Fourth Stop: France

France was another country we were just kind of squeezing into the schedule as we passed through. We only spent a day in France and, of course, picked Paris as the city to spend the time in. I hadn’t really heard a whole lot of good things about Paris from friends that had been before, so I wasn’t really expecting much. But was pleasantly surprised! I really liked Paris.

We took the Channel Tunnel from London to France. Right after we got off the train, we found a laundromat so we stopped to wash the contents of our backpacks so that we could be good-to-go for another week.

Once we got that done, we then went sightseeing!

First, we went to Notre Dame.

Next, we went to Sainte Chappelle. This place is absolutely stunning. Each pane of the stained glass windows depict an individual Bible story. And the entire chapel is filled with these window panes. It’s unbelievable!

We went to the Eiffel Tower, of course. We were looking around for someone we could ask to take our photo… when we saw one of my friends from work! It was so random but they took some great photos for us.

We got dinner near the Eiffel Tower and then waited for the sun to set. It was such a pretty area and neat to watch the tower light up.

Even though we only spent a day in Paris, we had a great time!

Third Stop: England

We took a train from Scotland into England. First, we stopped in Preston to see the LDS temple there. It’s a newer temple and looked really pretty!

Then we hopped back on the train and a few hours later, we were in London!

We went to Oxford, where we got to see Christ Church. {If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you might recognize it… as the Dining Hall!}

We also saw Shakespeare’s birthplace.

And we went to Warwick Castle.

And I pretended to shoot my imaginary bow and arrow from the castle turret… but just ended up looking like a big dork!

I don’t really know which King Henry was which, but the one that had six wives… I pretended to be his seventh…

And these were just proof that M and I are a perfect match for each other…

Then we hit up all the London tourist attractions… on a double-decker red bus!

We also got to cruise along the Thames.

I don’t particularly love tourist attractions but I’m glad we can say we saw the main sites. My favorite part of traveling is just seeing the lifestyles of the people, and I particularly loved seeing the silly street performers, like this guy that made five random guys dance to the 1978 classic YMCA…

We also got to see the houses M lived in while growing up in Southgate and even the soccer fields at his school.

But the best part of our visit to London occurred on our last day there… the Tottenham v. Fulham match!

It great because we won but also because there was such a fantastic atmosphere! M has always raved about how amazing English soccer fans but I never understood… until I experienced it for myself. It was so much fun!

Second Stop: Scotland

Neither of us had ever been to Scotland, so we decided we wanted to add it into our trip. We were only able to squeeze in one day, so we decided we’d spend that day in Edinburgh. And we loved it!

Yes, yes, we saw a few guys in kilts, but surprisingly fewer than I had been anticipating.

I loved the architecture of the buildings and the quaint feeling of the streets. The city has a unique charm to it!

Another thing that was fascinating to me was the blackened buildings, a blackness that doesn’t wash off the buildings. It comes from the smoke from all the chimneys years and years ago.

Finally, don’t forget the UK’s famous red phone booths.

First Stop: Ireland

Our visit in Ireland was different than anything else we did on our trip because we spent it with family!

M’s grandpa is originally from Ireland {in case you couldn’t already tell from our very Irish surname!} and there’s still a group of the cousins that live near Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. It was great to spend a few days with them as our first stop in Europe.

We’d met some of the cousins two years ago because they came over to America for a vacation and specifically came to Utah to meet us, but there were others that we got to meet for the first time in Ireland.

These are the cousins {although I think they are technically third-cousins!} that are around the same ages.

And these are the relatives the next generation up.

Last but not least, these two are M’s grandpa’s brother and sister. M’s grandpa passed away almost 20 years ago, so it was fun for me to meet these two and hear their stories about their family.

We also spent time exploring Galway with the cousins. We walked along the promenade as well as through the streets downtown.

We also got to visit each family’s house. Anne is a landscaper and her backyard is gorgeous… and has several benches {yeah, one of those inside jokes - don't you wish you could have been there with us?!}…

And at Veronica’s house, M made a cute, new friend.

It was a lot of fun to see how green and fantastic Ireland is but it was also great to spend time with the relatives and get to know them better.

Oh. My. Goodness.

We did it. We survived our trip through Europe!

It was absolutely amazing {and I’ll be writing and posting photos very soon!} but right now I am just so excited to get to sleep in my own bed tonight!!