dripping with passion

ian’s brother brigham and his wife lucia (you can call them brigia) came to london for a few days leading up to christmas. it was so so great to have family in town and spend time with them. before they headed to luci’s uncle’s house in surrey on christmas eve, we took them on some fantastic londonchristmas adventures. on monday, we went to winter wonderland – a huge fun fair and market in hyde park. it was crowded and chaotic and pretty awesome.   later that night, while the boys went to see the new star wars film, lucia and i wandered through mayfair to see and photograph all the dazzling christmas light displays strung over oxford, regents, bond and carnaby streets. we also popped into liberty london, which just has to be the most beautiful department store in the whole wide world, and was supremely dolled up for christmastime.     on tuesday afternoon, ian took a little break from work and walked up the street to meet us at st. paul’s cathedral. we climbed to t...

we stayed at the most perfect spot during our time in vienna on our christmas markets roadtrip – the mercure vienna first boutique hotel. the location is superb, the service was impecable, the decor was so stylish, and our room was fabulous. vienna is magical, and the mercure first is the ideal place to start and end exploration of the city. ^^ our welcome note paired with delectible chocolates was such a lovely bonus! ^^     ^^ the bistro where we had breakfast was so fashionably decorated and the food was delicious! apparently the lunch and dinner here is amazing, but the bistro is closed on mondays, the one full day we were in vienna. we’ll just have to come back to the mercure vienna first sometime soon! :) look no further for the perfect place to stay in magical vienna! {this post is written in partnership with the hotel. all opinions are our own!}

the very last stop on our christmas markets road trip was not a christmas market, but a spectacular castle! hohenzollern blew us away! and i liked it even more than neuschwanstein. we were very nearly the only people there and it was a brilliant sunny day and the castle was so majestic! we explored the grounds, ate german food in the castle restaurant, went on a tour of the interior, and then hiked up to a viewpoint. check this place out!!     click through for more pictures…!