London Pictures!

Below and here are our pictures from London! I'll post some Paris ones tonight :)

charging my computer in the Dublin airport, also known as why we almost missed our plane; our yummy sandwiches we secured for our flight

We love train rides! And yes, that is me driving in England. On the right side of the car. On the left side of the road...

The wonderful dinner we made at Cho's our first night and Stamford Bridge!

The newly won FA Cup of Chelsea's, Kevin Garnett's Chelsea shoes

The many trophies of Chelsea and they get to add the Champions League to the haul! Inside the historic stadium

Channing  and I holding our press conference. Next question please.

Sigh, we got to touch Torres' jersey!

Walking out of the tunnel to game day sounds! And downtown London near Hyde Park

Channing's love, Fernando Torres; at the gates to Buckingham Palace

We found our red telephone booth! And at Westminster Abbey (where we saw the ungrateful LSU fans)

Westminster Abbey; and a glamour shot with David Beckham :) Funny story about that as well, we saw some man come up to the wax figure and actually ask him a question thinking he was real... I don't want to know what he was on.

On the London Eye! And my delicious fish and chips

Banksy drawing we found! Took us long enough, and we thought we'd escape London a while and visit Hogwarts.

I'm meant for Hogwarts.

The best kept secret in France

We are on our way back from the Calanques, the best kept secret in France. There is no English translation but it's essentially a cove on the cost amongst the hills. And it is BEAUTIFUL.

It took us a while to make it there, about 50 minutes each way and it's not for the faint of heart or the clumsy (although somehow I made it), but it is so worth it!!!

Apparently there are many of these among the South of France but this was one of the more secluded, although many people made the trek.

The pictures are below! And if you think the pictures are gorgeous, they really don't even do it justice. Also, I'll come back with pictures of Paris & London, but wanted to get some of these up while they're fresh!

C'est la vie.

Aboard our flight to Marseille and we are so excited to be on our way to the South of France!

Looking forward to going into unchartered territory since this will be the leg of the trip where I have zero prior experiences. Let the fun begin!

We also had a good last day in Paris. We walked around the city some new, seeing the Eiffel Tower, Arc d'Triomphe, Champs Elysee, and more. And our gracious host and his friends made us all dinner. Est tres bien! They made pasta with beef and used ketchup as sauce which, I must say, was different but didn't taste bad.

I know Channing isn't sad to see Paris go but I didn't have a bad time. Paris is beautiful but still can't replace my top 3 cities: Praha, Rome, and Santorini. Maybe the south of France will have better luck!

I'll post again soon and upload London and Paris photos!

Chelsea, Chelsea!

Because Channing and I have this song stuck in our heads this morning. Go Blues! And congrats on winning the Champions League!

Chuis une salope

Channing and I have made it safely to Paris, unharmed but a little tired. We ended up staying out all night since our flight left at 6 AM and we needed to be at the airport by 4:30. And good news, we didn;t have to run to catch our plane! WAHOO!

Upon getting to Paris yesterday we met up with our host Mathieu and dropped off our stuff at his house and went into the city. He took us to this nice little cafe where we had lunch (although only after we waited for an hour because nothing opens until 12--what the heck Paris?!) and it was delicious! I had sausages and sauerkraut and Channing had coq (pronounced cock) aka chicken. Mathieu really liked the coq as well.

We then went around the city on a quest to shop but alas Channing and I were so tired we couldn't even focus. We're in the Galeries de Lafayette and we can't even get the desire to shop! Sad day, but we decided to go back and nap which was a good plan seeing as we hadn't had any sleep up to this point.

We then went to Mathieu's friends' house and hung out to celebrate one of their birthdays. It was super fun and we ended up going to Notre Dame at night and watching the street performers and attempting to speak French (at least I was, Channing is really good at it). All in all it was a fun night and we made a lot of new friends!

One low note though: Channing got her wallet and iPhone stolen on the metro to downtown but thankfully they didn't take her passport or the cash she had. Stupid thief! So we're good, and everything was cancelled asap thanks to the wonderful power of technology!

But that was our first day in Paris, and now we're ready for our second! We want to go take a picnic on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower so we're off to make that happen! Pictures will be posted soon :)

Long live the Queen!

Well, after almost missing our flight out of Dublin, we made it to London! We literally were running through the airport this time because RyanAir stops boarding 30 minutes before takeoff. And we forgot about this and began heading towards our gate... 30 minutes before takeoff, only to see "Final Call" on the board which, needless to say, lit a fire under our butts. But we blame the Apple store since we were hanging out in there to steal the chargers from the display computers and iPads to charge our own electronics. Oops...

Anyway, we spent all day yesterday in London and rode the London Eye for a great view of London! We also had a group of 20 15-year-olds try to hit on us from the adjacent pod. We think they were trying to mime "Call Me, Maybe" but we're not sure. We also saw Buckingham Palace but unfortunately no guards and the building had a lot of construction going on around for the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (60 years!).

Our tour of Stamford Bridge was awesome, though! Our tour guide absolutely loved us as Channing and I used our teacher's pet skills and interacted with him. He loved us so much that when we went in the Chelsea locker room where they have all the jerseys and lockers that you can't touch, he grabbed Torres' jersey (because Channing had expressed her infatuation with the beautiful man) and put the arm around each of us for a photo opp. So basically Fernando Torres had his arm around me. No big deal. And I'm never showering again (kidding!).

We also made it to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Platform 9 3/4, a Banksy drawing and Harvey Nichol's. We wish we could afford something in Harvey Nichol's but the prices were just a little too steep. But it did give us the opportunity to eat at a wonderful pub around the corner and get some fish and chips! It was all so delicious! And we tried a strawberry cider beer which was so phenomenal we stole the glass it came in. No judgements please.

Also, we've taken it upon ourselves to say Roll Tide to any fellow SEC brethren we see. We saw an Auburn fan in Dublin who just looked plain surprised to hear Roll Tide but gave us a broad smile. We also gave a Roll Tide to a Georgia fan on the tube yesterday and we think it made his day as he tried to explain it to his female companion. But the best was the LSU fans we saw at Westminster who really didn't take it well. I wonder why... maybe it has something to do with the 21-0 smackdown? They still haven't crossed the 50 yard line.

We spent the day in Cambridge today for some shopping and fun and were surprised by the amount of people in the city. We made some purchases for only the second time; you should be so proud! And we definitely plan on wearing them soon.

Tomorrow is our last full day in London and we plan on touring the Tower of London among other things and then having a good ole night out on the town! The only bummer is we have such an early flight to Paris Saturday morning, but whatever. C'est la vie!

Blarney PICTURES!

And finally, here are some pictures from our visit to Blarney Castle! And the rest can be found here :)

Inside the castle

The view from up top of the gardens and Blarney House

Looking down into the castle and preparing myself to kiss the Blarney stone!

Kissing the Blarney stone! And us eloquent ladies :)

Amongst the Castle grounds

An awesome tree and the Blarney House

We love nature.

Tree huggers unite! and we found a fun play area?

Playing on the ropes!

Cute little copse along the castle

It's all so pretty!

Messing in the dungeons and a view of Blarney Castle

Cork PICTURES!

And here are a few from Cork, with the rest here!

Pretty church down the street from our hostel (I forget the name) and a freaky mannequin on the street

Our "snack" and on the road to Cork!

Our "dinner" (poor planning on our part) and a pretty castle alone the way

They have Alabama represented! And the other reminded me of Watson :)

St. Patrick's Church of the purple doors

Along the river in Cork!

Our lovely first dinner in Cork, and the pageboy has a secret!

He wanted a kiss I guess, and looking down the bar at the oldest pub in Cork!