know my new-found fascination with the world of eggs over here. Bet you have never seen eggs in a pop-like machine! 

Overall, I was very grateful to spend my birthday weekend celebrating with Jeff in this beautiful destination. Thank you to all of you who sent cards, messages, emails, etc. for my birthday.  You definitely made me feel right at home! Love you all! 

Want to come along, too? Check out this interactive website I found!

Onto the next adventure...

The Beaches of France

We had an amazing time in Cassis, France with beautiful weather, rocky beaches, the cloudless sky, and for the first time ever...travel buddies! Jeff and I were really excited to have travel companions during this trip; one of my best friends (& sorority sisters), Kristin, and her husband, Christian.  Although, they had some unfortunate issues with transportation (President Obama was flying out the same time they were trying to leave from Chicago), we were able to see each other bright and early on Day 2.  While waiting for their arrival, we enjoyed lunch in a small cafe.  Unfortunately, none of the menus were in English, so we guessed based on 1 or 2 words that looked similar to English.  I think we both got lucky, and to be honest I am just telling myself the meat on my salad was chicken...

 Lovin' the beautiful weather. What a change in scenery, too!

 Chicken?

We, as well, had some hiccups on the way to Cassis, as we learned transportation isn't the most reliable to/from Marseille.  We tried to take a bus from Marseille to Cassis (about 30 minutes away).  We waited an hour for the bus and it never showed.  This was the first time we had ever bit the bullet on a trip and took a taxi.  We were pretty bummed until we saw the amazing cliff views of the sea and beaches.  That took all the pain away of having to pay for more expensive transportation.  Fact, American friends: Look out for a Bachelorette episode in Marseille. Although we weren't there during the filming, one of the destinations later in the season was filmed there. Beautiful city. 

Our hotel room overlooked the beautiful sea.  It was amazing to fall asleep to the waves crashing and wake up to a beautiful sky.  We had an all-day beach day the next day with Kristin & Christian.  We were able to get some sun, although it was an interesting experience laying our towels down on rocks.  But we were super excited to not have sand all over us at the end of the day.  We grabbed dinner at the port in the city centre where all the boats were docked.  We all had great meals and shared a bottle of wine. It was a great start to our extended holiday and quality time with great friends.

 The next day we traveled to three chateaus for some wine tasting around Provence.  The first chateau was amazing and the estate was just gorgeous.   We were able to taste some rose and red wines as well as take a tour around the vineyard and estate. It made me think of my grandpa, who made his own wine for a while. We were able to learn a few things about the process, so Grandpa, I'm looking forward to chatting about it next time we talk. Jeff and I purchased a couple bottles of wine and are looking forward to opening them soon.

 The outside of the estate. The vineyard & a personal pool. I think I could manage living here. 

 Great drinking buddies friends!

Jeff made a friend. This dog was so sweet. 

 

After 3 chateaus, we were all exhausted. Our tour guide was probably laughing as all 6 of us (2 Canadians joined us as well) took little naps on the way back to Marseille. We enjoyed some coffee, crepes, and drinks before we hopped on a fast-speed train to Paris. We arrived in Paris around midnight. What a long, but lovely experience in Cassis, Marseille, and surrounding areas.

Look out for a few more posts this week. Lots of traveling recently...