Murcia

With the weather in London being, well, the weather in London, we were more than ready to hit the South Coast of Spain for some much needed rays.

We didn't know what to expect as we had booked a room at an "Aparthotel," which was very inexpensive and in an area we knew nothing about except that there was a beach nearby. After a hefty cab ride from the airport, we were very pleasantly surprised to find out vacation dwelling to be more than adequate, even offering a little balcony with partial views of both the Meditteranean and the Mar de Menor, which is the biggest salt water lagoon in Europe (for you Trivial Pursuit enthusiasts out there).

After settling in, we decided to take a quick stroll to take in the surrounding area and grab a quick bite for dinner. It took us about 3 minutes of walking to realize that there was something strange about the narrow strip of beach called "La Manga" - where were the people? Well, apparently although it was 80 degrees and sunny, the vacation season doesn't start until mid to late June in this part of the world. After a brief "we missed the memo" moment, Kel and I realized this was probably a good thing as hoards of sweaty foreign tourists has never been our collective cup of tea (no British pun intended).

The downside to being in this strange I Am Legend type setting was that around half the restaurants were closed, but we were able to find a little pizza joint which served fine as we were fairly tired and famished from our journey (note: Ryanair doesn't offer snacks).

The next morning we awoke refreshed and ready to hit the beach with a vengeance. The day was gorgeous - 80 degress, mostly sunny with just enough breeze to make you forget how quickly the sun is searing your pale gringo skin. Unfortunately the water was on the frio side so I limited my entries to quick 10 second jaunts (with Kelly shaking her head at me from the beach).


After sufficiently putting my family jewels at risk, we thought it was a good time to explore the rest of the strip. We grabbed our bikes and headed north along a very scenic seaside ride. After a few miles it ended at a pitch and putt golf course.

Having the itch to play and knowing we couldn't afford the resort courses, we gave it a try... let's just say it wasn't either of our best efforts. After 9 holes of trying to hit short clubs off crappy plastic turf pads and consistently shanking balls into artificial water hazards, we handed our clubs back in to attempt to salvage some shred of pride in my game. It was, however, still nice to be out and about, so we hopped back on our kiddybikes and headed back.

Saturday we awoke to some cloudy skies and figured it would be a good day to head inland and check out the historic town of Murcia. The town is quite nice and has a distinct Mediterranean feel to it that we hadn't seen much of yet. It also has a nice river flowing through it, something we're finding is a staple for any decent European city. We took in some historical sites and monuments, had a bite and some vino at a cafe, then decided it was time to head back to the beach.

Sunday we woke up expecting the weather to return to its former glory, however gloomy skies reigned supreme, with no sign of the sun at all. Discouraged but not deterred, we hopped on our bikes and headed to the local marina to catch a ferry across the lagoon to San Javier, a nice little town with good beaches and restaurants. After sampling some paella de pesce (that's fish and rice for us) at the prodding of Kel, we hit the road on our bikes and discovered an awesome trail that led out into the lagoon on a very thin peninsula. The sun managed to come out as well so we ended up having quite a scenic ride with the mountains in the background (see below).

That night we caught a bus to the last area we wanted to explore, a quaint fishing village called Cabo de los Palos. Word had it that the village picked up at night and there were some nice restaurants and bars. That proved true as we found a really nice seafood place overlooking the sea with some cool cliffs in the distance.

I tried the Sole and found that it was probably my favorite fish I've had in my relatively short seafood eating experience. Great place to celebrate the end of a good trip.

Monday we were due to fly out in the afternoon so we grabbed the ferry again instead of the mucho expensivo cabs and were able to get to our flight just in time for a 2 hour delay. Oh well, it can't all be fun.

No more big Euro trips until the Fall (thinking Italy) but we will be back in the US and A for the 4th so if any of you are around the NY/CT area let us know.

Hasta for now.

Updated Flat Pics

We finally got our flat all setup and clean - here is what it looks like:

Dublin

I'm taking over the writing responsibilities for this post because after multiple stops to consume more than a few of the local beverages, I'm not sure how accurate a narrator Sloane would be…

After immersing ourselves in the culture and history of Paris by visiting museums and monuments, we decided that when in Dublin, the best way to get to know our surroundings was to really understand the two pillars upon which the city was built: Jameson and Guinness. So, on Saturday morning we set off for the Old Jameson Distillery.

On our way there I was able to convince Sloane to do a little window shopping and to stop by the Dublin Castle (sadly, I just don't have the stomach for hard alcohol before noon).

After the castle we stopped for lunch and headed off to the Old Jameson Distillery. The Irish coffee we had while waiting for the tour was good, but despite the hour tour of shameless promotion of their whiskey they didn't find a convert in me. Sloane (a more educated connoisseur of sprits) though that no matter how they tried to spin it, it was just simply watered down scotch.

We then headed down to the Guinness factory, which was the highlight of the day. The factory and the tour were a lot of fun, and the beer was great! I can't say that I noticed that Guinness tasted any different in Dublin, but I'm always down for a Guinness so I was happy!

After the Guinness factory we thought we'd complete our educational experience by doing a little field work. We settled on dinner at a pub where we both tired a few more Guinness and Sloane sampled more than a few different types of Irish whiskey.

Not feeling quite as ambitious the nex morning, we decided to take a nice leisurely tour along the Irish coast to Malahide castle. Malahide castle was the home of the Talbot family from 1185 to 1973, and was a unique (albeit sometimes eerie) insight into decades of Irish history.

We concluded our tour with a ride down the coast which left us wishing we had spent more time outside of the city. For us, the best part about Dublin was the friendly people, but the city itself was somewhat industrial…the coast on the other hand was beautiful.

We ended our final night in Dublin with what else…another trip to a pub and a final sampling of Gunnies and a few other local specialties (Kilkenny being our favourite).

We got back to London on Monday morning, just in time to welcome our very first house guest…Emily!

Weekend in Paris

PARIS!

After several weekends of dealing with home goods and logistics, we finally got the chance to travel to the first of many stops on our European tour - Gay Paris (I’ll let you interpret that phrase as you feel fit depending on your view of the French). Somehow we managed to bring the dreary London weather with us as it was cloudy and rainy most of the time, but that didn’t stop us from taking in all that the city had to offer.

Saturday we arrived on our early morning Eurostar train (which I highly recommend) and high tailed it to the Louvre in an attempt to beat the midday rush.





It paid off as we barely had to wait at all to get in and check out Da Vinci’s best work. I’m not an art historian, but I definitely appreciated everything more than my first visit here as a 17 year old more interested in testing the local age limit for bars. Still don’t get the Mona Lisa though, all that fuss over an ugly Italian woman who has one of those “I just let one rip and you don’t know it” looks on her face.

Then it was off to crash at our hotel, which I was able to procure using Starwood points and proved to be very nice by Euro standards.

Finding a good dinner spot proved difficult as neither of us spoke a word of French, but we ended up picking a decent little lounge type spot with outdoor seating in the Bastille section of the city. The food was decent enough, but chilling outside overlooking the square with a bottle of Bordeaux was all I really wanted anyway so I was happy

Sunday it was mission Eiffel to start things off. Along the way we stopped for a quick photo opp at the Arc de Triumph, also known as the worlds largest and most ridiculous traffic roundabout (made famous by my Hollywood father, Clark W. Griswold)

We arrived at the tower and didn’t get so lucky with the lines or the weather this time as we waited about an hour for the elevator in the rain. It was worth it though because the view from the top was excellent.



The rest of the day we wandered the banks of the Seine and sampled some of Paris’ finest pastries (Kelly may have sampled all of them). I learned that you can spend over 20 Euros on a few macaroons and an eclair faster than you can say “Bon Apetit.” Everything was very tasty, however, and it wasn’t long before we had enough to send us into diabetic shock.

All in all, it was a great weekend and we both were able to see everything we had wanted and then some.

We hope you like the pictures, stay tuned in May as we will be heading Dublin (can you say Guinness?!) and Murcia, Spain.


Adieu for now


P.S. Ben and Eric...you officially lost your bet with Kelly