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| My Community Bio | ||
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| Knot Name: Rose.9.6.03 | ||
| Location: Cincinnati | ||
| Age: 31 | ||
| What I do when I'm not on The Knot (occupation): Attorney | ||
| About our wedding: CLICK THIS FOR NEST BIO Outside pics: 
Ceremony pics: 
Reception Pics: 
REHEARSAL: 
HONEYMOON IN SPAIN: 
HONEYMOON REVIEW Days 1-4 - Barcelona Great city. Had a blast. We stayed at Hotel Duques de Bergara, which had nice modern rooms and good service. Although it is a 4 star hotel, we didn’t use any of the amenities. The location was ideal. We walked almost everywhere, and there was a metro stop right outside our door for every place we couldn’t walk. The Barri Gothic (old Barcelona) was interesting, although I thought La Ramblas was a bit of a tourist trap. Montjuic was interesting and it was fun to take the tram up the mountain and see great views of Barcelona and the sea. My favorite part of Barcelona was Eixample with all the Gaudi and Art Noveau architecture - this is what really makes Barcelona a unique European city. We also made it a point to visit the beach once a day. Go in the morning when no one is there and the waves are great. Best restaurant in Barcelona - Roig Robi. *Very* expensive, but worth it. Reservations are a must, even for weekdays. Day 5 - rented a car, drove down the coast without much of a plan. Stopped in Tarrogona and saw some interesting Roman ruins. Then stopped a not so nice beach. Ended up in Penisocola - a beach town mostly frequented by Spanish tourists, where we spent the night at the Hotel Peniscola Palace - nothing spectacular but clean, reasonably priced, and on the beach. They also had a very friendly staff. Day 6 - Morella Got up, went to the beach first thing. Peniscola has a really nice beach and virtually no one was there at 8:30 in the morning. Then we drove inland through the mountains to the town of Morella. This was one of our best days. The mountains roads were somewhat trecherous, but they were beautiful. Morella was so interesting because it is this little town built in the middle ages. It was having a bull festival the weekend that we were there, so all the people from farms surrounding the town came in for the market and auction (think small county fair). I think we were the only foreign tourists there. Day 7 - drove to Valencia. Valencia’s not the most fun and attractive city in Spain, but there was some interesting architecture and the people were nice. The main reason we went there is because I got DH soccer tickets there for part of my wedding present to him. The soccer match was great - very authentic Spanish experience. We had probably our best dinner of the trip at the Hotel Astoria (we didn’t realize it was hotel when we went in there). Get the chocolate souffle for dessert if you go. We also stayed at a great 3 star Hotel - Hotel Ingles. I found an internet bargain rate for 53 euro/night. It was a steal. Day 8 - 11 - Mallorca. This was our favorite part of the trip. We stayed in Deia on the northcoast. It was the perfect choice for us because there are much fewer people staying there because (1) it’s in the mountains and is more difficult to get to and (2) there aren’t a ton of white sand beaches around. The scenery is breathtaking and the water is crystal blue. We stayed at Hotel Costa D’or. It is a one star hotel with minimal in-room amenities - basically you just get a bed and bathroom with shower. However, the grounds of the hotel are wonderful. It has a beautiful terrace, a nice pool, a surprisingly good restaurant, trails down the mountain behind the hotel, and rocky stairs that lead down to a spectacular and secluded part of the sea. The water was unbelievably crystal clear and we felt like we had our own private island. We swam at two other rocky beaches that were just wonderful - Port of Valldemosa and Cala Deia. For a sandy beach on that part of the island, you can go to Port of Soller, which was nice. We also took a trip down to the southern part of Mallorca to visit DH’s German friend who was vacationing in Mallorca with his family. We went to the beach of son Trente - which was an amazing white sandy beach - but more crowded than the north coast. It was good to see and experience different parts of the island. Day 12 - 14 - Madrid. Although Madrid gets a bad rap by a lot of people when compared Barcelona, we thought it was great. It has a very regal feel, and also feels much more “big city” than Barcelona. We stayed at Hotel Tryp Reina Victoria, which had a great location - right in the middle of everything. We didn’t spend a ton of time in Madrid, so we didn’t get to see too much. My major disappointment was that the Palace was closed due to an event. I *love* visiting palaces! The main thing we did in Madrid was experience nightlife. On Day 12, we went shopping at 9:00 p.m. and the stores were jam packed. People were out and about everywhere. We took a day trip to Toledo, which although is very heavily touristed, is very interesting. Probably a must see for anybody in that part of the country. Our last night in Madrid, we went out for an early (9:30) dinner, then sat at a café until 1:30 or so, drinking glass after glass of wine. We then decided to check out some of the bars - to our surprise, despite being packed with people and blaring techno music, nobody was dancing! So after hitting at least five bars and seeing the same thing over and over, we went to bed about 3:00 a.m. - there were still tons of people out and about on the streets. The next day we flew home and I was so sad! Spain was a great HM. If you have any questions, I’d love to answer them. Page me either on the Honeymoon Board or on my Local Board (Cleveland). BELIZE PICTURES DH and me on the snorkeling boat: Not a good picture, but it shows how beautiful the water is by the barrier reef: Hamanasi pool and beach: Our hotel room: Me on the dock at South Caye, taking a break from snorkeling: DH found a friend: Swimming in the pool of a waterfall in the jungle: BELIZE REVIEW - Hamanasi Resort, Hopkins Village We just got back from a wonderful, relaxing vacation in Belize. We only had 6 nights for vacation, so we knew we wanted to stay in one place. For us, the ideal location ended up being Hamanasi Dive and Adventure resort just outside of Hopkins Village. We chose it because we would be on the beach and had access to both diving/snorkeling and inland activities. We loved Hamanasi. My husband and I are generally independent travelers. But with all the craziness in our lives right now (we're in the process of selling our house, moving to a new city, and starting new jobs), we found it nice to have everything organized by the resort. Hamanasi is located on a pretty stretch of beach. The grounds are immaculate and beautifully groomed - tons of palm trees and exotic flowers. The pool was very pretty, but the water was a little on the cool side. We found the warm ocean water to be more comfortable. Our oceanfront room was simple, but attractive. There's no television or phones in the rooms. We found that housekeeping did a wonderful job. Each room has its own balcony or porch. We spent a lot of time just sitting on our porch reading or relaxing. We found the restaurant at Hamanasi to be good for the most part. Continental breakfast (which is included in the room price) consisted of fresh fruit, muffins, toast, yogurt, granola, and assorted beverages. We had three lunches at Hamanasi and found all of them to be quite good. The two times we ate dinner at Hamanasi, though, we found it to be rather mediocre and expensive. We ate at several restaurants in Hopkins (Iris's, Innies's, King Cassava and Bella) and found all to be tasty and reasonably priced. We also ate at two other hotels for dinner - Beaches & Dreams and Jaguar Reef. Beaches & Dreams had decent food, but what we enjoyed most there were the entertaining and friendly owners and guests. And we had an excellent dinner at Jaguar Reef. As for activities, we went on the Mayflower Jungle Hike. The highpoint of the rigorous hike is swimming in the cool waters of a waterfall. Our other inland activity was kayaking down a jungle river. It was nice and relaxing, although I wish our group would have been a bit smaller and the tour a bit longer. We saw lots of birds and iguanas and even a crocodile, so that was cool. We also spent lots of time in the water. We went on two snorkeling trips and found the underwater life to be amazing and the water was unbelievably clear and blue. My husband also went diving one day (while I hung out at the pool - I'm not a diver) and found it to be very enjoyable and money well spent. There's not much nightlife either at Hamanasi or in the town of Hopkins. Generally, we'd go and get a few drinks at the hotel bar, play some cards, and then go to dinner. We were usually in bed by 9 or 9:30, due to both the lack of nightlife and the fact that our days were filled with lots of sun and activity. The best part of Hamanasi is the staff. It's staff is huge (60 or so staff members for 18 rooms) and very friendly. Everything felt so easy at Hamanasi from the moment we arrived at the airport until we departed. The only inconvenience of the trip was the bugs - both mosquitoes and sand mites. Bring plenty of bug spray and benadryl. Both my husband and I highly recommend Hamanasi for anyone who wants a mix of activities and relaxation in a vacation. SENEGAL Pics from Senegal DH and I in our traditional African prayer clothes for the holiday of Korite (which marks the end of Ramadan): 
My friend (and MOH) Kate and I dressed for Korite. Kate's a volunteer in the peace corps. 
Kate, her peace corps friend, and just a few of her 25 host family members: 
For more pictures go to http://tinyurl.com/6r9r9 Picture of DH and I with friends before Jump Back Ball: 
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