I already blogged about our trip to Paris over Spring Break in Bullet Train Trip to Paris, but now it seems Zoe needs some pictures for a French project she's working on at school and since she can't just swing by the house to grab these, I thought I'd publish them as another blog post. We found this "Penthouse 2 Bedrooms Skyline View" on VRBO should anyone be interested in renting it, too.
As soon as we got in the door our children did their thing; Zoe checked out the view and Connor got connected to wifi.
Per my custom of all the places we rent from sites like VRBO, I take a bunch of pictures!!
This 10th floor penthouse has some nice views of city, too.
As you can see in Bullet Train Trip to Paris, this city really does cater to art lovers. It is also the "city of love" and it did not disappoint Gretchen who saw THREE proposals during our short stay!!
I wrapped up my two week UK/France/Ireland trip with a Giant's Causeway Day Tour that was pretty cool. We departed Dublin at 6:30am and headed for the Northern Ireland border. To my surprise, there is no manned border check when you role into the UK (like the rest of the UK, there is plenty of video capturing happening as you enter the country) which is probably as we're stuck on the same island as the Republic of Ireland.
During the drive we found our that many scenes of Game of Thrones are filmed in Northern Ireland. The King's Road, known locally as the Dark Hedges, is here as well.
Next up was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge which was very, very windy and cold with a "spitting rain" as our driver called it.
We were greeted with many sweeping views.
And yes, we had to walk over it again to return to the bus. Thankfully on my way back I didn't have a college-aged girl jumping up and down to impress her friends. 
It was not too much more than 100 feet down, but the planks really weren't all that wide either.
Next up was the main attraction of the day, Giant's Causeway, which protruded out into the sea at the base of a beautiful ridge.
These formations are 60 million years old and were created by the cooling and shrinking of successive lava flows.
Besides these distinctive shaped interlocking basalt columns, there were some very nice views of the North Atlantic sea and the waves crashing on the rocks.
These then jet out to sea with something like 40,000 interlocking columns.
It was pretty cool & here are some more pictures.
You can sneak around back and see these from another perspective. I'd estimate these were standing at least 30 feet tall.
Around this side of the Causeway there were some more very nice views like this one.
We departed and grabbed some photos of Dunluce Castle a few kilometers away.
Then it was on to the last stop of the day, Belfast. Once there, I took a Black Cab "Political" Tour around town. I learned a great deal about "the troubles" that were had for many years and found out that over 3000 people were killed in all the terrorist activities. Here's one of the many martyr memorials that can be found around the city.
As you can see just behind the memorial wall, I also found out that there are giant walls (called Peace Walls) separating the protestant and catholic neighborhoods that Belfast still feels are needed to help keep the piece. These walls back up onto people's homes. It was simply inconceivable to me.
We stopped at the biggest and most famous of the walls for a closer look.
Just like President Clinton and the Dalai Lama before me, I signed the wall.
I doubt my message of "All Must Be Civil & Responsible" was anywhere near as eloquent as the two famous gentlemen I just called out, but it is aligned with my personal request of all mankind.
Belfast, may someday those walls come down and I beg that you never again begin terrorist activities that plagued this city for so long.
Yes, our Rocking London Like the Griswolds trip and Stonehenge outing would be plenty for mere mortals, be we are MARTINS, so we took the bullet train under the English Channel and ripped through the French country side at 182 mph. Upon arrival to Paris, we immediately got over to our posh penthouse apartment and checked out the view!!
We quickly soaked up the beauty that is all around this city.
Even the bridges were cool.
Being an avid Tour de France fan for so many years, it was a pleasure to travel down the Champs-Élysées and see the Arc de Triomphe.
And you can't go to Paris and not visit Notre Dame.
And of course the Louvre. Apologies for only having exterior shots as there were just so many beautiful works of art within those eight miles of corridors. Truly, the interior of the palace simply blew me away...
Of course, the real "bucket list" item was the Eiffel Tower!!
This thing is truly humongous and a incredible piece of engineering. Well, I can't say that is was exciting that the summit elevator broke when we got on it, but we got all the way up AND DOWN without anyone getting hurt. Speaking of the top... the views were marvelous.
Paris was something I was glad to see, but we had to board the bullet train to get back to London to put the family on their plane and for me to fly to Dublin for my conference. What a whirlwind week for us, but I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.
Gretchen and I have always wanted to see Stonehenge and our Rocking London Like the Griswolds trip finally gave us an opportunity. This blog post is just some pictures of "the stones" and I hope you enjoy them and also get a chance to see them someday if you haven't already had the opportunity.
For most of the circle you are very far back, but they do let you go up close for a bit.
Looks like I got to check off another item on the bucket list!!
Since I found out I'd be in Dublin the week after Spring Break, Gretchen and I figured it would be a great opportunity to take the kids, and ourselves, to see some of Europe. After cashing in a BUNCH of frequent flier miles, we end up with a trip to London and Paris on our hands. Yes, TWO foreign cities in one week, but that's how we roll – fast and furious!
After a painful red-eye across "the pond" we arrived in London around lunchtime and made our way to our flat which was just around the corner from Buckingham Palace.
Don't worry, they've got a bunch a gates to keep the riff-raff out.
The fountain just outside of those gates didn't look too bad either as a "front lawn ornament".
All in all, we had a "smashing" time trying to see the Queen through the gates!
We definitely took the time for a good visit to the Tower of London which was pretty cool. Where else do you find a medieval set of castles, buildings and fortifications, all surrounded by a giant moat, in the middle of a city of 8.5 million people? Yep, nowhere but London!!
This young member of the Queen's Guard was guarding the Crown Jewels which are in the building in the preceding picture.
He wouldn't let us take any pictures, so you're stuck with more exterior shots!
Did I say the kids where having a good time? Well... I'm not sure, but Gretchen and I sure were soaking it all in and we were both blessed to have them there with us and for the trip itself.
The White Castle in the picture above (I spy Connor checking it out!!) looks pretty awesome, but be warned there are a TON of steps. What do you get to see for all those steps you ask? Lots and lots of armor...
You also get a nice view of the Tower Bridge (don't get this confused with London Bridge, which by the way is falling down) from the Tower of London grounds.
But, step out on the banks of the Thames River and you get a must better shot with the camera.
Speaking of the Thames (yes, it sounds like Tim's), we took a relaxing boat ride to rest our feet for a bit and as you can see, we saw more bridges AND we had a "brilliant" time as they say in London.
We walked around a bit and it is amazing the amount of detail that is seen everywhere you look; from the base of lamp posts to all of the beautiful monuments that you see on just about every street corner.
And everywhere you go, you somehow find your way back to good ole Big Ben!!
And what trip to London would be complete without a trip on the London Eye? Not ours for sure!!
TIP: Spend the extra money for the "Fast Track" and go ahead and drop a few more UK Pounds and make it a "Flexi" too so that when your ready you can just walk right up and sit right down!!
You'll get some great views!
As Clark says, "Hey look kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament... again".
Gretchen was happy sitting in the middle of the car.
Especially as we reached the tippy-top of the ride!!
All in all, a beautiful time with my awesome family in a pretty amazing town; I couldn't ask for anything more!!