My Trip to Greece!

Hey everyone, so I was lucky to visit Zante, Greece for my cousin's hen this month. Everything was crazy before we got there as usual, we ended flying from the furthest airport from us and at 6am in the morning. We ended up gettign there for a ridiculous time of 1am, so you can imagine when we reached Zante, we were all absolutely knackered. But the lack of sleep didn't put us off from visiting Laganas beach a few hours after we got there. The weather was absolutely gorgeous that I probably could have stayed at the beach for our entire trip!

Laganas Beach

 
We ended finding a pretty neat restaurant too, that we used to eat every single night, they even had PG Tips tea! And it was literally like two minutes from our hotel room!

Our favourite restaurant

My lovely food that I was never able to finish!

The next day we decided to go on a boat tour, which would take us to Marathonissi (Turtle) Island and we would also get the chance to do some turtle spotting! The boat ride over was absolutely amazing, as we were able to take in all the gorgeous scenery on the way over!

Of course I decided to be Captain of our boat!

Our ride also took us through some pretty neat looking caves. 

And then when we finally reached Turtle Island, we were told we couldn't sit too up on the beach as the turtles would be resting there, but closer to the water. I didn't mind this at all, as the view from here was gorgeous.

On Marathonissi Island

And then on the way back we finally spotted a turtle, our captain of our boat was really good, as he knew whenever it was about to pop its head up and would let us know so we could take photos.




The night life was also pretty amazing. Zante had one strip leading up to the beach with lot of bars and restaurants. We had two favourite clubs that we went to, one night they played all the latest songs and the other they had old school songs, (one night we were actually doing the Macarena in the street with a whole bunch of people, as there was no room in the club!)

Sign to when you enter one of the clubs

Me and my sister ready for the hen night out

This was my first day on the beach. Thank goodness for sunglasses!

Our hotel view

View from our boat ride

Our last night

A name for one of the clubs.

Zante was definitely one gorgeous place that I'm glad we decided to visit for my cousin's hen, it had beautiful beach to relax on, lovely restaurants to eat at and an awesome night life. We only went for three nights, but I've never had so much fun ever. I actually was suffering from the depressed state when you get back home and have to start doing normal things again like wearing trousers again to work. 

My Trip to Europe!

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! 

Luxembourg Park

Notre Dame

 

 

 

 

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.

Palace of Versailles

Macaroons a-plenty! 

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.

Prague State Opera House from our Balcony Box

One of the charming streets of Prague

 

 

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*!

Jasprit in front of the YA section

London Eye

Tower of London

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. 

In the heart of town

Church in Bath

View from our Inn

You knew after a day of touring I'd be reading!

Anyhow, sorry for the incredibly LONG post.  I had an amazing time, but it's good to be home! 

My trip to Prague!

As usual it was a last minute decision to book our holiday to Prague, so we were kind of flapping about when we got there as to the attractions and places we should visit. I of course had books well one book in particular on the brain during the entire trip; The Book of Blood and Shadow as for the most part it was set in Prague, so no matter what I had decided that I had to go and see the places that were mentioned in the book. (Secretly I was hoping to bump into Eli when he was busting out his ninja moves or talking in rapid fire Czech!). Then I totally remembered that The Daughter of Smoke and Bone was also set there. After this sudden realisation I was so ecstatic to be visiting one of the most beautiful cities in the world. 

You can check out Robin Wasserman's Prague influences behind The Book of Blood and Shadow here.

We were lucky as our hotel was smack bang in the middle of the city centre, so we had the Charles Bridge (from The Book of Blood and Shadow) on one side and some great shops on the other.

The Charles Bridge.

State Opera

Most of the best places to visit could be reached by walking distance like the State Opera, the National Museum in Wenceslas square and the river boat.

We used the hop on hop off city tours to get to other places such as Old town square, Prague castle and the TV tower.

Old town square.

The TV tower is renown to be the world’s third ugliest building, but don’t let this put you off because as soon as you reach the top you are surrounded by the most beautiful views of Prague. 

The TV tower

Babies crawling on the TV tower

View from the top of the TV Tower

Super comfy seats

They also have the awesome chairs in one of the rooms which you can totally sit in and read all day!

Me relaxing in on one of the seats

I also managed to find some book stores, I love seeing the different covers we get in other countries. I also found a bookstore where they had copies of Divergent, Unearthly, A Monster Calls and so many others. I was ready with my camera, but the lady in the bookstore didn’t let me take any photos!

I so didn’t want to come back home after visiting such a beautiful city. I definitely recommend visiting Prague; it’s a totally worthwhile and unforgettable experience. I'll leave you with some more memorable photos from my trip.

My favourite photo. You can see Charles Bridge in the distance

Overlooking Prague from Prague Castle

One of the coolest statues outside a hotel.

Yummy chocolates anyone?

Found this in the local Tescos! I couldn't get enough!

Lots of talented artists on Charles Bridge.