Browsed by
Tag: devon

We went to Europe – The Short Version

We went to Europe – The Short Version

Since we were gone for two weeks and went to 3 different countries, the blog posts are long. Add pics in and they get longer. If you don’t feel like reading through the posts and just want to skim the pics, this is your post!

Kelly’s Trip Summary:

JFK was a nightmare coming and going! But the flight to Zurich turned out to not be so bad. Zurich wasn’t my fave. There were tons of fancy cars but they were also loud, and we heard revving engines well into the night. I worried 24 hours in Zurich wouldn’t be enough but I thought it was more than enough.

Lucerne was amazing! It was such a pretty city. I like that it was situated right on the river. Lucerne in the sun was a totally different city than Lucerne with clouds. The mountain views were all around and I loved that! I’m really glad we went to Mt Pilatus! It was a really cool experience and probably the only mountain I will ever climb.

Paris was okay! I really thought I would like it more. I guess my expectations were a little high. I don’t think it helped the park was blocked off. I had visions of drinking champagne in the park under a twinkly Eiffel Tower but that was hard since it didn’t get dark till so late. We only saw the Eiffel Tower lit up once and that was from a cab at 1am. The city itself was pretty and the food was amazing. I think 4 days in Paris was a day too long though.

London was short and sweet! It was great seeing E&T and just hanging out.

Devon was amazing! I would put it at the top of my favorite places (Lucerne was probably 1st). It was just beautiful! And relaxing. It was also great to see the fam.

Reigate was good! We went there for family and we spent tons of time with everyone so that was nice.

All in all, the trip was amazing! I kind of worried that we weren’t spending enough time in places but honestly, I think the time we spent in each place was just right. Since we were gone for two weeks, it was nice to be on the move. It was also a lot though. I was glad to be home!

Also, I read 5 books on the trip and I took over 1500 pictures!  I’ve tried to narrow that down quite a bit!  They also have not been edited at all so… yeah.

Matt’s Trip Summary:

Considering that we’d planned this trip for so long it really seemed to sneak up on us. We got the flights, hotels, and travel booked so far ahead of time we kind of “forgot” about the trip. Wasn’t really until about a week out that it really hit me that it was time to go!

Trip started of very smoothly and got derailed rather quickly once we got to JFK. I didn’t really mind the delay so much, as the plane was broken, but just not being told anything was rather quite annoying. I was thinking to myself that it was a good thing we decided to spend the night in Zurich and didn’t have other travel arrangements that we’d have to change. Once we got underway the flight over was uneventful.

Zurich was a nice way to ease into the trip. I’m glad we got to check it out but I wouldn’t spend anymore than a day there. It would probably be a good home base to do a few day trips to some other places in Switzerland.

Lucerne was beautiful! Glad that we got some nice weather so that Kelly could see just how magical Switzerland is. I kept telling her that it just doesn’t look real and I’m glad that she got to see that. Really do wish that we had better weather when we went up Mt Pilatus so that we could see the mountains. Next time we go I think we’ll head more into the Alps.

I really enjoy the way of life in Paris. Good food. Good wine. Enjoying life. Hard to beat sitting outside at a brasserie and enjoying a nice meal as the world goes by. Was nice to see some of the sights again and to see some new once. Was disappointed that the Champ de Mars was closed for the Euro Fan Zone as it’s one of my favorite places in Paris.

England was really nice. Seeing lots of family and getting to explore some new places was great. I still cannot believe the house Devon. The pictures that we took there really don’t do it justice. Hard to believe that we were in England! It always feels nice and familiar to be in England and it was a nice way to end the trip.

I enjoyed the pace of the trip. Spending a few days somewhere and then moving on to the next place. One little adventure after another. I think we spent just about the right amount of time in each place. Never felt like we didn’t get a chance to do something and never felt bored.

Of course we got to bookend the trip with another travel disaster in JFK. In all of my travels I’ve never had issues like this before. Hopefully we’ve paid our dues and won’t have to experience anything like this again any time soon.
Quick links to each location:

We’re going to Europe!

Zurich

Lucerne 

Paris

London

Devon

Road to Reigate

Reigate

Devon

Devon

Sunday July 3 – Matt and I woke up early to catch our train to Devon, a 4 hour train ride.  Joy!  Since the train station wasn’t all that close to our hotel we decided to grab a taxi again.

At the train station we grabbed some lunch while we waited for the 1:00 train.  The train ride was pretty uneventful but we did follow the coast for a little while and that was nice though mostly I just read.

Jill and Steve picked us up from the train station and we headed to the beach house.  It was only 15 – 20 mins from the train station.

Matt’s grandmother and aunt have rented this house before, and while we’d seen pics, the view was even better in person!  The house was very nice and situated at the top of a hill.  We had panoramic views all around.

D7K_7299

D7K_7304

We got to the house and got settled before taking a quick walk around to check things out.  I probably took the most pics of any one place while we were at the beach house!  The place was absolutely stunning.

D7K_7320

D7K_7324

D7K_7355

D7K_7356

D7K_7396

D7K_7413

D7K_7368

D7K_7385

D7K_7298
I’m not sure what this is but I WANT one at our house! It was in the yard at the beach house.

D7K_7300

D7K_7331

Monday July 4 – We woke up to find we were fogged in.  The fog lasted till around noon before finally burning off and producing another beautiful day.  We took another walk down to the beach with Matt’s aunt and uncle.  I was like a little kid and finally said we needed to go because my pockets were full of shells and rocks.  hehe

D7K_7415

D7K_7452
I have no clue what this was but the leaves were HUGE! I wish I’d made Matt go stand beside it for comparison.

D7K_7476

D7K_7514

D7K_7521

D7K_7372

D7K_7377

D7K_7471

D7K_7527
One of several frigates we saw going in and out of the harbor.

D7K_7541

13537555_10103848642740961_6455513274556715023_n
My haul from the beach.

Tuesday July 5 – We decided to go to Plymouth, which was about 10 minutes away, to take a look around.  This is the  Plymouth, where the Pilgrams set sail from.  It was a cute little coastal town and we even saw where they think the Pilgrims left from. 😉

D7K_7616
Right here! This is where they think the steps to the Mayflower probably were. Matt and his mom.

D7K_7572

D7K_7578

D7K_7588

D7K_7605

D7K_7617

D7K_7620

D7K_7626

D7K_7627

D7K_7641

The time at the beach house was mostly spent enjoying the views or hiking around the house.  It was a nice relaxing time.