Corey Mace made his first-ever trek across the pond in January for his delayed honeymoon with his wife, Petra. The two were married last May, right before training camp, so they knew they’d have to wait awhile before they could go on a proper honeymoon.

“We booked it and waited about six or seven months and it was well worth the wait,” says the Stamps’ defensive line coach.

They traveled to five countries in 21 days, including Greece, Italy, France, England and Amsterdam.

“We hopped around but the cool thing about it is once you’re in Europe, just to get around by train or flight is fairly inexpensive,” says Mace.

They started in Greece, took a ferry to the Greek island of Santorini, headed to Rome and up to Florence. Their next stop was Paris, followed by London then they finished off their trip in Amsterdam.

“Staying at the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence just where all the gold is being sold, everything is just a beautiful thing,” says Mace. “If you’re in the city center it’s still nice but if you get like 10 minutes outside of Florence, the architecture, the cobblestone streets and how the buildings are built, they keep it up, there’s construction, but it’s always just to preserve what it is.”

While in Florence they went to the Galleria dell’Accademia to see Michelangelo’s Statue of David.

“I don’t know enough about art but I can tell you looking at that made out of marble is phenomenal. The fact of how realistic it looks.”

In Paris they went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa.

“I mean if you’re into art sure but for me I thought it was a little overrated.”

And the Eiffel Tower.

“My suggestion would be to go at night when it lights up.”

While in London, they enjoyed taking the Tube and seeing the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. They even had a brush with royalty.

“We got to see Prince Charles,” Mace exclaims. “They ushered him in in his car and he was just chillin’ in there like a boss.”

Mace admits he enjoyed the trip on a level his younger self never could have imagined.

“Growing up I wasn’t much a history buff but as you get older you kind of look into stuff like that,” says Mace. “Seeing the Parthenon in Athens was like a breathtaking thing. You’re completely stunned. The view from our place in Santorini to look over the water like that with the sunsets was extremely cool.

“Pictures, that stuff doesn’t do it justice,” Mace continues. “I know we did a bunch of touristy stuff but you’ve got to see it because you’re not going to get that here. We don’t have any kind of history in North America that’s as cool as this kind of stuff. If I lived over there I’d probably walk a lot more than I do now.”

Which is a good thing because Mace’s favourite thing about Europe? No surprise to those who know him, it was the food.

In Greece?

“I was eating Greek salads. I’m not a big, huge salad guy but the blocks of good feta cheese they put on there, you know what I mean?”

His favourite was probably in Italy.

“Probably the best thing we had was in Florence at a place called Trattoria Za Za. I don’t know if I’ll ever have food like that again. It was unreal. Unreal.”

Paris, not so much.

“Overhyped for me. Portion size is small. Pricey.”

And finally in England.

“Your typical stuff you have to do… fish and chips in London. We crushed that at a pub and that was awesome.”

His only regret about the excursion? Three weeks wasn’t long enough.

“For the most part you can’t get around a place in a week, you need some more time,” admits Mace. “We stretched it out as much as we could and there were some places we’d probably liked to stay longer and then some places we probably would’ve crossed off the list. But the experience in itself I’m so happy we got to do it because you never know if we’ll ever be able to go back there.”