Month: January 2018

Barcelona Part Four – Relaxing by the Marina…

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On our fourth and final day in Barcelona, I was only interested in doing two things. Firstly, soaking up the sunshine before I’m smothered in grey cloud back home, and secondly, eating good food.

There was one place that I had grown to really love whilst in Barcelona and that was the marina. I could sit there for hours watching the ripples in the water and the boats floating along. There is also a little stall (or a few stalls if you walk along), where you can buy crepes and waffles. I opted for a chocolate crepe with whipped cream and did not regret it.

We also walked along Las Ramblas and ate more Japanese food (such a sucker for Asian food!) and it was the perfect end to a perfect trip.

Have you travelled to Barcelona?

L x

Barcelona Part Three – Park Guell and the Gothic Quarter…

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On the our third day in beautiful Barcelona, we decided to walk from our hotel near Eixample to Park Guell. We Google mapped our route and discovered that it would take around an hour which was fine because we both quite like walking. What Google maps failed to mention was that the final leg of our walk to Park Guell was up a steep hill. I was melting by the time we reached the top (although towards Park Guell they provide you with the option of using an escalator which was like a drop of gold falling from heaven!).

Anyway, the uphill walk was worth it for those dreamy views. We could see all of the way to the sea which was rather lovely. Park Guell is super nice to walk around too, we loved it.

Once we had finished mooching around we decided to walk back towards our hotel (much more fun going downhill). We stopped for cake, a drink and a well deserved rest for a bit before heading over to the Gothic Quarter to enjoy the wonderful architecture.

There are so many cute little shops and restaurants lining the Gothic Quarter, so it’s easy to get swept up in an afternoon there.

We then headed over to see the Marina lit up at night, which was really nice and we had dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the shopping centre. I’m such a sucker for Asian food!

Have you visited Park Guell?

L x

Barcelona part two, La Sagrada Familia and beach fun…

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We were so lucky with the weather during our time in Barcelona. Travelling in Europe during January is always a risk in terms of weather but we lucked out and had sunshine with blue skies everyday during our time in Barcelona. Having good weather meant that we could make the most of being outside and were able to walk everywhere without resembling a soggy raccoon upon reaching our destination.

With the sunshine smothering us, we decided to walk to the beach from our hotel near Eixample. I’m at my happiest at the beach and I just feel so grounded and chilled out whenever I’m near the sea.

We meandered down to the marina which was such a lovely surprise. I didn’t realise that the marina would be so lovely, laced with palm trees and pretty views. There is also a shopping centre which is open 365 days a year and is home to a variety of shops and some great restaurants too.

I wasn’t expecting a particularly special beach in Barcelona. I’d been told that it wasn’t that great, so I was thrilled when we arrived at the beach and were greeted with golden sand and clear blue sea. In all honesty, the beach was much more desirable than many of the beaches here in the U.K., so I’m so glad that we weren’t put off and still popped along for some salty air and a stroll along the sea front.

I love gazing out at the ocean and seeing absolutely nothing connected to human life. Just the waves meeting the Earth, the ocean filled with life and the sky above. It makes me feel so chilled out and grounded. Exactly what you need on a birthday!

After we had embraced beach life, we decided to head on over to a cafe for coffee and cake. Unfortunately my Spanish is not so great and we actually found ourselves in a gluten free cafe where I had the weirdest crepe I’ve ever seen. It looked like a prawn cracker and had a spongy consistency. Anyway, I’ve decided I need to work on my Spanish before our next trip!

Following on from our gluten free cafe experience, we walked over to La Sagrada Familia because have you even been to Barcelona if you haven’t gawped at Gaudi’s masterpiece in the flesh?!

What a beauty! Such sumptuous architecture bathed In Mediterranean sunshine. Phil said that it was the most beautiful building he has ever seen and I am inclined to agree (although Italy has some real treasures).

We then walked back over to Eixample where we stumbled upon a traditional Spanish restaurant and had a glass of Sangria with our seafood paella. Not going to lie, the paella was a bit too fishy for my liking, but I was instantly hooked on the Sangria. It was divine!

Have you visited La Sagrada Familia?

L x

A birthday in Barcelona part 1…

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I’m a big fan of a birthday holiday and this year for the big day itself, we decided to hop over to Barcelona for a few days. We had never been before and it seemed like a good place to get away from the grey days of London.

I can honestly say that we were pleasantly surprised the from the moment we arrived, we were overwhelmed with friendly people, gorgeous architecture and sunshine. What more could a girl want?

We drank Sangria (I’m now a HUGE fan), ate nice food and shopped all whilst taking in the beautiful city.

We were staying in between Las Ramblas and Eixample. I think it’s a great location for exploring and we had so much convenience on our doorstep.

Have you traveled to Barcelona?

L x

Celebrating my birthday…

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I absolutely adore a fun evening with my closest buddies and so for my birthday this year, I decided to invite a few people over for a pyjama party at our house. I also loved having a shower and throwing on pyjamas before people arrived, it was a no-fuss evening!

We’ve had a few bbq’s with around 20 or so people and we have an annual Eurovision shindig, but this was the first time that we’d had a few people hanging out and it was super fun!

The boys played Super Smash Bros and We all played a few ‘party’ games including beer pong. I added a few shots of vodka too, which I’m not sure I’d recommend!

I had an amazing Oreo flavoured cactus cake made by Bluebell Bakes. I always get our special occasions from Bluebell Bakes because they not only look incredible, but they taste divine all whilst helping out a small business. I feel really strongly about supporting small businesses and also about having a special occasion cake made fresh. You just can’t beat it!

We had a really fun evening and it was great to see my closest buddies. They are all wonderful.

How do you celebrate your birthday?

L x

Budapest Day 3: Buda Castle, Gellért Spa and Pinball…

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We had a super jam packed Wednesday in Budapest following on from the Christmas break. The shops were finally open, the sun was shining and there was Life all over the city.

We started our day by having breakfast at Matthias Church. I’m such a sucker for Starbucks Pain Au Chocolats (or chocolate croissants as they like to call them Stateside!), so we decided to pop over to a Starbucks with a view for breakfast.

Unfortunately we had to walk up ten million stairs and Starbucks didn’t have any pains, so I had to settle for cake instead (certainly liveable!), but the views were incredible and it was such a treat to witness such a beautiful city smothered in golden sunshine.

It really was a glorious morning. I would highly recommend heading over to Matthias Church and walking along to Buda Castle. It was really lovely.

Budapest has so much history and culture sunken into its veins and each building has a story or a sight that it’s seen. Buda castle is no exception. There’s so much history there and it’s gorgeous too, so definitely worth a visit!

Following our visit to the castle, we made our way over to Gellért Spa. Gellért Spa resides in the most beautiful building and although it was smaller than Széchenyi, it was grander and felt cleaner. We had a relaxing afternoon there.

We then decided to walk to the Pinball museum. It took us over an hour as we stopped to breath in the sumptuous architecture that Budapest displays in abundance and although we were in need of a rest after our mammoth walking day (we had walked everywhere that day), I’m glad that we did because you simply miss out on the small things of you are whizzing by in a taxi.

We had lots of fun at the Pinball Museum, it was great to play on all of the different machines and they sell drinks there too, which is nice.

Soon it was time for us to stuff our faces, so we headed over to the Budapest BBQ for dinner and drinks. The food was great! We had a lovely evening.

I thoroughly enjoyed Budapest and I feel as though it’s a city that offers so much. I think we will definitely visit again one day.

Have you visited Budapest?

L x

Budapest Day Two: Christmas Markets

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On our second full day in Budapest, we had planned to mooch around the Christmas markets and perhaps do a spot of sale shopping, however, turns out shopping isn’t a thing in Budapest on Boxing Day- who knew?!

Luckily the Christmas markets were in full swing and were absolutely gorgeous. So cute and festive. I loved looking around at all of the handmade delights on offer.

We also stopped for cake and just enjoyed existing in such a pretty city.

It was much colder on Boxing Day, and a little cloudy but that didn’t stop us walking along the river and around the town. Even on a grey day Budapest is beautiful.

How did you spend Boxing Day?

L x

Budapest Day One – Széchenyi Spa and a Christmas dinner cruise…

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For Christmas 2017 we decided to head on over to Budapest to experience Christmas abroad for the first time. We’ve never been away for Christmas and felt like it was a good time as we don’t have children nor do we have giant families where Christmas is a big deal. We chose to visit Budapest because some of our friends have travelled there and our wonderful neighbours are Hungarian and they recommended it. Anyway, fast forward to Christmas Eve and we were riding high in the sky with Rudolph on our way to a festive adventure.

I had made some loose plans of things to do and had decided that on Christmas Day we would head on over to Széchenyi Spa for a relaxing afternoon. We walked to the Spa from our hotel through a pretty park with incredible architecture and an ice rink. The sun was shining and it was so lovely.

We stopped off at Vajdahunyad Castle on our way to the Spa, it’s so, so gorgeous and definitely worth a visit. It was when we were wandering around by the castle that we spotted a little restaurant that served burgers. Scrumptious burgers that were rather sizeable. We stopped for lunch and grabbed a hot chocolate to go. I would definitely recommend the little restaurant with the big burgers!

The spa was really fun although in all honesty I did find it a little dirty feeling. I just felt that it was a bit grimy in places and that I needed a good scrub after. It was a really fun place though with so much to do from your own private hot tub with a beer tap, through to saunas and massages. It’s a great place.

In the evening we took a dinner river cruise that I booked through Viator. It was amazing, the cruise was beautiful with all of the gorgeous buildings that line the river all lit up. Super pretty. The boat was really lovely and festive too. There was a band playing and it was a wonderful evening. I ate too much and others drank too much (seriously there was a 14 year old boy on our table that knocked back two glasses of champers and two glasses of rose in forty minutes) and it was a lovely end to our first Christmas away. Sadly I didn’t take many photographs, but I can assure you that pictures wouldn’t have done the lush views justice anyway. I would highly recommend the dinner river cruise!

Have you visited Budapest?

L x

A look back at 2017 and to 2018…

On By louiseIn Lifestyle, Travel, Uncategorized3 Comments

I know it’s a terrible cliche, but the end of a year just draws out a reflective side of me and so I thought that I would take a look back over what memories 2017 created.

January

January was a big month for me as I turned thirty. I decided to spend my actual birthday in Hong Kong at Disneyland because why not?

I had a really great day up until the evening when I vomited the most I have in my entire life. It was legit awful. I basically didn’t eat for the rest of our trip which is a shame because Chinese food is my favourite.

When we returned I had a Hawaiian themed party at Moor Park Mansion. It was so, so fun and literally everybody dressed up in Hawaiian shirts, flip flops (two of my buddies were a pair!) and leis absolutely everywhere. It was so colourful and brightened up the dull days that January brings.

My amazing cake was from Bluebell Bakes, which is where I get all of my cakes from. They are delish!

February

In February, we had the best trip to LA with our buddies. We had so, so much fun. We went to Disneyland (again), Knott’s Berry Farm, Malibu, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Long Beach… oh it was brilliant. We were blessed with good weather which really lifted us from the depths of grey winter back home. Kate and I went whale watching and saw four grey whales!!! It was incredible.

March

March was a bit of a quiet month for us, but we enjoyed walks with Holly and I got a new passport which I was quite excited about!

April

In April we headed over to Amsterdam over the Easter break. We fell in love with the city and had a great time doing all of the touristy things.

When we returned, we had a meal to celebrate Phil’s birthday and I surprised him with another awesome cake from Bluebell Bakes. It was a League of Legends themed cake. He loved it!

May

In May we enjoyed celebrating friends and family birthdays and walks in Marlow. We also had our annual Eurovision bbq party, but I didn’t take any photos!

June

In June, I ordered a really amazing outdoor dining set which I was super excited about and we took Phil’s Dad over to Brussels for Father’s Day weekend. We went on the Eurostar for the first time too. It was great!

July

July was a mammoth month with so much going on. My bestie turned thirty, so we went out to celebrate.

My gorgeous friends Sarah and Matt had an engagement party and I was asked to be Sarah’s bridesmaid!

We had a hen party for my lovely friend Kimberley and then we headed back over to LA for more whale watching (humpbacks this time!), Taking Back Sunday and Disneyland (again).

August

We spent most of August stateside which was incredible. We went to San Diego for the first time and it took my breath away. What a spectacular place!

We also went to Vegas and flew to the Grand Canyon. It was just as beautiful as when we visited on our honeymoon. I saw Britney for the last time (sob) and we saw Ed Sheeran at the Staples Center. It was a great trip.

We also squeezed in a British beach trip with our furball Holly.

September

September gave us the wedding of our two friends Kimberley and Simon. They got married at a gorgeous venue in the Cotswolds and it was such a pretty day.

October

In October we mostly focused on the house and our renovations. We had the whole of upstairs replastered and ordered new stuff. It was all very exciting.

November

In November we visited Waddesdon Manor and Warwick Castle.

Our new fur baby Ivy moved in!

December

In December we celebrated Christmas with friends, got to know Ivy a little more and headed off to Budapest before seeing in the New Year with our buddies.

2018…

This year I’m looking forward to having a pyjama party for my birthday (mostly so I don’t have to bother getting dressed).

We are also heading off to Barcelona, Center Parcs and Miami. I’m looking forward to planning more adventures, finally finishing off renovating the inside of the house and celebrating Phil’s thirtieth birthday. We’ve also got our friends wedding at the end of the year so I can tell that it’s going to be a good one!

What are you looking forward to this year?

L x