Canary Islands

After a long summer lacking both trips and warm weather, we were able to get back into travel mode this past weekend when we headed to the Canary Islands for the wedding of two of our best friends here in London, Jess and Aaron. Kel met Jess, who is from the Canaries orignally, at her first day at UBS here in London. Since then I have become good friends with her now husband, Aaron, who is Australian and has a ton of Australian friends here that live easy and drink hard, so needless to say we've become good friends.

We arrived late Thursday night and made our way to a nice hotel on the beach that sported small, decent rooms and a great location right on the beach. Unfortunately it was raining and that rain continued into the morning on Friday. The sun finally made an appearance on Friday afternoon, however, which was much anticipated for this couple as the "summer" in London did not provide much in the way of warm, sunny days.

Friday night we rolled 24 deep (Australians are apparently not unlike like wolves or hip hop artists in that they travel in embarrassingly large packs) and attempted to find a restaurant that would take us all without a reservation. Shockingly, we found a decent Argentine Steak joint that fit us all in and was actually pretty damn good.




Afterward we hit the sack early so we could get up early the next day and make the most of the only real day we had to get some sun.



Saturday the weather was much improved, but we only had an hour or so to enjoy it before it was time to get pretty for the wedding. We were hard pressed to leave the bliss of our lounge chairs on the beach to don our respective uncomfortable formal dress, but duty called and we obliged our hosts nonetheless.

The ceremony was held at a large and quite stunning cathedral and was very well done despite the fact that it took twice as long as everything had to be said in Spanish and English.




Afterward we headed back to the hotel for some good ole open bar action and some good eats. Nobody seemed to care that it was mid afternoon as the dancefloor soon filled up and various shennanigans ensued including the shedding of clothes (mostly males regrettably, however this yielded us the best blackmail photo ever for the groom - see below).




After the hotel reception we headed out to the afterparty at a cool spot up in the mountains that offered nice views of the city and a nice after hours atmosphere. Unfortunately the only flight back we were able to get was 2:30am Sunday morning so we had to bail from the party at 12:30am and head to the airport for what turned out to a cramped, half drunk-half hungover affair that I would love to forget but unfortunately will not anytime soon.



Overall, however, it was a great time and was nice to get away from blustery ole England. The best news is that we have much more coming up soon, including Venice next weekend, Cognac France for a half marathon for Kel (I'm attempting the 10k), Leon, France to see friends and a mystery trip that Kel has planned for my birthday. Stay tuned, more to come.

Oxford

Last weekend we thought we would head out on a train to visit Kel's polo friend Julie and her boyfriend Jorge in Oxford. Didn't know what to expect but I figured I could at least mess with some pasty little British nerds if I got bored...

Turns out Oxford is a really cool little town with some real history to it. Between a spot on the street that was marked because the church used to burn heretics at the stake to a clocktower that sported the world's tightest, longest and most claustrophobic spiral staircase, there was plenty to see in town.









After checking out the town we set off into the countryside toward a famous pub called The Trout. The walk was great and made us realize how much we miss the true outdoors. Along the way we saw tons of horses running wild, cool boathouses full of drunk British rednecks and an ancient abby.














After the hour long walk we made it to The Trout, which was perfect as the skies were just about to open up and our stomachs craved nourishment. Julie mentions that the claim to fame is that Lewis Carrol wrote the entirety of Alice in Wonderland while at the pub. The menu must have changed because to my chagrin I did not see any hash brownie's, space cake, or acid lollypops. Mr. Carrol must have brought his own goods as there's no way that story was written by an "unmedicated" mind. The food was great though and was a great way to wrap up the day.



That's it for now, heading back to the States Tuesday for my cousins Andrew's wedding party then head to the Canary Islands and hopefully Italy later this fall. Stay tuned.

Portsmouth with Pops

So this post was a bit delayed due to camera issues, but the pics are definitely worth showing. We made our way down to the South Coast of England to the historic Naval town of Portsmouth. We lucked out and got a great day to explore the ships and seaside views. Highlights include a ride on the hovercraft to Isle of Wight where we played a 9 hole pitch and putt, a trip to the top of the Spinnaker Tower for some amazing views and a tour of the HMS Victory. Good times, check out the pics:

Hangin with the Bro

Apologies for the lack of recent posts, but we're in a bit of a traveling hiatus. Luckily, Evan was able to stop by for a weekend on his way to Sweden and I showed him a bloody good time. From good eats to a secret night club in the tunnels under London Bridge to an outdoor music festival up north and all the usual tourist stops along the way, it was a great (albeit exhausting) weekend. Here is the proof: