Our Honeymoon - From London to Spain II

Stop No. 2 ~ Venezia

In my opinion, there are two types of people you will typically bump into while in the airport. The first type are the people who get to the airport at least 3 hours in advance to go through the entire check-in and security process with ease and happily sit at their gate, browse the airport shops, grab snacks, watch movies on their portable DVD players and work on their computers. Two examples of these people in my life are my former college basketball coach, Helen Higgs and my dear mother, Anita Mathews. Helen was always making the team get to the airport super early, and who'd blame her? Checking through a team of 15 girls, two coaches, and two trainers seems like a daunting task to me. My mother has always been perpetually early to all things and naturally, her family was always perpetually early to all things along with her, bless her heart. Now, I know you have all guessed the other type of airport traveler. These are the folks who wait until the very last minute to leave their house for a 6am flight and then choose the long-term parking lot to save a couple of bucks, wait impatiently for the always late shuttle to the airport terminal, try to find the shortest and quickest security line and always end up picking the slowest - all for the thrill of not getting to the airport early. I'm an example of this type of traveler. And since my 'missed flight' record has only increased since I have been dating Adam, I would venture to say that my dear hubby is also one of these types of people. The difference between the two of us is that I sincerely believe he wants to get there early. I on the other hand, never do. I mention all of this because believe it or not, we missed our flight to Venice from London and spent the entire day trying to reroute ourselves to Venice and it was super frustrating and an unfortunate start to our fancy trip. Instead of walking you through the entire experience, let's just point out one little tip to all - DO NOT BE LATE FOR A FLIGHT OUT OF LONDON! The Brits take 'being prompt' very seriously and do not handle rerouting passengers all that well. As devastating as this was in the moment, I find it hilarious now - isn't it always good to laugh at ourselves? And yes, I will be making a stronger effort to get to the airport early from here on out. I promise (of course, I crossed my fingers just then).

Arriving in Venezia and then taxiing - via a water taxi, along the lido into Venezia proper, really sets the tone for your entire experience there.

It was getting pretty dark out as you can see from these photos (above), so I'm not going to share too many of my low quality pics taken by my little point and shoot camera that evening . But let me just say this, I've never been anywhere like Venice and the entire time I was there, I was known to look at Adam and say, "Seriously?!!" Venezia is truly magical, romantic, vibrant, beautiful, and full of wonderful food, wine, and gelato. In fact, I know it's probably a little premature to be sharing this so soon in my honeymoon blog series but, Italy, might be my favorite place in all of Europe. I would live in Florence in a heart beat. But that's for later.

Once we disembarked our water taxi, we set out to explore the city for a bit. I immediately fell in love with all of the walkways, the bridges, the gondolas and the colorful floral arrangements spilling out of the pots on the balcony's and window sills. After wandering for a bit, we decided to search for the water taxi that would take us across the lido to the Hilton Molino Stucky, where we would be stay until boarding our cruise ship the next day. This was another 'not-so-funny' honeymoon moment of ours. We could not find the pick-up spot for our hotel water taxi. I think we spent about an hour searching for it, walking everywhere, talking to everyone and then we split up. This is not a good idea when you don't have cell phones and one of us had to go to the restroom pretty badly and the other was starving. We found it eventually - praise be to God - and made our way over to this ginormous Hilton that is set on Guidecca Island, with spectacular views of Venezia!

The next morning we woke up, had an incredible breakfast at the rooftop restaurant and bar while enjoying the views of Venezia! By the way, in one of the pictures below you will see me holding a glass of the best Sangria I have ever had in my life!

After a delightful breakfast, we checked out and caught a water taxi to our Celebrity cruise ship, 'The Summit', with a couple from Canada who had also just stayed the evening at the Hilton. Water taxi's in Venice can be a bit pricey, we highly recommend being friendly and asking someone to share a taxi with you. For example, it was nearly $60 for a 10 minute taxi to our cruise ship.

I must add a caveat here, some of you may have noticed that I have the same coral dress on as I did in London. Due to missing our flight and other mishaps, we don't have our luggage at this point in the trip...and won't find it until Croatia. Another not-so-funny at the time thing/experience that is funny now. C 'est la vie. Moving along, we spent the remainder of the day thoroughly exploring Venezia:

-The views of Venezia from the water taxi into town-

-Views from Piazzo San Marco & the tourists' crazy obsession with the pigeons-

-I loved the striking black and white colors along the Piazza's walls-



-And of course, we loved the canals, big and small-
The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge (pictured above, and below)

When we first looked into taking a gondola ride along these beautiful canals via the internets, we saw that the average price was about $300 for a 30 minute boat ride. We were thinking about finding a larger boat and splitting the costs with some strangers just to get the gondola experience but we found out once we started asking the gondoliers that the price was actually only about $110...you know what they say, "When in Venice." It was incredible cruising along the waterways, in and out of the winding canals, enjoying the melodic serenade of the gondoliers all while sitting next to my handsome new husband. Very surreal, very magical.

After a full day of wandering around the streets, bridges, and canals of Venezia, Adam and I find a small restaurant off the beaten path for a traditional Venetian dinner and some vino. Delizioso! The grand finale of our day in Venezia was an evening in Piazzo San Marco listening to the quartets and enjoying bellini's. Fantastico! The next afternoon our cruise ship sailed away from Venezia, headed for the next stop on our trip, Debrovnik, Croatia.

Our Honeymoon ~ From London to Spain

Stop No. 1 ~ London

Whilst the winter has kept us at home and not traveling as much as we'd like and therefore making our 'perpetual adventures' slightly more brief, if not completely non-existent (*by the way, that isn't happening next year - I will go on both a ski trip and somewhere tropical during the winter hibernation period)...anyhow, I thought that I'd share some stories and photos from our honeymoon - our trip of a lifetime. Now before I get to London, the first leg of our ten city, five country trip, I must begin with a sweet little story about the planning that went into this trip.

Originally, the entire honeymoon was to be a surprise for me - Adam knows just how much I love surprises and since I was going a little overboard with all of the wedding planning, he figured that the best use of his time was in planning our celebratory trip to follow the wedding...or maybe I just told him to do that? Anyhow, I believe it was about April or May when we were driving to our church one Sunday morning and Adam said, "So, how badly did you want the honeymoon to actually be a surprise?" Understanding him the way I do I took this to meant that he was undecided about something and needed my help. I replied with, "I really love surprises you know, is there anyway you can just make a few decisions and keep me out of the loop?" He of course agreed to that - but brought the topic back up again a few minutes later so I figured there was something on his mind that he needed to share. And so I thought about it and realized, actually, I'm dying to know what the plan is!

Adam then preceded by telling me he had had a dream. This isn't a unique phenomenon I told him and he explained that he never dreams or at least he can rarely ever remember his dreams. At this point, as you might imagine, I'm totally intrigued by what he has to share with me. Without further ado, in his dream he was at some big party that was happening before our wedding and all of my closest friends and family were there, getting to know him, interrogating him a bit, etc. He thinks it was either Amy or Jordyn who asked him, "Where are you taking Melody on the honeymoon?" And as he told them the plan he said that they all started laughing hysterically and saying, "Don't you know Melody at all? She'll hate that." In the dream he specifically remembers looking at Jordyn, and all she had to do was raise those dramatic eyebrows of hers and he knew he had blown it.

And so, my poor hubby was experiencing a bit of anxiety prior to making the final arrangements for our honeymoon. I decided it was best to let the guy get the affirmation from me that he so desperately needed. He then described and unfolded the entire honeymoon in such an elaborate way, I couldn't help but be totally enthralled and more than ready to depart for our 14 day cruise covering the beautiful coastal cities along the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas. I guess the majority of his anxiety stemmed from a comment that I had made about hating the 'All Inclusive's' - I meant like Sandals - not a cruise! Especially not a cruise that is exposing me to some of the places that I have longed to visit! Here's the breakdown of the honeymoon: London to Venice to Debrovnik to Athens to Santorini to Naples to Rome to Florence/Pisa to Cannes to Barcelona. I mean, what's not to love about that? Besides...Athens of course :)

Sunday night, the day after our wedding we flew out from Seattle to London (approx 10+ hour flight). Now the cruise actually started in Venice, but Adam saw an opportunity to gain a country and one up me in our country competition, by choosing a flight with a layover in a city/country he had never been, one in which I had been several times! Needless to say, we arrived in the middle of the afternoon after our red eye and from all of the excitement with the wedding and everything, we didn't really sleep on the plane much so we were exhausted. Let me just say this, exhaustion has nothing on adrenaline and excitement, so we took on sightseeing and enjoying one of my favorite cities in the world.

Our first stop, checking into our hotel - the Sherlock Holmes hotel on Baker Street, naturally. Well, actually, it wasn't naturally, rather a sweet deal that Priceline set up for us but very fun nevertheless.

We immediately departed for Westminster and Big Ben, the London Eye, the Parliament, and of course, Westminster Abbey. Although this area can get a little crowded with all the tourists, etc, you can usually find a quiet bench nearby the abbey to read, sketch, enjoy your surroundings.




All of a sudden we heard Big Ben chime (seriously) and realized that it was almost six o'clock and we had to be at Queen's theatre for Les Miserables by seven o'clock and we were starving. We hopped on the Tube and made our way to the Picadilly Circus line and headed to the theatre (notice the English spelling of the word, my preferred spelling of the word as well) - arriving with only about 20 minutes prior to the start of our show and still starving. Yes, I'm proud to say that on our first night of our honeymoon we ate McDonald's. Please don't judge me, I love that place.

It's sad, but true...after our McDonalds chow down, the traveling, the wedding festivities and all, our adrenaline finally ran out and we both fell asleep during the second half of Les Mis. Sad. Oh well, both of us have seen the play (one of our shared favorites) approx ten times, so no biggy. After the show, it's dark out and late and even though we are tired and have to get up super early to make our flight to Venice, I convince him to wander over to St. Paul's Cathedral, which has the second highest dome in the world (we also saw the first highest on this trip, can you guess where?). St. Paul's is one of those sights that I particularly like to see in the evening. There is something hauntingly reverent about this place of worship, nestled in the hub of London's epicenter. I highly recommend visiting the cathedral in the evenings, folks are rarely around that area at night.

We decided after that to call it a night - no stops at the pub for warm beer or hot toddy's :( But I feel pretty confident that we will be back...

For your viewing pleasure, here are a couple of fun pics that we took while in London: The much loved red telephone booth picture (I have a ton of these now) and of course the beginning of several self portraits because we are too frightened to ask anyone else to snag a pic, and finally, the first of several pictures intended to document the numerous subway rides we took on this honeymoon. I can now offer anyone who is interested a thoughtful and comprehensive reflection of the subways in Washington DC, New York City, London, Rome, Athens, and Barcelona.

Have you been to London before? What are you favorite things to do and see? Please share your thoughts - I love including highly recommended sights into my travel plans!
Cheers, Melody

"My dear, don't you know? That's Rhett Butler. He's from Charleston. He has the most terrible reputation."

**********************Part II: Charleston**********************

It's no surprise to me that Charleston is the fictional home of the affluent Rhett Butler. I have never experienced more grandeur anywhere else in the U.S. than I did walking along the Battery in the historic area of Charleston. The range and size of the architectural structures lining the streets will leave you awestruck - from the charming Georgian style to the statuesque Federal style to the classic Italianate and Victorian style homes, the city boasts an unprecedented diversity leaving you with hours to spend gawking and admiring.

I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking in this post - they speak volumes of the beauty, elegance, and authentic southern charm that you would imagine of Charleston.

There are several old estates that you can visit during your stay in Charleston. We chose to visit Middleton Place during this trip. The grounds are what was most spectacular here - although, when looking at the images of the main house, you can imagine a certain quality about it. Here is a write up that I found online to give you a little background about the estate:

Middleton Place was established early in the life of the Carolina colony and served as a base of operations for a great Low Country planter family and was home to a dynamic African-American slave community. Begun in 1741 by Henry Middleton, President of the First Continental Congress, the 60-acre landscaped garden was both an intellectual and emotional focus for successive generations of Middletons. Until 1865, the garden was nurtured and embellished by Henry's son, Arthur Middleton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; Arthur Middleton's son, Henry Middleton, who was Governor of South Carolina and U.S. Minister to Russia; and Governor Henry Middleton's son, Williams Middleton, who signed the Ordinance of Secession.

Without further ado, here are some of my favorite snapshots that I captured as we wandered the grounds of this fine, old southern estate:

My travel companions, my in-laws, Mark and Michele, and my darling husband, Adam.

Adam and I standing on a rickety old footbridge.

My Marms (Michele) - standing along the row of big oaks and Spanish moss -
looking all mysterious like the lady of the woods!

This was my Marms' favorite view point!

I would like nothing more than to spend a warm, spring afternoon wandering from garden to garden, picnicking, reading, playing games with friends...it almost makes me want to move out of the city. Notice I said almost, I'd rather just own something like this that I can visit on the weekends.

After exploring Middleton Place, we headed into town and checked in to the John Rutledge Inn. This is where Adam proposed to me a year ago and it was so special to return as husband and wife. I think this will definitely become a yearly tradition of ours and I think it's truly important to return to these spots where we experienced love to the fullest, where our lives were forever changed - and reflect and remember. After all, these are the moments in our lives that we live for.

After checking in we enjoyed tea, brandy, and pastries in the ballroom. Doesn't that just take you back to entirely different era. Can anyone actually say let's have tea in the ballroom during this day and age? It was very cozy and we all were ready to take a nap after that but we decided to tour the town a bit. We wandered along the Battery, which is a pathway along the waterfront that is perfect for strolling. Since we had missed our opportunity to explore one of the grand houses in Savannah we were eager to find a tour opportunity in one of the large Charleston homes. We stumbled upon the Calhoun Mansion which was offering one last tour for the day. The house was extravagant, but entirely too cluttered! There were artifacts from nearly every country you could imagine and while that might seem eclectic and interesting to some, it was way to chaotic for me! I think the intent of the home owner is to display all of his collectibles at once and that he isn't too concerned with style and design. All that to say, it was a lovely experience - I recommend touring a large mansion whilst in Charleston, I just don't recommend this one. However, an interesting tidbit for all of you movie lovers, apparently several films have featured scenes inside this fine mansion to include The Notebook (it's the interior of Allie's parents' summer home - the exterior is Boone Hall - also in Charleston).

After strolling the town we dressed for dinner - also a term that isn't used by me very often. My typical evening consists of dressing down in sweats and t-shirt for dinner. Sometimes I long for the grand ol' days when folks actually dressed up for dinner...but then I remember how cozy I like to feel in the evenings and I dismiss that desire. We went back to back to Circa 1886, the amazing restaurant that Adam and I ate at the evening he proposed. This was definitely a trip full of too much eating - but all of the food was incredible. The South knows how to cook! We had a lovely time and before you know it we were full, happy, and again, ready for bed!




The next morning we took our rental car back and headed to the train station for our trip back to DC. I can definitely say that traveling during the day on the train is my preferred way to travel on the train. For one, I can't sleep long enough on the train to make the night trip valuable and second of all, I love the interesting sites you get to enjoy as you travel by train. You can seriously just sit back and enjoy the sites as they pass you by. Not all of these sites were positive, South Carolina (besides the old, historic area of Charleston) is really hurting - the infrastructure and condition of family homes indicate the need for support. This kind of exposure, while difficult, can only help us remember to consider other States and other U.S. citizens when considering whether or not to be in support of bigger Federal efforts like, health care reform and so forth. If you could see the impoverished areas that we saw along the train route, you would definitely see that there are families out there even in our own country - that are really struggling and desperately have a need for Federal assistance. Okay - sorry for the rant - please drop me a line with your thoughts! Have you been to Charleston? Can you recommend places for us to visit the next time we are there? I forgot to mention that I am probably going there for work in April - when it will be 10x warmer :) I can't wait! So send me your recommendations now!