London of Love

Celebrating 10 years of marriage in London , England 

London , England has probably been the city we have visited the most in our 8 years living overseas.  For one we have family that live outside of the city and for two each time we visit this wonderful city it feels like we are seeing it for the first time.  There is so much to do and certainly something for everyone.  

So for this trip we started with a...........6am flight into Birmingham , England 2 1/2 hours by train to London Paddington and 7 minute tube ride to Victoria....the end.  Ahh......just kidding! I literally ran dragging my luggage and my husband out of the station to gawk at the HUGE sign right outside of the station.  I couldn't believe it I was hours away from being inside the Apollo Victoria theater.  After about 10minutes Justin was finally able to pry me away so we could search for our hotel.  At check in we were upgraded rooms for "free" and told that every evening from 4-6pm they offered local free wine, cheese, meat, bread and jelly tasting for all guests.  Talk about a great start to an exciting day. 

 We dropped our bags off and headed out on foot to explore the famous Portobello Road.  It as neat to see but honestly not our kind of place.  Don't get me wrong Justin and I LOVE antiques and finding great deals but these were antique shops that know tourists come from all over and the prices show.  We are more of the rummage at a yard sale, thrift store or hole in the wall little shop to find practically priced treasurers.  Now, I have heard that on the weekends Portobello Road has a different type of atmosphere but for during the week our experience is definitely something to keep in mind.  My friend Miranda is Sicilian and while walking on Portobello Road we saw this super cute "authentic sicilian pizza shop" so we had to stop.  We shot a few pictures and grabbed a pizza to go. 

Inside the Sicilian Pizzeria on Portobello Road

The car inside the window is what grabbed our attention!  

 Throughout the day we  came upon several hole in the wall shops, an open air flea market where we found an old clock, a super neat mason stamp and a few other odds and ends.  We also stumbled upon a very posh store called Fortnum & Masons....did I mention my now favorite store in London! They have everything, teas, linens, groceries, dishes, home decor, chandeliers and oh ya today they were having an in house expo where they offered free tasting of EVERYTHING!!!!!!!  We got to the "kitchen area" and were sat down for free tea and given 3 different desserts of our choosing.  All prepared by master pastery chefs all in return for get this....OUR opinions of which desserts we liked the best.  This eventually will be a place where they will offer cooking classes and sell drinks and desserts but we can now say that we played a role in helping Fortnum & Masons choose desserts to sell throughout the year.  Pssst...the Victoria Sponge Cake is AWESOME!!!!   

My favorite Victoria Sponge Cake & Earl Grey tea...delicious!

Menu for the day

After a full sweet dessert & tea time we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our exhilarating evening which was to include my dream theater production and a romantic wine & cheese complimentary hotel snack in the restaurant area.  

A dream come true!!! 

Something has changed within me

Something is not the same

I'm through with playing by

The rules of someone else's game

Too late for second-guessing

Too late to go back to sleep

It's time to trust my instincts

Close my eyes

And leap...

(Lyrics from the song Defying gravity from the screen play WICKED)

WICKED is my all time favorite screen play and I was honoured to be in the 17th row from the very front of the stage on January 25,2013 with the love of my life for our 10 year anniversary.  These 10 lines above are beautifully written and I've come back to throughout the years.  For me when I've come to a cross roads I just simply have to think back to them...Close my eyes And leap.  If I fall, I've learned a hard lesson but at least I tried and have no regrets! Like this blog, I took a leap of faith that someone out there might enjoy to hear about our traveling adventures and possibly take away a tip or two for their on travels.  

As always, from the bottom of my heart I"d like to Thank You for following my blog and wish you a wonderfully blessed day!

Beverly

SURPRISE....we are in Belgium

Justin and I enjoying the Belgium Pub!  

Good Afternoon from Ghent , Belgium!  This morning when we woke up at 4am! Our intentions were to drive to Belgium to a fleamarket and come straight back.  Little did we know we would end up doing a 3 country tour in a day! Yup, that's generally how we travel.  I am very organized: lunches/snacks...gas station stops, mapquest directions incase gps fails, things to do in the city we are going on, things to see along the way and back home again. Hahaha....it's great to have a plan & then throw it out the window!

    Our first stop was Tongeren , Belgium.  Here every sunday of the year you will find an open air flea market with all styles of sellers.  If you have  keen eye and savvy negotiation skills this place will be your playground!  Today we walked away with paint, wax, wine barrel, dishes, beer & bar decor (the hubby is building his own in house bar) linens & my 10year anniversary ring gift!  At the fleamarket they have an indoor part with bathrooms and a small restaurant so we stopped for snacks & cappuccino and then headed back to the car.

     Our second stop was Brussels.  Today the weather has been quite chilly so most of our touring was from inside the car.  I do have to say it is quite a vast city!  Something maybe if a festival is going on we will come back to visit more in depth.  For now, we drove on to our favorite place in Belgium.......

Ghent, Belgium!  We have been here 3 times.  The first time I was super ill and spent the whole time inside the room of the Ibis hotel.  The 2nd time we got a chance to experience the incredible 10 day festival where Ghents shine! Bands perform right over the canals as everyone sings, dances and parties.   I love the cobblestone streets, the flemish influences & the staggering cafes all throughout the city.  My husband loves the BEER & the Gravensteen Castle!  Together we LOVE the sunday flea market!!!! What can we say we come from families of bargain shoppers & antique dealers...it's only natural that we acquired those same interests and now have them magnified as husband and wife.  You could easily call us a "junking powerhouse couple" LOL!!!! We love to buy, re-purpose/upcycle.  Today, we didn't end up reaching the city until around 3 so we missed the flea market but had plenty of time to check out the local specialty shops.  We got lost for hours in shops that ONLY sell things that are made and sold in Ghent.  A few worth mentioning were: A shop that sold  home made soap , a "frilly bakery" that created the most amazing cupcakes and an upbeat pub that filled in with college students just wanting to unwind and have a good time.  

Each time we visit Ghent there is always something new to see and it hasn't been spoiled by a bunch of tourists flooding in and causing prices to rise.  Its the perfect weekend getaway being only 40minutes from the ocean, the locals are super friendly and from our little village in Germany a 4hour drive tops! 

Below you will find pictures from our trip to Belguim! Thanks so much for following my blog and have a great day! 

                                                                        Beverly

Brussels , Belgium

Ghent , Belgium All home made products made at this bakery <3 

Local  selling Ghent specialty nuts 

Gravensteen Castle in Ghent , Belgium .  We love how its right in the city, not far away and it's a lot bigger than it looks in this picture.  Definitely a place worth visiting 

Our friends Shauna & Steven loving Ghent! 

Just one of many beautiful canals that run all throughout Ghent ,  Belgium

Deep in the heart of Dublin, Ireland

Slainte from Ireland....Dublin to be exact!  Justin and I went on a 7 day anniversary vacation 2 of which we spent in beautiful Ireland.  Last year March we visited the luscious country village of Dingle where everyone was so friendly and Fungie the dolphin was eager to greet!  So Dublin definitely had some competition.  I dare say Ireland continues to be one of our top vacation destinations!  From relaxed seaside country villages to the lively Temple Bar streets.....Ireland has yet to expose us to an unfriendly Irishman!  Day 1: We arrived on our RyanAir flight with only 2 black military backpack carry-ons & 2 compact empty duffle bags for check in later in our trip.  Justin being the savvy traveler told me I could bring whatever I wanted......as long as I could carry it! Ekkkk.....anyone who know's me knows that I like to pack my selection of shoes, extra clothes and a few other odds and ends, because you just never know exactly what you will need on a trip!  Though this trip has me rolling & rubber banding my clothes, wearing hiking boots/only bringing a pair of flats, gosh I felt like I was back in Girl Scouts...lol.  

We stayed at the Gogarty Hostel Temple Bar so the Green Bus was the way to go for only 12Euro total & had us dropped off only 2 blocks from the hostel!  The cobblestone streets & traditional irish tunes playing that lead us to the hostel gave me butterflies & then to see the inside of this quirky place we were down right beyond estatic.  The inside of the rooms were basic, but lets face it we were in the heart of Dublin..temple bar street where all the IT bars are & that's where we planned to spend our evenings!  We dropped our bags and dinned at the Gogartys Restaurant and then hit the town.  Bright lights, buzzing irish music escaping the bar doors that lined the streets, laughter and dancing were a great end to our first day in Dublin.
Day 2: We were up early ate our complimentary breakfast & zipped over to Trinity University & library to see the Book of Kells & score some Uni gear.  I was completely emerged and also learned an interesting fact that I did not find on the internet.  While waiting to get in several professors stopped to have a bit of a chat with us.  One of the gentleman said," you must be here to see the book of kells." We responded with, "yes sir".  He smiled and said while you are on the second floor take note 2 things: 1 part of the Harry Potter film was supposed to be filmed there and 2 HRH the Queen toured and walked up there for a visit last year! So if you get the chance to visit, keep this bit of information in your back pocket :) 

Dublin Castle we walked by and took a few pictures, during this time of year part of it was closed so we opted to continue on to Christ Church where one of my FAVORITE shows The Tudors was filmed & housed the costumes!  It did cost to get in but the gorgeous architecture & of course the catacombs were worth the fee! While walking amongst the locals we came across a few hidden shops and open air markets full of treasures!!!! Justin and I love to bargain & antique shop and this place offered both.  We came across several Irish beer glasses, a copper pot, bar decor and linens.  St. Patricks Cathedral is definitely more than meets the eye.  We met the sweetest father who was pleased to explain why his church was such a blessing to visit and was much more than a touristy place.  It was such an honour to get to speak with him and both of us being Roman Catholic stopped and prayed for a bit.  It was very moving to be in this church filled with all its love and history.  

By now it was about 1pm and our tummy's began to scream at us!  We decided to just stop into one of the local convenient stores & grabbed a healthy lunch and trekked to the Guiness Brewery!!!!  Now right about now, I can easily imagine that 1990's Tim the Tool Man Taylor Grunt coming from our beer lovers...why you ask?  Because that's exactly the sound that came from my dear sweet husband as we rounded the corner and saw the Guiness Storehouse!!!!!  It's a bit pricey....however, it's one of those things you just HAVE to do.  In fact, if I myself had not gone that day, I'd still be guilty of squinting my nose and detesting the taste of Guiness.  After taking the tour I learned 3 important things: 1 you must have a guiness properly poured/served at 6degrees otherwise your Guiness will taste either very bitter or very sweet 2.  You can not buy any Guiness at the factory to drink on the spot and 3. I'm definitely not a fan of dark chocolate, however Guiness chocolate is FAN-FREAKIN'-TASTIC!!!!!!!!  Last but not least we decided to take an interesting way to the JAMESON factory.............by push taxi! Ahhh life is never a dull moment for us, the taxi driver had accidentally left his lights on so when we got ready to go the car would not start, so Justin and another taxi driver helped push the taxi to get it to turn over.  The poor guy was so embarrassed but after a few quirky jokes from the hubster it was all laughs and talking about the drivers "ugly family saddle ring heirloom" (his words not ours).  He was right, it was pure gold, huge and a saddle....Ah well, about 10minutes later we said our goodbyes to our new friend and went into the Jameson Factory.  I have to say this was my favorite!  I love Jameson so I am a bit bias but from the guy at the bar inside who had no problem serving me a jameson and coke but insisted on keeping them separate to serve it to me to the hilarious tour guide this place was a blast!  
Hope you enjoy our pictures below as much as we enjoyed our 2 day in Dublin, Ireland.  Thank you so much for following my blog!

Beverly 

Justin with the awesome & hilarious TEMPLE BAR bartender!!!!! He was even cool enough to let Justin behind the bar and take tons of pictures....SLAINTE!

Tradfest was going on while we were there! Awesome experience

Justin mapping out our course for the day!

Harry Potter Rag Week Quiz Night Party....I'M IN!