Wedding Blog

We had an amazing time on our honeymoon! If I were to plan it again I probably wouldn’t have left the day after the wedding, but in our case we were forced to if we wanted to catch the Pearl Jam show in London. It would have been really nice to have had a few days to decompress, sleep and help my parents clean up! It also would have been nice to pack for the honeymoon after the wedding because what I discovered once I got to Europe was that I had actually lost some weight over the weeks before the wedding, so some of the pants that I had packed weeks before were actually a bit too loose! It was a nice discovery but annoying to have to keep yanking on my pants all the time! But, we did leave the day after and so here are some of the highlights of the trip:

We LOVED the Pearl Jam shows! We are big fans and so seeing as this was our 14th and 15th time seeing them, it was extra special to see them in a different venue and to compare the European crowds with the Canadian and American crowds that we’ve been in before. The shows were amazing and we got to hear a couple of songs that are rarely played so it was well worth the money for us!  These pictures are from tenclub.

The London show: 

The Dusseldorf show:

London was a nice way to start our trip, it is very beautiful, everyone speaks English and there is so much to see and do! We certainly did not do everything that we should have but we had fun. We’ll have to go back to catch the things we missed, I guess. Some highlights for us were the Parliament buildings (amazing architecture and details!), Westminster Abbey where we saw the seat that Canada’s first Prime Minister sat in, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the National Museum. Some things that we were disappointed in were Buckingham Palace (not all that impressive!) and the London Dungeon (we were hoping for history and facts but it was more like Disneyland and tremendously hot down there!)

Mr. Pumpkin resting his leg in Trafalgar Square with Big Ben in the background:

Amsterdam was a beautiful city! We spent only a day there and I think that was probably enough. We went to the Anne Frank Museum which was incredibly moving and the just walked around and enjoyed the city. I would love to have been there when the flower market was filled with tulips!

Eating at a canal side cafe:

Our day in Paris was amazing! We were originally only supposed to stay for about 8 hours and then move on, but we ended up staying overnight and it was wonderful! We did have our only fight of the trip in Paris though. Mr. Pumpkin wanted to go see Jim Morrison’s grave - I thought it was a waste of time - Mr. Pumpkin won. We spent most of the afternoon at the Louvre, walking around enjoying the scenery and French culture, and then at night we saw the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Despite seeing a rat the size of a house cat by the National Theatre building, the night was perfect! We had dinner outside at a cafe where we had a pretty good view of the tower and sat next to a couple who were also from Saskatchewan! Crazy small world…

Me outside the Louvre waiting for Mr. Pumpkin, budding photog, to finish taking pictures of every nook & cranny:

Venice was phenomenal! The city was so beautiful and our hotel was incredible. We spent our days touring the Piazza San Marcos, taking a gondola ride and swimming in either our hotel pool or the private beach across the street from our hotel. Venice was the most relaxing part of our trip so it was perfect that it was smack dab in the middle!

A picture of Mr. Pumpkin on one of our balconies taken by me on the other!:

Our bedroom:

Mr. Pumpkin on our private beach with our hotel in the background:

Kissing on Rialto bridge so our love will last forever!:

Gondola ride:

In Florence we spent one evening at a restaurant in the hills above Florence and the views were incredible! The city of Florence is sort of drab when you are in the middle of downtown. The buildings, while beautifully designed, are grey and old so it was nice to get outside the downtown core and see some beautiful Tuscan countryside! If I were to plan a trip to Florence again I wouldn’t stay downtown. I would find a cute little hotel outside the city and rent a car so that I could see both the museums within the city, as well as the attractions out in the country. I would have also liked to have toured a winery. The biggest thing that we missed was a trip to Cinque Terra, but with Mr. Pumpkin’s ankle the way it was we just couldn’t do it. We will definitely plan that for our next trip to Italy…. in about 20 years when we have finally paid this trip off!

The best meal we had the entire trip!:

Rome is jam packed with things to see and do but it can be overwhelming with all of the people and the heat. We saw the Colosseum, fountain of Trevi and the Vatican and that was enough for me. Perhaps if we had started in Rome, rather than ended there, I would have a different view but I likely will not return to Rome again, although I would always recommend that someone go there at least once!

Me at the Colosseum:

Me and some random dude at the fountain of Trevi:

Mr. Pumpkin in the Vatican Museum on our way to the Sistine Chapel. “Close your mouth please, Michael, we are not a codfish”:

Travelling by train was a great experience! We saw a lot of the countryside during our trips and it was an easy and inexpensive way to get through 5 countries in 15 days. Overall, it was best honeymoon I have ever been on!

*Joseph Arthur