Show and Tell Tuesday

To start off, Happy Anniversary to Dave!  We got married in 2009 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I am grateful everyday to have Dave as my partner in life but also glad to have our special anniversary day to remember our wedding day and other happy times.  There are challenges, of course, but we are in this together!

From our wedding (we haven't aged a day!)

;)

Alright, and now to our regularly scheduled program, today I'm linking up with Andrea for Show and Tell Tuesday.

Today's topic is Travelogues.  It is an easy post for me because like any good blogger, I've already written posts about our travels so I'll just share the links below.  I love all of our trips and although the topic today said to talk about bad trips too, I really can't think of any.  If I'm travelling, I'm happy.

Since it is our anniversary today I will start with our honeymoon when we went to Rome, Venice, Interlaken (Switzerland), and Paris.  

For our first anniversary we travelled to London and Dublin. 

After E was born, before I went back to work, we hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru.

We took a family vacation to Barcelona when E was three (turning four that month).

After Q was born we spent a beautiful week in Jamaica.  I also did a post that was a review of our resort here.

I see that my first statement was not exactly accurate, I have not written about our trip to London on this blog before so I will do so now.  We travelled there in 2010.  It is fitting to do this now because I have been watching a lot of British things lately and reminiscing about our trip.  It is a fabulous city. 

Funny story to start off, we were flying out of Toronto on Friday night but on Thursday night I ate something bad so I had food poisoning and was up sick all night on Thursday and into Friday.  I hadn't really packed and I had been planning to work on Friday morning but instead I was too sick and really struggled to get ready for our trip and make it to the airport.  When we got there, I tried eating something but really just wanted to sleep. I went to lie down on the floor by the windows near our gate and Dave stayed at the bar to drink a few beers and watch hockey playoffs.  I fell asleep and the next thing I knew he was shaking me awake saying our plane was boarding and we had to go.  We were almost the last people on the plane.  They called boarding but Dave didn't hear until the final call and then rushed to our gate, thinking I would meet him there, but of course I was asleep and didn't hear the boarding call.  Luckily he knew where I was and grabbed me so we could get on the plane.  I think the gate agents were a little concerned because I looked so terrible and was only half awake and this guy was dragging me on board the plane.  But it all turned out okay, although it could have been a disaster. 

So we arrived the next morning, a Saturday, and checked into our hotel.  We stayed at Ibis London City, a budget hotel, but more than adequate for our needs.   This was really before a lot of blogs and tripadvisor and stuff but I did try to do some research about where to eat and what to see, and one of them was the Borough Market which was also very close to our hotel.  I was still recovering from my food poisoning so I was unable to enjoy the raclette on potatoes, but I did get fish and chips. 

We decided to do The Original Tour bus tour to start us off.  We knew we would be tired and this would be a good way to get a sense of the city without too much walking.  

Trafalgar Square

Our friends were living in London at the time and we met Jen for supper that night.  We went to an Argentinian Steak House and although I enjoyed my meal, I remember still not feeling great and missing out on really enjoying the wine and food.   After dinner we went to a pub and I tried Pimms (I wasn't really a fan).

Hey, who's that good looking guy?

The next morning we hopped back on the bus because the tickets were good for 24 hours.   We got off at Buckingham Palace to see the sights there.  

(that's Westminister Abbey in the background; this was one place we did not get to see)

Our bus tour ticket included a boat tour and we enjoyed a trip on the River Thames with our guide telling us lots of interesting tidbits, especially from during World War 2, my favourite!

Tower of London from the water

Hanging out in Trafalgar Square

Out for Dinner

The next day was busy. We took the train to Salisbury and then a bus to see Stonehenge.  This was something Dave really wanted to do and I was happy to oblige. I like getting outside of the city to see what the surrounding area is like. It was a beautiful day (side note, we had outstanding weather in London the entire time we were there, and we had to buy sunscreen).  We rented the audio guide for the Stonehenge tour, the take away from that is they have no idea where these stones came from or why they were built like they were.

We had the opportunity to stop at another ruin, Old Sarum, the site of the earliest settlement in the area.  Years later when we went to Machu Picchu, it reminded me of this place. 

Outline of the old cathedral.

View of the current town of Salisbury with the "new" cathedral in the middle.  Construction on this new building started in 1220.  If you've read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, this was the cathedral on which his story is based.  I wish we had planned to spend more time in this village but we had to get back to London because we planned to do the Tower of London that same day.

Back in London for the Tower tour.  So much history, we could have spent the entire day here instead of just part of the afternoon. Wakefield was my grandmother's maiden name, so we had to get a photo of this.

Dinner photos

The next morning we went to St. Paul's Cathedral (where Diana and Charles got married).  It was beautiful of course.  This time I braved the stairs to the top of the dome (unlike at the Vatican when I started feeling panicky and gave up before getting to the top), but I didn't take the camera (#fail).  The views were amazing but they live only in my mind.  

Then we went to the War Museum.  It is well worth the visit for the Holocaust part alone, but of course the rest of the exhibits are very well done, and admission is free. 

That night we went to a production of The Lion King at The Lyceum Theatre.  We were less than impressed and it was at this time that I decided not to spend money on theatre shows anymore.   The rest of our time on this trip was spent in Ireland.  A quick trip where we got just a brief taste of London, and I can't wait to go back someday.  

Thanks for stopping by.