Anyways! We were flying standby on Saturday {november 22} and would have made the last flight BUT it got cancelled! SO sad! That has never really happened to us before when standing by so we had to sadly go back home for the night and try again on Sunday evening. It turned out to be a blessing though because we were able to fly business class to London Heathrow on a brand spankin new plane and it was incredible! It was seriously like having your own little bedroom complete with lay flat seats! American is really getting fancy these days and I most definitely approve!!
It was the most amazing airplane experience of life & I don't imagine it will ever be topped! It sure made 9 hours go by quickly! By leaving at night on Sunday we landed in London around 11 A.M. and had a full day ahead of us. We spent our first day in London doing all of the must sees for tourist:
London Tower & Bridge {and seeing the crown jewels of course! Totally amazing!}
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| If you couldn't tell... it was FREEZING! |
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| The typical London guards. |
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| View of London |
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| The bridge! |
An evening spent walking around Oxford Street {You guys! It started fake snowing amongst all of these beautiful lights! It was the most incredible thing!}
Regent's Street
& Covent Gardens. All three were seriously magical! London is gorgeous for Christmas!
And of course London shopping wouldn't be complete without a stop at the famous Hamley's Toy Store!
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| Check out this amazing lego artwork! |
Between all of these items our first day in London was quickly filled up and we slept soundly in our teeny tiny London hotel who's bathroom was no joke smaller than any cruise ship or camping trailer I have ever seen! All part of the experience right? (:
Day two:
Many found hours spent on our live bus tour of all of London complete with seeing where Kate & Will live in Kennsignton Palace, The London Eye, Big Ben, The Abbey, and more and more! I would actually really recommend this. It was informative, fun, & we got to rest!
Speakers Corner in Hyde Park where Gordon B. Hinckley once preached!
A visit to the famous Westminster Abbey
And of course Big Ben & the London Eye
We tried a million times to have someone take our picture and get the entire structure of Big Ben in it.. but they kept cutting off the top. This is the best we got! Definitely need to invest in one of those selfie sticks we saw!
With our bus tour we also had received a guide for the changing of the guards it was awesome! We started at St. James's palace the same place where the actual changing of the guards takes place even though most people don't realize it. While there we were able to listen to them play their instruments before marching along with them to Buckingham palace for the giving of the keys! So fun!
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| I have to admit I was slightly disappointed they had on gray coats so I couldn't see the cliche red uniforms you see in all the photos! BUT we did learn that there are several different groups of the guards and you can tell by the feather {or lack thereof in their hats!} |
Had to get our second phone booth picture in the day light! A trip to the National Gallery |
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| Once again, FREEZING! But if you look hard there's Big Ben back there (: |
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| National Gallery |
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| Incredible view |
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| Some Van Gogh |
Broadway! To top it all of we spent out evening watching Matilda on Broadway. Absolutely incredible. Josh and I walked home to our hotel after taking in all the beautiful sights of London one last time!
Before we knew it our time in London was up and the next morning we headed to the train station. We had to stop at King's Cross to check an item off my bucket list, a visit to Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter! Don't worry I also had to buy an British version {well I assume it would be the original version since J.K. Rowling is from England!} of the first Harry Potter titled "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" all I wanted to do while we were there was read Harry Potter ha!
Here we took our first high speed train to Paris! I have to say it was pretty awesome. Went right through the English Channel {while I was sleeping!} and got to Paris just as fast as a train would have. Crazy means of transpiration these days.
We got to Paris around noon and first things first took a few hours to grab a crepe for lunch and visit Notre Dame which just so happened to be extremely close to our lodging.
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| Absolutely amazing. I can't believe this incredible place and how long ago it was built. It took over a century to become what it is today. We had our handy dandy Rick Steve's pocket guide to Paris which I would definitely recommend it gave us a lot of info about all these places we visited. |
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| Nazeem, they guy renting our apartment hopped in our photo (: |
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| Our amazing balcony! |
After we got all settled we took a trip to see the Eiffel Tower and eat more delicious crepes!
We kept walking and explored Champs Elysees Street the famous shopping street in Paris which was also gorgeous this time of year with lights. And stopped for dinner at L'Entrecote de Paris a restaurant famous for one special dish that was incredible! A special steak & fries & magical sauce.
We had a blast and then it was back home and off to bed for us!
From there we took a walk to the Eiffel Tower
We spent a big part of our afternoon climbing to the top and taking in all the different views. Absolutely breath taking. It goes up 1,090 feet! WOW! We also were able to eat lunch up there which was a lot of fun!
After the tower Josh and I took the river cruise {sorry no pictures but I recommend it! You get on right by the tower!} And then we spent the rest of our afternoon picking out a painting, exploring the book shops and restaurant until we decided to eat at "Little Hong Kong" HA it was great! That night we met up with our friends and took a trip over to the famous big white church on the hill over looking Paris "Sacre-Coeur" this place was gorgeous.
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| Definitely worth the 300 steps to get to the top. YEP 300! Got my exercise in for the day!! |
That night I was able to check an item off my bucket list! Locking Josh and I's love on Love Lock bridge. We brought a lock {yes I cam prepared!} and threw our key into the river to lock our love forever (: It was wonderful! Dream come true!
And once again before we knew it our time in the city was over and it was off to the train station for us! After the most delicious breakfast of my life! A warm croissant - seriously though the bakery wasn't even open yet it was so early but the owner let us poor americans in (: and an incredible raspberry fruit tart. YUM! An awesome way to finish Paris
This time our train was 4 hours and we got to drive through the countryside of France and Germany. It was seriously breathtaking. I would recommend a train over flying. So fun (:
We arrived in Frankfurt that morning and spent the entire rest of the day at Romer the historic part of town where they had the most INCREDIBLE christmas village. Seriously I think it was the most magical thing I have ever seen. Just booths and booths of delicious food, christmas decorations, and handmade german crafts. I had a blast! Even though it was even colder then London and Paris which I didn't think was possible!
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| Seriously was here for hours. SO fun! |
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| Most magical place ever. |
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| Josh was in bratwurst heaven. |
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| Chocolate chocolate chocolate! |
We only had one day in Frankfurt and we spent it all at this amazing Christmas Village filing our bellies and hearts with joy (; If you get a chance to go do it! It was really fun! And that basically tops off our trip! We spent the evening at our airport hotel getting ready to go home and relaxing in the sauna before playing games and going to bed!
Morning came and 10 glorious hours later we were back in good old Dallas! Sad our trip came to a close the time flew by but we had a blast & a very lovely Thanksgiving! And that's our trip in a nut shell. Thanks for reading!
AND of course I have to say since I have been home I have been swamped with Christmas Card design requests {hence why it has taken me SO long to write this blog} BUT I wanted to let everyone know I still have room for a few orders this week if you are interested and will be flying home to Utah next week - AKA free delivery. Email me if interested! bhadley76@gmail.com
Here are some of my recent designs for you to enjoy:
And you can see more on my site Hadley Designs
Happy Holidays all!
XO
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