Hello London!

We saw all the major London icons over a few days and enjoyed exploring the city. Staying just outside the city was a lovely retreat from the crowds and bustling nature of London. We were lucky enough to have great weather, spend our time with lovely people and have some wonderful experiences.
Camden Markets seating.This lovely family were kind enough to have us stay with them all week.

Thank you again Marie! We loved our time there with you all!

The lovely Hampton Court Palace and rose gardens.We were lucky enough to go to Wimbledon for the men’s semi-final day! We waited in ‘The Queue’ and it was SO worth it. We watched Djokovic vs Del Potro from Murray Mound / Henman Hill. THEN…we got resale tickets for Centre Court and saw Andy Murray win to get through to the finals!! The atmosphere was fantastic.Finals day was spent at a lovely English pub, in front of the tennis with a beer. The English couldn’t have been happier with the results either.Morrisons Supermarket in Wimbledon went all out 😉

Aug 17

Washington DC

Next destination, Washington DC.A stars and stripes elephant in your front yard…why not?!Obama’s pad…
The Lincoln Memorial. Truly amazing.The CapitolMartin Luther King Jr Memorial. The quotes at this memorial are beautiful but upsetting at the same time as the many things King wished for still aren’t a reality today. A typical Washington DC street.Our host’s dog Hermosa. She would go and fetch her owners shoes on command and was like a big, gentle bear ❤
Our street for the week.Adam’s MorganWe had a wonderful day at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. It is by far the best zoo I’ve ever visited. The environments the animals are kept in are really well designed and maintained. And the animals didn’t look depressed like in most zoos!Watching the world go by…A presidential mural.Air & Space Museum……where the Wright Brother’s plane is kept.Georgetown, a sweet leafy neighbourhood just outside the “serious” part of Washington.

Aug 16

Chicago

Chicago was amazing! Maybe it was because we weren’t expecting it to be as amazing as it was but it was really fantastic.

The train station that greeted us when we arrived gave good first impressions.

We had spectacular weather and really enjoyed walking all around the city for the first few days. The gardens are all beautifully maintained, Lake Michigan is gorgeous and the Chicago cityscape is wonderfully unique.

The Bean!

The underside of ‘The Bean’ is even cooler!A lot of The Dark Knight rises was filmed in Chicago so given the number of times we’ve watched that film, we recognised many parts of Chicago.
They’re totally serious about this too…ask for ketchup and they’ll just say “This is Chicago.”We had a wonderful evening watching the sun set from the John Hancock Centre. We went up to the cafe and ordered an overpriced drink each and stayed for as long as we possibly could. Watching the lights come on was really magical and a definite highlight of the trip so far. Mmm…banana & nutella crepes – nice healthy treat 😉We paid a visit to the very educational Adler Planetarium……and also learned that we need to start wearing something other than Havaianas!Our Air B’n’B host gave us free admission to the Art Institute of Chicago which was really good.Van Gogh is a particular favourite of ours. This is his self portrait and a gallery full of Monet’s work.There was a wonderful photography exhibition too which really inspired me. The guy can make a brown paper bag look good! That’s talent!The Chicago Cultural Centre with the amazing Tiffany dome.We also visited the Lincoln Park Zoo which is free and really quite good. How good is this guy’s tongue!Our last night in Chicago happened to coincide with the 30th annual Chicago Blues Festival which nicely capped off a jam packed and really enjoyable 5 days in Chicago.

Aug 9

San Diego

I loved San Diego. It was so amazing to get back to the beach after our time in the desert.

Everyone had told us how much warmer the water was in San Diego than up further on the west coast but it was still freezing for us spoilt Queenslanders.

Love this guy’s solution to getting around quickly with a broken leg!The place we stayed in San Diego was amazing. Great location where we could walk everywhere and a very animated Air B’n’B host and his dog Cinnamon.

The view of San Diego city as the sun was setting from our private deck.The dinner at this amazing Italian restaurant in Little Italy is one of the best meals we’ve ever eaten! If you’re ever in San Diego, do yourself a favour and get down to Filippi’s. There’s the added fun of decorating the ceiling with your old wine bottles. Looks fantastic!The biggest pancake EVER! Not sure if you can quite gauge the size from the photo but just trust me when I say the strawberries sitting on it were big…We explored beautiful Balboa Park for hours. Other than the beaches this is the most fantastic part of San Diego.La Jolla beach and surrounds.There’s a huge sea lion colony there and they’re so funny.