The Gilmartins, Easter in Hackney and a Royal Wedding......

Mom and Dad G. arrived from New York right before Easter weekend and they definitely did not let taking a red eye stop them.  They arrived bright-eyed and began their tour of London.  That first night, we took them to our favorite Indian restaurant in South Kensington, Noor Jahan and they made it through the entire dinner which is more than I can say for Mom and Dad D. (sorry, Dad!).

On Good Friday, we stopped by St. Paul's and unexpectedly were able to sit in on a mass they were having.  It was a really beautiful service with all of priests and choir singing as they walked through the church.  That afternoon, Mrs. Gilmartin and Molly went to high tea at Brown's Hotel which was a nice treat since that meant Matt got to take Mr. Gilmartin to the local pub!  Dinner that night was once again at Babylon on High Stree Ken.  Easter Sunday was definitely special for all of us.  Matt went on ancestry.co.uk to find out where his mother's family was from and it just so happened that her grandparents and great grandparents were married at a church in Hackney (north London).  We surprised his mom by giving her their marriage license and taking her to Easter mass at her great grandparent's church, St. Mary's.  As we found out, times have changed since that wedding...the groom listed his occupation on the marriage license as "bachelor" while the bride listed hers as "spinster".  And Hackney has changed somewhat too.  Let's just say Matt dressing in his Nantucket reds and blazer was not necessarily in fashion at this church. But the parish welcomed us as guests with open arms and even asked us to stay for afternoon tea.  That afternoon, Molly made Easter dinner for the Gilmartins and had our friends, Jared and Amanda over too.  After a lot of food and even more booze, the night ended with Jared's rendition of "Sweet Caroline" and Matt "sleeping" on the couch while we all sang along.

After spending a few days in Paris, the Gilmartins were back to London in time for Prince William's and Kate's wedding.  Matt and his dad were up early to get a spot on the Mall (Matt claimed he was taller and could get better pictures....not sure Mols bought that one) while Molly and his mom opted for Hyde Park to watch the procession and mass on the big screens.  It was definitely a special day here in London (and that's no only because it was considered a national holiday!) with the Brits out in full force showing their pride and unexpected patriotism.  In fact, we still have a Will and Kate Union Jack flag hanging proudly in the flat and we probably watched the wedding 5 times over on the dvr.

We finished off the rest of the week by spending a day in Cambridge and taking a punting tour.  Definitely a beautiful town with a lot of history!  We also headed down the Thames and into Greenwich which is best known for its maritime history and the site from where Greenwich Meridian (0 degrees longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) are measured. Another fun fact is that in the 15th century, it was also the birthplace of Henry VIII and in the 16th century, Elizabeth I (Henry's daughter). 

Overall, it was a wonderful trip and we were so happy to show them London!

   

Kate and Patty take on Londontown!

The beginning of April was the start of two months of visitors from the USA!  It started off with Molly's two aunts visiting - Patty from NJ and Kate all the way from Los Angeles!  They arrived on a Saturday and we met them for breakfast on the High Street then it was off and running for the hop-on/hop-off bus tour around London.  We had dinner at Min Jiang which happens to be right in the Royal Garden Hotel (where they stayed) and has amazing views of Kensington Gardens and the Palace. 

Sunday was Mother's Day so we celebrated Molly's interim moms for the day by taking them on our tour of London (Big Ben anyone?) and then to high tea at the Chesterfield Hotel.  We then went to Babylon for dinner which is one of our favorite spots here.  Tuesday night was dinner at Boca di Lupa then off to see The Children's Hour (with Keira Knightly and Elizabeth Moss) in the West End.  It was a pretty heavy play and I have to give Matt a lot of credit for sitting through what most men probably would not.  On Wednesday, Molly took the day off from work to head to Windsor Castle with them which was great.  We got to see the royal apartments...but unfortuntately, the Queen was not in residence at the time.

The rest of the week they did Westminster Abbey, the Churchill War Rooms and we went up to Regent's Park together.  The next night was dinner at another fan favorite, Strada which overlooks Tower Bridge.  It is by far, our favorite view in London and we tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to take a cute picture in the wind!  It was an amazing visit and definitely a very special one for Molly which she will remember forever!!!

Milano, Italia

Another early morning flight and we were in Milan before lunch.  After each having a pizza, we checked out the Castello Sforzesco which was located right by our hotel.  The castle was built in the 15th century and the Duke of Milan used to live there.  Unfortunately, there were tons of men trying to sell us bracelets and Molly was like a deer in headlights....just watching as one of the guys tied one around her wrist (and the bracelet is STILL on her wrist - in October!).  Once through the castle, it opens up into the Parco Sempione where Napoleon built the Arco della Pace (Peace Arch) in 1807 and is a scaled down version of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

We headed towards La Scala (the opera house) which was built in 1778 and made our way over to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which is the most popular shopping arcade in Milan.  It is right next to the Duomo but held our attention for a few hours as designer shops (Gucci, Prada, LV) line the entire arcade.  After a lot of window shopping only, we made our way over to the Duomo (Milan's Cathedral) which was contstructed in the 14th century and where Napoleon was at one point crowned King of Italy.  The Duomo is such an impressive building inside and out and is very much a Gothic-style cathedral. It is so detailed and grand and is the 4th largest cathedral in the world.  We went up to the roof that has great views of Milan and overlooks the Piazzo del Duomo. 

After the Duomo, we headed towards the Basilica di San Ambrogio which was built in 379-386 (we couldn't get over that!).  The skelatal remains of saints Ambrose, Gervasius and Protasius are all housed in the crypts below.  We also stopped by Santa Maria della Grazie but unfortunately, we did not buy tickets far enough in advance to get in to see Da Vinci's "The Last Supper".  We were definitely disappointed so we decided to head to another one of Italy's great restaurants and eat and drink our way through lunch (Matt claims it was the best lasagna he's ever had - sorry Mrs. G.!) before heading back to London!

Davos, Switzerland

Unfortunately, Matt's birthday got pushed aside due to the NBA's London Games but we did get a chance to go away for a 4-day weekend skiing in Switzerland...and judging the above picture, I don't think he can really complain! We flew into Zurich and took a beautiful train ride into Davos.  Davos is divided into two parts - Davos Dorf and Davos Platz.  We chose to stay in Davos Dorf which is the smaller of the two and which proved to be just fine for us as our favorite restaurant (Paulener's) was right outside of our hotel and so were the ski lifts to the top of the mountain.

Neither of us had ever skied the Alps so we got up early the next day to take advantage of the gorgeous weather.  We got to the top of the mountain and Molly took one look at the sign, "Weissfluhjoch 2663 meters".  Not one who is quick to convert the metric system, she became panicked when she realized that was equivalent to 8,736 FEET! (thanks Google!)  Matt kept telling her it was ok to take the lift back down but when she saw a 4 year old jump off and head down the mountain, she got the courage to go down too (albeit mostly on her butt!).  At one point, two Germans helped her up and asked, "why are you skiing alone if you're a beginner?" (the beginner thing was quite obvious)  To which she had to answer that her boyfriend was far ahead taking pictures of her falling down.  Don't think that translated well....

After a few runs (Matt had a few more than Mols), we retired to one of the best places either of us had ever been to in our lives - a bar overlooking the Alps.  After a few Erdingers, we headed back home for a nap!  The next day, Matt skied again while Molly met him at the top of the mountain for lunch.  The views were amazing.  Our final day there, we both decided to walk into Davos Platz instead of skiing again.  We had terrific weather and were just so impressed with how beautiful everything was there.  We definitely wish the Alps could be our destination every winter from now on!

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Bordeaux, France

Next stop, wine country!  Although the weather wasn't the best and we were there during the offseason, Bordeaux still offered us plenty of wine to taste!  We arrived in Bordeaux on Friday afternoon and took a bus out to the region of St. Emilion, a medieval town in the Southwest region of France.  St. Emilion was founded in the 8th Century by a monk, Emilion who settled in a hermitage carved into the rock which became the monolithic church.  Other monks followed Emilion and started up the commerical wine business in the area.  We stayed at the Chateau de Mole which is in the Puiseguin-St. Emilion region and run by a lovely woman called, Maryline.  We decided to take a tour of St. Emilion and visited the Monolithic Church, Bell Tower and of course stopped for vino along the way.  The town is small and picture perfect - cobblestone, lamp posts and winding streets.  We ate at Restaurant Le Tertre that evening for dinner and Matt even tried the duck fois gras (which he loved!). 

Our first stop on Saturday was Chateau Beaurang.  This was a small winery that is run by a daughter and her parents.  All 3 of them live on the property.  She showed us how they make wine and that they use mostly merlot and cabernet franc grapes since that's what grows the most in the area.  We did a wine tasting in a room full of barrels.  We were told each barrel holds about 300 bottles of wine...so of course we had to purchase 2 or 3 bottles! 

Next stop was Chateau Fonplegade which was a much bigger operation.  An American couple run and live at the chateau and we had the pleasure of meeting the woman.  Let's just say they've done well in the wine industry - her jewlery was UNBELIEVABLE! A young French woman showed us around the property then took us into the barrel room which was very modern. We did a tasting here as well and really enjoyed their wine!

We loved Chateau de Mole but realized we hadn't tasted their wine so we did the only thing we could - a wine tasting at 10am on Sunday!  Maryline showed us around the small chateau and even joined us for the tasting.  We left quickly after the tasting so we could go check out the city of Bordeaux. We took the afternoon to walk around the city and checked out places like the Place de la Bourse, St. Andre's Cathedral (built in 1096!) and Rue St. Catherine. 

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Madrid, Spain

After seeing some chillier cities in Europe, we decided to take a trip to Espana to warm up a little bit!  Madrid was our next stop at the beginning of Februrary and is a city that only Molly had been to so it was definitely a must-see for Matt.  Add in Alyson Silk and it was another fantastic trip!

We arrived to sunny skies and 65 degrees and hit the ground running with our first stop through Plaza Mayor which is one of the more popular plazas.  We did a lot of people watching and checked out the Casa de la Panadería which sits right in the center of the plaza and houses government offices.  Most people know that Spain is very into their churches so we figured we had to take some time to walk around the San Francisco el Grande Basilica and Almudena Cathedral which are two of the more impressive ones. 

Across from the Cathedral is the Royal Palace which at one point, was home to the royals.  Charles III was the first king to live there but no royals live there anymore.  The building is stunning.  The architecture is unbelievable and the inside was even more impressive - so ornate, and the detail could keep you looking around in there for hours. 

Coming out of the Palace, we passed through Plaze de Oriente, the Senate building, the statue of Don Quioxote (which of course Matt tried to climb on to...but every other person had the exact same idea) and the Gran Via which is one of the main streets through Madrid. 

That night, we met Alyson and Mark at Mark's bar, Barrio Alto. It's a cute little wine bar in La Latina.  Mark makes a mean gin and tonic so after two of those, we were ready to hit up Corral de la Moreria, the home of the oldest Flamenco show in Madrid!  We were lucky enough to have caught the last show of one of the older flamenco dancers who was a dancer for over 40 years there.  Ok, so Molly enjoyed that a little more than Matt - he wanted to see more of the younger women perform!  Overall though, it was a very fun experience.

The next day we headed over to the Prado Museum to take in a little European art.  It's an amazing museum and we really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we took in the city - walking by the plazas and the Mayor's office at the Palacio de Comunicaciones and heading into the Buen Retiro Park.  Our favorite spot was the across from the Alfonso XII monument - the park was just so lively and a great place to do even more people watching. 

That afternoon, we met back up with Alyson and Mark who showed us where the locals eat paella and drink vino and then we did our own little bar crawl around the neighborhood.  We had a great time with them and were so sad when we had to leave for the airport.  Another great trip and thanks to Alyson and Mark we felt just like the locals!

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Hamburg, Germany

Coming off of our trip to Budapest, we had Hamburg in the diary (as the Brits call their calendar) for the next weekend.  We were able to score some really cheap tickets through Easy Jet (not kidding it was less than 40 GBP for the 2 of us) so we were actually thinking of skipping this trip to have some downtime.  At the last minute, we decided to go and we were so glad we didn't miss out!

We arrived early morning in the cold rain but we decided to walk around anyway.  The city is located on the water and is considered one of the wealthier German cities.  We started off at the Town Hall which is beautiful and made our way to the remains of St. Nicholas Church.  The church and land it stood on was basically gutted during the air raids of WWII and you can feel the intensity as you stand there and observe all of the memorials dedicated to those who died in the war.  The beautiful entrance to the church remains intake but there is no roof.  It was definitely a chilling and interesting experience.

Next stop was St. Michaelis Church which is probably the most well-known church in Hamburg.  We spent some time exploring the inside then strolled through the city past the opera house which was Molly's favorite building.  Despite the weather, we wandered around until it was dark (well, it does get dark around 4pm in the winter so maybe it wasn't that long of a stroll) and took in the water and the city at night.  Somehow, thanks to Matt, we ended up in St. Pauli, Hamburg's red light district.  We didn't stay too long since it was definitely seedy to say the least!

The next morning, we got out of bed early to explore the Fischmarkt (open from 6am-10am) which was packed nice and early.  We wandered into one of the halls where a full on crowd was singing and dancing along to a band and drinking beer....at 8am.  We stayed for a bit to watch how ridiculous drunk people look when you are completely sober and drinking your morning coffee.  Afterwards, we walked through the Alter Elbtunnel which is tunnel that connects central Hamburg with the docks and hopped on the good ol Louisana Star river boat for a tour of the port. We loved the name ship based in Germany. : )

After the boat ride, the weather started to get better so what did we do?  We met up with one of Matt's co-workers and his partner for some beers inside!  One drink turned into multiple and before we knew it we were laughing hysterically with Jason and Chad like we had known them forever.  Afterwards, we continued our walk and ended up having dinner at where else...a Greek restaurant!  The place lured us in because of the local football match that they had on the tv - it was packed and everyone was cheering so hard that you couldn't help but get into it too.  

We spent an extra night in Hamburg and took an early Monday morning flight back to London.  For a rainy weekend and two people who were exhausted, Hamburg offered so much, is a great city and we are so happy we included it within our travels!

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Budapest, Hungary

It's been awhile since we've posted but we've had a lot of trips and visitors the past couple of months so we're hoping to get all of our updates in!  On January 15th, we took a quick 2-day trip to Budapest.  We definitely could have used a few more days there but it was one of our favorite cities and probably the most beautiful city we've ever seen at night.

For those of you who don't know (because well, Molly did not), Budapest occupies both sides of the river Danube and at one time was divided as two separate cities - Buda and Pest - until its unification in 1873.  We stayed on the Pest side and spent the weekend running across the city's various bridges (Chain Bridge being the first to connect the two cities) to make sure we saw both sides.  The weather was not great - it rained a bit and was chilly and because we went in January in Europe, the sun set before 4:30pm! 

We hit the ground running when we arrived and started at St. Stephen's Basilica which is named for the first King of Hungary (who began his rule in 975!) and houses his mummified fist (yes, seriously).  It was one of the most stunning churches we have ever seen.  We then made our way over the Parliament, on the bank of the Danube, which was built based off of London's Parliament (which we love).  Hungary's Parliament was not established until after the city's unification and built in 1885.  The Holy Crown of Hungary, which was once worn by St. Stephen, is displayed in the central hall of the building.  We had the privilege of going into one of the chambers of Parliament too.

Hero's Square is the main square in Budapest and its statues make up the leaders of the 7 tribes who founded Hungary in the 9th century.  We spent a lot of time in the square, just taking in the entire city and Molly trying to climb the statues (not a pretty site).  From there, we made our way to Vajdahunyad Castle which has pretty amazing architecture but apparently it houses the Agricultural Museum so we stayed on the outside (so cultured, we are!).  Across the way is one of the most famous Hungarian baths in Budapest.  We did not have the time to go in but there were plenty of locals in the baths in the freezing cold in some skimpy bathing suits. 

That evening, we decided to have after dinner drinks at the Four Seasons.  After the pianist left the bar area, Matt (after 2 or 3 scotches) bet Mols $1000 to play the piano for 4 minutes straight.....and that she did (after 2 or 3 cosmos).  It was a stunning rendition of "Those Were the Days" from All in the Family.  And if anyone is familiar with the song, they know that it contains all of about 5 black keys.  Thanks to Molly's brother Michael for teaching her that song at age 8!  After Molly's success (which Matt has yet to pay), we went to one of the locals......an American sports bar to watch the NFL Playoffs, of course!

The next day we were up and out early to finish off our sightseeing.  We decided to explore the Buda side.  We hiked up Gellert Hill which was tough regardless of the multiple drinks we consumed the previous night and took in Buda Castle and Matthias church.  After a few hours, we stopped for some traditional Hungarian food where Molly witnessed Matt scarfing down a HUGE plate of weinerschnitzel....there were no words.

It was an exhausting trip but one of the most fun!  We headed back to London in the evening to prepare for our next trip.  Here are some (ok, a lot!) of pictures from Budapest. 

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Dublin, Ireland

2011 has been full of trips already and we started off the new year heading to Dublin which was Molly's first trip to Ireland. It was also an opportunity for Matt to introduce her to the Irish "lads" who he used to caddy with during the summers in Southampton.  Instead of making new years promises of not drinking or eating as much, we got right back into the swing of things with plenty of Guinness and fried food.  We took an early morning flight to Dublin and arrived at our hotel in the Temple Bar area.  We were right on Fleet Street so there was plenty of action.  Matt's friends, James and Peter, came up from Kilkenny and we met at a pub called, Sinnot's.  The boys told stories of when they caddied and some of the crazy times they had - 10 Irish guys living in one house sort of sums it up.  Molly had her first Guinness ever but added a splash of black currant juice which definitely made it sweeter....and more drinkable if you ask her.  We did a mini pub crawl and ended the night not remembering much of what happened throughout the day. : )

We woke up early on Sunday so we could take a walk around Dublin and not just drink our way through the city.  We got to see all the major sites - Molly Malone, Liffey River, St. Stephen's Green, etc....The city is very cute and definitely reminded us a lot of London.  The weekend wouldn't be complete if we didn't meet back up wtih James and Peter for some more food in the afternoon...but this time we skipped out on the alcoholic beverages.  We are already planning a trip back to Ireland - hoping to get to Kilkenny at some point so James and Peter can show us around their hometown. They were great to have as hosts and so much fun to hang out with!

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Happy New Year - from Marrakech!

Happy New Year!  To ring in 2011, Matt and Mark decided to take Jen and Molly where they would fit right in.....to Marrakech, Morocco!  Ok, so they may have been the only blondes in sight but it was an incredible experience and so much for the four of us!  We arrived first and after checking into the Riad (comprable to bed and breakfasts in the US), we went right into Jamaa el Fna which is the main square within the medina.  It was even crazier than what we read about - people everywhere, motorbikes zooming by you and every single person trying to sell you something or negotiate a price with you.  There were snake charmers and monkeys and people using donkeys to carry their goods from one place to the next.  We immediately bega shopping in the souks (little markets in the square) since they really do sell everything - from pottery to handmade pillow covers to fake snakes...this place definitely had it all.  At first we found it tough to communicate but most people speak French in addition to Arabic - and most people actually have a good grasp of the English language as well. Well at least those who want to make a buck or two.  Matt's New York City lawyer skills were not up to snuff initially and he was taken for a ride on a bracelet.  But after a few back and forths, he was a negotiating machine buying pottery, scarves and even slippers for a very good price.  Molly was a bit hesitant early on but soon realized how genuinely nice the people were and they made sure you knew exactly where you were going.  The books suggested that women travelling there should wear a band on their wedding finger so Molly did just that....which of course nearly gave Matt a heart attack.  It was obviously worth being safe, but seeing Matt's face was priceless.  Both Jen and Molly also wore long sleeved shirts and pants most of the visit there out of respect for their culture and religion.  One of the more interesting and beautiful parts of the culture was to hear the chants coming from the Koutoubia Mosque.  They pray every day starting at 5am and do it 5 times a day. 

On our first full day, we decided to take a day trip to Essaouira which is a small fisherman's town a few hours away.  It was nice to be on the water and do a little negotiating outside of Marrakech.  It is said to have been a favorite of Jimmy Hendrix and a vacation spot for Cat Stevens.  On New Year's Eve day the four of us went hot air ballooning.....well, Matt, Mark and Jen did while Molly looked on.  But let's give all of them credit for waking up at 5am to do this.  We got to watch the sun rise and then the 3 of them had lift off which was really fun to see.  Afterwards, we were treated to breakfast by the locals who the hot air balloon owner had befriended over the years.  They served us their infamous Moroccan mint tea and various types of bread (which seems to be what every one eats all day!).  That night, we had a traditional Moroccan meal hosted by Joce from the riad which was lovely.  We were treated to their wines, cous cous, music and desserts.  Afterwards our guide, Hammed, took us to a club so we could ring in the new year.  The club played a mix of Spanish and French music with a little American pop.  Their party favors may have had, "Happy Birthday!" written on them, but we didn't care - we had a blast and danced through the night.

On New Year's Day, we woke up early again for an excursion to the High Atlas Mountains and Ourika Valley.  We made a stop at one of the Berber's homes (a Berber is someone who lives in the mountains) where we were served mint tea (and bread of course) and had spectacular views of the desert and mountains in the distance.  We then began our "walk" through the mountains which ended up being much more of a hike than any of us expected.  We had some of the most stunning views we had ever seen and it really was a great day for the four of us.  And it was nice to work off some of the booze from the night before.  Since that evening was our last night in Marrakech, we decided to eat in the middle of the action in the square and it was delicious!

The next day, we stopped off at the Saadian tombs to see where the Saadian Kings and Queens were buried and then made sure to have have one final mint tea before we headed back to the UK!

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