London - Our Anniversary Trip

Can't believe it's been a year already!! Happy 1st Anniversary to us =)  It has really been a busy year full of lots of fun trips and new experiences overseas! We wanted to go somewhere fun for our anniversary. London won the vote!! I've heard about all sorts of great places to see and shop from friends over here, so I was definitely looking forward to this trip!! We knew by going in October we were totally chancing constant rain for the duration of the trip. However, mother nature was on our side and we only had two brief spells of rain. In fact, one day we had beautiful blue skies!!

Trying to stay warm during our ride on the iconic open air double decker bus!

After riding the bus around to see some of the sights, we started with a tour of the House of Parliament. Sorry, no picture taking allowed inside! It was interesting to learn a little about how their government works and how the monarchy is involved.

The Palace of  Westminster, also known as the House of Parliament

We are getting quite good at these self portrait shots =)

Most would see this picture and title it Big Ben; however, that is actually the name given to the bell inside the clock tower. The tower itself has been renamed Elizabeth Tower in tribute to the Queen for her Diamond Jubilee. 

My fave old hang out in Lawrence is called the Red Lyon. . . .we had to stop in for a pint!!

Enjoying a pint in the Red Lion!

We also took a tour of Westminster Abbey, built in 1245. The same church where Prince William and Kate were married last year. It's a church full of history with tombs of many famous people housed inside. I am totally guilty of watching the royal wedding on TV, so to be inside and see where it all happened was really cool. The Abbey is also the nation's Coronation church. We got to stand on the spot where Prince Charles and Prince William will one day be crowned King of England!

Westminster Abbey

No cameras allowed in Westminster Abbey, but I had to sneak one. It is so grandiose inside!!

View of the House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey from the London Eye

Gotta love the iconic red telephone booths!

We had to take a ride on the London Eye.

 Next up on our tour of London was the Tower of London. It dates back to 1078 when the White Tower was constructed. At first it was a royal palace and then became a prison. It became famous for the torture and death that took place there with seven people executed within the tower walls and more commonly people executed outside the walls on the hill nearby.

Tower of London

The Yeoman Warders, also known as Beefeaters, have been the Royal bodyguard since at least the early 1500s. As the Tower of London became used more and more as a prison, their main duty was to look after the prisoners. Today they are ceremonial guardians of the Tower. They give tour guides of the Tower now and are also responsible for the safe keeping of the Crown Jewels which are housed there. They and their families actually also live in the Tower of London. To become a Warder you must be a senior non-commissioned officer with at least 22 years of service.

Here's our Yeoman Warder giving us our tour.

This is the White Tower, the first building of the Tower of London.

The building where you can find the Crown Jewels. They are really amazing to see in person!!

Guarding the Crown Jewels. . . I'm sure this guy will get a good luck at the bad guy! haha

There are six ravens that live at the Tower of London. It was once believed that if the ravens ever left then the tower and monarchy would crumble. Today one of the Yeoman Warders is responsible for looking after the ravens. And just to be sure the ravens don't leave they also clip their wings!

I thought this was interesting. . .if you had one of all the coins in the British currency, put them together as shown above.  They form a picture of  The Royal Coat of Arms of the UK. 

Right next to the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge here behind us. 

Gates to Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace
Unfortunately the palace was closed for tours when we were there.

View of Buckingham Palace from the London Eye

Did you know that Hard Rock Cafe started in London in 1971?

We went out for a nice dinner for our anniversary. The restaurant was sweet and made us an extra dessert with a candle to celebrate!

Gotta get a quick self shot!

Our first anniversary

My wonderful husband even found a way for the hotel to deliver flowers to our room while we were out sight seeing the day of our anniversary. He is the best!! 

The Lion King musical production!!! I have wanted to see this performance since it hit Broadway 15 years ago.  There is a huge theater district in London, so I finally got the chance to see it. It was an amazing show!!!

We really had a wonderful time in London!! We just hit the tip of the iceberg with things to see and do. I can't wait to go back some day!!

Madrid

Jeff had a work conference to attend in Madrid so I was ready to tag along and do some sightseeing on my own. This time in the beautiful country of Spain!! October has already brought cooler weather in Geneva, so I was so looking forward to going a bit further south for some warmth and sun!!

Spain is in the light ivory color in the southwest part of Europe.
Madrid is the capital located right in the center of the country. 

Madrid is a beautiful city!! The architecture is amazing!! The food is great. I love tapas and sangria =) I've never taken one of the bus tours any of the cities we've visited. This time I decided since we just had a few short days there that I wanted to see all the sights first from the bus. Then I could see how close everything really was in relation to each other and decide what I still wanted to spend more time seeing. I really enjoyed it and it was a great way to get a feel for the city.

Perfect weather for a city tour via an open air bus!

The Metropolis building is an iconic landmark along the Gran Via, a grand street built to connect the historical downtown to the northwest part of the city in the early 1900s.

This amazing building was originally the post office up until about five years ago when it became the headquarters for Madrid City Hall.  

Plaza Mayor, Madrid's main square, lined with cafes and restaurants
The building with the frescoes painted on it in this picture dates back to 1590 and was the last constructed in the square.

The Catedral de Santa Maria Real de la Almudena was started in 1883 and not completed until 1993. . . yes, over 100 years later!! This was mainly due to a conflict between dioceses. When complete it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II, the only Spanish cathedral to have been consecrated by a Pope.

Inside the cathedral. . .I really like that the portraits and ceiling are super colorful.

A close-up of the designs painted on the ceiling

A very grand side altar

The Royal Palace, the largest in Western Europe, built in 1737.

The palace sits right next to the Cathedral. 

Jeff & I in front of the Royal Palace

Check out the massive statues on top of this building!

A look up the Gran Via. . .the tall building in the distance is the only building commissioned by an American architect. Many say it looks like a building that belongs in Chicago.

Oktoberfest

At the end of September my good friend, Kristen, and her friend, Caylin, came to visit us in Geneva. They were going on a trip around Europe and Switzerland was the first stop on the list. We had a great time showing them around all our favorite places in and around Geneva.

Caylin and Kristen getting ready to depart Geneva via the train.

After a week of the two girls seeing the sights across Europe, they met Jeff and I in Munich, Germany for the original authentic Oktoberfest celebration. Jeff has a good friend, Michael, (who's from Switzerland) that goes to Oktoberfest every year. Jeff has been to Oktoberfest twice before with him, but this would be the first time for my friends and I. Before I explain how it all works and tell you all about it, let me just begin by saying that we had a fantastic time!!

Welcome to the party!!

Every year on these huge fair grounds they build all these "tents", but really they are big buildings that in some cases hold up to 7,000 people! You would think they would just leave these buildings up year round, but I've been told they use these grounds for lots of other events....even though with set-up and tear-down, Oktoberfest occupies these grounds for about six months of the year! It takes about 4-5 months to build everything. Then Oktoberfest is three weeks and it takes about another month to tear it all down. It's crazy to me to think they do all that for just three weeks, but it is a major tourism draw for the city and country. They also construct tons of carnival rides!! I have never seen so many and such large temporary rides before. There were multiple roller coasters and a four story haunted house. They even have all those carnival game booths you see at fairs in the US. So you have people there to enjoy the beer and tent scene, but loads of other people there just to enjoy the numerous carnival rides.

On the Oktoberfest grounds you can only drink in the tents and most of the tents you need tickets to enter. They break the day into time slots and you purchase your tickets for a specific tent/time slot. We had tickets for Friday for a four hour session. Then Saturday we had a six hour session at a different tent. We had tickets for two of the smaller tents: one holding 3200 people and the other 1300. Your ticket includes a reserved place to sit and a credit to spend on beer or food in the tent during your session. Each tent is also usually sponsored by one brand of beer (makes ordering easier!) and has been from the start. Each tent has it's own traditions that have been around for ages. It really make the experience in each tent unique!!

Here are some fun statistics I found after the party was over! =)

• This year 6.4 million people attended Oktoberfest.
• There were almost 7 million liters of beer consumed!
• 130,000 letters and postcards were mailed from the Oktoberfest post office.
• 950 passports, 570 wallets, 480 mobile phones, 80 cameras, and an array of other random items were all turned into the lost and found office. I guess after a few drinks it gets easier to misplace things ;-)
• Roughly $2 million in glass beer steins are stolen every year! 

This is the outside of our tent the first day!

The beer steins in our first tent had this really cool design on them.

The food spread both in the tents and outside along the fair grounds is really delicious!! As you can imagine there are lots of sausages, sauerkraut, and pretzels everywhere. Gingerbread is also very popular there. Jeff's favorite, though, is the schnitzel sandwich!!

Jeff is ready to dig in to all the delicious food that was waiting for us at our table day one.

This was my favorite dish!!! The center is like funnel cake meets pancakes. Then there is apple sauce with fresh fruit and a little fruit spread around the sides to mix in with it. It is soooo yummy!! I already have a request in to my Swiss German friends to get this recipe.

Did I mention that each tent has a couple live bands that take turns performing all day?!?
This was the band our second day. I love how the guitar player on the right totally caught me taking their picture. They of course mostly played traditional German drinking songs, but they played a couple very random American songs.
My favorite had to be John Denver's "Country Roads"!!! I couldn't believe it?!?!
Plus all the Germans knew the song by heart too. It was fantastic!!

It's tradition for some drinking songs to stand on your seat to dance and sing along!!!
Why not, right?!?! =)

Jeff and I with one of our great Swiss German friends, Sonja.

Jeff and I with Kristen enjoying the festivities!

A popular aspect of Oktoberfest is to wear traditional German attire for the festivities. This includes a dirndl for the women and lederhosen for the men. Almost everyone who participates in the festivities in the tents is in traditional dress. I felt like I was the obvious tourist the first day. We had to remedy that since Jeff had bought lederhosen his very first year. After a little shopping we were both ready to go for the next day of drinking!!! What do you think?? =)

Jeff and I ready to party it up in true German style!!!

This trip by far was some of the most fun I've had this year!! Everyone you meet is just enjoying the festivities and having a great time!! Plus, we had such a great group of people to party with!! I am definitely crossing my fingers that we get to go again some day!!

Ein prosit der gemütlichkeit!!! (Cheers!!)