After years of waiting I have finally seen The Foo Fighters live!! I never thought that it was going to happen so when tickets came on sale last month and me, Hannah and Emma managed to get some I was so excited. As it was on a Sunday and in London we decided to make a weekend of it and drove down on the Saturday. After checking into our hotel we had a lovely Saturday night exploring Covent Garden and Soho and meeting up with our friend Eryna for food and drinks. We had many a cocktail and had a delicious mexican meal at Wahaca before heading back to the hotel getting some rest for the big day! As the event only started mid afternoon we managed to grab some brunch in Camden and then head over the the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The foo fighters were headlining the Invictus Games closing ceremony and so we managed to grab a good spot and have a relaxing afternoon watching the other performances. We got to see the likes of Diversity, The Military Wives Choir, Rizzle Kicks, The Vamps, Bryan Adams, James Blunt, Ryan Adams, Frank Turner, Ellie Goulding and the Kaiser Chiefs before the main act! They were all really good and entertaining so I'm glad we saw them all as I wouldn't ordinarily buy tickets to see the majority of them so it was a nice change.
One of the highlights of the day was getting to meet Greg James! We were just sat down relaxing and he was interviewing a group of people behind me so when he had finished and the opportunity came about to get a photo with him we jumped at the chance. He was so lovely and so incredibly tall!!
The whole reason that there was an event on at all was down to Prince Harry for organising the event. The Invictus Games were sporting games for our 'wounded warriors' from the armed forces to compete against each other and still be able to participate in sporting events. Competitors from countries around the world competed and it was a great success. Prince Harry even made a speech so we got to see him too!
As expected The Foo Fighters were incredible and I definitely want to go and see them again!
On the Monday we decided to head into London again for breakfast and meet up with Emma's cousin. We went to a diner for yummy pancakes and then had a wander about the sights such as Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. We then met up with her other cousin and we for fro-yo before making the long drive home. We all had a wonderful weekend and I think another one is most certainly on the cards!
I absolutely love Italy, it is my favourite country to visit and back in January when the winter blues kicked in I had a browse online and found super cheap flights so of course I immediately booked them! The past week has been spent doing a little tour, our little Italian adventure! We visited Bologna, Florence, Lucca and Pisa and I had such a wonderful time.
We flew to Bologna and stayed in a lovely guesthouse called the Cristina Rossi B&B. The lady who owned it was so friendly and wonderful and gave us hugs and kisses goodbye when we left. I would definitely recommend staying there! Bologna was so much fun and it was nice to be in a place that was full of local people and not touristy at all. We spent the day wandering around the streets and explored the Piazza Maggiore, the town hall which had a community art display, the food market and the university district. After all the walking we had done we went to a tiny pasta restaurant and had fresh homemade pasta! We indulged in the most delicious gnocci and pumpkin tortellini, I could have eaten it all evening!
Our next stop was Florence. I had always wanted to visit Florence but never got the chance to on my interrail trip two years ago so I was so happy we were able to go this time. Florence was a lot different to Bologna, lots more people and bustling streets packed with tourists. That being said we still thoroughly enjoyed it. We spent one day seeing all of the sights such as the Duomo, the food and leather market, the Ponte Vecchio and the Piazza Signoria and the next day venturing to the Uffizi Gallery to see all of the famous Renaissance artwork and then to the Boboli gardens. We were pleasantly surprised because we got into both places for free as it was the first Sunday of the month! We ate a lot of gelato in Florence and managed to find two vegan restaurants! The first was called Panino Vegano and did wonderful burgers and paninis as well as desserts. The second was called Crepapelle which did sweet and savory vegan crepes. Both restaurants had gluten free options top!
After Florence we travelled to Lucca, the walled city! Lucca was so pretty and so different from the places that we had previously been to. The city is surrounded by massive walls which you can walk/run/cycle along. We opted to cycle along them and rented bikes for the afternoon cycling along the 4km long walls in the beautiful sunshine. As Lucca is easily accessible by train many people come to visit just for day trips so in the evening it was nice and quiet and quite romantic to wander around the streets.
Our final destination was Pisa. We didn't originally plan to go but due to flight times being changed we had to re think our route and decided on staying for an extra day and flying home from Pisa. We had a lovely day looking around the streets and stalls and of course went to see the leaning tower. It was so funny just to sit and watch people doing the obligatory photo of trying to push the tower back up! For our final evening we treated ourselves to a delicious three course meal and had a quiet night in the hostel.
The food, the people and the culture are fabulous and I loved every minute of our trip. I can't wait to plan the next one!
