We’d been dreaming of this European adventure for years, and finally last summer we made it happen! When Emily decided to take French in school (and she stuck with it for six years, often to the exclusion of other, less rigorous electives), we chose to go to France and England, and as a graduation gift it seemed like the perfect plan.
To look back to the daily details, view my IG account, but I diligently carried my DSLR around with me every day, so I wanted to (finally) post those images, too.
We traveled by car, plane, boat, train, double-decker bus, golf cart, Uber, and the Underground. In our rental car we drove hundreds of beautiful kilometers, and that included driving on a boat, on a train, and even on the “wrong” side of the road while in the “wrong” side of the car for half of our trip. We drank a myriad of cocktails, more than one of which were made solely for us, one of which was on fire, and all of which Emily was excited to order and drink publicly and legally. We saw eight light shows, including multiple fireworks displays (one of which our driver dodged as sparks fell onto the freeway before us), three light shows projected onto cathedrals, and one (possibly our favorite) projected onto a tree.
We toured eight cathedrals, each exquisitely beautiful in its own, unique way. We saw seven gorgeous castles (if you include Disneyland!), each of which reminded me just how new the U.S. is, especially California.
We took 42 selfies, and we handed our camera over for 14 family pictures. Per our Fitbits, we walked over 302,000 steps and took 386 flights of stairs. (My knee got sore and puffy at times, especially by the ends of days, but I can’t complain because it never kept me from doing anything!)
We played Pokémon together (conveniently, there was a big event while we were there!), taking over cool gyms (like Stonehenge, the London Eye, and the Roman Baths) and hatching countless eggs and catching countless creatures (including one only available in Europe), and we each caught our first legendary after competing with locals in a raid. All of us even leveled up!
We saw dozens of famous landmarks, ate at numerous sidewalk cafés, and had a myriad of wonderful meals.
We toured more than a dozen museums and monuments, immersing ourselves in lives and times far detached from our own. We toured Downton Abbey (and even had tea there), and we visited Hogwarts, 13 Privet Drive, Diagon Alley, and the Forbidden Forest. We pushed carts through Platform 9-3/4 and had butterbeer (which is pretty good, if you don’t count the creamy weirdness on top–Tom ate that part for us out of the kindness of his heart). Emily and I had high tea at the Ritz. We solved codes and puzzles to order mystery drinks at an enigmatic bar (see here for details–definitely a highlight of our trip!). We had days sweltering in the high 90s, and others where we snuggled in coats and under umbrellas in the wind and rain. We slept (or tried to sleep) on four planes, and we stayed in four Air BnBs and five hotels.
I took hundreds of DSLR photos and thousands of iPhone photos, my favorites of which I’m including in this post (with big-girl camera photos) and the next (with my favorite iPhone pics).
We bickered countless times amongst our sometimes tired and hungry selves, but we spent even more time feeling grateful for our little family and this amazing chance we had to be together (before life was to change dramatically as she headed off to–sniff, sniff–college!). We created memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
And now for the photos!
I love playing with slow shutterspeeds, especially at Disneyland…
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Although our hearts will always remain with the original Disneyland, Disneyland Paris is definitely beautiful, and we’re so glad we got to see it!
Not a quality photo, but I have to include one of Emily and me on Dumbo, because we rode Dumbo on her first Disneyland trip, too–it’s a sentimental favorite…
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We’re in PARIS!!!!
When we were originally planning our trip we hadn’t realized we’d be in Paris for Bastille Day (which is similar to the Fourth of July in America), but we’re so glad it worked out that way!
Nespresso machines were common throughout our trip, and I pretty much fell in love with them. I’m still contemplating getting one instead of another Keurig once my current one dies!
We took a dinner cruise along the Seine, and it offered such a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower, made all the better by the twinkly lights reflecting off the windows…
And an equally stunning view the next day, from the Tower itself!
Another highlight of our trip was from a book our friend Pat got for Emily that listed hidden gems in Paris. This one was a bar in Le Royal Monceau that created a drink especially made for you based on your personal preferences. It was Emily’s first experience ordering a drink from a bar, and it couldn’t have been any more perfect! (Hers was the pink one, of course.)
We toured the Palace of Versailles, and it was crazy hot that day, so after our tour we rented a golf cart to view the expansive grounds. Such fun! (Travel tip: You can tour much of the palace on your own, but if you purchase a guided tour [we chose the Private Quarters tour], you get to bypass the main entry line–that saved us more than two hours of standing in the hot sun to get in. Little did we know how wise a move that was, but now you can benefit from our experience! It was a fantastic tour, but even the skipping-the-line part on its own would have made it worth it!)
We took a little side trip to see Monet’s Garden on our way to the ferry to England:
The Salisbury Cathedral in England was gorgeous, of course…
As was the abbey in Bath:
Next up was London!
We took a day trip to Downton Abbey (known as Highclere Castle in the real world)–such a thrill to see the gorgeous estate in person! And it made Emily and I all the more excited for the upcoming movie. Em played the opening credits song quietly on her phone while we were there–I know we’re dorks, but you couldn’t help but hear the music in your head anyhow, so she just had to!
And of course we had to experience the world of Harry Potter–the thought and detail they put into those movies was astounding! It made us appreciate the series even more.
Thanks to a recommendation from a friend, Emily and I had tea at the Ritz–such decadent fun!
Our last adventure was visiting the champagne region of France, where Emily did her first ever wine tasting… And we even learned from our adorable hostess how to prune grapes! (Tom was very proud of himself for being naturally better than we were ;-P )!
And I will forever cherish each and every one of our memories from our truly magical trip…
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