Townies

We stayed in Nottingham this weekend.  As you can tell from previous posts, we have been traveling a decent amount.  We decided to stay in town to do the things "townies" would do and just relax!

Friday night we went to a "deportation" party for a few friends that are heading back to the states after being here for 2 years with Rolls-Royce.  We will miss them, but are very excited for them to head back to family and friends.

Saturday morning, we woke up and headed to get some good ol' fashion American breakfast.  There has been a place called the Warsaw Diner that advertises for a traditional American breakfast, so it has been on our bucket list for a while.  The place was packed with people, so we were lucky to get a spot on the stools near the griddle. Jeff and I both got "The Big Easy", which was french toast, eggs, and sausage. It was a pretty large "American" sized portion so we left in a food coma and decided to take a walk.

We visited this large cemetery we've been meaning to make a special trip to see. It was a very large cemetery, but ill-kept.  It appeared that they were still mowing the grounds, but not taking the time to weed around the stones, which was sad. Afterwards we stopped in a few shops to look around.  We found a beautiful furniture store.  It only used wood from old or run-down buildings in Nottingham. There were some amazing tables, mirrors, and all sorts of decor. I'd love to buy something from there before our time is up...although a table is probably not a likely choice.

Later that afternoon, we headed to the town square where there was a festival.  It is amazing how many times we can walk down to the square and see tents set up.  We are never sure of the celebration, but often times you can figure it out. We "think" this one was in support of England playing Italy in the World Cup on Saturday night.  At least that is our thoughts with a "Come on England" sign on one of the buildings. Who knows?  We both grabbed a burrito from one of the tents, and headed home.  The burrito just made me crave some authentic Mexican food from home. Watch out Los Amigos! (Local Mexican restaurant at home) There is a chance that might be the only thing I eat when I come home next.

England played Italy in the World Cup at 11:00 or as my clocks say 23:00, so we headed down the road to a local pub to watch the game.  It was pretty intense, and I honestly didn't care who won (sorry English friends).  Jeff was great and did a great job rooting on England. I told Jeff when we left that I should have been cheering for Italy since I actually own a football sweatshirt. Ha!  It was a fun environment, and would have been very comparable to a night out downtown watching the Colts Vs. the Broncos.  The fans were excited, and a little too excited as the first attempted goal made everyone in the bar cheered.  They were all quite embarrassed afterwards considering the goal didn't go in!  It was pretty funny to see their reactions after thinking the goal was made and realizing it was just "close". We watched England lose, and headed home around 1:00.

Not the best picture, it was too dark to get a good one. 

It was a nice, relaxing weekend.  Soon enough another round of craziness will happen! Until then...

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...

I know you all are going to be disappointed, but this post is not going to be about Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Just thought I would create a mini-post today.  It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day here in Nottingham. It is barely reaching 60 degrees, but the sun is out and zero clouds.

I walked around the city centre earlier this morning to pick up a few things, and walked around the City Market Square where it was filled with many different booths with food from around the world. I am hoping to drag Jeff back there later tonight or tomorrow if it is still around to try some fudge, gyros, and other tasty treats. I'll keep you posted.

I have been on a kick to find a perfect route to run around the city. There is a very peaceful area very close to our house that is gorgeous and although hilly, it is a relaxing run.  Today, I stopped mid-run to realize my beautiful surroundings that I am so blessed to be around every single day.  To be honest, most days I take this experience for granted, and I am sure Jeff can say the same thing. But anywho--I stopped to take a picture just to remember how wonderful it is over here and to always try to keep that positive voice in my heading going as it isn't always easy being so far away from loved ones.

 

And another note to leave you on...who thinks it is fair that I have to run with not one key, but 3 large keys? Not cool.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Xx

Corfu 5-Star Hotel ≠ American 5-Star Hotel

Well, we definitely had an interesting Day 1 in Corfu, Greece.

• 1AM: Woke up to drive to London
• 4AM: Arrive at car park and head to airport
• 6AM: Fly to Corfu, Greece
• (7 hour time difference from US, 2 hour time difference from UK)
• 11AM: Head to our resort

As you can tell, the morning really flew by and we were exhausted. We were excited to get unpacked, but were quickly disappointed by the room seeing flaws all over the place. (Warning: the snobs in us are coming out) The problem was by the 5-Star Hotel description we were expecting more of a resort-style feel. Our current room had a few spiders that we had to kill, cobwebs, and dust everywhere. We went straight to the pool to get out of there and a little disappointed in the place. Jeff decided to go and talk to the hotel management. So this happened:

 

So we got this seaside suite instead! Although it still wasn't up to the Mexico or American 5-Star Resorts we have been to or heard about, it definitely changed our moods and we were extremely content again. I mean, no one should have to spend a good amount of money and have spiders crawling on the ceiling. Ew.



The resort had a lot of great amenities: pool,  beach, 4 restaurants, bowling alley, among many other things. We were really risking the weather given the time of year we chose Greece, but we really lucked out! Each day it was at least in the mid-60's, but our last full-day there it had to have been a lot hotter as we were sweating on the beach.

The hotel had an amazing view of the Mediterranean Sea. During some parts of the day, there was a smog effect out into the ocean, so you were unable to see the mountains in the background. As for the beach, it was filled with small pebbles and rocks instead of fine grained sand.

Our first day, we just lounged around the pool enjoying the warm weather. It was nice to get away from the Non-UK, windy, rainy weather. As I type this...it is raining here. 

We were able to enjoy some really great dishes at the restaurants and some really cheap wine! Although, I think Jeff loved his meal so much on Dinner #1 that he ordered the same thing for the rest of our time there. 

We ventured out into the town of Corfu on the second day. It was cloudy and a bit on the colder-side. We walked around, realizing that the city was not in the best condition. It was really interesting to experience a city that wasn't necessarily made for tourists like many other beach cities. One of my favorite experiences of the trip was my fish pedicure. I am not sure how many Bachelor fans there are reading this right now, but it was something very similar to what they did on one of their international dates in Seoul. 

Anyway, there were tiny little fish (without teeth) who would nibble/suck on all the dead skin on my feet. It freaked me out at first, and then quickly began to tickle (especially in between my toes)! I soaked my feet and the fish were hard at work for about 15 minutes. My feet felt fairly smooth and relaxed after it was over. I don't think the fish worked as hard as a person giving a normal pedicure, but it was a really cool once in a lifetime experience. 

After the fish had a great meal, we explored the city a little more. There were not many tourist attractions, so we were just roaming around. Most of the houses and buildings were not in the best condition. There were lots of broken items, stains, and junk on the balconies on most the places we saw.  It was amazing how many people were able to speak English, especially being such a small secluded island. 

We were able to enjoy some street food for lunch: gyros. They were fantastic. I think I could go for another one right about now! We ate in a small little area, filled with pigeons, grabbed some desserts for Mr. Sweet Tooth, and headed back to the resort on the bus. 

 

 

 

The island is pretty neat in the sense that all the buildings are up on the side of mountains. Because of that, we had to take a small tram down to the beach. The beach was much more peaceful, and less windy as well. We spent all day on Saturday laying on the beach, reading, and enjoying the wonderful weather.

We had a wonderful and relaxing long weekend in Greece. Not sure we would go back to the same resort, but I would definitely visit another part of Greece again.

I leave you with a sign that speaks for itself. Do you feel at least a little bad for us?