Throwback Thursday- Our Trip to London

That's right... about two months ago we went to London!  But somewhere along the way, that trip got forgotten and left behind.  There is so much to do in London that it can easily be overwhelming.  We spent a lot of time eating, just like when we were in Barcelona, and speaking ENGLISH!  Which means we both got our hair cut while we were there.

When we arrived, London was like you picture it- rainy and dreary.  But it quickly cleared up and remained a decent and mostly sunny 50's-ish for the entire trip. 

After a minor mishap with booking our Book of Mormon tickets (we supposedly booked a matinee and showed up for evening show) we rebooked our tickets for the next night and ended up with better seats!! 

We had to stop by the Rapha shop for coffee... We've now been to nearly all of their locations- San Fran, London, and Mallorca.  And have never purchased anything but coffee. 

 
And we saw all the sights... and ate so much food...  There's so much to do!

 We stopped by the British museum because 1)  It's free (and London is expensive) and 2)  it houses the Rosetta Stone!

And mummified cats.

Being in London was a nice break from the Spanish lifestyle and gave us the chance to feel semi-American again.  This may have happened too...

No shame. 

Reims Cathedral- Honeymoon/Semana Santa Part VI

On our travels recently, we've seemed to wander into several cathedrals.  There's something about majestic buildings that were created with basic tools hundreds of year ago that just draw you in.   The cathedral in Reims was no exception and rivaled that of Notre Dame in Paris.  At night you could see it lit up from a distance and it was beautiful! 

 

At 800 years old, it's looking pretty good!  The Reims Cathedral was built after a fire destroyed a church in the same location in 1211.  It was partially destroyed in WWI and has since been rebuilt.  Not a shabby way to spend some time. 

More Paris! - Honeymoon/Semana Santa Pt. II

After we found our (new) hotel in Paris and had a good nights sleep, we woke up (relatively) early and killed a few hours walking along the Seine before our train trip to Reims.

We took the Metro to the Ile de Cite, grabbed a cafe au lait and a croissant, and went to check out Notre Dame.

We have been to Notre Dame twice before, but this was the first time the line to get in wasn't insanely long so we finally got to go inside.  And it's huge.  And beautiful.  

There was a small service going on so we wandered around the periphery of the church.  Interestingly (to me) the stain glass windows actually open to allow air to circulate.

Next, we decided to wander towards the Eiffel Tower.  Except we went the wrong way (and no, you couldn't just see it and walk towards it, I think).  But we did find the soon to be closed lock bridge which Kelly wanted to put a lock on.  However, we didn't have a lock so we started walking back in the right direction until we came across a guy selling locks.  So we bought a lock and then walked back to the bridge where we got our lock on:)

We walked down to the closed road that runs next to the river, and it turns out they have lots of awesome games painted there.  Like the long jump here.

And, because its Paris, there are tons of places to take really good pictures.  Across the river in this picture, under the white tents, is a small flea market that we went and visited.  I'm pretty sure any Francophile could furnish their entire house there.

We also ran across this barge/park.  Its 3 old barges that have been turned into a park with plants, trees, and even a greenhouse.

And also these sweet nets that looked like a great place to take a nap except that they were not comfortable at all.

Finally, we made it to Paris's big radio tower.  After walking around (we have never gone up, going in things isn't really our M.O. for traveling if you haven't noticed) we decided to find some food and take in the nice weather and the great view.

We stopped at a stand to get Frites and Wine.  However, they would only sell you frites (which they were dumping straight out of the Carrefour bag into the fryer, how authentic)if you got 2 hot dogs with them.  Picture french fries and 2 hot dogs... got it?...  Wrong.  We got a small bowl filled with fries with 2 hotdogs (no buns) layed across the top.  Fortunately, Kelly proceeded to immediately drop the hotdogs on the ground, so we ended up with just frites and wine after all, which we sat and ate right in front of the Eiffel Tower (Most enjoyable moment of this, watching a crow try and grab these hotdogs.  After a few tries he just got the whole thing in his mouth (sideways) and flew off).

The Train To Soller - Kate's Here!! Pt. II

We finally took the historical train to Soller while Kate was here.  The train was first opened in 1912 and runs from downtown Palma, through the mountains, and back down to the city of Soller on the East side of the island.

The train travels 27.3 km (17 miles) in about an hour and goes through 13 tunnels on the trip.

The train is made mostly of wood and is supposed to be the exact way that it looked way back in the day and is even supposed to be maintained in the same way as it was 100 years ago, whatever that means.

Once you make it to the other side of the mountains, the train stops and gives you a chance to take a few pictures of the town of Soller down in the valley below.

The most impressive building in Soller is the St. Bartomeu Church which originally dates from 1236.  The most unique feature of the church is that it has a beautiful facade, but the rest of the church is fairly plain (unusual in Mallorca anyway).

The original hand-operated switch to change tracks.  I find this fascinating, Kelly thinks I'm a nerd.

These are the trams (different from the trains) which run from Soller to Port de Soller which is about 4km away.  Most of the old town in Mallorca were built about that far from the water to protect from pirate attacks (on a side note...  Whats a pirates favorite letter?  You think it be arrrrr, but its really the sea!).

While we were walking through Soller, a cat perched on a windowsill took one look at Kelly and let out a loud pet-me meeeoooooow.  After the (slightly longer than) appropriate cat petting time, we were wondering if Kelly was some sort of cat whisperer.  However, we were maybe 20 feet away when another person walked by the cat, it meowed, and they pet him.  Turns out this cat is just running a kind of pet-me racket.  Brilliant.

Kate and I in front of the two most Soller-y things in town, the church and fresh fruit trees.

Fin

Cologne, Germany

After Kelly's parents went back to the States after Christmas, Kelly, Mike, and I caught a flight from Palma to Cologne, Germany.  Why you ask?  Because it was dirt cheap.  Lots of Germans come to the island for the holidays so the return flights are empty and cheap.

 Greeting us at the Cologne airport was this awesome sign because, you know, why not...

Once we were in Cologne, we wandered around the city center.  The city was bombed to the ground during World War II, so there are no old buildings like alot of Europe.  There is a giant cathedral and that is about the only building that is from before 1945 so the city has a different vibe than what you think of as a European city.

Eventually we found the Christmas Market in a square near our hotel.  It had a large ice-skating rink and lots of vendors selling food and things.  Oh, and there was a flea circus.  Like, for reals.  It took us seeing the guy playing around with a city in a briefcase a couple times to realize what it was, but it was a flea circus.  It was also all in German so we understood none of it, but from the look of the crowd, Germans really like flea circuses.

 Big 'Ol brat in Germany

Fried bread-y things, delicious

We wandered around the city center for most of the night in search of a cheap beer.  I always thought that beer in Germany was dirt cheap and served in giant glasses.  At least in Cologne, this is not true.  The beer (Kolsch beer is from Cologne or Koln in German) was expensive (note:we live in a country where there is 20%+ unemployment and so everything here is cheap, but still...) and came in little .2L glasses.  Who knew?

 Looking over the Rhine River at the cathedral

We literally stumbled over these small bronze plaques in the sidewalk.  They were in front of a house and had the names of the Jews who had lived there and were taken to concentration camps along with the number they were assigned in the camp and the date they died.  These were the only ones we saw so I don't know who put them there or how many there are.

All-in-all we found Cologne to be underwhelming.  We have heard great things about Germany but Cologne, with its newer building and industrial and touristy feel was not our favorite stop.  It has some great museums and is easy to get to and from by train though.  And lets be honest, if flights there are cheap again, we'll probably go back, traveling is never that bad!

Pollenca - Part II

The second part of our trip to Pollenca involved checking out the town.  Its been a settlement since the Roman Era so it has plenty of historical buildings around.

First we went inside one of the two large cathedrals in town.  Im pretty sure this one alone has enough seating for the entire town.  All of the walls and ceilings in the church are painted and they didnt show any restraint in the use of gold either/

This was followed by a hike up 300+ stairs to the old monastery in town.  It was a great workout and made for some nice views.

And someone found a cat...

After our roomies left we settled in at a cafe and 'watched' the Gamecocks while watching RCD Mallorca on tv (we eventually got our game to stream, yay!).