A vacation... From blogging

Hi readers (all 4 of you)! I'm sure you have noticed I haven't been able to write lately about what far off places I hope and dream for but I have been oh so busy with the oh so boring day to day life. I'm currently planning my wedding. The only thing set for sure is the date, October 19th, 2012 and the dress, of course!

Now, you must be wondering where my next trip shall be so I will leave you with a few previews for some very soon places:

December 2011 - Disneyland with my maid of honor, future husband, and bridesmaid/cousin.

July 2012 - Costa Rica with Lauren! Our last fling together before I tie the knot ( also she is the maid of honor mentioned above).

September 2012 - bachelorette party in Vegas!

October 2012 - wedding and honeymoon: destination to be named soon!

Our last day in foggy London town

Our last day of vacation!

The last day has come. It feels like we havebeen gone for months! This trip has brought us closer than ever and I'm so happy I got to take this trip with my best friend and now fiancé. Ryan is very excited to go home to start planning this wedding and so am I.

Around 11 am we had our East London private walking tour which took us to many places around London with hidden history and stories. We got to see the place where Lady Jane Grey was tried before taken to London Tower. we saw the church where "Amazing Grace" was written and first performed. The pastor wrote it after his separation from the slave trade and how he saw the error of is ways. The London fire of 1666 was so fascinating, we were told all about it while standing by the Monument and looking over Pudding Lane. The coolest thing was learning about the Blitz and seeing this shell of a church that survived. The walls are still standing and where the inside would be is this beautiful garden with a small fountain and gold colored ivy climbing the walls. With all of the stories we heard about London, they all had one thing in common: London keeps going. "keep calm and carry on" was actually true. Even during the daily bombing from Germany, people kept going to work and school. In fact, there was a huge baby boom in that time. It goes to show the human spirit will rise to the occasion.

Now, what better way to end our time in London other than seeing a show? We saw the Lion King which was incredible! Ryan and I were sitting on the edge of our seats the entire time. The singing was dead on, the sets were enchanting and the best part, the British accents! Haha. This trip was so amazing. I am so happy to have a story I can tell my grandkids about the time we got engaged and got to travel around Europe. I feel like we have gotten even closer, if that's possible!

Dublin day

Dublin day

At 4am my alarm starts blaring, we get ready and head to the tube by 5am. We sit at the tube until 6 am. Our flight is at 6:50. You do the math. So, we ended up on the flight an hour after and arrived in Ireland around 9am. The flight was short which was nice and we were half awake the whole time so it seemed to fly by. Pardon the pun. Dublin was super gloomy, just as we thought it might be but we were very excited for two reasons: Guinness and the prison.

The Guinness factory has been something that Ryan had been talking about for months. It is about 7 stories high and each floor shows you a different part of the brewing process. Ryan was happy because he got two free pints out of it! At the top of the whole factory is the gravity bar with a 360 degree view of the top of the city and the most beautiful part is the view of the Wicklow mountains peaking in between the fog and clear sky. We (he) finished the pints and made our way to the famous prison in Dublin. This prison is tied to so many different eras of Irish history, stuff I never knew I a thing about. The tour guide is very prideful of his country's past so his stories were very heartfelt.

The day was long and cold, but fun at the same time. We made it back to our hotel in London around midnight, and after a late dinner fell right to sleep.

Day 3 in London

Day 3 in London

Today was a completely free day, the only thing on the schedule was our high tea at 1pm so we basically had our pick of what to do. Around 8 am we watched the sun come up over Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, the orange and yellow trees where so beautiful I feel like I was in a romantic comedy! Kensington palace in undergoing huge renovations right now but we could still see the beautiful gate and part of the back where there is a maze and some cool gardens. Since we were so close, we went to the Natural History Museum (best part is, it's free!). This was Ryan's favorite thing. He was like a little boy, it was so adorable. We saw huge dinosaurs, ancient fossils, whales, wooly mammoths and much more. I felt so awful telling him it was time to leave "the best museum ever" but we had to. I recommend this place because it has so much to see it is totally worth it and the building is so spectacular!

High tea was at Fortnum and Mason in Picadilly Circus. They pretty much needed to roll us out of there! We started with eggs benedict over smoked salmon for me, and a cheese soufflé for Ryan followed by a fantasia like flow of scones, madalines, cakes, and cookies. The plain scones are so good, nothing like I have ever tried. You can eat as much as you want so Ryan and I would take a bite, sit for a few minutes, take a bite, etc. We didn't want to get full too soon! A small part of us liked to pretend we were on "Top Chef: Just Desserts" with the tiny little cakes. When the disgusting display of gluttony was over, we waddled I mean walked to St. James Park to see Buckingham Palace during the day.

The parks are everywhere it feels like New York, just less crowded. Maybe that is why I love London so much. Another great free museum is the National Gallery in Trafalgar square which we saw after the tea. Renoir, Van Gogh, and Monet galore! It was really cool to see so many amazing paintings in one room. I'm glad we took the time to go see it. It was such a long day that we ended with a walk down Embankment pier with a cool view of the London eye and Big Ben, then a quick trip to see the London Bridge and Tower Bridge. Now we are back getting everything ready for our day trip to Dublin tomorrow. We have to be up at 4am, ugh!

Castles, Shakespeare, and Harry Potter!

Our second day in England: castles, Shakespeare, and Harry potter!

We woke up very very early and headed to the coach station for our day trip to Warwick castle, Shakespeare's birthplace, and Oxford. The bus ride was awesome because we pretty much had it to ourselves. We got to Warwick just as the sky had cleared and got a great view with all of the beautiful fall colored trees. The first place we looked at were all of the state apartments which were unreal. So beautiful and frozen in time that I felt like it was the actual 1500's. My favorite room was called the Blue Room and almost looked like something Marie Antoinette would have died over! I can't wait to post those pictures. Another cool room was one dedicated to Henry the 8th, and if you know my obsession...I was a little more than excited to see it. They had wax figures of him and all 6 wives: divorced, beheaded, died, divided, beheaded, survived.

The gardens at Warwick are so different than anything we have seen before. Understated but gorgeous nonetheless. The whole castle has peacocks running around and an exhibit with many different owls, a bald eagle, and a hawk. Very cool! It was so cute because a school trip was there and all of the little girls were dressed like princesses! It got us talking a lot about kids.

The next stop was a tourist trap uh I mean, Shakespeare's birth place. Don't get me wrong, the town was charming and the sandwiches were super good and cheap but basically we went all the way out there to see some room he was born in. Eh.

We drove for another hour through the Cotswolds which are a type of house in the small mountain range in England. The name refers to the roof that they all have and by law, they have to keep them a certain way. To repair your roof on one of those houses cost 60,000 pounds! Ouch! When we arrived to Oxford, we went straight to the College of Christ Church which was home to the man who wrote Alice in Wonderland. In fact, all over the college they have small references to it and how he came up with the characters. The white rabbit was based on the dean who would sneak out a secret passage from the dining hall. Alice was his daughter, and the cat was hers who liked to sun bathe by the library. We got to see the stairs they used for filming in Harry Potter along with the great dining hall. It is so small in person! I guess to film there they would have had to remove the roof, so they made a replica with a little change...four tables instead of three.

It was such an exhausting day but so fun and such a great way to see more than must London! Ryan loved the castle and I of course loved Oxford. Especially after I got to see the brick where J.K. Rowling got the inspiration for the lighting bolt scar!

Lost in London

Lost in London

Ryan and I have lost each other. Not kidding. I got in one tube, and he got stuck on the platform. I rode up and back searching, paging at every stop, crying, more crying, until the security man suggests I call the hotel. But let me make this clear, I have everything. The passports, the wallets, the phone, the METRO cards. Ryan doesn't have anything on him but a suitcase. I even have the tube directions to the hotel in my pocket. So when he suggests this, I'm thinking that is a very far fetched idea that he would have a clue where to go. So I call.

"I *sob* lost my fiancé. *sob* my name is Kristin and we have a reservation for tonight"

"yes Kristin, he called just a little it ago and told me to tell you to meet him here"

"he what?! Really? he is so smart! *soft cry*"

So here I am, sitting. Wishin and hopin. Sitting with my bags and a glass of red wine and desperately searching out of the lobby window for my lost Ryan. Here he is! Finally! Apparently I had written the name of the hotel on a paper that was in his backpack. Just the name. He had to ask someone to use a phone a d found his way here. After a while of catching up and telling each other how much we loved each other, it was time to go to Sherlock Holmes pub where Ryan got his real yorkshire puddings and we shared a vegetable Wellington.

We wandered around to see Big Ben, Westminster abbey, parliament, the London eye, and Buckingham palace. Tomorrow we leave for warwick castle, Oxford, and to tour where Shakespeare lived. After today we are so drained!