We went to Europe.
We had a lot to celebrate this year (one year of marriage, five years together, and 30 years for Gar!), and in honor of continuing the tradition of a yearly vacation to a place we've never been, we hit the UK, France, and Italy. I have been before, but Garrett had not. It was a fantastic trip, SO tiring, but SO worth the effort to do all the touristy things. Our days were very packed, with give or take, four days in each place, we wanted to get our time and money's worth. We tried to do all the usual things you'd do in these cool cities, plus a few add-on day trips to places that I'd never been, which were so fun.
It's annoying what I'm about to say, but come on, we're all a little vain sometimes!
I look so raggedy and homely in most of these pictures. I didn't wear much make-up and hardly looked put together. I say this because I hate looking like a tourist, and that is exactly what I looked like. When I go to foreign places, I have the insecurity of not blending in; I hate being taken advantage of because I'm a visitor. Even though, ironically, we are the tourists that repeatedly try to pronounce foreign words; much to the annoyance of the locals who speak English anyway. Do as the locals do, right? Though the weather was beautiful everywhere we went (it only rained once our whole trip!) it was cool in London, freezing in France, and scorching in Rome. I brought mostly Summer clothes, so I improvised, hence my appearance. OK, that's all.
I hate to bore you with conventional photos of landmarks that you could Google, but...
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| Peetah! Cute Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park. |
We arrived at 6:30 a.m. and without a nap, went to Buckingham Palace a few hours later. I was SO incredibly tired, I was on the verge of tears, because that's what I do when I'm tired! Act bratty and cry! Seriously though, just ask Garrett. He probably wanted to punch me.
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| Doesn't this look like the Windows screen saver?!? |
Stonehenge was a place I'd never been to and I loved it. Kind of creepy, super awesome and mysterious. Check out those clouds!
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Roman Baths and Bath Abbey in Bath, UK. Bath. Bath. Bath. Silly name.
We went to Paris by train via the Chunnel! Sadly, no pictures. Guys, it's just a dark tunnel and you don't even know when you're going through it. Lame. |
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| Very dramatic Notre Dame, Paris |
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| Top of Notre Dame |
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| Not Quasimodo going into the bell tower-- just Gar Bear! |
We went on a night cruise on the River Seine. For some reason, Gar and I were in weird moods and willing to take silly pictures (it takes this special mood for Garrett to pose in pictures, so I took advantage). The tour was narrated in your respective language--that's the 90s cell phone-thing we are holding.
Ask me about one of my favorite places in the world and I will say Versaille. I am captivated by the life of Marie Antoinette and oddly most of the French history that I know about has to do with King Louis XIV and ballet (I was a ballet major at one point, surprise!) Anyhow, I LOVE Versaille and this time I got to go out to the Grand and Petite Trianons and the Queen's Hamlet! We ditched our tour group after the palace tour and spent the better half of the day in the gardens exploring. I was impressed, again, to say the least.
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| So cold, I was wearing Gar's pull-over. |
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| Queen's Hamlet. It was magical. |
Ok, so look at these pumpkins...cute, right?! Well I took this photo and laughed because those workers had containers full of pumpkins and were
placing them in the garden. So, no, they didn't grow there. Fakers!
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| Nice try, guys. |
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| Donkeh! |
We went to Mont Saint Michele in Normandy. It was one-of-a-kind. An impromptu side trip, it was a long drive through the French country side that reminded me how awesome I have it to live in modern times. I didn't take that picture, btw.
Stonehenge was a place I'd never been to and I loved it. Kind of creepy, super awesome and mysterious. Check out those clouds! 
