Europe- OCaaT- France

Ah, Paris! Because of things my friends had said, I was all set to be disappointed by France. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. I loved Paris (not as much as Switzerland, but...)! It helped that the weather was nice. It was rainy and cool while we were there. That also helped make it look clean and there weren't any weird smells people talked about (even on the metro).

So, the drive from Florence to Paris was long, we got some sleep on the bus so we were ready to go out the first night. The tour bus took us to the city (a group was on a Seine cruise, which we had opted out of) and we were off to see some of the sights. It was still a pretty good walk, but we got to do a little shopping, we saw Notre Dam, the Seine at sunset, and the Eiffel Tower. Notre Dam was pretty amazing. Every surface was covered in carvings. Every window, stained glass. Every tower had wonderful gargoyles that were just fun! We caught the light just right, sunset. Dad took some amazing pictures (including the night ones here). He has a great eye. Karen really wanted to see the illuminations of Paris. It doesn't get dark until 10:30 and we made it till the Eiffel Tower lit up, about 10 pm. Then we ventured onto the Metro. Having never lived anywhere with a subway, I am always amazed by the whole network. It really is incredible.

We made it back to our hotel (one transfer and 40 minutes later). And in the morning we went to the Eiffel Tower. It was so weird to think I was standing under (and going up) the Eiffel Tower. I have seen so many pictures and movies with this as such a prominent landmark, it was just somewhat surreal to actually be there.

After the Eiffel Tower we went to the Palace of Versailles. WOW! First of all we had lunch at a cafe nearby. It was the worst meal we had in all of Europe. It was a chicken sandwich with a weird sauce, and sliced hard boiled eggs. Luckily Karen and I shared it. We were both so hungry that we ate it as quickly as we could just to get it down. I also ordered a small soda, that we also shared. We then got our bill- 11 Euros. That is about $18. I looked and the soda alone was about $7! I could believe it. I turned to Karen and asked her why she let me buy a $7 soda. She said since it was our last day she thought I just didn't care and was going all out. I was so mad at myself for not looking at the prices closer. Grrr! The palace itself was incredible. You literally could not look anywhere without seeing some piece of artwork. It had such a luxurious, busy atmosphere. When we were done with the tour we were supposed to go to the gardens, however, it was raining and most of the group didn't want to tour them. So we only had about 15 minutes in the gardens. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have longer. About 3 minutes into our time the rain stopped and a little sun started to peek out. I would have loved to really tour the gardens and I hear there is even a little farm as well. But, oh well.

After the palace the bus left us off downtown again and Karen and I decided to walk from the Louvre to Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs de Elysees (is that spelled right. Karen commented that although we did really well with Italian, and OK with the German words, we were all horrible at French, oh so true!) and do some shopping on the way. Well, as I have said before, Karen and I seem to have a knack for picking the worst, most boring route. So, we found ourselves walking outside the wall to the Gardens of the Louvre. Why not inside? Exactly what we were asking ourselves as we felt water being splashed at us from the direction of the street. We freaked out momentarily while we went through all the logical questions of where it came from and what it might be. We decided that since it didn't smell, or leave stains it must have been your standard glass or water from those "rude and inconsiderate" Frenchman. It was a little unnerving to say the least. A little further down the road we found a park and a little food vendor. We decided to treat ourselves to a crepe (yes, they were selling them right there, just like hot dogs at home). We decided on nutella (chocolate/hazelnut creme). It was delicious! We had a hard time finding the metro entrance for the ride back to the hotel. According to the map we were standing right on top of it and yet we couldn't find it anywhere. We finally saw a man "disappearing" into the sidewalk and new that had to be it. Despite the water incident I would definitely like to go back to Paris. There are so many places that our day and half didn't cover. So many museums that we didn't even get a peek in.

Just a brief note about the trip home:

We got to the Paris airport with plenty of time before our flight. It was a good thing too. We were at the wrong terminal. We had to get a shuttle and then walk from Timbuktu and back to get to where we needed to be. We made it with time to spare. Our flight to Heathrow was uneventful (thank goodness). When we got to Heathrow we did a little Duty free shopping and had lunch (I had a really good hot tuna sandwich- totally made up for the sandwich I had in Paris). Then it was time to board. We had to take a bus out to our plane and then we sat on the plane for 45 minutes. There seemed to be some problem with the engine (nice). So we got off the plane and went back to the terminal to wait another 3 hours to board a different plane. I am all for safety so I was glad that they found this problem when they did. However, I just kept thinking, we would have been a tenth of the way there, a quarter, almost half way home by the time we actually got on the plane. It made for a very, very long trip home. It was so nice to sleep in my own bed that night!

Europe- OCaaT- Switzerland

Time to slow down and relax. We have come to Switzerland. At this point our trip takes a turn, from go, go, go to ahhhhh! I LOVED Switzerland. There was rain and cool mountain breezes. There was a comfortable bed and a door to the bathroom. There was chocolate and pastries. What more could you ask for. Scenic views, mountains, lakes? Check, check, and check!

We first stopped in Lugano. It was a quaint little lake town. There was a fountain where you could also fill up water bottles. We were stopping to have lunch. We couldn't find a place that we really wanted to eat at but we did happen upon a bakery. Karen said that she would compromise her desire to eat authentic Swiss food if we bought dessert. So, we ate at McDonald (the only time the whole trip), where I had a Happy Meal for approx. $9, and had these yummy desserts.

Then we traveled further into Switzerland and saw some stunning little towns and cities all along the lakes. We finally arrived in Lucerne. Our first stop was the Lion Monument. It was dedicated to all of the Swiss soldiers who fought in the French Revolution. It looked as if it was carved into the side of this cliff with a small pond in front of it. It was really quite a peaceful spot. We then were dropped off at our hotel. It was called the Grand Europe Hotel. Jenny told us to remember that Grand just means old. It was the only hotel that did not have air conditioning. It was also the only place on the trip where we didn't need it. We opened the windows and enjoyed the rain and cool breezes. Even with the train, we all got a goodnight sleep. Well, at least I did. We arrived on Sunday and everything was closed. So, Karen and I walked around town and just enjoyed it. We stopped at a church that was gorgeous. My camera died about then, so Karen took pictures for both of us. It was nice to be able to walk around and just take in the reverence that was there. Quite the contrast to our last Sunday, which was spent in Amsterdam.

The next day we work up to fog and clouds. We were supposed to go up the mountain, then on to a Swiss farm for lunch, then a free afternoon to shop. However, Jenny turned things around so that we would have a chance to actually see something from the top of the mountain. So, we went walked around town and did our shopping first. I even bought an authentic Swiss Army knife. I love it. It has edelweiss on it, so it is girlie even though it's a knife. There is a fun old wooden bridge in the center of town that we had to stop at to take pictures. And, I just couldn't resist this photo op that Karen a suggested. don't we make a cute couple.

The next part of the tour was my all-time favorite. Totally up my alley. We took a horse and wagon ride to a farm. The views were incredible. When we got there, we saw an old cheese house and had lunch. The farmer's wife had laid out a light lunch consisting of homemade breads, meats, cheese from their cows, pastries, crescent rolls with a cream filling, and fresh apple juice (from their 200 year old orchard). It was delicious. The clouds were still shrouding the mountains but the sun was starting to peek through.

From the farm we went to the base of Mt. Pilatus. From here we took the world's steepest cog railway up to the top (7000 ft). Then we took a gondola on the way down. The views were absolutely breathtaking. The pictures do not do it justice. When we got off the train we couldn't see much of anything. We were literally in the clouds. It was quite incredible and downright cold. The clouds lifted a bit and we were able to see a little bit of the view. However, it was the view from the gondola that really sealed the deal for me. Switzerland is the official winner. It won the "favorite place" award. I would go back in a heartbeat. LOVED IT!

We had two nights in Lucerne and I could have stayed for another week. It was a little piece of heaven. So, I think we were all sad to leave. The trip was coming to an end and we were headed to our last city, Paris!

Europe- OCaaT- Italy (part 3- Florence)

(side note- OK, it only took me 30 or so posts to figure things out. Post your pictures first, then you don't have to work through all those stupid spacing issues!)


Although I loved aspects of everywhere I went in Italy, Florence was probably my favorite. It really started the "slow down" part of our trip, which I very much needed after 10 days or go, go, go. The drive to Florence was wasn't very long so we got there fairly quickly. We then had a tour of the area and went to the museum that has the David by Michelangelo. It was absolutely beautiful. Pictures don't do it justice. You are see the veins in his arms and see the expression on his face in such clear detail. Incredible! Details are now slipping away and I can't remember what the golden doors are but I am stuck, again, by the details and intricate design that is EVERYWHERE is Europe. There is so much to look at- doors, towers, ceilings, doorknobs, there is art everywhere. Even the windows were fun to look at. We also learned that marigolds were put into the window boxes in ancient times to keep the bugs out. (Evidently they don't smell very good to mosquitoes and the likes so they stay away.)

Then we walked through Piazza Della Signoria. This plaza was where the David was until a "starving artist" defaced it. They moved it to a museum when that happened. There is a replica here to show where it used to be. There are also all sorts of other statues in this piazza. It was mind boggling to just see them out in the open like that. We went back in the evening and there was a flutist playing some incredible music. There were others selling this, however, since this is against the law (without a permit of sorts), whenever the police came by they would scoop up their belongings and walk nonchalantly into the crowds. It was amusing to watch. The building that is shown has something to do with the Medici family. (Sounds like I need to call Karen at this point, she actually kept a journal for the trip :) .)

That night we had a highlight dinner at a "Creperia". It was the best lasagna that I have ever tasted. I am pretty sure they used crepes instead of noodles. It was also the 1st course. We then had meat and potatoes. For dessert...tirimasu...again. This was the 3rd night in a row. We were tired of eating the custard out of the middle (since I don't like or drink coffee) that we had to find a gelato shop to end our trip to Italy properly. I go vanilla with nutella and Karen, after much debate, got the peach (it was delicious).

On the way back to the hotel we noticed that we almost had a full moon, it would be full in Paris. We had to stop and get some shots of this scene. It was beautiful.

Europe- OCaaT- Italy (part 2- Rome & the Vatican City)

We had two nights in Rome, which was great because I really needed a day where I didn't have to pack up all my belongings and put them outside my door by 6:30 in the morning. However, whenever we had more than one night somewhere I seemed to misplace things. It made Karen laugh but just irritated me. Being in Rome also meant that we needed to do laundry. (We ended up spending WAY too much but it was worth every cent to have clean clothes for the rest of the trip.)

We stayed in an old convent that was owned by the Vatican. It was kind of cool. Our rooms were not huge but had really high ceilings which made them feel bigger. It also had a pretty cool chapel that Dad pointed out to us one morning. He also got some great pictures of the grounds that we never even saw (woke up early one morning and took them while the rest of us slept).

Anyway, the history in Rome, as you can imagine, was incredible! The 200+ years the USA has is barely a blip on the 2000+ years on Rome. It was amazing to see the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, not to mention Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, the Pieta, and the Sistine Chapel. WOW!

We went on a walking tour the first evening. The bus took us to the top of the Spanish Steps and we walked down them (thank goodness they didn't ask us to walk up them). As a side note, the drivers in Rome are CRAZY! They just go! No matter what is in their way, they just go. I have also never seen so many Smart cars and I did in Europe in general. As a pedestrian you take you life in your own hands when crossing streets. And don't get me started on the scooters. They are worse then cars. Also, people double park everywhere. We asked Jenny what happened when someone needed to get out. She said that most of the time people just left there window open or the keys in the car and if you needed to get out you just moved the other car down enough for you to get your car out. Unbelievable!

On our way to the Pantheon we were blasted by a thunder/rain storm. I have never heard thunder like that before. It echoed off the buildings around us and I felt it in my bones. We found refuge in the entry way to someone's courtyard. There were about 50 of us holed up there. When it started to subside, Paulo, our local guide for Rome, took us on the rest of the tour.

That night we ended out tour in Piazza Navona where we ate real Italian pizza and a new type of ice cream by Tres Scalini that was so rich it took four of us to eat one scoop.

The next morning Paulo took us to the Vatican. It was incredible. I don't even know where to start. It was so intricate and so ornate. There were things to look at everywhere. I got a crick in my neck checking out the ceilings. We wore little earpieces so that we could hear Paulo describing everything even though he was talking in a regular speaking voice. This was really cool in the Sistine Chapel where I was able to sit down and listen to him while he was across the room. You can't take pictures of the Sistine Chapel but you can in the rest of the Vatican so these pictures are of other things we saw there. There was a whole room of maps that was really cool. Also, there were some amazing tapestries.

Then we went to St. Peter's Basilica. It was also incredible. We had to wait in line to get in and that was not fun. Did I mention it was hot in Italy? But once we were inside we were able to see Michelangelo's Pieta. It was beautiful. I don't know how to describe it any other way. The pictures do not do it justice.

We also got to go to the Colosseum. It was a little surreal to be sitting in the shadow of the Colosseum. I teach my students about ancient Greek and Roman history (emphasis on the Greeks, but still) so, it was kind of weird to be right there seeing these sights first hand.

The last place we visited in Rome were some catacombs. We went outside the city walls (shown in the picture below) and to an old church. We were not able to take pictures inside the catacombs but the grounds were beautiful and the statue here is from the grounds. The catacombs were very cool, literally and figuratively speaking. It was the only time in Rome where I could have used a light sweater.

The feelings and deep sense of history I got while in Rome are hard to explain. I would recommend if given the chance, definitely see Rome. However, I would highly discourage you from going in July!