I can count to 462, can you?

May 26, 2009

We spent our day enjoying the sites and sounds Florence had to offer. Stepping into the Duomo we marveled at its simple decoration as compared to the many cathedrals we'd already seen. But the trip to the Duomo wasn't complete until we climbed the 462 narrow steps to the top of the dome, to look out over the whole valley. An incredible sight! Before the Duomo we stood in another museum line to see the David. The hilarity ensued when Ben picked up his camera to snap a photo and this giant woman came screaming at him in heavily accented english, "NO PHOTO!" Now, we're good tourists and we heed signs that prohibit photography and we hadn't seen one. After five minutes of searching, we finally found one sign printed on a normal piece of paper hanging high on the wall. Perhaps you wouldn't have to employ that absurd woman if you invested in a decent sign people.

Our illicitly obtained photo of the statue of David

The outside of the Duomo

The dome

The view from the top of the Duomo, worth every step

No "kid"ding around...

May 25, 2009

This was the most frustrating day our trip by far. Knowing we couldn't leave Rome without seeing the Sistine Chapel we waited the hour required to enter the Vatican museums. And we saw the Sistine Chapel. And that was about it. So packed in with tourists, with barely enough room to move our elbows, the museums were so crowded that we found our tour difficult to enjoy and after a short time we decided our best bet was to make our way to the Sistine Chapel and resolve to come back in the off season to see the rest of the museum. After our Vatican jaunt and a delicious neopolitan pizza lunch, we picked up our car and headed for Florence. Three hours of beautiful Italian countryside, followed by a quick, late dinner and off to bed, exhausted from our travels.

Because it was so crowded, it was difficult to get any high quality pics,
but I couldn't leave without a pic of the goat, I heart him

Our Roman Holiday Continues

May 24, 2009

Sightseeing galore. St. Peter's, both the tomb of the Popes and the Basilica, the Colosseum by day, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and a walking tour that took us along the beautifully tree lined river and through some Roman neighborhoods that made me wonder what it would be like to just pick up and move. We ended our day with some of the best food of our trip (not THE best, hold for Firenza on that but certainly close). Eating on an open rooftop patio, we enjoyed carpaccio, authentic carbonara, perfect, flaky sea bass and delicious Italian wine with each course.

The length of St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's assembled for a Papal Mass

This inset was called "Conversion of the Pagans" - last I checked the best way to get someone to do what you want is to stand on them, literally or figuratively. okay, off my soapbox, this one just one of those things that irks me.

Ben was getting photo happy and snapping lots of me. Ignore the crazy hair, but notice the cardigan, worn especially for the modesty police.

The Spanish Steps - clearly quite full of tourists, but we made our way to the top anyway

The exterior of the Pantheon

The dome of the Pantheon

The interior of the Colosseum

An Italian Whirlwind

Yes, I realize it has been, I hate to say it, nearly three months since I last posted. And I'm still catching flack about not having said anything about our Italy trip. So starting here is a whirlwind tour of our Italian vacation.

May 23rd, 2009

We arrived in Rome on Saturday after a few hours spent waiting in the airport. We caught a terrifying* cab ride into the Centro Storico to our hotel (*Italian cabbies are like Greek ones, they believe death and/or maiming do not apply to them while behind the wheel). Checked into our lovely, air conditioned hotel without incident then set out on foot in search of dinner. We stumbled into a place just up the street that had a touristy vibe but the food possibilities seemed worth the risk. Three delicious courses later we found ourselves back on the street meandering our way through the tourists at the Trevi Fountain. After the fountain we wound our way through the quieter streets toward the Colosseum, which all lit up at night, is a sight to behold. After we'd looked our fill, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

The Trevi Fountain at twilight (thanks to Ben you can't see the throngs of tourists scattered in front of the fountain, pays to be tall)

The Colosseum at night

The theme of the day is death

Friday, May 22, 2009

Thanks to our early night on Thursday, we were up and clean by the time Alyce arrived off the 830 train. We quickly found our way for breakfast and used our cafe time to plan our itinerary for the day. We wanted to check out the Parisian catacombs, a subterranean bone yard filled with 19th century Parisians, so we headed for the cemetery to which they were supposedly connected. We wandered around the cemetery, stumbled upon the grave of Simone de Bouvoir and Jean-Paul Sarte, renowned French philosophers and lovers, and finally found an attendant to tell us we were in the wrong place and needed to go back to where we'd come from. Laughing all the way, we headed back to the "little green building" alleged to mark the entrance to the catacombs but on arrival were confronted with such a long line we immediately began to decide where to go next as there was no way we were waiting.

(Headstone of Simone de Bouvoir and Jean-Paul Sarte)

Leaving the catacombs we intended to take the most direct route to the Pantheon, an historic church and the final resting place of many famous Parisians. But meandering a little bit seemed to serve our purpose better when we found another outdoor garden worth walking through - complete with a fountain we managed to make asses of ourselves playing around.

Eventually we did make it to the Pantheon. But took one look at the 8€ entry fee and opted to take some lovely photos of the ceiling and depart.

(Ceiling on the Pantheon)
(One of the closed but cool looking entry doors to the Pantheon)

After the Pantheon we meandered our way back to the Island on which Notre Dame sits, hoping the morning line would be more manageable than the afternoon's before. And it was. We waited about ten minutes to enter the world famous cathedral. Having lived through the claustrophobia caused by all the tourists inside once, Alyce opted to rest on a bollard outside while Ben and I went in.

(The face of Notre Dame)
(The cathedral's rose window)

Leaving Notre Dame we made our way through the city in pursuit of a little Bistro Alyce had tried before and enjoyed and as usual, her recommendation was exactly right. We each enjoyed delicious French fare, Ben even trying another French specialty of sirloin steak with charred thyme. After our yummy lunch we headed back to the Centre Pompidou and rode the elevator and many escalators to the top to enjoy a lovely view of the city. While the museums here boast an impressive collection of art, we opted to just enjoy the view.

(Sacre Coeur, the highest point in Paris, as seen from the top of the Centre Pompidou)

After descending the many escalators again we made a quick stop in the square outside to decide where to next, ultimately choosing to visit hôtel des invalides, home to the French military museums and Napoleon's tomb. Busy and tourist filled like every other site we'd seen, we decided to see Napoleon's tomb first and then make our way into the museums. Ornate and austentatious, Napoleon's coffin is designed as six individual coffins that fit inside one another like a set of Russian dolls.

(A tiny Alyce and Ben in front of the entrance to Napoleon's tomb)
(Napoleon's tomb)

Our visit to Napoleon's tomb led naturally to visiting the French military museum. It was weird. And dark. The whole museum was set up in a long aisle with doorways extending off every so many feet. The central hallway was littered with swords, muskets and revolvers. Each room held relics of 17th and 18th century French warfare, with special emphasis on textiles.

After Invalides we decided it was time for a rest and headed back to the hotel for a nap. An hour and a half later we were back on the street headed for La Coupole, a restaurant every guidebook we had between us recommended. Unfortunately, the place was a bit too touristy and overpriced, but as always we enjoyed the company so much it didn't matter. We laughed and ate well into the evening until we were too full and sleepy to do anything but meander back to the hotel and pass out. But it seemed that knowing we wouldn't see each other again for a while kept us awake and we chatted and laughed until well after midnight and occassionally at a volume that we worried might get us yelled at by the hoteliers!

Exploring what Paris had to offer

Thursday, May 21, 2009

We began our morning hunting for a boulangerie for the breakfast pastries to which we'd already become accustomed. Ironically, the place we decided on was the same bakery (in a sea of Parisian bakeries) that A&D had found and fallen in love with on their last trip to Paris. After our breakfast and sizable cafe au laits, we trooped into the metro bound for the Louvre.

Upon arrival we made our way to the Ancient Mesopotamian area which turned out to be a good decision. Although this exhibit has the Code of Hammurabi, a very famous archeological find, the throngs of tourists just didn't seem to share our interest, which was great! After meandering through that exhibit we moved on the Egyptian antiquities exhibit where we were greeted with all the humans we'd managed to avoid all morning. Rather than wasting our time in exhibits we could neither see nor appreciate due to the heavy volume, we decided to go find lunch and then come back to see a couple of famous pieces we felt we couldn't come to the Louvre and ignore, the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. But en route to the exit we got turned around and found ourselves face to face with armless Venus. Checking that off our list we managed to find our way out and to a small bakery for the French sandwiches A&D had also managed to hook us on.

(The upright famous Louvre pyramid)

(The Code of Hammurabi in the Ancient Mesopotamia exhibit)

We enjoyed our lunch in the gardens nestled next to the Louvre before re-entering the building in pursuit of the Mona Lisa. Weaving our way into another wing of the building, we found Da Vinci's masterpiece surrounded on all sides by more photo snapping tourists. We got close enough to take a look but not to take a photo. If you'd like to see the Mona Lisa, I'm sure you can google her ;-).

As an aside, my disdain for tourists is probably showing. I realize that Ben and I were also playing tourist, but the tourists I am clearly judging are those who walk slower than a hip replacement patient, gaping all the while and paying no attention to the people they a) run into, b) stop fast in front of and force crazy course corrections or collision or c) blind with their flashes because they clearly can't heed signs that say "no flash photography." I do not like these people and I wish they would go away. That said, we still made the best of our surroudings, just trying to be patient with the lines, something that is particularly hard for me as I lack a "patient" setting.

After our Louvre visit we headed for Notre Dame. The cathedral is located on one of the Seine's islands. When we arrived the lines to enter the church was too long that we decided rather than waiting we'd try back in the morning and instead walked around behind the cathedral to see the flying buttresses and to sit in the gardens and decide where to go next.

(The rear of Notre Dame and its flying buttresses)

After Notre Dame it was time to see some of the lovely green space Paris had to offer, so we walked to the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was a huge garden filled with Parisian and tourists alike sitting in little green chairs enjoying the lovely weather. By the time we finished our walk through the gardens our feet were achy and we were ready for an early evening rest before heading out for dinner so we meandered back to our hotel.

After a quick rest we set out for dinner. But we couldn't decide on which place to eat so we wandered around for a couple hours, getting very hungry, but still exploring the city. We finally decided we couldn't leave France without at least one more crepe so we settled on the Creperie Bretton for our evening meal. Delicious and, because of its Brittany roots, serving salty caramel crepes. After dinner we turned in, knowing we'd need to be up early the next day to be ready for Alyce's 830 arrival.

Au revoir Brittany, Bonjour Paris!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Our morning was bitter sweet. While we were excited to be heading to Paris, neither of us wanted to say goodbye to A&D. We'd had so much fun together, we contemplated whether we could bribe them into coming to Italy with us too! But we had to settle for saying goodbye to Dave and knowing that at least we'd get a bit more time with Alyce in Paris. Before heading out we grabbed a quick bite of breakfast and acquired the best souvenir possible - 4 jars of incredible, homemade, still warm, salty caramel!!

During our time there A&D had been nice enough to suggest some places we might like to stop en route back to Paris. We decided to stop and see the Cathedral at Chartres and were glad we did. Unlike most cathedrals, which strive for symmetry between their large architectural elements, this cathedral prides itself on the opposite. Due to its staggered construction, the cathedral is comprised of one truly Gothic looking spire and one much more Romanesque.

(The cathedral at Charte from the front)
(The rose window in the nave of the cathedral - the photo is a
bit overexposed, but you get the picture)
(Flying buttresses at the rear of the cathedral)

After our stop in Chartres, we made the remainder of our journey to Paris and, with the help of our GPS, found our hotel without incident. Once checked in we had to return the car to Europcar, a trek of two miles straight up a single road. This certainly sounds as easy to you as it did to us. Nearly an hour later we handed the keys over, so thoroughly stressed from the traffic we'd both nearly forgotten we weren't still living through DC rush hour. But we used the walk back to our hotel to relax and by the time dinner came around we'd managed to forget about our traffic nightmare.

We enjoyed dinner at Le Cerise ("The Cherry"), a restaurant A&D had recommended, before heading down to see the Eiffel Tower at night. Our guidebook had mentioned that while we would still encounter tourists, seeing this spectacle at night would be more relaxed and far less crowded. We arrived just in time for the 10PM lighting and we were pleasantly surprised to find the book was right, some tourists, but not nearly the mob scene you'd expect during the day.

(The Eiffel Tower lit up)

(The Eiffel Tower from the opposite bank of the Seine)

After our ET visit, we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and walk along to Seine to the Champs Elysees and up to the Arc de Triomphe. The Champs Elysees, while glitzy and glittering, held very little appeal. Yes, it's a material Mecca, lined with couture shopping, but window shopping for things we can't afford has never appealed to either of us, so we moved quickly up the road. Planted in the middle of a giant traffic circle at the end of the Champs Elysees sits the Arc de Triomphe, memorializing France's military participation beginning with Napoleon.

(The Arc de Triomphe at night)

After walking under the roadways to see the inside of the Arc, we decided it was time to turn in. Got a little lost on the walk home, but all in all, a great day!