We had such an amazing time with our friends, J & D, that came to London…
We’re beyond happy they were able to come visit and were thoroughly impressed with their packed European schedule- 4 countries in 2 weeks, not bad ladies, not bad at all.
Having them with us made us that much more certain that we’re ready to be home with people we love and who love us.
Seriously miss you guys already! Can’t wait for our next vacay together! XOXO
Oh, and JAC- Do you like pina coladas?
We had to say goodbye to Frenchie again this this week. We were really happy he made it back to London before we left Europe, but it still stunk saying goodbye again without knowing exactly when we’ll see each other next.
As an adult I find it really difficult to make friends. I don’t mean I find it hard to be friendly with people or that I don’t thoroughly enjoy meeting new people and socializing. I’m talking about good friends, as in people you really, seriously care about. I just find it’s much harder as a grown-up to really connect with people in a truly meaningful way. Back home I have very few friends that I haven’t known for 10+ years and I bet if you think about it your nearest and dearest have also been the ones who’ve been around the longest.
That said, we’ve made some incredible friends on this journey, people who we have no doubt will be in our lives forever and Frenchie is definitely one of them. No matter how far away we live from one another the experiences that we’ve shared have allowed us to forge fast, but also everlasting, friendships. That’s something I totally wasn’t expecting when we set off for this wild ride, but it is something I’m insanely grateful for.
Today’s post is actually a recap post of our last round with Frenchie before he rolled out of the department. It was just us three last summer and even aside from the fact that without him we wouldn’t have even been able to order dinner, we really couldn’t have picked a better person to spend those 2 months in Tunisia with…
The differences between our first and second stints in Africa are as vastly different as the continent itself. From the bush to the desert southern and northern Africa are like night and day.
Tunisia has been a country of surprises for me. Maybe if I hadn’t tried so hard to decide what it was all about before I actually got here it wouldn’t have been. I like to be prepared and sometimes that leads me to prejudge more than anything else.
I won’t lie and say I wasn’t a little concerned about coming to an Arab country bordered by Libya and Algeria. Our only other experience with Northern Africa was Egypt and although many of the people we met were absolutely wonderful and warm and welcoming (I’ve run out of w’s) there were also people that made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and a little too welcome if you get my drift. It was and still is the most difficult country I’ve ever visited. But, Tunisia has been easy. It's been comfortable and with the help of our translator and pal, Frenchie, it has turned out to be a lot of fun.
Tunisia has been round of pleasant surprises like our favorite town, Pheobe Buffay (aka Sidi Bou Said)…
the amazing ruins at Dougga…
and the vastness of the Sahara…
Our location in northern Africa allowed us some pretty amazing weekend travel outside of Tunisia, like our trip home with Frenchie…
our trip to Luxor…
Istanbul…
and the jaw-dropping Petra…
It’s been a round full of laughs…
Ali Baba’s hat…
and jumping in each other’s photos…
We’ve really had a great time this round, but like all good things it must come to an end.
We’re moving in just a couple of days. I’m ready, the Wife is ready. We’ll think we’re not ready when saying goodbye to Frenchie, but it’s time to go...and that's what we do best these days- go.
Our trip to Norway started off with a pleasant surprise, finding out our friend from Ireland was actually on our flight out of London. This would be just the beginning of an awesome weekend with awesome friends.
Although we were arriving via London, Frankfurt and Oslo we all landed within 30 or so minutes of each other and headed off to our respective apartment/hotels before meeting up for dinner Friday night.
We had booked the Norway in a Nutshell tour which is really just a package of train and boat tickets that show off the best the country has to offer.
We spent the first couple of hours on the train from Bergen and it provided us some truly gorgeous scenery filled with rivers, waterfalls, fjords, mountains, and cute little Norwegian houses…
as we made our way to the snowy town of Mydral to take the Flamsbana train…
We rode through even more amazing scenery on this train for around an hour on our way to Flam…
with a short stop off at the Kjosfossen waterfall…
We had time to grab lunch in Flam before boarding the boat that would take us through the Songnefjorden.
Even with all the lovely landscapes we had seen on the trains, we were all blown away by the immense beauty of this fjord…
It was FREEZING on the boat, but worth every minute of it! Definitely one of those times when you cannot help but be in complete awe of our spectacular planet. There were more than a few discussions of just how we could make a living in we if we moved to one of the little towns at the base of the fjord. I mean can you imagine this being your front yard?
After two hours we took our frozen bones onto a bus for a ride into Voss. We had an hour or so before our last train back to Bergen so we headed to a cozy café for some drinks.
Our plans for a frozen pizza and card night at our little apartment were foiled by the insane fact that you can’t buy beer after 6pm on Saturday nights so we headed to a restaurant to have one last dinner together.
Sunday we met up and walked down to the wharf houses…
You almost feel like you’re walking in a fun house they are so slanted and warped.
We enjoyed a leisurely lunch at a traditional place down by the water before bidding our goodbyes to the New Cohort and our Irish lass. Wow, I really hate goodbyes, especially when it is to people you hold so dear. It was such a great group this weekend and I can’t tell you how much we appreciate time spent with good friends…
Our friends from Atlanta are with us in London for a few more days and we plan to soak up as much “friend time” as possible before heading off to China.
We’ve got a quick stop in Finland before getting there though. Cross your fingers for us- we’re going to be in search of the Northern Lights!
Album from this weekend…
Let me start by saying, I have very few photos from the weekend, but will have more once I raid our friend’s camera. My point-and-shoot is seriously on it’s last leg. It has been dropped more times than I care to remember and for some reason I just never had our SLR with us. We both kept forgetting it even though we were doing awesome things around London with our friends. I know, it makes no sense. I’m starting to think we both subconsciously forgot it so we could take a break from being shutterbugs for a weekend.
Our friends arrived in London very early Thursday morning, so early that Jules could even come with me to pick them up and still make it to work on time…
They had 2 1/2 days before heading off to some other European destinations and we crammed a lot into that short amount of time- They saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham…
took a ride down the Thames to Greenwich, they had their first pint in an English pub, ate their first real fish and chips and steak and ale pies, walked around Westminster and toured Westminster Abbey…
we went up the London Eye, met our Londoner friends in Soho, tasted their first Korean food, and were even able to hit up the British Museum before leaving to catch their flight.
Since they’ll be back in London at the end of their trip I think this was a pretty nice start. And helloooooo…
I did the London Eye for them and although I did require a beer beforehand, I didn’t even freak out. It was actually not that scary, although I was literally weak in the knees and had to death grip the rails when getting close to the glass for photos.
After they were off to their next destination, we joined our sweet Londoner friends who had invited us over again to enjoy a home-cooked meal. The food was spectacular and the company great- we couldn’t have asked for a better Saturday night.
We seriously spent all day in bed on Sunday planning and booking China weekends and only left the room for breakfast and dinner. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a lazy Sunday together, they don’t come often and it will likely be our last one this year.
Up this weekend- Norway with friends and fjords. We’re so excited!!!
Yummy little treat the new cohort bought for us…
The Wife isn’t even a fan of macaroons, but these she actually enjoyed. Thanks again, new cohort!
Hola! Bonjour! Hello!
I’m still struggling a little bit with what language I’m supposed to be using right now. When we got into Paris on Friday afternoon I was saying “obrigada” to the immigration guy and asking our taxi for a “recibo, por favor”. As the Wife pointed out, I was studying Spanish in a Portuguese speaking country while only really being able to speak English. Landing in Paris threw me for a loop. I asked a Pakistani waiter at an Indian restaurant in Paris who was speaking to us in both French and English for an “aqua sem gas” at lunch on Saturday. You can imagine his face.
Anyhoo…Jules took a day of vacay so we could have a little more time in Paris on our way to Dublin from Brazil. We hadn’t actually been in the city since 2009 and this time were really coming to see our friend, Frenchie. We got in Friday afternoon and immediately upon checking in crashed out on the bed. We were exhausted after the 10 hour flight and thought an hour nap would revive us. Not-so-much. A few hours later we were able to get up and get going. We headed over to the Louvre, which we had skipped last time to enjoy all my faves artists at the Musee d’ Orsay.
We hit as many of the highlights that we could. God knows you could spend 2 weeks straight in that place and never see it all…
After a few hours of art appreciating, we met up with Frenchie and spent the rest of the day and evening catching up over good food and good wine…
Saturday we set out for the Sacre Coeur…
Walked over to the Moulin Rouge…
and then headed over to the Opera House…
before heading back to Frenchie’s place to enjoy a bottle of wine and his ridiculous view…
We had a late and delicious dinner somewhere cute and all Parisian. That’s the great thing about having a local to help you. You can just relax and enjoy the best the city has to offer instead of trying to figure out what freaking train to take to what station. Aaaahhhhhh.
We spent Sunday morning walking through Frenchie’s neighborhood Sunday market and then through Le Marais where we had lunch.
It had been just over a year since we’d seen our dear friend and it was wonderful catching up and getting to peak into his new life in Paris. Although I came with the plan to con him into moving to Atlanta, I saw very quickly that wasn’t going to happen. I mean, it’s Paris. Paris, France. I just don’t think any city in the world can compare. Le sigh.
And hey, if he wants to live there forever, who am I to complain about having a friend living in Paris that I must visit on at least an annual basis?
Pics from the weekend…
