Roma

Our hotel (Hotel Gerber) was in a quiet residential neighborhood just outside of the Vatican city... so nice and modern with free internet access that we took refuge here often for longer than other cities.
Rome is to us a sprawling city, a mix of the ancient and new. And I marvel at how the locals just blend perfectly while living in both. It's incredible how old it is! We went from the Colosseum to the Roman Forum, imagining what it was like to be in the Senate and invited to Caesar's house for dinner.
The Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica was even more grand than I've imagined from reading/studying in the past. The pope was in his summer's residence; perhaps that explained why our line was not long, but the crowd through the museum was still massive. At the infamous Sistine Chapel, we stood elbow to elbow with likely a hundred other tourists, snapping illegal pictures of the ceiling. The poor Italian guard just gave up, knowing that people will just take pictures anyway, and it was a humongous crowd.
We love the night walk through Rome among the locals. From the pizza of the people to the Spanish steps, Rome really came alive at night- full of artists, entertainers, musicians, and local teenagers hanging out and tourists (me) licking gelato through the whole walk. It was here that I heard a German guy play the banjo and singing Sweet Home Alabama. So much fun.
We hopped the intercity train to Orvieto, Umbria, one of he hilltowns of Tuscany. Not like the book, but plenty quaint. Good food, wine and souvenir shopping- perfect day.

Better pictures are on the DSLR and not load-able to Blogger. Sorry.

Cinque Terre

One of our favorite cities.

We arrived at Vernazza mid morning and climbed lots of stairs to find Monica's rooms up atop the hills, next to her family's restaurant. We immediately felt like part of the family. She was so welcoming, introducing us to her family, walked us through her own house, offered us her boat to use whenever we wanted. Nice!

We hiked the Cinque Terre romantic path starting with Riomaggiore and ended a bit past Vernazza (we didn't have the energy to finish at Monterosso and it was getting late). The views are spectacular along the way. The towns seemed to be teetottle above these incredible cliffs that dropped straight down to rocky beaches, sprinkled with fruit trees, various green bushes, cacti, and grape vines. There were areas where one could jump into the pristine blue and warm water. It was at times a difficult hike, and we were glad that we wore our hiking shoes as I did see many with blisters and band-aids.

We took out Monica's family row boat that afternoon/evening after our hike to get a different view of Vernazza. A bit hesitant at first, but once Quoc was comfortable with the boat outside the harbor, we had lots of fun exploring, but still not too far from shore. We swam in the ocean briefly; the water was pleasantly warm and refreshing.

Dinner was at Monica's family restaurant. She reserved a special table for us, overlooking the ocean, at sunset. We could see Monterosso in the distance, lit up as the sun dropped below the horizon. Great food, perfect ambience. It was one of our best meals.

We were sad to leave Vernazza and its welcoming, warm, hospitable local hosts and its seafood. We definitely will return and stay longer next time. Next stop, Roma!

Vernazza, where we stayed

Florence, Italy

There was no line for the Academia! We quickly finished our gelato and walked straight in. August is apparently a slow month for tourism here. We couldn't photograph the ginormous and beautiful sculpture, and after several rotations around David, we left for the infamous Mercato. The outdoor market reminds me so much of Vietnam, but in Italian. Stalls and stalls of goods, bargaining is welcomed and the occasional commotion caused by the Italian police chasing down illegal vendors, selling fake Louis Vuilton and Gucci bags. I had fun bargaining here, and we bought some small things, as we have determined to travel with backpacks only, no check-in luggage. However, if I have the opportunity next time, we'd take less things and buy more in Florence!

We skipped the Uffizi museum as we didn't make reservations, but we are pretty done with art for a while, anyway. More gelato, pasta and table wine please. A walk to Ponte Vecchio and around the city in the evening ended our quick stop here. I'd come back I think, but only for the shopping...

Fake David where the real one once stood, as we couldn't photograph the real one legally.

Europe continued

Venice, Italy

The morning train stopped at what seemed like a dock on a wide river. We didn't sleep well last night on the couchette. Mine sloped towards the left and the French man above me was snoring. However, I was grateful to have mostly slept through the long journey through southern France and saved a night's hotel stay. We stepped out of the train, groggy, but my eyes were once again wide opened with amazement. To watch on TV vs. seeing Venice in person is completely incomparable. Mansions, theatres, museums, houses seemed to float on this winding body of water. It's old, some are even moldy, but so very beautiful.

We hopped on a boat-bus down the Grand Canal and checked into our hotel, a pensione just shy of the Rialto Bridge. Right outside, the mercato has just started, stands of fruits, vegetables, meats and loud chatters (as opposed to from the quieter mutters in France) of Italian rose gaily around me.

The loads of tourists that poured in from neighboring cities and cruise ships got the better of us, especially Quoc. It was thoroughly much too crowded. We skipped the Doge's Palace tour and didn't spend too much time in St. Mark's Square but opted instead to walk the back streets and find eateries, i.e., more gelato for me. We had squid ink pasta for the first time here, and discovered that Venice is more expensive than the parts of France where we've passed. The air-conditioned pensione proved to be more of a refuge than previously imagined.

After dinner, when most of the tourists have left, we took another stroll through the markets near the Rialto Bridge, where I bought a hand made leather journal, pondered about the Venetian glass but decided we couldn't travel very well with it. Around our hotel, a Venetian jazz band was playing - American and Italian songs alike, in front of a waterfront restaurant. People were dancing, licking gelato, drinking wine in the moonlight. We picked a spot near the water and joined in, pretended that we were locals. It was thoroughly romantic. I asked my husband what he thought about Venice now. "Well... you can't ignore all the water." I think he likes it, finally.

Europe Summer Trip Recap Continued

Beaune, Burgundy Day 5-6

We arrived in Beaune to find it small (compared to Paris!) but quaint and pleasant. The weather was perfect, and streets were filled with more locals than tourists. Wine and all things related to wine seem to be the town's livelihood. We knew we'd like it :) That night, we had one of my best meals (if not the best) of the trip in a Wine Cave (shop). Traditional southern French cuisine, escargot burguignon, beef burguignon and a tasty chocolate tart along with 3 different glasses of the region's red wine. I don't think I've had food like this ever, anywhere else! Quoc had a salad, and their version of the duck confit which he loved. We sat at a communal table, where we met an Australian couple who were extremely good company. The electricity went out momentarily during dinner, and suddenly, the whole restaurant burst into the same French song, as if planned. Later, it was explained to me that it's a well known drinking song, sang whenever someone drops a glass or an accident happens. Curious but fun!

We rented bikes the next morning, based on the recommendation of our guide book. Once again, Rick Steves was right on! The rental guy was a curious fellow, quiet, melancholic sounding but warmed up nicely after we mentioned we like Salvadore Dali. He recommended and drew out our route for wine tasting and got us free admission to the Dali exhibit in one of the vineyards.

Off we went. I had to remind myself that I'm not on my mountain bike. Once out of town, the view was breath-taking. Miles and miles of grape vines with little farm houses dotted the hills. Our route was for bikes only, and we stopped quite often to take pictures. After stopping at the first two vineyards and obtaining a premier cru bottle of Pommard pinot noir, we stopped along a bench to have our picnic. Having forgotten glasses, we drank out of the bottle (no one else seemed to mind), chewed on a freshly made baguette, along with goat and camembert cheeses and pate campagne (country styled liver pate) oh and a leg of chicken. Simple and delicious!

Onto the next town, sweeping views, cool air, and so we obtained another bottle- premier cru chardonnay. And we ran into that pleasant Australian couple again. It was a small town. They too were biking and drinking. Surprise we didn't get into an accident, drinking and biking :)


My friend Anne (an osteopathic physician from Lyon) drove down to meet us for dinner that night. I had frog legs with garlic and parsley- yum, and Quoc had some prawns dish and again good wine.

It was sad to leave Beaune. We were relaxed there, among wine connoisseurs, and where French food was perfected. People are nice and we were out of the self-imposed fast paced sight seeing frenzy. I wish we had more time there. But off we went, onto the only night train out of town. Next stop, Venice, Italy.

Europe Summer Trip Recap

As I didn't blog as I went along, here's my attempt to remember the details of our trip, with the help of pictures of course.

Paris Day 1-4
On the Roissy-Paris bus connecting CDG and city center at 7 am on Sunday upon arrival, the city was still quiet. The architecture shifts to what's old, foreign but beautiful. As I watched the scenery with my eyes wide opened, I realized it is Sunday and I need to come up with a plan as most businesses are closed.

Paris has one of the most efficient public transportation we've found, esp. the Metro. Our hotel is close to one of the stops and we can get anywhere in the city w/in 15 mins. We discovered Rue Cler neighborhood to be a quiet refuge (although we're only 10 mins walk to the Eiffel Tower) after a long day of sight seeing. Good affordable food among locals and savvy tourists, sampling fusion and very French cuisine, while sipping on house wine by the 1/2 litres- that's what we found ourselves doing most nights in Paris.

Our days were usually filled with sight seeing activities. The Louvre is way too crowded- we should have known as it is summer, peak season. However, I did not expect it too be this much! We breezed (still took 2 hrs) through the Louvre, spent more time at the Picasso, Rodin Museums. We enjoyed our walks through Montmartre, the Left Bank, Historic Paris, the Latin Quarter, the Champs-Elysee, with stops for crepes and pain-au-chocolat along the way. But we especially enjoyed our night time stroll to The Eiffel Tower, waiting for the light display that happens on the hour. There is always a picnic, and someone is playing the guitar. We played with our new lens on the camera and got some good pictures.

A side trip to Versailles was a definite plus. I'm glad we got the Paris Museum Pass as we did get to skip a lot of lines. Strolling through the Palace almost by ourselves as we got there early right when it opened, I imagined what it was like to be a noble person of the court, playing pool with the King :) The gardens to me is even more extravagant than the palace itself. It just keeps on going. We even made a side trip to Marie Antoinette's quarters and tired our little feet out. I highly suggest Keens and Smart Wool socks by the way.


Sorry, the photos we took exceed the allowed size for blogger. So I have to re-size them before uploading. In the meantime, see our Paris pictures on Facebook.