Thursday, June 30, 2011

Cinque Terra

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!!

Joey and I went to Cinque Terra over the weekend, and I am sorry but it is way too hard to but into words the incredible beauty of this place. To make things easier for myself, I decided to post a million pictures so hopefully you can get a better idea of how astonishingly beautiful Cinque Terra. It is a close train ride from Florence, and I am so glad we went there.

Cinque Terra, or "five lands," is one of the awe-inspiring coastlines of Italy. It's composed of five little villages full of color, quaintness, and charm. You get a true feel for how the cultured Italians live, and your jealousy runs wild with the exquisite surroundings.




The first stretch from the first city to the second city is called Lovers Walk. You have the view of the ocean on one side, and then on the other side there are inscriptions on the wall of people declaring their love. It's very romantic :)

We had a goal while in Italy to have gelato at least 3 times a day. We actually almost accomplished it, but mostly because we couldn't help ourselves. Joey would get his usual fragola and limon (strawberry and lemon) every time, while I ventured out and tried every flavor I could. I think I settled on the nutella flavor to be my favorite! SO GOOD!!





We took the train between most of the cities, but the last stretch between the fourth and fifth city, we decided to trek up the mountain. It was actually quite a challenging hike, but so worth it because you got to see a beautiful view the entire way.


This is Monterosso, the fifth city in Cinque Terra. Absolutely amazing!!


We took a quick dip in the water, and it was so refreshing after our long hike. The water was crystal blue and nice and cold.

We got focaccia bread twice while you were there because it was so delicious. YUM!


Cinque Terra is definitely up there on the our list of most beautiful places in the world. We were left speechless and and in awe from it's stunning views. I wish we were there right now!!

We love you and miss you all!! XOXO!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Wimbledon!!!

Joey and I have been looking forward to Wimbledon since before we got here. Joey played tennis in high school and absolutely loves it. So of course, with Wimbledon only a short tube ride away, we had to take advantage. You can buy grounds tickets that are really cheap and you can stand in the resale line and purchase tickets that people are no longer using that day for only 5 pounds. So that's what we did and we've never been happier! We knew that Andy Roddick was coming up on Center Court (Joey is his number one fan), so we were dying to go, and we were lucky enough to get tickets!! We were stoked!!!

Beautiful view from Wimbledon

Centre Court!! YEAH!!

So excited that we were actually sitting in Centre Court, about to watch Andy Roddick play! We even got to catch the end of Federer's match too!!











Joey, on cloud nine, intensely watching the match. He even has a little smile on his face :)


Andy won! 6-4, 6-3, 6-4






So much fun! This truly was a highlight of the trip so far! We got to see Andy Roddick play and it was a blast. We definitely want to go back before it's over. We have to take advantage of Wimbledon while we can!!

Love you all!! XOXO!!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Cambridge

This past weekend, Joey and I, and our BFF Emi Dunn took a day trip to Cambridge. It was such a fun outing and we were able to do some neat things. Cambridge is such a quaint, little college town with beautiful architecture and cobblestone roads. It was another rainy day here in England, but that didn't stop us from having a great time.

When we first got there, we walked around a little bit trying to figure out what we wanted to do first. We walked to the mall, got bombarded by a million different punting scalpers, and even talked with the missionaries for little bit. We took a quick break and had our lunch with hot chocolate and french fries (hot chocolate for me, french fries for Joey) and then we went punting. Afterwards, we went to listen to the young choir boys sing their evening prayers. After a quick dinner at an Italian restaurant, we made our way back to London. It was a grand old time.

The crew at Cambridge University


Joey has been OBSESSED with this candy since the day we got here. I've had a special request to get them at the store every single time I go, and then they last about a day. They are these candy ropes with almost a pixy stick powder inside, and Joey just loves them. At the mall in Cambridge, they had a candy stand with tons of different flavors. Needless to say, Joey was in heaven. Literally like a kid in a candy store. We had to buy him one, and I quote "it was the best pound ever spent." What ever makes you happy...



We had heard that to truly get the full experience of Cambridge, you need to go punting. I wasn't familiar with the term, but basically it's going down the river in a boat. It's pretty much the only way to see all of the colleges since they were built to be seen best from the river. It was a really fun experience, and we really got to see everything. Our punter was hilarious too. We called him Ken because he looked just like the Barbie. Along with giving us history, he kept cracking jokes and saying all these funny things. We liked Ken.

Here are a few pictures from our punting trip...

This is one of the most popular pubs in Cambridge.
This is where Pink Floyd and DNA were discovered.


The boat ride was beautiful and really showed off what Cambridge had to offer.

Such a quaint, little town..




One of the funnier moments of our trip so far.. We had a little time to get dinner before catching our coach back to London. We had a recommendation to go to this italian restaurant called Milano. We were pleasantly surprised that the prices were cheap, the service was great, and the food was incredible. It was definitely a good experience and we loved it. When we were getting ready to pay the bill, we handed them our credit card only to find out that their credit card machine was broken and they couldn't swipe our card. We had used most of our cash on punting and treats earlier so we were running low on the funds. We literally pulled out every coin we had and paid the majority of the 15.80 bill in change. We felt so bad, but then again, they never told us that their machine didn't work!!! We did what we could, and made a mad dash out of there because we were so embarrassed. Sorry Milano, you were so good to us, and we couldn't really return the favor.

It was a very enjoyable trip to Cambridge, I highly recommend it. We had some good laughs, saw some fun things, and enjoyed our time there very much. Thanks for the memories!

We love you all, and we miss you!!