The Queen Invited Us Over!

Since Paris we had just been hanging around Nottingham.  I had to do some coursework for my Ball State courses, so Mom and Dad went and explored the city alone.  They stopped by the castle again and then walked around the city centre.  By the time they got back, I was finished with my assignments and we got ready for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Brown's. They have great drinks and food, and we found out that they have amazing desserts as well. We each got something different, and I don't think anyone's choice was a bad one.

Say cheese! Aw come on...even the waiter is.

Saturday morning we woke up and drove down to London.  We started our day riding the underground to get to Oxford Street and Regent Street, two popular streets with lots of shopping.  We popped in a few shops and headed to lunch afterwards.  We walked towards Buckingham Palace where we had scheduled a tour.  Before that we walked in St. James's Park and Hyde Park (The Central Park of London). 

St. James's Park

Hyde Park 

Yet again...Hyde Park 

 The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk

We made it back in time for our no-pictures-allowed tour at Buckingham Palace.  The inside was amazing, and each room is still a functioning room. I especially liked the room filled with all of the childhood toys and memorabilia. The toys not only belonged to Prince Harry and William, but even the Queen when she was younger.  Very impressive toys...even a little camper made for children.  And then we had afternoon tea with the Queen and Princess Kate.  That's when Princess Kate personally told us the news about the 2nd royal baby on the way.  Okay, I joke...but not about the next royal baby! 

Buckingham Palace. 

The only proof that we went inside...the backside of the palace. 

After our hour-long tour, we headed towards the Parliament building where the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) is located and Westminster Abbey is across the street. Once again, we didn't make it in time to visit inside Westminster, but we were able to get a few photographs.  Hopefully one day we will make it there on time! Next we headed towards the River Thames, saw the London Eye, and walked alongside the river.  

Beautifully decorated pub and Westminster Abbey

 Some more shots in front of the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) and Parliament 

We grabbed some dinner at Pizza Express and took a load off of our feet.  Our last destination was the Tower Bridge, which is one of my favorite spots in London.  After enjoying out time riverside, we hopped on the underground to head back to our car. 

I think every one of my London posts has this tower in it. Guess you could say I like it?  ha!

We got home around 11:00 PM, and the last few days together were pretty low-key.  As you can tell by my posts, we were on the go a lot, so I planned for our last few days together to be pretty quiet.  Sunday, my mom and I went shopping around Nottingham.  We bought some things for our wardrobes as well as for friends and family at home.  On Monday, we headed to Derby to visit Jeff.  We walked around Derby, stopped in some antique shops, the mall, etc. then Jeff picked us up.  Jeff and my dad played squash  for a few hours while my mom and I had some 1-1 time.  Jeff plays squash with a few local friends a couple times a week, so he was happy to be able to play with my dad as well! 

Later that night we took my parents out for Mexican food, BarBurrito! Our favorite Mexican food over here is similar to Chipotle or Qdoba.  Not many options for that type of cuisine, but great food nonetheless. And better yet, FREE REFILLS! If I haven't mentioned before, when you order soda/pop/coke (whatever you may call it) you pay by the glass and do not get free refills like you do in the states.

Their last full day here we walked around Nottingham one last time, even took them to some areas I've never been in the city before.  That night I made chicken tikka masala for them.  I think they liked it as they had never eaten it before.  Indian food in Indianapolis is pretty scarce, so you can imagine living in a smaller city than Indy...there are zero options. 

Overall, we had a great visit with my parents and according to my mom's Fitbit we walked approximately 90 miles during their 2-week visit. I wish they were able to stay longer or come visit more often.  I woke up on Thursday to a very quiet house with no one to drink coffee with, so they were definitely missed right away. Mom & Dad, thank you so much for coming. We treasured every minute you were here.  We cannot wait to see you again soon! 

Onto the next adventure...

Rain or Shine...Paris in 36 Hours

Tuesday morning, my mom, dad, and I (Jeff stayed home and worked) grabbed some lunch and hopped on a train to London.  We got to London and then jumped on the Eurostar and traveled to Paris.  We were able to go in the Chunnel (a tunnel going under the Channel) to get to Paris within 3 hours.  It was a really enjoyable ride and went very quickly.  We got into Paris, walked to our hotel, and got ready to go hit the town.

We went on a fairly lengthy walk to see the Eiffel Tower at night.  We stopped and ate a great dinner where we tried the local pints, wines, and crepes.  We got to the Eiffel Tower, and I really enjoyed seeing my parents reaction to how large and beautiful the tower is, especially at night.  We were able to get a few photos, watch the light show that happens every hour for a few hours, and then walk back to the hotel.  We had a late night, and didn't get back until around 1:00. We were tired, sore, and ready for bed.

Despite our lack of sleep, we got up early to head straight to the Louve.  Although the weather was not cooperating at all.  After being completely soaked, we hopped on the packed metro to ride to the Louve. Funny story, because the metro was so packed, I got on and the doors closed...my parents didn't make it on with me.  Luckily, we communicated our next stop well, and they just met me there on the next available metro.  We finally made it to the Louve, hopped in line for a few minutes and explored the museum.  We were able to see the majority of the museum, and even places I had not been when Jeff and I went there in May.  I think we all enjoyed the museum, and I was amazed at how much more packed it was in August than in May.  We went and grabbed a quiet lunch and then headed to the Love Lock Bridge in hopes to find Jeff and I's lock.  You may or may not have heard, but in June part of the Love Lock Bridge broke and fell into the river.  They took extreme caution as they boarded the majority of the bridge up.  Needless to say, we did not find Jeff and I's lock.  After the bridge, we headed to the Eiffel Tower.  We stood in line for quite a while, but it was nice to just stand in line and talk. The three of us traveled to the top level and back down again.

 All the buildings surrounding the pyramid are part of the museum. It is huge!

 Mom & Dad

Some of my favorite pieces from the Louve.  

 

Pretty sad to see all the beautiful locks covered up. 

 Hold on tight...we're up on the highest level of the Eiffel Tower!

Beautiful city! 

After a few more pictures with the Eiffel Tower in the background, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, which my dad taught me that it was the final location of the Tour de France.  That made the arch much more memorable than the first time we saw it.  The arch was at the top of the street of some great (and expensive) shopping. My mom and I went into a few stores to look around, dream about buying something, and then leave.  Not very eventful, right? We stopped by a bakery to grab a few chocolate macaroons, and to bring a few home to Jeff.  We slowly finished our day by finding an even fancier shopping street.  You know the guards at the doors, guarding the five items they have on display to sell.  On our walk towards our hotel we found a spot for dinner.  We found a fantastic place and definitely enjoyed one another's company.  We sat for a long time talking about our day's adventures.  We made it back to the hotel to rest up for another day of traveling...back to England.

Great shot of the Eiffel Tower in the background. One of the best spots to take a picture with it. 

We were able to see a lot in our short amount of time in Paris, although there are some things we didn't have time for. I'm glad my parents were able to experience a city that did not speak our same language.  They did a great job adjusting to that and the culture.  We got back at a reasonable time on Thursday, and were able to eat dinner with Jeff to tell him all our stories.

Onto the next adventure...

Checking off Items on my Mom's Bucket List

Jeff had a 3 day weekend, so we took advantage of his time off.  We took my parents to Scotland and visited:

• Glasgow
• Stirling
• Edinburgh (see next post)

Ever since I was little I remember my mom talking about visiting a castle.  So when Jeff and I were given this great opportunity, we knew we could "drag" my mom over here to do some exploring and see not only 1, but 3 castles and 2 palaces. As you know, her first day here, I took her to see the Nottingham Castle, but to me that isn't quite what she probably had in mind.  We started our Scotland adventure in Glasgow (which Jeff and I had visited before) and took the morning to see a few of the sites.

We got in late into Glasgow, explored a little to try to find a pub, but apparently all the pub-like places close at midnight and only the clubs were open.  We decided to get some rest and head out bright and early in the morning.  We grabbed breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast places which has the best blueberry muffin ever....although luck was not on our side as there was some sort of issue with delivery trucks and they had not delivered our blueberry muffins so....croissants were the next best thing.  Enough about food...

After enjoying our breakfast on the square, we headed to the Glasgow Necropolis which was this incredibly large cemetery.  My parents enjoyed the view of Glasgow as well as reading the old headstones.  We even found the author of Wee Willie Winkie's headstone. We walked around the necropolis for a while, and then headed down to see one of Jeff and I's favorite cathedrals, Glasgow Cathedral.  

 Enjoying some Costa coffee in front of the entrance of the necropolis. 

William Miller, author of Wee Willie Winkie's grave site. 

Jeff and I have a huge appreciation for the Glasgow Cathedral as it is simple and beautiful.  We enjoyed it because it was different from the other cathedrals as many of them have bright stained glass, gold, and murals everywhere. You could tell this was still a functioning place of worship and not just a place for tourists to visit. It definitely ranks in the Top 5 for churches for us.

 The picture doesn't do the size of this cathedral justice. 

 Inside of the cathedral

The cathedral is right next to the necropolis, so we got a great shot of it in the background. 

We walked around the city some more, and ended up heading out around noon to visit Stirling, which held the Stirling Castle.  Before we headed to the castle, we stopped in a small pub and had some lunch and a couple pints.  This meal was one of my favorites, and probably ranks pretty high on my favorite pubs since we moved over here.  My mom and dad enjoyed these meat pies that are pretty popular over here.  Jeff and I enjoyed one of our favorite dishes, bangers & mash.  This dish was even better at this pub because you were able to pick the type of sausage, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  Custom order...can't go wrong. Hmmm...here I go again talking about food! 

 We weren't the best at remembering to ask someone else to take a picture of the four of us...

After lunch we headed up to the castle, which had some of the most amazing views of the small town of Stirling and the countryside.  We enjoyed a guided tour around the grounds of the the castle and were able to explore the inside of the castle buildings as well.  It was great to see my mom's excitement to the castle as now she had visited two castles in her few days over here.  My dad really enjoyed the history side of the castle and city. 

Jeff and I in front of the castle grounds. 

 Jeff next to one of the many cannons they had at the castle.  

 LOVED the views from this castle.  We have visited many castles, and this one probably had the best views.  

  Close up of the buildings inside the castle walls. 

 Each room was decorated so exquisitely. There were even actors inside giving a detailed explaination of what occured in those rooms many years ago. 

 A few of the rooms inside. 

Hooray! We finally got a picture together. 

Our exploring lasted right up until closing time.  We were glad we did because a bag pipper played as everyone left the castle.  We were not sure if it was because it was closing time and that was their way of signaling people to leave or because there was a wedding about to start inside the castle grounds.  Either way, we were glad we were able to listen to him play for a few minutes.  

After the castle, we hopped in the car to head to our next destination...Edinburgh.  On our 30+ minute drive to Edinburgh that night we passed these large horse heads. I knew I had seen these heads in some sort of research I had been doing about the UK. I quickly snapped a few photos as we went by and I'm glad I did.  The horse heads are called The Kelpies and were just finished in 2013.  They are a new attraction, and right off the motorway as you can see. Pretty impressive architecture. 

Onto our next adventure...

My Parents are Here!

My parents are here...My parents are here! I guess I should say were here as I am crazy behind on my posts. Anywho... I felt so blessed that my amazing parents were able to visit us for 2-weeks.  They had a long day of traveling across the pond and got in around 9 PM (local time).

I was really impressed with their adaptation to the time change. Jeff and I have a pretty hard time coming over here as sleeping in until 11:00 is so easy as you get used to the time in the states. They put Jeff and I to shame and adjusted just fine! With that being said, we were able to hit the ground running each day they were here.  The first few days, I took them around my favorite spots in Nottingham.

Thursday (August  21st) my parents and I walked around Nottingham visiting the castle, my favorite shops, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, England's oldest pub (1189 AD), and the small things like going to the grocery store! I guess you could say "The Daily Life of Sarah Tour".  We really enjoyed our time together and learning about the history of Notts.

 Mom and Dad learning I don't mess around when it comes to picture taking. Good sports for sure!

 The Nottingham Castle had a complete remodel since we visited last November. Great war exhibits now.

 Nottingham... "the worst slum in the British Empire outside India"----guess Notts wasn't too well liked back in the day. 

Dad's first pint at the British pub, Ye olde Trip to Jerusalem

On Friday, I took my parents on quite a walk...a total of 10 miles throughout the day. No one's legs fell off...don't worry.  Jeff and I love visiting Wollaton Hall & Deer Park (Wayne Manor, where Batman was filmed), so my parents and I headed there for the day.  We packed our lunches in hopes to have a picnic while we were there.  The weather didn't quite cooperate once we got there, but we were able to explore inside the hall and....under a tree to avoid the downpour. We had our mini picnic despite the weather and enjoyed the walk, even seeing some deer up close! See Jeff and I's visit to Wollaton Hall, here.

 Jeff and I have never seen the deer out front. So cool!

Some people were getting even closer than Dad was...crazy! 

Onto the next adventure...