Hello lovelies! You may have noticed I've been scarce around the blogs and Goodreads lately. This is because I've been away on vacation in Europe. This is my first time going across the pond and I was beyond excited! The first part and bulk of our trip was spent in
Paris, which was lucky as my husband and I ended up loving this place the most. I had visions of meeting up with Etienne St. Clair in Luxembourg Park, which was across the street from our hotel!
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| Luxembourg Park |
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| Notre Dame | | | | |
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The weather ended up being lovely, although still cold to this Southern
California girl! :) We hit the usual touristy spots but I have to say
the Palace of Versailles, with it's staggering opulence and the Eiffel
Tower were the highlights of the trip.
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| Palace of Versailles |
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| Macaroons a-plenty! |
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| The Eiffel Tower so romantic at night! |
Our next stop was Prague. It had an old world elegance with gorgeous architecture. Unfortunately for us, the weather turned and we got clouds and rain, not the gorgeous sunny weather Jasprit had last year. Still, it was a stunning! We went to a ballet of Don Quixote at the State Opera House and I was amazed by the talent and beauty of the performance.
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| Prague State Opera House from our Balcony Box |
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| One of the charming streets of Prague | | |
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| Cathedral in Prague |
Our next stop was London. We came into town just as a cold front moved in, and boy was it ever freezing! That did not stop us from touring like mad and we managed to see quite a few things, such as the British Museum and the Tower of London with the Crown Jewels. But the highlight of London had to be my meet-up with my lovely co-blogger, Jasprit! It was our first time meeting but I felt like old friends because we literally email back and forth everyday. We ditched my husband and took off riding the tube, shopping, and having lunch together. Of course we stopped at the famous Waterstone's (5 glorious stories of books!) and spent a good hour and a half gossiping books in the YA section. Jasprit showed considerable strength and bought only two books. I had to forgo any book purchases as my luggage was at it's limits at the start of our trip and I had already bought souvenirs and gifts *sobs*!
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| Jasprit in front of the YA section |
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| London Eye |
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| Tower of London |
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Our last stop was Bath, the setting for two of Jane Austen's novels. It has rolling green hills, Roman Baths, and beautiful ancient buildings.
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| In the heart of town |
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| Church in Bath |
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| View from our Inn |
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| You knew after a day of touring I'd be reading! |
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Anyhow, sorry for the incredibly LONG post. I had an amazing time, but it's good to be home!
39 comments:
Gosh, Rachel! I'm incredibly jealous beyond belief! ;) You seem to go to the most amazing places! <3 Eeep, Paris!! I always want to go there! And Prague look so wonderful! There's a magic hidden in the streets of Prague. ;) London! I'm so happy that you guys finally met! I'm sure that you two had the most amazing time ever! <3 Oh wow, Bath! Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors, and I can see how the setting really inspired her! The buildings look very beautiful indeed! <3
It's good to have you back, Rachel! <3 We missed you a lot during your trip, but it must felt nice to have a trip around Europe! :) Are you on your hotel room in the last picture? The decoration is gorgeous! <3 Seems like you had wonderful time, darling! :)
Oh now this looks amazing!! :) I've been in Prague and yeah it's lovely..too bad the weather wasn't so good. But still you could enjoy the architecture :) I've never been in Paris or London and I really want to visit. The pictures are amazing.
I'm happy you enjoyed :)
Yes! Finally you two got to meet up! :) Rachel, your pictures are amazing. It looks like you and your husband had a great trip. I've only been to some of these places but they all look beautiful.
Looks like you had an amazing trip Rachel! So glad you had a fab time! =)
Great pics Rachel. It looks like you had a fantastic time :)
OMGGGGGG I'M SO JEALOUS RACH!!! It's a life-long dream of mine to visit Europe..ESPECIALLY PARIS! I *might* visit London in July this year *fingers crossed*
Soooo glad you had an amazing time<3 You should come to Australia next time!!!
Oh my gosh, Rachel! Seems like you had fun! A Waterstones with 5 floors?! :o Sounds like book heaven! That's so awesome that you got to meet, Jasprit! The Inn that you were staying out looks so comfy! <3
So glad you had an amazing time in Europe Rachel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing so much about it! I love all the pictures!!!!!!! Luxembourg park and the river and the view from your inn's window are so beautiful! If only St. Clair could really be in Paris...
Love the Eiffel Tower at night too!
Aaaah, I am so jealoussss. I've been dreaming of going to Europe! Fantastic pictures! Seeing Prague, I can't help but think of Daughter of Smoke and Bone! And Paris? Definitely, Anna and the French Kiss! London - Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight! I've never heard of Bath before but it looks gorgeous! Ugh. Can't help but relate these places with books. #bibliophileproblems
So glad you had fun, Rachel :D
Who wouldn't want to meet up with Etienne St. Clair? ;) I'm glad you had such a great time travelling around Europe! The Eiffel tower looks stunning at night. The one and only time I visited Paris, it was raining. ;) I'm glad you were impressed with Waterstones! I've always wanted a part-time job there, hah. :D Thanks for sharing all those wonderful photos!
Oh, my, gosh. Those pictures you have so kindly shared with us are absolutely stunning, Rachel!!! I have always wanted to visit the wonderful Paris, and am now even more determined to go after seeing these beautiful pictures. And that Inn you stayed at is so adorable and quaint and oh my gosh you even had a roaring fire and I'm rambling because it's just too perfect for words!!! <333
Meeting Jasprit must have been amazing. I've always wanted to meet my closest book blogging friends who live far away. I'm so happy you had a fantastic time, Rachel. We're glad to have you back though :Dxxx
Thanks for sharing all the beautiful pictures with us :)
What an amazing trip you had! I've always wanted to visit Europe and hopefully will one day. Your pictures were beautiful and make me want to go even more! It sounds like you had a blast :)
Oh my gosh, what incredible pictures! You went EVERYWHERE! That's so amazing, I'm glad you had fun. :) It's good to have you back though!
Rachel! You look like you had so much of fun! Europe looks so gorgeous! I'm making it a goal to visit Europe before I die.
Thanks for sharing your trip, lovely!
I'm happy that you enjoyed it. :)
Rachel, you had such a good time. Love the pics. And Glad you got to meet Jasprit. :)
Rachel, those pics are gorgeous!! The inn at Bath looks so quaint and Austen-ish -- the perfect setting to read. :) I'm so glad you and Jasprit got to meet and the weather held up for the most part. Were you able to get some Haribo?
-Maggie
Sounds and looks like you had a FANTASTIC trip to Europe! I went to Europe the summer before last, and it was incredible. I love the way the Eiffel Tower sparkles at the hour, and the palace of Versailles is SO beautiful! Especially the gardens. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to England, though. The London Eye looks magnificent! Gorgeous pics, and I'm glad you had a good time, Rachel!
*Sighs*
The pictures are incredible and I can't help but be jealous! And the fact that you got to get to go to Bath and just bask in the Austen-air..*dies*
And the fact that you met Jasprit and had a day out sounds so exciting. Glad that you had so much fun! :D
Do tell me...Any frenchy hotties I need to go look out for? Or rather hunt?
What a lovely trip, Rachel! Those photos are stunning. I'm so happy you had such a great time. And got to meet Jasprit! Thank you for sharing!
*Sigh* when I have all of these beautiful places so close to me I feel cross with myself that I haven't seen them! These photo's are stunning Rachel and it sounds like you had a brilliant time, I really want to try a macaroon! Thanks for sharing!
Damn, girl. I'm so jealous! It's annoying that I live so close, and yet haven't been to these places. I really want to go to Paris one day, and Prague looks stunning. I've been to Belgium, which looks a bit similar to some of the photos above. Glad you had an amazing time over here, Rachel! Thanks for sharing. :)
oh how wonderful. thanks for sharing the lovely pics and glad you had fun :)
I LOVE this post. Love, love, love. Not only because I dream about going to Europe and I salivated over your pictures, but also because I'm so happy that you went and shared the experienced with us! I get happy for people when they get to do something amazing like this. It seems like a fun trip and of course, you should always end your day reading ;)
Sunny @ Blue Sky Bookshelf
Aw, Rachel! Thank you so much for sharing the photos I've been shamelessly begging for, hah. I'm so thrilled you got to meet Jasprit at last, how wonderful that you two were able to meet face to face. I imagine that day was full of warm fuzzies and giggles. :)
I love London and Paris both, and I'm jealous you got to go to Prague. Trust you to think of Etienne and macarons, hah.
But you left Waterstones without buying any books?! :-O Crazy talk. Crazy.
Love you, loved the photos, am glad you had a wonderful time...but even more glad (selfishly) that you're back. :)
Wendy @ The Midnight Garden
Dammit Rachel! I typed this whole big long comment about the awesomeness of these pictures and my desire to go to Prague and my jealousy that you finally got to meet up with Jasprit. It was a brilliant comment and now it's gone. Fail. Still, the above was the gist of it, and I ended it by saying we should all take a trip to Ireland next year and roam the streets in search of Barrons and Ryodan. I think if we found them we'd be all "Etienne who?". Let's make it happen okay? Okay. *starts saving money*
Thank you Hilda! That is the the living room of the Inn I was staying at in Bath, England. Cozy, right? :)
Maybe I will, Shirley! I would love to go to Australia. Hope you get to London, there's so much to see and it's easy to get around. Share your pictures if you go. :)
I thought of all those books, too, Gellie! We share the same problem. :)
I did buy Haribo, Maggie. But I found that Marks and Spencer were at more places so I bought that, too. My son is a real candy nut so he didn't mind the variety. Lol! :)
It was painful not to buy any books at Waterstones, but if I did I had to face my husband who didn't want our luggage overweight. Would not have been pretty, and I really wanted to get back to the States in one piece, lol! :)
Oh, Jenny, I am so there with you!!! That sounds like a dream vacation. What do we do with our husbands? ;)
Thanks for sharing, Rachel! Once again, that's awesome you and Jasprit were able to meet up. I've never been to Europe but I really want to...so hopefully sooner rather than later. My sister has been to France and England and she loved both, so that's cool you were able to see some of the iconic places in both. I just finished reading Persuasion by Jane Austen for school so that's kind of fun you were in Bath while I was reading. ;)
-Lauren
I'm so jealous of you, Rachel! Touring Europe is one of my biggest dream. I love the pictures especially the on inside the Palace of Versailles! And yes, that beautiful street in Prague and the view outside from your inn in London. Hopefully I'll be able to go to these places soon! And meet up with some bloggers too. Ha! Thanks for sharing this, Rachel. I'm glad you had this wonderful experience. :)
Great pictures.. Looks like you had a wonderfull trip :)
I really wanna go to Paris and se Notre Dame :)
Those pictures are absolutely stunning, Rachel! It looks like you had a really nice time! I'm so jealous--I haven't been to Europe in quite a while, but I adored it when I went there. But you left Waterstones without books? O_O You have much more willpower than I.
"I had visions of meeting up with Etienne St. Clair in Luxembourg Park" - LOL. That is just too funny.
Yay for meeting Jasprit and spending "a good hour and a half gossiping books in the YA section" - something I would do with any fellow book blogger/reader/author that I had to meet up with, haha.
Amazing pictures, Rachel. Thanks for sharing.
I really want to go as well! :)
This looks like it was an amazing trip, Rachel! I am so jealous - I have yet to travel to Europe! Wonderful pictures, and that's great that you and Jasprit were finally able to meet. :)
They are some really beautiful photos. Have to agree that the Eiffel tower looks gorgeous at night. However I have to say, my favourite picture is of the opera house. It's stunning.
Glad you had such a fabulous trip, Rachel! :)
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