The Tacks: Our 10th Anniversary Trip!

This past May, Drew and I celebrated 10 years of marriage! An entire decade!

But life is busy, and it's so easy for time to just slip by, so we didn't want to take this occasion for granted. We decided a year or two ago to plan an international trip together sans kids, no excuses, no more procrastinating. We brainstormed a lot of different destinations, but ultimately decided on London, which eventually expanded to include Stonehenge, Bath, and Paris.

It was glorious.

Drew hadn't been to England since his birth, and I had only experienced London and Paris as a lonely, moody college kid. It was cool to revisit it all through a new lens.

The day before we left, Drew flew the kids to Michigan to stay with grandparents. I left work on Friday with just enough time to run home, grab my suitcase and jump in the car. We got to Dulles with plenty of time, and felt a little giddy knowing we were stepping away from real life for over a week- no work, no kids, limited phone access.

We were prepared for a rough overnight flight, but we both dozed off and felt almost rested during our quick layover in Reykjavik.

Another sleepy flight to Heathrow, and we were ready to go! We had planned to drive straight to Bath, but with time and energy to spare, we opted to change course and head to Stonehenge to kick things off.

The car rental place was nuts, too many people and not enough cars (apparently we were arriving on a bank holiday weekend), but we lucked out and got upgraded to an SUV. It was manual and backwards, and we were so excited we hit the road without pulling open directions, so we were off course by our first roundabout.

At that point sanity kicked in, and we decided it would be best to stop for food and to map out our route. We ate Nando's at a service stop, then hit the road better prepared.

We arrived at Stonehenge mid-afternoon, and it was a beautiful day.

After we finished exploring, we hit the road again to check in at our Airbnb in Bath.

I think this was my first Airbnb experience ever, and it was just as pictured, and the perfect homebase for our time in Bath.

We walked through the town, and got dinner near the Pulteney bridge as the sun went down.

We woke up refreshed and walked to the city center to explore the Roman Baths.

We got brunch/lunch at Sally Lunn's, and tried both a sweet and savory bun.

Then we headed out to explore the city gardens and architecture.

In the evening we visited Bath Abbey, picked up takeaway gyro wraps for dinner, and enjoyed ice cream in the square next to the abbey.

That night we attended a walking comedy tour called Bizarre Bath, and it did not disappoint. It was hilarious, and a great way to finish off our weekend.

Monday morning we packed up and headed back toward London.

Before returning our rental car we stopped at Windsor Castle.

In London, we opted to stay at a Z hotel near Piccadilly circus. We loved the location which put us in walking distance of almost everything we wanted to see.(The rooms are comically small, but clean and modern, and they serve free wine and cheese every evening as an added bonus.)

We spent our first evening walking through the city, down the Mall past St. James's Park and Buckingham Palace, down to Harrod's and Hyde Park.

We wanted to eat everything in the Harrod's food court (but resisted).

There was a cool movie theater across the street from our hotel, so we decided to see a movie that night. Honestly, one of the most amazing aspects of this trip was the absolute freedom. We booked flights and lodging in advance, but otherwise left our itinerary fairly open and flexible. We were actually shocked by how much time we had in a day, without work or kids to schedule things around.

In the morning, we walked over to the British Museum to explore the amazing collections there.

We walked back through Chinatown, and stopped for lunch and a quick break at our hotel.

In the afternoon we walked down through Trafalgar square, past the Brexit protesters at 10 Downing street, and by Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Then we circled back around to the National Gallery. Did I mention we did a lot of walking?!

We went to a pub near Covent Garden and ate the most delicious fish and chips for dinner, and then walked back through the theater district. Saw the Fleabag signs, and felt automatically a little cooler being so close to Phoebe Waller-Bridge. :)

Tickets had sold out within hours the month before, but we heard there were standing tickets for sale, so took a chance and lined up the next morning. We were so close! But it happened to be opening night, so they had 10 less tickets for sale than usual and we were 5 people away. Then we made a mad dash to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace.

We grabbed an uber out to the Tower of London, then walked over to Borough Market for lunch.

We walked back along the Thames and across the Millennium bridge.

We were planning to ride the tube, but ended up just footing it back to the hotel. We cleaned up and grabbed dinner, before heading to a very British musical called Everybody's Talking about Jamie. We enjoyed it, but are pretty sure we missed about 30% of the humor because we don't understand British slang or terminology. Who knew English could be a foreign language?!

The next morning it was time to head to Paris! We caught the Eurostar train, and had a great experience. We had so much space compared to an airplane! I watched shows on my phone and we got fed lunch on the way.

We walked from the station to our Airbnb, and were both nervous and excited to hear everyone speaking French. Drew and I took French in school, but haven't had much practice since then. It was really fun to try to understand and repeat things we overheard as we walked.

Our Airbnb in Paris was amazing! It was on a quiet little street near Le Marais. The building itself was entered through large barn doors, which opened to an interior courtyard and wooden staircase.

The interior was magical, as well, with a stunning stone wall, and spiral steps leading up to a glass-floored loft. I was drawn to the tall window here often during our stay, and eventually became acquainted with a friendly old French man who lived across the way, and was often at his window smoking. The road was so narrow that we could easily converse without having to raise our voices, luckily he spoke much better English, than I spoke French. :)

(Side note: I loved how everywhere we went it seemed the windows and doors were left wide open, and somehow we never had a problem with bugs!)

For our first evening, we took the Metro out to the Eiffel Tower, then walked up to the Arc de Triomphe.

We rode the train back to our apartment and explored the surrounding area. We stumbled upon the tranquil Jardin Anne-Frank, ate dinner at a corner cafe across from Le Centre Pompidou, then walked through Le Marais as the day wound down and the evening revelry began.

As we reached our final day, my body and feet were exhausted, so I took the morning to sleep in, and Drew headed out to explore on his own for a couple hours. We met up at the Louvre, then walked across the Seine to Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame.