Return to London

Day 1

I arrived in London at about 4:30 pm at Stanstead airport, then took a 2 hour shuttle bus to Victoria station, followed by a wait in line to buy my Tube ticket, and then 2 tube rides to get to the hostel.  By the time I'd arrived at my hostel it was about 8 pm.

I decided to stay in for the evening, and had my picnic lunch for dinner (including some cheese that I may have accidentally illegally imported from France).  I did some blogging, then went to bed.


Day 2

Today was a very busy day, as it is the last day of my trip to sight-see.

I started off by going to the National Gallery....only to walk in and realize that I'd been there the last time that I was in London...oops!  So I went around the corner to the National Portrait Gallery, to finish seeing the portraits there (I'd gone there last time I was in London, but didn't have enough time to see everything before they closed down).  The National Portrait Gallery is probably one of my favourite museums.  Every portrait includes a story about the person (and everyone's lives were quite scandalous 'way back when'), and there's portraits of royalty, politicians, and scientists (including many I recognized like Charles Darwin).

Afterwards I made my way to the Natural History Museum (I'd also run out of time the last time I was there).  I was really hoping to see the dinos, but they're currently closed until mid July...shucks!  So instead I paid to go into the special exhibition on reproduction, which was actually quite entertaining - learning about the mating habits of many different species.

After this I made my way across town to Old London.  I saw Shakespeare's Globe, and went to the Tate Modern.  Modern art is definitely not for me!

After this I went to a portion of the Evensong service at St Paul's Cathedral (I'd yet visited there) - but it wasn't really an Evensong, it was a full mass because today was St John the Baptist day, or something like that.  I didn't stay for the whole thing, but it was neat to see the inside of the church (though Westminster Abbey is much grander).

I returned to the hostel and changed into a dress, and headed off to see Wicked.  Where do I start, this musical is fantastic!  It tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, and its really well done.  The cast was great, the singing was great, and the time of the show just flew by (if only the line for the ladies washroom had moved that fast).  Since Colin will be seeing Wicked in Calgary, I decided to pick up one of the souvenir programs so that we could compare the two performances.  This was a really great way to end my final evening abroad!  What a great surprise gift from Colin.

I returned to the hostel exhausted.  I did some packing, then went to bed.....I have to be up early in the morning to catch my flight.

Annecy

During day 3 of my stay in Lyon, I decided to take a day trip to the French town of Annecy.

The town was beautiful (once I finally found the Tourist Information Office and got my directional bearings).

I ate my picnic lunch in the park near the lake (which is surrounded on two sides by a mountain range).  The scenery was really nice, but the mountains made me miss the Rockies a bit.

I then did a walk around the town.  I saw the old prison, the electronic gates which control the water level in the lake, and the castle - of course stopping for the requisite ice cream along the way.

The weather was gorgeous, clear blue skies and sunny.  Of course, the weather was nice until just before I left, at which point it started raining....but not a big deal, as I was on the train.  After returning to Lyon, I had my last dinner with Caro and Frank, then went to bed.

Lyon

Day 1

My first day in Lyon wasn't very long, as my train arrived at about 9:30 pm (at the airport).  My friend Caro was at the station to meet me.  We drove back to her apartment, where I also saw Frank.

Frank had cooked a dinner of eggplant with tomato sauce and cheese (kind of like eggplant lasagna), it was really good (Frank is a good cook).  We also had salad, bread, and then yogurt and French cheeses after dinner.  While in Italy I'd forgotten how much I enjoy French cheeses.  After the meal we hung out and caught up a bit before going to bed (I'm really glad my French has gotten much better during this trip, as Caro and Frank speak French at home).


Day 2

This morning I woke up and Caro and I went to the train station to see if we could book tickets to get me into and out of Paris on June 23, while giving me a few hours to spend there.  Bad news!  The chunnel train tickets were over 200 euros, so we scrapped that plan, and decided to look at flights.

We went to Caro's office at the univeristy, and I looked at flights.  I soon discovered that it was cheapest to fly directly from Lyon to London, so I decided to skip the second tour through Paris.  I'll be staying with Caro and Frank an extra night, then flying to London on June 23.

After figuring out all my flight info, I left Caro to do her professor-ing, and went to explore Lyon.

In old Lyon I saw St Jean Cathedral, including watching the astrological clock chime (I have a video of it, but can't post it here, so I'll put up a photo instead).

I then took a stroll through a traboule (a passageway between buildings which was built back when the city was a major silk production area - very handy not to get the silk wet when it rains).

I then used the funiculaire (kind of like a cable car made for steep hills) to go up fourviere hill.  At the top of the hill I went into Notre Dame Basilica, with its opulent top floor dedicated to Mary, and the less-than-stellar bottom floor dedicated to Joseph.

After this I walked to a scenic viewpoint, then on to the Roman Theatres.  The Theatres were really interesting, there's a music festival tonight, and the theatres are being used as one of the venues - a really neat idea to use ruins the way they were intended!  While I was there one of the performers for later tonight were doing their sound check, so I stayed around to listen to it for a bit.

I then made my way back to the university to meet up with Caro, then we went back to her house.  We all had dinner together (Caro, Frank and I), and had planned on going to check out the music festival, but it rained all evening.  So, deciding to stay dry (I've been cold and wet in the rain enough on this trip), we stayed in and watched some of the coverage of the Brussels festival on TV.


Day 3

I didn't really spend today in Lyon, I made a day trip to Annecy, so today will be described in my Annecy post :)


Day 4

Today was my last day (well, partial day) in Lyon.  In the morning I packed up, checked my bag in storage at the train station, then left to explore the last of the city.

Before starting my day of adventures, I went to the university to drop off Caro's house keys (which itself was a bit of an adventure because the tramway I needed to take is now under construction, so I had to take a shuttle bus).  At the university I checked my e-mail (for the first time in a few days), and guess what I got?  I got an e-mail from Colin with a ticket to Wicked for when I return to London!!!!  How great is that/he!!!  Walking on cloud 9, I said farewell to Caro (for now) and set off on the rest of my day.

Today I explored the Croix Rousse area of the city (where the silk used to be made).  It was an interesting area with a park with a good viewpoint (if somewhat obstructed by the trees).

I then waked downhill to the Roman Ampitheatre of the Three Gaules - another well-preserved roman ruins site, which I think was also used for the music festival on Day 2.

I made my way to the Place des Terreaux, where I saw a fountain by Bartholdi (the same guy who did the Statue of Liberty) and the Hotel de Ville (which is apparently not a hotel at all, but the city hall).

I then popped into Atelier de la Soierie, a silk workshop that still does old-school silk printing and screening by hand.  It was a really neat place, I may have bought something, but I can't say what.

My last stop in Lyon was another walk through the old town, stopping along the way to get some ice cream from a well-known shop (recommended by both Coro and Rick Steve).  This is possibly the last good ice cream of my trip, and it was delicious, Chocolate Orange, mmmmmm.

After my morning of sightseeing, I returned to the train station, picked up my backpack (is it weird that I wanted to write sac a dos there?), hopped on a train to the airport, then boarded my EasyJet flight (which I may say, kind of felt like a cow being herded to the slaughterhouse), then I was off to London!

Milan

Day 1

I had big plans for today.  First, once I arrived at the station in Milan I planned on booking my train reservation to get me to Lyon tomorrow.  Then, I was going to go see the sights for the rest of the day – museums, palaces, churches.

But, when I got to the train station, I found out that all of the reservations to get to Lyon tomorrow were booked.  So, I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to get to Lyon.  At one point I thought I’d figured it out (there were reservations available for Torino -> Lyon, so I would just need to buy a ticket to Torino).  But, by the time I got to the station to buy the reservation, those ones were sold out too.  Drats!  So, in the end I just ended up buying a full-price ticket for the journey to Lyon.  While this may result in me returning to Canada with an unused rail pass day, it will at least let me get to Lyon to see my friend Caro.

So, once I’d gotten all of that sorted all of the museums, palaces and churches that I’d planned on seeing were closed.  But, I decided to head out to the main square of Milan to do some sightseeing and people watching anyways.

I did a good bit of wandering before getting some dinner.  Dinner was simple (I’d decided to go to a cafeteria) – I got some pasta, a roll, and a chocolate protiferole for dessert.  The pasta wasn’t much better than what you’d expect to get at a cafeteria in Canada, but the dessert was very good – and I chose a table with a view of the main square, so there was lots of people-watching for me to do.

After dinner I went back to the hostel (with a small pit stop at the train station to print the e-ticket I’d bought online).

Day 2

My train to Lyon doesn’t leave until 4 pm from Milan, so I decided to sleep in a bit today (it also helps that check-out isn’t until noon).  I packed up my belongings, had breakfast and did some checking on the last few segments of my trip…..bad news!  I was hoping on spending a night in Paris, but all of the hostels in Paris are booked (as are all of the cheaper hotels).  Thankfully there’s still hostels available in London, but I have no idea what I’m going to do about Paris.  I’ve asked Auntie Rosie if her friends can put me up for a night, but maybe I can also just spend another night at Caro’s place.  One thing is official: I dislike travelling in tourist high-season.

Well, after finding out that there’s yet another kink in my plans, I checked out of the hostel.  I took my backpack to the train station, checked it there, then went out to see Milan for a few hours.

I went to see the Duomo (including the inside), I wandered around the main square, checked out one of the oldest streets in Milan, got some lunch at a sidewalk café (including a very good cappuccino), then went back to the train station to catch my train to Lyon.

The train ride to Milan was long but uneventful.  For about the first 2 hours I was sitting in the wrong seat (I was in car 5 instead of car 6), oops.  But I’m glad I figured that out and moved because the seat in car 5 was broken, and any time the train slowed down it would pop into reclined position.  Once I found the correct seat I was golden.  I settled in, pulled out my laptop and did some blogging, as well as downloaded my photos.   The views on the way out of Italy and the way into France were awesome.  The mountain ranges really reminded me of home.  I tried to take some photos, but I don’t think they turned out terribly well (the three pane glass of the train windows causes a continual reflection).

Venice

Day 1

I arrived in Venice after many hours on the train (including my detour to Rome to get my camera).  Upon arriving I found the hostel (with some difficulty as the street numbers in Venice aren’t always in order).  Once settled into my room, I set out to explore Venice.  I walked along the canal, saw the Rialto bridge, and went to a restaurant for dinner.  For dinner I had spaghetti carbonara with a glass of white wine.  After dinner, I got a glass of limoncella for dessert.  I walked back to my hostel (just a little tipsy), then went to bed.

Day 2

Today was another very busy day.  After waking up and getting ready to go, I set out on a day of sightseeing.  I decided to walk around Venice and go to Piazza San Marco.  Along the way I stopped in lot of shops (checking out Murano Glass), a few churches, a bakery, and finally ended at Piazza San Marco.  I went into St Mark’s Basilica (San Marco in Italian), but I found the outside much more impressive than the inside.

Today I spent most of the day in the high traffic tourist areas, so by about 5 pm I was tired and ready to head back to the hostel.

Tonight I decided to have dinner at the hostel, I figured it was hard to go wrong, dinner for 5 euros.  Turns out I was wrong, so very wrong.  Our main was gorgonzola risotto, it was barely edible and didn’t taste like anything other than cheese…no other flavours, just cheese.  Our Second course was bacon quiche, only the quiche was made up of nothing other than bacon and pastry (and maybe some cheese?).  It also was not very tasty.  Let’s just say I was happy I bought a beer when dinner started, because I needed it to help wash everything down.  For dessert we had a marble cake that was fresh out of the oven (still warm)…this was definitely the best part of the meal.  But for 7 euros (the beer I’d bought was 2 euros), I’d gotten a barely edible meal and a full belly of food.  After dinner I unwound a bit and headed to bed.

Day 3

Today was a much better day than yesterday.

This morning I took a traghetto (a transit gondola) ride across the canal.  For 0.5 euros I’d gotten my gondola ride – it wasn’t fancy or anything, but it was just what I was looking for. 

I’d gotten a ride across the canal to get to a vaperetto (water bus) station, but that station didn’t sell tickets, so I had to walk to the next station.  Once I finally got my day pass, I accidentally got on a boat going the wrong way.  What an eventful day so far!  Once I’d gotten the boats all figured out (and got on one going in the right direction), I got to the stop outside the train station.  At this stop I transferred to another vaperetto headed to the island of Murano.

Along the ride to Murano, I decided to get off the boat early and go to see the cemetery.  Italian cemeteries are very grandiose, I’m convinced that there’s no simple tombstone in the entire country of Italy.  After my detour to the cemetery I arrived in Murano.

Murano was very neat – a small little island where their main product is Murano glass.  I went to a demonstration by a glass master.  He’d made a blown glass vase and a sculpted glass horse.  I know I’ve seen these demos before, but it was neat to see them done where some of the techniques were invented.

I also found it quite alarming how expensive everything was, especially considering that the glass master was able to make each thing so quickly.

After seeing the demonstration I went on a hunt to find some Murano glass beads that I could make a necklace out of when I return to Canada.  It was a tough task, very few places actually sold the beads themselves, most shops just sold the necklaces pre-made.  But, in the end I was successful, I found a few beads that I liked, as well as picked up a few Murano Glass pendants.

When I was finished in Murano I went back to the island of Venice, and made a quick stop at the hostel.  I’d meant just to pick up something I’d forgot then go to the beach, but another girl at the hostel made a good suggestion of something to do – tonight what the free museum night in Venice so I decided to go to that instead of the beach.

The other girl and I made plans for when/where to meet, and I set off, I still had a bit more shopping to do.  While wandering Venice yesterday I’d seen some souvenirs that I liked, so I went and did a bit of souvenir shopping.

After souvenir shopping I met up with the girl from my hostel, and we went for dinner.  I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic for the restaurant choice, but she had a burger craving, and wanted to go to the Hard Rock Café.  So I figured if I was having North American food I’d go all out, so I decided to have beer and nachos.  After dinner I had some gelato, and we went to check out the Venice at Night art shows.  The neatest thing that we saw was this exhibition called Glasstress, where everything was made out of glass.

After that exhibition I decided to head back to the hostel (taking some night photos along the way). 

Day 4

I only spent this morning in Venice.  But, I woke up early and decided to do a tour of the grand canal on board the vaparetto. 

My final destination was the train station, where I caught a train to Milan.

Triumphant Return to Rome!

So, you're probably wondering why I went back to Rome after leaving Florence.

Well, remember the digital camera that I left at my Auntie Rosie's house in France?  Well, it made it to Amboise the day after I left (when the shipment was supposed to be stopped in Paris).  Then after a struggle with the FedEx people, I got the package shipped to the hotel in Rome.  But, the package did not make it to Rome before I left Rome (2 days after Colin).  But, it did arrive in Rome!

So, I left Florence and went to Rome to pick up my camera.

Horray, I got it, and it works!

After getting my camera back I was off to Venice.

Florence

Day 1

Today I arrived to Florence in early evening.  I got a little overjoyed by the fact that there is WiFi at the hostel, so I didn’t get out to do any sightseeing this evening, but I did manage to find the nearby supermarket – score!

Also, there was a bit of a shock when I arrived back to my room after going out for groceries – the hostel owner had warned me that there would be a man (and another female) in the hostel room.  But, when I returned to the room I found out that the male roommate was a middle aged man (not the 20-something backpacker that I had envisioned)….and he was chilling in the room in his boxers (Europeans are weird).  Needless, to say both me and my female roommate (another 20-something female backpacker) were not amused.  But, all the beds were full, and it was past 9 pm so we were stuck.  Luckily, the old fart went to bed early…so by the time I came into the room he was in bed.  Still not amused, we left the door open to sleep.

Note to self: ensure that you’re not sharing a room with an old fart before paying for your stay!

Day 2

Well, good news, both me and the female roommate made it safely to the morning, not that either of us slept well.  Our room faces the street, and last night was street cleaning night….which meant a night of continual noise.  Thank goodness for my earplugs, or I wouldn’t have slept at all.

After finally decided to get up and start my day, I got ready, stopped at the grocery store, and was on my way.

This morning I went to the Academia Gallery to see Michelangelo’s David.  David was really impressive, as were the other un-finished Michelangelo statues.  After the Academia Gallery I did a self-guided tour of Florence.  I saw the Duomo, Dante’s House, a bunch more churches, a bunch of statue replicas (including David, all of the originals are now in museums), the outside of the Ufuzzi Gallery, the Ponte Vecchio, and saw the Pitti Palace.

I also saw a few interesting do not enter signs today:

I returned to my hostel quite tired, but had just a little bit of downtime before having to leave to go to the station to get my tickets for tomorrow’s train adventure.  I’ll be going from Florence to Rome (to pick up my camera), then on to Venice.


Day 3

Today I didn't have long in Florence - just enough time to pack my bags, get breakfast, then realize I forgot my water bottle at the hostel, jet back to the hostel, then get on the train to Rome.  It was a bit of a chaotic morning.

Pisa

I had just a few short hours in Pisa, as it was just a stopover on my journey between the Cinque Terre and Florence.  At the Pisa train station I decided to check my big pack for a few hours, then set off on foot to find the leaning tower.

On the way to the tower, I did a little bit of a tour of Pisa (including the requisite stop for gelato).  What can I say about the tower….well, its crooked.  The lean is actually much bigger than I had expected.   

After seeing the tower I went into the Duomo, which is right beside the tower (weird fact that I didn’t know: the tower was built as the bell tower for the Duomo…and then it started sinking on one side).

After seeing these two sites, I hopped onto a bus, returned to the train station, picked up my bags, and was on my way to Florence.

The Cinque Terre

Day 1

Early this afternoon I caught my train from Rome, which took me to La Spezia, from where I took another train to get to the first coastal town of the Cinque Terre – Riomaggiore.  I tracked down my hostel, got myself settled, bought ingredients to make dinner (I have access to a full kitchen with dishes here).  After making dinner, I went for a walk.  I checked out the scenic viewpoint of Riomaggiore, and then walked along the coastal pathway to the next town (Manarola).  

It was a nice 20 minute walk to Manarola from Riomaggiore.  I was hoping to walk/hike between all five of the coastal towns, but a few segments of the path are closed – so I’ll have to see what I can get access to.

Day 2

This morning I got up, showered and set off on my adventure for the day. Today was a really good day.

In the morning I got a pastry for breakfast, then stopped at the supermercato to get myself a sandwich and some fruit for lunch.  I then stood in line at the park office to buy my cinque terre hiking pass for what seemed like and eternity.  I finally got my pass (I paid a bit extra to get the rail and trail card), then set off for my day.  My first stop was the beach in Moterosso.  It was a gorgeous beach, I spent about 3 hours there alternating between sunscreen, relaxing, reading, and hopping into the ocean to cool off.  What am I reading you ask?  Well, Colin got me this book called ‘Un Amico Italiano’, it’s a really good book written by the Lucca Spaghetti character from the book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’.  On the train yesterday I had to stop myself from reading the whole thing, so that I’d have something to enjoy while on the beach.  Good pick Colin!

After getting my fill of the beach (more for fear of getting sunburnt than actually being tired of the beach itself) I decided to head off to see the sights in Monterosso.  I toured the town (and I bought mom’s souvenir there), I checked out the churches, I hiked up to a church at the top of town and also saw the graveyard there.  I also stopped for a requisite gelato (making it my second gelato of the day, since I’d also had one before going to the beach).  What can I say, it’s just so freaking hot here….and the gelato is delicious.

Well, once I was done touring around Monterosso, I decided to do the Monterosso-Vennezia hike.  Let me say here that this is reported to be the toughest hike between all of the five Cinque Terre villages.  All of the other hikes are currently closed because of rock slides, so if I wanted to do any hiking at all I had to do the big one.  The start of this hike was grueling.  I must have walked up hundreds of stairs (and I’m not talking about nice North American stairs, I’m talking about uneven and carved into the cliffside stairs).  Once I made it past the stairs the hike was really enjoyable.  There were some stairs again at the end, but not as many as at the start, and this time I was going down them and not up.  This downward stair hiking was when I started to gain speed and pass the other hikers that were ahead of me (not that it’s a competition).  Why was I passing everyone else….my shoes!  Remember back in the UK when I wore through my shoes and had to buy new ones. Well, I’d bought day hikers - and I was really thankful of that fact when I went climbing in Guernesy.  But again today I was very happy with the choice I made.  I passed about a dozen hikers on the downwards stairs solely because of my appropriate footware.  Sorry for going on about this….but it has been a while since I mentioned how great the shoes were.

Anyways, I arrived in Vernazza in under 1 hour 45 minutes.  This included the time I took for photo-ops and breaks.  Pretty good, since guidebooks report the hike takes 1 hour 30 minutes (and I’m usually much slower than the guidebook time).

In Vernazza I took some time to relax on the beach (I’d definitely earned it), then took a tour of the town.  In town I stopped for some more gelato, caught the sights then hopped on the train back to Riomaggiore.  In Riomaggiore I returned to my hostel (which is actually just an apartment that they’ve put bunk beds in, so it’s pretty sweet), and showered.  I bought a Nutella and strawberry crepe from a nearby creperie, but that was a bit interesting.  The crepe was so hot that it liquefied the Nutella, so I got Nutella all over myself.  Luckily this happened at my hostel, so I just ate my Nutella soup over the sink.  It was delicious, but extremely messy.

And that’s the end of day 2 in the Cinque Terre.  I’m sad to be leaving tomorrow.  I wish I had more time here to relax and enjoy the ocean.  Tomorrow I’ll be here until just after lunch time, when I’ll leave to stop for a little bit in Pisa, then I’m on to Florence!

Day 3

This day I only had the morning in the Cinque Terre, so after waking up, packing my bags and checking out of the Hostel, I took a ferry boat ride from Romaggiore to Vernazza.  This was a great way to enjoy the scenery from the sea.  I saw three of the 5 towns; Riomaggiore, Corniglia, and Vernazza.

After my boat ride I was sad to be leaving the Cinque Terre (I will definitely be returning here again in the future), but I hopped a train to La Spezia, then was off to Pisa.

Pompeii and Naples

Since I made this trip from Rome, my morning in Rome is detailed in "Rome, Day 5"

The train to Naples was uneventful, but Naples itself was quite interesting.  Once I arrived in Naples it was lunch time, so I decided to go get some of the famous Naples pizza.  Walking through Naples to get to the pizza joint was a bit dicey…there’s a lot of homeless/near-homeless people there.  At one point I wasn’t sure where to turn, and a man on a scooter asked if I needed help, I said the street name, he pointed me in the correct direction, I thanked him and left.  I got a few block down the street, then he flagged me down and started asking me my name, etc.  In my toughest and meanest Italian I said no and goodbye.  He seemed to get the message, as I never saw him again (thank goodness for that too, it’d gotten me a bit freaked out).

Anyways, I made it to the pizzeria (the famous one in Naples – yes, it was the one featured in Eat, Pray, Love).  Once there I pushed my way to the front of the line (I’m becoming more European every day), and I asked the man if I could get a pizza to go.  I ordered my pizza and was sent back to the ovens to wait for it to be made.  While there I got a photo with one of the pizza cooks…taken by another one of the cooks – all I did was take out my camera and ask if I could take photos of the pizza making, and next thing I know I’m being whisked over to the oven to have my photo taken with the cook.  Sweet deal!  And, they didn’t even pick my pockets or anything while doing it, nope, I just got a photo with the pizza cook….I guess being a solo female traveler has its perks and downfalls.

I’m sure you’re wondering about the pizza.  Well, there was nowhere nearby to sit, so I walked back to the area around the train station, found a place to sit (in a somewhat dodgy piazza, thankfully right near the police office…but nobody bothered me there, I had my best ‘don’t screw with me’ face on), and opened the pizza box.  I’d gotten a margherita pizza (tomato sauce with cheese), it didn’t look like much in the box, but it was extremely tasty.  I ate half of it in the piazza, and saved the other half for later.

I left the piazza to catch my train to Pompeii.  Turns out I got on the wrong train…well I was maybe on the right train, but totally screwed up reading the map and took the train one stop too far past my transfer point.  So I had to get off, take another train back to the transfer point, then finally get on a train to Pompeii.  Since the trains only run every half hour, this cost me about an hour of time.  But, I arrived at Pompeii….just in time for the rain.  Luckily it didn’t rain long, and I had my umbrella, so I stayed mostly dry.

Pompeii itself was fascinating.  It was so interesting to walk through.  I saw so many different types of buildings from the 1^st century AD – I saw temples, baths, fast food joints, a bar , a bakery, a brothel and the ampitheatre.

I returned to Rome via Naples (I didn’t leave the station this time), but I hadn’t realized how late it had gotten.  My train was scheduled to arrive at 11:30, but I still had to make it to the convent by the midnight curfiew.  When I arrived in Rome I decided that the taxi line was too long, so I took the Metro (the convent was one stop away, and the metro was still really busy with tourists).  I made it to the convent with time to spare, I’d even had time to pick up a nutelle crepe around the corner from the convent.  I was happy I made it, but exhausted from my long day.  I packed my bags, called home, and went to bed.

Guest Blogging by Colin

Guest Blog – Day 1 Part 1: Arrival (luck)

Dear reading public! Lend me your eyes! I am Colin, introduced in passing throughout this blog already (although rather auspiciously) as simply “the boyfriend”. Sharon has kindly let me partake of her precious blogospace to give my perspective on the small part of her Homeric scale Odyssey across Europe. While my own experiences comprise but a small drop in the vast ocean of her larger voyage, I do hope they will embark upon you a separate view of events in hopes that you may gain both a richer understanding of the adventure she is on, but also, perhaps entertain you with some of the different perspectives that come from having two separate interpretations of events. So, for the next few days, sit back – relax, and as they say in the music business, let the good times roll.

My voyage started off rather eventfully with my arrival at Calgary airport. A seasoned international traveler, I have seen my share of chaos in the past, but I was still rather unprepared for a nearly TWO HOUR long lineup for a quick domestic flight from Calgary to Toronto (my connecting city on the way to Paris). [An unnamed Canadian Airline] had their check-in computers crash the morning of my departure. Thankfully I had printed my boarding passes the night before, but I was unable to print my baggage tags – which I had to wait to do. They were doing every boarding pass by hand through, and it took forever. I did manage to skip the last portion of the line because it was within a half hour of my flight by then and they had to get the last passengers processed to finalize the passenger list.

I made it to my gate 5 minutes before the flight was supposed to leave, but they had delayed the flight by nearly an hour to accommodate all of the late check-ins. Once on the plane, it was absolutely dreadful. Around me there were four rows around me full of this large (20+ person) family, with me in the middle of them all. The kid behind me kicked the back of my seat the entire way, even despite the flight attendant (without me asking even) laying down the law with the parents. The adults spend most of the flight standing in the aisles, rocking back and forth in and out of the space of my aisle seat and not infrequently smoking me in the side of the head with various portions of their anatomy. Suffice to say I landed in Toronto and was decidedly ready to leave that aircraft.

Toronto was uneventful. Just enough time to grab some dinner and respond to a flurry of emails I’d received in my 5 hours out of contact before hopping the connection to Paris. The flight to Paris was long but much calmer. Unfortunately the in-flight Entertainment system was broken, but I had my laptop with me and I listened to music / books on tape most of the way. Sadly I did not sleep much, which is odd for me on planes, but I was very excited to get there and see Sharon so I chalk it up to that.

I finally landed in Paris and found out that indeed my rusty French skills were not fully gone. I was able to get through customs and get information from the airport personnel without too much of a language barrier. I got out slightly ahead of schedule but didn’t see Sharon anywhere so I gave her a call – found out she was on a bus on the way. We finally met up 20 minutes later and I was really glad to see her. And with that, the rest of the story begins.

Day 1 – Part 2: Paris

So I promise this update will be noticeably cheerier! Upon arriving in Paris and meeting up with Sharon we hopped a bus back to near our hotel and I promptly fell asleep. Being back together with her and on the rocking bus as it made it’s hour-long journey through Paris was the best sleep I’d had in weeks.

We got off and metro-d to the Hotel (in doing so I learned that Sharon + maps =/= victory) and we did get there in the end. Managed to get checked in and everything sorted out before setting out for fun and adventure!!!

Our first stop was the Musee D’Orsay – set in an old train station this museum was recommended to us and features sculpture and art from the mid 1800’s onward. I think particularly impressive for me was the scale model of the old quarter of Paris that was encased under a glass floor that you could walk on. It really gave you the impression of what Godzilla feels like. There was also an extremely intricate cutaway model of the Paris Opera House that was exceedingly interesting!

Upon departing the D’Orsay we traversed the main district and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. We proceeded to the second observation deck and took pictures from every angle imaginable. We then took some more pictures. In the end it got really windy and we decided to go back down.

Back on the ground a great deliberation proceeded as to what to do next. It was imperative we get Sharon food immediately, and so we got her a waffle from the vendor at the base of the tower. This proved less than ideal as we went to the pier on the Seine (directly across the street) next and there was an entire arcade of vendors to select from for half the price.

On the pier we hopped onto a sightseeing boat that went up and down the Seine. It was quite impressive – we got to see many of the buildings from the waterline and Sharon took a great many pictures for us. It was great, I love being the water and it really helped me relax after the stressful trip over.

When the cruise returned we stopped at a riverside restaurant for a lovely outdoor meal next to the river and with a great view of the tower. The sun was just going down as we finished, and the Tower light show began. It was a pretty spectacular evening. As we set off to the Metro to head back to our Hotel, a second light show started – this time sparked by mother nature as a brilliant thunderstorm starting on the horizon. The backdrop lit up the skyline of Paris really nicely as we made our way back to the Hotel through the pouring rain.

Day 2

Today we started out with a delayed start. We both slept in and were slow getting ready to go. I spent a bit of time emailing the office and then shut down my computer for the week. We checked out of the hotel and made out way to the Fedex office to retrieve Sharon’s camera. It unfortunately was not there, as they had not heeded the instructions to defer delivery and await pickup. So it made its way to the hostel it was intended for but after Sharon left. She was quite distraught over this and I worked hard to get her cheered up. Eventually succeeding, we went to drop off our bags.

We departed the bag storage facility and headed to the Arc de Triomphe. After a series of photos we walked up the Champs Elysee to the Place de Concorde. Along the way we stopped for lunch and I got introduced to Beef Carpaccio – mmm. We took the train from there to Notre Dame and Sharon walked around inside a while before we hurried off to catch the train. The train itself was not what I was expecting, I was expecting first class to be more like a cruise-ship style stateroom, but it was quite smaller than that and the whole car had only one working bathroom. Not what I had envisioned, but it was a train!!! I loved the travel and being able to watch the countryside fly past as we sat and talked. It was truly an experience I will remember for a long time. And to end off the evening Sharon got totally wasted and passed out shortly after declaring that she was perfectly fine and wasn’t even feeling the half bottle of wine she just drank. Ah, France.

Day 3 – Rome Arrival

The train pulled into the station today around 10:30 as planned. There was no time change (something I was surprised about) but that was very convenient as it meant we had an hour more than expected for the first day.

Our hotel was quite easy to find once we made it through the long and winding Termini station. I was not cut out to be a cave dweller. Definitely not. But after navigating that maze we got onto the metro and it was relatively easy from there. The hotel was much nicer than I expected. The larger building complex is under construction, but the area of it we are in have been completely redone in the last few years and is very clean and modern. Just the way I like it.

We stayed there a while as Sharon attempted to resolve the ongoing issue with Fedex and her camera, but still to no avail. After a few hours of beating our heads against a wall trying to get it resolved we cut our losses and went out to explore the city.

The first stop was a little Gelatto place a few blocks up the street from our hotel. Sharon still says that it was one of her favorite foods of the trip so far. From there we were off to the Colloseum (the grounds anyway) and stopped at one of the nearby sidewalk restaurants for lunch. The first place we ate it wouldn’t serve us because of my nut allergy, but the place next door was perfectly welcoming and very friendly. It was a great meal, and we were both very full.

Along the way I had a brief chat with the table next to us who were a pair of Americans just on the end of their journey. They gave a few tips and suggestions, but mostly said it was a great vacation, and a lovely city. Sentiments that I have only been able to agree with since.

We walked a lot after that – passing the Colloseum and making our way up Via Imperial. We saw many of the ruins next to the Roman Forum, Trajan’s Column, the National Assembly, the Pantheon, a couple churches, and finally took our next big break at Piazza Navano. We walked around the plaza and saw many of the fountains that make up the plaza. The restaurants all had pretty much the same menu and were far more expensive than the place we went for lunch, so we decided to search for one a bit off the main stretch. Before departing we stopped and picked up a few paintings from the street vendors for me to add to my collection.

Then it was off to find dinner. Another massive (but very good) meal of waaay too much Italian food. By the time we finished it was after 10 and we decided to take a nighttime stroll through the streets. Being such a touristy city the streets were extremely well lit and welcoming, as were the large but manageable crowds of other tourists sharing them with us. I have never felt so safe in a foreign city except perhaps Washington. We made our way from the start at the Plaza back via the Pantheon and through Trevi fountain on the way to the Spanish steps. The fountain was really brilliant lit up like that at night.

Finally we made it to the Spanish steps were the metro home was, but making us Calgarians feel right at home, the metro wasn’t running. So we had a bit of fun meandering through the alternate route to get to the bus that was running the metro route. Eventually we did though, and made it back to the hotel totally exhausted. More adventures tomorrow when we actually go into the Colloseum!

Day 4:

Our first full day in Rome was a comfortably reduced pace from the first several days of the trip. We indulged in the need for some rest and allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping in for the morning. After a slow and blissfully indulgent start to the day, we spent some time at the Hotel attempting to resolve the issues with Sharon’s camera and Fedex. Unfortunately, this was ultimately no more successful than our previous attempts, and so we wound up eating up the remainder of the morning to no avail.

Not to be deterred, I convinced Sharon to take a breather from the frustration of Fedex and get going. Off we went to the Colosseum, but biology mandated a stop for lunch along the way. Some more excellent food and we were once again on our way. The Colosseum was quite impressive, and extremely informative. I learned a lot about the history of Rome and the Roman culture in general that I didn’t know before. I found it really interesting all of the tunnels and passages under the former floor of the arena. It was also amazing the way that stadium architecture has hardly changed in 2000 years. An arena is an arena I guess!

After the Colosseum we made our way to the Roman Forum – stopping to get Sharon the mandatory mid-afternoon Gelato along the way. It was of poor quality, or so I was informed, but you still can’t go wrong with ice cream!

The Roman forum was incredibly overwhelming. The weight of the culture and 2000 years of human history weighed heavily on me as we stood and looked upon the crumbling foundations of former palaces and grand promenades. I was happy for Sharon’s narration as we went through as I let myself mentally envision life in the height of the empire. . .

At last, this day ended after a lot of walking with some food and a nice walk back to the hotel afterwards.

Day 5:

Today was the Vatican. I cannot effectively express the grandeur of the Vatican except the say the opulence was stifling. The statue work and ceiling art were extremely impressive, but the size of the campus and expansive collection of religious artifacts had a numbing effect by the end. Although we did stop and see the Popemobile evolution exhibit before we left.

The one comment I wish to make about the Vatican was that we did take a guided tour through, and I was very impressed with our guide. I was expecting a lesson for 3 hours about all of the religious significance of the Vatican and the works within it, but our guide was an art history masters student and so we got a much more interesting and informative description of the evolution of the artistic styles, the relationship between the artists, sculptors and so forth.  I found that incredibly interesting, and definitely enjoyed that portion of the visit.

After the Vatican we made our way to St. Peter’s Basilica. One of the highlights of my trip was actually the traditional Latin Mass we took part in at the Basilica. I was quite surprised it was just open to the public with nothing but a low security bag check. But regardless, it was great to see and take part of.

After the mass the Basilica closed shortly, so we left and decided to have an early night (although “early” is relative given that it was already 8pm). We made it back to the hotel, and Sharon spent the night preparing for the final leg of her trip while I did some reading, sent some emails and watched a movie.

Day 6:

Last day today. Went to the Borghese Gallery. Got lost in the Borghese Gardens. Roman taxi driver came to our rescue and brought us back to familiar paths. Bit of food, then it was back to the hotel to do the last bit of packing, check out, drop Sharon off and get to the airport. Whirlwind tour of Paris and Rome was over so quickly, time to contemplate going back to work on Monday.