Jordan & Justin Visit London!

Jordan and Justin were in Europe for 12 days, 6 of which were spent with us in London. Their time in London was divided in two stays as we traveled on the weekends with them.

As with all of our guests who are in town during the work week, Shane and I will work while our guests explore London on their own. We meet up with them in the evening for dinner/pubs.

On Monday, Jordan and Justin explored Southbank, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and toured the Churchill War rooms, National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. They were busy! We met them that night for dinner in Chinatown. The soup dumplings were the crowd favorite and the remainder of the meal we rated as fair. After their day of sight-seeing, they were tired and headed back home with us. Martha was back from the country and was overly excited to see them! Especially since they had a gift from my dad in their suitcase - another toy dragon.

On Tuesday, Jordan and Justin explored Borough Market, Tower Bridge and toured the Tower of London. Another busy day! I met them that night for dinner in Fitzrovia. Shane had a business dinner so it was just the three of us. We had dinner at Bubble Dogs - a champagne and hot dogs only establishment. We loved it!

On Wednesday, Jordan and Justin explored Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and the Portobello road market. In the midst of their exploring, they saw the Queen! And Prince William and Princess Kate. The royal crew arrived by helicopter from Scotland in support of the new PM! We met Justin and Jordan for dinner in Whitechapel for Indian food. London has lots of great Indian restaurant options and Tayyabs in Whitechapel is one of our favorites!

On Thursday, Jordan and Justin explored the North London parks. They went to Hampstead Heath, Primrose Hill and walked along Regent's Canal. Thursday evening we departed on a late flight to Prague. Unfortunately our flight was delayed so it ended up being a really, really late flight. We didn't arrive in Prague until 2am!

We returned from Prague early Sunday morning. As our flight departed at 6am, we were all due for a catnap as soon as we got back to the flat. Feeling somewhat refreshed, we set out for The Lion King matinee.  Even though the show has been around for some time it still sells out! And rightfully so, the show was great! After the show, we met up with our friends Angie and Eric at a pub near our flat for an early dinner. Angie and Eric were due to catch the train to Nottingham that evening (Angie is on a project in Nottingham - 2 hours north of London) and we were still recovering from the early morning flight, so the early pub dinner worked out perfect for everyone.

On Monday, Jordan & Justin explored Camden and the Camden Stable markets. They dined at Amy Winehouse's local and picked up some souvenirs at the market. For their last night in London, we had dinner with Martha .The weather was exceptionally nice so we went to the Garden Gate pub in Hampstead and sat outside. As a final farewell to their European trip, we had a pint at our local - the Sir Richard Steele. Jordan and Justin got to witness Martha's popularity. Martha stole the show at our local and Jordan and Justin couldn't stop laughing at how many people were telling Martha how lovely she is!

Thanks for visiting Jordan & Justin! And for sharing your room with Martha! We miss you already!

Prague, Czech Republic

For my brother and sister's second weekend in Europe, we went to Prague. We departed from London late Thursday night and arrived in Prague early Friday morning - thanks again to another delayed flight.

Friday morning, after we slept in a bit, we were off on a classic bike tour of Prague. Prague has a lot of cobblestone which makes doing a bike tour a bit interesting. Luckily, the company we booked with provided us with mountain bikes to aid in our cobblestone street travel. Before the tour, a mom from South Carolina recommended that we take up the instructors offer to get helmets explaining to us that if her kids were with her, she'd be enforcing a helmet rule. Jordan and I both listened to her instruction and grabbed helmets - Jordan said that she is paying too much for her brain (she's in veterinary medicine school) and I don't have a good track record with head injuries, so we both thought it best. Jordan and I, and the women who instructed us on helmets, were the only people who wore helmets in the group.

Our bike tour lasted about 3 hours and included a little bit of everything - street art, parks, historical buildings and the John Lennon wall. We really enjoyed and were glad that we did the bike tour as our first activity to get a feel for Prague.

After the bike tour, we trekked uphill to grab lunch and tour the Prague Castle. We had lunch in a traditional Czech pub: old building, Czech menu, server/bartender who didn't speak English and smoking indoors - we loved it but could do without the smoking bit. Feeling re-energized, we were off to the Prague Castle.

The Prague Castle is a complex dating back to the 9th century and is one of the largest ancient castles in the world. Located in the center of the complex is Saint Vitus Cathedral. Saint Vitus Cathedral is what the castle is known for as the Cathedral in its grandiosity is the main focal point whether viewing the castle from near or far.

In the castle complex, we climbed the south tower of the Saint Vitus Cathedral at Justin's request. It was a hike but the view from the top was worth it.

After our climb, we headed back to the flat to relax a bit before dinner. We dined at another traditional Czech restaurant - complete with a smoking section. After dinner we grabbed a drink at a roof-top bar that had awesome views of the old town and Prague Castle complex in the distance.

On Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the Prague market located on the Vltava river. The market was bustling! We grabbed breakfast before heading to the market so rather than eating at the market, we had fresh strawberry lemonade! After the market we climbed up to Vysehrad.

Vysehrad is a historical fort dating back to the 10th century. Located within the fort is the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Vysehrad Cemetery and park/garden grounds. We toured the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul - it is beautiful - every inch has such detail whether painted or sculpture. If we had to choose a favorite part about the Basilica, it would be the doors.

After exploring the fort, we headed to the Old Town. We had been through the Old Town a handful of times but kept going back because we couldn't get enough of it. The Old Town Square looks like it belongs in a fairy-tale, in fact the Tyn Church was used as inspiration for the Disney castle! We grabbed a bite off the Old Town Square and then set out to find Justin's candy store. After a 35 minute trek, we arrived at a candy store but it was not the one that Justin wanted. At least we got our exercise!

The weather was so nice on Saturday that we spent our afternoon in a couple of beer gardens. Our first stop was one of the oldest beer hall's in Prague. The venue was neat but the beer wasn't our favorite so we moved on to a patio on the river.

In the evening, we grabbed dinner and then headed to the Old Town Square to see the chiming of the Astronomical Clock. Shane and I grabbed ice-cream while Jordan and Justin went to claim a spot to view the clock. We were a bit underwhelmed by the chiming on the hour, it gets overly-hyped, but we had to experience it whilst in Prague!

We then headed to the Black Angel Bar which was located in the cellar of a hotel on the Old Town Square. The bar is designed in the style of a Prohibition era speakeasy. The cocktails were excellent. Shane's cocktail won the cool factor as it was served is a small glass with the remainder of his beverage held in an medicine bottle kept on dry ice. The bar also had a cigar menu so Shane and Justin partook in a couple of cigars as well. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed so weren't able to capture pics of the unique cocktails and renovated cellar. The Black Angel Bar was our favorite bar in Prague! We later discovered that it has been voted one of the top 50 bars in the world and top 10 in Europe!

Our last activity in Prague was walking the Charles Bridge at night. Prague is beautiful at all times of the day but it becomes even more magical at night!

Limerick, Ireland

We took the train from Dublin to Limerick for the sole purpose of using Limerick as a base camp for seeing the Cliffs of Moher. Limerick also is conveniently located near Shannon airport which made travel back to London on Sunday easy.

We spent most of Saturday at the Cliffs of Moher so were only in Limerick for Saturday evening and half of Sunday.

Before heading to dinner on Saturday, we stopped in a nearby pub to watch the semi-finals of Hurling. Hurling is an Irish sport that is a cross between field hockey and lacrosse. We made friends with the couple sitting next to us, who were in town from Waterford to watch their son play for the Waterford team on Sunday. The couple was extremely friendly (Irish people love Americans) and chatted with us during the entire match. The husband worked for Waterford Crystal and told me that their house was filled with Waterford Crystal products. He told me I was welcome to stop by anytime and pick-up anything I fancied! If only we were in Ireland a bit longer than the weekend.

On Sunday, we properly explored Limerick. It is an extremely small city so were able to see the whole city on foot. We were staying at a hotel in the new part of town so wandered into the old town to see the historical sites. Our first stop was the Milk Market, which unfortunately isn't popular on Sundays but the venue was interesting to see. We then headed to King's Island and stopped at St. Mary's Cathedral before touring King John's Castle.

Only a portion of the walls surrounding King John's Castle still remain. The visitors center has done an impressive job replicating center structures that were once located in the walls and preserving the structure that does remain. A portion of the castle walls that is still intact is the main tower which gave a great view of Limerick.

After the tour, we grabbed one last fish and chips and a pint of Guinness before heading to the airport.

Even though our time in Limerick was short, it was perfect for the small city. And the Hurling tournament provided some unforeseen entertainment!  

Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

We caught an early morning train from Dublin to Limerick as we wanted to spend the day at the Cliffs of Moher. Limerick is about an hour south of the Cliffs of Moher so we used it as our base camp for spending the day at the Cliffs.

We arrived in Limerick around 10am, grabbed our rental car and were off. Shane was our fearless driver, mastering driving on the left-hand side of the road after he 'tested' the tires a couple of times on the curb on our way out of town. Justin rode shotgun and navigated, I assumed the role of backseat driver and Jordan slept. Driving on the motorway was easy; off the motorway, not so much. The roads are so narrow! Shane did great despite my paranoia that we were going to side swipe the rock ledges lining the edge of the narrow road.  It didn't help that Shane decided to upgrade to a large BMW since it was only 10 euros more.

After a hour of holding my breath, we arrived safely at the Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliffs were packed with tourists; it is one of the top tourist destinations in Ireland. We took to the path to walk along the top of the Cliffs. The visitor center path of the Cliffs doesn't span very long and a sign marks where the visitor center path ends and the remainder of the path visitors continue at their own risk. We wanted to experience more of the Cliffs so we took the risk, being extremely cautious, and continued on our way.

The Cliffs of Moher rise high, 300-700ft, above the Atlantic Ocean. As we first walked along the Cliffs, we only caught brief glimpses of the Cliffs as the whole coast was covered in a cloud of fog. We were a bit bummed with fog, as we didn't feel as if we were getting the full experience, but didn't want to let it ruin our trip. Walking along the top of the Cliffs and looking below was still a cool experience.

As we were heading back, the fog broke and we were able to see the Cliffs in all their glory! It was amazing. The Cliffs of Moher are beautiful. We decided that we got the best of both worlds - true Irish weather and the perfect sighting of the Cliffs (even if it was brief).

We loved the Cliffs, and were happy that we made the venture to Western Ireland just to see them. Spending the day at the Cliffs of Moher was everyone's favorite part of our Ireland trip!