Well, I’m back! While I am not sure you would have even noticed I was away, I’m going to update you on my honeymoon anyway:) It was a busy 3 weeks in the wonderful, amazing, awe inspiring Europe, so I have broken it up into 3 different posts to leave you wanting more;) Enjoy this small snippet of our adventure – I really can’t put into words how magnificent it was, you truly have to experience it for yourself!
WEEK ONE: London and Paris!
On the 12th of July we flew out of Port Lincoln, had a day in Adelaide catching up with family and friends, and caught our late night flight to London. Excitement central! After half a day, many movies and a little sleep, we had a 2-hour stop over in Dubai (Emirates have their own terminal, insane) and then another 8 hours on the plane before we got to London. There is no doubt that the flights were long, but so worth it.
We spent our time in London with a dear friend of mine who I had grown up with, seeing the Lion King (highly recommended when it comes to Aus in the next few months) and being tourists on the Open Top tour bus, giggling at every one of the ‘Monopoly’ streets, wishing Kate would pop that damn baby out so we could be a part of it, and eating fish and chips with mushy peas! London really turned on the weather for us, but I’m actually disappointed we didn’t get to use the new raincoats I bought especialy! Haha. We were lucky to have such clear weather to see so much of London from the London Eye and to visit all of the tourist spots. (We also navigated the Tube successfully!)
TOP LONDON MOMENT: Sipping snakebites with Samantha and Luke at the Walkabout – not a tourist top moment, just an awesome moment in time with two people I love
After a quick few days, we were flying off to Paris, my dream destination since high school. You might hear a lot about Paris being dirty and stinky, but we didn’t experience that at all! We did pay some big dollars to have a beautiful hotel that was 200m from the Eiffel Tower, but it was every bit worth it to live out my dream – you don’t fly all that way to do it ‘half-arsed’! The first night in Paris we saw the incredible Moulin Rouge show that held us captivated the entire time. Don’t assume it is just like the movies, yes there are a lot of topless ladies (and boys;) ), but there was also magic, a ventriloquist, and amazing acrobatic acts that had me saying ‘surely not!’ and covering my eyes more than once.
We toured the Louvre in awe, it is so giant and incredible, it’s hard to take it all in! We had a couple of free days in Paris, so on our random walks, we visited the Aquarium, had dinner by the River Seine, shopped on Champs Elysees (yes it was a busy street) on our way to the Arc de Triomphe, visited a fete, and on our final free day – visited DISNEYLAND! A bit of fun and adventure to add to our trip – the GoPro sure got a workout that day! We also visited the Love Lock Bridge, where you write your names on a padlock, lock it to the bridge, and throw the key in the river, so according to that, Luke is now stuck with me forever…again.
Our final night in Paris was spent climbing the Eiffel tower with an enthusiastic and comedic tour guide, and we stayed at the top of the tower as the sun went down. How could this get anymore romantic you ask? Add in an impromptu serenade from some English choir singers in Paris (there for auditions) as you descend the tower in an elevator, and you have a pretty perfect night in Paris on your hands. Throw in a ride on the carousel below the Eiffel Tower as it lights up, followed by a hand in hand walk beneath it (other hands holding delicious crepes and ice-cream), and you’ve got the stuff of fairytales (and me saying a silent thank you for everything that brought me to that moment). Romantic Paris certainly lived up to all of my expectations.
TOP PARIS MOMENT: Hard to pick one moment, but our last night spent on the Eiffel Tower was truly magic.
