In Sorrento

We are in Sorrento and headed to Rome tomorrow. We have not had internet at any of the past hotels, so we have been unable to update our blog, but we have so many amazing photos to post when we have a chance! Hopefully Rome will have internet at our hotel, or at least in a close location.

Carrie and Will

Florence Day 1

Once we arrived in town, we headed over to our hotel. Unfortunately, we were not able to check in yet, so we left our bags and began to explore the city. Our hotel is right beside the Duomo, so we began by walking over to it. It is really breathtaking; beautiful and enormous, but we waited to go inside because the line was so long.



We then made our way over to the Ponte Vecchio bridge over the Arno river. It had really stunning views of Florence, and we were able to take some great pictures.



We continued to wonder through the city and came upon some of the markets. These all have basically the same things, leather bags and scarves, but the smell of leather was so great that we had to explore. Florence is known for its leather goods and its gold jewelry, so we set upon a search to find Will a leather messenger bag that he could keep for years to come. We decided to just look, so he could figure out exactly what type of bag he wanted. It is really fun being in the markets because everyone is trying to sell something, and they are all willing to negotiate the price so that you buy from them. After looking, we decided to get some lunch because we were starving. We found a great little place behind the markets, and had our first Italian meals. Will swears it was the best lasagna he has ever eaten in his life, and my homemade pasta with pesto was delicious. You really can’t beat homemade pasta; it is the perfect thing to eat every time. After lunch, it was time to head to the hotel so we could check in. By this time, we were both about to fall over from a lack of sleep the night before. We were given our key, and made our way up to our room. Upon opening the door, we discovered that we had to use the shared bathroom at the end of the hall, because our room only had a sink and a shower. When we opened our doors onto the terrace, any thought of a shared facility melted away. The Duomo was right in front of us, one of the most amazing views I have ever had in my life. To be able to sit outside amongst such a beautiful piece of architecture was really unbelievable.

The view from our terrace!

The excitement was short lived, because we were both so tired. We were obviously exhausted, because we slept for 3 hours. It was the bells of the Duomo that woke us up. Though that sounds like it would be beautiful and romantic, it really felt like someone ringing enormous church bells right beside your head (we are that close!) and frankly I don’t know if I have ever woken up so quickly in my life. Quite the scare! After the bells finally stopped ringing, we decided to get ready for dinner. We found this great little place called the Yellow Bar, and had a tasty dinner, of yet again pasta for me and pizza for Will with an ice cream dessert that we shared. You just can’t turn the pasta down, especially when they make it themselves! Once we finished dinner, we headed back to the room where we sat outside on the terrace and watched the sun set and the lights on the city take over. The Duomo is beautiful at night, and it was wonderful to have the sun finally set, and a break from the heat. What an end to a wonderful first day in Italy!

Carrie and Will

Lyon Day 2

Lyon is really a beautiful city, especially wonderful if you have a lot of money I am sure. Even a simple café is really expensive, and not to mention all the designer clothing stores. I could certainly spend some money in this town! Lyon is the banking capital of France, so many people who work here can certainly afford the high prices. We started off the morning by sleeping in. We needed to sleep, and there was not an overwhelming amount of things to see and do in Lyon. After grabbing a “cappuccino” from downstairs (pretty sure it was just espresso with whipped cream on top) we took the subway up to the cathedral on the top of the mountain that separates the two sides of Lyon. The views from the top were beautiful. We could see all of downtown Lyon, and the surrounding hills.
A panoramic Will put together of downtown Lyon

When we walked inside the cathedral we were blown away; the intense detail everywhere you looked was amazing. Although I have to say that the cathedral walked a fine line between being beautiful and tacky. There was a lot of gold throughout the entire sanctuary, and amazing mosaic murals covering the walls. Though the sheer size was amazing, the detail and size of the mosaic murals was astounding.

A mosaic wall detail

After touring the cathedral, as well as the other sanctuary below the main one, we walked to the other side of the mountain to check out the views of the other side of town. We came upon the remains of an old Roman amphitheater with beautiful views of town. After that, we headed back into town to walk around for a bit. Our train was not leaving until 7:30 to head out of Lyon, so we had lots of time to kill before we had to head to the station.
A city squareA hotel in Lyon...a bit nicer than our Best Western

We ate a late lunch at a small quick serve pasta place, and lounged around for a bit there to avoid having to go into the rain that had moved in. Luckily, it did not rain for too long, and we had a very American moment and went to Starbucks. This was only the second time we have gone because it is quite expensive, but sometimes one just needs a big, huge coffee, and apparently the only place in France that serves this is Starbucks. We sat by the window, and enjoyed some great people watching…one of our favorite things to do in Europe! Finally we decided to head back to the hotel and get our stuff and go to the rail station. We took a regular train to Dijon, France, and there we got on a sleeping car to head to Florence. Once in Dijon, our next train was an hour late, and after we got on, we realized that they had double booked our compartment. Finally they found us a room with 4 others. The compartments have six beds in each, three bunks on each side. Luckily, everyone was very nice that we stayed with, so it was an enjoyable trip, minus the whole sleeping on a train part. Will was of course able to sleep well, whereas I did quite a bit of tossing and turning, but managed a few hours I think. We woke up around 6:30 the next morning, and the ride into Florence through the mountains was gorgeous. I have failed to mention that some of the best scenery we see is on our train rides, especially the field after field of sunflowers through France. We made it to Florence, and set out to find our hotel and begin our first full day in Italy!

Carrie and Will

Lyon, France

Lyon is beautiful! A bit like a mini Paris, but a much more managable size. We are sitting in McDonalds yet again for free WIFI. Our hotel was nice, and it ended up not raining which was great. Tonight we are taking an overnight train to Florence, Italy. Should be interesting...hopefully we will be able to get some sleep. We will post pics of Lyon soon, with a longer post. Just thought we would give everyone an update.

Carrie and Will

On the Train to Lyon

We head out of Nimes at 2:30 ( in 2 hours) this afternoon on our way to Lyon. Luckily this train is a speed train, so it will only take an hour to get there. On the unlucky side, it is suppose to be raining all day and through the night. Tomorrow we have all day in Lyon because we are taking an overnight train to Florence. Our train out of Lyon does not leave until around 7, so even if it rains all day today, we will have plenty of time to see things tomorrow. Just checked the weather for Florence and it is going to be a hot time there...around 97 every day! We are quite excited about Italy, especially all the Italian food!! Last night we ate at a good pizza place here in Nimes. We sat outside and the people watching was quite entertaining. I think my favorite of the evening was the man in the long sleeve polo shirt that was completely bedazzled on the back in silver and gold rhinestones. Quite the flashy look..gotta love it. Well, we are going to head out now and find some lunch before boarding our train. We are hoping that all the trains are on schedule..apparently there are a lot of forest fires just south of us in Marseille. Hopefully we will have internet at our next hotel so that we can put up a post tonight!

Carrie and Will

Nimes Day 2

Um I'm sorry but are we in Nimes or Panama City Beach. Oh Euro trash, you are everywhere here. Yeah so Will and I loved the concert last night, but as for the town and the people here we are not as excited about it. Don't get me wrong, it is still really beautiful here, but there is not very much to see, and it is a strange mix of people and a lot of shady looking men. We can't quite put our finger on what we don't like, but it is just not our favorite place of the trip. I suppose there had to be a place at some point that we did not like. So here we are, sitting in McDonalds because they have free internet trying to ignore the techno music blasting. We did go on a search today for books in English. We have both finished all the books we brought. There really isn't much to do on the train rides other than read, but luckily we both found something to hold us over. I am sure they will probably have something at the airport in Rome for us to get to read while flying home. It is off to Lyon tomorrow...the food capital of France! It is our last city in France, so we are a bit sad about that, but I am hopeful that we will love Italy as much as the UK and France!

Carrie

PS Just a fashion update from France. If you are wanting to look French...then you must get the MC Hammer pants that seem to be all the rage here. I on the other hand think I will pass on this fashion statement!!! And if you want to wear them the Euro trash way, they need to be white with black underwear as I just saw here in McDonalds...so classy.

Nimes Day 1

So today was amazing to say the least. Except for the super long train ride…but the rest of the day totally made up for it. We arrived in Nimes at 5:30 and headed to our hotel. The hotel is in an old home, with a beautiful courtyard in the center. It is a very boutique style hotel with a great modern feel. Probably one of the nicest we will stay in while here.

View from our window..we will post more pics later

We headed out to find some dinner after we put our stuff in our room, and went by the tourist office to see what information they had on the town. I happened to pick up a brochure about all the summer events going on in the town and saw that Franz Ferdinand was playing tonight at the arena. (One of our favorite bands!!!) We assumed that it meant the Roman arena here in town, and were pretty bummed that we didn’t know about them coming, but decided to walk over there anyways on the off chance that there may be tickets still. We asked someone once we got there, who said that everything was sold out. As we were walking away we noticed several people selling extra tickets on the street. They were the regular price tickets, probably just extras, so we were able to buy two!!! It was amazing watching Franz Ferdinand play in a Roman arena built in the 1^st century AD..sitting on the same original seats/steps. Unbelievable!

Oh yeah and The Virgins and The Ting Tings also played. What a great concert except we didn’t have time to eat…so we had a Heineken dinner instead!! Good thing beer is full of carbs. Today will probably stand out as one of our best days in Europe by far!

Our only proof..we couldn't bring our camera in

Carrie

Perigueux Day 2

We woke up late this morning, relieved to not have to hear an alarm, and set out to find some breakfast. We actually ended up at the same place that we had previously eaten dinner because they had what will thought was a real breakfast, rather than just some pastry and espresso. We discovered that they had cappuccinos, and ended up having two each along with our breakfast. Will had an omelet with ham and cheese and fries, while I had a crepe with raspberry jam. After that, we headed over to the Roman part of town, where there use to be a Roman villa as well as a temple. There is still a large remaining center tower from the temple that dates back to 2nd century AD. It was amazing to look at something that had been around for such a long time.




Medieval Building

With the occasional part of a column or capital lying around, it was quite astounding. We then walked over to where the villa used to be. There is now a museum over the remains, but the floor is glass, so you can see everything. In fact the whole building is very modern with steel and glass walls, so we peaked inside and did not even have to pay to go inside! We continued to walk around the path and came across what use to be a Roman arena. There are only rubbles left now, and a beautiful park and garden inside, but you could still make out where some of the entrances use to be. We then did a bit of shopping around in some of the boutiques. At one of the many confectionaries, I got some really great flavored marshmallows which Will said tasted like flavored Peeps. I then found a great dress for only 12 euro, which was quite the deal! Just what I need…yet another dress!! After that we headed back to rest for a bit, and cool down. It was finally warm weather, in fact it was downright hot at around 88, but we can’t complain because it is much better than being cold.
After a rest, it was off to find some dinner. We came across a great Italian place in a small alley, and ate outside in their courtyard. It was a wonderful dinner with great ambiance. We headed back around 10, and it was still light out…we are that much further north, and made a quick stop along the way to get some Orangina to drink. I am pretty sure that I am turning orange from drinking so much, but I just can’t help myself! It was off to bed to get up early to catch another morning train to Nimes. We leave at 10, but don’t get there until 5:30. There is not a speed train available, so we have to take more of a regional line to get there. Luckily, we are staying for 2 nights, so we will be able to enjoy the town!

Carrie

Doors and Stuff...

As we were walking through Perigueux, I noticed that there were a lot of really cool doors on most buildings so I started taking pictures of some of them. Random, I know, but I like them. I also got the bright idea to take random pictures without looking through the viewfinder so I could be surprised with what I got when we got back to the hotel. Some of them came out pretty well. Have a look!















Will

Perigueux Day 1

Will and I left quite early again this morning, which is my least favorite part of this trip. At 7:50, we pulled out of the station in Tours, and headed to Perigueux, which is south from Tours and about an hour east from Bordeaux. Once we arrived, we checked into our hotel which was once again conveniently across the street from the train station. We stowed our things, and then headed over to the Medieval part of town. So I completely spoke too soon about Tours being the quintessential French town, because Perigueux is such the perfect French countryside town. With narrow winding streets, shutter lined homes, and cobblestone streets, Will and I got lost in the beauty of the town today.







Perigueux is beside a large river, and the town lies on the hills beside it. We can tell that we are moving south, because the style of architecture has a much more Mediterranean feel to it, especially with the roof tiles changing to clay instead of slate. We walked all around the town for a bit and then got some lunch at a great cafe. Unfortunately, Sundays are a bit slow here, I mean it is only a town of about 64,000, so a lot of businesses are not open. After we ate, we went to a patisserie and I got an enormous meringue for dessert. I have been loving the meringues here because they are enormous, and amazing...much better than when I have attempted to make them.

I had already eaten half of the meringue when this was taken..that is how big it was!

We then followed the map to take us to all the sites in town. From the cathedral..which was very interesting, very simple and not decorated at all. Clearly before the Gothic age, where more light and color was brought into cathedrals. In fact to be perfectly honest, I found it to be a bit ugly and creepy because it was so dark.

View of front of the cathedral

View of back of cathedral, and its several domes

We then came back to the hotel for a bit to rest our feet. Perigueux is a bit more hilly than the other towns we have been in, so we were a bit more tired! We went back out for dinner, only to realize that most places that had been open for lunch on a Sunday, were definitely not open for dinner, so we bought paninis from a small shop that was luckily still open, and brought them back to the hotel to eat. It was probably for the better, since we needed to catch up with our photos and blog. We headed to bed, after attempting to watch French TV, which is really not very good. Mostly it is just old, bad American shows and movies that have been dubbed over with French. Not very exciting. We are pretty excited because we don't have to wake up to the alarm tomorrow, so we can finally sleep in!

Carrie and Will

Tours

At 7:50 this morning we boarded our train to Tours, which was an hour ride from Paris. We checked into our hotel and the stowed our bags for us since obviously our room was not ready yet. Unfortunately, we had both been awake since about 5:30, after Will’s dinner from the night before decided to attack him with some bad heartburn, but we mustered our energy together and began to walk around Tours. (Will: The lamb Gyro was totally worth it!) Today, our previous pace began to catch up with us so we decided to take it easy. Tours is a really beautiful town; very much what I think of when I picture a French town in my mind. The town has winding streets with beautiful buildings and cobblestone streets and people riding their bicycles. Really lovely stuff.



You can feel how much more relaxed a town like Tours is compared to Paris, which we both readily welcomed. We were able to buy 5 croissants for 2 euro, which is the price for 1 in Paris, and ate our breakfast while walking along the the Loire River.





We came upon the Basilica where St. Martin is buried after breakfast, and went down to the crypt to see his grave.







After that, we then headed towards the cathedral here in town, stopping in a few shops along the way. There is a really great mix of antique stores, and stores offering very modern interior items, along with great boutiques. We were following the signs for the Cathedrale St-Gatien, and turned the corner around a building, and were amazed at the cathedral in front of us. It is an enormous gothic structure, with unbelievable intricacies in the stone exterior. We headed inside, without having to pay admission, because it is just open to the public which is great, and admired the large amount of stained-glass work, and soaring ceilings. (Will: I must say it is amazing how much more we enjoyed the rich details of the church now that we could take our time in them and not have to swim through other tourists. The beauty and intricacy of these churches truly is divine; especially when you think of how old they are.)





A bit of scale..that is me beside one of the columns (tan sweater..the only sweater I brought and I am pretty sure I am going to burn it when I get home because I am so tired of wearing it!!!)

After that, we headed to find some lunch. We noticed that people here take their food quite seriously, because the cafes are quite expensive, much more than Paris, but we found a great pasta shop, that made the sauce that would wanted right then. Will had a great 3 cheese pasta, and I had the pesto. Both were delicious!

We then walked through one of several markets in town, making me wish I had a kitchen to cook in. All the local produce looked amazing! We bought a bottle of champagne from a local winery that was there, so hopefully it will be tasty! We finally were able to head back to our room to check in which was great because we were both about to fall asleep. On the way we stopped and bought 2 loaves of brioche to take on the train tomorrow. There are many briocheries around town, so I am assuming it is one of the breads of the area. The place we went offered only 4 types of brioche, and that was all they sold. The smell walking by was just too much to turn down, and it is obviously a popular place, because there has been a line both times we have passed it. We are staying the Le Grand Hotel, here in town, which is now owned by Best Western. It is across the street from the train station, and right in town, so it has been the most convenient hotel so far.

Taken at night from the balcony of our hotel

We were given our room key, and when we walked in, we thought we must have been given the wrong room, because it is enormous! There is a large bedroom dining area with a fireplace and two sets of doors opening onto balconies, and then a very large bathroom with separate shower and tub, and another set of doors opening to another balcony. I think we got pretty lucky here, and it is quite the different scenario from our tiny, tiny Paris room. We just woke up from a 3 hour nap, obviously we both must have needed sleep, and now sadly it is raining outside. Not too sure what we are going to do for the rest of the evening, but we leave in the morning for Perigueux. Bon Soir from France!

Carrie and Will

Paris Day 2

The next morning, we woke up and headed to the Louvre, being very American and stopping at Starbucks along the way. Sorry Paris, but your tiny espressos just were not cutting it, and we needed some big cups of coffee. The Louvre was absolutely amazing. It alone would be well worth a trip to Paris. Yes, we saw the Mona Lisa, but to be perfectly honest I was not very impressed and feel that there are much greater works of art in the world. It was hands down one of the best museums we have been too, but sadly, the only reason many go are to see the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo sculpture which they consider to be the most amazing things they have ever seen, because they don’t stay around to even see anything else, or really know anything about art. None the less, Will and I took our time through the museum, looking at what is an astounding collection of art and artifacts. Another interesting part was Napoleon III’s apartment that he had in the Louvre during the time it was a Palace. The amount of detail to the rooms made the Biltmore House looks like a garage apartment. Enormous chandeliers and gold leafing was everywhere, an amazing example of French design. Just before that we walked through the Middle Eastern section of the museum and were left in awe. Sanskrit tablets with the world’s first writing, Hammurabi’s Code (the first written laws), and the megalithic sculptures from the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius. Of course these places only had a tenth the viewers compared to anything mentioned by Dan Brown.


Will took several pics and put them together for a panoramic of the inside of the Louvre courtyard (If you click on the photo it will bring up a larger pics)

After the Louvre, we went and had a late Parisian lunch at a small café, and headed over to the Notre Dame.



Unfortunately, they were not letting people in and there were police cars and ambulances all around, and on top of that it began to rain, so we headed back to the hotel. It had stormed the night before, and was quite cool the next day, but it did rain several times during the late afternoon, so we lounged around our room with the windows open, reading while it rained. Once we ate dinner, it was late, and we had to leave quite early in the morning to head to the train station. Not nearly enough time to see all that we wanted to in Paris, so I was quite sad to leave so soon, but you can’t possibly see everything Paris has to offer in one trip. It is really an amazing city with beautiful architecture and really nice people (not sure who people have encountered that thought they were rude, but everyone Will and I encountered were super nice). Off to Tours, but no without sadness to leave Paris!!

Carrie and Will