Europe Revisited - The Final Chapter

So it's been a month today since we returned from our trip. Eric and I were discussing this fact the other night, and decided it really all feels more like a distant dream than anything else. Was it really just a month ago that we were climbing the steps up the Eiffel Tower and watching the Tour de France come in? It seems like it's been years.

Anyway, to commemorate the occasion, I figure that it is about time I post about the last segment of our trip -- Milan, Switzerland, and Paris. :-) There's a lot to say, but I'll try to let the pictures do the talking!

I think I included in our previous post that our day post-Florence included a lot of sleeping, eating incredible food, and clothes-washing in Bologna. I failed to mention, however, that on that day I discovered the most incredible cold coffee drink I've ever had in my life. It was just called "crema di cafe" and it was like coffee ice cream only smoother, stronger, and with Nutella mixed in. (Have I mentioned that I adore Nutella?) So, obviously, before we left for Milan on Thursday morning, I had to have another one. It was a nice farewell to Bologna.

We were still pretty tired when we got to Milan, but we only had one day there, so we had to go see what we could!

The Sforzesco Castle -- built in the 14th century and residence of the Duchy of Milan for several hundred years. There was actually a moat around the castle as well, though there's no water in it today, and several drawbridges with dungeon-like doors.

The Milan Duomo -- we looooove the Gothic architecture!

And the Galeria Victore Emmanuelle II -- pretty much the first mall ever, and home to Prada and Louis Vuitton.

We had dinner that evening at a nice restaurant on the Piazza Duomo and then went straight to bed -- we had to be up at 6 to get ready to leave for Paris!

Friday dawned bright and early and took us through three different countries. Unfortunately, it was the first day on the entire trip that it rained, but we still had a magnificent time!

We stopped in Spiez, Switzerland for four hours to break up our long trip -- and to explore. Luckily there was an amazing castle we got to tour to get out of the rain, and a delicious restaurant/chocolate shop overlooking the lake where they only spoke German...


We definitely had fun getting around! As for the views... well, you can see for yourself!

Despite the rain, we were soooo glad we stopped!!

We got to Paris around 8 pm, and we definitely had some trouble figuring out their metro system! Paris not only has 14 "regular" metro lines, but they also have two additional types of metros that run outside of town, six different "zones" in which they categorize the lines, and horrible maps that do not explain the difference between any of these. It was possibly the most frustrated we were at any point of the trip. We finally got to our hotel though, and found a decent restaurant nearby (an Italian restaurant, actually... LoL). Good food makes everything better!!

On Saturday we took a bus tour of Paris and hit the highlights...

And on Saturday evening, we visited Notre Dame. (No, we didn't see the Hunchback).

On Sunday we visited the Musee d'Orsay, which houses a lot of Monet's paintings, as well as several other impressionist artists. It was by far my favorite museum on the trip!

After the museum, we walked over to the Champs Elysees area where the Tour de France was scheduled to come in. We had to wait a little longer than anticipated, and the crowds were CRAZY, but we got to see them on their final stretch, which was insanely awesome!

We also ate at a couple of VERY good French restaurants Sunday -- Carre and Chartier. If you ever go to Paris -- look them up!

Monday was our 2nd anniversary. :-) We toured the Louvre...

Ate lunch on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower...

Subsequently attempted to go up the Eiffel Tower, but the top was closed...


so we walked around, hung out on the Champs Elysees again and ate dinner at Carre (again), and then returned for a final attempt at the Eiffel. We still didn't get to go to the top, but we did get up the 2nd floor!

The Tower also lights up for the first five minutes of every hour, and so we got to see that twice -- pretty awesome. We have a video but I can't figure out how to load it. :(

Tuesday was meant to be our Versailles-day... but, frankly, we were exhausted! Even though it was only 70 degrees in Paris the whole time we were there, the excessive walking, crazy meal times, and weird sleeping patterns left us super-tired. So we slept in on our last day, taboo as that may be. We bought souvenirs. We walked around our favorite places one last time. We went to the Lafayette Galleries and La Madeleine.

And then we packed and packed and packed some more

And at 4:45 Wednesday morning... our European tour was over. :(

It was sad. Maybe it's because I had been before, or maybe it was just because Eric was with me, but Europe actually felt a little homey this time around, at least more than I thought it would.

Don't get me wrong, I was happy to be back in my apartment in my own bed with my sweet cat and home-cooked meals. But would I go back?? In a heartbeat!!

Anyway, thanks for reading, and kudos for making it through!! Feel free to check out all the upcoming details of our not-so-exciting regular lives. :-)

Until next time... Bonsoir!

Europe Revisited, Part 2 - Firenze

Apparently my Sunday afternoon nap has left me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this evening. So how about some more reflections on our European adventure?

So by Tuesday, 7/20, a week after we arrived in Europe, we were pretty exhausted. The heat and constant physical strain were way more taxing than we had anticipated, and we almost skipped this lovely side trip to Florence. But, oh, we were so glad we didn't!

When we first got off the train, we were greeted by the sight of the lovely Basilica di Santa Maria Novella. This is not to be confused with the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, or the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Are you figuring out that Santa Maria has a lot of churches?

This particular one was interesting because of it's unique, and, admittedly, totally wacky architecture. You can't really tell from this pictures, but apparently the first part of the church was built in the 10th century. The last addition was finished toward the end of the 15th; and, go figure, style changed a little bit in those 500 years or so, and so everything is totally mismatched. It's pretty eclectic and I like that. It's also filled with old Italian art... I didn't like that so much. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of fresco work that included really incredible detail, and that's certainly something to be admired; but there were also some really disturbing pieces that depicted some pretty vile things and they kind of gave me the heebie jeebies. But maybe I just don't understand art? Anyway, we were pretty glad to get out of there.

After leaving Santa Maria della Salute and tracking down the biggest bottle of water we could find, we stumbled around until we found the market, which was uber-cool.

I hope you appreciate that I spared you the pictures of raw meat hanging around (though I should point out that it was extremely sanitary compared to similar markets in Mexico).

We also appreciated the live music...

And, Eric's favorite, the "Il Padrino" shirts that were for sale everywhere.

The highlight of our day was visiting the Duomo...

And climbing up it's 150 meter dome.

150 meters doesn't sound like a lot, right? At least I didn't think so. My friend, let me tell you, those were the most grueling 400-some-odd steps of my life. The staircase was akin to those you see in fairy-tale depictions where the princess is locked away in the top of a castle that is guarded by a dragon. It wound and it curved and then it wound some more. And just when you saw the light of the sun, an experience you were beginning to doubt would ever happen again, you realized you had to climb a ladder up another 50 feet. Whoever designed the Duomo was NOT looking ahead to the 21st century. Nevertheless, the view was worth it, and if I had it to do over again, I would.

We finished the day off with a walk down the Arno River...

And a visit to the Accademia where Michaelangelo's David is kept. Sadly, we were not allowed to bring our camera in to see David. But it probably wouldn't be very proper to post pictures of him on the blog anyway (for obvious reasons). We were definitely shocked by the massiveness of the statue, though. It was at least 15-20 feet high before they put it on a pedestal, and now it's 5-6 feet taller than that. My eyeballs looked directly at his feet. How Michaelangelo managed to carve that sucker without modern machinery is a mystery to me!

After seeing David, we returned to Bologna in time for an evening meal and gelato. Then we spent Wednesday recuperating from our week of Italian fun before heading on the rest of our journey. I say recuperating... I actually spent the day washing clothes in the bathroom sink and then attempting to dry them with a hair drier that was possibly as old as David himself. And I ended up staying up until around 3 the next morning doing just that. But that's one part of the trip I don't want to revisit!

Wow, it looks like I may have to extend the Europe blog to just one more post.... are you utterly bored yet? I hope not, because there's more to come soon! Be sure to check back! :-)

Europe Revisited, Part I

So it's been 2 weeks now since we've returned from the European extravaganza. I think I'm about ready to go back! (Okay, maybe once it cools down a little... I don't think we can handle 100 degree Roman days again.) So, two weeks late, here are a few highlights from our trip...

Rome was ridiculously hot and could definitely use better public transportation; but how could we complain? We got to see amazing things like...

The Trevi Fountain (7/14)

The Spanish Steps (7/15)

and Vatican City. (7/17)

Plus we got to eat amazing Roman food - including gelato every day! (7/16 - we explored all day and saw the Borghese Gallery at night).

We also got to enjoy using Rome's oh-so-colorful metro... LoL. And it wasn't just the metro that displayed what the Romans apparently herald as creativity.. there was graffiti EVERYWHERE.



On Sunday, 7/18, we traveled by train...


to Bologna, a town where we could definitely live. It was so incredibly peaceful compared to Rome!
In Rome, we basically had to run people over just to get a spot on the subway. Pushing people out of the way isn't exactly an action that fits into my personality description, but you have to do what it takes to survive. I don't think I've ever acted so meanly in my life.
So I was quite glad to arrive in Bologna, where we could stroll down the covered walkways and gaze into shops and never have to worry about getting shoved out of a bus (you think I am kidding -- it was a genuine fear).

Our hotel was huge, but super-outdated when in came to decorations...

The bed and walls matched too. LoL!

We did really enjoy hanging out on the Piazza Maggiore and seeing Ils Due Torre (The Two Towers... Now we know where Tolkein got the idea)....

and eating some delicious veal and pasta at Ristorante Donatello. Mmm.

On Monday, 7/19, we went to Venice. :-)


We went to some pretty amazing places on our trip, but I think the lovely Venezia was probably our favorite (Spiez was a close second!).

We took a water bus ride up the Grand Canal...

Toured a church or two...

and just enjoyed the sea air, the laid-back atmosphere, and a very short gondola ride. :-)

On the way back to Bologna that evening, we saw the most beautiful Italian sunset. Of course the picture doesn't do it justice, but we had to try!

Anyway, I'm sure that is plenty of Europe re-visitation for now. Tune in later this weekend for Part II. :-)