An American in London, Part 4

I can't believe this is my last London post… until I go back, of course! Right now, I've plans to go back again at least once this year. That's how much I loved it there (plus, I have lots of company coming that wants to visit as well). If you want to catch up on this adventure, check out Part 1, Part 1.5, Part 2, and Part 3…

For the rest of you folks, here's to the last day of our adventure! A visit to Stonehenge was in the offing… and a trip to Bath. And an evening in Stratford Upon Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare! I was a little excited, can you tell?

There are lots of tour companies that provide day trips outside the city of London.  But if you want to travel a wee bit cheaper, check out Groupon deals before your visit. Our whole day was half price, thanks to a well-timed Groupon purchase, and yours could be too. 

  

I have to be perfectly honest here… I didn't find Stonehenge as exciting as I thought it would. I'm happy I went once, just to have seen it, but I don't feel the urge to ever go back again. There were a ton of people there, naturally. And you can't get close to the stones, of course. Our tour was rushed as we were seeing so many things in one day. I think we had about an hour or so get to the stones, walk round, and get back to the bus. 

Don't let me discourage you from going though! I did enjoy it, just not the way I expected. I think if I was to return, I'd prefer a private tour where you can actually walk into the stones. That would be awesome. 

From Stonehenge, our tour continued on to Bath, home of the famous Sally Lunn Buns. My pal Bobbi and I (the Magic Sunglasses lady) were determined to try a bun in the hour we had to wander Bath. And I am soooooo glad we did, they were fantastic!

 "Legend has long been certain that a young Huguenot refugee – Solange Luyon – came to Bath in 1680 after escaping persecution in France. She found work in the kitchen of the bakery in the street known in those days as Lilliput Alley, and originally sold the baker’s wares from a basket in the lanes around Bath Abbey. But Solange – who, due to her colleagues unfamiliarity with French pronunciation, became known as Sally Lunn – had arrived in England with a unique skill to share. She began baking a rich, generous brioche bun similar to the French festival breads that she would have been so familiar with before she fled France. The bun – designed to be enjoyed with either sweet or savoury accompaniments – quickly became a very popular delicacy in Georgian England, and it seems that customers were soon visiting the Lilliput Alley bakery specifically requesting the Sally Lunn bun.

Today, Sally’s original creation has earned legendary status around the world." - excerpt from Sally Lunn's website.

Because it was lunchtime, Bobbi and I tried the savory preparations. They were fabulous! In fact, the buns are so good, Bobbi took a whole box home with her (I wish I had too!).

We had a few minutes to wander town after lunch, before the bus arrived to take us to Stratford Upon Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare. Bath is a beautiful area, I can see why this is a popular vacation destination. On my next trip to England, I hope to spend more time here.

 Our last stop was the home of William Shakespeare! After many semesters studying his work in college, it was pretty cool to visit Stratford Upon Avon. First we had a champagne and scones reception, and then we were free to wander the house and grounds. And, of course, shop in the gift store.

Champagne and Scone reception

Birthplace of William Shakespeare 

Because our visit was on a Sunday, most of the town was closing down as we arrived. So be careful booking your own tour here, ok? Check the hours of local businesses.

After a full weekend of touring merry old London (and the outskirts), I have to say it's one of my favorite places so far. And I can't wait to go back, hopefully one day soon!

Until next time my friends, happy travels! 

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An American in London, Part 3

Soooo, where did we leave off? Ah yes, we'd completed the walking tour. Boo-Dah-Washy and I were wandering the streets of London, not quite aimlessly but close (if you want to catch up on this trip, Check out Part 1, Part 1.5, and Part 2).

We tried for a bit to meet up with a friend of mine, but you know what I've learned? My pre-paid cell phone doesn't truly get service once I leave Germany.

UGH.

This is not conducive for good communication. Since we couldn't consistently keep to wifi hotspots, signals were crossed and the meet up never happened. I did learn something else interesting though. THIS is not the "London Bridge":

The bridge I stood on to take that picture (above) is actually the London Bridge. The bridge in the picture is called "Tower Bridge".

You learn something new every day!

Whatever it's name, the bridge is super pretty and photogenic. I convinced Boo-Dah-Washy to visit it with me in both daylight and darkness. Despite our long day and achy feet, she went back with me at the close of the night. She rocks!

After our confusion over the bridges, we made our way to Notting Hill, mostly because we've both seen the movie of the same name. You know, the one with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts? We were hoping to make the Portobello Market before closing time. Despite a slight detour, we did find it. Sorry about the photo quality, but we were shopping, man!

Portobello Market

The vendors began to close as we arrived, but we wandered the street for a bit. The energy was great. I'll definitely check this market out earlier in the day on my next London visit.

After a brief stop for dinner and then a shopping spree at Harrods, we ventured toward Piccadilly Circus. That's where the party is at, peeps!

Harrods

Piccadilly Circus reminds me of Times Square, New York. It's all lights, and people, and movement.

The Circus also boasts London's M&M World. Rumor has it that this is the largest candy store in the world. Boo-Dah-Washy was in M&M heaven…

We shopped and shopped (until ready to drop, seriously), but eventually we made our way back to the hotel room. The next day was our Stonehenge and Bath tour, and I couldn't wait!

I'll be back soon with the final installment of our London adventure. Until then, happy travels!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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Calamari Vary, a.k.a. Karlovy Vary

After our Girls Night In, complete with fondue and movie night, the ladies and I were ready for our trip to Calamari Vary!

I mean, Karlovy Vary.

Some peeps aren't so good with the pronunciation, so this became our inside joke. It's probably not that funny to you, huh? I guess you just had to be there.

As you can see, there was way too much fun to be had!

The idea to visit this town came from the movie, Last Holiday, since it was filmed there. Much of the movie took place at the GrandHotel Pupp, and I was dying to see it! From Hohenfels, the trip is a little over two hours long, easily doable in a day. Here are the things you should know:

1. You MUST purchase a vignette for this trip (at least from the direction we drove in from). This covers the toll tax on certain roads. Many European countries require these, so always check before your trip if it's necessary.

Vignette

The smallest vignette we could purchase was for 10 days. Of course, we didn't need the whole ten days, but that's the way it works. The price was 11,50 Euro. The directions for use are on the back of the vignette, they tell you what information to write on it and where to place the sticker on your car.

2. When you stop for the vignette, I highly suggest using the ATM at the gas station. We stopped at the first gas station right over the border. These nearly always carry the vignettes you need, so it's best to purchase right away rather than search for one later.

Czech koruna

The reason I tell you to use the ATM there is this: we could only find one ATM in Karlovy Vary, and it was nearly a 2km walk! There were lots of places to exchange your money if you had euros on you, but the rates would not have been as good. Many of the places we stopped would only accept the Czech koruna, and they would not take credit cards.

3. Pick your parking deck before you go, and plug that into your GPS. I'm happy we did this, the town can be confusing to drive in. My GPS took us straight to the parking deck. I chose one on Libusina Street, with security cameras and a free WC. The whole day only cost about 11 US dollars. Worth it!



Ok, enough of the practical stuff. Let's get to the fun!

View of the GrandHotel Pupp

The main street in Karlovy Vary

We turned right out of the parking garage and headed down the hill into town. One of the first things we saw was the GrandHotel Pupp! If you've seen the movie, then I'm sure you recognize this. After a mad search for the ATM (don't be like us, people!), we made our way to the Diana Observation tower. There are several of the towers around town, accessible from a funicular (cost was 80 Czech koruna for the roundtrip). Our plan was to see the view and grab lunch at the top.

Diana Observation Tower

The restaurant was good, and not too crowded. You can take an elevator to the top of the tower (free), and there is even a petting zoo behind the restaurant. If you want, you can hike back to town instead of taking the funicular.

Top of Diana Observation Tower

We saved room for dessert after our meal, because we were headed back down the mountain to Cafe Pupp! Mmmmm….. chocolate and cake and yummy goodness…

Dessert at Cafe Pupp

I have to be honest here. We were those crazy tourists taking pictures of everything! We even managed a selfie (taken by our Selfie Queen, Deborah):

I don't care (much) that people stared. The hotel was gorgeous, and the cake was so dang good. We were a little rotten, but who isn't every once in a while?

We did everything I wanted with our day, we even tasted the extra-special, supposedly healthy, funny tasting spring water:

Drinking the mineral water… we have very different reactions, ha! 

You buy special cups (the handle is a straw!), so the minerals don't all settle on the bottom of your glass. The cups are sold from street vendors everywhere, and they weren't expensive. I think the prices converted to about 5 US dollars. You can also just bring an empty bottle of your own if you want.

The drinking fountains are all over town. If you're thirsty, just walk up and grab a sip. Fair warning though… the water is hot from the natural spring, it definitely tastes "different", and because of its so-called healing properties I would consider it a cleanse. As in, don't drink much unless you want to spend your day in the bathroom. Capisce?

We also sampled the local wafer cookies, and totally fell in love.

Someone ate theirs before I got a pic. That someone was not me. Well, not me alone anyway.

The cookies are sold everywhere on the street, individually like above or in boxes. Care to guess how many boxes I came home with?!

To round out our day, we finished with a horse and buggy ride around town. It was a great opportunity to get off our feet for a bit, relax and enjoy.

As seems to be the usual, we were blessed with great weather (thanks to our Magic Sunglasses lady). I'm so lucky to have such great neighbors to hang out with, and I can't wait for our next adventure.

Until next time my friends, happy travels!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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Girls Night In!

Have you ever seen the movie Last Holiday, starring Queen Latifah? If the answer is no, you should probably watch it. Especially if you like fluffy girl movies. Which I do.

Anyway! I thought this was a cute movie. I was watching it one night shortly after we moved to Germany, when I suddenly realized… 

… much of this movie takes place, and was filmed, only a few short hours away from where I'm currently living!! Do you know what this means???

I can go visit there! And I totally did. Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it soon. 

You probably think I'm nuts, but little things like this excite me. I got my friends all stirred up about it too, so they came with me. Before the trip, we decided to have a girls night in with food and wine, and a showing of the movie. 

Fun, yes? 

Meat and veggie platters

Cheese tray from around the world

Chocolate fondue and dippers! 

We piled our plates high, poured ourselves some wine, and snuggled down with fuzzy blankets to watch the show. Much of the movie takes place in Karlovy Vary, a spa town in the Czech Republic. We loved exploring this town, and I'm excited to share all the stories and pics with you! 

In the meantime, I'm passing along my chocolate fondue recipe to you, in case you'd like to host a Girls Night In yourself...

This recipe is super simple. In your electric fondue pot (if you're using a sterno candle, then do this in a double boiler first and transfer to your fondue pot), combine the following: 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, 12 ounces milk chocolate chips, 2 cups heavy cream, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons butter. Warm over low heat until melted and smooth. Then dip your favorite stuff into the chocolate, and enjoy! 

As always peeps, the standard recipe is below. And I've included a list of "dipper" suggestions too. Until next time, happy cooking! I'll be back soon with the details from our trip, so stay tuned.  

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The Standard Form:

Basic Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients:

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

12 ounces milk chocolate chips

16 ounces (2 cups) heavy cream

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

If you’re using an electric fondue pot, turn the heat on low. Add all ingredients to the pot and stir until melted and smooth. Serve with your favorite dippers.

If you’re not using an electric fondue pot, melt the ingredients together in a double boiler. Once smooth, transfer to your fondue pot and keep warm with a sterno.

Dipper Suggestions: Marshmallows, pound cake, strawberries, bananas, graham crackers, pretzels, salty potato chips, cooked bacon, brownie bites, maraschino cherries, apple slices, pineapple, biscotti, soft caramels, meringue cookies

Adventures in Polish Pottery

Last week, my next door neighbor (Boo-Dah-Washy) arranged a day trip for some Polish pottery shopping. This is a long day, since the drive is a little over 4 hours each way. But we were game, the shopping bug had bitten.

I didn't plan any of this excursion myself, I was along for the ride. I'm so glad Boo-Dah-Washy did her research. She came prepared with maps, GPS addresses, and store names. She even packed a picnic dinner! Her best source of information was Bavaria Army Wife Travelers. If you're headed to the pottery too, you should definitely check them out.  The "file" section on their group page is an excellent resource for all kinds of travel through Europe, not just Polish pottery.

The ride may have been a little long, but the scenery was beautiful. After crossing the Polish border, we drove under several of these wildlife bridges, which allow animals to cross the highway without danger of being hit. I love these.

Our GPS addresses didn't quite work the way we expected, but after a bit of fumbling, we found the restaurant we were looking for. Our plan was to eat a nice lunch, then shop, shop, shop until the stores closed.

This cute restaurant had great food and was so inexpensive, we were shocked. The price was easily ⅔ less than what we normally see in Germany. Though Polish currency is the zloty, the restaurant and all the pottery outlets accepted our Euros.

I was so excited to try traditional pierogi, and I wasn't disappointed! We also enjoyed a variety salad and goulash. Everything was seriously good.

With full bellies (so we could make good decisions), we began our shopping spree at a strip of shops.

Some of the stores are neatly organized, and others are a complete free-for-all. We learned prior to travel about the ranking system. See, the pottery is ranked from 1 to 5, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. I've looked for an online guide that explains the ranking system better, but I haven't found one yet. I've been told to only buy quality 1 or 2, especially if you're using these items to cook in the oven.

Inside look at a few shops, plus a fun car! 

The pottery all contained a sticker with the price, and another with the quality level. I fell in love with several patterns, but not all the patterns have every piece available for purchase. For example, I may have found a baking dish I LOVED, but the soup tureen in that same pattern wasn't there. Or I spied a great tea set, but there were no baking dishes.

I specifically wanted a large soup tureen and some baking dishes, so even when I found cute patterns I moved on if those items weren't available.

Some of my favorite patterns

At the end of the day, I bought several gifts and a soup tureen (plus ladle and bread bowls!) for myself. The prices were right, though not as inexpensive as expected. We were all happy with our finds, and ready to head home.

Simple, right?

NOPE.

See, we plugged 'home' into our GPS and were on our way, when… we passed a man walking his goats on a leash. This was, of course,  VERY distracting. Hence, our driver didn't quite watch her speed as well as she should and before we knew it…

We were pulled over by the cops!!!!

Whoops.

Luckily, between a little German and a lot of hand gestures, Boo-Dah-Washy only had to pay a small fine. This meant a quick trip to an ATM, but then we were on our way again. I guess now we can check 'get pulled over by cops in foreign country' off our bucket lists, ha!

I can't wait to head back for shopping again. I was conservative in my purchasing, and I already have a long wish list when I return.

Until next time, peeps, happy shopping!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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An American in London, Part 1

A while back (aka, January), I went to London for a girls weekend. I totally would have gone with the Hubs, but he was working of course. And I've wanted to visit this awesome city for as long as I can remember. And, I plan to go back with the Hubs eventually so we can attend the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, Harry Potter...

Yeah, I'm justifying this a smidge. But what's done is done, and now I can tell you all about it!

Outside Kings Cross Station

We found our flights online at a great rate through RyanAir. You can definitely get some amazing deals through their website, but you've got to book early. They don't fly into the major airport at Heathrow, instead landing at London Stansted. This is about an hour (or two in traffic) outside the city. There are lots of options for travel into London, including trains, buses, and private cars. Because we were a larger group of 8, we rode in on the Stansted Express. Purchasing our roundtrip tickets online prior to the trip got us a great rate which wouldn't have been available at the airport.

The view flying into the airport reminded
me so much of Ireland

This is what I learned in London:

1. The British pound seriously holds its value over the dollar. And the euro. So expect everything to be practically twice as expensive.

2. The accent is as marvelous as it seems. The Hubs is lucky I love him so dang much, or I could easily promise my life away to someone new.

3. New York is still my favorite place ever, but London is such a close second it's hard to tell the difference.

4. The bathroom is a loo, the elevator is the lift, and I love using the word bloody as often as possible now.

5. Royalty is not simply wandering the streets, waiting for me to snap their picture. Total fail.

6. Mind the gap, people. Seriously.

I learned a load of other things too, but that's enough for now. Let's get back on track, shall we?

After checking into our hotel (for those who care, it was the Tune Hotel in Paddington. Relatively inexpensive, clean, and convenient to the underground), we made a beeline for our scheduled Jack the Ripper tour. Boo-Dah-Washy found the tour and booked us online. And I totally don't know what the link is for the tour, whoops. I'm sure you can find a dozen of them with Google. Probably.

View from one of the Jack-the-Ripper
murder scenes 

The tour wound through the back streets of London, with a guide who described each murder and the circumstances surrounding it. We also happened upon the memorial where William Wallace (haven't you seen Braveheart??) was put to death.

The tour was several hours long, and eventually landed us at the well-known Sherlock Holmes Pub. By this time, we were all starving. Though it doesn't look like much, I had the Steak and Mushroom Ale Pie and it was bloody fantastic! Do you like how I snuck that in there?

From there, we wandered slowly back toward our hotel, taking in the sights as we went. I especially loved seeing all the monuments lit up at night.

Big Ben

The London Eye

Darkness falls on the Thames

I was excited for the next morning, when we would start our first full day in London with breakfast and a walking tour. I'll be back soon with the details, and plenty of pictures!

Until then, happy travels!

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BUNCO!

Do any of y'all know what BUNCO is? Because I totally didn't.

Yes, I'm serious.

I was a BUNCO virgin. Until, my new neighbor and hairdresser (nickname = Boo-Dah-Washy, adopted at Dietfurt's Chinese Fasching) started a BUNCO group in our neighborhood and invited me to join. And I must say, I loves it! This is a great opportunity to get together with friends and neighbors, share food and drink, and have a great time. Also, it's fun to win stuff. Am I right?

We start with a riotous game of LRC. If you've never played before, you totally should. We play for money, which makes things even more interesting. Though we do have one person (you know who you are!) who's won ⅔ of the games so far.

I think she cheats. Or is magic.

LRC winners

Everyone brings a dish or an adult beverage of choice. I love trying all the new things people bring, and I enjoy getting all their recipes, of course. So far, I've brought my chocolate chip cookies, taco crack, and NY crumb cake. Any suggestions for my next dish?

After the frivolity, BUNCO begins. I won't bore you to death with the rules, but know that it is fun. Especially with a larger group. Our hostess creates a theme each time. So far, I've played in my pajamas, partied for Mardi Gras, and wore green for Saint Paddy's Day.

Saint Paddy's Day BUNCO

We get cash prizes for this game too! We're such gamblers.

I have the best time playfully competing with my other neighbor, Deborah (nickname to come). Usually we're competing for biggest loser… someday I hope to actually win at BUNCO, but I'm pretty sure that day is far off.

By the end of the night, we're happy, full, and tired. Getting together with all the ladies is a great highlight of my month, and an awesome opportunity to get out of the house for a while. What do you and your gal pals do for fun? I bet now you want to try BUNCO, right??

Until next time, peeps. Happy gaming!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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