Cinderella plus the rest of the weekend

Deciding I needed a Sunday activity, I picked up a ticket to go see the English National Ballet's rendition of Cinderella. Sadly, there was no Bruno or Gus Gus (taker easy cluck cluck, taker easy) in this version but it was still a great show. Such beautiful and graceful dancers and their costumes were spectacular.

I do continue to wonder though how in the world they dance like that. Look at the ballerinas on point <----- it hurts me just looking at them!

It was a great weekend across the board. I enjoyed a very quiet night at home on Friday which was then followed by a lazy Saturday of tv and a pub crawl. I made some cool new friends (and one odd one) last night but got to explore a new part of town and found a bar with live acoustic guitar. The only down side was forgetting to leave with enough time to catch the tube that will take me all the way home. Grrr...Oh well, it was a great night out and am very happy that I went.

Another wonderful weekend in London in the books!

France and Italy continued...

Day 7

Wine and Sightseeing Day...

We were picked up around 9 to start our tour for the day. We were joined by another 4 people- 2 from Canada, 2 from HK. Off to the vineyards we went! Our tour guide was a former wine specialist so was quite knowledgeable about the wines and wine making process. We did two tastings at two different vineyards....both vineyards were excellent. I purchased two bottles- story about these bottles to follow on day 10. The afternoon was spent touring around the small villages and towns in the region. The sights were to die for. Fast forward- we end up sleeping in Nice....fast forward

Day 8- we leave Nice and end up stopping in a beach town in Italy. In order to get there though, we had to obviously cross the French/Italian border. OMG, madness. So many people, such insanity. We spent a really nice day at the beach and had delicious pizza. Italy was welcoming us well! Fast forward....

Day 9- Florence- we begin the day by looking for breakfast. Ok, well apparently in Florence you eat Gelato for breakfast. Not that I mind dessert in the morning but was hoping for maybe a little protein or carbs even?? We ended up finding fresh foccacia which was fine by me! The lines into the museums were nuts so we made a reservation (4 euros) and sat down for lunch. Let's be clear....that was probably the smartest 4 euros we'd spent the entire trip. If you could have seen the line. I get that the Italian Renaissance started here and all but my god. Anyhow, we had another amazing meal. Who knew that pear and cheese within a fresh noodle could produce heaven. Went back to the museum (sorry, no pics allowed) and then back to the hotel for a rest. We needed a plan for our last night on vaca so we asked the concierge for a dinner suggestion. For anyone who has been to France or Italy in Aug knows that literally everyone is on vacation. Hence when we got to the restaurant it was closed. Fearing we'd end up in some tourist hell hole we walked around for a while in search of Italians eating in a restaurant (our rule..if locals eat there, it must be good). Luckily, we found one and it was probably the best Italian meal I have ever had. If you ever go to Florence, let's talk so that I can give you the name of this place. It was so sweet...as we were leaving everyone was so appreciative of our business/tip that they were shaking our hands, wishing us safe travels.

Day 10

We really couldn't leave Florence without seeing David, so we got in line at 8am. Doors opened at 8:15 and we were in (minor slow down bc of a bottle of wine in ra's purse..this is one of the wines from above which will continue to have a story). Saw David which was much larger than expected and left for the train. We were attempting to drink this bottle of wine on the train because we weren't checking bags so didn't want it to go to waste. Needless to say, we had issues opening it on the train so some kind soul took pity on us and opened it for us. Upon arrival in Pisa, we checked our bags and went over to see (what else?) the leaning tower of Pisa. Cool but not that exciting. Now to the airport drama- I will summarize by saying based on that experience the following is now true: I hate Ryan Air, dislike a particular Italian woman at security, a very nice bottle of wine was wasted and I will never fly during the afternoon unless absolutely necessary.

Home

This trip was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. We did an insane amount of traveling but went through two of the most amazing countries in the world while surviving train mishaps, creepy ally ways, screaming babies, breast feeding moms and roller bags that don't like cobblestones. I am so happy that we were able to take this trip and enjoy ourselves as much as we did.

France and Italy

Pre trip night out: I met Rachael and Vanessa at Vinopolis for a wine tasting (which for anyone who has been there knows that its wine, beer, rum, champagne) and evening out. If you are ever in LN, you must go to this place! Afterwards, we went for food- although the mission wasn't executed too well because we ended up with just some small cheese plate. Deciding that additional food was needed, we wandered around a bit and found a pub that should have still been serving food...not so much. Made some new friends- americans working here in LN- and hung with them for the rest of the evening (steak beer...that one is for Chicago Todd).

Day 1: we left London for Paris to begin our adventure around France and Italy.

Day 2: we started the day with a walking tour of the city. Our guide was entertaining and did a great job of showing us around and giving us the history of the monuments etc. Way to go Nottingham for sending stray students to Paris for course credit. After the tour finished, we went to a wine tasting--random French white and red wines with a Champagne tasting. What was completely random was that we had 8 other people in the tasting who were from FL. Two were even wearing Gator t-shirts (It's good to be a FL gator). After our tasting we went back to the hotel to get ready for the night and join our bar crawl. Fast forward through a fun night out and potentially 1 or 2 too many drinks.

Day 3- off to Versailles for a bike tour. What an amazing town. We had time to shop in a little market and pick up food for our picnic later in the day. We got bread, cheese, wine, chicken and dessert :-) We then road around the town and saw the palace- what a place! The hall of mirrors is incredible...very French and ornate. Upon arrival back in Paris, we went to catch our train to Avignon. Well....this is where the fun begins. Our train ended up being sold out (what happened to the trains being wide open?!?). After several hours pondering about what to do we decided to stay another night in Paris.

Day 4- I like to call this day....what the hell are we doing day? After doing some research we decided that we'd head out to Normandy to see the beaches. We booked a hotel and train and within a couple of hours, we were off. We spent the afternoon roaming around Caen and then headed out to the beach for dinner. What a spectacular sight! We had a truly amazing dinner

Day 5: off for a tour of the beaches. All I will say on this one is you must go out there. It's hard to describe, so just take my word on this one.

Day 6: Avignon- we got there around lunchtime, so we went into town for lunch and sightseeing. We had probably the best lunch imaginable. Between the rose wine, apps, meal itself and dessert we basically in heaven. This crumble dessert was one of the best things I've ever eaten!

I will post the remaining days tomorrow...for now, au revoir!

Concert at the O2

Rachael and I got tickets to see Rod Stewart at the O2 last week. The best part was that we got to use the MS corporate box! It was a great show and really enjoyed seeing him here in London.