Hi Blog! I’ve missed you! No posts from me in over two weeks…yikes! Let’s remedy that immediately.

Does anyone ever go on a vacation and then feel like you need a vacation from your vacation to catch back up? Surly I’m not alone in this? Bermuda was REALLY wonderful, but I hit the ground running full speed as soon as we returned. Between a sinus infection, lots of work to catch up on, throwing an engagement party for two friends, planning an upcoming wedding shower for two different friends (wedding season much?), hosting football parties (Go Tigers!) and trying to catch back up on laundry, cleaning, Renly, friends, LIFE….it’s been busy. But enough about being busy because really, aren’t we all? Let’s hop right into the fabulous, beautiful Bermuda recap!

Now, before you start thinking that I have some fantastic, jet-setting lifestyle that allows me to travel midweek on a whim, let me remind you why we took this trip. Robert and his sister (my sister in law) are exactly 10 years and one day apart. That means this September, they turned 30 and 40 respectively. Two pretty big milestone birthdays! Then to top it all off, our Aunt Vanessa turned another number ending in 0 (but we celebrated it as 25 😉 the day after Robert! Make that three milestone birthdays, three days in a row! We decided that three special birthdays in a row deserved a big celebration, and Bermuda was the winning destination!

We flew out of Atlanta early Wednesday morning and arrived in Bermuda around 2:00. We checked into our hotel, the Newstead Belmont Hills in Paget Parish, which overlooked the city of Hamilton.

Bermuda is divided into “Parishes” rather than districts or counties. Hamilton, across from our hotel is the center of the island and capital of Bermuda.

 

The view from the hotel was beautiful and our rooms were spotless. We shared a two bedroom condo with my sister and brother in law.  The bedrooms were on either side of a common area and kitchen and each had their own bathroom and private porch. It was very spacious and felt more like a private room than a shared condo.

My sister-in-law had a friend from college, Belcario, who is a Bermuda native and he stopped by our hotel after we were settled to welcome us. After a few glasses of wine to kick off the vacation we decided to head into town for dinner.

It was my sister-in-law’s birthday so she chose an Italian restaurant in Hamilton, La Trattoria. Belcario joined us for dinner and happily answered all of our questions about the island while we stuffed ourselves with pasta and pizza.

  

We decided to call it a night after dinner so we could make a full day of it on Thursday, Robert’s birthday!

We woke up bright and early Thursday morning and enjoyed breakfast at our hotel before heading to Oleander Cycles to rent scooters for the day, per the birthday boy’s request! Every family in Bermuda is only allowed to have one car, so scooters are the main mode of transportation. We quickly learned that the Bermudians are either brave or crazy (or both) the way they weave in an out of traffic and whip around blind corners on those things!

After riding around for about an hour we decided to stop at Tobacco Bay for a drink, per Belcario’s suggestion. Tobacco Bay is a public beach on the north end of the island with a beach bar and natural rock formations, great for snorkeling.

 

We enjoyed Pina Coladas and a break from our scooters and the sun!

After more scooting we made our way into St. George’s Parish and had lunch at Wahoo’s Bistro & Patio. Rion, my sister-in-law and I split a Bermuda style fish sandwich, which is fried fish served on raisin bread. Weird, but definitely delicious.

After lunch we explored the island a bit more and stopped at Clearwater beach to relax and soak up a little sun.

 

I had to wear a rashguard throughout most of the trip to keep from getting any sun on my newly healed treadmill burns (remember those?) so I explored the cutest little beach bar, Gombeys.

 

Not only was Gombeys rainbow colored, but it was full of balloons, had a chicken family living outside and a pig statue dressed up as a queen. Be still my heart.

 

After a little more driving and a final beach bar stop at Mickey’s, we made it back to our hotel. We had dinner reservations at the Waterlot Inn, one of the fancier and most historic restaurants in Bermuda.

 

The Waterlot was a fancy steakhouse (think Ruth’s Chris) and was delicious, although VERY pricey. We ended the meal with sticky toffee pudding which was to die for, and the perfect way to cap off Robert’s first day as a 30 year old 🙂

That’s all for now! We are off to Charlotte later today to celebrate the wedding of one of my childhood best friends! Check back soon for Part – 2 and our boat charter with Captain Tony! Have a great weekend!