In one week from today, we will be here: 

We will be off to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica for ten days, including an overnight layover in Mexico City on the way there and another one on the way back (eep!). 

Considering we woke up to this an hour ago...

...I think it's safe to say we're (very) excited to get out of here.

England, Part Three: London

It has been over a month since our trip to England, and I've been pretty slow about getting the third bit of our trip up and running here, partly due to laziness and partly due to the overwhelming number of pictures we took while in London (there were a couple hundred, at least). Of that number, there were few pictures that actually looked good, partly because of our poor taste in subjects and partly because of our (mostly my) lack in the patience required to actually take decent photos. (I'm working on it.)

Anyway, here we have it: Pictures of our trip to what is still one of my favorite cities in the world.

London is a great city for exploring, so that's what we did in the three days we were there. We walked, we shopped, we ate, we visited museums, we drank tea (don't forget we're those tourist types) and we walked a whole lot more. (I still have the remnants of the biggest blister my foot has ever hosted to show for it.)

One of the highlights of our trip occurred right outside of Buckingham Palace: While we were strolling past the palace grounds on our second day in London, we actually saw the Queen leaving Buckingham Palace in a tank of a Range Rover, led and followed by a large motorcade. Did we get a picture of this huge moment? Of course not. (I only saw the back of her royal white head, but we were only standing about ten feet away from her vehicle, so it was an awe-inspiring moment nevertheless.)

(Queen not pictured, sadly.)

I didn't do the London Eye the last time I was in London, so this time it was on my priority list.

The views were amazing, but the price was a little absurd. T'was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing. (Unless I win the lottery and move to London and go around on the Eye every night, just for the fun of it.)

The autumn colors were just starting to reach their peak while we were in town, which made up for the cold-ish temperatures. 

I think London's parks are one of my favorite things about the city. They're so clean and nature-ish. And there are loads of random birds hanging around, waiting to squawk at you and make you feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere. 

On our last night in London, we decided to see Les Miserables in the West End. I had seen Les Miserables before, but it was definitely on one of my (many) bucket lists to see it in London. 

It. Was. Amazing. (And Ken was clearly touched.)

And that's all, folks. I will conclude my England series with this lovely bit of shrub art we came across while trekking through the city:

England, Part Two: Bath

After our visit with Ken's extended family, we moved on to Bath via train from Essex to Liverpool Street Station in London, then via tube from Liverpool Street to Paddington Station, then from Paddington Station to Bath via train again. With a large suitcase in tow, it was a bit of a trek... for Ken. I didn't carry the suitcase once and yet I still had the audacity to complain the entire way about how difficult it is traveling with a suitcase. (Ken is patient.)

I don't know what to say about Bath other than it is beautiful and it is my dream to live there. Correction: It was my dream to live there. All dreams were crushed upon seeing the real estate listings for the below units. It would take $1,000,000 + to be a proud owner of such a quaint place. (Yeah... Sigh.)

We did a lot of walking in Bath, logging a minimum of 8 hours a day huffing and puffing up and down the city's pretty little streets, hardly stopping unless it was for a "spot of tea" or something to eat. (I don't know how my buns aren't made of steel yet.)

 See the above mint green car? I kind of want it.

{Note: My dad is probably moaning and groaning at this moment about our awful nighttime photos, but honestly: Who's going to lug a tripod all over Timbuktu? Noooot me.}

 On one of our many walking-sprees, we came upon the Jane Austen Centre. I'm a big fan of Pride & Prejudice, so I couldn't resist paying a visit. (Of course, that didn't include paying for the visit, so I opted to limit my tour to only the entrance area and gift shop.) It seemed fitting to buy a new copy of Pride & Prej while there, so that's what I did. And then I took said copy to a nearby coffee shop and decided to pretentiously read it over tea. (We were such obvious tourists... and jerks.)

Of course, a trip to Bath wouldn't be complete without visiting the ancient Roman baths.... 

Call me ignorant (insert a "I was home-schooled" joke), but I didn't know England was once occupied by Rome, so this little touristy trip was particularly enlightening. (You can read about the baths here if you, too, were home-schooled.)

And what's a vacation picture without Ken doing something inappropriate? (He was pretending to go to the bathroom here which, fortunately, he didn't enact too literally.)

And this was our trip to Bath in a nutshell! The third installment of this little "England series" will follow shortly. 

England, Part One: Family

The whole reason we decided to spend our vacation in England this time around was to pay Ken's grandparents, whom I'd never met, a little visit. (Ken's dad actually accompanied us on the first leg of our journey for the same reason.) 

The first part of our trip to Britain was spent in the lovely town of Essex, where Ken's family resides. The city's reputation, by the by, is far worse than we found it. I'm acquainted with a few transplanted Brits here in Toronto and the way they described Essex, I was imagining the whole city to be like one giant trailer park with pregnant 12-year-olds running around carrying pints of ale in one hand and burning cigarettes in the other. Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing of the sort... proving my imagination is a little vivid at times. (Although we didn't really explore Essex at all, so those chain-smoking toddlers may still be out there.)

We spent the majority of our time there sitting in Ken's sweet grandparents' living room, chatting and catching up (or, in my case, getting to know one another).

 I also had the opportunity to meet Ken's aunt and cousins!

(His aunt was extremely kind and acted as chauffeur for us on many occasions, saving us loads in taxi fare.)

It was a lot of fun getting to know this side of Ken's family over (many) cups of tea. 

 It also happened to be Ken's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary that weekend. 

(They're really very sweet.)

We spent our last night in Essex celebrating their anniversary with them over dinner. 

T'was a good time had by all, and both Ken and I were sad to leave everyone behind for the second leg of our journey.   

(Part two will follow shortly....)

The Cutest Cottage I Ever Did See

I will start this post with the first two things that come to my mind as I type: (1) I'm the worst blogger ever (how the poopity poop did I think my last post would suffice as an actual update?) and (2) I can't wait to bombard you with pictures from my latest vacation.

{There. It's the most uncensored thing you'll ever read on this ol' blog of mine.}

Ken and I just returned yesterday from a week-long getaway up in Muskoka. I've been living in Ontario for over a year now, so I finally decided it was time to check out this "cottage country" that all Ontarians (did I make that up?) rave about. My verdict? Their ravings are warranted.

We rented a cottage on Browning Island located in the middle of Lake Muskoka -- an island that is only accessible by boat. A little water taxi took us to our vacation spot last Saturday and we didn't leave the island for an entire week. Everyone kept asking before we left if we were worried about getting bored while being stranded on an island for a full seven days. I always chuckled at the question. Us? Get bored doing nothing? No way. Laziness is what we do best. And we did it well all week long.

The cottage itself was adorable. It was love at first sight for me and I actually shed a little tear when the water taxi came to take us away yesterday morning.

We spent our entire week there swimming, canoeing, reading and napping.

We also really loved having a barbecue to play with all week. (Although it proved a little dangerous at times.)

Since we left Bubba with Ken's mom for the week, I had to adopt pets of some kind while we were on the island. (I always find critters to take care of on every trip we take.... I should have been a veterinarian.)

{Side Note: These ducks were the boldest things I've ever seen in my life: They would come right up and snatch the bread out of your hands if they didn't think you were breaking it up fast enough. By the end of the week, they were climbing up on our dock and waddling across our toes, begging for food.}

I always need to throw in some smarmy, couple-on-vacation shots for posterity....

(Upon inspection of the left photo, Ken announced I have a unibrow. I, in fact, do not. At least not since attacking it with a pair of tweezers.)

And what is a vacation-post if it doesn't include a sunset shot?

Or just a random shot....

And that's all, folks! We had the perfect little week away, but now it's time to finish unpacking and start on the mountains of laundry currently piled on top of our suitcase. (Best. Sunday. Ever.)