I wrote about our adventures in Iceland, but that was just the first part of our trip. From there, we ventured to London and then Amsterdam.

This was my third visit to London. I've been fortunate enough to travel as a student to London twice. However, it's different traveling as an adult. I see the world through a different lens. I'm more curious about how the rest of the world lives, whereas before I was just anxious to see the big tourist spots, take some photos and check out the nightlife scene.

We were in London for five days, but we worked in our company's London office for three of those days. That limited our time to explore but it also gave us a glimpse into what it's like to live and work in London. It felt extremely normal. There were some subtle differences ... where we have coffee and donuts they have tea and "biscuits" (which are just cookies), as one example.

VML London office (Yes, my husband and I have the same employer)

My one request in terms of site-seeing was the set of the Harry Potter movies. I'm a bit of a Potterhead and I spent the afternoon totally geeking out. Seeing some of the sets, like the Great Hall, the Gryffindor common room and Snape's Potions Room, as well as the elaborate costumes was pretty remarkable. So much talent is behind those films.

Of course, we did see some of the big spots. This was my husband's first London visit. (And first Europe experience!) You'll also see some photos of a few beer stops. We pretty much would explore, stop for coffee, explore, stop for beer, repeat.

Amsterdam was beautiful. In fact, I would consider living there. It was big enough to have plenty of fun things to do without sacrificing a small town feel that made us feel at home. Charm was at every corner, and everything felt so quaint. It felt like we were living in the pages of a fairy tale.

Highlights included the Anne Frank House (dark, not fun, but important), the Van Gogh museum, a brewery in a windmill and beautiful little streets with amazing shops and restaurants everywhere.

We also went to the History of Prostitution museum in the Red Light District. I highly recommend it and learned so much. But I didn't take any photos. :)

Somehow we ended up with few photos of Amsterdam. We were either losing steam or too focused on taking it all in.