Moher or Less

Slainte! That's Gaelic for "Cheers!" It feels like we've been going non-stop since we got back from Paris, and to say we're exhausted/somewhat numb today is an understatement, but it's been a great couple of weeks filled with fun sites, adventures, and best of all, time with family.

With a couple of weekends off, we decided to head to one of our wish-listed UK destinations for a day. Much like Oxford, MS, Oxford, England is a beautiful and historic city most famously known for its University. While Faulkner is a boast worthy alumnus, this Oxford boasts the likes of Stephen Hawking, countless olympians, actors and 26 Nobel Prize winners. This modern info graphic surprised me a bit as I expected their website to exhibit some of the similar imagery you see in person in the city, however, it has some pretty cool facts.

We wondered around the city and jumped onto a free walking tour hearing fascinating tidbits about Charles Dodgson's (Lewis Carroll as most know him) days as Vice Chancellor and his inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. We much enjoyed a stroll down the River Thames and seeing the many crew club houses that lined the river. Our favorite stop, though, was most definitely the Bodleian Library. No, it was not just because scenes from Harry Potter were filmed here or because J.R.R.Tolkien wrote much of his beloved trilogy here. You know those places where you just feel the magic (like Hogwarts)? For some it's a physical building, maybe others a place/view (Adam and I both feel this way at Westminster and when on the open water), and this was one of those places. Maybe it's the scent of the old books, the dim lighting and/or the structure of the building. I think a lot of it is simply the respect held for these works of literature and the tradition the University and its scholars uphold.  It's just a cool place. We finished our day with an Evensong service at Christ Church and headed home. Oxford was just an 1 1/2 drive and we were glad to soak up some of the last days of English countryside and sunshine on the road trip.

The following week was a big one. Adam's parents have been on a European cruise for the last 2 weeks and finished their Euro trip with a visit to see us in Brum. They saw over a dozen cities and got to visit Mont Saint Michel (I'm totally jealous) for their 30th anniversary trip and took Adam and me with them to Dublin for his birthday. Dublin is a quick and cheap flight from Birmingham (so long as you follow Ryanair's stupid rules-I can't digress and get into that without getting angry) so we took a night flight, grabbed dinner and a pint of Guinness at a charming pub, and got some rest before our first day of adventures. We spent the morning walking thru the city with the friendliest of hosts (seriously, the Irish are the nicest ever), stopped in at Christ Church for a service accompanied by the best history lesson from the Priest, Geoffrey, and made our way to Guinness for a tour. After sampling the flagship of dark beers, we hopped in our rental car and drove 3 hours across the country to the other side of the island to see the Cliffs of Moher.

Y'all, I'm in love. Ireland was so beautiful. I wasn't even bothered by the wind and cool weather, and that says a lot. After a tricky drive down the winding roads we checked into our B&B (which was adorable) and drove the quick drive downhill to the Cliffs for sunset. I just can't say enough about this view. That is until I think of the view from the other side which we saw from a boat the next day. This is one of those trips when not having exact plans really paid off. On day two, we took the advice of one of the B&B caretakers and took a 40 minute boat ride from Doolin to Inis Oirr. Once off the boat, we took a horse and carriage ride to see the small island of 297 residents, walked along its stoned walls through old castles and even spent a few minutes on the beach. The sand and smell of saltwater were a priceless remedy for my homesickness. The boat trip back took a different path and took us along the Cliffs - it was partially my seasickness, but the sites were literally breathtaking... worth every minute of nausea. In Dublin we picked up some true wool souvenirs and headed back to the airport. 48 hours was enough, but not at the same time as we're already planning a trip back.

We spent Saturday showing the 'rents around our soon to be new neighborhood and then headed to a ball. Yes, a ball. Adam's firm throws an annual thank you event and we arrived just in time to RSVP for this year's Willy Wonka themed event. While I was disappointed that there weren't fountains of Cadbury chocolate flowing, we had a really good time and felt quite fancy. I've mentioned before that men's clothes fit a bit differently in Britain, and Adam's tux did in a good way. Now we know why James Bond always looks so good.

Sunday, we slept late and walked around Brum as we were experiencing some very nice weather. That evening we introduced Roy and Karen to our favorite British show - The Great British Bake Off - and watched the premier of Downton Abbey. This is where I act like a child and say nah nah nah nah boo boo, I get to watch DA months before you! Karen and Roy flew back Monday and took a big piece of us with them. I can't put into words how nice it was to see family and get to share our new life with them.

As if all of the above wasn't enough, did I mention we found a new place? No biggie, except yes it is! We're very excited to be moving in October to a new home and neighborhood. While we've enjoyed the JQ and this flat, we found a terraced house in Harborne that we feel will truly help us make a home here.  I'll post a revamped Haywood Househunters (as this experience was quite different than the first) and Feels Like Home blog once we move. Here's a sneak peek.

We found some SUPER cheap flights to Madrid so we're heading there in October! I'm thrilled to visit Spain and have been making Adam brush up on his Spanish.  With all that's going on, I know December and our trip back to the U.S. for Christmas will be here in the blink of an eye and we can't wait! Till next time!

Bonjour Y'all

I may have fooled Paris, but I actually took a combined 7 French language classes through high school and college, and not to brag, but I made A's in each (though those complex conjugations were the bane of my existence in the fall of 2006). Sadly, all I have to show for it is a random plethora of nouns and the un-conjugated versions of a few verbs. Alas, I sure acted like a pro when we visited Paris last weekend and only 99.99% of Parisians figured out I was American... and Southern.

We had 3 days to see as much of the massive and spread out city as possible. Because I've been dying to visit Paris for most of my life, I put some thought and planning into our sightseeing, doing my best to ensure we made the most of public transportation and foot travel time while factoring in queues and snacking (the Haywoods like to snack). Our AirBnb rental was lovely and located in District 11/Bastille neighborhood. Almost immediately upon arrival we found the neighborhood bakery, which we visited daily for croissants, pain au chocolate and macaroons.

The Paris subway isn't too tough to navigate, once you get past that it's in French, and it's cheap and fairly clean, with the exception of the poo that I spotted one of the nights. We had a fairly horrific and smelly bus ride into town and thus chose to stay away from those the remainder of the trip. It was early evening by the time we were ready to explore so we decided to take it easy and get some fresh air. We made our way through the Jardin des Plantes, past the Pantheon (I know these sights deserve more than a passing, but remember, efficiency was our game) to Luxembourg Garden. We quickly found somewhere to buy some wine, bread and cheese (French essentials as I understand it) and found a spot close to one of the fountains to begin soaking up the Paris vibe and Vitamin D we've been missing in England. We were immediately enchanted. Sadly, this didn't last long as the gardens close shortly after our arrival, but we quite enjoyed those few minutes.

One thing I did differently when planning this trip was attempt to plan our dining options. Reasons being: 1 - we love food; 2 - this was our first trip to a country where we didn't speak the language, and 3 - this is a severe area of struggle for us when traveling. Adam and I both have bad habits of getting hungry quickly and violently, or hangry as some call it. And when this happens to both of us as the same time, it can be down right dangerous. So, I did some research, found a website that had some promising suggestions and chose restaurants close to corresponding sights. Night one was in a good location and was very charming - your classic French bistro, A La Biche Au Bois. Our steaks weren't anything to write home, or here, about, but it was a decent choice, seeing as they spoke English and we avoided hanger ruining our evening. 

Saturday's plans were not for the faint of heart, or feet.  We caught the train over to the Arc de Triomphe to start our day. This site is massively impressive, and massive. (Note: I won't spend much of this blog post trying to put into words the emotions the sites evoked from each of us - that's for each individual to experience.) We then headed down the Rue de Champs Elysees, past the Grand Palais and through the Jardin des Tuileries. The lunch spot I selected was deserted and just felt weird, so we found a cafe in a courtyard off the Louvre (Le Nemours), which was perfect! Not only did they have delicious crepes (Adam converted me from chocolate to Nutella and banana), but an impromptu string performance started right in front of us! It was like a classy flash mob, or orchestra.  C'est la vie en Paris.

Once in the Louvre, we immediately found the Mona Lisa. As everyone warned me, it was small, and crowded. Who cares?! It's the Mona Lisa, people! However, the rest of the museum is really incredible as well. We could have spent hours there, but limited it to 2 or so. We had towers to climb... literally.

The climbing queue (versus the direct lift) for the Eiffel Tower wasn't so bad, and in spite of my Snapchat rants, neither was the climb. The views at every level are beautiful, and the tower itself is just a cool to look at. Upon descent, I'd planned for us to see Sacre Coeur and gaze upon Paris at dusk/evening from Montmartre, but we were pooped, so grabbed pizza and called it a night. There's always next time, and there WILL be a next time.

Sunday was a day I'd been looking forward to since my middle school field trip to Jackson to see the Versailles exhibit. We caught the long train, waited in the long & hot queue and made our way into the hot and crowded palace - and it was AWESOME! We ate up every minute walking through the rooms, listening to our audio guides and snapping photos like tourists. We took a lunch break on the steps of the garden to snack on some sandwiches (smartly purchased at a convenience store) and plotted our trek through the gardens, which goes on for miles. We saw a fountain show and most of the other buildings on site and after 6 hours, threw up our white flags as our feet were dead and our minds full of awe inspiring buildings, gardens, statues, art and French glory. That place is stunning and was our favorite stop on this trip. Sites seen, we grabbed Chinese and were in by 9pm. I realize we were in Paris and some of you may be thinking "Chinese, seriously," but when you don't have some of your usual comforts from home (US) at home (UK), you sure do crave those eggrolls you see in the shop window (we miss you Mr. Chen's). Also, our aforementioned issue of finding dinner spots helps us relish a simple decision when presented with one.

With just half a day left, we finished our Parisian adventure with some reverence and beauty at St. Chapelle and Notre Dame Cathedrals. St. Chapelle boasts some of the most impressive stained glass I've ever seen and Notre Dame is beautiful from every angle, every corner and every view. We got our last look as we meandered over to the Love Lock bridge where I resisted adding a lock. They've been removing them lately due to the weight they're adding to the bridges and I for one, couldn't be a part of doing any damage to such beautiful architecture. No judgement to those who've done so in the past - it's charming and I don't think anyone realized at the start how many locks would actually be added and the damage it could do.

Paris was all that I expected, and so much more.  I could spend hours gushing, and share many more pictures, speaking of which - here's a link to my Google+ photo album.  The blog isn't the most efficient place to share ALL of the photos, but you can find most from our adventures there!

We have a few other trips planned before our visit home at Christmas (wow, I can't believe I'm already talking about that) and we'll share those as we go.  We spent last Saturday in Oxford and I'll try to get those details on the blog soon! Until then, au revoir (nailed the accent in my head)!