We ended up in Malta by accident. We knew when we got back to Europe after being in the US, we wanted to spend a longer amount of time in one place before we headed to meet up with friends later on in September. By looking around the warmer areas of Europe for an affordable hotel on points, we decided to spend nine nights in St. Julian, Malta. The hotel we stayed at was a Hyatt Regency and it had recently been redone, so it was very comfortable to stay in the entire time we were there.
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Brennan left Ohio on August 31 and flew to New York City for the night before heading over to the UK. 3 of Brennan’s favorite things are New York pizza, stand up comedy, and steak. He managed to fit all of these in his short time before his flight.
After saying goodbye to my mom & sister in New York, I got on a flight to Warsaw, Poland. I spent 8 hours on a plane, but I have very little to report. I spent nearly the entire time sleeping, except for the last 30 minutes or so. During that time, I realized that Ida Swiatek, the winner of the Women's US Open tennis tournament, was in my cabin and all the flight attendants took pictures with her. She seemed very young, but handled her adoring fans very gracefully. She was quick to exit the plane and I didn't see her again. While I was landing in Warsaw, Brennan had already made it to Munich. He found a biergarten and began enjoying the German food while I sat in the Warsaw airport trying not to fall asleep. I finally made it to Munich airport that evening and Brennan met me as I got off a bus to the city center. It was so good to see him after two weeks apart!
My mom has been saying for years that she wants to go to New York City. It is one of my favorite places, so we finally got to go in September. Rachel was able to come too and we made it into a girls’ weekend. We had so much fun that we decided we need to make these trips an annual thing. Mom and I flew to New York from Dayton and Rachel flew in from Indianapolis. We all met at our hotel where we had a few challenges checking in. Thankfully, we were able to work through that and found a place a few blocks away to get dinner. We walked through Times Square on the way to dinner and had to stop for a picture! After dinner, we needed to find some dessert. Rachel said if the Krispy Kreme light was on, she wanted to go to the location in Times Square. (The light is always on!) We stood in line while we watched donuts get their glaze, ate our fresh donuts and walked back to the hotel for the night. The next morning we woke up bright and early to go see the Today Show being filmed. While we weren’t able to get onto the plaza, it was fun to see through the windows to the famous desk and studio that we have seen on TV so many mornings.
After Nashville, it was time to fly to Ohio! We arrived on Saturday night and spent a few days together in Springfield. Brennan and I met my mom for lunch at CoHatch (I'm still thinking about that blackberry latte!), saw friends, and enjoyed the end of the summer in Springfield.
Brennan left on August 31 to head to the UK to begin his archaeology trip and I stayed in Springfield. It was the longest we had been away from each other since getting married, but it was good for us both to do our own thing before we met back up in Europe later on in September. We flew from Toronto to Nashville to get our car from Bradley and Brett and see them for a few days before heading on a road trip around the southeast. We were able to go to dinner with Brett & Gabriel, then hang out with them the evening we got back. It felt strange how quickly we adjusted back to having our car and driving around Nashville. On Monday, we went to The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s house. It used to be a large plantation and now has manicured grounds and the historic house you can walk through. I didn’t know a lot about Jackson’s background, but left feeling like we learned a lot. It was very interesting to walk through the house that has been preserved to the time the Jacksons lived there.
We flew back to North America from Inverness on August 12. We got to the airport early in Inverness and spent some time in the smallest airport lounge I've ever seen! The employees were very friendly, helped with anything we needed, and even put on a little show (unintentionally) by trying to fix the broken coffee machine while we were there. It was lovely. Our flight routed through Amsterdam and we were the only 2 passengers seated in business class. It was a quick flight and we spent a bit of time in the same lounge we visited on the way to Europe at the end of June. It was surreal to be back after over a month. Our flight to Toronto was uneventful, which was great. I read a book, Brennan watched several movies, and we got 2 more Dutch Delft houses! KLM is a great airline and we both said we would fly it again. Our time in Toronto was pretty short, with 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency (which we would not recommend). I did some research and figured out that we could get to Niagara Falls on a train from central Toronto. It was a long, bumpy train ride, but the view at the falls was beautiful!
Inverness was an unexpected highlight to end our first leg of our summer in Europe! We flew to Inverness from Portugal. Unfortunately, we missed our flight in Lisbon (because we forgot about going through passport control and waited in the lounge too long to get to the plane) and had to fly through London, with an overnight near the Gatwick airport. We arrived in Inverness a little later than expected, but were pleasantly surprised when we got there. The weather was crisp and sunny, which all the local people were quick to remind us doesn't happen very often. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel, dropped off our bags, and went to get lunch at a small sandwich shop. After eating, we had a little bit of time before our bike tour so we walked around a very old cemetery near the hotel. It was fun to see all the Mackenzie headstones, since we were in the middle of watching Outlander. The bike tour was fantastic! It was a private tour, since no one else had signed up for the time we booked. Our guide was a local woman who had lived in Inverness her whole life. She took us past the cathedral, through the islands in the middle of the River Ness, to the small botanical garden, past the shore, by the locks in the river, and all around the area of the town. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and we learned a lot about places, tradition, and people in Inverness.
We finished up our time in Lisbon out of the city center. Sintra is a town about 45 minutes away (by train) that people refer to as the fairy tale town. There are castles, an old monastery on a hill, and palaces. We took a guided walking tour through the city. It was nice to have someone explain what we were seeing, but the tour ended up being a little too long for our taste. Thankfully, we were able to see some of the major sites before heading back to Lisbon.
We got off the train and began the walk up to the main part of the city. The fountain below is fed from springs and has original mosaic tiles all around it. We even saw a dog get a drink while we were standing near here! Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and was our next destination after our time in the Algarve. It took about 3 hours on a train to get there. We arrived at the train station in Lisbon and took an Uber to our hotel. Instantly, I noticed that Lisbon is very hilly and has lots of buildings tucked together with tile on the outside. It made me want to explore and walk around. So, we dropped our bags off and headed to the Time Out Market to get dinner.
One thing Brennan and I have found we really love while traveling is to eat at food halls. There tend to be lots of different options, good food, and the social expectations of how to order are clearer than a lot of restaurants. We enjoyed looking around and exploring the neighborhood around the market (Barrio Alto) as we walked back toward the hotel. |
We're Brennan & MeganSince June 2022, we have been traveling to learn more about ourselves and the world around us. Categories
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