France Day 1

Crepes!! This one had bananas and chocolate in it. 

We arrived in Nice, France on a Tuesday night, and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. They drive on the right side of the road in France, so Daniel and I were freaking out a bit at how weird it felt, and we realized how adapted we really are to England! Our taxi driver proceeded to drop us off in the dodgiest looking alley, and Daniel's mom asked him if this was a safe place...to which he responded with an "ehhh."....Awesome! We got out of the taxi and took a big whiff of what smelled like urine and smoke. How posh right?! Since we got to our hotel later at night, there was nobody working the front desk (??) and so they had emailed us a code to get in the front door, and had left our room key in a box for us. The lobby didn't look toooo bad, but it still wasn't great. We were optimistic though, because we knew we wouldn't be spending a ton of time in the hotel, so we weren't that worried about it. A few creepy corridors and flickering horror movie-like lights later, we found our room. To make a long story short, the room had been previously used and not cleaned, and it wasn't even the room we asked for. After a few laughs and a few "is this really happening right now" we headed back outside into the dark and smelly streets to find another hotel. We were able to find just down the street in a little more populated and less dodgy area. It wasn't bad, and the front desk workers were friendly. We were able to stay there the rest of the week, which was a blessing!

The following day (our first full day) in Nice was so fun. We spent the day walking along the promenade, eating beignets and other pastries, took a long hike of stairs to some breathtaking views and a waterfall, ate some crepes and some awesome Italian food, walked around the shops, and more. Just seeing that beautiful clear water was enough for me! We couldn't get enough of it.  We were so impressed with the beauty of this place, as well as completely exhausted from how much walking and hiking we did. Overall, it was a fun and successful day. 

First Stop: London

Shopping in Harrods! We didn't buy anything, obviously!

Big Ben picture overload? Maybe. It's one of my most favorite things to see in London, and I had never seen it at night before, so that was awesome. The first day of our England and France trip with Daniel's parents, started with taking a train from Durham to King's Cross. I think trains might be my favorite way of transportation. It was so nice to see the beautiful English countryside, while only taking a few hours to get to London. When we got there, we pretty much spent the rest of the day exploring, riding the tube, and stuffing ourselves (and I mean STUFFING) at one of our favorite Brazilian restaurants. The next day we ate at the most darling cafe for breakfast, which had the most delicious and fluffy blueberry pancakes. I also had the best English muffin I have ever had (In England, go figure). We rode the tube some more, admired the beautiful and colorful homes, and window shopped until it was time to catch our flight to Nice. I can't even express how much I love London. I would live here in a heartbeat. It was so much fun showing Daniel's parents around, and sharing our love of this city and country with them! Daniel's mom loved it when she would hear "mind the gap" and "Piccadilly." We had so much fun!

London & France via Iphone

Things have been super crazy and busy over here, with Daniel finishing up his last few exams and summates of his Master's Degree, our church callings, church activities, and more. We were lucky enough to have Daniel's parents come visit us a few weeks ago. We had been feeling seriously family deprived, so them coming here was much needed! We were like two giddy kids picking them up from the Newcastle airport. We spent a few days showing them around our cute town (which was their favorite out of all the places we went!), we took a train down to London, and spent a few days there, then we took a flight to Nice France, and spent 5 days exploring the incredibly beautiful and charming French Riviera! It was so much fun, exhausting, hilarious, everything! SO many great memories were made this trip.

 Since I only have about 10 minutes on this laptop until Daniel needs it back for his exams, I need to keep this brief, but thought I would share some Iphone pictures from our trip. They are in no particular order, but most of them are from Nice, Monaco, and London (with a few Durham ones thrown in there.) Hopefully I will have the pictures from our camera edited and up soon!

General Conference Weekend

Just a few quotes from General Conference this past Saturday and Sunday. It's always so refreshing to hear such uplifting and inspiring messages!