Adventures With Javi

As all time seems to be doing lately, the last two weeks have flown by so quickly I think my head is still spinning. Javi has been visiting me the last 2 weeks and our travels have taken us all over the UK, Ireland, and Germany. Writing about absolutely everything we did would take ages but I'll give you as brief of a summary as I know how while including all the good bits!
Javi arrived early morning April 18 and our reunion was so exciting. It involved lots of jumping up and down and a near tackle right outside the security doors but I didn't care if I made a scene. I was beyond excited to say the least! After a quick 2 hour nap I made us get up because you can't beat jet lag if you sleep through the whole day! We grabbed some dinner and then went to go see Titanic in 3D! Seeing as I was deprived of the opportunity to see it when it first came out in theaters I was ecstatic to be seeing it this time around! For anyone wondering how hard Javi fought me on the decision to see this movie....he didn't! It was actually Javi who suggested we see it together hahah. He's the best.
Let's move on to Ireland. WOW. I am in love with this country. We landed in Dublin early afternoon and found our way to the center of the city. We mostly did a lot of wandering around, taking pictures in front of things that looked important and planning our few days there. Thanks to some awesome suggestions from my friend, John, we found a yummy fish and chips place, a cute pub and the Temple Bar. Now, when I was first told to find Temple Bar I assumed it was one bar. Singular. Not an entire area filled with adorable pubs, restaurants, and overall tourist sites. After settling this confusion between the two of us we did find the right area and even the actual "Temple Bar" and we had a great time listening to an Irish band play music and the next day we even saw Irish Step Dancers perform. On our second day in Dublin we decided to take a tour on the hop on/hop off bus and it was the best way to see as many of the sites as possible in our limited time in Dublin. We saw the outside of the palace (it was closed that day), a famous church I can't remember the name of and the best part of the day...touring the Guinness Factory! We walked through all the steps of the process from the grain to the water to taste testing it. We also had a ticket to go to the Guinness Academy and learn how to pour a proper pint of Guinness. It's a six step process and yes, we did graduate...we have certificates to prove it hahaha.
Day 3 in Ireland sent us over to Galway where we woke up at 5:00am to catch our 6:00am bus. It worked out perfectly though because the tour we wanted to take ended up being partners with the bus that took us over to Galway so we were able to buy tickets and hop straight onto the tour bus where we headed off to see castles, cliffs, and caves! It was by far the BEST and my personal favorite day of our entire time in Ireland. Even the constant rain couldn't damper my mood as we passed breathtaking scenery and stood on the cliffs of Moher with the wind literally whipping my hair across my face. I felt very small standing on the cliffs and looking out over the ocean watching storm clouds seemingly race across the sky towards us. After the cliffs of Moher, the caves were my second favorite part of the tour. It was SO neat to see these caves which used to be used by bears for hibernation (bear bones were found inside and are actually still there). We were walked past huuuuge waterfalls, ducked under old rocks, and skipped down massive passageways that had slowly been formed over thousands of years. I was fascinated and thought it was SO neat.

Our time in Ireland sadly came to an end and we headed back for a few days in London where I not only got to show Javi around my stomping grounds but we also got to go on a tour of the Warner Brothers Studios where Harry Potter was filmed!!!!!! Javi found out about this tour and knowing how much I adore the Harry Potter series he gave me tickets for the tour including a souvenir book for Christmas this year. As you can all imagine I was absolutely stunned and ecstatic to go. I nearly cried on several occasions as excitement overtook me. I forgot to even take pictures! But luckily Javi was on top of things and took about 5000 pictures of me/for me/of the sets/and absolutely everything there was to see! From original costumes to props to video recreations of scenes and an actual broomstick you could ride....I was beyond impressed with the entire tour and I would have absolutely no problem going back again to spend another 3 hours there. Like I said, Javi took all the pictures because I was in a general state of hysteria the whole time but I did get a picture of the GIGANTIC castle they used for filming the Hogwarts castle. Even the most minute details had been put into place from working lights inside to the forbidden forest. I literally lost my breath from gasping so hard as I walked into the last room of the tour. It was absolutely incredible and this picture I have doesn't do it justice but it's a start. I could honestly make an entire blog post about this tour (and it just might happen when I have more time...) but if you want to know more, all you have to do is ask! ;) Harry Potter wasn't the only thing we did in London, don't worry. We also went on a tour to Stonehenge (yes, I've now been there three times), Windsor Castle, and Oxford! Of course the rain was unending yet again so we spent a lot of the day sprinting from the bus to sheltered areas and back to the bus again but I truly enjoyed seeing these new places with Javi! Windsor Castle was stunning and as I do with every castle, I imagined what it would be like to live in such a place. If you take out the fact that tourists take over your household on a daily basis it would be sooo cool to play hide and seek or dark tag. The possibilities would be endless! Anyways...
After London it was off to Bremen, Germany to visit Thorsten for his 30th Birthday! Now in Bremen, it is a very big deal to turn 30 and a tradition stands where if you are not engaged/married by the day of your 30th birthday you have to sweep the church steps until a virgin comes and gives you a kiss. Although he was not forced to go to the actual church to do this, his co-workers and friends did make him follow through on this tradition not once. but twice! After lunch on his birthday we walked Thorsten back to his office and on the steps outside his coworkers had dumped thousands of bottle caps and he had to sweep them all up. Of course, people constantly walked through the piles making the task endless. At his birthday party that night he also had to sweep off the stage in the venue his part was held and THIS time...he was wearing a pink dolphin costume hahahah it was hysterical and great and maybe you just had to be there to understand but it was a great night with great people and I really do love the city of Bremen.

Early the next morning we headed off to Hamburg with Thorsten and his parents (who are just SO, SO amazing and great and I loved meeting them not through Skype) to watch him play in a very important Rugby game. It was so intense and exciting and I loved all the tension between the teams! Whichever team won got to advance to the next division for the season next year so there was a lot of hostility on the field. Want to know who won?!.......Thorsten's team!!!! YAY!!!!!!! I wish our trip to Bremen could have been longer...heck I wish all of our trips could have been longer. But we were very fortunate to have nearly 2 weeks together to explore parts of Europe and enjoy each others company.

I'm struggling to figure out how it can possibly already be May. Not that I am complaining about how fast time is moving but WOW. I have two more trips coming up this month and then it's on to dissertation work only. Bummer right? I guess that is the purpose for me being out here though so like it or not, it must be done! With this last photo, I leave you.





Love from London,
Kristin