Viva la Versailles!

So today was a bit of a challenge for us as Michael's cold has hit an all-time level of suck. The petrie dish and I set out after breakfast to Les Invalides metro station where we picked up the RER line out to Versailles. During our train ride we experienced Paris's version of metro entrepreneurs when a couple of accordion players got on to "entertain" us. I will admit that despite the early hour and the obviously disgruntled daily commuters that there was something sort of special about travelling through the french countryside while hearing a tango being played on the accordion in the background.



We arrived at Versailles Palace at 10:00am and entered through a gate that was gilded in gold. The first thoughts that come to mind as you walk towards the palace are opulence, prestige, and "let them eat cake!". As we walked through the halls and chambers that dripped with crystal chandeliers we really began to understand what the french peasants were so pissed off about. We fully expected to hear about the various artworks that were commissioned by Louis XIV but we had no idea that even the ornate designs of the walls were created by renowned artists! In one of many of the dauphine's chambers we learned that the paint on the wall was applied in 46 coats along with varnish so to obtain a lacquered look. In the adjacent room the walls were covered in silk wallpaper, on which the detailing was hand painted to match the designs of the draperies. We made our way to the Hall of Mirrors, a well-known sight of Versailles. The combination of chandeliers, the floor to ceiling mirrors, and the windows opening to the courtyard on the opposite side of the hall made the room radiate with light.








After a tour of the palace we moved out into the gardens. 1,000 acres of manicured lawns, pruned shrubbery, and countless fountains surround the palace. It's no wonder that the grounds are as magnificent as they are considering that it took approximately 50,000 workmen to construct the estate and to physically relocate the existing forest. Although the palace holds countless wonders the gardens of Versailles are equally spectacular.




It is now early evening in Paris and we've retreated to the hotel so Michael can get some much needed rest. His cold has worn him down faster than expected, but we're hopeful that french wine and some creme brulee will be the ultimate remedy. Tomorrow we head out for the train station for our train ride through the chunnel to London.

Janice Duncan-style Touring

We began our day by mapping out our course over a breakfast of croissants and coffee. Little did we know that 7:30am would be the most relaxing part of our day. We headed out towards the Louvre in hopes of beating the crowds that seem to have followed us from Venice. We arrived at 9:30am and realized that everyone else had the same idea. Mike got in line for tickets while Steph channeled her Ansel Adams within.



We headed straight for the Mona Lisa after buying our tickets since we were on a mission to see it, spend time appreciating it, and move on. No such luck. We muscled through layer upon layer of tourists for a few shots of the portrait and reluctantly moved on. We decided then to just enjoy the many artifacts and displays that lay ahead of us.


The Louvre was quite amazing but we realized mid-way through the tour of the Egyptian collection that we actually could not see all that we wanted to see unless we'd planned on making it a 3 day excursion. We set off on foot for our next destination-Notre Dame.

Just before we approached the Notre Dame front entrance we realized that a bathroom break was in order. And since most French restaurants require that you pay to use their facilities we opted for Paris's version of the public bathroom. We expected something along the lines of a porta-potty yet what we encountered could be more accurately described as the Robo-cop of bathrooms. It closes, cleans itself, and then an indicator light lets you know when it's ready for use. Steph never knew she could love a bathroom facility so much!



We entered Notre Dame and quickly discovered that we got very lucky with our timing of this visit. Just as we began exploring we heard the faint sounds of a choir singing, indicating that mass had begun. The church hymns set the tone for our tour, the sounds reverberating off the walls and ceilings. The flying buttresses (woo hoo! something from European history class DID stick!)that we remember reading about in school were so incredible that it's hard to believe we ever forgot about them to begin with. Unfortunately we did not get to visit the upstairs to see the gargoyle statues (the tour groups followed us here as well) but we still got to spend time appreciating the splendor of this magnificent (and free to the public!) cathedral.




By this point we were exhausted and Michael's cold that he'd picked up was now presenting a new challenge to his stamina. Knowing that we wouldn't have many more days in Paris we dug down deep and hit our super sonic power buttons to keep us moving. We were determined to make it to the Arc di Triumph and as we headed up the never-ending hill of the shopping district (all kinds of obstacles thrown in our way!) we crossed our imaginary finish line at the arc's base. We explored the area near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, read the walls of names of men who had died fighting Napoleon's battles, and marveled at the sheer size and dimension of this monument. Then we watched in awe as cars and scooters competed for the same roadway around the arc, known to be one of the most dangerous traffic circles in world. In fact, the traffic circle is so dangerous that the arc is most easily accessible underground as to avoid the constant massacre of tourists darting across traffic towards the arch. Good thinking, French folk.

At this point we'd truly hit a wall. The hotel was a crap ton away (we decided today that that should be a new metric system based on our level of fatigue)and we were pretty hungry. Enter the crepe stand. As if it was meant to be, seemingly appearing out of nowhere was this marvelous stand where a variety of crepes are prepared fresh on request. Me, a crepe with nutella and banana and for Michael, a crepe with nutella and almonds. Oh. My. God. There's no way to successfully describe this fantastic concoction so we'll let the pictures speak for themselves:



A perfect end to a very eventful day. After an 8 1/2 mile walk around the city we had died and gone to Paris with crepes in hand...

Paris or Bust

After a wonderful week in Italy it was time to turn our attention to the city of light. We boarded our night train in hopes of an Orient Express experience. What we got was closer in comparison to a National Lampoon movie. We got to our "cabin" and quickly realized that we'd slept in hostels with more space than this! A tiny ladder, two bunk beds and just enough space for two bags of luggage was all the room we had. Since Steph had researched and discovered some potential safety issues on the overnight train she quickly activated her 'security' gene and McGuyvered the crap out of our room. A bike chain here, a luggage lock there and even we weren't getting out of that room alive!



We slept well and awoke to the sight of French countryside at around 8:15am local time. Mike navigated the metro map quickly so we were off the train and taking the subway within and hour of arriving in Paris. As we rolled our suitcases towards the hotel Steph announced to Michael that the Eiffel tower was on his left. "It's smaller than I thought it would be," he said. We rolled right into the hotel, dropped our bags off and headed out in the direction of the tower. At its base is when Michael realized the true scale of the structure and we both stopped to marvel at is enormity. We contemplated going to the top only for a moment, deciding that the long line and unusually cold weather were enough for us to forego that particular experience for now.



We walked along the parks leading away from the tower, noticing how similar the layout was to the mall in DC. Sandy walkways surrounded by stretches of grass with various trees and buildings on either side. This walk led to our next stop, Les Invalides. This sight houses a multitude of important artifacts in French history that includes a memorial to general Charles de Gaulle, a veteran hospital, and Napoleon's tomb. The tomb itself seemed to be quite an overcompensation for little-man syndrome with its gilded ceilings and a tomb that was easily 20 feet off the ground. Nonetheless, the tomb was magnificent and fit for a leader.



We closed this day by settling into our hotel room with an amazing, scenic surprise:


This is the view from our hotel room. We cannot begin to describe the view in real life and how lucky we feel to have this as our welcome to Paris. All we can say is that it's one hell of a night light...

Venice: A Second Chance...

Despite the issue with the train station we were able to salvage the day and have a fantastic experience exploring this labrynth of a city. A twist here, a turn there and you've discovered yourself the best trattoria that you've ever experienced and will never be able to find again! Enormous calzones for 4 euros and sweet shops that would awaken even Willy Wonka's sweet tooth. Of course you must earn this fabulous cuisine, which we did by navigating the lagoon and the city's many nameless streets. But the true splendor of this city is not found at San Marco or even in a gondola-the charm of Venice is found when accidentally stumbling upon a stone piazza where Italian children play soccer and mothers congregate to catch up on the daily happenings of this floating community.



Venice is 90% tourists and 10% locals-the economy is driven by the many cruise ships that pass through it and the tons of Murano glass that's sold each year. However, city planners dwell on what's to happen to Venetian society since it's projected that more than 1,000 residents will leave this year alone. While tourists seek glass and beaded treasures the business owners invest well in dollys and carts that make accessing the canal bridges more manageable. We watched in amazement as one guy hauled 3 flat screen t.v.s and a DVD player up and over a bridge while tourists and locals passed by without a second glance!



Since the crowds of San Marco were overwhelming the first time we visited we decided to give it a second try on our last day in Venice. What we naively forgot to factor into our plan was what would happen to a square set in a lagoon after a night of heavy rainfall. Why, yes! The whole square DOES flood! And the elevated planks sure do get packed with tourists fast! Since getting to the end of the row of planks was adventure enough for us we decided to head back to higher ground.



We said a final farewell to our beautiful hotel overlooking the grand canal and prepared for our overnight train to Paris...but not without first stopping for a final taste of amaretto and chocolate gelato.

Venice....

Venice, in a word, has been disappointing. We've been able to enjoy ourselves today only because it's a "found" day. We had originally planned to go to Florence today, but the lady at the train station screwed up and gave us tickets for tomorrow. Which we didn't notice until we were walking up to board the train. And apparently, in Europe when a mistake that an employee makes that escapes your notice, you have to pay 20% of the total to get your money back...

Yay Venice.

Oh and cruise ships docked here these last few days spilling a ton of people into Saint Mark's square. There is barely room to breathe down there.

Ok enough complaining, I'm going to read my book.

Overdue: Colossium and the Roman Forum

On Monday Steph and I went down into the center of ancient Rome. This is the area that contains the Forum, the Colosseum and Palatine hill. I learned more history just by walking around that small 2 square mile patch than I ever did in high school. We started our day, as all good vacations should, by getting up eating breakfast and then lying down again! Steph took a “power nap” and I browsed the internet.

After we got our act together we packed the backpack and headed down into ancient Rome. We decided against metroing down as our brief walk to dinner the night before had emboldend us to try it again. Rome on foot really does get you to appreciate the city. Granted the walk from our hotel to the Colosseum wasn’t more complicated than my drive to work, we still got to walk through the “trendy” district of Rome. Steph wanted to go to H&M – thankfully, for my wallet, she didn’t.

We when arrived down at the Colosseum we were besieged by tour guides offering tours of the place for thirteen euro. Luckily, our good buddy Rick Steves told us about these boorish con-artists. Boring to the point of sleep inducing, we smartly said no thank you (to five different guides) and went in ourselves. While Steph napped I had downloaded a podcast from Mr. Steves which served as our tour guide. I would detail the awe inspiring structure that the Colosseum is, but I’ll just let some of Steph’s best photographs do that for me.

After the Colosseum we took a lunch break at a pizza cart. Italians eat pizza like we eat hot dogs: they buy it from street carts or little hole-in-the-wall shops. The food we’ve had at these little holes in the wall, have been soooo much better than anything we could have had at the nicer restaurants that charge twice as much. We literally ate in the shadow of the Arch of Titus (hey, it was hot)

From there, we rubbed our feet, strapped on packs and “Soldiered on” into the Forum (oh yes, pun intended). Again we had an audio guide from Ricky, and again I won’t bore you with a history lesson, but I will show you some awesome pictures.

The forum was more spectacular than expected with the highlight being our tour of the sight at which Cesaer was burned and memorialized. Yet even amongst all that history we still managed to get our chuckle of the day from the crazy Italian woman who went from tour group to tour group announcing how “wrong and stupid” the tour guide was. Even in Italy Steph can’t escape the crazies!

At this point it was 6pm and we were just done. We didn’t even have the strength to walk the mile back to our hotel. Luckily we packed a change of clothes for dinner and we stumbled over to The Hotel Forum where Steph had made roof top reservations for my 30th birthday. A beatuiful meal with a fantastic view restored a little bit of our strength and we headed home in time to go to bed and at least get a little bit of sleep for the next day’s early morning Vatican tour.

Breaking News: American tourists conquer Rome!

So it is now 11:30pm here in the Eternal City and all we have to say is...hey, we got this.

We began the day in a bit of a hurry as we had booked a tour of the Vatican city and the Sistine Chapel. Just like home, 6:00am does not cone easily. Our guide Guido (a.k.a. 'John Smith' of Italy) did a fantastic job of herding us past the line that was wrapped around the Vatican wall at 8am to the entrance. After fixing a minor issue of us leaving our camera memory card in the hotel room (imagine us holding back many curse words as we entered the Vatican halls) we indulged in the many wonders of the Tapestry Gallery, the fresco statues and the Sistine Chapel. Although we weren't able to take pictures in the Sistine chapel (the stink eye from the Swiss Guard is the worst of its kind) we marveled in Michelangelo's masterpiece that took him 5 years to create. We wandered past the various tombs of Vatican popes (no pictures there either) and headed towards the Basilica.

Pictures cannot describe the breath you are forced to inhale upon entering the chapel. Between admiring Michelangelo's Pieta (his most famous work out of marble at age 24) and appreciating the complexity of the bronzed altar that only the pope himself may speak from, we couldn't help but be humbled by the sights before us. We wandered out to St. Peter's Square to find the Vatican staff setting up for tomorrow's Papal audience. Here we found many a nun who had come for worship.

After the Vatican we attempted to make the trip into Castel Sant' Angelo...but we were too tired! We made it to the grounds, realized how many stairs we'd have to climb after having just walked for 5 hours, and decided that we'd get the souvenir hat and call it an afternoon. We spent the next hour wandering the streets of Piazza Navona while enjoying a little gelatto as we walked in the direction of the hotel.

We ventured out in the evening after enjoying our own siesta to the neighborhood of Campo di' Fiori. There we took in the splendor of the courtyard that included a view of the statue of Bruno (the intellectual heretic who was burned alive) and a faraway glance of the makeshift Senate building where Julius Cesar was stabbed to death. All warm and fuzzy reminders of Rome's vast history. We continued to follow our friend Rick (That's Rick Steves to be exact) on his night walk through Rome. We ventured through Campo di' Fiori back to Piazza Navona to find a restaurant for dinner. Finding the restaurant did not go as planned and after a minor meltdown from Steph (okay, more of a major meltdown-just don't make me walk any further when I'm hungry!!) we wandered into a small pizzaria which turned out to be some of the best pizza we'd had during our time in Rome. In fact, our best meals thus far have come from places we'd simply wandered into off the street that made up for the lack of ambiance in their simply marvelous food.

Rick took us past the Pantheon through the narrow alleyways leading to the Trevi Fountain, where we followed with the tradition of throwing a coin in the fountain to ensure our return to Rome. We then made our way to the top of the Spanish Steps and down towards the overlook of the Piazza de Popolo. After a day that consisted of nearly 10 hours of walking this magnificent city we've come to realize that Rome is best seen on foot to ensure that the essence of the city has fully set in. Upon our walk back to the hotel our confidence in our ability to not only navigate this city but to experience all it has to offer was strengthened. Despite our backpacks and white sneakers we came away with a wealth of knowledge and a true understanding of the menagerie that is Rome.

-- Steph

Twelve hours on foot really knocks you out

We visited the Colosseo and the Roman Forum today. Between walking down there, walkign to dinner and walking back, we're wiped out. And we have a 6am local wake up call for our Vatican tour tomorrow. Fun! I'll write a narrative for today and the Vatican tomorrow when we get back to the hotel for the siesta.

Walkabout in Rome

When we planned the trip we had intended to accommodate the jet lag on our first day in Rome. We certainly didn't plan on getting up and walking nearly the entire ancient section of the city! Now I don't want to lie, I may have slept in a little past my normal time (*cough11:30cough*), but we still got into the street by 12:30.

Our first stop was the Piazza del Popolo, mostly because the directions from our hotel were "walk out front. turn right". The name translated into English means Plaza of the People. I think - I don't speak Italian, though I'm learning. It was originally the northern gate of Rome and is built right up against the Roman Wall. We spent about an hour here while we adjusted the light levels (it seems brighter here) and fiddled with the camera trying to get some good pictures.

After a while, we went down Via del Ripetta towards Piazza Novona. Our original intent was to build up an appetite on the walk and have lunch down there, but no matter much we walked we just weren't getting hungry so we decided to skip it and go back on the night walking tour recommended by our tour book. So instead, we turned right to visit the Pantheon.

You know those dramatic reveal shots in movies where some epic building comes into view as you round a corner? I've never experienced that in the United States, but I had four or five today. The first was the Pantheon. The building is ancient, massive, and caused me to catch my breath the first time I saw it. We took an alleyway between two streets... alley's in Rome are not alley's in the US, they have stuff in them... and when I came around the corner from the alley it was like having water dumped on your head. Shocking. On the way inside Steph spotted a "Gladiator" taking a break from "warfare". She gets a giggle out of this photo.

From the Pantheon we walked to the Trevi Fountain. I'd give you a history lesson here too, but all I know is it was built by a Pope in the 18th or 19th century. But it's very pretty. After all this time we were finally hungry so we stopped and got the best sandwich I've ever had: italian bread, mozzarella, tomato, basil and olive oil. Yes, we could make that at home. It would not be as good. Curse you Customs! I want to bring home good tomato plants!

We then made a valiant effort to walk down to the Colosseum, but exhaustion and rain forced us indoors and back to the hotel. I've posted a bunch of pictures on Picasa for everyone to look at (one the left hand side), and several of them I've embedded in this blog. To view them simply go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/khariq/Rome919#

If that link doesn't work, please let me know in the comments.

Travel Reflections and First Impressions

We're here! Oh thank you sweet Jesus, we're here...

This might not be the most coherent thing I've ever written as I've been awake since 7am on Friday September 17th. I have no idea how many hours that translates to, but I think it might be 26 or 27.

Anyhow, travel impressions! British Airways is a spectacular airline, with fantastic service, good diversion options (I watched the A-Team and Kick-Ass on the way over "the pond"), and one glaring problem. Well two, but I'm going to attribute my sore bum to losing all the padding in it. Okay I'm not going to complain too much, after all I am in Rome at the moment, but BA needs to get there stuff together when they offload travelers, we sat on the tarmac for about 20 minutes just waiting for buses to come pick us up and take us to Heathrow. Grrr...

The flight to Rome itself was fine, it was the equivalent of flying from Baltimore to Chicago - a puddle jump.

Rome... in a word, gorgeous. The city oozes history, even our hotel looks like it was built before the Revolutionary War. We've literally been for 30 minutes, so we haven't had a chance to explore the city, but I'm already in awe. We're about to walk down to the hotels happy hour bar and have a drink then walk over to Piazza del Polpolo for dinner. Yes, I know we're dog tired, but I figure this way we can get on a Roman sleep schedule and avoid the worst of the jet lag on the days we want to go see stuff.

Oh and Romans are crazy drivers. I thought we were going to die. Twice.