This honeymoon post has taken me forever to write because I was dreading the amount of photos I would have to edit and my wrist has really been acting up from clicking the mouse too much. I think it's called repetitive motion syndrome or something like that...
I even went as far as purchasing a special mouse pad from Japan that supports the wrist to alleviate pain but it only works to a point.
So after much painful mouse clicking I have finally finished this post. I don't even know how many photos are in this post but it's a damn lot. I took a total of 700 pics during my honeymoon to Puerto Rico, Dusseldorf, Athens, Mykonos, Santorini and Paris and I have narrowed it down to my favorite ones. Just for you :)
To start off our honeymoon, we took a large plane from Philadelphia to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Then, a smaller 8 person plane from Puerto Rico to a little island off the coast called Vieques. We were there once before about 2 years ago for the grand opening of the W Hotel Vieques and Eddie promised to take me back again. Well actually he promised to take me back once a year (which I totally have on videotape) but we won't go into technicalities.
Once we landed in Vieques we took a few pics around the resort while we waited for our room.
And had a super delicious breakfast. Thank god the hotel comped our breakfast because the bill was something ridiculous like $50 for two plates of eggs. Like really? Are your eggs made of gold?? Do I get diamond earrings inside my egg?? It was yummy though.
The resort's rooms are situated like bungalows and have either an ocean or pool view. We opted for an ocean view since the previous time we had a pool view.
And the best part of our view? Those two little chairs!!! I don't know why but I thought these two little chairs sitting next to each other on the edge of a cliff looking out to the ocean was just so magical! Ok, I'm gay I know but seriously! Forget about the Corona commercial. This is the life!
Truly impeccable hospitality at the W Hotel Vieques. We entered our room and were greeted with chocolate dipped strawberries and champagne. We didn't even wait to make it all romantic. We just grabbed the strawberries and inhaled them haha.
The property itself was also incredible. The grounds are super secluded and kept so clean. Pool time with Eddie was awesome. Drinking countless, perfectly made strawberry mojitos wasn't so bad either. :)
The beach is secluded as well. Those black rocks are sharper than sharks teeth. Just brushing your hand on the rock will cause extreme bloodiness. Trust me, I know from experience. The resort's beach has these death rocks on each side of it so there's no chance for strangers or annoying guys who try to sell you stuff to enter.
I love Eddie......In case you didn't know already.....
One of my fav pics that Eddie took of me in Vieques! I had just finished snorkeling to that island behind me and back. I was wet, tired, and hungry and still managed to look pretty darn good! Ok, I confess. There were about 4 other photos taken before this one that were horrible failures (i.e. wind in my hair, me looking like I have duck feet). But this was the money shot!
Two weeks later we were off to Europe for the second part of our honeymoon. Our medium sized plane got switched for a much larger jet so our seats got switched from the first class where the seats go 3/4 of an inch further back to the first class where our seats lay down totally flat. Hell ye! Great start to our trip. And may I also add, we did not book first class tickets since we wanted to save money for more important things. But while at the ticket booth, Eddie had mentioned it was our honeymoon and they totally upgraded us for free. That is unheard of on international flights!! Someone at the airport must have been having a really good day!
We started in Dusselfdorf, Germany. Home of the altbier (a really nasty dark beer that Germans are obsessed with...God knows why).
Of course we had to stop and have an altbier at the famous Uerige Bar in Altstadt (Old City). You literally cannot order a drink at this bar. Once you enter, you are served their house brewed altbier whether you like it or not. There is not ordering liquor, juice or even water at this bar!! Everyone gets an altbier and that is that.You don't wanna question the Germans...they can be quite scary.
How can you have an altbier without a liverwurst sandwich? For those of you who have never tried liverwurst because of the idiotic, American phobia of liver....well, you are missing out big time buddy. More liverwurst for me.
Afterwards drinking yucky beer, we went onto a docked boat on the Rhine River where....
We had more beer!!! I really dislike beer, except for the sweet kind, and opted for a mojito and got looks of shame from many a person. Including my husband :( I stole his beer for the photo!
A random cool statue which was one of the best I have ever seen. I just can't even imagine the suffering that goes into that job.
During one of the days when I had some time to myself, I ventured out to the aquarium.... ALL BY MYSELF!! It might not seem like a big deal to some but it is an unbelievable feat for me. I get anxiety just thinking about taking public transportation in Philadelphia. And to take a taxi to a strange location in a foreign country where for some reason no one speaks English is an incredible accomplishment for me :)
Does this not look like it belongs in National Geographics?? If I hadn't taken this photo myself, I would have never believed it was taken by an amateur photographer. BTW this fish kinda looks like shrimp tempura.
Another gorgeous shot taken by moi of course. Ok, I'm starting to sound a little big headed.
And my fav shot out of the bunch! C'mon people!! This is a magazine worthy photo. I am seriously in the wrong profession.
Love my gorgeous husband!
Our next stop was to the Arion Luxury Resort off of the coast of Athens, Greece. It was so nice to finally get away from cold and rainy Germany!! And this resort was magnificent! Husband picked a good one. Politicians, prime ministers and even royalty have stayed at this hotel during their travels to Greece.
The view from our balcony made me want to cry. After being in Germany for way too long, this was pure heaven. Then, realizing that people actually live here and see this beauty everyday made me quite envious but I figured they are losing out on cheese steaks, IMAX, Broadway shows, and all the fun city stuff for the beauty.
Well, actually they do have Gyros which are so much better,and healthier, than cheese steaks (Sorry Philadelphians but it's true. Try a gyro in Greece and tell me a cheese steak is still better. I dare you!). Sorry. I digress.
Our first night in Athens, we went to an awesome seafood restaurant located on the beach. We had barely sat down when the owner of the restaurant came up to us and asked us to follow him into the kitchen. Eddie and I looked at each other like...Uggghhh are we in trouble?? We followed him apprehensively....
.....he took us into the kitchen, opened a drawer and asked us to choose which fish we would like to eat! WTF why aren't they this hospitable in the US?? We get to see and pick our own fish straight from the kitchen?? It's genius! This way we know we aren't eating some scummy cheapo fish disguised as dover sole. Not that I would get the two mistaken *ahem*
We decided to go with these little tikes. I have no clue what they were but they looked too cute not to eat.
They came out looking like this with the heads still attached. Eddie got all freaked out about the heads and forced me to detach the heads off of all the fish. So he makes me eat snails with their nasty little antler things and snotty oysters (which I eventually became obsessed with) but he can't touch a measly little fish head? I'm Ukranian so my family has been eating fish heads for centuries. Well I don't actually eat them but they sure don't bother me. In fact, I do eat the fishtail. When fried, the tail contains all of the flavor in the fish. Like little fish chips. Yum
After dinner we witnessed an insanely beautiful sunset. This particular location in Athens is known for some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world... and we had front row seats :)
Another night, after I had begged Eddie to go, we went to Nobu for dinner. Who knew that Athens had a Nobu?? This was my first time eating at one and it lived up to its reputation. You can see our hotel right behind me! The restaurant was located on the hotel grounds so we even got a golf cart lift to the entrance.
And the sunset during dinner was even better than the one from the day before. Why are they so colorful in Greece??? Is it something in the air?
The next day, we went to a collapsed underground cave that had a mineral lake where we spent the day trying to "heal" ourselves in the waters.
There was a slight annoyance though. These tiny little fish would swim up to you and actually eat the dead flesh off your body. Freakin zombie fish! I have a terrible fish phobia which I developed after falling off of a jet ski (that's another story) and the slightest touch from these fish freaked me the hell out. Eddie spent a good portion of the day trying to get me to stay still in the water so these little nasty things would attack me. After feeling one of them poking me, it was enough to drive me out of the water for good.
Eddie seemed to enjoy it though. In fact, there are fish spas all over Greece where people pay money to have these tiny fish suck on your toes. BLAHHHHH *throw up*
Ye, this is a random shot but I really like it so I'm ending this post with it. I actually photoshopped the ball in since the real ball was out of the frame but it looks realistic right? I am sending this photo to Wilson so that they can use it in their national campaign next year :)
Honeymoon Part 2 post coming soon! As soon as my carpal tunnel eases down. Many more pics to come.
And my trip to Prague is coming soon. Also might be going to Panama and Israel soon. Has traveling become my hobby?? More like my passion :)
