The Last Two Week's Shenanigans: Part Two! (11th May - 17th May)...

For those that are still sticking with me after Part One, bravo! I know it was a pretty long post, even for me. I'm so excited about all the places I've been however, that I really want to share them with you! So on to Part Two, wherein I visit Paris, France. This was actually a trip that my wonderful boyfriend Mat booked for my birthday, which was on the 13th. It meant that I was in another country for the first time on my birthday, which was a strange experience. We didn't actually leave until the 12th May, so on the 11th we spent a lot of time just recovering from the journey back from Crete, and packing for our next trip. It was nice to spend a day back in our Flat and relax.

We got up on the 12th quite early and left for the station to catch the Eurostar. I couldn't believe how quick the journey to Paris itself actually was, particularly going through the Channel Tunnel. I expected it to feel so much longer! We encountered a little bit of confusing when it cam to grabbing tickets to the Metro/RER Station we needed but we ended up getting to our hotel okay and I was so impressed! Our room was gorgeous, and because the one we had booked had been a little late, they upgraded us! I was so impressed with the service we received from there. 

Of course on the 13th, my actual birthday, I had no idea what Mat had planned. I was so shocked and delighted to find that he had bought tickets to Disneyland, somewhere that I have never actually been to and always wanted to see. Disney films are a huge part of my life, and I absolutely adore them! We started off in the Walt Disney Studios Park which proved to be really interesting. I'm really interested in the process behind films, and the behind the scenes stuff that happens as well as the films themselves. Some of the more enjoyable rides/attractions included 'Armageddon: les Effets Speciaux', 'Studio Tram Tour: Behind The Magic' and 'The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror'. I chose the first two in particular for their amazing insight into both special and physical effects in films. While there, a wonderful band played and we heard familiar themes such as the '20th Century Fox' theme, 'Star Wars' and 'You've Got A Friend In Me'.

Next we headed over to the main park, split into four sections (five if you include 'Main Street, U.S.A') and my favourite part of the day. There were so many rides and so much fun to be had here I feel so lucky that I got to be a part of it! In one day I explored Alice's Labyrinth, watched a Disneyland Parade, visited Sleeping Beauty's castle, took a trip on a Star Wars tour (this was definitely Mat's favourite part, he adores that franchise), ate in the Hakuna Matata cafe and had a close encounter with a Dragon. I had a fantastic time and this definitely makes one of the best Birthdays I have ever had!

The day after my birthday, on the 14th, we decided to go back to central Paris and see some of the popular sights! Firstly, we made our way to Notre Dame Cathedral which was absolutely beautiful. I did feel a bit guilty going inside, as there was a service going on at the time, but it was a gorgeous building and it certainly rendered me awe-struck. Our next stop was the Louvre museum, where we saw a whole bunch of Art and Antiquities from various time periods. Of course we made time to see the Mona Lisa, as well as a couple of other famous pieces. I couldn't believe how large the collection (and the queue) was! Our final stop was the Eiffel Tower and I was blown away by just how big it actually was! I was too scared to go up to the top, but we got some lovely photos!

The last day of Paris was spent shopping in the centre and village next to our hotel. I managed to come away with a fair few new tops, and even better, a brand new watch courtesy of Mat! We had lunch, followed by Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and then headed onto the train back home to London. We didn't arrive home until late evening and were quite tired so didn't go to bed too late. That marked the end of a wonderful trip that I am very lucky to have gone on!

As this post runs until the 17th May, on the Saturday Mat and I relaxed a lot. Our holidays were lovely but travelling really takes it out of you and we had done a lot over the last couple of weeks. On Sunday, my parents came to visit and brought with them a whole host of goodies for me from various members of my family. I have already posted a huge great post on what I received, so check that out if you're interested!

I Posted:

I'm Back!

My 22nd Birthday Haul!

The Last Two Week's Shenanigans: Part One! (3rd May - 10th May)...

Here it is folks, a post dedicated solely to my time abroad! I warn you all, it's going to be a long one full to the brim of photos and details of my adventures in Crete during my first week away. If that doesn't sound all that interesting to you (I am fully aware it might not be) then feel free to skip this post and the next. This is of course Part One, and the next Part Two will talk all about my adventures in Paris, which I also look forward to sharing with you guys!

We actually left for the airport on Saturday 2nd May, rather late at night. Mat and I decided that because we had a very early flight, we didn't really have time for sleep so we got to London Gatwick after midnight (on Sunday morning) and had a two hour power nap before starting our journey through baggage drop and security. We left the country at around half 5 in the morning and to be honest, I slept through the entire 3-4 hour flight because I was so tired. When we landed, the transfer to the hotel ended up being a very long wait, so we actually didn't get there until gone 2 o' clock in the afternoon. The driver dropped us off in the wrong place too, so by the time we found the hotel and were given our rooms we had been through quite the travelling ordeal and were totally knackered. We had planned to do a bit of exploring but instead, we slept. We did however find time for dinner and booked the excursions we wanted for the rest of the week!

We purposefully didn't book any excursions for Monday because we knew we would still be really tired, so we took a look around Georgioupoli (the place that we were staying). The village was actually rather nice and had a gorgeous little plaza with plenty of shops and restaurants nearby. While we were having a look around, we decided we would make use of the spa facilities in the hotel so booked some time at the end of the week in the Jacuzzi and a foot massage for myself because I have awful feet and I figured they would be hurting a lot by the time Saturday came around. All in all, a slightly lazy but relaxing day where we got to know the place we were staying a little better.

Our first excursion was on Tuesday where we ended up waking quite early in the morning to wait for the coach, only to find that it was late anyway. On the way to our first stop, Preveli, we got out for a quick photo stop of a lovely gorge (there are numerous gorges in Crete and it was beautiful). There were two stops in Preveli: the first was a Monastery that was not only very pretty, but kept quite an array of animals, and the second was the 'Palm Beach' where we walked along a gorgeous trail to admire the local flora, then relaxed on the beach for a while. The tour guide also provided us with some local food and drink and taught us a bit of Greek dancing, which was a lot of fun! We then stopped off at Matala, a place renowned for being the home of a Hippie community for a long while, and we found that the town itself has really embraced that history. Phaistos was our next stop, the archaeological ruins of the Palace of King Radamanthis (Minos' brother). It was an interesting site, especially as I am deeply interested in Ancient Greek/Minoan society and Mythology. Spili was our last stop, and we were only there for a twenty minutes or so. There are springs there, where it is said that women must drink a cup from every one if they want to get married!

Wednesday's excursion also involved getting up early, but by this time we had recovered from our all-nighter on Saturday. The bus took us to Heraklion, the Capital City, and we went to the Archaeological Museum. A lot of the exhibits were really interesting and gave a fascinating insight into Minoan History, especially as a lot of the artifacts were really well preserved. We bought ourselves a Minotaur statue while looking around a few shops, then travelled to Agios Nikolaos for lunch, which was a very pretty village indeed. After that, we travelled to Elounda Bay where we could have gone to Spinalonga, a small Island that is famous for the Venetian Settlement later inhabited by the Turks and a Leper Colony. In fact, a fiction work named 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop promises to be a moving read on the subject, or so I am told. Instead of going to Spinalonga however, Mat and I stayed in Elounda and sat on the beach for a while, taking in the gorgeous views of this lovely village. Our final stop of the day was the Palace of Knossos, yet another Archaeological site but this time for the Palace of King Minos himself. The myth 'Theseus & The Minotaur' was obviously in the forefront of my mind here, and the tour guide gave us an interesting and detailed history of the place.

We didn't have to get up quite so early for Thursday's day out which made a nice change. After getting on the bus, our first stop was at Lake Kournas for a little while, where we could take some lovely photos of the view. We were told that at certain times of the year, Turtles would lay there eggs there. After Kournas, we moved onto the town of Chania, where we stayed for quite a while and were allowed to go shopping and take in a lot of this beautiful city. There were markets, and a lovely port here to admire. We took the time to do a bit of souvenir shopping here as well. After a short stop on the bus for bread and olive oil, we reached our final destination: Elafonisi. Often the sand will have a pink tinge because the wind blows coral onto the beach. It's the home to a very shallow lagoon too, with warm water which was nice to wade through.

Onto Friday, our final excursion and this one was less about sightseeing and more about relaxation. The coach took us to two 'paradise' beaches, Gramvousa and Balos. Gramvousa was home to another Venetian Fortress, but Mat and I stayed at the beach mostly. when we arrived inn Balos, we took a smaller boat out to the beach and stayed for a while to relax. Unfortunately both places were very windy, so we spent a lot of the time being buffeted by sand, but the views were well worth it. I got a lot of book reading and puzzle-finishing done too!

Our final full day in Crete was mostly a day of rest for Mat and I. We went to the spa that we had booked into earlier in the week, and I got my feet massaged before we spent some time in the Jacuzzi. It was well worth it, I can tell you! Afterwards, we went back into Georgioupoli to finish our souvenir shopping and look around for ourselves too. I bought another statue, this time of Apollo (I already have Artemis at home from when we went to Corfu) and then we decided to go for a bit more of an explore. We walked further into the village and discovered a gorgeous little dock that was right by a rocky walk into the sea to a mysterious looking chapel at the end. We walked it and found that it was actually a pretty little shrine to Saint Nicholas, who seems to be well honoured by the people of the Island. The rest of the day was spent packing for the next day's trip home.

On Sunday 10th May we made our way back home, and got back to our flat safe and sound. We actually arrived mid-afternoon, so had a little bit of time to sit down for a cup of tea and relax for the afternoon. We had such a lovely time in Crete, and I found it hard to get my head around the fact that I would be off again mere days later to Paris. The temptation to blog was almost too much for me but a hiatus is a hiatus I'm afraid! See you in Part Two!

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I'm Back!

Hello everybody! Having been away for two weeks, I'm back from my holiday away and available to blog again at last! I have a lot of posts coming up because I have a couple of reviews to catch up on (which I will hopefully get round to tomorrow) and of course a big long post telling you all about my travels! After that, the normal schedule should resume, but I'll hopefully have some Birthday bits to tell you about too, seeing as that was on the 13th! 

This post is just a quick one to let you all know I'm back and I have a totally fresh perspective for this blog. I'll have a few big announcement's coming up and I've been thinking of ways to make it more interesting and fun for me to write and you guys to read. I can't wait!

Last Week's Shenanigans: My Holiday in Llangollen!

So as you can see I'm planning to format this blog a little differently from now on. I will no longer be doing daily posts, instead I'll have weekly updates so that things don't become too repetitive or boring. This post will cover my Holiday and just after I got back. I didn't get to deal with my holiday pictures yet, so I'll have to add those at some point!

Saturday 19th - So this was the day after we arrived in Llangollen (for which I did a daily post) and my first proper full day there. We decided to explore the surrounding area a bit and so went to Llangollen town. It was a lovely place with plenty of shops, a beautiful river and some wonderful views. We had a cup of tea, bought some fudge and then headed to a local aqueduct. It was gorgeous and we got to feed some ducks and go for a walk before heading back to the lodge. It was a good thing too, as not long after we returned, the dreaded storm hit. We watched Rise Of The Guardians (one of my favourite recent animated films) and then not long after, the power went. It stayed off for the rest of the evening so we decided to call it a night!

Sunday 20th - We went back to Llangollen and this time visited the Railway, a local, popular attraction. We stopped at three stations on the train all of which provided some nice views, though there wasn't a huge amount to see. We were also a little disappointed as we were led to believe that the train would also stop at Corwen, but instead it rested at the stop before for about an hour, then headed back. As we arrived back earlier than expected, we looked round Llangollen a little longer before heading back to the lodge. In the evening, we decided to walk and climb a nearby hill that had some Castle ruins at the top. It was an exhausting climb, but the views we got from there were just stunning.

 Monday 21st - On Monday, we drove out to Mount Snowdon! We decided not do attempt the six-hour climb, and cheated instead by taking the train. When we reached the summit, our hill walk from the day before rather paled in comparison, the view was gorgeous (if a little dizzying)! We didn't get to stay long though before the train back down. Mat and I bought some souvenirs, a Dragon ornament for him (red, of course) and a sheep for me! After ascending Mount Snowdon, we stopped at a couple of places to take pictures and have a picnic, then went to a nearby Forest for a walk. We were pretty lucky with the weather (storm aside) for the entire week, as the temperature just rose as the days went by. After our forest walk, we visited the Swallow Falls (stunning!) then headed back to the lodge to watch 'Shrek'.

 Tuesday 22nd - Tuesday was our 'go out and do lots' day. We stopped off in Llangollen first as there was a small market, and we wanted to have a look. I found the book stand very quickly, but nothing really caught my eye. We then went to 'The Original Butterfly Man', a company that makes those butterflies that you find on the walls of some houses. We didn't stop there long, but Mat's Mum did buy a couple. Next we went to a place called 'The Glassblobbery' and I liked this a lot more! The man that ran it was very friendly with a sense of humour, and even gave a glass blowing demonstration. As he asked us what he should make, and picked my suggestion of a fox, I bought it straight away. It was so expertly done and after it has been coloured, it's going to be sent to me! We also went to a nearby village (Bets-wy Coed) to look at the shops, a Chocolate House, and a Pottery. We stopped off at a beautiful place named 'Fairy Glen', and it was aptly named I can tell you. When we arrived back, we watched 'The Bee Movie'.

Wednesday 23rd - We dedicated this day to visit Manchester! Mat's family went off to the Old Trafford stadium (they are huge Manchester United fans), while Mat and I spent our day shopping at the 'Intu Trafford Centre'. It was such an amazing place, more like a Theme Park than a Shopping Centre. I bought some clothes from Next and H&M, but more importantly, I purchased some books! One fits into a Bookish Bingo category perfectly, 'Dancing In The Dark' by P.R. Prendergast (it had a beautiful cover, and only cost me £1!) and a signed edition of Jessie Burton's 'The Miniaturist' which looks amazing. We had lunch at Giraffe, and then returned to Llangollen to watch 'Epic', then play cards!

Thursday 24th - Making the most of the good weather, we travelled to the North Coast of Wales. Our first stop was Conwy, a quaint little village that was full of shops, had a castle and a little port to visit. We then headed Llandudno, a wonderful seaside town with a beach and a pier. It was probably my favourite stop as there were plenty of little stalls and shops to look in, and a local Birds Trust had brought some beautiful Owls and Falcons along for the day, that the public could stroke and admire. I have never been so close to such beautiful creatures before and I was amazed. Our last stop saw us having an ice cream before heading back towards Llangollen. On our way, we quickly stopped at Valle Crucis Abbey for photos.

Friday 25th - The last full day of our holiday,we decided to have a lovely lay-in, before heading out to Llangollen for some last minute shopping and gift buying. Mat's family dropped us into town, and headed off to do other things. I bought Fudge for Dad, Tea for Mum and some scented candles for Bev! I also may have gone a little over the top in the book department. You see, Llangollen is home to a lovely bookshop and Cafe that just had a huge selection of titles and there was a sale on! From there, I purchased 'Interview With A Vampire' (Anne Rice) and 'Shiver' (Maggie Stiefvater). Mat also got a lovely leather-bound copy of Wuthering Heights, and three immaculate volumes of poetry. I also bought (from a Charity Shop called Hope House) Robin Hobb's entire Tawny Man Trilogy, which I thoroughly look forward to reading! Mat and I then went to the nearby river to feed the ducks and it was honestly so nice to just spend time with him for a while, messing about and having fun. Mat's family rejoined us in the afternoon and we played Crazy Golf before going back and packing ready for the next day.

Saturday 26th - Our holiday had come to an end, and we left pretty early in the morning. The journey back to Mat's actually went fairly quickly, which I was glad of because I hate long car journeys. We did a bit of suitcase swapping and unpacking, and then watched the Formula One before I drove home absolutely exhausted. When I got home, I chatted to my parents and sister about my holiday, and then we later sat down to play some cards. I'd missed them a lot, especially my sister, so it was nice to do something together! I was so shattered though, I didn't do an awful lot else!

Sunday 27th - Despite being my first day back in England,it was still a busy one! I finished 'Queen Of The Tearling', and reviewed it. I also went shopping in the morning with my sister, before heading to Mat's for food and a nice afternoon in. There was a music festival going on that we considered going to, but I'm glad we didn't because it poured it down! We then drove later, in the torrential rain, and Mat dropped me off for a buffet at for Imogen's birthday! I got her a copy of 'Divergent' and 'Daughter Of Smoke & Bone' (excellent choices, I'm sure you'll all agree) as a present and managed to catch up with a couple of friends I hadn't seen in a while! I had a really lovely time and my friend dropped me home which was nice of her.

Memes:
Top Ten Tuesday (Topic: Characters Picks For A Desert Island)
Life Of A Blogger (Topic: My Quirks)

Books Reviewed:
Queen Of The Tearling; Erika Johansen

Daily Shenanigans, 07/02/2014: Demotivation, Disneyland and...dueling?

I've had a rather long and stressful day today readers. The rain gave us a bit of break but there was flooding around where my Uni is so I ended up taking the train (which was surprisingly on time). Upon arriving at Uni I attended my morning lecture and just found myself in the strangest of moods. I know I have already mentioned that I am desperate to become a writer, but honestly I just felt so demotivated and like I didn't want to be at Uni at all, and it's a feeling that I haven't really shaken all day. I did however have a happier time as the day went on. I met up with a couple of my friends from Uni and we had lunch at a nearby pub and a nice catch up. Turns out I'm not the only stressed student about! We talked a lot about Disneyland, Paris too (I have never actually been it may surprise you to know, it certainly surprised them)! It is on the Bucket List. 

As well as that, I picked my boyfriend up from the station about mid-afternoon and spent the evening at his (I only got home about half an hour ago). Did we watch a movie? No. Did we go out for the evening? No. We did something so much better. This evening readers, I learnt how to play Yu-Gi-Oh! It's a card game that always intrigued me when I was younger (it was a huge fad at my primary school) but I never really understood it and didn't have any cards of my own to play with. It turns out that Mat (my boyfriend) is a huge fan of the game (how did I not know?) and has hidden away a whole stash of decks to play with. I can safely say I'm hooked. If I could spend the rest of my life playing this game, I would die happy. It is addictive beyond belief. 

I'm going to get some sleep right now and call it a night, as I ended up unable to sleep for quite a while last night and I'm exhausted. Hopefully I'll wake up feeling refreshed and much happier.