Europe

Buza I & Buza II – A Dubrovnik Must-Do

Nestled IN the cliffs of Dubrovnik are two restaurants/cocktail bars, Buza I and Buza II, it only makes sense to make 2 of them, one just isn’t enough. You would never be able to see these from the Old Town, so thank us later 😉

Basically, these little cocktail bars are places where you can sit with a cold drink in tow while having an unobstructed view of the Adriatic… and even make some friends with fellow travelers! It’s pretty hidden away so you have to finagle your way through the Old Town Streets, but once you find the sign “Cold Drinks” (with the appropriate arrow)…. JACKPOT, paradise awaits!

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Oh yeah, and people actually jump from these cliffs, so it’s something everyone watches from the Buza bars!!

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Our Trip to Loch Ness – Do You Believe in Nessie?!

Although we didn’t see Nessie 😦 we did find an adorable little village where we had lunch that is right off the loch (which is beautiful by the way!) Loch Ness is the perfect day trip, the loch itself is beautiful and large and the backroads to its location provide beautiful views! Definitely recommend you take the road trip with your travel buddies or Significant Other whether you believe in Nessie or not! Who knows, maybe you’ll be the lucky person and see her 😉

Pics from the loch…

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And the little village…

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You’re Never Too Old for a Zoo :)

The photos say it all….

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Lemur mid-air jump!

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Up Close Lemur..

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TARANTULA

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He touched the SNAKE…

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Making Friends 😉

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Photos taken at Skansen Open Air Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

Saving Money in Stockholm!

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Sightseeing in Europe is really fun, educational, but often pricey. Every city features its own “Pass” or “Card” that you can purchase at the airport, or any tourism center, and it basically grants you access to X attractions for X price.

When deciding on whether to purchase a Card for the city you are in, you need to do a little research. Check out online before you go, where the Card allows you access and what kind of access it allows you. Also, you need to plan realistically what you are interested in visiting, what is feasible in the time you are there, and pricing out those options versus the price of the ticket you are purchasing. Most of the Cards grant you public transportation access, but not always, so be sure to read the small details!

For the Record, Stockholm is definitely a city to purchase their Card! We purchased a 72 hour card for 895SEK (approx. $110USD) per person. Sounds pricey, but once we got there, we didn’t spend another dollar on any attraction, and all of our bus and metro transportation as paid for which definitely made travel much easier! Read more about the Stockholm Card pricing here.

See a few photos of our adventures below:

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Just for fun, we documented the price of each attraction we visited as if we had to pay it. We wanted to see how far our money went! See our findings below:

Attraction Price(SEK) per person
Royal Palace 150
Royal Treasury 150
Armory 100
Nobel Museum 100
Vasamusseet 130
Spirit Museum 100
Drottingholm 120
Aquarium 120
Skansen Open Air Museum 130
Canal Tour 185
City Hall 130
Coronation Cathedral 40
TOTAL PRICE 1415

Overall, we saved 520SEK, approximately $65USD each, AND this is not including the amount we would have paid for transportation, which we estimated to be about $60USD for both of us. All in all, we saved about $95USD per person, we were thrilled!!

Now, if you’re going to visit Stockholm and want to use the Stockholm Card, visit before December 31, 2015–after this day the card will be discontinued–I guess it was discovered what a great deal it was!! Ha 🙂

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Wonderful Windsor

We recently stayed at a beautiful little Airbnb right outside of London, in Windsor. We fell in love with the quaint little town and really got used to the beauty of Windsor! Our host was a wonderful woman who was so friendly and full of British humor. She chatted with us about everything from the Windsor Castle being “the only important castle” (ha!) to the Last Night of the Proms (which by the way, we had no idea the UK did such a cool little event, why doesn’t America have this?!?!) We had tea and coffee with her and she really gave us a true English experience 😉

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While we weren’t drinking tea in the Sitting Room, we were exploring Windsor (and of course London). Some things you must do in Windsor:

  • The Windsor Castle (beautiful!) but go early, the queue gets very long by the time it opens at 10:00. (see the queue below!!)IMG_5662
  • See the changing of the guard, it happens every other day, and they march right down the middle of High Street. It is a big deal, roads are closed and people stand watching on either side of High Street to catch a view. It is opposite of the Buckingham Palace’s schedule. It usually takes place around 11:30 with streets closing around 10:45.IMG_3900
  • Any of the parks/gardens, there are a few optionsIMG_5627
  • We heard the following were wonderful as well: St. George’s Chapel, Windsor and Eton Brewery, Theatre Royal, Horse Stables (the following is a photo taken from the outside on High Street)IMG_5651

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AND of course, there is a beautiful little pedestrian-only street right off of High Street with a slew of restaurants and great shopping! On our last night, exhausted from walking around London, we ate at a little Italian restaurant called Carluccio’s. Highly recommend. It was very intimate and romantic, yet delicious and filling. It also has a separate deli shop that is open during the day.

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Transportation to London is a breeze. You would take the rail from Windsor to London, with one easy change in between. The rail from Windsor Central Station is a direct route, only stopping in Windsor and Slough. Simply take the rail to Slough, then change platforms (we went to London Paddington) and simply hop on the Paddington rail! It will take you to Paddington, and from there you can go anywhere. This is the simplest route, although there are many options. For the two of us, it was approximately $25USD, not bad for a full day in London 🙂 If you are going from London Paddington to Windsor for the day, it would be the reverse (at Slough, hop onto the Windsor Central Station rail).

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Eiffel Tower…

…You must go in the evening, grab a bottle of wine and a snack and enjoy the view from the lawn! Bring a blanket (dew will definitely make the ground damp!) and some plastic wine cups are clutch! We found ours at a sports/camping store in Copenhagen but most stores sell plastic wine cups. 

TIP: At 8:00pm the tower starts sparkling for 5 minutes! It does this every hour on the hour through the evening so you must see this, it’s stunning!!!!

Thank you @dillieanddallie (www.dillieanddallie.com) for the advice!😊
   
    
    
   
 

A Fjord Paradise

I’m usually a sucker for warm climates [meaning the closer to the Equator the better], palm trees, tropical alcoholic drinks, sunglasses and a bottle of SPF. But, I must say Norway threw me for a loop! We expected to see glaciers, pretty cool considering we’d never seen glaciers before, and of course fjords. But, we weren’t prepared for what we found when we landed in Kaupanger.

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Kaupanger is a relentlessly tiny town in Middle-of-No-Where, Norway. It’s population is mostly of families who have lived there for generations and it’s main “claim to fame” is the ferry that stops by on its way to the larger nearby town of Sogndal. Very different than what we’re used to, we had practically only seen this in movies. IMG_3359

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Intrigued, we stayed at a charming little home (read: boathouse) located right ON the water in the tiny town of Kaupanger (pictured below)….IMG_5595 IMG_3322

The home offered the most perfect view of the fjord and came complete with a balcony ON the water where we could sit and gaze off in the distance while eating our post-dinner ice cream 🙂 We are such romantics ❤

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By the end of the few days we were there, I was already pining to go back, it’s actually still an inner battle I’m still fighting…WHO AM I for wanting to go back to this cold, mountainous, fjord region…and WHY?!?! Then I look at the pictures, and oh yeah….that’s why 😉

London in Photos

Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

-Samuel Johnson

Photos of our recent trip to London, my new love ❤

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