Nature

A Roman Must-See: The Colosseum & The Forum in Photos

Italy. Wow. Where to begin? Well, we can start with Rome… it’s full of things to do and see, but at the top must be the Roman Forum and Colosseum. For obvious historical reasons, but also because of the beauty and grandeur these sites exhibit. It costs €24 (approx. $27.60 for us when we visited!) and you get admission to both places. Not to mention, they are beside one another so the convenience is amazing! Check out the below pics, then just pick which one you want to tour first 😉

The Colosseum….

The Forum…

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LA Dreamin’

Daylight Savings Time was this past Sunday in Denmark (and most of Europe), meaning the sun is now setting at approximately 4:30pm, soon to be 3:30pm in a month or so. Not to mention the coolness of fall is well underway and temperatures are only dropping! So, in light of this adjustment, below are some pictures of the forever warm and sunny Los Angeles, our home away from home 😉

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Day Trip to Mons Klint

Mons Klint is a beautiful nature area in Southeastern Denmark that features natural cliffs made of chalk aka limestone. They are exquisite because they are the tallest cliffs in Denmark and they border the Baltic Sea, making for a beautiful view. To get down to the cliffs, you must climb 500 stairs down, and then 500 more to get back to the top. It is a bit of a climb but it’s definitely worth it!! See pics below…
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There are also some other things you can do at Mons Klint as well! Read more about it here!

Bike City, Denmark

Copenhagen’s bicycle culture is world famous and has been strong for over a century, making Copenhagen the Bike City. It’s very apparent, if you have ever visited, that biking is a way of life for many, many Copenhageners. As an American, the thought of the American people biking in the way the Danes do is so unfathomable, as a result I have become slightly obsessed with passing bicycles…EVERYWHERE….

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***Disclaimer, I had a bike and was so excited to be in a city where I could ride virtually anywhere! This was until I fell victim to the popular crime in Copenhagen that is bike theft…..

BEFORE 🙂

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AFTER 😦

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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.

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 😉

Icetrolls: Norway

When we were booking our trips around Europe, Norway originally wasn’t one of them. However, we watched an episode of Rick Steves’ Europe featuring Norway and we instantly fell in love. We began our research on attractions and stumbled across Icetroll, a company that offers many different glacier hiking, kayaking, rafting, etc. tours. We knew we HAD to do this. So, we booked the Icetroll tour that featured kayaking and glacier hiking. Hands down, best adventure we’ve ever had.

View of Norwegian countryside on way to Icetroll

View of Norwegian countryside on way to Icetroll

With glaciers diminishing more and more each day, we knew this would be such an exceptional experience, something that people of the future may not get to experience.

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Carlos leading the way

We arrived at our meeting point at 10:00 and met our tour guide, Carlos, and our group of 2 other couples (one from Poland and one from Arizona). We began our hike to the lake, then we kayaked over to the glacier. Once at the glacier we hiked to the ice and learned how to lace our crampons (the spike glacier shoes) and off we went. Overall we hiked for about 6 hours, then we kayaked back to our starting point. We got back around 16:00.

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The tour offered many amazing views and a fun experience that I am not sure we will ever be able to recreate. The entire tour cost about $230, and was arguably the best couple hundred dollars we have ever spent!

If you are on the western side of Norway, this is definitely something you should get around to doing. You will be exhausted after the trip, but very rewarding!!! Find more info at http://www.icetroll.com 🙂

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