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.