January 2015 London Trip

I had a week-long work trip to London two weeks ago, and Lucas tagged along so we could be tourists in our spare time. I feel like I should just go ahead and re-name this post "Jill and Lucas Eat and Drink All The Things in London" because it's true and we did. 

We stayed at the SoHo Hotel, which was so lovely and right in the thick of everything. Each room is uniquely decorated with fun patterns, and the rooms have huge windows that let a lot of natural light in (necessary to fight jet lag when you have to be at work at 9:00 am local time!). It was definitely one of those hotels that was tough to leave. What do you mean I don't get turn down service when I return home?!

Check out the view from the Google gym. They are too blessed in the UK.

My favorite area of London has to be Seven Dials in Covent Garden. It's filled with cute boutiques, shops, pubs, and restaurants. Our favorite Covent Garden spots were Hawksmoor for steak, Dishoom for the best Indian food I've ever had, and Cross Keys for pints. :) Some SoHo places that we loved were The Ape & Bird for pub food, Polpetto for tapas, TAP coffee for amazing lattes, and Cay Tre for great pho. Okayyy  done talking about food.

Just a few selfies of us drinking alcohol for good measure. :)

On our last day, we lucked into winning lottery tickets to see Book of Mormon in London's West End. It was the perfect way to end a fun trip. We miss you already, London!

December 2014 Singapore Trip

Just playing a bit of life catch up on the blog this week. First up: Singapore! I took a whirlwind trip to Singapore for a few days in December. It was my first time visiting the city / country, and my first time to visit Asia in 3 years. I did absolutely no research on Singapore before hopping on my flight (yikes!), so I didn't know what to expect at all. 

The first thing I noticed about Singapore was the impressive architecture. The buildings are very modern and there are a ton of sky scrapers, especially in the business district we stayed in. The building above is the Marina Bay Sands and you can spot the ArtScience Museum (the lotus-looking building) and The Float (a floating stadium) towards the left side of the picture.

We went out one night for a traditional Singaporean meal of chili crab and pepper crab. We were really grateful to have our hosts, Grace and Jasmine, to take us to a local spot (JUMBO Seafood Restaurant in Dempsey Hill) and help us order the best dishes.

Singapore is insanely wealthy and the shopping is ridiculous. The malls are worth checking out for the experience alone. Think: lots of designer stores and impressive displays like this floating Louis Vuitton flagship store.

The country is really close to the equator, so it was incredibly hot and humid during our entire trip there. I did love the warm nights though, which made me nostalgic for my summers growing up in the South. During the evening, there are really impressive water and lights shows in the Marina Bay. Sadly after the show we headed back to our hotel to pack up and prepare for the grueling 22 hour flight back to the US. Already looking forward to my next trip! :)

Prague Trip

I was lucky enough to go on a work trip to Prague last week, which is such a beautiful, old city in Eastern Europe. You could spend ages wandering the city, exploring the old neighborhoods, and traipsing over the bridges, but we made the most of the 3 days that we had in the city and tried to see as much as possible. 

Thanks to this little taxi strike in Paris, we barely arrived to CDG on time for our flight. It was a really crazy experience (think: exits to airport being physically blocked and eggs being thrown at taxi and Uber drivers who were breaking the strike). It was super stressful at the time, but being impacted by a labor strike made us feel like true Parisians. Luckily we made it - whew! Once we landed in Prague, we checked into our hotel and then I went into the Google office.

After work, the team organized a team dinner and city tour. We went to this Italian restaurant on the water with sweeping views of the Prague Castle. If you're traveling to Prague, I definitely recommend this restaurant - it's so tasty and the atmosphere is lovely. After dinner, we walked across the Charles Bridge, which was built in 1357 (!!!) and offers gorgeous views of the city in both directions. There are statues lined up along both sides of the bridge, including the statue of St. John of Nepomuk (above). There is a bronze star on the St. John statue that you can touch and make a wish -- of course I had to try it. :) It didn't seem possible, but Prague proved to be even prettier at night.

Lucas swung by the office for lunch and an office tour on Thursday. After work we went on a walk along the river and then stopped for a Staropramen at a beer garden on the water. Afterwards, we went to Kolkovna Olympia for a traditional Czech dinner of sausage, garlic bread, duck with sauerkraut and potatoes, and roast beef in cream sauce with dumplings. We also tried the other main Czech beer, Pilsner Urquell. Czech food is heavy but flavorful and delicious. It would definitely be hard to be a vegetarian in Prague. :)

We had one full day to see the city, so we got up early to fit in as much as possible. We started off by taking a taxi to the Prague Castle. The castle is really expansive and impressive - the largest in Europe. The views from the castle are sweeping and you can really see the entire city. Quick tip we learned from my co-workers: call a Tick Tack Taxi. Cabs in Prague are known for charging tourists abnormally high fares, but Tick Tack is a really amazing, trustworthy taxi company. The cars are really fancy (think: Audis and BMWs with leather seats!), you can order them ahead of time, there is free wi-fi onboard, they're surprisingly affordable, and they take credit cards. 

After visiting the castle, we walked down to see the Old Jewish Quarter and the astronomical clock. We ate a quick lunch at a traditional Czech restaurant and then walked to see the Old Town Square. 

We walked home along the river and admired the beautiful buildings. How gorgeous are the details on these apartments?

At my friend Sarah's recommendation, we ended our day with dinner at Osteria Da Clara. The restaurant is a bit off the beaten path, so we took a Tick Tack. Luckily we made reservations, because it's a teeny restaurant and they were turning so many people away. We shared salad, lentil soup (it was so delicious), prosciutto tortellini in a sage butter sauce, and seafood pasta with clams, shrimp, and mussels. Everything was amazing and the Tuscan cuisine reminded me of my last trip to Italy. It was really authentic and delicious. 

We love you, Prague. We can't wait to visit again! 

Weekend in Germany

We are taking full advantage of the European bank holidays to travel. The office was closed yesterday, so we hopped on a plane and went to Germany to visit my friend Johan. We flew Germanwings, a discount airline subsidiary of Lufthansa. I must admit that I was sort of apprehensive to take an unfamiliar discount airline (can I take a bag onboard? how does boarding work?) but it was surprisingly easy and normal...imagine that. :) We flew from CDG to Hamburg, which took about 1 hour. From the airport, we took a 30 minute train into the Hamburg city center.

From there, we headed to the Google office in Hamburg. The cafe was amazing and the offices are so cool. Hamburg is known for its lakes and canals, so the entire office is lake themed. Check out Lucas hanging out in the cool work space. 

The weather was lovely on Friday - sunny and 75 degrees. We wanted to soak it up, so after work, we went to the Alster for a picnic with friends. We grilled würstchen (my favorite!), curry sausage, and bratwurst and had crusty bread and cheese -- it was a perfect German barbeque. The sun doesn't set until around 10:30 or 11:00 pm, so we got to hang out for quite a while.

The next morning, Lucas and I couldn't resist going for a run around the lake. They have shady paths, so it's just about the best running environment you could ask for. There are tons of cute cafes around the lake. I swear, Hamburg is the most underrated city. How gorgeous are the canals?

Johan is from Braunschweig, which is about 1.5 hours from Hamburg. I wanted to visit his parents, so we drove to Braunschweig on Saturday afternoon. They have this magical garden filled with peonies, garden roses, hydrangeas, and other flowers. The star of the garden is this authentic Italian brick oven that they make homemade pizzas in. Everytime we visit I look forward to making pizza and drinking white wine on their patio. Check out that spread of toppings, homemade dough, and sauce.

 Also, the Jünke family really has the gallery wall thing down. They're putting Pinterest to total shame!

On Sunday we went for a tour of Braunschweig in Johan's Dad's vintage car - how cool is that? We drove around town to show Lucas all of the landmarks - old churches, town hall, the theatre, etc. It's one of the most historic cities in Germany. We also went to a local farm to buy spargel, which is the white asparagus that Germany is famous for. Johan's mom made a delicious lunch of schnitzel, spargel, kartoffeln (potatoes) with hollandaise sauce.

We drove back to Hamburg on Sunday. We had the day off yesterday, so we had a barbecue at the beach on the Elbe and tried to soak up the last rays of the weekend. The clouds rolled in just as we were leaving for the airport. :) Thanks for a great weekend, Germany. I can't believe we're half way through our European adventure. Next up: Prague!