Sunday, November 07, 2010
Paris (con't)
On day two in Paris we decided to part ways.
I studied a lot of art history during my time in high school and college. Brian, studied a lot about the military (go figure). I wanted to go to the Louvre (as most people do when visiting Paris). Brian, did not. I didn't want to drag Brian along - I had seen that glassy look in his eye after only 20 mins at Musee de l'Orangerie, what on earth would the Louvre do to him??
Luckily, during our wanders the previous day, we happened to stumble upon a small building called Les Invalides...perhaps you have heard of it?
Basically this is a gold mine for Brian - it holds the Musee de l'Armee (Military museum) with lots of armor and guns and the whole history of the French military. It also holds Napoleans tomb.
BINGO - military museum for the husband, world renowned art museum for the wife. So, after a late breakfast of pain au chocolate and cappuccino (man I could get used to that) we went our separate ways.
The Louvre was amazing. Foolishly I didn't book advance tickets so I had to wait in a ridiculous line - but it was worth it (word to the wise - book your tickets ahead of time, you'll be so glad you did). Since I had limited time for my visit and wanted to make the most of that time I edited my visit to the main attractions:
- Ms Mona Lisa
- Winged Victory
- Venus de Milo
These are some of the most famous works of art at the museum - there are signs all over pointing you in the right direction and crowds of people clamoring to get a glimpse of these iconic masterpieces. To be honest, I like the two sculptures better than the Mona Lisa.
Heres the thing about the Mona Lisa (which I am sure you have heard before) - shes smaller than you would think. Shes behind glass and a rope barrier (for good reason, see photo below). At any given time there are over 100 people pushing and shoving each other trying to get a photo of her. I dont even think that they are looking at the painting and admiring why she is so famous in the first place. If it were anything else I would have just walked right by, laughing at the fools who are falling over themselves to see this painting. But...I thought that might make me the fool this time. So I too pushed my way to the front of the ropes and started snapping away.
Next up was Winged Victory and Venus de Milo
In short The Louvre was amazing. Considering I only covered about 1% of it in a couple of hours, it is easy to see how you could probably live there for a year (and by there I mean IN the Louvre, not Paris) and not see all of it.
We worked up an appetite taking in so much culture - next stop was a Paris icon...of a different sort...
Apparently Paris has a restaurant (though I use that term loosely) that is famous not for its cheese or Chateaubriand or pate. No, no. This place was famous for...
FALAFELS!!
Don't believe me? Check out the crowd outside this place (ps its called L'as du Fallafel incase you are in the 'hood)
Why are these falafels so famous you ask? One reason could be because they are cheap - even with the exchange rate this place is super affordable (especially in Paris) and the servings a generous. Or it could be because they are super fast - while you stand in line you pay for your falafel and get a ticket. When its your turn at the window, hand in your ticket and within 30 seconds you have a piping hot falafel in your hands. OR it could be because they are DELICIOUS. Thats probably the real reason. The others are just perks.
After we devoured our lunch standing on the sidewalk with 40 other hungry people from all over the world, we did some window shopping, tried to keep warm and got a snack. Then it was au revoir Paris - we were heading back to London for 12 hours to unpack and repack for our 12 day trip to Italy!
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Paris
As some of you know, Paris was the unofficial kick off to our two week vacation to Italy.
Stay with me.
Paris for 2 days - London for 12 hours - Italy for 12 days. Ok, so Italy was technically less than a two week trip. Details, people.
We took the Eurostar under the English channel early on Saturday morning. I cannot emphasis how pleasant it is traveling by train (at least on this train, that is). Going through customs is a breeze and happens before you start your journey, you only have to show up a half hour before the train leaves, and once you arrive - au revoir! No baggage claim or long transfer into the city as many airports have.
We immediately checked in to our hotel and set off to see the sites! First up - the Eiffel Tower. We had only seen it from a distance during our last trip to Paris and we were excited to visit one of the most iconic buildings in the whole world (building? monument? hmm...).
It was awesome. I think awesome is the only word that accurately describes it. And not in the "oh thats like totally awesome" high school definition of awesome. Its like "standing at the base of the Empire State Building and looking up" awesome.
Spectacular, that could work too. I should really buy a thesaurus.
After spending a couple of hours admiring and walking around the Eiffel Tower (and taking approximately 930483920854209 pictures of it with two cameras, god we are cool and dont act at all like tourists) we made our way across the river. I insisted we take in a bit of culture during this trip and managed to get Brian to go to Musee de l'Orangerie - where 8 of Monet's Water Lilies paintings are on permanent display. I had heard about the unique set up of the paintings from a friend and had to see it for myself.
The paintings are displayed in 2 oval rooms, 4 paintings to a room. There are sky lights in each room with filters over them to soften the daylight. The walls are a creamy white and there is a place to sit in the center of the rooms to admire and reflect. The paintings also curve with the walls of the oval rooms and seem to wrap themselves around you. I loved every second of it.
Except for the obnoxious tourists who kept taking photos of the paintings and getting in my way.
And then I thought, if you cant beat 'em - join 'em!
After that we were cultured out (ok, more like Brians eyes were glazing over and kept standing by the door) so we ventured out for some lunch. We decided to cross back over the river and "see what we could find". Sometimes you leave things to chance and they turn out just ducky. You stumble upon a hidden gem populated by locals. You find a wonderful bakery and eat a meal that consists of bread and cookies. And sometimes, you find nothing.
We apparently wandered into the only area in Paris that didn't have any restaurants. I will spare you the details but it included a lot of walking and two very cranky Americans.
Instead I'll skip to the good meal of the day - dinner. We asked the concierge to recommend a restaurant for dinner that the locals go to. We didn't want a tourist menu or anything fake french. We wanted the real deal neighborhood joint. Lucky for us that joint was only a couple of blocks away. We managed to snag a table without a reservation (although only barely) and dined on escargot, scallops and veal, and a delicious duo of desserts (creme brulee and chocolate mousse incase you were wondering).
Full of good food and a good bottle of wine we called it a night.
Coming up - day 2.
Où est-ce qu'on peut manger un casse-croûte?
Just kidding.
I looked it up on the internet. Pretty handy huh?
(ps - it means 'where can we get a snack' - food on the brain as usual)
Those my friends are two of the most delicious crepes I have ever had in my life.
In the back is Nutella with coconut and the one in front is Caramel Apple (you can't see it but there is nearly a whole apple inside that crepe that was all buttery and cinnamony and delicious).
And the cup in the front held the most amazing hot chocolate I have ever had (clearly this snack changed my life). YUM.
I dont really remember anything else from this snack experience as I promptly fell into a sugar coma and didn't snap out of it until we were on the train back to London. So worth it.
If youre in Paris you too can have a life changing snack experience - just stop by Creperie Suzette in the 4th arrondissement, they'll take good care of you.
Monday, November 01, 2010
Happy Anniversary!
While we were in Italy we celebrated our 2nd anniversary of moving to London.
Waaaaaa??
Two years.
Two.
Years.
How did that happen??
Stay tuned for updates on our trips to Paris and Italy. There are a lot of pictures from Italy (not only do we normally take a lot of photos, this time we had TWO cameras with us. Get ready) that I am *trying* to edit down before I post. Try being the key word here.
Teaser?
Ok, Ok...
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Bath time!
Grab your rubber ducky and towel - its time for Bath
Ha.
I'm funny.
Anyway, back to the story.
Our lovely friends Katie and Heather gifted us with a weekend in Bath as our wedding gift. We have been terrible at traveling around England and they knew it - this was a good way to "force" us to see some of the country. OK guys, twist my arm. We were only going for an overnight, and we really didn't do much research - we had heard great things about this charming town and we were excited to get out of the big city.
We arrived Saturday morning and had heard from some friends of ours that were in Bath over the summer, that there was a boat ride that you could take up the river and then walk back to Bath along the canal. We are suckers for canals (and we heard about a great pub that the boat takes you to - SOLD) so we got on board right away.
The weather started off cold and rainy, but by the time we wandered back in to town the skys were blue and the sun was out! Bath is full of shops and restaurants and we had a great time exploring the town. Saturday night we were treated to dinner at Hudsons Steakhouse (Brians favorite part of the wedding gift) and the meal did not disappoint. What did disappoint was the torrential down-pouring rain, but we got over it as soon as we were in the warm dining room.
Sunday we had heard the weather was going to be terrible (hence, the rain the previous night) but again the clouds blew away and we had blue skys! We saved Sunday to visit the bath houses - both the original Roman Bath which is now a museum and the new, modern bath spa that uses the same spring that the Roman bath was found on! We started off at the modern bath spa and enjoyed the steam rooms and rooftop pool (because the springs are naturally warm, the cool autumn temperatures didnt bother us!). After we were well relaxed we headed over to the Roman Bath and explored the museum, listened to the history of the spa and town and took in the views.
We have to give a great big THANK YOU to Katie and Heather for this amazing gift! We had a fantastic time on our trip and highly recommend it. Here are the rest of the pictures.
Next up - Paris and Italy...see you in 3 weeks!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Sail Away...the details
Hope you liked the teaser photo from Turkey. And yes, I really do want to go back. As soon as possible actually. Is now ok?
The trip started early - like 2:30 am early - and we travelled for many, many hours (4 hour flight, 2.5 hour car ride which actually turned into a 4.5 hour car ride due to road construction. Awesome) but as soon as we stepped onto Yarim Adalie (our humble floating abode for the next 5 days) we knew it was well worth the trip. The boat was big enough to sleep 12 plus crew members, but we were only 5. Lots of extra room. Bonus.
Our crew for the trip happened to be a family. The father was the captain, the mother was the chef, the son was the deck hand and the 4 year old daughter was our entertainment. Im not sure if that last was was intentional or not, but it worked out just fine.
I dont really have too many exciting details to share about the trip - our days consisted of waking up and going for a quick swim (which Brian literally slithered out of our bedroom window right in to the sea), sat down to a big breakfast spread, set sail for a neighboring island or bay, laid in the sun, sat down to a big lunch spread, swim, lay in the sun, move to our final location for the day, have a cocktail, sat down for a big dinner spread and finally when we were pink from the sun and full of delicious food we went to bed. And repeat.
Seriously, it was pretty much heaven.
And since we had all of our entertainment and food (and drinks) on board the boat already, we didnt really see a need to join society or see other people. We mainly kept to ourselves, sometimes waving to international passengers on a passing boat (if we felt like it). On the third day we went to Simi, a Greek island close to where we were. After we docked in the afternoon we wandered around the quaint tourist town and debated having dinner in a restaurant, instead of on the boat. We took one look around at the tourists and headed straight back to the boat. Much better.
As much as we travel and go on "vacation", this trip truly was a vacation. I didnt even feel the need to read the book that I had brought on the trip, I was so relaxed. Apart from getting to and from the boat, we didnt have to deal with other people, crowds, surely wait staff or annoying tour groups. We never knew how nice it could be to truly get away from it all. And now of course we are screwed. Its the only way we want to vacation from now on.
Since that wont be possible, I guess we'll have to make due with European cities and towns. Until our next sailing trip next summer....
Photos are here - please dont hate me.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Surprise!
It started off innocent enough...
Brian - "Hey, leave Saturday open we are going away with Sean and Adrienne"
Tracy - "OK cool, where are we going"
Brian - "I dunno, I gotta talk to Sean"
Oddly enough, I left it at that. If the boys wanted to plan something - fine with me!
Fast forward to Saturday morning at 8am, I was told that we were meeting Sean and Ado at Waterloo Station. Given that information I thought we were on our way to Brighton or maybe
the New Forest. Brian insisted that I wear shorts and comfortable sandals, even though it was a cold and gray British "summer" morning.
Being so early in the morning, I didn't pay attention to where the cab was headed. Suddenly, we pulled up to St. Pancras Int'l Station. Hmm...I was confused. We walked in side and the next
thing I knew we were in line for the Eurostar check in, and Brian was handing me my passport (that he so sneakily stached in his cargo pockets) and pulling out our LV Paris guide book.
SAY WHHHAAAATTTT???
Paris?
For the day?
Best.Husband.EVER.
Sean and Ado arrived shortly after, Adrienne and I doing a little happy dance knowing that we were heading out of the grey day in London and heading for sunny Paris! No wonder Brian
insisted I wear proper summer attire - in Paris they actually have real summer weather during the summer months!
A quick trip through security and boarder control and we were off!
What was the plan for the day? Absolutely nothing. Wander around Paris. Eat. Drink. Repeat.
Perfection.
I have a confession to make. Its a little bit embarrassing.
We have never been to Paris.
Yes, yes - I KNOW that we have lived in London for almost two years annnddd I spent an entire semester abroad in Italy. But, it just never made it on the list. Oh but now. Now its at the top of the list.
I
Loved
Paris
My first loyalty will always be to Italy, but holy crap. Paris is amazing. We didnt even see the Eiffel Tower or have a crepe or any macaroons (don't worry - we saved those for our weekend trip to Paris scheduled for mid October). What did we do?
We rode bikes.
Had an amazing lunch.
Wandered around the streets of Paris.
And we enjoyed a nice little spread of Paris's finest on the Eurostar home.
What a perfect day.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Ciao!
Sorry to leave you hangin like that - I didnt want to say anything about our trip until we had the flights booked (Im superstitious like that) and that took a little longer than I thought.
But now - the tickets are booked and my bags are practically packed (and yes I am aware that we arent leaving for another 2 months)
So...where are we off to for our extra two weeks of vacation this year?
so.in.love.
We are going to fly into Verona and spend a few days exploring the Dolomites. You know Brian and his mountains (as seen here, here anndd here). Since we are going in the middle of October, there is a good chance that there will be snow at the peaks already, so we are expecting to only do some low level hiking. The scenery is supposed to be amazing -
After spending some time in the mountains - we are off to Tuscany!
The exact route hasn't been finalized yet, but were hoping to cut through Emilia Romagna (hello Bologna), stop for a couple days in Florence (EEEEEE!!!!!!) and end up in Pisa where we will catch our return flight to London.
Reasons why I am excited to go to Italy:
1.Duh
2. Except for the couple days that we spent in Venice last year, this will be our first full vacation in Italy.
3. It will be the first time in SEVEN YEARS that I have been in Florence. Shameful I know. SEVEN YEARS! Wait...how old does that make me then?
4. Wine.
5. Pasta.
6. Bread.
7. Its truffle season
8. Wine.
9. FLORENCE!
Ok, I think you get the picture. Im excited.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Honeymoon?
1. we would be bored out of our skulls. Yes we like to relax as much as the next person (or rather, the IDEA of relaxing), but we arent very good at it. Im all about laying on the beach...for an hour or two. Any more than that and I get antsy. And if you think Im bad - bring Brian to the beach without any entertainment and you pretty much should have brought a 5 year old (no offense, hun).
2. a two week vacation in any one of the world class resorts on these amazing honeymoon-centric places would probably break the bank, in several places. So, as amazingly beautiful as those places may be, we knew they weren't right for us.
Things we knew we wanted for our honeymoon -
1. a mix of activities - sea, city, hiking, culture, beaches....we wanted it all
2. preferably someplace that was NOT in Europe. If we are going for two weeks, we can afford a longer flight time, might as well aim for some place far away.
3. we wanted to stay in nice, 4 and 5* hotels, pamper ourselves a bit (we deserved it!) and not go bankrupt (another reason for not choosing Europe)
Conclusion - Vietnam here we come!
Huh?
Viet...nam?
I actually love telling people that we've chosen Vietnam as the location of our honeymoon because I generally get a response like -
"Are we allowed to go there?"
"Isn't there a war going on there?"
"My dad went to Vietnam, ask him how he liked it"
And so on, and so on.
To be honest, Vietnam has grown in leaps and bounds as a tourist destination over the last decades or so. Sure, some of it is still a little rough, and there are MANY small villages off the
beaten path that dont have any cash machines/telephones/paved roads, but for the most part Vietnam has become a popular vacation destination. Major roads and highways are paved and easy (ish) to navigate (though you would never drive them yourself - hiring a driver to drive you around the country/city/region is cheaper than renting the car alone), the train system is frequent and fairly reliable (and a great way to cover a lot of miles while youre sleeping) and the number of world class hotels and spas is multiplying like bunnies every year. Basically - awesome.
We decided to focus on 3 cities/regions throughout Vietnam for our 2 week holiday. We would spend around 3 days in Hanoi/Halong Bay in the north...
5-6 days in Hoi An in the central Vietnam region (for the best beaches/maximum relaxation)...
and another 3 or so days in the south visiting HCM (Saigon) and the Mekong Delta.
Vietnam is a pretty small country sq milage wise - however it is long and skinny, so traveling north to south as we wanted to would probably several in country flights in order to cover it all in only two weeks. ONLY two weeks...we are so spoiled.
The wedding was in June, which made for a bad time to visit Vietnam. So, we decided to put it off until the fall. No problemo taking the honeymoon after the wedding - it gave us time to plan it and something else to look forward to. So we were thinking October. And then I spoke to a travel agent who said that Nov/Dec would be better, as we would have a better chance at avoiding the monsoons (avoiding monsoons - good idea). And thennnnn when said travel agent found out that we wanted to spend the most days in Hoi An, he suggested February. Or March. Or April. Huh? April? But thats like....10 months AFTER the wedding? Is that even considered a honeymoon at that point??
After lots of thinking (ok, probably about 8 minutes worth) we decided to be patient, put the Vietnam books down for a couple mos and move the trip to April. Of 2011. Im still telling EVERYONE I meet on the trip that its our honeymoon. So, now we wait for April.
The good news is that leaves us with an extra 2 weeks in our vacation bank for 2010....
Where will be spending these two weeks?
Anyone? Stay tuned to find out
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