BIG Summer: Part One (England and Germany)

This summer was a busy one for the Dunlap family! We had three big trips planned, summer camps galore, a Statistics course for me, and an unexpected family vehicle purchase! Whew! Let's start at the beginning ...

Sebastian and I were presented with the amazing opportunity to join my parents on a business trip to England and Germany. It was the chance of a lifetime, and we happily jumped on board! We wanted to get passports for out 15th anniversary (which had recently passed in November) and this trip finally pushed us along! Sebastian's parents graciously agreed to fly out and stay with the kids and Poppy for the two weeks that we'd be gone. In preparation, Sebastian spent months working late into the night. I worked alongside him, doubling up my efforts in Statistics, so I could vacation without school on my mind. My Dad led the planning, sending over itinerary outlines, telling me which travel apps to download, and helping me find the right plane tickets to purchase. It was nice to have such experienced travelers to help with all the planning! As we worked on getting our passports, time for our departure quickly approached. 

We did and saw so much that it exhausts me to even think about chronicling every detail. Instead, I'll sum up the highlights of each day and include lots of fun pictures. Enjoy!

(Thu 6/16) On Our Way!

Mama and Papa Dulap so kindly made us breakfast and prepared snacks for the plane. I finished reading Ramona the Brave with the girls on my bed. Then we had our LOOOOONG flight from ABQ to Dallas to London. I sat by a cool nurse on her way to work in Cairo. I enjoyed Hudson's Dragon Wings book and watching Ted Lasso with Seb on the plane. 

(6/15/2022) Grandma Dunlap loves her grandsons

Beau and his friends enjoying Cliffs the day before we departed. 

The girls attended an art camp at the Tracey's house while Mama Dunlap and I shopped at Costco!

Sad to have Mom and Dad leaving!

Sweet! They really are going to miss us! I wasn't so sure!

(Fri 6/17) Windsor

We arrived in London around 6:45am feeling very tired! We navigated the Heathrow airport and the underground. We stopped by our hotel (Victory Services Club) to drop off our luggage and had a traditional English breakfast that included baked beans, tomatoes and mushrooms, fried bread, and blood sausage! Next we were off to Windsor castle by way of train which we caught at Paddington Station. The little city was decked out for the Queen's Platinum jubilee, and there were British pennant flags all over the place! We got to see the changing of the guards right away. The castle looked so awesome set up on a hill. There was so much history to take in. So many royal families had lived there. I loved the moat that had been turned into a flower garden, the beautiful stained glass window in St. George's chapel, seeing where Henry VIII was buried, seeing a HUGE sword, the LONG table in the dining hall, the bejeweled goblets on display, and the king's bed chamber with the hidden doors in the walls. There were some amazing paintings of the Tudors by Holbein and Van Dyck. We discovered that King Charles the I is Sebastian's doppelgänger. We really enjoyed talking to all the cute British tour guides. And of course teasing the royal guards. Queen Elizabeth was supposedly there at Windsor castle when we had visited (flag up = queen home). On the way home my mom and I tried some nasty English pasties (meat and veggie filled pockets). After getting to the hotel, my dad thought it might be a good idea to do a test run of the next morning's route to make sure we made it to our tour on time. We stopped by Shake Shack for a "meh" dinner (where Seb and I met a really friendly, and maybe intoxictated, couple) and then back to the hotel to crash! What a day ... and a night ... and a day! 

(6/17/2022) I loved the hearty English breakfast! So traditional!

Cute little shopping center outside of Windsor castle

The changing of the guard

Approaching the castle!

Our favorite traveling companions!

We rolled out of that plane and went straight to touring! What a LONG day!

This castle is SUPER old!

Wish we could have strolled through the moat garden

Simply beautiful!

Come on, little guardy boy! Give us a smile!

Chillin with my home boy!

(Sat 6/18) England in a Day

Upon leaving our hotel, something in my mom's knee popped. Probably from the insane amount of walking the day before! She definitely was the super star of the trip, not letting her pain slow her down! Poor thing! Luckily, we did a lot of sitting the first day, and she was able to use a wheelchair at Stonehenge. She was such a trooper through it all. 

We picked up breakfast at Pret a Manger (which became our food stop of choice) indulging in smoothies, breakfast sandwiches, mango cups, and more! We boarded a coach at Victoria Coach Station to head out on our "England in a Day" tour. First stop: Stonehenge. Stonehenge was beautiful. We stepped out of the coach to an idyllic English countryside with rolling hills and rolling gray storm clouds in the sky. You could hear lambs bleating and birds chirping. It was a very fun place to be and entertaining to take pictures. What an iconic first stop! 

Next stop: Bath. I loved the drive up to the city. The city was made up of matching stone buildings sitting up in the hills. We had a brief lesson on Georgian architecture from our awesome tour guide, Carol. Did you know that windows were taxed, so lots of buildings during that time period had fake, painted-on windows? We were initially going to tour the Roman baths but we only had an hour and the line was pretty long. I was worried about my mom's knee, too, so I suggested we do a bus tour of the city. Boy was that fun! It did rain on us a bit in the open-air seating, but Sebastian loaned my mom his rain jacket and it kind of added to the fun! There is a gorgeous waterway in the city where the fancy folk would stroll in their fancy clothes. We saw cool crescent shaped buildings (loved the "circus") and a cute park. We learned that Bath was Jane Austen's home town for awhile and learned some fun history about English aristocracy. 

We drove through the Cotswolds on our way to Stratford upon Avon. It was very pretty, but unfortunately, we weren't paying close attention because we thought we were going to stop there (it wasn't actually a stop on the tour! Whoops!) I think we were all pretty tired and dozed in and out during the drive. We snacked on almond croissants, and I had grabbed a falafel hummus baguette in Bath to take on the bus for lunch. In Stratford, we were able to see Shakespeare's school, home, and birthplace. I was amazed that the school has been functioning since the 1500s and was still functioning today! Back in London, we had Thai for dinner and then Dad went on a hunt to several different pharmacies to get mom a crutch. What a sweetheart! She practiced using it that night in the hotel. 

(6/18/2022) Hunky BYU guy enjoying Stonehenge

It was a very stormy day with lightning, rain, and thunder!

So glad I bought this raincoat last minute! Who knew England was so rainy!

This trip was our 15th anniversary celebration!

Still in love!

It was so fun having so much one-on-one - we really needed this trip!

My dad doing what he does best: making everyone laugh!

What a great start to our England adventures!

Cute little Stonhenge!

I got the whole world in my hand! Or at least a few rocks!

So much beauty!

Cool architecture in Bath

SUCH a fun tour!

Breathtaking neighborhoods!

Sitting in Shakespeare's school room

Headmaster Jessica is going to give you a whooping!

Pretty Tudor architecture in Stratford

(Sun 6/19) London Bus Tour and Les Miserables

We started Father's Day in London with cards for Sebastian and my Dad that had been put together and packed by the kiddos. My mom stayed home to rest her knee that morning while the rest of us walked through Hyde Park to church. There are so many cockapoos in England - Poppy would have felt at home! And the trees were SO tall! Seb had one of those small world moments, running into a friend from high school while in sacrament meeting. After church, we went to Leicester Square to pick up theater tickets. We learned that you can get the discounted tickets online. We decided Les Miserables would be a good choice for a Sunday. My dad headed back to the hotel to spend the afternoon with my mom and left Sebastian and I to ourselves for the afternoon. We had NO idea what to do in London, so we grabbed lunch to go from Pret a Manger and jumped onto a hop-on-hop-off bus. We saw SO many cool things! Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the Thames River, a super ritzy neighborhood (Belgravia), Big Ben, and more! The tour was guided by headphone, so we listened in on the history, cool facts, and fun music while getting a 2-hour overview of what to see in London. We had an absolute blast! 

After the tour, we met up with my parents to see Les Miserables. It was incredible! Hands down, the most wonderful part of my London trip. The story! The singing! The acting! The scenery and lighting! The live music! It left me crying! I've never seen anything so powerful. The male leads, Jean Val Jean (played by John Robyns) and Javert (played by Bradley Jaden) were out of this world. I loved the creativity of the scene where Javert jumps off a bridge and drowns. And how the actors marched in place while they sang the battle songs at the end. It was simply beautiful. 

We had dinner at Angus restaurant, played Canasta, and ended the night Face-timing the kids (who, by the way, were having an absolute blast with Grandma and Grandpa Dunlap!)

(6/19/2022) Me and the important Dads in my life all ready for church!

Can you spot Seb in Leicester Square?

Big Ben up close and personal!

Absolutely loving our bus tour!

St. Paul's Cathedral

The Superbloom at the Tower of London

The London Eye! I was surprised how close together everything was.

Mom and I in China Town

Our seats in the Sondheim Theater to see Les Miserables

What a show! Nothing could compare!

We loved the hanging flower baskets everywhere!

(Mon 6/20) Westminster & Phantom of the Opera

My dad was busy at his conference that morning. We had breakfast at ... you guessed it ... Pret a Manger and took a Bolt to Westminster Abbey. My mom and I started off with a little souvenir shopping then we headed into the gorgeous cathedral. Westminster Abbey is a memorial to great people and events. We were able to see the graves of Charles Dickens, Handel, Charles Darwin, Henry James, Lord Alfred Tennyson, T. S. Eliot, and more. Seb had bought us special tickets that let us upstairs where we saw the Magna Carta! I loved looking over the edge of the balcony to the people down below. That building was absolutely massive and grande! 

After touring the cathedral, we wanted my mom to experience the fun bus tour we had taken the previous day. It took us awhile to find one, and it ended up being pretty lame. It wasn't the same bus and it was the driver's last route. He ended up abandoning us in a random part of town. We took a Bolt to Her Majesty's Theater where we met up with my dad and grabbed pizza before watching Phantom of the Opera. We were able to switch our seats out for some closer ones. I loved the part where the chandelier comes swinging down!  After another great show, we headed to the hotel for treats (Malteasers) and games!

Westminster Abbey! Looks a lot like Notre Dame to me ...

Admiring the attention to detail on every piece of this building

My poor mama's knee! She was such a trooper to do so much walking!

Grateful to be married to a history buff!

What a wonderful tribute - brought us to tears!

Taking it all in

The Magna Carta

Such grandeur!

I'm pretty sure this is where William and Kate got married ...

Incredible!

The Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary

I'm pretty sure King James (of the King James Bible) is buried here

A fun way to end the night: Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theater

Trafalgar Square lit up at night

(Tue 6/21) Harrods, Parks, and Pretty Woman

We started the day off with plans to walk to the Thames River and do a river cruise to Greenwich. We ended up taking the scenic route and running out of time for this plan. We spent part of the morning exploring Harrods and being blown away by their amazing "food court." There were different rooms and sections for different food items. They had a chocolate room, a patisserie, a bakery, a cheese shop, a butcher, a dinner counter, and more! Everything was SO beautiful! I wanted to taste it all! One of my favorite memories was running into Sebastian with a basket full to the brim of bakery items! He had fun picking out all sorts of goodies to share! He bought me a cinnamon-sugar croissant which was definitely one of the best things we ate while in London! I picked out a pretty dessert and a box of different salads for lunch. So fun! On our way to the Thames, we walked through several gorgeous parks. We walked through Green Park then took a look at Buckingham Palace. Then we strolled through St. James Park (the prettiest of the parks we'd seen). We saw white and black swans and lots of pretty flowers. I even hand-fed a squirrel! When we finally made it to the Thames, it was definitely too late to do a river cruise. We walked through another gorgeous park (Whitehall Gardens along the Victoria Embankment) and headed towards the Savoy Theater for our musical that night, Pretty Woman. We had a quick Greek dinner with lots of courses (including fried cheese covered in herbed honey) and enjoyed the funny musical. 

I wish I could have tried everything!

What beautiful food!

Kind of nasty looking, but so pretty!

My dessert of choice

My pretty mom and cute dad loved all the colorful flowers

Exploring the city

A guard at Buckingham Palace

I thought Buckingham was a little anticlimactic after seeing Windsor

Let us in, let us in!

Mom's always loved her horses!

The London Eye

Beautiful flowers at Whitehall Gardens

Corgi statues were painted by different artists and hidden throughout the city for the Queen's jubilee!

Beautiful little hideaway

That fried cheese was goooooood!

(Wed 6/22) Harry Potter Studio Tour

My dad booked us an awesome tour of the Harry Potter sound stages. Unfortunately, he couldn't join us because he was at his conference. It was SO cool! We took a Bolt that morning to the Victoria Coach Station and picked up goodies at a bakery on the way there. I read my new souvenir "Persuasion" by Jane Austen on the way there. The tour was super cool - it took us through the actual sets where the movie was filmed. It was so cool stepping into the great hall, seeing the Gryffindor common room and dormitories, looking at the potions classroom, visiting Gringott's Bank, walking down Diagon Alley, and so much more! We grabbed butter beers, a tasty salad, and loaded fries for lunch then finished the second half of the tour. We got to walk through #4 Privet Drive, look at the Knight Bus, and see lots of behind the scenes costuming, special effects, and such. What a day! I loved seeing the actual costumes, wands, and wigs that the actors used. That evening, we met up with my dad at a DELICIOUS little pizza place called Pizza Pilgrims and, of course, played canasta at the hotel that night. 

The amazing Great Hall!

Awesome costumes!

Recognize these outfits?

These were the actual sets used in the movies

The books in Dumbledore's office are actually phone books!

Gotta love Snape!

The Weasley's kitchen

Such a creepy scene!

The actual Hogwarts Express! Agh! Take me away!

Excited for another year of school!

Tasty butter beer!

Bridge into Hogwarts

One of the original Knight buses (I think there were 2 or 3 made for the film)

Inside the Dursley's house!

I didn't realize all of these characters were played by the same actor!

Gringott's was pretty dang cool!

We got to see the nice version and then the destroyed version after the dragon came through

Uh oh! Don't touch anything!

Diagon Alley

Amazing model used for all the far away shots of the castle

One of our tastiest meals in England: Pizza Pilgrims

(Thu 6/23) St. Paul's, Tower of London, & My Fair Lady

Thursday was another day without my dad that Sebastian and I planned out. First, we had breakfast at the hotel. Then we took a Bolt to St. Paul's Cathedral. While not as massive as Westminster, I thought the interior was much more beautiful. It was decorated with lots of intricate mosaics and the colors white and gold. Just stunning! In the basement, we saw the tomb of Florence Nightingale. Next, we headed to the Tower of London. A yeoman gave us a short little tour. We saw the place Anne Boleyn was beheaded and learned about the crows they keep onsite for good luck. I was taken in by the story of two young princes that disappeared while staying at the tower of London. They were the ages of my boys, Hudson and Beau. The eldest son was to be king. His uncle was put in charge of him until his coronation. This uncle was in line to the throne. The boys ended up disappearing and their uncle became king. Surprise, surprise. They were last seen playing out in the courtyard. Their bodies were found underneath a staircase hundreds of year later. So crazy! I also loved seeing the toilets. So much poop fell from the toilets that a wall had to be made to hide the pile of poo. We got to see a medieval palace there, too, that reminded me of something from The Sword and the Stone. The stairwells were very narrow. We also got to see the crown jewels. After touring the Tower of London, we took a clipper down the Thames towards the London Coliseum where we were to see My Fair Lady that night. We had dinner at the Opera Room Pub (such tasty food!) and really enjoyed the show! The London Coliseum is the largest theater in London. Is is very beautiful. Eliza Doolittle looked stunning when she came on stage in her ballgown, crown, and necklace. It was so sparkly! I loved the scene where she broke character at the horse race. Such a cute story.

St. Paul's Cathedral

This is where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married

This place was beyond beautiful

The flower colors were chosen to match Queen Elizabeth's coronation dress

Death masks of several English kings ... Seb fits right in!

A super old chapel in the Tower of London

Love these guards! They'll run you over!

Ready to see the Crown Jewels

This is where many of the yeomans currently live ... I'm guessing it's hard to get Amazon deliveries here

Beheading site of Anne Boelyn

Traitor's Gate ... or perhaps Trader's Gate?

This was the occasional residence of medieval King Edward Longshanks

A truly medieval castle

Her poor knee!!!

The White Tower (one of the most famous castles in the world!) The young princes bodies were found under a staircase near the center of that wooden staircase.

The superbloom for the Queen's Jubilee!

Love this sweetheart of mine

Delish pub food!

SUCH a fun show!

(Fri 6/24) National Gallery, & Juliet, & The Lion King

Friday morning, Sebastian and I ventured out on our own to the National Gallery. We couldn't decide between this or the British Museum. I think Sebastian thought I'd know more than I did about the paintings there! Oh well! Maybe we should have done the museum! I took art history over 15 years ago! All of my art knowledge was totally out the window! We did see lots of famous paintings including Leonardo Da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks and some pieces by Picasso, Monet, and Renoir. My favorite part of the gallery was naming some of the pieces. I named one "Fat Santa" and Seb named a piece "Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Naked Guy Right Over." It was fun trying to find the piece we named! After our very cultured morning, we had lunch at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant called Street Burger (not very good!). We walked around for a bit (I tried to find a copy of Les Miserables for a souvenir) and met up with my parents to see an upbeat musical called & Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theater. It had lots of modern songs in it (Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Backstreet Boys) and was a twist on the Romeo and Juliet story. I liked the lead actress (she had a nice, smoky voice). The singing and dancing were so fun! After the musical, we walked around Covent Gardens for a bit. I could have hung out there all day! There were people playing live music, lots of tasty food to try, and fun shopping! We had dinner at Pret a Manger (I had curry this time) and made our way to the Lyceum Theater to see The Lion King. That show really made me miss my kiddos! They would have loved it! The show was all done with creative puppetry. I loved seeing the elephant walk on stage during the opening scene and seeing the bird puppets fly above the audience. It was SO SO cool!!! The perfect way to end our stay in London! 

Da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks received an offer of 1 billion pounds!

I've always loved Degas

Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Naked Guy Right Over

Maybe next time we'll have to see this one!

This show was super peppy and fun!

Two shows in one day!

St. Paul's Church, the actual location where Eliza Dolittle was selling flowers

(Sat 6/25) Germany and the Schloss Linderhoff

We left London SUUUUPER early and flew into Munich. The Munich airport seemed very clean and modern. When we got off our plane, we stopped by an airport food counter. It was exciting and a bit nerve wracking having everything in German! I wasn't familiar with the language at ALL! In Germany, my dad rented a car from the airport, and then we were off! Germany seemed pretty western to me ... but much cleaner and prettier! We kind of got lost with all the signs being in German. There were police EVERYWHERE because the G-Summit was being held very close by. They helped lead my dad to our destination, the Schloss Linderhoff. Schloss means "palace." This was a beautiful palace with gardens patterned after Versailles. The eccentric Bavarian King Ludvig II lived at this palace for most of his adult life. There he slept during the day and lived at night, talking to himself and his imaginary guests (Marie Antoinette and King Louis XIV). He lived in a time when his political power was waning and he longed to be an absolute monarch like King Louis. He was a real nutcase. The palace interior was super gaudy. Lots of gold! But the gardens were stunning. Especially being nestled in the Bavarian alps. We went to our hotel, Hotel Luitpoldpart in Fussen, and my dad couldn't figure out the parking. He ended up parking for a bit in the middle of a city park! Ha ha! We walked around the adorable little town of Fussen and had a hard time deciding where to eat. The town looked like something out of a storybook. Our hotel room had a frosted glass door to the bathroom (which you could totally see through) and the room was huge but hot!

The buildings were so darling in Germany!

A mini Versailles!

Look at those flowers!

There were beautiful gardens on every side of the castle!

Tip toe through the tulips!

Best buddies

Oh yeah!

Funny statues

The scenery was gorgeous up in the Bavarian Alps

Okay - let's do this to our yard!

Sweetheart of 15 year

I love this Daddy of mine!

Cutest smile award goes to Dad

Those perfectly manicured bushes!

Tomorrow's destination: Neuschwanstein!

Views from our hotel

Such a fun little town!

I could have spent a lot more time exploring Fussen

In search of the best restaurant!

Lovebirds!

Pretty buildings and clocktower

Beauty around every corner!

Look, Mama Dunlap! We found Bach's grave! Wink, wink!

(Sun 6/26) Hohenschwangau Castle, Neuschwanstein, and Swimming in the Alps

We enjoyed a German breakfast at the hotel. Lots of cold cuts, cheeses, breads, tomatoes, yogurts, and hard boiled eggs. It was fun saying "Guten Morgen" to people and listening to Sebastian practice his German. Just priceless. We toured the Hohenschwangau castle first. It was set up high on a hill. It is the childhood home of King Crazy (Ludvig II). His father had built the castle on the ruins of a medieval castle and decorated the interior with fanciful paintings of medieval times. Knights, ladies in waiting, dragons, etc. It is in this castle that Ludvig and his younger brother were told bedtime stories by Hans Christian Anderson himself! Their mother was a cool lady. She liked hiking the beautiful alps that surrounded the castle and would often take off her skirt after reaching a certain altitude, knowing no one else was around. She was quite the adventurer! I ended up drinking water out of one of the many fountains in the castle gardens, thinking it was drinking water, and found out later that it was not! Luckily, I did not get sick! 

After Hohenschwangau, we took a bus to the Neuschwanstein castle. Before walking to the castle, we took a little hike and played in the river. We could see the castle through the trees above us. Neuschwanstein was a castle that Ludvig designed. He wanted it to look medieval. He based a lot of the design from scenes found in his favorite operas. There was even a room that looked like you were in Carlsbad Caverns right in the middle of the castle! There was a crazy hall with thousands of candles that he would light just for himself and let no one else enter. He really was nuts. The castle was pretty cool, though, being the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle. We exited the castle through a long, white tunnel. My mom and I started singing "The Hills are Alive," and a group of American tourists behind us joined in! It was pretty magical. We ate a delicious German lunch (brats with sauerkraut and wienerschnitzel) and rode down the mountain in a horse drawn carriage shared by a cute Italian family! Sebastian found me the perfect souvenir - a crystal swan necklace ("schwan" means swan). He's always so thoughtful. 

We had tickets to tour the Museum of the Bavarian Kings. The museum itself was located right next to a gorgeous, crystal clear alpine lake. We zipped through the museum with the lake calling our names!  My dad wanted to get to the next hotel before it got too late so we could go swimming. But Sebastian and I just had to jump into the lake! We had our suitcases with swimming suits in the car, changed in the parking lot, and jumped in. It was the most refreshing, fun swim in the most unreal setting! It's not every day that you get to swim in the alps! I'm so glad my parents joined in - I think it was a highlight of the trip for all of us! We stayed in a hotel right next to the airport and left early the next morning. We've caught the travel bug and want to get away on another adventure soon! 

Many thanks to my awesome in-laws for watching our kids. My father-in-law made lots of tasty meals for the kiddos (omelets, chicken and rice, grilled PBJ), they took the kids swimming almost every day, they shuttled them around to all of their summer camp classes, and let each kiddo pick an outing of their choice. Hudson wanted to eat Asian food, so they went out to Hayashi! Grandma was so fun to sit next to because she's always so enthusiastic! Beau took his buddy Alex to Main Event (and Hudson took Brenden) and then had a sleepover. Hannah wanted to go swimming and Sofia to the zoo. They read books together and watched movies every night! They enjoyed so many special memories that will last a lifetime! 

What a beautiful place to grow up

We weren't allowed to take picture inside the castle, but we could take a picture of this view from the guest bedroom where Hans Christian Anderson stayed

Hohenschwangau Castle

Dad picked out this cool hat in Germany - the perfect souvenir!

Enjoying the cold river

Woo hoo!

Oh the places this guy has peed!

Breathtaking, isn't it?

I mean, it's basically the same picture, but can you really get enough??

On our way to tour the Neuschwanstein Castle

Can't believe our fun is almost over!

Our traveling crew!

We ended the day swimming in the lake to the left!

Aww!

Hey, let's do this again sometime

Love these party animals!

I had the best time with my parents! I love them so much!

Cuties

View from the castle balcony

Okay, let's move here!

Yum! German food!

The horse carriage that we rode down the mountain

Can you see the castle on the hillside?

We parked right under this castle and hiked up to it

Where we went swimming! Goodbye Europe! Hope to see you again soon!