Wind: An Understatement at the Cliffs of Moher

York has nothing on the Cliffs of Moher in terms of wind.  Thankfully, we didn't blow away when visiting Ireland to see the cliffs.  Jeff and I woke up around 3 AM on Saturday to head to Manchester to hop on a plane to do Ireland in less than 48 hours!  Since only being gone for the weekend, Jeff decided to go light on the packing. All he brought was his toiletry bag, filled to the max...think a little bigger than a tissue box. Oh Jeff.

We arrived at the airport, rented a car, and headed towards the cliffs.  Although the car was an automatic, it drove like a manual.  It didn't have a park setting, so every time Jeff stopped the car had had to put on the emergency break.  Not the smoothest car, but it worked.  Driving was exactly the same as driving in the UK, minus a few things.  Jeff thought the roads were better and he radio was 100x better.  Driving around was not only beautiful but interesting.  The houses were the perfect combination of English houses and American houses.  I wish I would have stopped to take a picture, but didn't think to do so at the time.

We arrived at the cliffs, found a small parking lot and started our journey.  As we were walking towards the edge of the land (~702 feet high), the wind began to pick up.  Jeff and I couldn't stop laughing as the wind was pushing us around all over the place.  We couldn't control our bodies at a few points.  Jeff held on to me a few times so I wouldn't blow away!

Our first look over the edge was nothing short of breathtaking.  Definitely one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. And that is saying a lot, considering how much I loved Dubrovnik, Croatia. The waves were huge, and crashing up to the edge of the cliff.  It was constantly white around the edge of the water, because of all the activity.  We headed alongside the cliffs in hopes to make it to the visitor center which a sign said was about a two and half hour walk.  We thought we would try it.

 Our first view of the cliffs

  Fighting the wind

 Definitely one of the most beautiful views

I'm not sure this post is going to do this experience justice as the pictures and the words I'm typing cannot help you completely relive this incredible experience.  As we walked along the edge of the cliff, there were areas where you felt like you were going to just blow right off the side of them.  Although, we should have looked on Saturday, but I did some research on the wind speed while we were there, and the closest point I could find to the cliffs had 31 MPH wind speeds (Gusts up to 62 MPH).  My guess is it was more given we were near the ocean and up so high.  There are many days where they have to close down the cliffs due to the high speed winds.  A week before our arrival, they closed the cliffs.  I also read that about a month ago, they closed down the Cliffs to visitors because of 93 MPH wind gusts! AH!  On top of the wind gusts, at a few points it was sleeting...so we had that hitting our faces.  I remember yelling, "It feels like little pieces of glass hitting my face."  It hurt really bad!

This video does not do the amount of wind justice, although the audio does!  You can see I am struggling to stand next to Jeff, and it definitely looks like I'm faking it, but I can assure you I'm not!

 Inside the Moher Tower

Jeff was braver than I...he explored the edges a little more closely than I would have liked him to! Doesn't surprise me, as he did the same thing in Edinburgh.

Although it was super windy (super = obviously an understatement), we were really lucky that it was so clear that day.  I have heard, seen, and read about people who have visited on fairly overcast days and their pictures look nothing like the clearness of our pictures.  We were really lucky!  It was really difficult choosing pictures, as each one had its own piece of character and beauty.  So I did my best picking the best pictures.

 Dressing like Eskimos!

 Part of the paths had a rock lining

You can see the craziness of the water here

 Our sad attempts to get the cliffs in the background

Only walked past two other people on the cliffs. We definitely were in the spot that not many tourists go.

Dark clouds were coming in, along with the sleet so we decided to abandon our plan of making it to the visitor's center and head back to the car. I think we spent over 2 hours enjoying the scenery and hike.  By the time we got into our car the sleet had picked up, although the sky didn't look as bad. Great timing. Our Ireland adventure didn't end there, as we had another day and a half to enjoy some new cities.  Look for that post soon!

On to the next adventure...

Wait, What?! It is 2015!

It's the year you've all been waiting for...well most of you, that is.

What a W.I.L.D and crazy year it has been?! I cannot believe we have lived abroad for a year now.  Where in the world did the year of 2014 go? I know that time has flown by, and probably for our loyal readers as well.  I know we have enjoyed all of the amazing trips we have taken, and cannot believe we the amount of countries we've been to:

1. England
2. Ireland
3. Italy (2x)
4. Greece
5. Germany (2x)
6. Czech Republic
7. U.S.A  (2x)
8. France (2x for Sarah)
9. Scotland (2x)
10. Spain
11. Croatia
12. Netherlands
13. Belgium

All in one year...insane! We have been so incredibly lucky to travel to all of these places, and not to mention all of the mini-trips we have taken around England.  We still are checking a few more places off our To-Visit list and like I always say, running out of time to accomplish it all.

Here is a screenshot of our travel schedule.  The colors mean:

• Green = Trips/events around the UK
• Purple = Europe (outside UK)
• Orange = Visitors
• Gray = Chilled in our own city/home
• Blue = U.S.A
• Little Red Triangles = Notes on the event/location/activity

We have most of our big trips planned for our remaining time over here, and we are squeezing the other weekends with last minute local trips. We have decided to slow our trips down the last few months to prepare for the "real world". Maybe this will help ween you all off of my exciting blog posts. haha!

I'll leave you, like I did in my 6 month post, a "Best of..." list.  This time, a breakdown of Jeff's favorite destinations and then mine. Top 6...here we go!

6 + 6 = 12 (In my attempts to be artsy, 12 symbolizes our 12 month-iversary)

We hope you all had an amazing holiday season, and we wish you all the best for the year of 2015!  Hard to believe our adventure is almost over.  Exciting things happening in 2015, as we will be moving back to the states in the upcoming months.  We are already preparing for the big move, as there are many things that will need to be arranged before we get back. I mean a job...do I even know what that is anymore? hehe

I leave you with homework, yes...homework, to check out our travel map to the right of the posts (might only be able to see if you're on a computer not a smartphone).  Pretty crazy to think we accomplished all of that in 2014. I think our bodies might shut down once we move home. Future couch potatoes...

On to the next first 2015 adventure...

Happy New Year from Us in the UK

Welcome to my 100th post! 

A special Thank You to my loyal readers who have read every single one of these posts. That's a lot of reading! It has been fun writing and sharing our adventures with you all.  Only a few more months until the blog comes to a closing, so soak it up...I know I am! And sorry about the backlog of posts, I have had a few "in waiting" so I could get caught up.

After driving back from Belgium on the 31st, we stopped into our hotel to nap and get ready for the night time festivities.  We drove to an Underground station we usually park, and rode into the city centre of London.  We bought tickets to watch the fireworks go off the London Eye (ferris wheel) at midnight to bring in the new year.  This was the first year the Mayor of London decided to do tickets to watch the fireworks. Even though there was crowd control...it was so packed!

We got in line around 6:40, and they began letting people in the embankment area (on the River Thames).  We posted up by at tree....and stood for the next 5 hours.  Not so fun when it was so windy and cold.  Jeff said this event had his four most hatred things: crowds, cold, being around drunk people & not drinking, and waiting. Needless to say, it wasn't the most enjoyable experience...and I definitely wouldn't recommend it to someone next year.

 Our view

 Our loyal tree

Massive amounts of people near the large speakers

Either way, we were able to experience a once in a lifetime event and we were glad we did it.  Well at least one of us...There wasn't any live entertainment, but they had music playing on these large speakers.  A DJ came on the speakers around 9 to get everyone pumped up.  The crowd was very diverse as I heard many different languages being spoken.  Not too many kids, and a variety of moods (some hating every moment and others dancing around like fools).

Obviously, the fireworks went off at midnight.  It was a pretty impressive amount of fireworks that lasted about 10 minutes.  We were able to get a few good shots and video.  The minute the fireworks were done, Queen (Not THE Queen, but the band) came on the speakers live and played as the massive amounts of people headed to the few amount of exits.  100,000 people...enough said.  It took us about an hour and a half to get to our car.  Free public transportation, so everyone was using it.  We had to walk quite a while before finding an Underground station that didn't have loads of people.  We hopped in our car, headed back to our hotel, and were asleep by 3 AM.

 Leading up to the New Year, the London Eye would change colors

 You could see the London Eye perfectly in the beginning. Once the fireworks were in full swing, there was so much smoke it became hard to see.

 

London Eye is fading away with the amount of smoke in the air

Turn your head to the side to see the video the correct way. But hey, it's fireworks...they don't need to be viewed in a certain way!

It was pretty funny to think that by the time we were getting ready to go to bed, our friends and family in the states had not even experienced the New Year.  (Differences: 5 hr= Indiana; 6 hr=Illinois; 8 hr=California).  Our New Year is already off to a great start, as I hope yours is as well. Look out for our 2014 Wrap Up Post in the coming days.

 Not the clearest picture, but this was taken after all the fireworks

 London was really beautiful that night, as the buildings are not always this lit up. If you look closely, Jeff's favorite building, The Shard, had 2015 lit up vertically on the side of it.

On to the next adventure...

Bruges: Filled with More Waffles, Chocolate, Beer, & Fries With Mayo

We headed to Bruges, Belgium on Sunday, December 28th.  We were pretty excited about this trip, as we had friends who traveled to the same spot.  We were looking forward to meeting up with them a few times.  Before we even arrived to the hotel, we saw them walking the streets.  Talk about a small world!  We LOVED our hotel in Bruges, the Crowne Plaza, as we had an amazing view and they upgraded us to a suite!

 View from one of our hotel room windows

We ventured out into the city, to find the Belfry Tower and a giant plaza area where there was yet another Christmas Market.  I have lost count on how many Christmas Markets we have been to at this point.  We walked into a pub to have a couple beers and some great burgers.  We stopped in 2be Beer Wall, which had many different types of beer on tap. Although, I will always think of Belgium having some of the best beer I have ever tasted...I also had one of the worst ones too.  It was cherry flavored and tasted like cough syrup.  But I pushed through and even finished it!

 Belfry Tower

Beer Wall

We were able to walk around the city before meeting up with our friends at a pub and explore the city together at night.  We also went into Dumon's, a great chocolate shop.  Jeff and I just finished the last piece last night...so good! We enjoyed our time with friends, and probably had a little too much fun in Bruges as the beers were very strong!

 The Jo's

 Bruges gang

 Some of the amazing chocolates

The next day, Jeff and I woke up to explore the city more. But first...street waffles for breakfast! We walked through The Beguinage, which used to be known just as a peaceful area, now a monastery.  They had signs in the area that asked for silence.  After walking through this area, we made our way to the edge of the city next to the canals and to visit the windmills.

The monastery

 One of the many windmills

We headed back towards the city centre and explore a few other areas of the city.  We made our way back to the plaza area where I grabbed a plate of fries with mayo as that is a delicacy there in Belgium.  It was pretty good, although maybe a little too much mayo for my liking. Jeff grabbed a snack from the market, some large dish with potatoes and sauces all over it.

A beautiful museum behind us.

Known as the "Best View" in Bruges

Beautiful canals

Next on the list...we grabbed a beer at the Historium Brugge, which had some of the best views of the city.  We timed it right, by accident as the sun was setting and we had a great view! We tried a couple new beers, then met up with our friends again for dinner.  We enjoyed dinner and tried a few pubs afterwards, and then headed home as we were all heading back to England the next day.

 Sunset over the markets and ice skating

 Belfry Tower

Jeff's shrimp pasta with a few mussels on top.

The next day was Jeff's Birthday!  We woke up to climb the Belfry Tower, 366 steps to the top! We made it to the top and were able to hear the bells chime a beautiful little tune.  We finished our time in Bruges grabbing ones last treat...chocolate covered strawberries from Godiva. Yum!

 The Birthday Boy!

View from 366 steps up

Since we had time before our turn on the Euro Tunnel, we went to a coastal town, Blankenberg.  It was only a 25 minute drive, and you could tell this area would be packed in the summer.  The boardwalk was lined with restaurants and shops.  We walked out on the pier, and went down to the beach to put our hands in the water. We have officially touched the North Sea...although it was freezing cold.  It was definitely weird having a coat, boots, gloves, and a hat on at the beach.

 So windy & cold, but definitely worth it!

 I gave Jeff a beach vacation for his birthday...ha!

 

On to the next adventure...

Sugar: Apparently the Only Food Group in Brussels

Hope you all had a great Christmas, celebrating with friends and family.  We definitely were sad that we missed seeing and getting together with our loved ones.  We had a small Christmas together and prepped for our exciting trip to Belgium.

We woke up and headed on the road by 6 AM on the 26th.  It took us about 3 hours to get to the south coast to catch the train via the Euro Tunnel.  It was a crazy experience putting your car on a train, knowing you'll be under the English Channel within minutes.  On our way back to England, I videotaped the experiences, as we weren't as quick to think of doing this the first round. Unfortunately, I was unable to put it on this post because the file size was too large. It was a 30 minute ride to France, then another 2 hours (I think, time change has me all confused) to Brussels.  Jeff did a great job adjusting to being back on the "right" side of the road, as France and Belgium are like us, in America.  It was funny to see our driver's side on the right, and most other cars we passed were on the left, like our cars in America.  We had to get a special driving kit to take with us that had a giant GB (Great Britain) magnet to basically let people to know to watch out for us.  The kit also had other safety based tools inside as well, like a breathalyzer. Ha!

 A few facts about the Chunnel before viewing our video:

• 31.4 miles long
• Was finished in 1994
• Drilled through the bedrock at the bottom of the English Channel
• 10 people were killed during its construction
• It is barely profitable and went bankrupt in 1998

Reminder: The video will only work on computers, not mobile devices

We made it to Brussels, checked into the hotel, and hit the streets pretty soon after.  Brussels was a beautiful and fairly large metropolitan city as there were many skyscrapers.  But Brussels also offered the European feel, with many older buildings filled with history.  We didn't really have much of an agenda other than trying all the new beer, chocolates, and our personal favorite...waffles.  They had a couple Christmas Markets set up, which were neat, but so crowded.  We popped into a beautiful church before heading on our way around the city.

We went to a place that made my family, especially my brother-in-law so jealous. Wait for it...Chi-Chi's.  Anyone that knows my family knows we cannot get enough of Mexican food, and growing up we always went there! So, I was a little nervous to eat there as they closed down all of the USA Chi-Chi's because of a Hepatitis outbreak.  There are still many open in China and other European countries.  Definitely wasn't the best food, and no free chips & salsa...but glad we gave it one last go.

We ended our night, walking around the city seeing all of the sights.  The famous Manneken Pis, which is this little fountain of a bronze boy who is peeing into the fountain base.  Not sure how to word this one and still be proper...as the water comes out of, well...you know.  He also has an extensive wardrobe with hundreds of different outfits.  Located around the fountain were all of the famous chocolate shops. We even stopped in for a few to eat later.  Jeff and I also watched a bakery make all of their different goodies, which was fun to see the process.  We ended our night with a street waffle. IT. WAS. AMAZING.  You know we eat a lot when I have a Brussels folder on my computer labeled "Food & Drink".

 Manneken Pis in his little outfit urinating into the fountain

 Even the chocolate shops made their own little statues

Waffles!

The next morning we woke up and headed to this large garden/park.  On the map it looked massive with lots of fountains and garden areas. To our surprise it was a bunch of dead plants, and ill-kept grounds.  We walked through anyway, as the palace was on the opposite side.  We snapped a few photos, and headed to eat breakfast at a cute little cafe nearby.

 You can see how dreary the park looked.

 The palace.  We could not go in, which seemed to be a theme in Brussels.

Mont des Arts

At this point, the crazy weather began as it started to rain and then...SNOW! It was so exciting to see snow, as we had not seen it in a year. Downside, it was freezing cold walking around the city.  We attempted to look for these comic strips on the side of the buildings, but were pretty unsuccessful so we stopped into a pub to have a couple beers to warm up.  We grabbed lunch soon after, and then explored later that night.

 Warming up!

 Town Hall

 Beautiful when lit up. Check out the video below where they created a light show with music.

You'll have to turn your head to the side to view, as I don't know how to change it!

 Steamed milk with a dark chocolate piece of chocolate to mix in to make...Hot Chocolate! 

Sooo good!

 Snow!

 Ice skating.

We woke up the next morning to head to our next destination, although we had some troubles getting out of the parking garage.  For about 20 minutes we thought our car was locked in the garage, as if it was only open on the weekdays.  We ended up learning that 2 out of the 3 garage doors were closed, so we finally made our way into the garage...phew!


On to the next adventure...