The Rest of Europe

Lately I have been working on our "Europe Trip" Shutterfly book which has been quite the project considering I took 1,200 pictures. Tonight I was wishing we were back on our trip and decided to document the unblogged portion of our trip...

We left Paris and rented a car - then we drove 30 minutes outside Paris to Versailles...
Nate outside of Versailles

In the hall of mirrors inside Versailles - it was truly a spectacular palace!

Outside in the massive Versailles gardens - our camera ran out of batteries right after this picture so I missed taking pictures of Marie Antoinette's quarters

After Versailles we drove up to Normandy through the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen...
Outside our hotel in D'Arromanches (Normandy, France)

The next day overlooking D'Arromanches - the first town to be liberated on D-Day

A German gun battery

Omaha Beach - truly brave men walked here

Driving in the cool countryside to Amboise! Every 5 minutes Nathan made us pull off and take a picture of something...

Eating dinner in Amboise, France the first night - I LOVE Amboise, its in the Loire Valley of France and has its own Chateau - the street we are eating on here is where we ate all 3 nights and it was SO perfect!

We visited 5 chateaus in the Loire Valley - it was such a great place to visit and I would recommend going there to anyone!
Me outside the first castle we visited, Chenouceau

How would you like to cook in THIS kitchen?!


Really old trees!

Outside of "the mans castle" as Nate called it - A giant castle design for the prince and his hunting buddies during the winter

So very exciting...

Lovin' my Nathan!

Outside another castle where a rich french family still lives!

We saw 70 hunting dogs get fed at one of the castles. It was kind of gross.

A really old chocolatier!

Outside of Amboise



Make a wish!

And hug a bush...

We drove through the vineyard country! It was so beautiful

Me outside our hotel in Amboise - it was a 900 year old building!

Eating dinner on our last night in France

On our train to Germany!

Picnic dinner on the first night in Munich

The Residenz Musuem in Munich - Everything got bombed in WWII so nothing was original

The treasury had original things though! Check out that crown

Yummy Bratwurst!

Large piece of cheese

We toured the BMW factory in Munich - Nate loved it

The Marienplatz

After Munich we rented another car and drove down to Bavaria, Germany - it really was like the Sound of Music and the pictures just don't capture its beauty fully

At Mad King Ludwig II's first palace

The Disney World Castle!



Hanging out

This GPS saved our trip... we couldn't have made it without it!

While in Bavaria we stayed in Fussen, Germany which is about 10 minutes from Austria -on this day we did one of my favorite things - we hiked up to some castle ruins that were basically deserted and gave ourselves our own private tour!

The view was amazing!

Jumping for joy!







The alpine slide of Germany! Much cheaper than its park city counterpart..

We rode the tram up the Alps on the last day

Nate on top of the world!



Outside an old Church in Bavaria

Making friends with European animals

Eating gelatto on our last night :(

The End! Sorry for the excessively long post. People have probably already vowed to stop reading my blog because my posts are so long. Anyway, it was a great trip! I love traveling! I wish we could do it all the time.

Family Visits

Nathan and I have been lucky enough to have a bunch of visits from family over the past few weeks. First, a week and a half ago my Mom came out to visit! It was so good to get to see her! We had tons of fun touring San Diego, going to the BYU/SDSU game, sailing, shopping, trying new restaurants, going to the beach, talking and more.










I definitely miss my family but Nate promised me as part of the deal of moving here that taking trips back to Virginia is a big priority! It was way fun to have her come and visit us though and I can’t wait to go home for thanksgiving! This past week our sister-in-law Angela came to visit. She is pregnant and wanted to have a get away from work and cold Chicago. We went to Sea World and hung out at Nate’s parents house with her. Last Friday, Nate’s brother John and his wife Vanessa came down for John’s birthday. We went to the Fish Market Restaurant to celebrate with Nate’s parents, Grandma, John, Vanessa, Angela, and Vanessa’a parents. I have a new love for seafood after eating at the Fish Market. I got the most delicious Dijon encrusted tilapia with roasted veggies and potatoes. The restaurant also offers a gorgeous view of San Diego Bay as you eat. Other than family visits we have been loving our lives San Diego. On Saturday morning we went wake boarding with Nate’s old neighbor and his friend. I had never been before and his neighbor made it very clear throughout the whole trip that I had a deprived childhood. The guys were nice to let me try it a couple times. I got up once for about 2 seconds.


Nate being awesome...


Me trying to survive...

It was way fun! I even got to wear a dry suit for the first time which only took 30 minutes and a lot of chafing to get off after.

It's a party in the USA...

Nathan and I are back from our Europe trip and have started our new life in sunny San Diego! After 6 weeks of living out of suitcases -first at Nate's parents, then in Europe- it feels good to be getting settled into our new apartment. I can only handle wearing the same 4 outfits and not knowing which box my camera battery charger is in for so long.. Our Europe trip was an absolute fantastic adventure! We definitely had some uncertain moments (like not being able to find gas in a small town in the middle of nowhere in France where nobody spoke English or accepted American credit cards) but almost everything worked out great. After flying on our delayed plane to Frankfurt and literally running through the airport to barely make our train to the Netherlands, we arrived in Amsterdam. That first day we took a canal cruise around the city and searched for a restaurant in the rain. (Note: If you go to Amsterdam "cafe"s are often not restaurants, but smoke bars for druggies because pot is legal, we learned this lesson very quickly).










The next morning we walked really far (in the rain) down to the Rijksmusuem which was awesome. I loved the Rembrandt and the Vermeer. Next we went to the Van Gogh musuem which was probably my favorite art exhibit of the whole trip. His paintings are beautiful and he had such a fascinating life. After that we visited the flower market and toured the Anne Frank House just before catching our train to Bruge, Belgium. We didn't set that much time aside for Amsterdam which actually turned out to be a good thing because it was kindof a dirty, sketchy, rainy city. I'm glad we got to see some cool things there but it wasn't my favorite. Bruge on the other hand WAS my favorite. Bruge is a cute little town in Belgium with so much history and charm. We spent about 2 fantastic days in Bruge touring old churches, taking a bike tour, visiting a chocolate museum, eating amazing pastries and food, buying Belgium chocolate, attending a small LDS branch, going to museums, and observing the wealthy conservative people who actually live there. I wish I could post all 200 pictures I probably took in Bruge because I loved it so much but here are just a few:















After our last morning in Bruge Nate and I hoped on a train to Paris. It was quite the day of traveling and after 3 trains, a metro and a long walk with heavy bags we were ready to explore Paris. I went to Paris in high school with my friend's Lizzie and Danielle and Lizzie's parents and have always wanted to go back. Going with Nathan was romantic and fun. Definitely a highlight of the trip. The first night there we ate in the Rue de Cler neighborhood which was packed with locals. While we had many fabulous eating experiences in France, if you ask me, classic french food like steak tartar is a little overrated. I love the breads, cheeses, crepes and desserts of France but despite its reputation French food just doesn't live up in my opinion. Honestly, can you think of any true French dish that you have eaten in the United States that is that good? I love you Julia Child but what the heck? Aspics just aren't very good. Anyway despite my epiphany, Nathan and I loved Paris. We spent 3 days there doing all the things you have to do if you visit Paris: climbing the Notre Dame, getting lost in the Louvre, visiting the Orsay, eating lunch in the Tulieres gardens, going up the Eiffel Tower at night, walking the Champs E'lysse and so forth. We even visited Le Cordon Bleu Paris - home to countless famous chefs like Giada de Lautentis - and got a tour. My favorite night was the 2nd night there when we went to a concert in the 800 year old St. Chapelle Chapel and then went up the sparkling Eiffel tower at night. Paris really is a special city! What a treat it was to go to Europe. Anyway, I'm going to stop with our trip dialogue here and write Europe part two tomorrow when Nathan is out of town and I have nothing to do at night!