London: Day 1

We did SO much in London that I'm having a hard time breaking down our visit into cohesive posts, so instead, I'll do the classic day-by-day reporting style.

We flew out of Germany on Thursday morning and landed in a somewhat cloudy London. After checking-in to the hotel we wasted NO time in finding the closest pub for some delicious fish and chips:

Fish and chips complete, we headed over to Buckingham Palace to check out the Queen's digs. On our way we took a short cut through Green Park:



We reached the Palace and admired the exterior of the Palace before we headed around the back to the entrance for the Tour of the State Rooms. Buckingham Palace is open for the public in August and September of each year when the Queen is in Scotland. Our visit coincided perfectly! Unfortunately there was no photography allowed inside of the Palace, but here are our shots from the exterior, starting with the classic guard photos:




The Tour led us through about 10 different rooms that were all quite magnificent. Think: huge rooms, tall ceilings, luxurious drapery, perfectly fluffed pillows, and amazing art. Once the tour was complete we headed back to the hotel (in the rain) for a little R & R before heading back out to another local pub for beers and snacks. We thoroughly enjoyed our first day in London!

Up next: Day 2 (Churchill's War Rooms, the London Bridge, Parliament, Westminster Abbey,
and the London Eye)

London aka FUN-don!

We're back from an awesomely fun trip to London.
Loads and loads of photos to sort through...more tomorrow!

"You sound like you're from London!"

That's right ladies and gentlemen...we'll be bouncing around London for the next few days. Can't wait to share our stories and pictures!

Photo Credit

Cheerio!

PS - There's a little London souvenir waiting for the first person to correctly name which movie the quote in the post title comes from...

Toby Thursday

Our little goofball is growing like a weed! Here are some photos and fun facts:

-We think Toby is starting to actually enjoy taking baths!

-Toby made two new friends, Caleb and Cassie. A yellow and a chocolate lab.



-Toby may be part cat. He loves to stalk his ball when we throw it for him.

-After he plays with his new friends he sleeps for almost an entire day. Seriously.

-Christmas came early for Toby...he got his two front teeth!

-He enjoys eating weeds and chasing leaves.

We love our not-so-little pup!

Blumen

Every night we take Toby on his evening walk before bed. During the summer (although it feels more like autumn lately) it's a wonderful time to enjoy some fresh air and take in the sunset. It's also a great time to take some pictures of the beautiful blooms that we find around the neighborhood. Here are three of my favorites:

We've greatly enjoyed the happy and bright summer colors...
we can't wait to see what fall brings us.

Photo Essay: Friday Night Biergarten

(That's not excessive eye make-up, but rather my (almost healed!) bruise and stitches).

We Now Have a Zebra

Last week we received a fun care package in the mail.
Inside was our crazy new Zebra tree topper!

We love our Zebra for a few reasons:
-it was handmade by our darling niece, Alexa
-it is recycled art (Go Earth!)
-it adds pizzazz and spunk to our rather ho-hum hotel room decor

Thanks so much for our Zebra, Alexa!

PS - I can't find the yellow winking eye, E. I think it fell off en route.

Belgium: Food & Drink

Our favorite part about Belgium was the amazing food and drink (shocker!). Right off the bat we found a cute outdoor restaurant that served up steaming buckets of mussels:

They were SO good that Brian even wanted a picture with his new mollusk friends:



We washed down the delicious little mussels with a local favorite, Kriek, also known as Lambic Cherry beer. Not huge fans of flavored beer, we were a little leary, but after our first sip we were hooked! Kriek is very refreshing and not nearly as sweet as you would think. It has a nice crisp cherry flavor and goes down smooth!

Our favorite brand was the Mort Subite Kriek, which translates to Sudden Death. Another delightful find was Hoegaarden in a can:

Our local grocery store sold individual beers so we were able to try a ton of the Belgian beers.

One thing we have learned over here is that Europeans love and we mean LOOOOVE their kebaps (basically what we would call gyros). More so than any other city we've seen, Brussels is crazy for their kebaps and Greek food. We found Greek Town in Brussels (this whole street was lined with different Greek restaurants):

And we indulged! Here's my fantastic falafel pita:

And of course, you cannot go to Belgium without experiencing the bliss that is a Belgian waffle. Not a breakfast food, but a sinfully sweet street food, waffles are topped with anything and everything you can imagine: chocolate, whipped cream, strawberries, ice cream, bananas, sprinkles, etc. Our first night in town I opted for the traditional and life-changing chocolate waffle:

They put some sort of sugar on the waffles so that when they cook the waffles get a crunchy, caramelized outer crust. Yuuuuu-uuuum!

We thoroughly enjoyed our long weekend in Belgium and would highly recommend a visit there if you ever have the chance.


If you'd like to view all of our photos from our visit from Belgium, please click on this link:

Belgium Photos

Belgium: Bruges & a Birthday!

On Sunday we drove from Brussels to Bruges for a fun little day trip. The weather was ridiculously windy, but we still fell in love with Bruges. Here are some shots walking in to the heart of Bruges:

We found the main town square:



We also found the Bruges Belfort (belfry) that was made so famous from the movie In Bruges (which, incidentally, if you haven't seen, you really should):

I even found my very own Tintin and Snowy!



We learned this trip that Brian's favorite comic from childhood, Tintin, was created by a Belgian artist.

Next we enjoyed a windy, but delicious lunch in the town square while someone took a snooze:

After that we walked up and down the charming streets of Bruges and sampled some fantastic Belgian chocolate. Swoon! As we made our way back to the car, we stumbled upon one of the many enchanting canals that surround Bruges:



Our fun day in Bruges reinforced our growing love of Belgium.

Also...

We want to send warm Happy Birthday wishes to our awesome sister, Kristen!

Hope you have a fantastic celebration Down Under!
Love - B & C

Up next: Food & Drink