Jan 18, 2016

European Adventures

First off, I'd like to say that I hope you all had a fabulous start to 2016. I love being part of the Lovecats pride and reading all the comments from the people who take the time to read our posts - you are all wonderful! I wish you all the best for this year and hope that all your dreams come true xx

One of my goals for 2015 was to fit as much travel in as possible, given my husband and I moved overseas to enable us to see more of the world. So it was fitting that the very last thing we did in 2015 was to take off on a European adventure. As we don’t like to do things by halves and we fit A LOT into our three weeks of travel.

ICELAND
All I can say is that if you’ve never been to Iceland before, YOU MUST GO! It was an incredible place. We happened to be there for the Winter Solstice (aka the shortest day of the year) where the sun rose at 11:45am and set around 3pm. Sadly, the three days we were there were very cloudy so we missed out on the Northern Lights…but that’s just an excuse for us to go back.

 Highlight: Feeding bread to a beautiful Icelandic horses on the side of the road

ENGLAND
Our trip to England was actually more about seeing friends than it was about sightseeing, although we still managed to fit a few things in. Our travels took us to Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Liberty London, Museum of London, the Tower of London and the Borough Market.

Highlight: Christmas lunch with our beautiful friends and their extended families, roommates and other random guests.

GERMANY
We did two stops in Germany: Berlin and Nuremberg. Berlin was amazing; incredible food, so much history and we caught the very last two days of the Christmas Markets. Walking around the market in the winter chill, drinking hot chocolates and soaking in the atmosphere was a memory I’ll treasure forever. 

Highlight: New Years Eve party in Nuremberg where we were setting off fireworks from an apartment balcony.

AUSTRIA
We hadn’t initially planned to go to Austria, but our friends in Nuremberg suggested it and they have a car. So we drove the four hours to Vienna and it was such a treat! Although VERY cold, we got to see some of the most amazing, opulent buildings I’ve ever come across in my life. We also ate a ton of schnitzel and strudel…because Austria.

Highlight: morning tea at the Sacher Hotel where we ate the famous sacher torte and felt like royalty in the incredibly opulent dining room.

After three weeks of travel I was definitely happy to come home to my own bed, although I have photos and memories that I’ll cherish forever. It certainly made me want to do a stint in Europe…perhaps that could be a goal for a future year!


Have you been to any of these places? What’s the best holiday you’ve ever had?

15 comments:

  1. Hi Stefanie

    Happy new year and thank you for all of the lovely photos of your travels I have never been to Europe maybe one day but I have been on a few cruises and I love them we have been to Fiji, New Zealand, Noumea, Port Villa and a lot of the Islands and we too have lots of photos and memories and am hoping that we will be on another one this year :)

    Have Fun
    Helen

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    1. That sounds like a lot of fun, Helen. I've never been on a cruise before but I would love to one day!

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  2. What exciting travels you've had, Stef! I loved following your pics on FB. London is one of my favourite places in the world. Happy sighs. Like you, I found Berlin amazingly interesting, and I fell in love with Munich. I SOOOO want to visit Vienna. Do try and get to Paris -- it's such a treat. :-)

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    1. Vienna is amazing, between the architecture and the food I was in heaven. I have been to Paris, I went before I got married but I'd love to go back with the husband. I adored their little cafes and pretty laneways.

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  3. HI Stef! I love looking at other people's holiday pics :-)

    Vienna is amazing isn't it? In a few years time for my 50th - the day before the soltice - we're going to Lapland to see the northern lights so fingers crossed we have clear weather!

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    1. Me too, Amy! Helps me compile my list of all the places I want to go :D

      I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that you have perfect Northern Lights viewing weather!! Do post some pics if you see them!

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    2. I will post a zillion pics if we see them :-) We're going to stick around for a couple of weeks so hopefully we'll get some good weather in that time!

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  4. Sounds amazing, Stefanie. We were also in Austria a week ago. What an amazing city. Around every corner another magnificent building.

    I don't know if I could name my best holiday, but backpacking around Europe in my early twenties was very exciting!

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    1. Vienna is stunning, the builds are totally jaw-dropping.

      I bet backpacking was an awesome experience!

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  6. This looks so marvellous. My daughter was in Tokyo this year for Christmas, and she and some other Aussies went to Disney Land on Christmas Day and had a blast. My favourite holiday was a brief week in Paris two years ago. It was magical, I loved it. I saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, something I had wanted to do since childhood. And went up the Eiffel Tower and into Notre Dame, and a few other marvellous places.

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    1. Oh Paris, what a wonderful place! Isn't the Notre Dame just incredible? I would love to go back.

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  7. Iceland has always been on my list, Stefanie, and you've just upped the ante. We're currently trying to decide where we're going this year. There's a whole world out there and choosing isn't easy.

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    1. I hope you make it there, Sue! We did a stop over there for three days and I really wish we'd had more time. Let me know if you end up booking, I'd be happy to pass on some recommendations for things to do :)

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  8. Stef, that sounds like the most wonderful holiday. Yay! I'm smiling just reading about it. Hoping to get to Iceland some day too but probably not in winter. I can't nail down one 'best' holiday but we had a winter trip to London, German and Austria which was just magical.

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