Venice, Italy

Another wow day.

Today we were in Venice, and on approach, I wasn't sure that it was going to live up to my picture of it.  But it didn't fail!

We went on a quick walking tour of some of the islands.  That's what they call it, because each is technically seperated by a canal.  Very interesting.  Here are a few of the sights around Venice.  It was a very low key day.  After being at the Vatican just before this, I didn't feel inclined to stand in long lines for some of the churches.  The markets were wonderful though!  Fish, fruit, masks, everything.

View on the way in by boat

Doge's Palace

St. Mark's Square

Rialto Bridge

View from Rialto Bridge

Plague masks in the market

My first official Sfogliatelle!  This was a chocolate one, there was sooo much chocolate, thank goodness it was so small!

Bridge of Sighs

View from the gondola!

Our gondolier(?)  He was very friendly, we drank prosecco and he said it was better if he didn't sing.  But our coach driver, Firo, did sing... Baila la bamba, haha

Our next stop is Hoptgarten, Austria with a brief excursion for white water rafting!!

Some of you have asked about where all my trip is going so I give you this map, haha.   Currently we are at the area marked Tyrol.

ALSO!  My ankles are much better, no need to worry!  I picked up some sort of anti fluid retention thing... and it worked slowly, but I no longer have cankles.

I picked up some better allergy meds, the second hand smoke and pollution is just ridiculous   I have never seen so many smokers. Inside, outside, bars, cafes, vehicles!  I'm really lucky that no one on the bus smokes, gives my nose a reprieve from the bombardment outside.  Looking forward to clean mountain air!  Been missing the sun a bit, it's rained almost every day so far, with a few good days like Nice and today in Venice didn't start off nice, but it turned into a beautiful day.

Rome

ROME!
We are kinda staying out in the boonies, but that's not too bad, the hotel is the nicest yet.  On our way here I got my first glimpse of Sfogliatelle!  At a gas station no less, haha.  We're in Rome on a Sunday, and wasn't able to find a bakery that was open.

We did a fantastic walking tour starting outside the Colosseum, the Forum then to the National Monument for Vittorio Emanuele, the Trevi Fountain, a Gelato stop, the spanish steps, the Pantheon, and then to Piazza Nuvona where there tons of artists, I picked myself up a small water color here.

Outside the Vatican

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain
Threw in two coins, one to return to Rome and the other for good luck

Inside the Colosseum

Inside the Vatican, this was on our way to the Sistene Chappel.  No photos were allowed inside, but it was a beautiful walk there.  And then St. Peter's Basilica was just mammoth!  Definitely felt insignificant.  The Vatican was packed to the brim... and apparently it was a "light" day... 

Details inside St. Peter's

Just outside the basilica, the Swiss Guard at the entrance.

We met up at the Colosseum a little later for a guided tour of the inside and of the forum, absolutely fantastic.  I would recommend this to anyone.
After a long day, a few of us had lunch, souvenir shopping then made our way home by way of metro and a bus.  Feeling pretty good about getting around given the language barrier!
This morning was another day in Rome, this time in Vatican City.  Holy wow were there a lot of people.  Our tour guide was a little nuts and I know I didn't retain any information, but the sights were amazing.  here are a few of my favorites.  No photos of the Sistene Chappel, it's forbidden.  The St Mark's Basilica made me feel sooo small!
After that back to the bus and we spent just about all day on the bus getting to Venice or Venezia.  We had a lovely dinner, and tomorrow we will be set loose.  I'm excited to see what this amazing city has to offer!  So many good things in the next few days including a rafting trip in Austria.  :)  Keep you all posted as soon as I can.

Florence

Florence!
Another travel day, we were off to Florence with a pit stop at Pisa!
Ahh Italy!
We stopped at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, got some very comical shots!  Apparently there are engineers who are working bit by bit to "right" the tower, in hopes that it won't fall over.  We got of the bus and immediately were bombarded with people selling knockoffs.  Handbags, sunglasses, just about everything.  It felt like a very push New York.  The catch is that in Italy it is illegal to purchase fraudulent products, and comes with a hefty fine.  Why they aren't charging the people selling it, I'm not sure.

I've learned that the sellers don't listen to the women when we tell them no.  I have been down right rude, and they still try to sell it, but you get one of the guys to say it and they scamper off right away.
Some more driving brought us to Florence!  Which, all signs say Firenze, not Florence, so we were a bit confused when we stopped without seeing signs.  We took a group photo up on the hill at Piazzale Michaelangelo, and the view was freaking fantastic!  This could be my new facebook photo I love it so much, haha.

We had dinner at La Certosa, and I'm sorry Mammacita, but that was the second best lasagna I have ever had.  :)   The entire dinner was fantastic from start to finish.  Starters of meats, breads  and spreads (my favorite was the Olive tapanade, but really they were all good).  Then entree of lasagna and penne pasta followed by steak and potatoes.  Dessert was...  I can't remember, but it certainly wasn't cheesecake.  My favorite way to end an Italian meal, lol.

The night was far from over, after that we went out on the town to a place called Space Disco.  At first it seemed pretty low key, a free drink and some karaoke   Then they opened the upstairs.   Tons of people, lots of dancing, it was fantastic!
The downside.  The Italian men.  Oh boy... I should preface this by saying that I don't frequently have to fight people off with a stick, but tonight was an exception.  Of the three that came and were super forward, my most clingy suitor continued to come up and tell me I was beautiful, dance too close, try to kiss me, and when he missed and got my neck, he was not discouraged.  Thankfully I caught the eye of a friend, and she saved me... three times.  Boy did not get the message!  Haha.  Oh well, strength in numbers, and I found a great spot to dance uninterrupted.
Florence didn't end there though!
We had the next morning in Florence.  We started off at a leather shop called Leondardo's that smelled amazing.  Beautiful, supple leader, so soft.  It also came with a hefty price tag.  Florence is also known for their jewelry, and we were able to play with puzzle rings and such.  I picked myself up one as a souvenir.
 
When we started the day it was a light rain.  We had been warned that we should wear "Church dress" if we wanted to go into any churches - no shoulders or knees showing.  But it had been so nice the day before I dressed lightly.  Capris and flip flops and a nice top.  Well... it poured.  Like torrential downpour.  I teamed up with Matt and we bough cheapy umbrellas off a sales person for 2 Euros, he wanted 5 each, so we got a pretty good bargain. :D
After that we went on a walking tour, splashing through puddles, and ended up at Il Duomo, beautiful structure that I had just read about in a novel.  There was a smaller building I was trying to find, but was unable to locate sadly. :(

Ponte Vechio

 Il Duomo

Quick lunch and then back on the coach.  You like that word?  I've been saying bus all along, but it isn't catching on, so I'll give in to their word choice.  Seems much more appropriate for our traveling needs anyway.
Off to Rome!

French Riviera

Yesterday was another travel day.  We did stop off at a French perfumerie called Fragonard.  We got to learn how perfumes are made and then got to go shopping in their store.  Lots of amazing smelling things there!  Lilac is one of my favorite scents, and they didn't have any that included that but there were some delightful Lily of the Valley and Violet smelling ones.



For the evening we could either stay in or go to a place called Wayne's Bar.  It seemed a typical bar, lots of people, live band, that is until about 11pm... The live band moved to "the pit" where our tables were, and after about 2 songs, people were literally dancing on the tables.  Not because they were trashed, and there were no lampshades involved.  That's what this place is known for, the seats and benches got pushed under the table to clear the aisle, and people danced -all- night on the tables.  The band was excellent, and it was a great experience!

This was our free day in Nice, I enjoyed the ocean, and a bit of sightseeing, but not much.  I'm working on a pretty killer backpack tan.  I didn't take my camera out during the day but have a few photos from Monaco!

For dinner we went to Monaco.  If you don't know, the Monaco Grand Prix is happening right now, and most of the guys on the bus were drooling at the cars.  We walked up to the Prince's Palace and had dinner at a place just off the plaza, then walked down to the Grand Prix track where there were some bumping parties happening!  We made our way to the Monte Carlo Casino.  Some people went a bit crazy, but it was fun to look at such an opulent space!  No photos allowed, so I have nothing to show for it, but it was a lot of fun.

On an odd note:
You can't buy any sort of medicine from anywhere but a pharmacy.  Today I made my first trip to one, because my ankles have been the size of grapefruits!  Holy moly.  They weren't painful, but a little sore.  Someone said it was cause I was retaining water, not sure, but hoping for smaller ankles soon!

Lucern, Switzerland (catching up and can't remember what day of the trip I'm on, oops!)

Today we drove to Lucern, a beautiful drive from Paris into Switzerland.  Once there we drove up Mount Pilatus where our chateau was.  You read that correctly, not a hotel, but a beautiful perfectly suited chateau.  We nearly put the place at capacity!  (Only 2 rooms were leftover.)

Here is the views, it was cloudy, but still beautiful!

Dinner at the hotel, and then drinks on the patio for the evening.

I'm condensing these two days mostly because the travel day didn't leave much else.

SO!  The next day we took a gondola up the mountain.  The gondola towers were not as tall as they are at ski resorts like Kellog, but it took us 3 different gondolas to get to the top.  It was pretty overcast on our way up, but today was really about the experience.  The closer we got to the top, the more the Aussies and New Zealanders started to get more excited, there was a small bit of snow and they were all snapping pictures.

When we got to the top was their real surprise.  Not only was there snow at the observation point, but it was snowing.  They were like kids at christmas, many of which had never seen snow before, I found it hilarious, taking photos of them playing in it, snow angels, snowball fights, and literally throwing it up into the air and letting it fall over them.

After a big of fun at the top of the mountain, we took the world's steapest cog railroad to the bottom.  I was really hoping that it would feel like a roller coaster ride, something a bit dangerous, but it was very safe feeling, no need for a seatbelt.  We couldn't see it but apparently Materhorn peak is on Mount Pilatus, or can be seen from it?  Something like that, it was a bit difficult to decipher the German.

After that we went into town for a traditional meal - Veal Sausage and something akin to hashbrowns, I think
it was called rosti.  Along with our meal there was entertainment - yodeling, singing, spoons, and alphorns (I got a chance to try it out!)  We had some time to ourselves to explore the smallish city, then met up at a famous watch shop.  I had hoped I would come home with a Swatch, but the one I liked didn't have a long enough band.  The shop also had Swiss Army Knives!  TONS of them, with two special colors, white and silver, that you apparently could only get in Switzerland.  Very interesting!

The only downside to our stay was that the meals were a little lackluster and the hot water broke.  We all started our day with cold showers or none at all, haha.

Tomorrow we are back into France to go to the French Riviera's Nice!

Day 6

Oh whoa!  So it's day 6 for me, and only the second day on the official tour.  I can see that this is going to be an action packed few weeks!

Today we were set loose on Paris!  Ooooo ahhhh...  or Ooo la la perhaps.  I'm working on getting a map embedded into the post,, but that will have to wait til tomorrow.

Bus dropped us off at Musee d'Orsay, from there walked to Notre Dame.  Like I mentioned yesterday, everything is soooo much bigger than I can really describe and this famous church is no different.

The bells were chiming when I was there, and it seemed to go on for a few minutes for sure.  There was also a choir inside that I could hear from the outside.

It was absolutely another 10 mile day.  Mostly because I got lost, but I suppose that what's gave me the immersion feeling today.  After the Notre Dame I went to a smaller church known for it's leaded glass windows, they were beautiful!  

Then up to the Bastile.  Here I was supposed to take the Rue de Rivoli spoke of the 8 spoked circle, but instead went one too far and hopped on one that ran at about a 45* angle from what I was hoping.  Like most European cities, I was lucky when I finally was able to see the street sign, and knew I was in the wrong place.  I felt a little bit like a child's cartoon, where it zooms in on the map and shows the crazy route that the character took to get from point A to point B.  The point is that I saw much of Paris that I hadn't intended to see and I did eventually find my way to the Louvre. 

I took the very typical tourist photo.  

And then a walk through Jardin des Tuileres to L'Orangerie. Here is where I got to see 8 full panel pieces from Claude Monet's waterlily series.  Really fantastic to see it as the artist intended.  The gallery is specially designed to display his works in a semi panoramic fashion.  I learned that from reading the french info tables.  No I don't speak/read french, I was able to piece together from Spanish likeness and the diagrams thank goodness.

Yes, those are goats!

I just briefly have to thank my dad, who when I told him I wasn't going to take my tennis shoes looked at me very incredulously, but managed to nicely indicate I should probably take them with me.  Not only has the weather not been ideal (it poured today!), but my feet are being put through the ringer with another 10+ mile day on them, and boy am I thanking my lucky stars I brought them.

I should have never doubted you!

Tomorrow we are off to Switzerland for two days to stay in Lucerne.  I feel like a bad tourist  but I have absolutely no idea what I want to see there... except the Alps.  Long day tomorrow getting there, so there will likely not be any updates tomorrow.

Here are just a few random shots from lunch, and my brief morning of being lost, haha.  Paris had it's miner downs.  The metro... reeks.  There is a huge homeless population, and they are everywhere, not just in the metros.  As lovely as the dogs were, there was lots of dog excrement left blatantly on the sidewalk.  Most people were very patient with me as long I as I attempted to say a few things in French... very very limited French.  I have a whole different perspective as this was the first country I've ever been to where I didn't know the language. I felt a little bit lingually paralyzed by the end of the day.  I was restraining my natural urges for English, but didn't know enough French to communicate beyond pointing and yes/no/one and thank you.  Sometimes my first impression couldn't even be helped.  While most of the city was fantastic, I ran across one man who I hadn't said one word to, but he definitely spit on me as I walked past.  Oh well, after a silent tirade in my head I was able to literally wash my hands.  :)

Oh!  One more thing!  La Moulin Rouge!!  I'm pretty sure only the French could make semi-nudity that classy.  It was a fantastic dinner and a show last night!  I would highly recommend.