Hello London, We've Missed You!

The night we got back from London in August, we immediately booked our next trip.  Booking in advance...with some of the train sales...means that we can take very inexpensive trips to London very frequently.  We were lucky to have beautiful, fall weather for the weekend and packed in some of our "must sees" including Hampton Court Palace, Churchill War Rooms, and the West End show Wicked.  It was a busy, but wonderful weekend.  I highly recommend all three of the attractions we visited - they were worth the time and money for the amazing history they shared of the city / country.

As always, a few photo highlights of our trip!

Hampton Court...here we come!  If you have visited us in Virginia, you know why this sign is special!

Truly stunning palace full of so much history.  Richard the VIII lived here... he was the one who implemented the Dissolution of Monasteries Act which had a dramatic impact on the countryside...including the beautiful Abbey ruins I hold so dearly:

Here is a view of the topiary garden from the King's private chamber.  Wow!  I am a huge fan of topiaries (I even had them at my wedding)...this was the most magnificent garden I have ever visited:

Inside one of several great halls within the property.  Majestic:

Inside of the 5 or 6 courts within Hampton Court... beautifully restored:

A "living" King Richard! Hee hee!

My brother got us amazing theatre tickets for Christmas...so seeing Wicked was a special treat!  Neither of us had ever seen it...the effects on West End were amazing!

The next day, after seeing Churchill War Rooms (which were AMAZING but hard to capture on film!) We got to do a bit of shopping... including visiting the iconic Liberty of London.  WHAT A
TREAT!

We <3 London and can't wait to come back for even more explorations!

Everyday Adventure: Castle Howard

This weekend we were originally supposed to visit Warsaw, but with Alfie's continued recovery we decided to spend the long weekend at home and continue to take care of him.  In good news, we visited the vet today and he is continuing to heal well...he feels so well that he wants to run upstairs, jump. and go on long walks.  That's the challenge ... keeping him calm.  Here he is enjoying breakfast this morning:

We also got to go to the stunning Castle Howard.  Built originally in the 1500's, it's one nicest stately home in Yorkshire.  It has been used in many movies and television shows...including my latest obsession...Victoria.  It was a fabulous day out!

The back of Castle Howard...actually more interesting than the front! Amazing blue sky!

Our usual tandem photo ...tripod works!

Inside...the bed used in Victoria...

A temple at the edge of the property...these seemed super popular at some point in the 1700's for hosting outdoor dinner parties.

Strolling the property in the sun....

The gardens were beautiful even in October...

Husby enjoyed the gardens too ...

...we also stopped at an American dinner... note my favorite...corn dogs!  P enjoyed the crazy slider plate:

Tales of a Ryan Air Backpack

Over the past year, I feel like I have perfected the art of packing a carry-on backpack for Ryan Air.  I have managed to fit up to 6 days of clothes and all of the other essentials for our trips. For our longer trips (Germany + Turkey), we have purchased a single checked bag, so even for those trips, I have tried to pack light!  Below are my tips on things not to miss packing...no matter how small your bag!

• Two Pairs of Shoes: Even on the shortest two day trips, I always bring two pairs of shoes.  You never know if it might rain and your shoes will be soaked...or....somehow it's hot and your feet sweat to the point of blisters.  In any case, always good to have a back up pair.  As my primary pair, my go-to walking shoes are Sketcher's Go Walks.  They are not the  most fashionable, but they are seriously the most comfortable.  And...after many city death marches...they are well tested.  I have a black pair and a gray pair.  I highly recommend.  I usually bring a nice pair of walking flats for my second pair.  I just bought my second pair of Clark's Clovely Flats.  They can be dressed up with a dress, but have a rubber bottom which makes them great for walking too. Hint: they are on super sale right now.  
• Umbrella (If It Might Rain): After too many trips getting caught in the rain...with over-priced, poor quality umbrellas...we always check the weather.  If there is any chance of rain, we pack our umbrellas.  The ones we have at home are always better quality and we avoid crazy price gouging!
• Rollerball Perfume: Even if the limit is 100 ml, most perfume bottles are way too big to travel with ( and risk breaking!)  I have been able to get one of my favorite perfumes in a rollerball format.  It makes it very easy to travel with and as a bonus...is easy to throw in a purse. 
• Creme Compact Foundation: Another trick to save space in your quart-sized bag!  I have the creme compact version of my foundation.  So far, this has not been required to be in my quart sized bag, it just goes through with the rest of my non-liquid make up.  It works well and is easy to carry.
• Mini Conditioner: So every hotel we have been to has shampoo...even if it's the dreaded hair/body combined gel - it works!  What is almost always lacking in European hotels (even the nicest ones) is good, quality conditioner.  Given how thick my hair is...I need it.  So highly recommend carrying your own.  I <3 Molton Brown, but admittedly, it's pricey!  

Magical Carcassone

We spent our last two days of our trip to Montpellier in the magical village of Carcassone.  Built originally as a Roman fortress, it was founded as a large walled city in the Middle Ages and re-built in the mid-1800's.  It is about a mile around and has dozens of shops and restaurants as well as two hotels inside.  In total, it has 27 turrets surrounding the village as well as a large chateau / castle for the governing family (now a museum).   It was an amazing place to spend a few days...and feel a bit like royalty!

A view of Carcassone from the town below:

The imposing front gate of the inner castle:

There were surprisingly few tourist so we could get many photos:

View from the castle walls:

On one side, it's surrounded by beautiful vineyards:

So incredibly dramatic with the sky:

We love you Carcassone...thanks for a truly magical time:

If You Go: Montpellier

We had such a lovely trip to Montpellier.  We stayed in some great spots and had some amazing meals   Here were our favorites!

Montpellier 

Hotel

• Ibis Styles: Ibis is a big European chain and this is the second Ibis we've stayed in (the first was in Geneva).  The location was perfect - just off the Plaza du Comedie.  The room was large and modern.  In addition, their continental breakfast was delicious (who can complain about brie and baguettes!) 

Things to Do 

• Montpellier Wine Tours: We took the full day wine tour to the Terrasses du Larzac. It was a great tour with excellent diversity of wine makers as well as a beautiful lunch in a medieval village.  It was stunning countryside and beautiful weather. 
• Nimes: We took a half hour local train to Nimes and enjoyed our day looking around the ruins and the town.  This was a great trip and we highlight recommend. 

Restaurants 

• La Fine Mouche (Formagerie): If you love cheese, this is the place for you.  The entire menu is based on cheese and wine pairings.  Each of us had a spread of four cheeses with associated wines plus a lovely salad.  It was an exquisite meal and beautifully presented!
• L'Endroit: Montpellier is not far from the border of Spain...and it has a plethora of lovely tapas restaurants.  L'Endroit had tons of beautiful tapas - we loved their tuna tartare, fried shrimp, and meatball dishes.  Also - their fries were amazing.  Highly recommend. 

Carcassone 

• Hotel DonJon: We were so lucky to stay within the castle walls.  There are two hotels within the walls -- this one was lovely.  It's not the most fancy hotel, but it was so incredibly convenient and a treat to stay within the castle walls 
• L'Escargot: This was a lovely tapas restaurant within the castle walls.  We had lunch there twice and the food was amazing - the calamari, chorizo, and profiteroles were amazing.  Highly recommend. 

Montpellier, France: Wine, Sun, and Architecture

Last weekend we took a beautiful trip to the southwestern coast of France - we landed in Montpellier and traveled to a number of cities around it.  I went into the trip with low expectations.  I had loved Nice so much that any trip would be hard to beat it.  This trip was amazing, but in totally different ways.  We didn't get the beautiful blue views of Nice, but we did get a tremendous amount of history, architecture, and wine.  On our first two days, we took a full-day wine tour with Montpellier Wine Tours and the second day visited Nimes, a key regional outpost of the Romans.  Both were fabulous!

During our tour, we visited three different wineries.  The region was originally used for quantity wine (especially during WW II when French soldiers received a liter of wine per person, per day!).  More recently, they have focused on making quality wines and we definitely got to taste the difference.  Here is the spread from the first winery:

We got to visit the vines around the town - the grapes were beautiful on this bright, blue sky day!

The second vineyard we visited had been in the family for 32 generations!  Can you imagine that!  The woman who inherited the vineyard was about my age and very passionate for the process.  Talk about born into a profession!   After our visit to the second winery, we stopped in a beautiful medieval village for lunch:

It had beautiful nooks and streets:

The second day, we took the train a short trip to the town of Nimes.  This was a key Roman city and many ruins still remain.  We also lucked out that a friend of P's from elementary school lived there.  Maggie was an excellent guide who showed us around the town and took us out to the amazing aqueduct! 

Our first stop was a Roman amphitheater that is much better preserved than the Colosseum.  Because it's not Rome, it was wonderfully empty to take some really clear shots:  

Amazingly, the amphitheater is still used as a venue for concerts and events, so the bleacher seating is relatively modern.  Incredible that it can be used 2,000 years later.  Maggie told us that modern bands like the Arctic Monkeys and Bjork have played recently!

The Ponte du Gard is the crazy three tier aqueduct.  We felt so lucky to be able to see the amazing Roman architecture:

Also, this random picture of my hubby in the village is one of my most favorite of him: