Italy, England and Ireland

Hello everyone! Sunday has rolled around again and I’ve spent hours choosing some (ok, a lot!) of my photo’s from my family trip to Europe last year in June/July. We spent some time in England and Ireland visiting family, then hopped on a coach to Italy! We decided on taking the coach as we would get the opportunity to see France, Germany and Switzerland on the way.  It took us two full days to reach Lake Garda (yes, a plane from London would have taken two hours) but it was easily the most beautiful drive we’ve ever done, I would love to go back one day, hire a car and repeat it. Unfortunately I can’t show you any photo’s from the drive that aren’t a blurry mess so you might just have to add it to your bucket list and explore it for yourself! And without further ado – the photo’s!

Ooh la la Venice! When we first got to Venice, I hadn’t fully grasped the waterways and how they replace to roads. EVERYTHING that Venice needs, from alcohol to cleaning supplies, has to be able to be put onto little skinny boats that can squeeze down the canals. When we first stepped off the boat I was keen to escape the huge crowds that were heading for Saint Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge. My parents, sister and I headed down the small, empty laneways which gave us time to discover beautiful bridges and buildings without being pushed on by all the other tourists. As you can see I actually managed to get a photo of a bridge without one person on it! Venice is like a make-believe city, it’s hard to think that anyone is actually lucky enough to live here!

Now onto Lake Garda and the beautiful towns that surround it!

I expected good ice cream from Italy but it was so so much better than I could have imagined! It’s probably good I don’t live here actually, I’d be the size of a house!

I’m all about that sun safety!

It was a similar case as the gelato when it comes to Italian pizza, just ridiculously yummy and something that everyone should witness at some point in their lives! I had never thought to put tuna on pizza until this moment!

Look how cute these tiny paintings are, I stood there watching the artist painting one for a while and then purchased one that proudly hangs in my bedroom. The painting is something that I will always cherish and as far as I’m concerned it’s the best souvenir you can get!

A little side step into Verona in between these beautiful scenes from Lake Garda, we couldn’t go to Verona and not see the famous Juliet’s balcony! (I wasn’t about to spend the money to actually step foot on it however)

These photo’s are from Riva del Garda, Limone Sul Garda and Malcesine, three towns that border Lake Garda. We stayed in the most adorable family run hotel in Riva for the duration of our week in Italy, I felt as if I were apart of the family! We were treated to delicious home-made Italian meals every night and I can’t explain how amazing all of the food tasted, and how much there was! I was lucky enough to turn 21 in Italy and the family of the hotel gave me a present, made me a delicious cake and got the whole room to sing happy birthday to me! Is that not the cutest thing ever?! I was amazed by the wonderful hospitality. Another thing that made turning 21 in Italy even better is that we hired a peddle-boat and spent time peddling slowly around the lake taking in the sights, which as you can see, are truly breath-taking! I definitely fell in love with Lake Garda and I hope that I will be lucky to return many more times throughout my lifetime.

Whilst staying in England we had a quick day trip to London to see the sights and visit the Queen! We did a bit of shopping and strolling through the parks. For me, London has such a homely feel even though I spent my childhood about two or three hours outside of the capital city. The sheer vastness and diversity is such a draw and I hope to spend a few months living here one day so I can truly explore it.

Onto Ireland!

KITTEN! We actually found this adorable little guy on the side of the road, we couldn’t leave him there so we brought him back to our grandparents house and spent the next few days looking for his owners (if he had ever had any)! Unfortunately we couldn’t find any owners even though we knocked on so many doors and made multiple posts on Facebook, I was told that there are many, many stray kittens in the area. He was the most photogenic little man and I fell in love with him and really wanting to bring him home to Australia! My grandparents couldn’t take him in so we brought him to a shelter and a few weeks later, after the period of time dedicated to finding any owners, I got a message on Facebook from a man that had adopted him and he told me that he was bringing him home to his family! It felt so wonderful to give this little man a better life.

Even though I’ve been going to Ireland since I was born to visit my family, I’m constantly amazed at how beautiful and diverse the country is. That water really is that blue! I’m half-irish and my mothers family is from a little town just outside Galway, the high street pictured here is Galway and as you can see it’s probably one of the cutest cities out there (I’m not biased at all)!

Well that probably wraps up this week’s post! It was great to look back through these photo’s and I can’t wait for my next trip back. Until next Sunday!