Cinque Terre, We Love You!

 we arrived in cinque terre by train and what a beautiful train ride it was. i have to say we loved training from city to city. it was so easy & efficient and such a great way to see the country side of italy. 

 cinque terre is exactly what jeff and i needed. after traveling for about three weeks, in and out of airports and foreign countries, we were in need of some serious relaxation. the main goal for the next two days was to do absolutely nothing but relax on those warm mediterranean beaches!
 (do nothing except...
lay on the beach and stuff our faces with pasta and gelato, of course!) 

^^ because pesto and focaccia bread originated here, 

it was only fitting to combine the two for our first meal. 

mmm, so good! ^^

we stayed in the charming town of vernazza.

cinque terre is made up of five small towns.

in order to get to the beaches of Monterosso, one of the five towns, we took a fun 10 minute boat ride!

^^ look at that bright blue water. ^^

^^ melon gelato, hit the spot every time. ^^

^^ i secretly took this shot of jeffrey, with my zoom lens, on the back of the boat. 

he had no idea.

i couldn't resist, he's too cute! :)

below are some beautiful views from our bed and breakfast.

^^ breathtaking!! ^^

we took a short fifteen minute hike out of vernazza to get this view.

it was worth every step. there is no better view in my mind!

i counted and we walked up and down 182 steps every time we went to our room.

pesto pasta!

our second day in cinque terre was filled with more beach time, more pasta & gelato and exploring the other four towns by boat! 

^^ i loved this scene as we were leaving the dock. ^^

^^cornelia^^

^^riomaggiore^^

we couldn't get enough of these bright colored little towns.
the locals were incredibly charming and the food was perfection.
cinque terre is a must see, and it exceeded our expectations in every way!

London.

we made it back to the states!! 

jeff and i had the most remarkable month exploring africa and europe together.

so many different emotions surface when i think about our two short weeks in uganda. 

the people we met and spent time with changed us forever.

the safari in kenya was exhilarating and unlike anything we've ever done.

italy was an absolute dream.

i still can't believe a place like that exists and people really get to live there!

we took over 6,000 photos during our travels.

(gasp!)

i know, a little excessive.

i've deleted over half of the photos and organized the rest.

im feeing overwhelmed thinking about documenting our experiences.

however, i know i'll regret it if i don't.

so here i go...

 our adventure starts with a 14hr layover in london town.

we took the red eye, through the night, and arrived at 6am.

i got about two hours of interrupted sleep, while jeffrey didn't sleep a wink.

(the personal t.v. and free movies were to blame)

so excited to be in london, 

we decided not to let the lack of sleep and time change slow us down!

some of the wonderful things we saw included;

big ben & parliament

trafalgar square & the tube

my favorite red telephone booths & tower bridge

double decker buses & westminster abby

tower of london & borough market (yum!)

buckingham palace for the changing of the guard

and lastly, we rented bikes & rode around hyde park & kensington 

this was my first, and hopefully not last, time to london. 

i walked the streets in complete amazement.

and i secretly hope we can find any excuse to move there one day...

a girl can dream, right?!