You've Un-Loched My Heart [Scotland 2017]

We'd originally added Scotland to our itinerary to check another country off our list and to unwind after days galavanting through England and France.  A couple of laid back days in Europe before heading back to our real lives in the States. Scotland ended up surprising the heck out of us.

We signed up for a day tour to the Scottish highlands. Holy. Freakin'. Cow. It was gorgeous. It was a little bit foggy and a little bit rainy the entire time, which just screamed Scotland. I even listened to Scotland The Brave (aka, the one bagpipe song that everyone would recognize multiple times. 

Everything was so GREEN. I felt like it was perpetually St. Patricks Day.

The whole point of the Scottish Highlands tour was actually to go to Loch Ness and do a tour in hopes of seeing Nessie. We stopped in the town of Fort Augustus, where we boarded a boat that took us out onto the lake. A little piece of trivia-- 'loch' actually means lake, so it's literally called Lake Ness.

The tour was incredibly informative and the tour guide was very entertaining. We looked at sonar to see the differences in depths of the lake, learned fun facts about the surrounding villages, and kept our eyes peeled for Nessie. Another piece of trivia-- Loch Ness is actually very, very deep. There's more water in Loch Ness than in all of the lakes and rivers in both England and Wales combined. It's also very dark with low visibility due to a high concentration of peat in the water. 

Unfortunately, Nessie was ever elusive and we were unable to catch a glimpse of her this time. We boarded the bus back to Edinburgh where we wandered around the cobblestone streets, grabbed some dinner, and did a little shopping. Including a super soft Scottish blanket and Scottish gloves that I'm obsessed with.

We didn't have any plans for the follow day except "see Edinburgh". We bought tickets to tour Edinburgh Castle and, as most historical tours, some parts were amazing and informative and I could have stayed all day and others parts were a bit forgettable. The views though? They were definitely NOT forgettable. 

The view of the city from Edinburgh Castle

After touring the castle, we continued our self-led walking tour. Mostly to shops where I could buy pictures of the Scottish Highland cows (they're just SO adorable!), to somewhere we were could eat, and to The Elephant House which is where JK Rowling wrote sat to write some of the Harry Potter books. There wasn't any Harry Potter memorabilia or anything, we'd seen all that in London, but it was still a quirky little stop. 

We rounded out our Edinburgh tour by talking the long, windy walk up to Calton Hill for some more castle views. We got in a bit of exercise before our long flights home and had more amazing views of the city-- a city that I never expected to love.

You're What The French Call Les Incompetents [France 2017]

Paris has always been one of those cities that I knew I would go to, but didn't know when. And honestly, since I knew that I would end up there eventually, I never really actively planned a trip there. Thank goodness for Caitlin, because she loves Paris and insisted that we stop there. And it was awesome. 

We still had some time for sightseeing when we arrived in Paris, so after checking in to our hotel, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel freakin' Tower, folks. It was as breathtaking and as high and as windy as I imagined. We arrived in the late afternoon and were at the top level of the Eiffel Tower to watch the sun set over Paris. And it was in that moment that I fell in love with Paris.

Or maybe I fell in love with seeing cities from above because I also love Rio from the top of the Sugarloaf and London from the London Eye. Honestly, it might be that.

Once the sun had set, we took an incredibly expensive bike ride to the Arc de Triomphe where I stood (almost) in traffic for the perfect Instagram pic. Basic girls gotta be basic, even in Paris. And continuing on our quest to be basic, we meandered down Champs Élysées and didn't buy anything because, even in Paris, we're still poor teachers. 

The following day we headed back to the Eiffel Tower, so that I could get my daytime Tower pics before taking the train to Versailles, which was the royal French residence in the 1600's. I had never been there, so I toured the inside of the palace while Caitlin walked around the garden. Holy freakin' cow, I have never seen a place as ornate and intricate as the Palace of Versailles. I think I walked around the entire time with my eyes as wide as saucers. As amazed as I was by the palace, I was more excited to see the gardens. Apparently old, expensive stuff isn't my jam, but flowers are?

The gardens were also HUGE. We're talking 800 acres, 50 fountains huge. After walking across, what felt like, all 800 acres, we ate ice cream and macarons. Again, carrying on with our basic-ness.

Our last full day in Paris was spent sightseeing all of the famous Parisian locations-- the Louvre, Notre Dame, love lock bridge, and lots of little cafes. Macarons were eaten in abundance and hot chocolate from Angelina's was drank. Although I could have done with exponentially more macarons and less hot chocolate. 

After only two and a half days in Paris, we were off to Edinburgh, our last stop in our Eurotrip. We bid au revior to France with once last trip at Laduree for some more macarons at the airport for jetting off to Scotland. 

Second Star To The Right And Straight On Till Morning [England 2017]

Caitlin and I were both bit by the travel bug when we were in college, hence both of us doing our student teaching in Rio de Janeiro, albeit different years. She traveled throughout Europe in the summer of 2016 while I was galavanting through Central America, but by the time Thanksgiving rolled around, we were both ready to book another trip. Next thing we knew flights were booked and Eurotrip 2017 was in the works. 

We started planning the trip the way any 20 something does these days-- pins the heck out their travel destination, starts to narrow down what is actually feasible, finds some AirBnBs, and then figures out what food must be consumed. We narrowed it down to London, Paris, and Edinburgh over the course of 8 days, so to say that it was going to be a whirlwind would be a serious understatement. 

We flew into London and hit the ground running. Literally, we changed in the hotel bathroom and ran out the door, so that we could find the ice cream macaroon sandwiches before our tour of the Globe Theater. From there we traveled to Buckingham Palace, where we didn't see the Queen, but we did see the changing of the guards. And honestly, it was a heck of a lot less exciting than I had imagined. Unfortunately, since the Queen wasn't home to invite us in for tea, we had to settle for getting as far as the Buckingham Palace gift shop. Honestly, I didn't hate it. 

I was SO STOKED for Day Two in London. STOKED. Because we had tickets to Warner Brother Studios to see where the Harry Potter movies were filmed. I geeked out HARD. There might have been squealing involved, honestly. We got to see SO. MANY. props and outfits as well as sets that were used in the films, and we got to drink authentic butter beer. 

Day Three was devoted entirely to embracing our inner tourist. The tackier, the better. We took pictures with double decker buses, we stared wide-eyed at Parliament and Big Ben, we waved at Westminster Abbey from the top of a double decker bus, we rode the London Eye, and we moseyed across the London Bridge. Sometimes tourist things are tacky, but sometimes tourist things are awesome. Day Three was filled with tourist things that were awesome. 

It also rained which made me feel like I was actually in London. I loved every second of it. And was also incredibly thankful for both my rain jacket and my umbrella. 

Totes glam in London, obvs.

After three quick days in London, we princess waved goodbye to the Queen and boarded the train to PARIS. I'd insert the dancing girl Emoji right here, if I could.